The feasts of the Lord point to Jesus!
Easter was a beautiful day this year, with lots of sunshine and good messages, in the Word and in song, about the risen Savior!
Easter was celebrated by a couple hundred million Christians across America and several billion Christians around the world on all five continents. Many held sunrise services to watch the sun rise out of the darkness, symbolizing the resurrection of Christ from the darkness of the grave back into the eternal light of His Father. The Apostle Paul tells us that without the hope of the resurrection of Christ, we are of all men most miserable and we might as well eat, drink and be merry. Paul saw Christ personally, and went on in I Corinthians chapter fifteen to expound poetically about our hope in Him. The grave and death hold no more power over those who believe in Christ as their Lord and coming King!
Do you realize that Christ was crucified on Pesach (Passover), buried on Chag HaMotzi (Unleavened Bread), raised on Reshit Katzir (Firstfruits), and sent the Holy Spirit on Shavu’ot (Pentecost)?
“Let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)
Paul is saying that these feasts were symbols and types that point to Jesus, who fulfills all of them.
God commanded Moses and Israel to celebrate seven feasts, beginning in the spring and continuing through the fall. (Exodus 12; 23:14-17, Leviticus 23, Numbers 28 & 29, and Deuteronomy 16)
While these feasts celebrated past events for the people of Israel, they also were prophetic of events to happen in the life and work of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah.
Passover points to Christ, as Messiah, being our Passover Lamb. He shed His blood, as the Lamb of God, for our sins. Jesus was crucified on the Day of Passover, at the same time the lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover meal that evening!
Unleavened Bread points to the sinless life of Christ. He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus was in the grave during the first days of this feast. He was that kernel of wheat planted in the ground, waiting to burst forth into the Bread of Life.
First Fruits points to the resurrection of Jesus as the first fruits of the righteous souls who would believe in Him as their Lord. Paul refers to Him as the first fruits from the dead!
Pentecost points to a great harvest of souls, made up of Jew and Gentile, coming into the Kingdom of God after His resurrection and before His return for His people. The church started with the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Day of Pentecost and 3000 souls responding to Peter’s preaching.
The remaining three feasts point to events that will take place in the near future.
Trumpets point to the rapture of the church, when Christ appears as the Bridegroom for His Bride and the blowing of the trumpet.
Atonement points to when the Jews will realize He is their Messiah, as they look upon the one whom they had pierced, repenting of their sins. (Zechariah 12:10 & Romans 11:1-6, 25-36)
Tabernacles points to when God will dwell among His people, as he reigns over the world from Jerusalem as King of kings and Lord of lords. (Micah 4:1-7)
While believers in Christ are not commanded to keep these feasts given to Israel, having knowledge of them does strengthen our faith. Our Lord Jesus kept every one of them while celebrating Passover meal with His disciples on His last earthly night.
Four of the feasts took place in the spring, while the remaining three took place in the fall. Four have been fulfilled in Christ and three are yet to be fulfilled. With the new awareness of the Blood Moons and the nation-changing events that Israel has experienced on these Blood Moons, many Bible scholars are saying that these Blood Moons are tied to the Nation of Israel and are prophetic of what is to come. If so, then the recent Iran accord bears bad news for Israel. The next Blood Moon, to happen this fall, could bring about an even worse world change toward the Nation of Israel; one that will encourage the armies of the North to decide it is time for them to help eliminate Israel altogether.
We know that God gave the sun and the moon for signs, and that these were connected with His dealings with the Nation of Israel. So it will be interesting to see what transpires by the end of the year in regards to Israel and world events. We know that Jesus Christ is going to return for His Bride and that He also will reveal Himself to the Jewish people as their Messiah. We also know that we are seeing all the signs of the Days of Noah being fulfilled around us. Jesus said His return would be in days as they were when Noah was building his ark and when God rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Russia has spoken of nuking Yellowstone to bring destruction to America, and allowing her to rise back to being the world leader. But China will not allow that for very long. World leadership will change quickly in the next few years, all in time to accomplish the devil’s dream of a one world government, with all people worshiping him as god, while wearing his mark.
With these things in mind, in the next few posts we will start to examine the feasts of Israel for their spiritual significance to the gentile Christians.
God wants to dwell among a people who will obey His teachings, allowing His knowledge and justice and goodness to cover the earth so that every child and every old man shall know Him personally. There is coming a Sabbath of Rest for all people as Christ finally reigns in Jerusalem as King of kings and Lord of lords! If you have never been to Jerusalem, just stick around, because when Christ arrives He will ask that all men make a pilgrimage to see Him during the Feast of Tabernacles, as described in Zechariah 14:16-19.
The feasts of the Lord are important for Christians to understand His dealings with Israel. He has given Israel to bless the whole earth, and they have, already, in their state of unbelief; but when they know the Lord as their Messiah, they will do things for the people of the earth that they have only dreamed about.
Take a moment to check out this link to Jinfo.org, a website that shows the many different contributions that the Jewish people have made to society the world over. They are God’s chosen people, and those who love Jerusalem and Israel shall prosper. Therefore, pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and for God’s protection around her. God will come soon to fight for her Himself.