As we round third and head toward the fall feasts, many of us are beginning to make preparations to take part in these most holy days. Like so many things in the Tanach (OT), there are many misconceptions pertaining to exactly what the feasts are. Who are they for? What do they point to? Aren’t they all fulfilled? The answers to these questions have changed my view not only of scripture, but of the work of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).
Recently a Jewish friend of ours was talking to my daughter via FaceTime when she noticed over my daughter’s shoulder on our book shelf, a Chanukia (a candelabra with 9 places used during Hanukkah) and wanted to know what our religion was, she of course thought we were Jewish. My daughter answered, “Messianic,” along with some explanation that we take part in the feasts including Shabbat (Sabbath) and our friend answered with, “If you believe in Jesus, why don’t you live out of the NT?” At that point, my 12 year old who had the answers but I am assuming felt a little overwhelmed that the question was coming from an adult, handed me the iPod and I gave the friend some answers. My point in sharing this was only to share her perception of what a Christian should be. Her thought that we are supposed to live only from the NT is common, especially among Christians. Yet it is becoming clear to many, as if a veil is being lifted, that this wasn’t supposed to be the case. Additionally, the idea that the feasts are Jewish, is not scripture. While observant Jews certainly take part in these Appointments with God, they truly are “the Feasts of the LORD,” (see Lev. 23:2) and they are for all who belong to Him. They are not just some religious observance or obligation, they are annual appointments with our Creator that just happen to point to the works of Messiah.
The feasts of God have always been teaching tools. What makes them such outstanding tools is that they are “cyclical,” they repeat over and over again in order to continually keep the messages they contain fresh on our minds and hearts. They teach us by sharing something grounded in the literal and concrete, generally an event one might take part in, but at the same time that event points to and was teaches about the work Messiah would do (detailed below). God’s people were to be able to recognize Messiah when he came, not just through the wording of the many prophetic references, but also in the pictures drawn for us in the feasts; God truly is the master artisan!
I want to share with you the feast schedule, in order, in the hope that if you are unfamiliar with them, you might begin to see the many blessings hidden in them. I do want to point out before I begin, that every feast is called a miqra (mik-raw - generally translated as "holy convocation") which has two meanings. The first is “gathering,” it means that on the feasts we are to gather, we are commanded to gather, and this may be what Hebrews 10:25 is making reference to. The second meaning of miqra is “rehearsal,” which carries the idea that we come to do these things in preparation of things still to come. That concept might possibly give a slightly different meaning for these two verses for you:
Col 2:16 Then do not let anyone judge you in eating, or in drinking, or in part of a feast, or of a new moon, or of Sabbaths, (17) which are a shadow of coming things to come, but the body is of Messiah.
Note the "shadow of things to come." That line, and the many that support the point Paul was making, reveal to us that the work is not complete and that we still have things to look forward to. An old friend and mentor once told me that, "the spring feasts pointed to Yeshua's first coming and were 90% fulfilled, the fall feasts point to his return and were 10% fulfilled." If true, and I happen to believe it is, then this would mean we have so much to look forward to!
Here then are the feasts of God and what I believe the story being told behind the pictures were and are revealing.
Please note: this is NOT a comprehensive view but rather a Cliff Note version of the teachings pertaining to the Feasts. There are some very fine 300 page books on shelves that discuss the fullness of the Feasts, and even they don’t have within them the entire fullness of the Feasts. So if I have left anything out, and I admit ahead of time I have mainly due to the length of this article, feel free to bring them up in the thread which follows. Here now, are the Feasts of YHWH:
Shabbat (Sabbath): The weekly Sabbath, yes, this is a feast and the first one listed in Leviticus 23. On this day we cease from all work, it is a day of rest, of gathering, and of learning. This feast was given at creation and actually taken part in by God Himself. I have always found that act to be an interesting one seeing, as God, I can't imagine a scenario where He was tired. Thus His "resting" had to be as an example for all of humanity to follow.
God called the Sabbath a “sign” between Him and His Israel revealing Israel as the covenant people “for all their generations.” (Exd. 31:17) This is the only one of the Ten Commandments not specifically repeated by Messiah in the Apostolic Writings, but one might ask why God needs to repeat a commandment He already called eternal? The author of Hebrews, whom I believe is Paul, does say in Hebrews 4:8-10:
Heb. 4:8 For if Joshua gave them rest, then He would not have afterwards spoken about another day. (9) So, then, there remains a Sabbath rest to the people of God. (10)For he entering into His rest, he himself also rested from his works, as God had rested from His own.
In these verses we see two things, the need for an observing of Shabbat today and we see the hint of what Shabbat points to. Joshua taking Israel into the Promised Land was not the “rest” that the Sabbath points to, but rather a picture of something to come. That which is pointed to deals with Messiah and his reign, and until then we are to take part in this weekly picture of a rest that is still to come. Therefore, the common teaching that we don’t have to take part in the weekly Shabbat because we are NOW “resting in Jesus” is simply not supported in scripture. Incidentally, the command to rest on the 7th day comes with an attached command to work the other 6 days. We even see that reiterated in the above verses from the book of Hebrews.
What does the Sabbath point to? In addition to what I said above, I believe that it points to the Millennial Kingdom. We work 6 days and we rest one, and this points to us working (toiling, decaying, and dying) for 6000 years and then resting (being refreshed) over that next 1000 years. I should add, that the Sabbath appears to continue long after the coming of Messiah.
Isaiah 66:22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me," says the Lord, "So shall your descendants and your name remain. (23) And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the Lord.
Pesach (Passover) - All of the holy days or feasts are Sabbaths, with the exception of the two week-long feasts (Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles), which, in both cases, the first and last days are considered high Sabbaths. On those Sabbath days, work pertaining to the feast can be done, but occupational work cannot be. Pesach is neither; it is not listed as a Sabbath. The word Pesach is used to describe the sacrificial lamb. The lamb itself is the Pesach, and so this “feast” is the day that the lambs that were to be sacrificed and which had been brought to the Temple and inspected, were killed with the offering made by the priests. After the offering was made the lamb was taken back home and roasted to be used as a very special dinner later in the evening. The day of Pesach falls on the 14th day of the Hebrew calendar month known as Nisan (or Aviv), and it is filled with remarkable literal and metaphoric pictures of the Messiah. Literally, on the day the lambs were being brought alive into Jerusalem (what the church calls "Palm Sunday"), he was riding into Jerusalem himself. As the lambs were being inspected by the priests, Yeshua was being “inspected” by his accusers and like the lambs to be offered, no fault (no blemish) was found in him. During the time the lambs were being ritually slaughtered, he was beaten and ultimately gave his own life. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, Yeshua was very much our Pesach.
The work of the Pesach was to redeem the first born. The picture in Egypt is of the blood of the lamb being smeared over the door posts and this action was to spare the first born of the Israelites while the firstborn of the Egyptians would be lost. The tie many miss is that Israel is God’s firstborn:
Exodus 4:22 And you shall speak to Pharaoh, So says YHWH, My son, My first-born is Israel.
Thus the work of Yeshua as the “Pesach,” was to redeem the firstborn of God, His Israel, His covenant people. A second aspect of Pesach that is still somewhat open ended is that John the Immerser made this statement pertaining to the work of Messiah:
John 1:29b Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
The actions as the slaughtered lamb (so to speak) were also dealing with the condition of death and decay introduced into the world by Adam. Death and decay, that process we all go through, was introduced as the penalty for Adam’s sin. Yet, we still decay and die, the work to perfect us has been done, but the perfection has not yet been applied. Yeshua has earned the right to perfect whomever He wills, but that will be on a future Yom Kippur (Commonly known as “The Day of Atonement”) where the sins will be lifted from God’s people permanently. This would be an example, then, of a spring "feast" that has not been entirely fulfilled.
Chag Matstzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread): The biblical day begins and ends at sundown, so when the sun goes down on Pesach (the 14th), the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread begins (the 15th). During this week, one does not consume anything leavened, meaning, nothing that has risen, like bread for example. Historically, this is tied to the exodus and the lack of time to allow the dough they carried to rise, thus they ate their bread unleavened. The picture being drawn here is that leaven is representing sin, hence the physical act of removing all things leavened from the home is done as a physical reminder to remove the sins from our own lives. Culturally, this entire week is known as “Passover” and the tie is actually fairly obvious. By the time the Pesach is taken home and roasted over fire and eaten, the sun has gone down and Unleavened Bread (ULB) had begun. The Pesach (the Passover lamb) is eaten on the first night of ULB tying the two feasts together. The tie is further cemented when we factor in FirstFruits, which I will discuss shortly.
The “house” the leaven is removed from is a picture of the human body, so the picture being drawn is the removal of sin from our lives. Yet, we are also commanded to eat unleavened bread, so as we literally eat unleavened bread for this week, we are being reminded that only the pure and undefiled food, food free from human corruption, is suitable for a child of God. A foreshadowing of Yeshua assuming our sin is also hinted at here, though the fulfillment of that is tied more to Yom Kippur as previously mentioned.
Prophetically, ULB points not to our state of sinlessness, but of Messiah’s! His giving of himself for us was unleavened, pure, without spot, thus ULB reveals us as powerless to overcome death and decay on our own. These thoughts are solidified in something likely tied more to tradition than scripture per say, and that is a traditional Passover Seder. This meal traditionally takes place on the first night of ULB, and this is the meal that is commonly called “The Last Supper.” While that likely took place as a teaching seder on another night (Yeshua was in the grave by the time ULB would have started), the pictures are very clearly in line. The cup he held up and claimed to be his blood, for example, was the 3rd cup of 4 (the cup of redemption) that are drank at this meal. The bread he “broke” was matstzah, unleavened bread that is striped, pierced, and as he performed before his disciples, broken. Incredibly, one of the aspects of the dinner is to take one of three pieces of matstzah and break it, wrap it in a linen clothe and hide it, and then later in the meal bring it back, un-wrap it, and eat it. The picture is so clearly tied to the events regarding Yeshua’s life, death, and resurrection that it is hard to believe it isn’t obvious to our Jewish brethren, who really don’t even know, respectfully, why this is part of the meal. Most assume the three pieces of matstzah are tied pictorially to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… but my personally belief is that the picture is clearly showing us Messiah!
Bikkurim (FirstFruits): On the day after the weekly Sabbath which occurs after Pesach, when in the land, the Israelites were to bring an offering of the firstfruits of their spring grain harvest which would be waved before YHWH by the priest. Not specially called a “feast,” Firstfruits is clearly counted among them and is the first day in a counting cycle wherein God’s people begin a count of 7 Sabbaths and then the day that 7th Sabbath is Shavuot or as is more commonly known to Christians, Pentecost. Firstfruits both supported the priests and also were something of a thanksgiving offering to God. Yet, as with all of these feasts, there is a prophetic finger pointed at Yeshua and his work as Messiah.
Paul ties Firstfruits to the resurrection, of God’s people but namely to Yeshua who was the “Firstfruits of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20-23). The harvesting of the grain at the beginning of the year is a picture first of Messiah, but then of his people who will likewise be resurrected at his return, which will begin the Millennial Reign. Those who celebrate the resurrection of Messiah are actually celebrating Firstfruits according to the picture the feast depicts.
An additional aspect of this “feast” is the waving of the sheaf by the priest before God. There are many interpretations of what this action is depicting; my personal interpretation looks something like this. When Yeshua had resurrected he told his disciples, “touch me not, for I have not ascended to the Father.” This is not speaking of his final ascension, the one done before many, as that would be many weeks away. Rather, this was different; I believe it involves Yeshua as the High Priest going before the Father to wave the sheaf of Firstfruits, his resurrected body, before Him. It was then he was accepted as the Firstfruit of a great harvest to come. A harvest we all desire greatly to be part of.
Chag haShavuot (Feast of the Weeks, Pentecost): One thing that should stand out at this point is the theme of redemption. Each Feast to this point has dealt, to some degree, with an aspect of redemption, and that is culminated on Shavuot. Starting on the weekly Sabbath after Pesach we count 7 Sabbaths and then the day after the seventh Sabbath is Shavuot, the 50th day. Pentecost literally means "count 50." We might do a word study and dig into the meanings behind all the things that come in sevens in the book of Revelation. We might also take the time to familiarize ourselves with the Jubilee Year and its meaning as it happens every 50 years (7 X 7+1). The commands however, that surround this holy day center on certain sacrifices, it also has a special recognition to reach out and help those who can’t help themselves. It is, however, the historical and quite frankly “traditional” aspect of this day that I find most interesting.
The Jewish position regarding Shavuot is that the day Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 Commandments was Shavuot. We can infer this from scripture as well; at least, we know we are in the right time frame. What I find intriguing is that Moses came down more than once. The first time he came down with what amounted to an outline of Torah which he took to the elders, it wasn’t the whole thing, it was merely an encapsulation of it. He then went back and had the stone engraved by God, but broke those when God sent him back to deal with the golden calf incident. And then of course Moses went back and he engraved as God dictated. I believe that the time Moses came down off the mountain with what amounted to an outline of Torah for the elders to consider (and ultimately agree to) was Shavuot, and I believe that because of the picture of a later event that stands in harmony with it. That event was the sending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples on that Shavuot/Pentecost day after his ascension.
Paul makes an interesting comment a couple of times in his second letter to the Corinthians, he writes:
2 Cor. 1:22 even He having sealed us, and having given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
2 Cor. 5:5 And the One having worked in us for this same thing is God, who also is giving us the earnest of the Spirit.
The word for “earnest” here is arrhabon (G728) and it means, “a down payment.” The picture here, as aligned to the day Moses went to the mount and returned with an “earnest” with a promise of “more Torah to come,” is that the Holy Spirit when given was not “all we would ever receive,” it was a down payment toward “more to come.” The more to come is the promise of perfection, of incorruptibility, of having the whole Torah written on our minds and hearts. Messiah has done the ground work, he has gained the right to perfect, to complete the work which truly is started when we repent and receive our own “earnest of the Spirit.” There is still a “day to come” when we will get the rest, and this holy day points us to that future blessing.
The Fall Feasts
Yom Teruah (The Day of Trumpets): Little is said regarding this day in Leviticus 23, simply, it is a High Sabbath (a day no occupational work is performed) on which we are to gather and blow trumpets/shofars. There is a tendency to align this day to an awakening to battle, and it also is accepted among Jews to be the anniversary of creation, the anniversary of the day God said, “Let there be light.” This is why they refer to the day as “Rosh Hashanah,” or “Head of the Year.” There are, though, a couple of other very interesting aspects of this day, one of them is tied to something the ancient sages referred to as, “The day no man knows.”
Yom Teruah falls on the first day of the month. However, a biblical month requires the sighting of the new moon to mark that day, and since the moon must be sighted before the month can be declared, it has been idiomatically called “the day no man knows” because we don’t know when it is until the moon is sighted. Of course we have computers and all the other technologies today which if you prefer, remove the need to go out and sight with your own eyes. Nevertheless, the intent as given in Genesis is that the luminaries (the sun, moon, and stars) were placed there for a number of reasons including arguably the most important, to determine a calendar, to mark the days and seasons.
Is it possible that Yeshua was referring to this “idiom” when speaking about his return? He stated that no man knows the day or hour… which sounds a lot like “the day no man knows.” And seeing Messiah’s return is preceded by a great trumpet blast, what rabbis call the “Tekiah Gedolah,” a sound depicting the coming redemption, then we might have an idea regarding which feast might be the one on which Messiah returns. For it is at the last “trumpet” Paul writes, that the dead in Messiah are raised and we which remain and are alive shall be changed. Could it be the “Day of Trumpets” is the day, sometime in the future, that one great loud and long blast of a shofar will be heard, a battle call as the conquering King returns to put down the enemies of His people and take His promised throne? As convincing as that might sound, and though I once held this view, I no longer do. While you are welcome to draw your own conclusion, I will share, in a moment, which feast I do believe he returns on.
So what do I believe this day refers to? I see it as the Great Gathering of all of God's Israel (His people). Though the Jewish people are in the land, most are still out in the nations. And the rest of what makes up Israel, are most certainly still scattered into the nations. Long ago after Israel divided into two nations the Northern Kingdom, Israel, ended up dispersed/scattered into the nations after their captivity in Assyria. Scattered and given up for idols, it was said that they were no longer a "people of God." However, from the very first time this dispersion is mentioned (Deut. 30:1-6) through clear Prophetic talk where it is said that a time would come where God is going to make those same people again a people to Him (Hosea 1:10), there is a reconciliation of all of God's people coming. The Northern and Southern Kingdom, Israel and Judah, will again come together but this time they will never again be divided. The process of reunification has begun but it appears designs to happen over a process of time. I believe that a great shofar blast is still forthcoming and, if we are blessed to be alive at his return, it will be that which calls us together as one unified bride awaiting the bridegroom.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement/Coverture): When translating the bible into English, Tyndale invented a word for Kippur that he thought captured the essence of the meaning; he called it “atonement.” He took the idea of becoming “at one with” God, and thus the word atonement entered our vocabulary. Well, becoming at one with God does capture part of the essence of this day, there is however, more to it.
Historically, all throughout the year, the sins of Israel would be dealt with via the daily sacrifices in the Temple. On Yom Kippur however, the tabernacle would be cleansed and the High Priest would sacrifice a goat to cleanse and atone (cover, but I will come back to this) for his personal sins in preparation to offer two additional goats for the corporate sins of God's Israel. Two goats were chosen by lot: one to be "The Lord's Goat" and offered as the blood sacrifice for the sins of Israel, and the second goat to be the "Azazel" scapegoat to be cast out into the wilderness bearing the sins of God's people (la’azazel can mean “for the entire removal of” or “for the sending away of” and in this case, sins). At that time the high priest confesses the sins of the Children of Israel to YHWH and then places those sins, abstractly, on the head of the Azazel scapegoat. The Azazel is then sent into the desert wilderness, thus, the Children of Israel's sins were "Kippur" (paid for, atoned for, covered… again, I will come back to this) by the scapegoat sacrifices of "The Lord's Goat" and "The Azazel Goat".
This, like “all sacrifices,” never really did the job in the complete sense, but rather pointed at the one who would, could, and did… Messiah Yeshua. His work in assuming our sin was a partial fulfillment of Yom Kippur, the final and full removal of sin will take place, I believe, on a Yom Kippur yet to come. We observe Yom Kippur by recalling and repenting of anything that stands in contrast to God’s will during the days leading up to Yom Kippur, and then by fasting on that day, spending much of it in prayer. It is a solemn time of reflection while realigning, where needed, to God’s instructions.
I personally believe that it is very possible that Yeshua returns on Yom Kippur. If Yom Kippur is when the sin is removed from Israel, which would be a time when Israel is made incorruptible, then it is possible he returns on this day. Paul writes at least twice, and John wrote once, that when we see him we are changed. So, perhaps his return and the lifting of the sin from the bride are tied? I leave that for you to decide.
I mentioned the word “cover,” also “atone” and even the phrase “paid for” as definitions of the word Kippur. I do believe that these words lack when it comes to the essence, and strength, of the word Kippur. Rather than repeat something I have already published, here is the url to an article on this very subject. I really think it will blessed you to read it.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/ken-rank/yom-kippur-the-day-of-coverture/10150903688317544
Yom Kippur is likely the day we will be perfected, consummated to the bride groom, perhaps the wedding itself falls on this day. Which leads us to…
Sukkot (Tabernacles): The final Feast in the annual cycle is Sukkot, an 8 day Feast where the first and last day are considered “High Sabbaths.” This Feast was tied to the fall harvest and is observed by living in a sukkah, a temporary tent/booth for a week. This was and is to remind us:
Lev. 23:43 so that your generations shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to live in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am YHWH your God. (LITV)
I can’t do Sukkot justice in my explaining of it because there are so many aspects to this Feast and this article is simply too short. We can go from the idea that the sukkah (booth) itself has been called “the mouth of God,” to the idea that this Feast pointed to (and now back) at God tabernacling with His people, to the probability that Messiah was born on the first day of this Feast, and circumcised on the last. We also see in this feast the picture of God’s work being done within the framework of human kind leading up to a day of perfection. Like all Feasts however, Sukkot is everlasting and is the one specifically mentioned as being done during the Millennial Kingdom (see Zech. 14:16-18). I think that is very pertinent because if Kippur is tied to the wedding, Sukkot would be the reception and honeymoon, so to speak. This then points to the time when we dwell with our King, the bridegroom… there will be the bride, and there will be wedding guests (likely the nations). The guests will go home at some point, that is what guests do, but the bride will remain and dwell with Messiah.
I do want to differentiate one day of Sukkot however, the 8th day, a day known as Shemini Atzeret. This Hebrew phrase is used generally to mean “Eight Day of the Assembly” but probably more literally means “Eighth, holding back.” Culturally this day is tied to Sukkot, but carries a meaning somewhat unrelated to Sukkot. The number eight symbolizes the idea of perfection, such is the case then with the "brit milah," the covenant of circumcision. Circumcision was performed on the 8th day of life and points at the future perfecting of man through the circumcision of the heart (Deut. 30:1-6, Ezk. 11:19, Jer. 31:31-34) and it is for this reason that I personally believe Yehoshua was circumcised on this day. From this, Shemini Atzeret points us to the “perfect completion” of that which the previous 7 days of Sukkot point to. Perhaps this day, and the number 8, point to the time after the Millennial Kingdom, a time that has very little said about it in the bible.
All of the Feasts are not just pointing at messiah, they are history, and they are telling the story of the people of God. We do them for the reasons I shared, but we also do them to pass these stories, thus these prophetic pictures, on to the next generation of God’s people. We have been entrusted with the spiritual growth of our children, and it is these feasts and the stories they contain, along with other teachings from scripture, that we pass to them so that they are equipped to live according to the standards God Himself has set forth for His people to live by. May these feasts become the blessing to you that they are to my own family, and me!
Peace and blessings.
Ken Rank
PS... just as an aside... though I used terms found in the bible like "bridegroom" and "wedding" and others like it, I do want to be clear that I believe the use of these words and phrases are metaphoric. In other words, I don't believe we "literally" marry messiah, I believe the marriage words and phrases are used in the bible so that we might catch a glimpse of the depth of relationship our Creator desires to have with us.
Recently a Jewish friend of ours was talking to my daughter via FaceTime when she noticed over my daughter’s shoulder on our book shelf, a Chanukia (a candelabra with 9 places used during Hanukkah) and wanted to know what our religion was, she of course thought we were Jewish. My daughter answered, “Messianic,” along with some explanation that we take part in the feasts including Shabbat (Sabbath) and our friend answered with, “If you believe in Jesus, why don’t you live out of the NT?” At that point, my 12 year old who had the answers but I am assuming felt a little overwhelmed that the question was coming from an adult, handed me the iPod and I gave the friend some answers. My point in sharing this was only to share her perception of what a Christian should be. Her thought that we are supposed to live only from the NT is common, especially among Christians. Yet it is becoming clear to many, as if a veil is being lifted, that this wasn’t supposed to be the case. Additionally, the idea that the feasts are Jewish, is not scripture. While observant Jews certainly take part in these Appointments with God, they truly are “the Feasts of the LORD,” (see Lev. 23:2) and they are for all who belong to Him. They are not just some religious observance or obligation, they are annual appointments with our Creator that just happen to point to the works of Messiah.
The feasts of God have always been teaching tools. What makes them such outstanding tools is that they are “cyclical,” they repeat over and over again in order to continually keep the messages they contain fresh on our minds and hearts. They teach us by sharing something grounded in the literal and concrete, generally an event one might take part in, but at the same time that event points to and was teaches about the work Messiah would do (detailed below). God’s people were to be able to recognize Messiah when he came, not just through the wording of the many prophetic references, but also in the pictures drawn for us in the feasts; God truly is the master artisan!
I want to share with you the feast schedule, in order, in the hope that if you are unfamiliar with them, you might begin to see the many blessings hidden in them. I do want to point out before I begin, that every feast is called a miqra (mik-raw - generally translated as "holy convocation") which has two meanings. The first is “gathering,” it means that on the feasts we are to gather, we are commanded to gather, and this may be what Hebrews 10:25 is making reference to. The second meaning of miqra is “rehearsal,” which carries the idea that we come to do these things in preparation of things still to come. That concept might possibly give a slightly different meaning for these two verses for you:
Col 2:16 Then do not let anyone judge you in eating, or in drinking, or in part of a feast, or of a new moon, or of Sabbaths, (17) which are a shadow of coming things to come, but the body is of Messiah.
Note the "shadow of things to come." That line, and the many that support the point Paul was making, reveal to us that the work is not complete and that we still have things to look forward to. An old friend and mentor once told me that, "the spring feasts pointed to Yeshua's first coming and were 90% fulfilled, the fall feasts point to his return and were 10% fulfilled." If true, and I happen to believe it is, then this would mean we have so much to look forward to!
Here then are the feasts of God and what I believe the story being told behind the pictures were and are revealing.
Please note: this is NOT a comprehensive view but rather a Cliff Note version of the teachings pertaining to the Feasts. There are some very fine 300 page books on shelves that discuss the fullness of the Feasts, and even they don’t have within them the entire fullness of the Feasts. So if I have left anything out, and I admit ahead of time I have mainly due to the length of this article, feel free to bring them up in the thread which follows. Here now, are the Feasts of YHWH:
Shabbat (Sabbath): The weekly Sabbath, yes, this is a feast and the first one listed in Leviticus 23. On this day we cease from all work, it is a day of rest, of gathering, and of learning. This feast was given at creation and actually taken part in by God Himself. I have always found that act to be an interesting one seeing, as God, I can't imagine a scenario where He was tired. Thus His "resting" had to be as an example for all of humanity to follow.
God called the Sabbath a “sign” between Him and His Israel revealing Israel as the covenant people “for all their generations.” (Exd. 31:17) This is the only one of the Ten Commandments not specifically repeated by Messiah in the Apostolic Writings, but one might ask why God needs to repeat a commandment He already called eternal? The author of Hebrews, whom I believe is Paul, does say in Hebrews 4:8-10:
Heb. 4:8 For if Joshua gave them rest, then He would not have afterwards spoken about another day. (9) So, then, there remains a Sabbath rest to the people of God. (10)For he entering into His rest, he himself also rested from his works, as God had rested from His own.
In these verses we see two things, the need for an observing of Shabbat today and we see the hint of what Shabbat points to. Joshua taking Israel into the Promised Land was not the “rest” that the Sabbath points to, but rather a picture of something to come. That which is pointed to deals with Messiah and his reign, and until then we are to take part in this weekly picture of a rest that is still to come. Therefore, the common teaching that we don’t have to take part in the weekly Shabbat because we are NOW “resting in Jesus” is simply not supported in scripture. Incidentally, the command to rest on the 7th day comes with an attached command to work the other 6 days. We even see that reiterated in the above verses from the book of Hebrews.
What does the Sabbath point to? In addition to what I said above, I believe that it points to the Millennial Kingdom. We work 6 days and we rest one, and this points to us working (toiling, decaying, and dying) for 6000 years and then resting (being refreshed) over that next 1000 years. I should add, that the Sabbath appears to continue long after the coming of Messiah.
Isaiah 66:22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me," says the Lord, "So shall your descendants and your name remain. (23) And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the Lord.
Pesach (Passover) - All of the holy days or feasts are Sabbaths, with the exception of the two week-long feasts (Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles), which, in both cases, the first and last days are considered high Sabbaths. On those Sabbath days, work pertaining to the feast can be done, but occupational work cannot be. Pesach is neither; it is not listed as a Sabbath. The word Pesach is used to describe the sacrificial lamb. The lamb itself is the Pesach, and so this “feast” is the day that the lambs that were to be sacrificed and which had been brought to the Temple and inspected, were killed with the offering made by the priests. After the offering was made the lamb was taken back home and roasted to be used as a very special dinner later in the evening. The day of Pesach falls on the 14th day of the Hebrew calendar month known as Nisan (or Aviv), and it is filled with remarkable literal and metaphoric pictures of the Messiah. Literally, on the day the lambs were being brought alive into Jerusalem (what the church calls "Palm Sunday"), he was riding into Jerusalem himself. As the lambs were being inspected by the priests, Yeshua was being “inspected” by his accusers and like the lambs to be offered, no fault (no blemish) was found in him. During the time the lambs were being ritually slaughtered, he was beaten and ultimately gave his own life. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, Yeshua was very much our Pesach.
The work of the Pesach was to redeem the first born. The picture in Egypt is of the blood of the lamb being smeared over the door posts and this action was to spare the first born of the Israelites while the firstborn of the Egyptians would be lost. The tie many miss is that Israel is God’s firstborn:
Exodus 4:22 And you shall speak to Pharaoh, So says YHWH, My son, My first-born is Israel.
Thus the work of Yeshua as the “Pesach,” was to redeem the firstborn of God, His Israel, His covenant people. A second aspect of Pesach that is still somewhat open ended is that John the Immerser made this statement pertaining to the work of Messiah:
John 1:29b Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
The actions as the slaughtered lamb (so to speak) were also dealing with the condition of death and decay introduced into the world by Adam. Death and decay, that process we all go through, was introduced as the penalty for Adam’s sin. Yet, we still decay and die, the work to perfect us has been done, but the perfection has not yet been applied. Yeshua has earned the right to perfect whomever He wills, but that will be on a future Yom Kippur (Commonly known as “The Day of Atonement”) where the sins will be lifted from God’s people permanently. This would be an example, then, of a spring "feast" that has not been entirely fulfilled.
Chag Matstzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread): The biblical day begins and ends at sundown, so when the sun goes down on Pesach (the 14th), the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread begins (the 15th). During this week, one does not consume anything leavened, meaning, nothing that has risen, like bread for example. Historically, this is tied to the exodus and the lack of time to allow the dough they carried to rise, thus they ate their bread unleavened. The picture being drawn here is that leaven is representing sin, hence the physical act of removing all things leavened from the home is done as a physical reminder to remove the sins from our own lives. Culturally, this entire week is known as “Passover” and the tie is actually fairly obvious. By the time the Pesach is taken home and roasted over fire and eaten, the sun has gone down and Unleavened Bread (ULB) had begun. The Pesach (the Passover lamb) is eaten on the first night of ULB tying the two feasts together. The tie is further cemented when we factor in FirstFruits, which I will discuss shortly.
The “house” the leaven is removed from is a picture of the human body, so the picture being drawn is the removal of sin from our lives. Yet, we are also commanded to eat unleavened bread, so as we literally eat unleavened bread for this week, we are being reminded that only the pure and undefiled food, food free from human corruption, is suitable for a child of God. A foreshadowing of Yeshua assuming our sin is also hinted at here, though the fulfillment of that is tied more to Yom Kippur as previously mentioned.
Prophetically, ULB points not to our state of sinlessness, but of Messiah’s! His giving of himself for us was unleavened, pure, without spot, thus ULB reveals us as powerless to overcome death and decay on our own. These thoughts are solidified in something likely tied more to tradition than scripture per say, and that is a traditional Passover Seder. This meal traditionally takes place on the first night of ULB, and this is the meal that is commonly called “The Last Supper.” While that likely took place as a teaching seder on another night (Yeshua was in the grave by the time ULB would have started), the pictures are very clearly in line. The cup he held up and claimed to be his blood, for example, was the 3rd cup of 4 (the cup of redemption) that are drank at this meal. The bread he “broke” was matstzah, unleavened bread that is striped, pierced, and as he performed before his disciples, broken. Incredibly, one of the aspects of the dinner is to take one of three pieces of matstzah and break it, wrap it in a linen clothe and hide it, and then later in the meal bring it back, un-wrap it, and eat it. The picture is so clearly tied to the events regarding Yeshua’s life, death, and resurrection that it is hard to believe it isn’t obvious to our Jewish brethren, who really don’t even know, respectfully, why this is part of the meal. Most assume the three pieces of matstzah are tied pictorially to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… but my personally belief is that the picture is clearly showing us Messiah!
Bikkurim (FirstFruits): On the day after the weekly Sabbath which occurs after Pesach, when in the land, the Israelites were to bring an offering of the firstfruits of their spring grain harvest which would be waved before YHWH by the priest. Not specially called a “feast,” Firstfruits is clearly counted among them and is the first day in a counting cycle wherein God’s people begin a count of 7 Sabbaths and then the day that 7th Sabbath is Shavuot or as is more commonly known to Christians, Pentecost. Firstfruits both supported the priests and also were something of a thanksgiving offering to God. Yet, as with all of these feasts, there is a prophetic finger pointed at Yeshua and his work as Messiah.
Paul ties Firstfruits to the resurrection, of God’s people but namely to Yeshua who was the “Firstfruits of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20-23). The harvesting of the grain at the beginning of the year is a picture first of Messiah, but then of his people who will likewise be resurrected at his return, which will begin the Millennial Reign. Those who celebrate the resurrection of Messiah are actually celebrating Firstfruits according to the picture the feast depicts.
An additional aspect of this “feast” is the waving of the sheaf by the priest before God. There are many interpretations of what this action is depicting; my personal interpretation looks something like this. When Yeshua had resurrected he told his disciples, “touch me not, for I have not ascended to the Father.” This is not speaking of his final ascension, the one done before many, as that would be many weeks away. Rather, this was different; I believe it involves Yeshua as the High Priest going before the Father to wave the sheaf of Firstfruits, his resurrected body, before Him. It was then he was accepted as the Firstfruit of a great harvest to come. A harvest we all desire greatly to be part of.
Chag haShavuot (Feast of the Weeks, Pentecost): One thing that should stand out at this point is the theme of redemption. Each Feast to this point has dealt, to some degree, with an aspect of redemption, and that is culminated on Shavuot. Starting on the weekly Sabbath after Pesach we count 7 Sabbaths and then the day after the seventh Sabbath is Shavuot, the 50th day. Pentecost literally means "count 50." We might do a word study and dig into the meanings behind all the things that come in sevens in the book of Revelation. We might also take the time to familiarize ourselves with the Jubilee Year and its meaning as it happens every 50 years (7 X 7+1). The commands however, that surround this holy day center on certain sacrifices, it also has a special recognition to reach out and help those who can’t help themselves. It is, however, the historical and quite frankly “traditional” aspect of this day that I find most interesting.
The Jewish position regarding Shavuot is that the day Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 Commandments was Shavuot. We can infer this from scripture as well; at least, we know we are in the right time frame. What I find intriguing is that Moses came down more than once. The first time he came down with what amounted to an outline of Torah which he took to the elders, it wasn’t the whole thing, it was merely an encapsulation of it. He then went back and had the stone engraved by God, but broke those when God sent him back to deal with the golden calf incident. And then of course Moses went back and he engraved as God dictated. I believe that the time Moses came down off the mountain with what amounted to an outline of Torah for the elders to consider (and ultimately agree to) was Shavuot, and I believe that because of the picture of a later event that stands in harmony with it. That event was the sending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples on that Shavuot/Pentecost day after his ascension.
Paul makes an interesting comment a couple of times in his second letter to the Corinthians, he writes:
2 Cor. 1:22 even He having sealed us, and having given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
2 Cor. 5:5 And the One having worked in us for this same thing is God, who also is giving us the earnest of the Spirit.
The word for “earnest” here is arrhabon (G728) and it means, “a down payment.” The picture here, as aligned to the day Moses went to the mount and returned with an “earnest” with a promise of “more Torah to come,” is that the Holy Spirit when given was not “all we would ever receive,” it was a down payment toward “more to come.” The more to come is the promise of perfection, of incorruptibility, of having the whole Torah written on our minds and hearts. Messiah has done the ground work, he has gained the right to perfect, to complete the work which truly is started when we repent and receive our own “earnest of the Spirit.” There is still a “day to come” when we will get the rest, and this holy day points us to that future blessing.
The Fall Feasts
Yom Teruah (The Day of Trumpets): Little is said regarding this day in Leviticus 23, simply, it is a High Sabbath (a day no occupational work is performed) on which we are to gather and blow trumpets/shofars. There is a tendency to align this day to an awakening to battle, and it also is accepted among Jews to be the anniversary of creation, the anniversary of the day God said, “Let there be light.” This is why they refer to the day as “Rosh Hashanah,” or “Head of the Year.” There are, though, a couple of other very interesting aspects of this day, one of them is tied to something the ancient sages referred to as, “The day no man knows.”
Yom Teruah falls on the first day of the month. However, a biblical month requires the sighting of the new moon to mark that day, and since the moon must be sighted before the month can be declared, it has been idiomatically called “the day no man knows” because we don’t know when it is until the moon is sighted. Of course we have computers and all the other technologies today which if you prefer, remove the need to go out and sight with your own eyes. Nevertheless, the intent as given in Genesis is that the luminaries (the sun, moon, and stars) were placed there for a number of reasons including arguably the most important, to determine a calendar, to mark the days and seasons.
Is it possible that Yeshua was referring to this “idiom” when speaking about his return? He stated that no man knows the day or hour… which sounds a lot like “the day no man knows.” And seeing Messiah’s return is preceded by a great trumpet blast, what rabbis call the “Tekiah Gedolah,” a sound depicting the coming redemption, then we might have an idea regarding which feast might be the one on which Messiah returns. For it is at the last “trumpet” Paul writes, that the dead in Messiah are raised and we which remain and are alive shall be changed. Could it be the “Day of Trumpets” is the day, sometime in the future, that one great loud and long blast of a shofar will be heard, a battle call as the conquering King returns to put down the enemies of His people and take His promised throne? As convincing as that might sound, and though I once held this view, I no longer do. While you are welcome to draw your own conclusion, I will share, in a moment, which feast I do believe he returns on.
So what do I believe this day refers to? I see it as the Great Gathering of all of God's Israel (His people). Though the Jewish people are in the land, most are still out in the nations. And the rest of what makes up Israel, are most certainly still scattered into the nations. Long ago after Israel divided into two nations the Northern Kingdom, Israel, ended up dispersed/scattered into the nations after their captivity in Assyria. Scattered and given up for idols, it was said that they were no longer a "people of God." However, from the very first time this dispersion is mentioned (Deut. 30:1-6) through clear Prophetic talk where it is said that a time would come where God is going to make those same people again a people to Him (Hosea 1:10), there is a reconciliation of all of God's people coming. The Northern and Southern Kingdom, Israel and Judah, will again come together but this time they will never again be divided. The process of reunification has begun but it appears designs to happen over a process of time. I believe that a great shofar blast is still forthcoming and, if we are blessed to be alive at his return, it will be that which calls us together as one unified bride awaiting the bridegroom.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement/Coverture): When translating the bible into English, Tyndale invented a word for Kippur that he thought captured the essence of the meaning; he called it “atonement.” He took the idea of becoming “at one with” God, and thus the word atonement entered our vocabulary. Well, becoming at one with God does capture part of the essence of this day, there is however, more to it.
Historically, all throughout the year, the sins of Israel would be dealt with via the daily sacrifices in the Temple. On Yom Kippur however, the tabernacle would be cleansed and the High Priest would sacrifice a goat to cleanse and atone (cover, but I will come back to this) for his personal sins in preparation to offer two additional goats for the corporate sins of God's Israel. Two goats were chosen by lot: one to be "The Lord's Goat" and offered as the blood sacrifice for the sins of Israel, and the second goat to be the "Azazel" scapegoat to be cast out into the wilderness bearing the sins of God's people (la’azazel can mean “for the entire removal of” or “for the sending away of” and in this case, sins). At that time the high priest confesses the sins of the Children of Israel to YHWH and then places those sins, abstractly, on the head of the Azazel scapegoat. The Azazel is then sent into the desert wilderness, thus, the Children of Israel's sins were "Kippur" (paid for, atoned for, covered… again, I will come back to this) by the scapegoat sacrifices of "The Lord's Goat" and "The Azazel Goat".
This, like “all sacrifices,” never really did the job in the complete sense, but rather pointed at the one who would, could, and did… Messiah Yeshua. His work in assuming our sin was a partial fulfillment of Yom Kippur, the final and full removal of sin will take place, I believe, on a Yom Kippur yet to come. We observe Yom Kippur by recalling and repenting of anything that stands in contrast to God’s will during the days leading up to Yom Kippur, and then by fasting on that day, spending much of it in prayer. It is a solemn time of reflection while realigning, where needed, to God’s instructions.
I personally believe that it is very possible that Yeshua returns on Yom Kippur. If Yom Kippur is when the sin is removed from Israel, which would be a time when Israel is made incorruptible, then it is possible he returns on this day. Paul writes at least twice, and John wrote once, that when we see him we are changed. So, perhaps his return and the lifting of the sin from the bride are tied? I leave that for you to decide.
I mentioned the word “cover,” also “atone” and even the phrase “paid for” as definitions of the word Kippur. I do believe that these words lack when it comes to the essence, and strength, of the word Kippur. Rather than repeat something I have already published, here is the url to an article on this very subject. I really think it will blessed you to read it.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/ken-rank/yom-kippur-the-day-of-coverture/10150903688317544
Yom Kippur is likely the day we will be perfected, consummated to the bride groom, perhaps the wedding itself falls on this day. Which leads us to…
Sukkot (Tabernacles): The final Feast in the annual cycle is Sukkot, an 8 day Feast where the first and last day are considered “High Sabbaths.” This Feast was tied to the fall harvest and is observed by living in a sukkah, a temporary tent/booth for a week. This was and is to remind us:
Lev. 23:43 so that your generations shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to live in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am YHWH your God. (LITV)
I can’t do Sukkot justice in my explaining of it because there are so many aspects to this Feast and this article is simply too short. We can go from the idea that the sukkah (booth) itself has been called “the mouth of God,” to the idea that this Feast pointed to (and now back) at God tabernacling with His people, to the probability that Messiah was born on the first day of this Feast, and circumcised on the last. We also see in this feast the picture of God’s work being done within the framework of human kind leading up to a day of perfection. Like all Feasts however, Sukkot is everlasting and is the one specifically mentioned as being done during the Millennial Kingdom (see Zech. 14:16-18). I think that is very pertinent because if Kippur is tied to the wedding, Sukkot would be the reception and honeymoon, so to speak. This then points to the time when we dwell with our King, the bridegroom… there will be the bride, and there will be wedding guests (likely the nations). The guests will go home at some point, that is what guests do, but the bride will remain and dwell with Messiah.
I do want to differentiate one day of Sukkot however, the 8th day, a day known as Shemini Atzeret. This Hebrew phrase is used generally to mean “Eight Day of the Assembly” but probably more literally means “Eighth, holding back.” Culturally this day is tied to Sukkot, but carries a meaning somewhat unrelated to Sukkot. The number eight symbolizes the idea of perfection, such is the case then with the "brit milah," the covenant of circumcision. Circumcision was performed on the 8th day of life and points at the future perfecting of man through the circumcision of the heart (Deut. 30:1-6, Ezk. 11:19, Jer. 31:31-34) and it is for this reason that I personally believe Yehoshua was circumcised on this day. From this, Shemini Atzeret points us to the “perfect completion” of that which the previous 7 days of Sukkot point to. Perhaps this day, and the number 8, point to the time after the Millennial Kingdom, a time that has very little said about it in the bible.
All of the Feasts are not just pointing at messiah, they are history, and they are telling the story of the people of God. We do them for the reasons I shared, but we also do them to pass these stories, thus these prophetic pictures, on to the next generation of God’s people. We have been entrusted with the spiritual growth of our children, and it is these feasts and the stories they contain, along with other teachings from scripture, that we pass to them so that they are equipped to live according to the standards God Himself has set forth for His people to live by. May these feasts become the blessing to you that they are to my own family, and me!
Peace and blessings.
Ken Rank
PS... just as an aside... though I used terms found in the bible like "bridegroom" and "wedding" and others like it, I do want to be clear that I believe the use of these words and phrases are metaphoric. In other words, I don't believe we "literally" marry messiah, I believe the marriage words and phrases are used in the bible so that we might catch a glimpse of the depth of relationship our Creator desires to have with us.
