Seven Jewish Feasts

Ever since the Israelis left their slavery in Egypt to enter into the Promised Land, they have celebrated seven major holidays every year.  And these seven holidays mysteriously foretold the coming of Jesus as well as the future of the world.

Four of the Jewish holidays are celebrated in the spring of the year, and three are in the fall.  The events that are symbolized by the spring holidays have all taken place already, but the fall holidays have not yet been fulfilled. 


The first spring holiday on the Jewish calendar is called the PASSOVER.  The first Passover was celebrated in Egypt, on the night of the last plague.  In Exodus 12, we read that God had Moses tell each family to kill a lamb, eat it, and put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts.  Later that same night, the angel of death came into Egypt and went into almost every home to kill the firstborn son of every family. 


The only homes that the angel of death would not enter were the homes that had the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. 


The blood of the lamb protected the families from death.


Does that sound familiar?  When each of us die, there is one thing that will determine where we spend eternity...  do we have the blood of Jesus on the doorposts of our hearts?  


The year that Jesus was crucified, in 33 AD, Israeli families were celebrating their Passover Feast by killing a lamb on the same day that Jesus was arrested and crucified.


Jesus fulfilled the Passover Feast by becoming the Lamb who was slain.  His blood goes onto the doorway of our hearts to protect us from eternal death.  So, the Passover is the first Jewish holiday.


The second Jewish holiday is called the FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.  This holiday begins the day after Passover.


The first Feast of Unleavened Bread was also celebrated in Egypt, the day after the Jewish families had killed their lambs.  Exodus 12 tells us that when the Israelis woke up that morning, they learned that all the firstborn sons in Egypt had died, and that the Pharaoh had ordered Moses to take the Israelis and leave Egypt:


The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”  So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. (Exodus 12:33,34 NIV)


The Israelis left Egypt that day with nothing to eat but bread made without yeast – their unleavened bread.  And as they walked out of Egypt eating their unleavened bread, they left their life of slavery behind!!


The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a picture of Jesus.  In the Bible yeast represents sin.  Just as the dough had no yeast, Jesus had no sin.  Jesus was the sinless Bread of life. (John 6:58 NIV)  And when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, He leads us out of our slavery to the devil and into abundant Life in the Promised Land!!


Today, Israelis celebrate this feast by not eating anything at all with yeast in it for a week.  And, they aren’t to do any slavish work. 


So the first two Jewish holidays were fulfilled when Jesus was killed.


Jesus was the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the whole world, whose blood protects us from eternal death.  And He was the sinless Bread of Life who leads us out of slavery and into abundant Life.


The 3rd Feast is called the Feast of First fruits, which takes place just a few days after Passover.  During this Feast, the Jewish people take their very first sheaf of grain (called the first fruits) from the fields, bring it to the priest, and he waves it before God as a way of giving thanks to God for the greater harvest to come. 


Paul calls Jesus the first fruits of God’s great harvest (See 1 Corinthians 15:23). 


When the stone was rolled away from the grave that held Jesus and He rose to life again, Jesus was the first fruits, and we who belong to Him are the rest of God’s great harvest.


In the year 33 AD, Jesus resurrected from the dead as the Jewish Priests were in the temple waving the First fruits of their harvest before God.


The next Feast begins 50 days later.  It’s called the FEAST OF PENTECOST.  In the year 33 AD, while the Israelis were celebrating their Feast of Pentecost, Jesus was pouring out His Holy Spirit!!  Acts chapter 2 tells the story of how the Holy Spirit fell from Heaven and landed like little tongues of fire on the heads of 120 people who were praying together in the upper room.


Traditionally, the Israelis celebrated this Feast by taking two loaves of bread and waving them before the Lord. The two loaves of bread represent one for the gentiles, the other for the Jews.  All of humanity was represented here – Jesus died for the sins of the whole world!


And this bread had yeast in it.


In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus was represented by bread without yeast, but in the Feast of Pentecost, people are represented by bread with yeast.


Yeast represents sin.  People have sins but Jesus did not.


Let’s talk about the Holy Spirit Fire that came on the heads of the 120 people.

Fire, in the Old Testament days, was a purifier.  If you wanted to purify gold or precious metals in those days, you put the gold into a fire and all the impurities came out.  The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost as a way to make us holy in God’s eyes.


So those were the first four feasts, the spring feasts, and all four have already been fulfilled by Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the year 33 AD!!


Now let’s look at the last three Feasts.  They all happen in the Fall of every year, and not one of them has been fulfilled yet.


The very next Feast to be fulfilled is Rosh Hashanah, or the FEAST OF TRUMPETS.  In Leviticus 23, we read:


The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of Sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. (Leviticus 23:23,24 NIV)


Trumpet blasts… Let’s look at 1 Thessalonians 4:


For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 NIV)

 

I don’t know about you, but it’s exciting to me that the very next major church event on God’s calendar is the Rapture of the Church!!!  At the rapture, all those who have believed in Jesus, whether dead or alive, will be taken from the earth. 


The people left on the earth will still have a chance to turn to Jesus.  One large group of people who will turn to Jesus in the last days is the nation of Israel. Which brings us to our next Feast.  


The Next Feast after the Feast of Trumpets is the 6th Feast, the DAY OF ATONEMENT.  Leviticus 23 tells us that every year, on the Day of Atonement, a priest was to symbolically lay all the sins of all the people onto the head of a goat.  Then, that goat was led out into the desert and released to die in the heat. 


This innocent one-year old goat was the scapegoat.  He hadn’t sinned, but he took the punishment. 


A second goat was to be brought as a sin offering and killed.  This ceremony was the way that God had provided for the people so that they would be cleansed of their sins.  God said,


“on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins.” (Leviticus 16:30 NIV)

 

Symbolically, Jesus is our Scapegoat; He never sinned, yet He was punished and killed for our sins.


On the Day of Atonement, when the priest put his hands on the goats and transferred all the sins of the people onto the goat, that was a picture to symbolize that one day all of the sins of the people would be transferred from us onto Jesus, and Jesus would be taken outside the city gates and killed. 


In the book of Hebrews, we are told that Day of Atonement has a problem:

 

the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.  They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order. (Hebrews 9:9,10 NIV)

 

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.  

 

If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.  But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4 NIV)


What was the problem with the scapegoat system?   It didn’t really take away sins- it was just a picture that one day there would be a special blood that would wash our sins away, but the blood of goats didn’t really work.  


God had said to sacrifice a goat and they did.  But God wanted them to feel that there was something missing so that they would look forward to a better way.


The way they realized something was missing was that year after year on the Day of Atonement, after they had fulfilled the law and gone back home, they still felt guilty for the sins they had committed last week, last month, 10 years ago.  The blood of the goats did not remove their guilt.  And no matter how many goats were killed or how good they tried to be, they lived with the burden of guilt on them, and it was killing them. 


That problem continued, year after year for the next 1500 years when the Day of Atonement was dramatically changed forever. 


The blood of Jesus really does take away our sins.  Hebrews 9 tells us:

 

He (Jesus) did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:12-14 NIV)

 

The blood of Jesus has a power that the blood of goats never had.  The blood of Jesus not only washes away our sins, it cleanses our consciences from those sins.  Once He washes away our sins, they are gone in the deepest ocean, and we don’t need to feel guilty for them anymore!!!


The Day of Atonement was partially fulfilled when Jesus died, but it won’t be completely fulfilled until some day in the future.


The Day of Atonement symbolizes how the nation of Israel will one day turn to Jesus!!  We are told that many nations will gather together to fight against the tiny nation of Israel, and at that time, while Israel is surrounded, they will call out to Jesus to save them.  Zechariah tells us:


… They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.  On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be … great (Zechariah 12:10,11 NIV)

 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.  (Zechariah 13:1 NIV)


So, one day, the nation of Israel will turn to Jesus, and He will wash away their sins with His blood. Hallelujah!!  On this final Day of Atonement, God’s chosen people will call out to Him to be saved and He will save them spiritually as well as physically.


Anybody anywhere can instantly be washed clean of sin the moment they call out to Jesus, but when the Day of Atonement is completely fulfilled, that will be the Day when the Israeli people, as a nation, call out to Jesus to save them and get washed by the blood of Jesus.


And the last Feast is the FEAST OF TABERNACLES.  In Leviticus 23, God instructed Moses on how to celebrate this Feast:


And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days…

Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths…  (Leviticus 23:40-42 KJV)

 

So, every year, during the Feast of Tabernacles, the last Feast of every year, the Israelis celebrate by living in little huts, or booths, as the Kings James version says, for a week. Huts that they make out of specific types of branches.  During that week they eat special food and they rejoice.  It is a feast of great rejoicing.  This little description of the branches is filled with so much symbolism.  Let’s just look quickly at three words:  the boughs of goodly trees … and willows of the brook…

 

boughs, in, Hebrew, means “cloud,” or “cover”

goodly, in Hebrew, means “glory,” “splendor”

willows, in Hebrew, means “occupy”  (Strong 1983)

 

Do you see what the Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes for us?  In Revelation 21, John saw a vision of Heaven.  He said:


Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 

There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4 NIV)


The Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the new Home that God has prepared for those who love Him.  It symbolizes Heaven, our eternal home where we will live with Jesus forever.


Here again are the seven Jewish Feasts and their symbolism:

 

The Feast of Passover, which symbolizes how Jesus is the Lamb whose blood goes on the doorposts of our hearts to protect us from eternal death.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which symbolizes how Jesus is the sinless bread of the world who leads us out of slavery and into Abundant Life.

The Feast of First Fruits, which symbolizes how Jesus became the first of a great harvest to rise out of death into New Life.

The Feast of Pentecost, which symbolizes how Jesus poured out His Holy Spirit Fire to purify us and make us holy in God’s sight.

The Feast of Trumpets, which symbolizes how all those who believe in Jesus will hear a trumpet call and rise to meet Him in the clouds.

The Day of Atonement, which symbolizes how God’s chosen people, the Israelis, will call out to Jesus to save them.

The Feast of Tabernacles, which symbolizes how all those who have called on the Name of Jesus will live eternally in with Him in Heaven.

 

 

References

 

Strong, James. Strongs Exhaustive Concordance: Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, Together with Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words of the Original, with References to the English Words. Baker Book House, 1983.

 

 

 

 

 

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.  Used by permission of Zondervan.  All rights reserved worldwide.www.zondervan.com.  The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

 

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973,1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.