Jesus Unmasked: The Truth Will Shock You (14 page)
Chapter 14 — Jesus Is Seven Festivals
God is not a crabby curmudgeon. The true God is a God of joy who invites — no, He commands — His people to celebrate.
While the Jews were mundanely wandering the wilderness, God ordered them to celebrate His goodness seven times a year. These festivals were not meant to be a humdrum gathering for the Society of Long Faces. Festivals were meant to be parties that honored God.
Colossians tells us that there was more to these festivals than what meets the eye. You guessed it — festivals were Old Testament types for Jesus.
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a
religious festival
,
a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a
shadow
of the things that were to come;
the reality, however, is found in Christ
(Col. 2:16–17; NIV).
There is no question that the seven annual festivals are pictures of Jesus and His redemptive work, but caution must be exercised trying to figure out how exactly the festivals foreshadowed Jesus.
Four Spring Festivals
The first of the four annual festivals were spring feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost. These were celebrations for the harvest of the spring crop, wheat. These were known as the Harvest Festivals.
The first three festivals, Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits, are very closely linked as they occur successively.
These are the appointed times of the
Lord
, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.
In the first month, on the
fourteenth
day of the month at twilight is the
Lord’s
Passover
.
Then on the
fifteenth
day of the same month there is the
Feast of Unleavened Bread
to the
Lord
; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work
(L
ev. 23:4–7).
1. Passover: Fourteenth day of Nissan (March or April), Friday.
This was covered in chapter four, but if you recall, Passover was the celebration of the night God sent the tenth plague to the Egyptians, forcing the Pharaoh to let God’s people go.
God threatened to kill the firstborn son of everyone in the land. Unless. Unless they showed faith by sacrificing a lamb and painting the blood around the doorframe of their homes. This lamb was to be special.
> Only an unblemished, spotless lamb was an acceptable sacrifice.
> The lamb was to be selected on “lamb selection day,” Monday.
> The lamb would live with its people for a short time, until Friday.
> The lamb was to be sacrificed in Jerusalem on Friday.
> The lamb was to have no broken bones.
How Is Jesus Like the Passover Lamb?
> Jesus was spotless. He never sinned. Ever.
> Jesus likely entered Jerusalem on Monday of Passover week. This was “lamb selection day.”
> Jesus dwelt with us for only a short time, 33 years.
> He was sacrificed in Jerusalem on a Friday.
> Unlike most crucifixion victims, none of Jesus’ bones were broken.
How Is Jesus Better Than the Passover Lamb?
> A lamb is an ignorant sacrifice. Jesus was not.
> Before the foundation of the world, Jesus submitted to the pre-arranged plan of the Father to be a willing volunteer and not an unwilling victim (Acts 2:23; Luke 22:42).
> The blood of lambs could only cover sins. Jesus’ sacrifice forgives sins and cleanses our consciences.
> Lambs only served as a picture of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch — as you really are. For
Christ, our Passover Lamb
, has been sacrificed (1 Cor. 5:7; NIV).
2. Unleavened Bread: Fifteenth Day of Nissan, Saturday
The festival of Unleavened Bread occurred after Passover night, when all the Egyptian firstborn died. The Jews were to bake unleavened bread, a yeast-free flat bread that was quick and easy to make. They were also to purge their homes of leaven.
Once again, this festival was symbolism that served as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to His chosen people.
> “And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves” (Exod. 12:39; NKJV).
> “It is a night of solemn observance to the
Lord
for bringing them out of the land of Egypt” (Exod. 12:42; NKJV).
> Leaven was a symbol for sin. The house was to be symbolically purged of sin. This represented God’s desire for His people to be holy and set apart.
Paul wrote this to the wayward Corinthian church, fifteen hundred years later:
“Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little
leaven
leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed
Christ, our Passover
, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:6–7; NKJV).
The Feast of Unleavened Bread finds its fulfillment in Jesus who is the Passover Lamb who cleanses us from sin. As believers, we are to be “unleavened” from our sin.
First Fruits: Sixteenth of Nissan, Sunday
This feast was a thank offering to God as they offered the first ripe sheaf of barley to the Lord to thank Him for the great harvest to come. This offering was called the First Fruits.
Then the
Lord
spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the
first fruits
of your harvest to the priest.
He shall
wave the sheaf
before the
Lord
for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a
male lamb
one year old
without defect
for a burnt offering to the
Lord
’ ” (Lev. 23:9–12).
The Shadowy First Fruit Celebration
> One sheaf, the first to represent many more sheaves, was to be raised and waved as the first fruit of many more to come.
> A young, unblemished male lamb was to be sacrificed.
Jesus Is the First fruit
But now Christ has been
raised
from the dead, the
first fruits
of those who are asleep (1 Cor. 15:20).
On the very day that the first fruit sheaf was to be raised as a sign of many to follow, so Jesus was raised from the dead and is the first of many to follow. This is made clear in 1 Corinthians 15 as Paul stresses the importance of the resurrection from the dead.
Now if Christ is preached, that He has been
raised
from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no
resurrection
of the dead, not even Christ has been
raised
;
and if Christ has not been
raised
, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He
raised
Christ, whom He did not
raise
, if in fact the dead are not
raised
.
For if the dead are not
raised
, not even Christ has been
raised
;
and if Christ has not been
raised
, your faith is
worthless
; you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be
pitied
(1 Cor. 15:12–19).
The Christian faith is founded on this chief doctrine: Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and if you are in Christ, you will too. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we are fools and should be pitied. But He did and we will.
The Festival of First Fruits pictured the Resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of many to follow. Eyewitnesses testify to it, and we celebrate it every year on Easter Sunday, the same day as the Festival of First Fruits.
4. Feast of Weeks, Known as Pentecost
The fourth festival was called the Festival of Weeks. This festival was to take place 50 days after the Festival of First Fruits.
You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be
seven
complete Sabbaths.
You shall count
fifty days
to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the
Lord
(Lev. 23:15–16).
By the time of Jesus, the Festival of Weeks was referred to as Pentecost, which is the Greek word for “fifty.” Today, Jews call this festival “Shavout.”
The Festival of Weeks was the summer harvest festival dedicating the future harvest from God. Matthew Henry points out that by Jesus’ time, the Festival of Weeks/Pentecost was a festival that celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses and the Jews.
1
What happened 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead on the Festival of First Fruits?
When the day of
Pentecost
[Feast of Weeks] had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance (
Acts 2:1–4).
Jesus fulfilled His promise to provide His Holy Spirit who is able to help us keep the Law.
Fall Festivals
The three fall festivals are: Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. These three festivals happen over 21 days in the fall to celebrate the fall harvests of olives, dates, and figs. These were known collectively as the Tabernacles.
5. The Feast of Trumpets: First day of the Seventh Month
Again the
Lord
spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by
blowing of trumpets
, a holy convocation.
You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the
Lord
’ ” (
Lev. 23:23–25).
This was a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts. Again, caution needs to be practiced when it comes to applying the meaning to the festival types, but it seems that the key to our understanding is found in the blowing of the trumpets.
Numbers 10 gives us the biblical significance of trumpet blowing.
When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm
with the trumpets
, that you may be remembered before the
Lord
your God, and be saved from your enemies.
Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall
blow the trumpets
over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the
Lord
your God (Num. 10:9–10).
Is it possible that the Feast of Trumpets is a foreshadowing of the return of Jesus?
[Jesus said,] “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a
great sound of a trumpet
, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:30–31; NKJV).
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet
; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed
(1 Cor. 15:51–52).