Biblical Logos Blog

Maybe you have been seeing posts on the potential Rapture of the Church during Rosh Hashanah this year. It seems that this time of year generates a lot of social media excitement about the Church going home. I hope it is true!! I thought that I would present a little study on the Feasts of the Lord. This serves to put a Biblical context to this anticipation. If you have not studied the feasts in Leviticus, you are missing out. The feasts were given as a celebration for the Israelites, but also as a foreshadowing of future events.

As an example of this foreshadowing, Jesus died on Passover, the first feast. Jesus was buried for three days during the feast of Unleavened Bread. Leaven in the Bible is used as a symbol for sin. Prophetically, Jesus took the sin for the world. And, Jesus resurrection just happened to be on the feast of First Fruits. As the Apostle Paul would the recount “1Co 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The first three feasts were already fulfilled with Jesus’ first coming. Therefore, it is logical to anticipate that the other feasts are also prophetic.

We also have the next feast in the list, Pentecost or Shavuot (Hebrew). This feast was actually when the Holy Spirit came on the believers after Jesus death. Scholars have noted this feast in particular may have several meanings which we will look at below the feast passages.

There are seven “Feasts” described in Leviticus 23 along with the weekly Sabbath. Further context is given to these feats in Deuteronomy 16 as follows:

1. **Passover** (Pesach) – Leviticus 23:5, Deut 16:1-2, 5-7

Lev 23:5  “The LORD’s Passover is to begin on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight. 

Deu 16:1-2  “Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.   And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there. 

Deu 16:5-7  You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, but at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.  And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the LORD your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 

2. **Unleavened Bread** (Chag HaMatzot) – Leviticus 23:6-8, Deut 16:3-4, 8

Lev 23:6-8  And on the fifteenth day of the same month 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 ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.” 

Deu 16:3-4  You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.  No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. 

Deu 16:8  For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work on it. 

3. **Firstfruits** (Yom HaBikkurim) – Leviticus 23:10-14

Lev 23:9-14  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD.  And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.  And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 

4. **Feast of Weeks/Pentecost** (Shavuot) – Leviticus 23:15-22, Deut 16:9-12

Lev 23:9-14  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD.  And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 

Deu 16:9-12  “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.  And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. 

5. **Feast of Trumpets** (Yom Teruah) – Leviticus 23:23-25

Lev 23:23-25  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD.” 

6. **Day of Atonement** (Yom Kippur) – Leviticus 23:26-32

Lev 23:26-32  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD.  And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.  For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.” 

7. **Feast of Tabernacles** (Sukkot) – Leviticus 23:33-44, Deut 16:13-15

Lev 23:33-44  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD.  On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, besides the LORD’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.  “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD. 

Deu 16:13-15  “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.  You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.  For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful. 

Context is important! Did you notice that most all of the feasts contain the words “Speak to the people of Israel….”. You can go back to Leviticus 22. You can also look forward to Leviticus 24. These commands are expressly for the Israelites. The first three feasts (Passover, Unleaven Bread, and First Fruits), not only symbolized Jesus at his first coming, but were tied to the events which had just happened to the Israelites coming out of Egypt. Chapter 23 closes with the Israelites in view:

Lev 23:44  Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD. 

Context tells us these feasts are not for the Church. I’m sure many right now would ask about the Pentecost that happened just after Jesus death recorded in Acts 2. The events recorded there are almost universally regarded as the birth of the Church. That is correct! Hebrews 10:10-18 records how after Jesus death, the Holy Spirit was given in fulfillment of the promised New Covenant. But here we need to understand what did and didn’t happen!

It was Peter on the day of Pentecost that was preaching to the Jewish people gathered at the Temple for the Feast of Pentecost / Shavuot. So even this feast fulfillment started with the Jewish people, before it spread to the Gentiles with Paul. However, I don’t believe we are done with the fulfillment of this Feast. Let’s look in Jeremiah at the passages the author of Hebrews quoted to see the full context:

Jer 31:31-34  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 

Maybe you noticed “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah”. This statement is then tied to the Israelite disobedience of the first covenant which started at Mt. Sinai. On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came first on the Jewish people at the Temple. They had gathered there and heard Peter preach about the death of their Messiah, Jesus. This event brought the Holy Spirit. Ultimately though, the New Covenant is tied to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It has not come to the Jewish / Israelite people corporately as they have yet to accept Jesus as their Messiah. They too need to accept his death, burial and resurrection to receive the Spirit. So the final / full fulfillment of Pentecost and the New Covenant will not be complete until the Jewish people call on the name of the Lord as it says in Matthew 23.

Mat 23:37-39  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” 

So here I depart from some scholars and preachers. Pentecost, in Acts 2 wasn’t a final fulfillment of the prophecy symbolized by the feast of Pentecost / Shavuot from the Old Testament. That is yet to be completed. What happened during the Pentecost in Acts 2 is something more profound. God’s feasts (Moed, Moedim in Hebrew) are defined as “appointed times”. They are appointments for God to meet with man on a specific occasion. The feast of Pentecost / Shavuot God used as the timing for dispensation changes.

Dispensation means “a system of order, government, or organization of a nation, community, etc., especially as existing at a particular time.” God decided to use the timing of Pentecost / Shavuot to define a change in how God relates to man. Let’s look at just some of the changes that happened in the Bible so far timed to Pentecost:

• Creation
• The Covenant with Noah
• The Covenant with Abram/Abraham
• Jacob going to Egypt
• Moses and the Covenant at Mt. Sinai
• The giving of the Holy Spirit/the New Covenant on the Day of Pentecost (Hebrews 8:5-13)

Pentecost / Shavuot is known by Rabbinic scholars as the time of covenant. Can you see why? I believe the Pentecost related in Acts 2 had the dispensation change at its root, vs. the final fulfillment of the prophetic meaning of this feast. The new system of order was being established by God. The old covenant was being set aside and the New Covenant was being initiated. The old law was fulfilled and the new laws were being written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 2:15, Hebrews 8:10, Hebrews 10:16, and Jeremiah 31:33).

In another article, I try to give Biblical support to when God will send the Holy Spirit to the Jewish people corporately. For me, it starts with the sealing of the 144,000 Jewish men in Revelation 7. They become witnesses to the people on Earth during the Tribulation period.

The last three feasts in the Bible prophetically are still yet to come. In a prior article, I went through these remaining feasts in some detail. Here I will just mention my current understanding of how they will be fulfilled.

Rosh Hashanah / Feast of Trumpets is marked by the blowing of trumpets in Israel. Trumpet blowing had several meanings Biblically. I believe the blowing at this feast is to signal God gathering his people together. Let’s look at passages where God’s trumpet sound gathered his people together:

Exo 19:18-20  Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.  The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 

1Th 4:16-17  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 

1Co 15:51-54  Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 

Mat 24:30-31  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, 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 out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

As you can see, in Exodus God’s trumpet wasn’t tied to Rosh Hashanah, but to Shavuot. Even the Rapture verses in 1 Thes 4 and 1 Corin 15 do not necessarily depend on the timing of Rosh Hashanah. The trumpet blowing is about the gathering of God’s people.

The last three feasts as they relate to the Jewish people, does give us a timing indication. The “Fall Feasts” were celebrated for the Jewish people at the Temple to 1) Gather the Israelite people to the Temple (Rosh Hashanah), ceremonially cover their sins (Yom Kippur), and finally to “tabernacle” with their God as was promised (Exodus 25:8) in the Old Testament (Tabernacles). These feasts I believe represent Jesus at his second coming.

Rosh Hashanah – Matthew 24:30-31, 38-43 Ezekiel 20:33-34

Yom Kippur – Matthew 24:44-51, Matthew 25 (entire chapter) Ezekiel 20:35-38

Tabernacles – Matthew 24 + 25 both point to those that survive the judgment entering God’s Kingdom.

Mat 25:34  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  And finally

Eze 37:26-28  I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” 

Conclusion

The Feasts of the Lord carry heavy prophetic meaning. The first three feasts were fulfilled at Jesus first coming as is probably obvious from the text above. Pentecost / Shavuot, I believe, still awaits a future final fulfillment. This will happen when the Jewish / Israelite people accept Jesus as their savior. As I mentioned in other articles I referenced above, I believe this happens during the Tribulation period. Finally, the last three feasts are related to Jesus second coming. With many people who comment and teach on these feasts with an eager expectation that Rosh Hashanah is the timing for the Rapture of the Church, I hope I provided context indicating that these feasts may not have any link to the Church. Only God knows the timing, but I pray for any day now! Maranatha!