Chapter 3
The Feasts foreshadow Seasons
“Have I not written to you excellent things; of counsels and knowledge, that I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, that you may answer words of truth, to those who send to you?” Prov 22:20-21
Truth is certainly “meat in due season” for those who desire to move into maturity. However, truth is only meat if we’re prepared to receive it. Revelatory truth is given step-by-step by the Lord; He waits to see how we respond to that which He has already imparted before giving us the next insight. Obedience to truth has always been a condition of moving on into the more wonderful aspects of the Lord. Therefore I encourage you to be open to as much truth as you can; check it against Scripture; earnestly seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit; do not be fearful, but yes, certainly be discerning.
The Lord has said that He will meet with man three times. Israel was therefore commanded to meet God at His appointed Feasts three times a year (see Exo 23:14 and Deut 16:16). “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.”
At these Feasts they were not to come “empty handed”, prophetically meaning they were to come prepared and ready to encounter their God. For Israel this was an “excellent” thing to do. The following explanation from Strong’s concordance deepens the insight to the word “excellent” used by King Solomon in Proverbs 22:20.
Shalosh or shaw-loshe from Strong’s Hebrew word number 7969, means a triple, i.e. (as a musical instrument) a triangle (perhaps a three-stringed lute); a three-fold measure (perhaps a treble ephah); also (as an officer) a general of the third rank (upward, i.e. the highest): a captain, an instrument of music, great lord, a great measure, a prince, three. So the word in Hebrew for “excellence” has the connotation of “three” or “great measure”. Since the Lord is excellent above all things, it’s not surprising that He has revealed Himself as three, and desired to meet with man in three dimensions.
In each of these encounters the Lord has promised to meet with us so that we might experience Him in these realms. The three great Feasts are types and shadows of what we are meant to literally enjoy from the Lord. Not only are we to individually experience these truths, but so is the Body of Christ corporately. Note too that these experiences are sequential. We are meant to move into each one progressively as we learn and encounter the different levels and dimensions. The Body will never come into maturity until we engaged each of these revealed truths and live them from the heart. Only then will there be a perfected people having entered into the fullness of the life given by Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus has fulfilled each of these truths in His own life and ministry. The Church historically has already encountered the first two experiences of Passover and Pentecost, and we are now on the verge of meeting with the Lord in the Feast of Tabernacles. The question is: will we personally be prepared to appear before the Father “not empty handed”? May the Spirit of the Living God grant us the wisdom needed to appreciate and experience these truths for ourselves.
Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles
As we have noted, God has said that He will meet with man three times. He has given us symbols of these “meetings” in the three Feasts He ordained Israel to keep, and commanded that they not appear before Him “empty handed”. They were not simply to witness the Feasts, nor just to participate in them. They had to bring something costly! How sad that many Christians hope to come to these Feasts today thinking they don’t have to pay a price. Certainly all of God’s works toward us are of grace. They are free, unmerited, and undeserved; but nevertheless given by Him as a great act of divine generosity. This is grace! How dare we then think we can simply walk into His Presence and partake of these wonderful Feasts laid before us without due consideration of the truths they hold.
It will require the laying down of our own soul-life, our ambitions, our desires; even our own opinions must be crucified. This is what we bring in our hands when we come to His Feasts. As we study them it’s paramount that we learn of them in order to BECOME them! The Feasts were for ancient Israel to keep; they are for the Church to “become”!
As we look at these Feasts we’ll see that they have been perfectly ordered in their timing, their symbolism and their sequence, to give us the clearest possible understanding of what God intends for us to experience in His appointed seasons.
In Scripture we find there are actually seven Feasts of the Lord all contained in three separate seasons. The seven feasts are: the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits [together known as “Passover”]; the Feast of Weeks [called “Pentecost”]; the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles [collectively called “Tabernacles”] Lev 23:4-34. Prophetically the number “seven” stands for perfection, and “three” stands for excellence. So we have something of perfection contained in excellence.
Why study these Feasts? First because the Lord said they were His Feasts (Lev 23:2) and anything belonging to the Lord has great treasure inherit within it. Second, because the Feasts are symbols (or types) of what was to come later they are of utmost importance.
Jesus fulfilled these three Feasts in His own life time in a personal sense, and corporately the Body of Christ has already experienced two of them (Passover and Pentecost), and we now await the third and final Feast!
An important aspect of the typology of the Feasts is that each individual Christian is meant to experience these in a personal sense. Passover is the born-again experience; Pentecost is the infilling of the Holy Spirit; and Tabernacles is coming into full maturity. Hence the first Feast speaks of Jesus; the second, of the Holy Spirit; and the third, of the Father.
This is why we need to both understand the Feasts, and personally experience them! Great treasure and innumerable blessings wait for those who spiritually attend and experience these Feasts today!
The seven Feasts of the Lord are in fact God’s timetable. The word “feast” comes from the Hebrew meaning “an appointed or set time or season”. In these Feasts we have God’s redemptive plan as it wonderfully reveals the ministry and work of the Messiah. To have an understand of these Feasts gives us the ability to appreciate the plan of redemption and Jesus’ role in it. It is through the Feasts that we begin to see the wonder of God’s greater purpose.
By the way, it’s important to understand the difference between God’s PURPOSE and His PLAN. His “purpose” is to bring many sons into glory; this is what Paul’s “mystery” in Ephesians and Colossians is about. God’s “plan” however concerns the redemption found in Christ. They are not the same, neither can we use the terms interchangeably. The “Purpose” is the main thrust, and the “Plan” brings it about for fallen man.
Significantly the total number of “Feasts of the Lord” are seven, which speaks of “completeness”. So the seven Feasts declare to us the fulfillment of God’s purpose accomplished through His plan of redemption. I have more to say in this area in my eBook “The Three Prophetic Feasts”. Here however we’ll just look at a brief overview of these seven amazing Feasts. The following outline gives an insight to the historical and prophetic aspects of all the Feasts. It’s important to understand that the Feasts appear exactly in the order delivered by God to Moses, and that they’ll be fulfilled precisely in that same order.
FEAST OF PASSOVER
Held on the 14th day of Nisan, the first month.
From Egypt to Freedom=from the old life to new.
The lamb’s blood to be shed=the Lamb of God sacrificed.
Lamb’s flesh to be eaten=symbolism of the Lord’s Supper.
It was in the month of Nisan that the Jews were delivered from Egypt.
FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
Starts on the 15th day, and lasts for 7 days.
Regarded as a joint feast with Passover.
Old Israel (law) gives way to the New (grace); now Bread of Life.
FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS
The 16th day after Passover.
Jesus is the Firstfruits from the dead.
It is the start of the harvest season!
The sheaf was waved before the Lord in the Temple the day after the Sabbath. In fulfillment Jesus was “waved” (=presented) to His Father in ¨ His resurrected state the day after the Sabbath.
FEAST OF PENTECOST
The 50th day after the Passover
Also called the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks
Jesus was on earth for forty days after His resurrection. Ten days later the Holy Spirit was sent upon the Church.
Pentecost was a “new” feast, having “new” meat. (Lev 23:16)
It was a harvest feast. Note that 3,000 came into salvation at Peter’s sermon
Pentecost is a harvest but only of the Firstfruits. More to come!
FEAST OF TRUMPETS
Trumpets (shofars) were used for four purpose (see Numbers 10:2-10).
1. A call to assemble
2. Journey to the camps
3. Prepare for war
4. Celebrate a festival
Note the precise sequence of use here: called, assemble, fight the good fight, then celebrate with festivities (at the Coming of the Lord)
We are called, warned and are to be prepared to celebrate the victory.
DAY OF ATONEMENT
There are ten days (called The Awesome Days) which lead up to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), during which every Jew had the time and opportunity to prepare to stand clean and untainted before the Lord for the coming year.
This speaks of a period before the Lord closes this Age during which we are given time and opportunity to prepare to meet our God!
FEAST OF TABERNACLES
This ultimate of all Feasts has been referred to by many names which are attempts to express the great encompassing meaning of this event.
Feast of Unity (Lev 23:40 and 42). Not institutional unity, but organic and spiritual by the Holy Spirit.
Feast of Joy (Deut 16:14). The past 2,000 years of Church life has been a drought more or less, bringing a lack of joy, except during revivals.
Feast of Ingathering (Exo 23:16). Reference to the ingathering of the harvest, during the time of the rains.
Feast of Rest (Lev 23:39). The Feast of Tabernacles heralds the close- ness to the time of resting from laboring in the field.
The Feast of Glory (Exo 40:17). This symbolizes a foretaste of the glory to come with the Lord Jesus. The Church will pass from the realm of the natural to the realm of the spiritual. In the hour of tribulation, the Lord will reveal His glory!
Feast of Restoration (Ezra 3:1). After the Babylonian exile the remnant restored the original, but neglected, Feasts. They had opposition from both the inside and outside of their city. Hence they learnt the lesson that each man had his own set place and set ministry.
Feast of His Appearing (Jhn 7:14,37). Jesus went up and appeared in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles (vs. 14) and also appeared on the last day (vs. 37). This is prophetically important as we are given a glimpse of His return at this last Feast - He shall appear twice during the Feast at the end of the age!
When Jesus came He fulfilled the first three Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits) on the precise days and in the exact order as God gave them. The fourth Feast (Pentecost) was then fulfilled precisely ten days after the ascension of Christ.
The final three Feasts (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles) still await fulfillment, and are directly associated with His Second Coming. They too shall occur precisely “on time” as God has appointed them. The outworking of these Feasts highlights the sequential pattern of the prophetic events they portray. They also show us the INCREASE of blessing that accompanies each stage. All seven Feasts are associated with the Sacred Calendar and linked to agricultural seasons. The following chart will help us understand when each Feast occurred during the cycle of the year. Note that the Feasts of the Lord were associated with harvest periods, and that the three main Feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) were pilgrim feasts.
At these Feasts the pilgrims would come to the Temple to “appear before the Lord” (Deut 16:16) celebrating with great joy. At this assembly the males were to bring with them the fruit of their labors, that is, they were not to come empty-handed. Prophetically this speaks of a time when all believers shall stand before the Lord bringing having with them “the fruit of their labor”.
We shall all appear before Him, and the evidence of our prayer-labor, witnessing-labor, good deeds-labor, fasting-labor, missionary-labor, preaching-labor, prophetic-labor, etc, will be on display. This is such an awesome thought that it should make us re-assess our opportunities while we’re still on this earth!
The Lord God is a God who sows. He is also the One who reaps what He sows, so it’s no co-incidence that the three main Feasts occur at harvest time. After the Feast of Tabernacles is finally fulfilled there shall be a world-wide harvest of souls, and we shall appear before the Lord in all His glory. Let’s not stand before Him empty handed!
NOTE THAT EACH FEAST CONSISTS OF History - a past remembrance; Harvest - has agricultural and seasonal links; and Prophecy - past, present and future applications
These three aspects are highlighted in the following chart by showing how the Feasts relate to Israel, the Lord Jesus, and the individual Believer.
Without a doubt the Word of God tells us that of the seven Feasts, the greatest and most profound, is the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths). The Feast of Tabernacles prophetically speaks of maturity and Sonship. This may account why those today who desire to spiritually experience this Feast are being persecuted by others.
We can see throughout Church history that the “movement” that gave birth to a new spiritual “child” ends up persecuting the very one it brought forth. For example; the Methodist/Wesleyan church came out of Anglicanism, which immediately attacked it. Out of Methodism and other Protestant churches came the Pentecostal movement, with the former persecuting the latter. Now there are those within Pentecostalism who desire to taste the Feast of Tabernacles, and we often find strident accusations against them from inside the Pentecostal movement. To enter into the spiritual truths of Tabernacles will demand perseverance and single-mindedness in these days. The “mother” will seek to kill the “child”.
Yet there are many who are now yearning for something more than doctrinal “truth”. When Jesus declared Himself to be the “Way, the Truth and the Life” He was clearly telling us that these things cannot be found in doctrines, movements or ideals. They are a Person - Himself! The Feast of Tabernacles is not about a doctrine. It is not about “new truth”. It is not even about “a place”, the Holy of Holies. It is about a Person - the Father!
In the Hebrew understanding, the term we translate as “the Holy of Holies” is actually something more like “the Holiest of all Holinesses”. What a truth! This place we call “the Most Holy Place” is not a place at all - it’s a Person. Beware that you do not seek to enter this Feast-realm just seeking an experience of deeper truth. For even looking for the experience of this Feast will rob you. We come to seek Him, and in the process we will experience the Feast. Don’t seek the Feast experience, but seek Him to whom it points! Why then has the Lord made sure that of all the Feasts, this one stands out as the “greatest”? Because there are great things ahead for us. “But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor 2:9
If only we had eyes to see and a heart to believe we would sense what is on the horizon for the Body of Christ. There’s a Trumpet blowing. (The Feast of Trumpets heralds the Feast of Tabernacles proper). Those with spiritual ears have already heard it calling - it’s a call to spiritual warfare, a call to gather as one, a call to set out on the journey that will finally take us into the promised Rest of God, and a call to celebrate with great rejoicing before the King! God follows a pattern of His own making, and the Feasts show us this in outline. We are at the third Feast stage. Any who desires may attend. There is now but one question: Are we ready to come to it? Are you one of them?