Chapter 4
The Feasts, The Harvest and The Resurrection
God provided Israel with the exact day that the messiah would ride into Jerusalem. The Pharisees and the elders of Israel already had figured out that the day was coming and they knew enough to be able to realize that exact day. There are many theories on what decree to rebuild the temple and restore Jerusalem was intended by Daniel. I will not go into the complexity of these theories. Jesus made his statement in Luke 19 as He rode into the city that implies that they should have known that day that He was going to visit them.
Luke 19: 41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
Daniel 9: 25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”
So with the prophecy given to Israel of the day that the messiah would arrive, the Jews looked forward to that day. The reason I bring up this day is because there was also a command from God in preparing for the Feast of Passover even since the time of Moses. God had Israel looking forward to the messiah and in the same time celebrating His feast days. The Jews just didn’t get it! The feast days were linked to the messiah!
Exodus 12: 3 “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”
Notice how Israel brought a lamb without blemish into their house and they treated it as a pet for four days until the fourteenth day of the month. The fourteenth day of that month is the Feast of Passover. The Passover lamb lived with them for four days. The children got pretty attached to this lamb and even possibly the adults might be likely to have developed an attachment to this cute, fuzzy, little lamb as well. It must have been pretty devastating to have to slit this little lamb’s throat four days later just for their sins that they had committed over the last year.
This lamb, living in the home from the tenth day of the month (Nissan) to the fourteenth day, is a reflection of the glorious entry into Jerusalem by Jesus Christ on Palm Sunday. Jesus had dwelt among the people as the messiah four days before the Feast of Passover.
Luke 19: 41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
Jesus, as He wept, realized that Jerusalem had to be destroyed because the majority of Jerusalem did not acknowledge Him as Messiah on the exact day that was prophesized in Daniel 9:25. He rode in on Nissan 10 as the Passover Lamb of God.
In reference to Luke 19 and what Jesus had proclaimed riding in, he said,” that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another”. He later spoke something similar known as “the Olivet Discourse” in Mark 13:2 and also Matthew 24: 2 “And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.”
There is an important reason that the city of Jerusalem and the temple was to be destroyed. God could not let the Jews to continue to worship Him using the temple and the sacrifice of animals for sin atonement. As you read in Matthew 27:51-52, the temple was heavily damaged and the veil was torn from top to bottom. It was done as a “sign” to the priests. This meant that one no longer needed to be separated from God. With the sacrifice of the Lamb of God complete, all one needed to do is believe and trust in Jesus Christ and one had free access to God anytime. The temple worship had to be discontinued. The Pharisees tried to continue the animal sacrifices for another 40 years, but was stopped abruptly by the invasion of the Romans in A.D. 70. To this day, the Jews have not had a temple nor sacrifices for atonement for sin. God will let them build another temple very soon for the events to take place in the seven year tribulation to come known as the 70th Week of Daniel or Jacob’s trouble.
Matthew 27: 50 “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;”
Please note in Matthew 24, Jesus was talking to His disciples warning the Jews about the coming tribulation that they would go through as He spoke of the “Abomination of Desolations” that the Jews would witness during the seven year tribulation. This was intentional to have a different warning for the Jews than for the Christians. Speaking to the Christians in Luke 21, Jesus gave a more detailed revelation of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
Luke 21: 20 “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter therein to. 22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
In Luke 21, Jesus was speaking to the Christians and warning them to flee when they see the city compassed with armies. Many Christians remembered what Jesus had said and did flee Jerusalem. Flavius Josephus was the famous Jewish historian whom wrote of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. He was very thorough in his observation of the events of that time. He makes no notes of any Christians having been killed in Jerusalem in his coverage of that event. This revelation by Jesus about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple confirmed the prophecy in Daniel 9:26.
Daniel 9: 26 “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”
If one checks back in history, one will find that Titus and the Roman army invaded and destroyed the temple in A.D. 70. The prophecies in Daniel 9:26, Luke 19, Luke 21, and Matthew 24 all came true.
The first of the seven Feasts of the Lord is the Feast of Passover. I have explained the details of how this day came about in the 2nd chapter of this book. The Lord had given Israel instructions on how to eat the Passover Feast just before that first Passover evening in Egypt had come.
Exodus 12: 6 “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof. 10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's Passover.”
The fourteenth day of their first biblical month was the day spent by the Jews in remembrance of that day God sent the spirit of death to kill the first born of Egypt to bring to the nation Israel their freedom from bondage that they had endured 430 years. The significance of this Feast of Passover is only matched by the Feast of First Fruits in importance. Sadly the Jews, even today, still don’t realize the Feast of Passover as a day of sacrifice that their messiah had made for them. However, a Christian looks at this Feast of Passover as a magnificent act of love that God the Father sacrificed His only begotten Son for all of mankind. God brought redemption to us just as He promised back in Genesis 3:15.
Leviticus 23: 5 “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”
Since the Passover meal was accompanied with unleavened bread on their table, the Feast of Passover was adopted into being called the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was meant to be started on the fifteenth day of the month or day after the Feast of Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven day feast. Through Jewish tradition, it was combined into an eight day Feast of Unleavened Bread where they ate the Feast of Passover on the first day which was the fourteenth day of the month.
Matthew 26:17 “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?”
I would like to link the events of the New Testament with these first two feast days. The timing is important so that one can see that the scriptures give an accurate account. For many centuries, most of the church has been deceived by false doctrines on the crucifixion day of Christ. These doctrines that say that the crucifixion happened on Friday and then Christ rose again on Sunday actually call Jesus a liar. Jesus is quoted in saying in Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” A Friday death doesn’t give Jesus three days and three nights to be in the heart of the earth and be resurrected on Sunday morning.
If you look in Mark 11:1-10, it speaks about Jesus and His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This was the tenth day of the month of Nisan. Then if you keep reading in Mark 11, you will find a verse that tells you it turns to the morrow or next day. Mark 11: 12 “And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:” This would be the eleventh day of the month of Nisan which would be a Monday. Then you move to verses 19-20, you will see another day pass. This makes it the twelfth day of the month of Nisan or Tuesday. Mark 11: 19 “And when even was come, he went out of the city. 20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.” If you keep reading through, you will find verse one of Mark 14. It says after two days was the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. Notice how they call the Passover the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Mark 14: 1After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. This brings The Feast of Passover to the fourteenth day of Nisan which was a Thursday. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan and was a Friday.
Luke 22: 13 “And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover. 14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer:”
Before I go into the timing of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, I want to go over the traditional timekeeping of Israel. The Jewish "day" starts at sunset, rather than at midnight. If you read the story of creation in Genesis chapter 1, you will notice that it says, "And there was evening, and there was morning, one day." From this, Israel infers that a day begins with evening; that is at sunset. Sunset is at 6pm, so therefore the day begins at 6pm. When most sources discuss the molad, it is understood that Israel uses 6pm of the preceding evening as the "zero hour." Then one can count the 12th hour to be 6am. Just as we do, we continue and call the hours from the 12th hour again such as the 1st hour and so do the Jews as 1st hour, 2nd hour and so on. The 6th hour was in the daylight after 6am which was our 12pm and 9th hour was our 3pm. Then 6pm becomes the “zero hour” just as 12 midnight is for us.
So when Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover meal or as we now call it “The Lord’s Supper”, it was evening after 6pm on Thursday, Nisan 14. This would be equal to Wednesday night for the rest of us. Midnight for us is the “zero hour” when in Israel, 6pm is the “zero hour”. Wednesday turned into Thursday at 6pm that night of the Passover meal. If you then follow the timing of that evening into the time after 12am came the time in the garden of Gethsemane which was still Thursday, then the capture of Jesus on to the trials in the early morning which was still Thursday. The scourging and then the cross being carried to Golgotha was Thursday early morning. He was hung on the cross at 9am Thursday the fourteenth day of Nissan which was still the Feast of Passover. Mark 15: 25 “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.” At 6am was the “12th hour” like our noon. The 3rd hour is 3 hours after 6am which was 9am that they first hung Jesus on the cross. This is still Thursday, Nisan fourteen.
Matthew 27: 45 “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
As one reads Matthew 27:45-46, one can see that there was complete darkness over all the land from noon until 3pm which is still Thursday, Nisan fourteen. The sixth hour passed 6am is 12 noon and then the ninth hour past 6am is 3pm. We do know that He died on the Feast of Passover which was between 3pm and 5:59pm. How do we know this? God is perfect and through His plan and will, He died on the Feast of Passover. Jesus Christ was the Passover Lamb of God who died for complete atonement for all of our sins.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread was to begin at 6pm, which would be that Friday, the fifteenth day of the Month of Nisan. This was a seven day feast where they could not have any leaven in their food for these seven days. The significance of this day is that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and was buried on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. His sinless body was buried at the evening after His death.
Matthew 26: 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
Matthew 27: 57 “When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: 59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.”
If one looks in the Old Testament, one will find leaven was not allowed during the first three Feasts days. The Feast of First Fruits was that third feast day that was inside of the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In the New Testament we find many instances where leaven represents sin.
1 Corinthians 5:8 “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Jesus used the word leaven when He described the hypocrisy of the Pharisees In Luke 12.
Luke 12: 1“In the meantime, when there were gathered together an
innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he
began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of
the Pharisees, which is