The Biblical Festivals That Teach Us About Jesus Christ
article by
Mario Seiglie courtesy of United Church of God
Few people are aware of the seven festivals God reveals in the
Bible. Even fewer are aware that they center around and teach us a great
deal about Jesus Christ and His role in God's plan for all mankind.
"The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts" (Leviticus 23:2). Sounds impressive, doesn't it? God Almighty saying in Scripture, " These are My Feasts ."
Yet for most of traditional Christianity, these "feasts of the LORD"
are thought to have been kept only by the Jews and are deemed
meaningless for Christians. New religious holidays have been substituted
that supposedly center on Jesus Christ.
How did all this come to be? What is the true meaning of these "feasts
of the LORD"? Do they have anything to do with Jesus Christ, or is their
symbolism limited only to long-ago events? If we truly want to find the
answers in the manner God instructs us, then we should follow the
advice He inspired: "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
The Bible gives us a good example of how to examine a belief to see if
it is correct. When the apostle Paul traveled to Berea, he taught the
Bereans certain things that must have been surprising to them. But they
didn't close their minds or reject them. Instead, they were willing to
give them a fair hearing by carefully examining the Scriptures. What was
the result? We read in Acts 17:11-12
that these men and women "were more fair-minded than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and
searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
Therefore many of them believed …"
So in examining the feasts of the Bible, will we give them a fair
hearing as well? Do the Scriptures reveal whether these feasts teach us
important truths about Jesus Christ?
The Passover: A Christ-centered feast?
The Passover is the first of God's annual feast days mentioned in
Scripture. It commemorates the greatest event in the people of Israel's
history—their miraculous liberation from Egypt. The second book of the
Bible, Exodus, is dedicated to narrating this history. Observant Jews
have been celebrating this feast for more than 3,400 years.
But is this feast only to celebrate the Israelites' departure from
Egypt? Does the New Testament have anything to say about the occasion?
When John the Baptist saw Jesus Christ coming to the Jordan River to be
baptized, he exclaimed, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world!" (John 1:29).
In the Bible the lamb is a symbol of the Passover because a lamb was
slain at the beginning of the Passover and eaten that night. The
Israelites knew the blood of the lamb had protected them from the death
of their firstborn on that first Passover night they kept in Egypt (Exodus 12:12-13 ).
In the New Testament, the Gospels record that Christ kept the Passover
with His disciples several times. On the night before His death, Jesus
knew He was fulfilling the symbolism of the Passover lamb in voluntarily
giving His life for the sins of the entire world.
Notice Luke 22:14-16 :
"When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.
Then He said to them, ‘With fervent desire I have desired to eat this
Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer
eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'"
Jesus then instituted the new symbols that represented not the
sacrifice of a lamb, but His far greater sacrifice. The Passover symbols
would now represent Christ's complete sacrifice—the unleavened bread
representing His sinless body that was beaten for us, and a sip of wine
signifying the lifeblood He would shed to wash away our sins.
From then on, this feast took on a much greater new meaning to the
Church. Instead of being abolished, this feast now revealed its true,
ultimate meaning. The disciples now realized the Passover lamb was only
the physical forerunner of that perfect sacrifice which was Jesus
Christ. Now they would keep this feast with far greater significance and
comprehension.
Paul explains the Christian Passover
Some 25 years after Christ's death, the apostle Paul instructed the
Corinthian congregation—composed of believing Jews and gentiles
alike—about the Passover: "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 Corinthians 5:7, emphasis added throughout).
Paul understood this ancient feast of the Passover had now revealed its
true meaning with Christ's sacrifice. It was part of God's plan for all
of mankind that Jesus would come and sacrifice Himself for the sins of
the world—and the Passover anticipated it.
So, far from being obsolete, the Passover was revealed to have a vastly
important meaning for Christians, with Jesus Christ being at its very
center.
The apostle Paul explained this new understanding of the Passover to
the Corinthian brethren when he instructed them on how to observe it:
"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that
the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed [Passover
night] took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,
‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in
remembrance of Me.'
"In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This
cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it,
in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this
cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ).
So in the New Testament, the Passover becomes an annual reminder and symbol of Christ's sacrifice for all of us.
God's feasts reveal the future
The apostle Paul clearly understood that these biblical feasts were
harbingers of what was to come in God's master plan of salvation. In a
passage frequently misunderstood by many, Paul shows these feasts of the
Lord were "shadows" of things to come—not of things that have already
happened.
He warned the brethren not to be intimidated by some who were
questioning their manner of keeping God's feasts, as well as the
Sabbaths, new moons, and eating and drinking. He said, "So let no one
judge [criticize or condemn] you in food or in drink, or regarding a
festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come
. . . Let no one cheat you of your reward …" (Colossians 2:16-18 ).
Paul was combating a group of ascetics who were introducing several
strange doctrines, including worshiping angels (verse 18) and abstaining
from wholesome food and drink (verse 21). He told the brethren to
ignore them and continue observing what he had taught (and he certainly
taught keeping the Passover, as we have seen). Regrettably, the
Colossian brethren had been cowed by these self-righteous intruders and
were starting to shy away from observing these feasts.
So Paul mentions how important they are, as foreshadowing coming events
in God's plan for mankind. These events have not been completely
accomplished so far, and many are still in the future.
Even the Passover's symbolism was not completely fulfilled with
Christ's sacrificial death. Jesus Himself said He will again take the
Passover with all the believers in God's Kingdom (Mark 14:24-25 ; Luke 22:15-16 )—an act that represents the ultimate triumph of His sacrifice when all believers join Him in His Kingdom.
The Days of Unleavened Bread: Is Christ at the center?
What about the Days of Unleavened Bread? Are they obsolete, solely an
Old Testament symbol? Or are they also glorious shadows of things to
come?
In the Old Testament, the Days of Unleavened Bread were understood to
be a memorial of what occurred after the Passover night, when all the
Egyptian firstborn died.
The next morning the Israelites packed their belongings and traveled to
a nearby gathering place, ready for departure. That evening, they left
Egypt by night. "It is a night of solemn observance to the LORD for
bringing them out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:42).
Before that evening, one last thing occurred: "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" (verse 39).
This feast of the Lord is clearly spelled out in Leviticus 23:6:
"And on the fifteenth day of the same month [as Passover] is the Feast
of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened
bread."
What does this feast have to do with Christ? What does it teach us about Him?
Unleavened bread—bread made without leaven—is mentioned in the Bible as
something pure and unpolluted. All the grain sacrifices to be burned
were to be made without leaven. "No grain offering which you bring to
the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any
honey in any offering to the LORD made by fire" (Leviticus 2:11).
In the New Testament, the apostle Paul explains the spiritual symbolism
of unleavened bread. Rebuking the Church members in Corinth for their
acceptance of sin, he tells them: "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 Corinthians 5:6-7 ).
Yes, as Paul states, it is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that removes
our sins, and so we become "unleavened" in a spiritual sense. So, again,
Jesus Christ is the focus of this feast of the Lord. The shadow of this
feast points to what Jesus would do for all of us in cleansing us of
sin and helping us to live sin-free lives.
Paul told the Corinthian brethren that they should continue to keep
this feast that followed the Passover. "Therefore let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (verse 8).
We see, then, that the spiritual meaning of the Days of Unleavened
Bread was revealed. Its deeper significance wasn't ultimately found in
what had occurred in the Old Testament, but in Jesus Christ, the sinless
one, who purged our sins and gave us a chance to be spiritually
"unleavened" before God. As the apostle Jude noted, Jesus "is able to
keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).
So Jesus Christ is at the center of this second feast of the Lord, too.
He makes it possible for us to be spiritually "unleavened" before God.
Pentecost: Is Christ at the center of this feast?
In the Old Testament, the Feast of Pentecost is called the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22). This is because Leviticus 23:15-16
mentions counting seven weeks (or Sabbaths) or "fifty days" from the
day the wave sheaf was offered during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Thus
the feast acquired the name of "fiftieth," which is what Pentecost
means in the Greek language of the New Testament.
In the New Testament, 50 days after Christ had been resurrected, the
first Christians were celebrating Pentecost, one of the feasts of the
Lord. And, as recorded in Acts 2, what a day that was! On it they
received the Holy Spirit from God. Suddenly the Old Testament Feast of
Weeks had taken on a new meaning for them. The shadow of this feast had
now become a reality! Pentecost would become the Church's anniversary of
the receiving of God's Spirit.
Jesus Christ revealed the significance of this feast by sending the
Holy Spirit to His brethren in the faith. He had told them, "Behold, I
send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of
Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49; compare John 16:7).
God's Spirit plays a crucial role in the life of Christians today as it
did then. When a person receives God's Spirit upon repentance and
baptism, that Spirit begins a process of spiritual transformation in the
person's life, a transformation the Bible calls conversion (to learn
more, request or download the free booklet Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion ).
Through this process, we shed our own way of thinking and living and
allow Jesus Christ's attitude and way of life to guide everything we do.
Paul described this life-transforming change in Galatians 2:20:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (King
James Version).
Thus we see that Jesus is at the center of the Feast of Pentecost as
well. Yet the ultimate fulfillment will only be realized after He
returns to earth to establish God's Kingdom, when all will have access
to God's Spirit. So this feast should still be kept as a memorial and a
shadow until its purpose is completely accomplished.
Do we find the first-century Church continuing to keep Pentecost? In
the book of Acts, we read of the apostle Paul hurrying to be in
Jerusalem to keep this feast with the brethren. "For Paul had decided to
sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for
he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of
Pentecost" (Acts 20:16).
Even in one of Paul's epistles in which he writes so much about the
gospel message, he refers to his plans to remain in Ephesus to observe
Pentecost with the Church members there before traveling to Corinth.
He writes: "I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to
spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in
Ephesus until Pentecost" (1 Corinthians 16:7-8 , New Revised Standard Version).
The Feast of Trumpets: Is this a Christ-centered feast?
The next biblical feast is referred to in the Bible as the Feast of
Trumpets. It is "a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts" (Leviticus 23:24,
NRSV). God said when the trumpets were blown, "you will be remembered
before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies" (Numbers 10:9).
Is the Feast of Trumpets also a shadow of Jesus Christ and His role in things to come?
In the New Testament, the symbolism of the trumpet is mentioned by
Jesus. "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" (Matthew 24:30-31 ).
Often in the New Testament the sound of trumpets is tied to Christ's
coming. Notice Paul's description of the resurrection of the dead at the
time a great trumpet announces Christ's return: "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 incorruptible, and we shall be
changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 ).
We find this again described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16:
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in
Christ will rise first."
So Christ will ultimately fulfill the symbolism behind the Feast of
Trumpets. He is the center of this foreshadowing feast too. At His
second coming, the trumpet shall sound, announcing the arrival of the
King of Kings. Loud voices proclaim, "The kingdoms of this world have
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign
forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15).
But until the sound of the trumpet is heard, this feast is still
pointing to the future, and its meaning is still to be fulfilled—with
Jesus at its center.
The Day of Atonement: Is Christ involved in its meaning?
Perhaps the most unusual of the biblical feasts is the Day of
Atonement. In Old Testament times, it included an elaborate ritual
described in Leviticus 16. The high priest was to present two male
goats, the first of which was sacrificed for the nation's sins (verse
15). Then, after the sins of the nation were symbolically placed on the
other goat, it was expelled into the desert to a life of wandering
(verses 21-22).
What does the Day of Atonement reveal about Jesus Christ's roles? Is He also at the center of this feast?
The Bible is full of rich symbolism, and the New Testament Church
quickly realized Christ in His first coming was at the center of the
feasts of the Lord. Just as He was described as being "our Passover" and
"the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8),
so they came to understand that He was at the center of the Day of
Atonement. How? He fulfilled the role of the male goat slain for the
sins of Israel and carried outside the camp (Leviticus 16:27).
We read in Hebrews 13 about the Day of Atonement, and Christ being
symbolic of the male goat and other animals slain on that day as sin
offerings. "For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into
the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own
blood, suffered outside the gate [of the city of Jerusalem]" (verses
11-12).
We should consider that while Christ has already been sacrificed, the
atonement His sacrifice provides has not yet been applied to all of
Israel. That will happen upon Israel's repentance at Christ's second
coming.
Not only does the Day of Atonement depict Christ's sacrifice for sin
and a true spiritual reconciling of the people with God, but Christ is
directly involved in the symbolism of the other male goat that was cast
out into the desert by a strong man (Leviticus 16:21).
The second goat, over which the sins of the Israelites were confessed,
represented the instigator of those sins—none other than Satan the
devil.
At Christ's second coming, He will instruct a powerful angel to bind
Satan and cast him into a place of restraint for 1,000 years, exiling
him from mankind just as the live goat was exiled from the Israelite
camp on the Day of Atonement. "Then I saw an angel coming down from
heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his
hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil
and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:1-2 ).
So Christ plays a dual role in the symbolism of the Day of Atonement.
He is sacrificed as the first goat for the sins of the people, the
atonement of which is yet to be applied to all Israel upon the nation's
repentance at His return. And He will also be involved, as King of
Kings, in banishing Satan at that time to establish the Kingdom of God
on earth.
The Feast of Tabernacles: How is Christ the center of this feast?
Next is the sixth biblical feast, the Feast of Tabernacles
. In the Old Testament, it was kept to remind the Israelites of all of
God's miraculous interventions during the 40-year period in the
wilderness. "All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that
your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in
booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 23:42-43 ).
What does the Feast of Tabernacles have to do with Jesus Christ? Jesus is recorded to have kept this feast in John 7:2-36 . The symbol of the tabernacle in the New Testament is rich with meaning.
During Christ's earthly ministry, the apostle John mentions that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).
The Greek term for "dwelt" here actually means that He "tabernacled"
among us. Just as Jesus Christ as the Creator God of the Old Testament (John 1:1-3 , 10; Hebrews 1:2; Colossians 1:16) "tabernacled" with the Israelites in the wilderness, He now did so with His people in His physical life many centuries later.
The apostle Paul says that the Israelites in the wilderness all "drank
the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that
accompanied them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4, New International Version).
At Christ's second coming, He will again "tabernacle" with those who
are saved. He will dwell with His people for a thousand years, and this
1,000-year rule of Jesus Christ over the earth is the ultimate
fulfillment of this feast. "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the
first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a
thousand years" (Revelation 20:6).
So Christ is definitely at the center of this feast too—as the ruler who "tabernacles" with His people for a thousand years.
The Last Great Day
The Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days. Then, on the eighth day,
there followed another, separate feast day, the last of the biblical
feasts (Leviticus 23:36). What does this day have to do with Jesus Christ?
In John 7, an account of Jesus Christ's last Feast of Tabernacles on
earth, we find Jesus declaring the significance of its conclusion. "On
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out,
saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who
believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38 ).
He was talking about His return to earth, when He will freely offer the
Holy Spirit to those who will believe in Him. Jesus died for all of
mankind, but only a fraction have ever had the opportunity to know about
Him and accept His offer of receiving the Holy Spirit.
Yet during Christ's 1,000-year reign, all of mankind will be offered
God's Spirit. And beyond that, the Bible reveals there will come a
future time when Christ will offer it to those who rise up in a
resurrection of the dead from all past ages. In Revelation 20, we read
what happens after the Millennium (pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles)
is completed:
"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away … And I saw the dead, small and
great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was
opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to
their works, by the things which were written in the books" (Revelation 20:11-12 )This period is also called the White Throne Judgment, and it is Christ who has been appointed to judge all of mankind (John 5:26-27 ; Romans 14:10
).
This does not mean immediate condemnation but a judgment period, since
the Book of Life is opened—meaning an opportunity is opened to receive
God's Spirit and have one's name written into it. The apostle Paul
writes in Philippians 4:3 of those "who labored with me in the gospel
… and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of
Life."
So Christ will also carry out the central role of this final feast,
that of lovingly and mercifully offering the multitudes of the
uninformed and the deceived an opportunity for conversion and salvation
and to have their names inscribed in the Book of Life.
Thus, the seven feasts of the Lord are "a shadow of things to come,"
and Jesus Christ is at the center of all of them. Yet He has not brought
them to ultimate fulfillment; that will only occur in the coming
Kingdom of God.
Yes, Christ is our Passover, He is the Unleavened Bread that purifies
us, the Giver of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the coming King whose
arrival is announced by the blast of the trumpets, the one who banishes
Satan for a thousand years, and who tabernacles with man as King of
kings. Finally, He is to judge mankind and offer the great majority an
opportunity to have their names written in the Book of Life.
This is why God's Church kept these feasts as shown in the New
Testament (see "‘The Feasts of the Lord' in the Book of Acts" on page
25). This is why these holy feasts are still to be kept—to remind us of
the central role Jesus Christ has in carrying out in the plan of God.
Isn't it about time you started keeping them yourself? GN