We are studying the
"Feasts of the Lord" found in Leviticus 23. The study of the feasts is
a study
in typology. These Feasts of the Lord were given to us by God so His
people could understand
the coming of Christ, and the role that Christ would play in redeeming
man back to God
following the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Although most
non-Jewish Bible believers have
heard of the feasts, the deep meaning and the importance of these
feasts are not understood by
most.
We have studied the four
spring feasts to this point: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits
and
Pentecost. These four feasts were a prophetic foreshadowing of the
first coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They spoke of His death, burial, resurrection, and the advent
of the New Covenant; all of
which happened on the exact days of these feasts.
The remaining three feasts
we will study will be the fall feasts, which were a prophetic
foreshadowing of the second coming of Christ. The Feast of Trumpets,
the Day of Atonement,
and the Feast of Tabernacles started about 4 months after the end of
the spring festivals. All three
of these feasts took place in Tishri, or September. These
three feasts speak of the resurrection, the
consummation of redemption after the outpouring of God's wrath, and the
New Heaven and
Earth, which is typified by the Feast of Tabernacles.
Between Pentecost and
Tabernacles there was an interval of time of about 4 months. These
months in between were historically the driest months of the year for
Israel. There were no holy
convocations when the nation gathered before the Lord and His
sanctuary.
This gap can be seen as
being prophetic in a negative way, just as the rest of the feasts are
positively prophetic. The newly redeemed nation of Israel experienced
Passover through
Pentecostfrom leaving Egypt, their place of bondage, up to
receiving the covenant from God at
Sinai. However, through unbelief and stubbornness (except for Joshua
and Caleb), they wandered
in the wilderness for forty years, and it was a different generation
that entered the Promised Land
and celebrated Tabernacles. Thus, this four month gap can be seen to be
a reminder of this forty
years.
Typology and Forty
Of all the types and shadows
of the Scripture, none is as pervasive, and therefore important, as
the shadows revealed in the relationship between "forty" and the
fulfillment of promises.
Throughout the Scriptures,
we find this usage of the number forty. Examples of this usage are:
the forty days and nights that God caused it to rain upon the face of
the earth; also, in the length
of the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon (Acts 13:21; 2 Sam. 5:4).
Besides these, we see forty
used as a temporal shadow in the duration of Jonah's preaching of
judgment to the Ninevites
(Jon. 3:4) and the number of days that the spies of Canaan searched out
the land (Num. 13:25).
The New Testament
underscores the importance of this typological number. Christ fasted
for
forty days and forty nights and continually preached that the
generation then living would see the
judgment of God; a generation being forty years. In fact, Christ
preached the very same judgment
upon the city that Jonah did.
We find the most significant
type of all in the forty years of wilderness wandering leading up to
the possession of the temporal land of promise. In fact, Paul, himself,
wrote that the surrounding
events of the wilderness wandering "were our examples" (I
Cor. 10:6), and that "they are written
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world (aion-age) have
come" (v.11).
One of the first lessons a
student of types and shadows will learn is the lofty place given to the
exodus out of Egypt. It is this event that presents the clearest
correspondence to the redemptive
work of Christ and the time-frame of its fulfillment.
To be more specific, the
exodus out of Egypt and into the promised land by the children of
Israel
under Moses is a direct shadow of the exodus of the New Testament
generation from the cross to
the entrance into the eternal land of rest.
Let's look at some
comparisons between the two forty year exodus periods.
The first was preceded by
physical slaverythe bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt. The second
was preceded by spiritual slavery--man's bondage to sin and death. One
introduced the first
Passover with the blood of lambs. The other fulfilled the type with the
sacrifice of the final
Passover Lamb ( Jesus Christ):
Clean out
the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact
unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. (1
Corinthians 5:7
NASB)
One brought God's people
physical deliverance by crossing through the Red Sea. The other
brought God's people spiritual deliverance by the working of the cross
of Christ.
The first established a
temporary contract of God with the people He chosethe Old
Covenant.
The second established a permanent contractthe New Covenant.
Fifty five days after the
first Passover in Egypt, the Law was given to the nation of Israel at
Mount Sinai, written upon tables of stone. Fifty five days after the
final Passover was sacrificed,
the Law was given to the "Israel of God,"written upon their hearts by
the Spirit of God (2 Cor.
3:3; Heb. 8:10).
Very few would disagree that
the above points are fulfillments of the shadows given at the time
of the exodus. But the correlation doesn't stop with the initial
workings of the exodus, but
continues with the entrance into the land of temporal rest, forty years
later. Just as the children of
faith were allowed to enter into the temporal land of rest the first
time, the children of faith in the
generation directly following the cross of Christ were given entrance
into the eternal land of rest.
With each covenant, a 40 year transition period followed the initial
act of deliverance into the
entrance of the land of promise.
The city Abraham was looking
for was the heavenly Jerusalem. The writer relates:
But you
have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and
church of the
first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all,
and to the spirits
of righteous men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:22-23 NASB)
From these verses, we can
see the different description of the same entity: the city, the
kingdom,
the heavenly Jerusalem, the church, and Mount Zion. These all have
their fulfillment in the New
Covenant as established in the first century. This was in contrast to
the old, physical, earthly city
of Jerusalem.
The believers among the
people of Israel did not receive the promises of the Promised land when
they entered into Palestine (Heb 4:6-9). This promise was in regards to
the fulfillment of
redemption and eternal life in the kingdom of God, which entrance was
corporately given to all
believers at the end of the 40 years from the cross to the coming of
Christ.
During both periods, the
people saw God's works for forty years (Heb 3:9; Acts 2:17-21). God
manifested Himself to His people by signs and wonders: In the desert
under Moses' leadership,
daily manna, miraculous supplies of water or meat, and the appearance
of the cloud and the fiery
pillar revealed God's presence. In the transition period to the New
Covenant, the apostles had
special gifts of healing, prophecy, and tongues-speaking, and testified
to the coming of the
kingdom of God and the destruction of the wicked (1 Cor. 14:22):
And He gave
some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and
some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for
the work of
service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all
attain to the unity of
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to
the measure of
the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13
NASB)
If the church is not
matured, then these gifts should still be operating. Are they? No! Then
the
church reached maturity in A.D.70 when all the gifts ceased.
During both periods, the
wicked were severed from among the just and not allowed to enter into
the land of promise (Heb 3:11,17; Matt. 12:30, 13:49).
Beginning with the
fulfillment of Passover in the death of Christ, calamity would fall
upon
fleshly Israel as a result. The death of Christ contained a blessing of
salvation for spiritual Israel,
but for fleshly national Israel, it would bring calamity. This is
evident from Matthew 21:33-41 in
which the parable of the husbandmen teaches that the fulfillment of
Passover, being the killing of
the Son, would not bring a postponement of kingdom promises, as the
dispensationalist argues,
but utter destruction upon fleshly Israel. In verses 42-44, it is
stated that at this point the kingdom
would be given to those other than national Israel, it would go to a
fruitful spiritual nation of
God's; the church.
At the end of the first 40
year period, the Israelites of faith entered the temporal land of
promise
in which God enabled them to defeat their physical foes. At the end of
the second 40 year period,
salvation was complete, and God's people entered their eternal Promised
Land in which God
enabled them to defeat their spiritual enemies (1 Cor. 15:26,54-57).
How does Peter interpret
what happened at Pentecost? He says:
but this is
what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: (Acts 2:16 NASB)
Peter, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, says that Pentecost is the fulfillment of Joel's
prophecy. Then he quotes Joel 2:28-32.
So if Pentecost was a
fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, then Pentecost happened in the "last
days." The idea of the last days is that they are the times of the
Messiah, encompassing both His humble
coming and His return in glory. Please notice that this is one prophecy
of one event that was to
last for a generation, or 40 years:
This is a prophecy of
"the Christ event." This "Christ event" encompasses the
Cross, Pentecost,
the Resurrection, the Judgement, and the Parousia. Please notice that
Joel's prophecy covers from
Pentecost to the Day of the Lord. It covers a 40 year period that was
equal to a generation.
John the baptizer's message
also covered a forty year period. John announced in Matthew 3:2 that
the kingdom of heaven was at hand, meaning it was very nearthis is
a reference to Pentecost.
But John's message also involved judgement:
"And the
axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that
does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "As for me, I
baptize you
with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier
than I, and I
am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire. 12
"And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear
His threshing
floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up
the chaff with
unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:10-12 NASB)
In order for the kingdom to
be consummated (which would happen forty years later), there must
be a time of judgment. The axe is there at the root ready to cut down
any tree that is not bearing
good fruit. John places an emphasis on fire again in verses 11 and 12.
In those verses there is a
reference to the coming destruction.
If Christ has not come yet
today, then all believers are still waiting for the inheritance of
redemption. But we believe that He has returned and has fulfilled all
aspects of the "exodus
shadow," using the very same chronology in the first century as He did
in the initial shadow.
The physical illustrations
in the Old Covenant are fulfilled in each case by the spiritual
realities
of the New. The second is an eternal covenant, with victory over
spiritual slavery and spiritual
death, bringing eternal deliverance through a spiritual Passover
resulting in our new eternal life
and eternal salvation. Christ has allowed His people entrance into the
Holiest of all through His
very presence (parousia)!
All of these types and
shadows, displayed in the Exodus, found their fulfillment in the exodus
of
God's people from the bondage of sin to the eternal rest in Christ. Any
expectation of another
coming, or future fulfillment of these promises of rest, reflects a
lack of appreciation for what we
now have in Christeternal life in His kingdom.
These feasts, as we have
taught, are both literal feasts celebrated in Israel every year and
TYPES
of God's prophetic calendar of events for the Church. At the end of the
dry season came the fall
feasts.
Let me say something about
dates. The first four feasts were fulfilled on the exact day of the
shadows. So, I would assume that the last three would be also. Because
the Cannon was closed
before the completion of the last three feasts, we have no record of
their fulfillment. What we
know for sure was that they were to be fulfilled with the forty year
period, which began at
Pentecost.
The Jewish calendar is
primarily lunar, with each month beginning on the new moon. The
problem with strictly lunar calendars is that there are approximately
12.4 lunar months in every
solar year, so a 12-month lunar calendar loses about 11 days every year
and a 13-month lunar
calendar gains about 19 days every year. The months on such a calendar
"drift" relative to the
solar year. On a 12 month calendar, the month of Nissan,
which is supposed to occur in the
spring, occurs 11 days earlier each year, eventually occurring in the
winter, the fall, the summer,
and then the spring again. To compensate for this drift, an extra month
was occasionally added; a
second month of Adar. The month of Nissan
would occur 11 days earlier for two or three years
and then would jump forward 29 or 30 days, balancing out the drift.
According to http://www.hebcal.com,
In A.D. 70 the 1st of Tishrei was on September 22. But
they add this warning: "WARNING: Results for year 1752 C.E. and before
may not be accurate.
Hebcal does not take into account a correction of ten days that was
introduced by Pope Gregory
XIII known as the Gregorian Reformation."
So, what I am trying to say
here is that to try to put exact solar calendar days with these last
three
feasts is just about impossible. So be leery of those who attempt to
give exact solar calendar days
to these events.
The first
of the fall feasts is the Feast of Trumpets:
Again the
LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 "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. 25 'You shall not do any
laborious work, but
you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.'" (Leviticus
23:23-25 NASB)
Of the seven feasts, all are
described in some detail, with the exception of the Feast of Trumpets.
The Biblical record for the Feast of Trumpets observance is neither
lengthy nor complicated.
Israel was simply commanded to memorialize the day by blowing trumpets
and to keep the day
as a Sabbath day of rest.
This feast is known in
Judaism as Rosh Hashanah, but it is
never known by that name in
Scripture. In the Bible, it is referred to as Zikhron Teruah,
or the Memorial of Blowing of
Trumpets (Lev. 23:24), and Yom Teruah, the Day of Blowing Of
Trumpets (Num. 29:1). The
"Feast of Trumpets" is a day of sounding trumpets in the Temple and
throughout the land of
Israel.
There are several things
about this feast that should pique our interest. First, this feast was
to be
celebrated on the first day of the month. Second, this feast was to be
celebrated on the first day of
the seventh month. Third, the feast was marked by a blowing of
trumpets. The Hebrew word here
is teruw`ah, which means: "an alarm, a signal, a sound of
tempest, a shout, a shout or blast of
war or alarm or joy." Why is this significant that this feast was on
the first day of the month?
The Feast of Trumpets is the only one of the seven feasts that began on
the first day of the month.
The Hebrew months each began
on the new moon. The other feasts occurred toward the middle
of the respective months, when the moon was at, or near, full. The
nights would be filled with
moonlight. At the new moon, the moon is DARK and only a thin crescent.
The beginning of each month
was originally dependent upon the sighting of the new moon when
the moon was but a crescent; the nights would be dark, with little
moonlight. The precise timing
of the new moon was not always easily determined due to weather
conditions and a lack of
witnesses.
Two concurring witnesses
sighting the first sliver of the new moon determined each new month.
The two witnesses see the new moon and attest to it before the
Sanhedrin in the Temple. This
could happen during either of two days, depending on when the witnesses
come. Since no one
knew when the witnesses would come, no one knew when the Feast of
Trumpets would start.
After the appearance of the new moon was confirmed, then the Feast of
Trumpets could begin,
and the rest of the fall feasts could be accurately calculated from
that date. The Feast of Trumpets
is also considered a High Sabbath, and no work is to be done.
Therefore, all preparations for the
Feast of Trumpets had to be made in advance. Since no one knew the
exact hour of the new
moon's appearance, it kept people in a continual state of alertness.
Watchfulness was a critical
ingredient of this feast. The rabbis later added a second day to this
feast to make sure they didn't miss it. This need for watchfulness and
preparedness in connection
with the Feast of Trumpets is echoed and re-echoed throughout the New
Testament in connection
with the Lord's coming:
"Therefore
be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
(Matthew 24:42 NASB)
The Seventh Monthwe
should see immediately the significance of the seventh month. As the
seventh month, this month was set aside as a Sabbath month.
The Feast of Trumpets is
Israel's dark day. It occurred at the new moon when the primary night
light of the heavens is darkened. Israel's prophets repeatedly warned
of a coming day of judgment
for the nation. It was called "the day of the Lord."
It was to occur at the end of the Jewish age.
The day of the Lord was a time when the Lord poured out His wrath upon
Israel.
The prophet Amos spoke of
this dark day of judgment:
Alas, you
who are longing for the day of the LORD, For what purpose will the day
of
the LORD be to you? It will be darkness and not light; 19 As when a man
flees from a
lion, And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the
wall, And a
snake bites him. 20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of
light, Even
gloom with no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18-20 NASB)
The Trumpet was used to
usher in the day of the Lord:
Blow a
trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the
inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming;
Surely it is near, (Joel 2:1 NASB)
Near is the
great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of
the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. 15 A day of wrath is
that day, A day of
trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of
darkness and
gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of trumpet and
battle cry,
Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. (Zephaniah
1:14-16 NASB)
We mentioned earlier that
the Feast of Trumpets is the only feast day to begin when the moon is
dark. This passage from Zephaniah is only one of many that speaks of
the day of the Lord as a
day of darkness, and a day when the shofar sounds.
As the darkening of the moon
in the night heavens announced the Feast of Trumpets, so too, the
heavens were divinely darkened as the day of the Lord commenced:
"The sun
will be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great
and
awesome day of the LORD comes. (Joel 2:31 NASB)
We see the spiritual
anti-type of the Feasts of Trumpets in the fall of Jerusalem and the
parousia
of our Lord in A.D. 70. Thus, at the blowing of the trumpet, in Matthew
24, the scene was set,
and Christ fulfilled the feast. Guess what month it was when Jerusalem
fell? "The city was taken
on September 8, A.D. 70, after the last siege had lasted about five
months" (Josephus, vol. 1, p.
467).
In the New Testament, the
trumpet was to be blown at the resurrection:
"And He
will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL
GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky
to the
other. (Matthew 24:31 NASB)
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. (1
Corinthians 15:52 NASB)
For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the
archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall
rise first. (1
Thessalonians 4:16 NASB)
Paul equates the
resurrection with the sound of God's shofar. What are the
similarities between
the resurrection and the Feast of Trumpets? First, they both were to
occur on an unknown and
undetermined day and hour. Second, they both were be announced by the
sounding of the shofar.
The blast of the shofar
is a type of that blast, which called the faithful home to
be with the Lord,
but it is also a type of the shofar that was blasted to call
judgment on the nation Israel who
refused to come to Christ.
In short, we see the Feast
of Trumpets fulfilled at the resurrection of the dead, which
immediately
precedes the day of the Lord. Both are heralded by the blast of the shofar.
We see the type of this
feast, in Joshua chapter 6, with the destruction of Jericho at the end
of the
forty year exodus. SEVEN priests, with the Ark of God in the midst,
marched with seven
trumpets around the wall of Jericho for 6 days. ON the SEVENTH DAY they
marched around
SEVEN TIMES. At the close of the march, the trumpets were blown, the
people shouted, and
God caused the walls of Jericho to collapse. The victory was COMPLETE.
The events of Jericho
offered a graphic image and actual prophecy of events at the close of
the
Jewish age, forty years after Pentecost, when there were seven angels
with seven trumpets of
doom and judgement:
And I saw
the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to
them. (Revelation 8:2 NASB)
At that time the great and
powerful city of Babylon (Jerusalem) suddenly fell:
standing at
a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, 'Woe, woe, the
great
city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has
come.' (Revelation 18:10 NASB)
Accompanied by a great
shouting in heaven:
"Rejoice
over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because
God
has pronounced judgment for you against her." (Revelation 18:20 NASB)
The name "Joshua" is the
Hebrew equivalent of Jesus. As in Joshua, the destruction of the city
came at the sound of the trumpets, so at the end of the Jewish age, the
destruction of Jerusalem
came as Jesus sounded the trumpet.
Here is an interesting side
note: Ancient Jewish tradition held that the resurrection of the dead
would occur on Rosh Hashanah. Reflecting this tradition,
Jewish gravestones were often
engraved with a SHOFAR. God's last trump and the resurrection
of the righteous are intricately
connected in the New Testament:
Behold, I
tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, 52 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. (1
Corinthians
15:51-52 NASB)
Most of us recognize this
event as the resurrection, but few of us identify it with the Feast of
Trumpets. Paul was a highly educated man of God's Torah and
understood the Messianic
fulfillments of the Feasts of the Lord. Paul understood how Messiah was
a fulfillment of
Passover and First fruits, and Paul also recognized Messiah's future
fulfillments of the fall Feasts.
Day
of Atonement
Let's look at the sixth
feast, which is the Day of Atonement:
"On exactly
the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall
be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and
present an
offering by fire to the LORD. (Leviticus 23:27 NASB)
The Day of Atonement was
Israel's sixth instituted holy day and occurs in the autumn of the
year.
On the Hebrew calendar, it falls on the tenth day of Tishri,
the seventh Hebrew month, which
roughly corresponds to September or October.
Yom Kippur was the
most solemn day of the year for the people of Israel. It was often
simply
referred to as "The Day." It was a day that atonement was made
for the priest and his family, the
community, the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting, and the altar. It
was a solemn day. The Day
of Atonement also was known as the "Great Fast" or "The Day of the
Fast." Yom Kippur was
designated by the Lord as a day in which "you shall afflict your
souls." By definition, this was
understood to mean fasting.
Yom Kippur was
also a very solemn day for the priesthood of Israel. Only
on that singular day of
the year was the high priest permitted to enter the Holy of Holies in
the Temple and stand before
the presence of God's glory.
Who is the anti-type of the
High Priest? Jesus Christ:
Since then
we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the
Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (Hebrews 4:14 NASB)
Jesus fulfilled the
anti-type of the High Priest and the sacrifice!
If you examine the
Scriptures concerning the second coming of Christ, you will find that
it uses Yom Kippur terminology. Here are a few examples:
Behold, My
servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up, and greatly
exalted. (The New Covenant references to this include Acts
2:32-35; 5:30-31; and Philippians
2:9-11). 14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So
His appearance was
marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.
(Isaiah
52:13-14 NASB)
Recognizing that Isaiah
52:13-14 is speaking about Jesus during His first coming to earth,
notice
verse 15 speaking about His second coming:
Thus He
will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of
Him;
For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not
heard they will
understand. (Isaiah 52:15 NASB)
The phrase, "He will
sprinkle many nations", is a reference to the sprinkling of the
blood on the
mercy seat of God by the high priest during Yom Kippur
(Leviticus 16:14). This is also referred
to in Leviticus 1:5,11; 3:2,8,13; 4:6,17; 7:2.
When it says that Jesus
would sprinkle the nations, it refers to what the high priest did on Yom
Kippur on the mercy seat of God, so God would forgive the sins of
the people.
The types make it clear that
Christ was to return on the Day of Atonement. The question is: Do
we look for this as a future event, or has it already happened? I
believe that the Bible is clear that
it already happened:
Now when
these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually
entering
the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship, 7 but into the
second only the
high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he
offers for himself
and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy
Spirit is signifying
this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed,
while the outer
tabernacle is still standing, (Hebrews 9:6-8 NASB)
The background of Hebrews 9
is the Day of Atonement. Verse 7 here talks about the high priest
going into the Holy of Holies to make atonement. Now notice, carefully,
verse 8. In other words,
it is the Holy Spirit who is responsible for the record given to us of
the Old Covenant. And the
significance of the outer tabernacle being divided and separated from
the inner tabernacle was
that the way into the presence of God had not yet been given. The Jews
were continually
reminded, by the physical presence of the tabernacle, that they were
not allowed to enter into the
presence of God.
The words, "while
the outer tabernacle is still standing," might better be
translated, "while the
first tabernacle still has any standing"while the Old Covenant was
still in force. As long as the
Old Covenant was still in effect, men did not have access to the
presence of God. Prior to
Jesus' second coming, at which he destroyed the temple and the Old
Covenant, no one went to
Heaven. Prior to Jesus' second coming in A.D. 70, all who died went to
a holding place of the
dead and waited for the atoning work of Christ and the resurrection
from the dead. Until Christ's
second coming, man could not go into God's presence.
The Day of
Atonement speaks of the return of Christ, and the
consummation of redemption. The
destruction of Jerusalem, the second coming of Christ, and the fullness
of redemption were
synonymous events (compare Luke 21:24 and 28).
Feast Of Tabernacle
The Seventh, and final
feast, was the Feast of Tabernacles:
"Speak to
the sons of Israel, saying, 'On the fifteenth of this seventh month is
the
Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. (Leviticus 23:34 NASB)
This is the seventh feast on
the seventh month, and it was to last for seven days. The number
"seven" is the Biblical number of completion. This is the grand finale
in God's plan of
redemption.
The Feast of Tabernacles is
the most joyful and festive of all Israel's feasts. It is also the most
important and prominent feast; mentioned more often in
Scripture than any of the other
feasts. This feast also served as the historical backup for
the important teachings of Jesus in
John, chapters 7-9.
Nothing in ancient Israel
compared to the celebration that occurred during this feast. It was so
spectacular that the ancient rabbis said, "He that hath not beheld the
joy of the drawing of the
water (the Simchet Bet Hasho'ayva celebration) hath never
seen joy in his life" (Sukkah 5:1). The
light celebration was reminiscent of the descent of the Shekinah glory
in Solomon's day and
looked forward to the return of the glory of the Lord.
I believe that Jesus Christ,
the Living water, was born into this world during the Feast of
Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles was
to celebrate and commemorate: (1) The end of the wanderings in
the desert of the children of Israel. (2) It also was a celebration of
their inheritance of, and entry
into, Canaanthe Promised Land.
The anti-typical fulfillment
came at the end of the 40 year transition period (A.D. 30-70) when
the Old Covenant came to an end, and the New Covenant was fully
consummated, and the
inheritance of the New Heavens and the New Earth arrived, where we
"tabernacle there with
God." Tabernacles speaks of the final rest, as well as the final
harvest.
The Lord not only gathered
His people, but He began to TABERNACLE in their midst:
And I heard
a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people,
and God
Himself shall be among them, (Revelation 21:3 NASB)
This age in which we now
live is the New Covenant age. We are the New Jerusalem, God's holy
bride.
Listen, believers, all
theologians will agree that these seven feasts relate to these
redemptive
events, but they fail to see the typology of the forty year exodus.
Therefore, they are still looking
for the fall feasts to occur in the future. They have separated the
fall feasts from the spring feasts
by thousands of years, which destroys many different types given in the
Scriptures; the main one
being the Exodus. The book of Hebrews makes it clear that the exodus
and forty years are a type
that is fulfilled in the New Covenant.
The Feasts of Trumpets,
the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles take place in the SEVENTH
month. Number seven is the number of perfection and fullness. In these
feasts, the believer is
brought to the fullness of the Godhead.
