God established time when he created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day of creation. In Genesis 1:14 it is written that the sun, moon and stars were created to “separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years…” Therefore, God set the time for observing biblical feast days using the time markers that He had already set.
Since God uses the sun, moon and stars for signs and to mark time, what is God revealing to us by His signs and time? Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us that: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever…” So, what is God telling us through biblical feast days?
Let’s look at how each feast day is fulfilled in Messiah Yeshua, the Spiritual Temple of God.
The Biblical Feast Days in the Book of Leviticus
There are seven biblical feast days listed in Leviticus 23. They are:
- Passover/Pesach
- Feast of Unleavened Bread
- Feast of Firstfruits/Yom HabiBikkurim
- Feast of Weeks/Pentecost/Shavuot
- Feast of Trumpets/Yom Teru’ah/Rosh Hashanah
- Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur
- Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Ingathering
Passover/Pesach
Yeshua is the Passover Lamb that God sacrificed to deliver His children from spiritual slavery. John the Baptist declared in John 1:29: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
He was sacrificed by crucifixion on the first day of Passover. The shedding of His blood covers the sins of all who repent and accept the gift of salvation. This marking by the blood of the lamb means that God will “pass over” all who are saved.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
Messiah Yeshua is the grain offering, the Bread of Life. In John 6:35 it is written: “Then Yeshua declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'”
Yeshua has no leaven in Him. Leaven is yeast and yeast fluffs up and changes the texture and taste of bread but it adds no nutritional value. Yeshua is bread without any unnecessary ingredients that defile who He is: the Messiah and the Son of the Living God.
Feast of Firstfruits/Yom HabiBikkurim
Yeshua is the Firstfruit, the firstborn from the dead. He rose from the dead on the day after the Sabbath in fulfillment of the time when the sheaf of the first harvest of grain was to be waved before the LORD. 1 Corinthians 15:20: “But in fact Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Born-again believers are firstfruits in Messiah Yeshua. James 1:18: Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Feast of Weeks/ Pentecost/Shavuot
Messiah Yeshua was crucified during the first day of Passover. And after His resurrection on the third day, the Day of Firstfruits, the countdown began to the day of the Feast of Weeks. After his resurrection, Yeshua remained on the earth for forty days. Acts 1:3: “After his suffering, [Yeshua] presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
On the Day of Pentecost, God’s Holy Spirit descended on the apostle Peter and the believers in Jerusalem. These were the first people to be born again of the Spirit of God. And since then, all God’s children are born of His spirit.
Feast of Trumpets/Yom Teru’ah/Rosh Hashanah
Messiah Yeshua’s second coming will be announced with a trumpet blast. Then He will gather from the earth those who have been marked with the seal of God, the Holy Spirit. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur
The word “atonement” is often written as “at-one-ment” because by the work of Messiah Yeshua we are now one with Him who is One with God.
Romans 3:25: “God presented Messiah as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.”
Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Ingathering
The Spiritual Temple is the body of Yeshua. In this shelter, the Sukkah, we who are marked by the Spirit of God are granted both protection and provision. And our salvation is guaranteed in this shelter. Messiah Yeshua promises that no one can take us from Him or His Father because they are One (John 10:29-30).
The Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Ingathering. In the natural world this was the time when the fall crops were gathered in. This was a time of great joy when the harvested crops were plentiful. From the pledge of the first crops reaped in the spring during the Feast of Firstfruits, the fall harvest of the Feast of Ingathering was the fulfillment of God’s promise that He would provide for His people.
When this time is accomplished in the Messiah Yeshua, those who have been harvested from the earth will participate in the most joyful celebration of all the celebrations: We will “…enter [God’s] gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise [and] give thanks to Him and praise His name.” (Psalm 100:4).
The Truth Is in the Sun, Moon and Stars
There is nothing random about the holy appointments of the biblical feast days. God has revealed His plans of redemption and salvation by these days and by His signs in the sun, moon and stars. The arrangement of these holy days is important. And their importance is not limited to the earthly observance and rituals that were prescribed in the Bible.
The truth of the sun, moon and stars is that God created them on the fourth day of creation. And He created them “…to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” God’s reveals His plans for redemption and salvation in the signs of the sun, moon and stars.
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