Yahweh's Feasts Fulfilled
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He (Jesus) explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.
Luke 24:27
The festivals that God commanded his people to observe are far more significant than they first appear. The Hebrew word for "feasts" (moadim) literally means "appointed times," revealing God's planning of events according to His purpose. The first four of the seven feasts, which occur in the spring (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Weeks), were literally fulfilled by Christ on the actual feast days in the New Testament. The last three holidays (Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles) will also be literally fulfilled with regard to the Lord's second coming during the end times.
Passover Lamb
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross
Passover events foreshadowing the Messiah
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In the Bible, Egypt represents oppression and slavery to sin, and the exodus from it foreshadows our freedom from sin in Jesus under the new covenant. (Romans 6:16)
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Jesus, like the unblemished Passover lamb, was sinless and perfect. As both God and man, he was the only one capable of atoning for and delivering humanity from sin.
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The lamb's blood was used to mark the doorposts of Israelite homes in order to protect them from the angel of death, just as Jesus' blood protects those who believe and follow him from spiritual death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
7 Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
In a loud voice they were saying:“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
Unleavened Bread
Freedom from sin
Unleavened Bread foreshadowing the Messiah:
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Leaven, or yeast, causes bread to rise and puff up. It represents sin in the Bible, such as pride and selfishness.
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The unleavened bread, which does not contain yeast, represents purity and sinlessness of Jesus and those who become one with him.
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”
Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, how much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
First Fruits
Christ’s Resurrection
Firstfruits foreshadowing the Messiah:
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Firstborn and firstfruits are given a special status in the Bible. The first fruits of agriculture are offered to God, and the male firstborn of humans and beasts are dedicated to God. Both are symbolizing consecration, priority, and dedication to God and pointing to Jesus as the Firstborn and the Firstfruits from among the dead.
Exodus 13:2 (Deuteronomy 15:19–23, Numbers 18:15-20, Leviticus 27:26-27)
2 “Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast.”
Exodus 23:19 (Numbers 18:12-13, Deuteronomy 18:4, Ezekiel 44:30)
19 Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of Yahweh your God.
3 Israel was holy to Yahweh, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her found themselves guilty; disaster came upon them,’ ” declares Yahweh.
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Naturally the concept of firstfruits is linked to the harvest. In spiritual economy God is in the business of harvesting souls for His Kingdom. The final harvest is described in the book of Revelation 14:14-16. The firstfruits of that final harvest is first Jesus and then the first born again believers and followers of Christ who will be resurrected at the end of the age.
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Feast of Weeks
Outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Beginning of Harvest-Salvation
Feast of Weeks foreshadowing the Messiah:
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The Feast of Weeks, also known as Shavuot or Pentecost, commemorated the end of the grain harvest and foreshadowed the great harvest of souls and the gift of the Holy Spirit for both Jews and Gentiles who would enter God's kingdom. On this day, God poured out His Holy Spirit and 3,000 Jews responded to Peter's first gospel proclamation, establishing the Church.
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The Feast of Weeks is the only feast where leavened bread is used as a wave offering. In contrast to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where leaven represents sin, in this case leaven represents the Kingdom of Heaven which is leavening believers through the Holy Spirit.
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
When the day of Pentecost (Weeks) came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Feast of Trumpets
Second Coming of Christ
The Feast of Trumpets will be fulfilled in the Second Coming of the Messiah. According to the scriptures below, the trumpet call symbolizes the announcement of the coming King, as well as the resurrection and gathering of the saints.
1 Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming; indeed, it is near—2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.
And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
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. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Day of Atonement
Final Harvest and Judgement Day
What sets apart this day from the rest of the feasts, is the commandment to afflict or humble your souls. If we look at the scriptures that point to what happens on this day, we can see why. It's the day of the final judgement after humanity has been given every opportunity to learn to do good but has refused to do so. The context indicates that the judgment occurs after Jesus returns to earth, but not immediately; first, he will rule for 1000 years alongside resurrected and glorified saints, then come the final judgment.
Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Feast of Tabernacles
God's Dwelling with Men
The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths or Sukkot, is God's seventh and final feast, as well as the last of the three pilgrimage feasts. Israelites were commanded to rejoice during this feast, which celebrated the year's final harvest. On the prophetic timeline, it represents the completion of God's plan for humanity as revealed to us in scripture. The essence of the Feast of Tabernacles is God's dwelling with men. Jesus partially fulfilled this feast when he came to earth and lived among men. When Jesus comes back to earth the second time to establish His Kingdom for a 1000 years, this feast will see the next stage of its fulfilment. Finally when heavenly Jerusalem merges with the new earth and God dwells eternally with men, that is when this feast will see its ultimate fulfilment.
16 Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them. 18 And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which Yahweh strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt (“tabernacled”) among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”…“These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. ‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them nor any scorching heat.’ For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.