| ANCIENT
FEASTS OF ISRAEL |
JESUS'
FULFILLMENT OF FEASTS BY HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY |
UNBORN
BABY'S DEVELOPMENT PATTERNED AFTER FEASTS |
| PASSOVER.
Passover occurred on the fourteenth day of the first month-
the month of Abib or Nisan (Leviticus 23:5). Passover
commemorated the salvation of Israelite children from death- through
faith placed in the (Passover) lamb's blood- and the beginning of a
new life in the Promised Land- as God used Moses to lead His people
from bondage in Egypt. |
NEW LIFE. God
sent His Son, Jesus, to give all believers eternal life (John 3:16;
etc.). Paul called Jesus our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Any
person who accepts by faith Jesus' blood sacrifice is given new
life- an eternal life with Jesus in Heaven (John 3:1-21;
etc.). |
OVULATION. If one
counts the month a woman becomes pregnant as the first month of
pregnancy, ovulation occurs on the fourteenth day of the first
month. At ovulation, a new life is readied, requiring only the
next step- fertilization. |
| UNLEAVENED BREAD.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the day following
Passover (Leviticus 23:6). This feast commemorated the haste
required by the Israelites as they left Egypt (the bread did not
have time to rise) and also symbolized the need to remove leaven
from the homes (leaven, or yeast, was a metaphor for
sin). |
THE SEED. Jesus
was buried in less than one day after His crucifixion. The Seed
(Jesus) was buried- or planted- in the tomb. Seed of any plant must
be buried in soil before it can sprout and bear fruit. Our Seed,
Jesus, was planted so that He could rise as the Firstfruits of
resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-23; etc.), with the proof and
promise that those who believe in Him would also be resurrected from
death (James 1:18; etc.). Jesus had no leaven (sin) in
Him. |
FERTILIZATION.
Fertilization of the mother's egg (ovum) with the father's sperm-
literally, planting of the father's seed- must occur within one
day of ovulation, or that ovum disintegrates and pregnancy
cannot occur that month. |
| FIRSTFRUITS. The
Feast of Firstfruits began on Sunday following Passover (Leviticus
23:9-14), and could, therefore, occur on any date between two to
six days after Passover. Celebration of Firstfruits involved
waving a sheaf of the first harvested grain before God, and was a
statement by God's people of faith in Him to provide for all their
needs as well as an offering of thanksgiving for all He had
provided. |
JESUS' RESURRECTION. Jesus, our Bread of Life (John 6:35), rose from death on
the third day after His crucifixion (John 24:7; etc.). The planted
Seed literally rose to become the Firstfruits of resurrection (1
Corinthians 15:20-23), as a sign of His Divinity and a promise that
believers in Him would also be raised from death to eternal
life. |
IMPLANTATION.
After fertilization, the fertilized ovum (egg) slowly moves through
the fallopian tube into the cavity of the womb (uterus) for
approximately two to six days, until it implants into the
endometrium (the lining of the uterus) where it will be nourished
and will develop until birth. At birth, the "fruit" of pregnancy
comes forth- a baby with an eternal
soul. |
| PENTECOST. The
Festival of Weeks, Shavuot or Pentecost, occurred fifty
days after Firstruits (Leviticus 23:15-16; Deuteronomy 16:9-10).
This festival was an offering of new grain to God in thanksgiving
for the summer grain harvest. |
HARVEST. The
Christian Church- the body of Jesus the Christ- began on the Day of
Pentecost following Jesus' resurrection (John 14:16-20; Acts,
Chapter 2; etc.). From this day forward, this Church would reap a
great harvest of souls for God's Kingdom (Joel 2:28-29), with
believers in Jesus being transformed into a new creation (2
Corintians 5:17; etc.). |
NEW CREATION (FETUS). As the implanted ovum continues to develop, he or she
becomes recognizable with human-like features at approximately
fifty days of gestation. From this time forward, the new
creation becomes more human-like in appearance day after day until
birth. |
| TRUMPETS. The
Feast (Day) of Trumpets, Yom Teruah, occurred on the first
day of the seventh* month, the month of Ethanim (or,
Tishri) (Leviticus 23:23-25; Numbers 29:1-6). Trumpet blasts
on this day acknowledged the presence of God in the land, announced
the two major Holy Days to follow in the month, and signalled the
finality of God's plan for the year's harvest. (*The number seven is
symbolic of the completion of a work of
God.) |
BELIEVERS' RAPTURE/ RESURRECTION. Jesus will return in the clouds to
resurrect dead believers and rapture (translate, snatch up) living
believers, that they may be with Him forever in Heaven (Acts 1:11; 1
Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; etc.). This event
will be accompanied by the sound of God's trumpet and a shouted
command for believers to come up to the
Lord. |
HEARING. The
unborn baby's hearing is fully developed by the seventh month
of gestation, so that he or she can discriminate sounds,
e.g,, the sounds of God's trumpet and the command to come up
to the Lord. |
| ATONEMENT. The
Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, occured on the tenth day of
the seventh month (Leviticus 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7-11). This
solemn day for the atonement of the sins of the people through
confession and repentance involved the shedding of blood from
sacrificial animals. (NOTE: Two goats were sacrificed. Blood from
the goat for the LORD was sprinkled on
the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, the goat for
azazel [Hebrew: az-aw-zale']- the scapegoat, the goat
of departure- took up the sins of the people and was removed from
the community [to take away the sins] and killed [to never bring the
sins back]. Thus, the goat for azazel symobolized God's
promise to forgive and forget sin, after a sinner's
confession and
repentance.) |
REDEMPTION.
Surviving Zion (Israel) will be saved during the Tribulation, as
Jews come to accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior (Romans
11:26). Redemption from sin- for Jews and Gentiles alike- can occur
only through personal acceptance of Jesus' blood sacrifice on the
cross (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; etc.). Like the symbolic goat
for azazel, Jesus through His crucifixion (blood sacrifice)
became the way He could take our sins upon Himself and remove them
from us, if we confess and repent of the sins (Isaiah, Chapter 53; 2
Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:13-15; 1 Peter 2:24;
etc.). |
BLOOD (HEMOGLOBIN A). Hemoglobin is the iron-containing protein in red blood
cells which transports life-sustaining oxygen to the body's cells.
During early pregnancy, the unborn baby requires a special
hemoglobin, fetal hemoglobin (hemoglobin F), to carry oxygen from
the mother's placenta. After birth, the baby requires another
hemoglobin, adult hemoglobin (hemoglobin A), to carry atmospheric
oxygen from the lungs. The change from fetal (F) hemoglobin to adult
(A) hemoglobin occurs during the seventh month of pregnancy.
Thus, the change in the baby's blood hemoglobin prepares the baby to
live outside of the womb in the world, just as Jesus' blood
sacrifice prepares the believer to live outside of Earth in
Heaven. |
| TABERNACLES. The
Feast of Tabernacles (Ingathering, Booths, Sukkot) began on
the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:33-43;
Deuteronomy 16:13-15). This feast, commemorating the time the
Israelites lived in camp huts during their journey through the
wilderness to the Promised Land, was a time of joy and celebration
for all that God had given His people. |
KINGDOM.
Immediately after the Tribulation, Jesus will return to Earth and
establish His rule during the Millennial Kingdom (Isaiah 9:7;
Revelation 20:4-6; etc.). During this time, Jesus will physically
tabernacle (dwell) with His people on Earth. In other words, the
Spirit of God will physically live on
Earth. |
LUNGS. The unborn
baby's lungs begin to develop sufficiently to breathe more
efficiently after birth, during the seventh month of
pregnancy. "Spirit" and "breath" are similar Biblical concepts: God
blew His breath into Adam to bring him to life (Genesis 2:7). When
the Holy Spirit descended upon believers at the birth of the
Christian Church on the Day of Pentecost, one of the Spirit's
manifestations was "the sound of a rushing wind" (Acts 2:2). The New
Testament Greek word translated "wind" is pno-ay', which
comes from the word pneh';-o, which means "to breathe
hard." |
| CHANUKAH (HANUKKAH). The Feast of Dedication was not a Mosaic feast. This feast,
prophesied in Daniel 8:9-14, commemorated the cleansing of the
Temple after it was recaptured from the Seleucid Greeks (Antiochus
IV, Epiphanes) by the Maccabeans in the Second Century B.C. This
feast was celebrated after ten lunar cycles- or, 280 days-
into the Jewish year. Hanukkah today is represented by the nine-lamp
Hanukkah menorah, which stands for victory and new
life. |
ETERNITY. After
the Millennial Kingdom, which will be ruled by Jesus, New Jerusalem
(Heaven) will descend to Earth, and here will God the Father and
Jesus live with believers forever (Revelation 21:1 - 22:5). NOTE:
Appreciate the significance of the Hanukkah miracle. There was only
enough sanctified oil to light the Temple lamp for one day, but the
oil miraculously lasted for eight days. Jesus is the Light of the
world (John 8:12; etc.). One day to us is like one-thousand years to
the Lord (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). Thus, eternity can be considered
the "eighth day of creation," as follows: Days 1 through 4 represent
the 4,000 years between Adam and Jesus' First Coming. Days 5 and 6
represent the 2,000 years between Jesus' First and Second Comings.
Day 7 represents the Millennial Kingdom. Day 8 represents Eternity,
which follows the Millennial Kingdom. |
ETERNAL LIFE. The
baby is delivered (born) after approximately 280 days of
gestation. This baby is eternal because he or she possesses a soul.
This soul will live forever- either in joy in Heaven or in torment
in Hell. |
What a God we worship! God has captured three messages
within a single concept:
- He reminded His people- all Jews and Christians- of our
heritage, of times in the past when His grace was exceedingly
abundant, and of our responsibilities to Him.
- He foretold the earthly ministry of His Son, our Savior, Jesus
the Christ.
- He recreated certain developmental stages of an unborn baby,
with features of the newly-created life applying to features of
the ancient feasts of Israel and occurring on the timetable for
the feasts.
Concerning this last point, God's plan for life
surely lies within a woman's body, from the moment of conception
(fertilization); through implantation and intrauterine growth of the
baby; until birth, when a new creation of God, a baby with an
eternal soul, emerges into the world. An unborn child must be very
special to God because He has lavished such love and meticullous
detail to the developing baby. An unborn baby is a person to be
cherished and protected, never to be destroyed by
abortion. |
