Jewish Feasts: Leviticus 23

These feasts were only Legitimate before the Church Age, before the Canon of scripture was completed.

1) The Passover: Jesus Christ’s death -- the cross. 1 Corinthians 5:7. Christ died on the last Passover (one day in length).

2) Unleavened Bread: Spoke of fellowship with the Lord. One week in duration.

3) Firstfruits: Jesus Christ’s resurrection and resurrection of all believers. (1st Sunday in Unleavened Bread Feast is when it was held): It was a gift offering -- Leviticus 2:12. Jesus Christ rose on Firstfruits.

4) Pentecost : Beginning of the Church Holy Spirit indwells all believers. 50 days after Firstfruits. It begins the 5th cycle of discipline and dispersion of Israel. Sunday was when it was held.

5) Trumpets: 2nd Advent. Israel regathered, end of the 5th cycle of discipline.

6) Atonement: Salvation of Israel, result of the baptism of fire. This is Yom Kippur. It speaks of the four unconditional covenants to Israel at the second advent.

7) Tabernacles: Millennial reign of Christ (7 days). Feast of Dedication, Feast of Lights, December 25, 164 BC

Between #4 and #5 is the Church Age.

The doctrine of the feasts

1. The feasts are derived from the word chag. Chag has a root meaning to dance, to be joyous. The feasts were designed to produce happiness and to relate that happiness to Bible doctrine. They were designed to express the blessing which comes from the study of the Word of God. They were designed, then, to be related to Bible doctrine, to lead a believer to the ECS.

2. The feasts were also related to the agricultural economy of Israel. The Passover was held during the time of the latter rains or the barley harvest. The firstfruits was held at the time of the wheat harvest. Pentecost was held at the time of the early figs ripening. The Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles were held during the early rains or the time of sowing. So the feasts were definitely related to the schedule of sowing and reaping in the agricultural economy of Israel.

3. We have first advent feasts. We have the Passover which represents the cross, the Unleavened Bread which represents temporal fellowship with God. We have the firstfruits referring to the resurrection of Christ, and Pentecost which represents the fifth cycle of discipline or the time of Israel’s dispersion.

4. There is a big gap between the first four feasts and the last three. We have four feasts which take us from the Passover to Pentecost in June. Then we have a big gap and we start again in October. This gap represents the period of the Church Age, the time of Israel’s dispersion under the fifth cycle of discipline.

5. We have the second advent feasts. The Trumpets depicted the second advent of Christ and emphasised the fifth cycle of discipline. Israel was regathered under the principle of the trumpets, the trumpets that blew the assembly, the regathering of Israel at the second advent. Secondly, the feast of Atonement in which we have an emphasis on the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants at the second advent. The regenerate of Israel is restored to the land and the covenants are fulfilled. The third is the Tabernacles which emphasises the Millennial reign of Christ. These are all second advent feasts. The second advent begins the Millennium.

6. Not ordained but found in John 10:22 was the feast of dedication or Hanukkah which is the independent celebration of the Jews. It was first celebrated on the 25th December, 164 BC, when the temple was cleansed as a result of winning independence in the Maccabaen wars. All of the feasts in Leviticus, then, had a special concept.

The doctrine of the feasts

1. Definition. The word “feast”, like the Passover, is derived from the Hebrew noun chag. The word is taken from a verb which means to jump for joy, to jump when you are happy, to celebrate. The feast was designated as commemorations and celebrations of God’s grace. A feast, then, is the celebration of the grace of God. They were tests of resident doctrine in the soul, like the Lord’s table or the Eucharist is to us. The commemorated grace blessings derived from doctrine resident in the soul. So we have to call them grace orientation commemoratives.

2. The feasts related to the first advent. There are four of them that were related to the first advent and the first one is the Passover. The Passover occurred on 14 April, 1441 BC. Cf. Exodus 12:1-14; Leviticus 23:5. It portrays the work of Jesus Christ on the cross with special emphasis on redemption. It also portrays one other principle. It portrays freedom from slavery, the beginning of a nation. All nations begin at the point they attain their freedom. Therefore it recognises the principle of freedom in life. But it also recognises something else. The Passover is not the only feast and by virtue of the fact there were other feasts it is a reminder that no one enjoys freedom unless he is in God’s plan of grace. One must have capacity for freedom and this comes from Bible doctrine in the soul. The Passover is the first of the feasts, it has a dual connotation: freedom and the beginning of a nation. It connotes at the same time the beginning of God’s plan. God’s plan begins at the cross. Grace always begins at the point of salvation.

The second of the first advent feasts was the feast of unleavened bread. It occurred immediately following - 15-21 April, a week-long feast. It portrays phase two or living grace. It portrays the concept of everything that God has to do to keep a believer alive in the devil’s world. It means that only God keeps any of us alive. Living grace means that God keeps us alive, we do not earn it or deserve it or work for it. The feast of unleavened bread is described in Leviticus 23:6-18 and in 1 Corinthians 5:8. Jesus Christ is called the Bread of Life and that is not always a salvation title but a title of sustaining us in this life. We are here and we are what we are by the grace of God. That is living grace, it means that we are here and alive because of who and what God is and because of His grace. The Bread of Life means something else. Bread means food, food sustains life. When Christ is called the Bread of Life it means he is the sustainer of our life on this earth, and we are alive by courtesy of our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unleavened bread is also a picture of the hypostatic union, Jesus Christ as the God-Man and the one who is qualified to be and became the only saviour.

The next feast is called the firstfruits. The firstfruits always occurred the first Sunday after the Passover and therefore it was in the feast of unleavened bread. Leviticus 23:9-14 portrays it. It is described in its significance in 1 Corinthians 15:20,23. It represents the resurrection. it also, then, becomes a picture of surpassing grace or paragraph SG³, all that the believer will have by way of reward in eternity. The Sunday of the feast of the firstfruits was a reminder of a principle, that only in time can you acquire paragraph SG², dying grace, and paragraph SG³; they cannot be acquired in eternity. They can only be attained by persistent, consistent, never-give-up, stubborn, hard-headed, I’ll-never-change-my-mind, all the way. God gives you one day at a time to take in Bible doctrine. Whatever else you do that day it is that which is foremost and important, and it is that point which is tested every day. Every day creates a free will issue: Will I take in doctrine or will I not? For those who say yes every day to doctrine, they follow the colours to the high ground to their paragraph SG², they are on the road to glory, and they acquire paragraph SG³ forever and ever and ever.

Sunday, by the way, has always been the first day of the week because more important than anything else in life is Bible doctrine. So the firstfruits was a sign of the resurrection, a picture of the possibility of attaining SG³, and therefore it becomes another picture of the glory road.

The fourth feast was the feast of Pentecost, a one-day feast which occurred fifty days after the Passover. It always occurred in the first week of June. Leviticus 23:15-21. It represents a number of things. It represents the beginning of the fifth cycle of discipline or the time of Israel’s dispersion. It represents also the beginning of the Church Age and the calling out of the royal family of God. It also represents the fact that no adversity in life is too great for the believer on the high ground. There is no disaster, no adversity, no trial, no heartache, no problem in life too great for doctrine in your soul. That is the only place where doctrine copes with problems. If doctrine is not in your soul it doesn’t cope. The only doctrine that you can use for disaster is the doctrine resident in your soul. So in the days of blessing, the easy days, you accumulate doctrine for the disaster days. When you do this the disaster days become easy days and golden days just like all of the other days. So this is the concept of Pentecost and these four feasts are related to the first advent of Christ.

3. Next we have the big gap, an elapse of time where there are no feasts. The big gap is the elapse of time between Pentecost and the feast of the Trumpets. That is a six-month elapse of time. Again, it represents the calling out of the royal family, the time of the Church Age. Remember that the Age of Israel was interrupted by the cross, resurrection, ascension and session of Christ. The Church Age is simply an insertion. Then the Age of Israel is continued with the Tribulation. In other words, the doctrine of intercalation, the principle of the big gap or the elapse of six months without a feast.

a) Intercalation means insertion. The Jewish dispensation was interrupted by the strategical victory of Christ, His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and session.

b) A new dispensation was inserted called the Church Age.

c) Intercalation is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.

d) The Church Age as intercalated is a mystery, not known to the Old Testament writers — Romans 16:25,26; Ephesians 3:1-6; Colossians 1:25,26. e) Doctrines pertaining to the Church Age are not found in the Old Testament. Where the Church Age information would have occurred in the Old Testament there is a parenthesis.

f) Doctrine pertinent to the Church Age is intercalated by the New Testament epistles.

g) The Old Testament reveals doctrine up through the session of Christ, then skips the Church Age and reveals the Tribulation, second advent and Millennium.

4. The second advent feasts. There are three of them. The first of these is the feast of the Trumpets — Leviticus 23:23-25. This represents the termination of the fifth cycle of discipline to Israel and the regathering of Israel and the establishment of them as a nation. The fact that Israel will be regathered at the end of the Tribulation and at the second advent is taught in Isaiah 5:26-30; 10:19-23; 11:11-16; 14:1-3; 60:4-6; Joel 2:16ff; Zechariah 10:6-12. So the feast of the Trumpets is a regathering type of thing. In other words, it is a time when old friends meet under perfect conditions. Therefore it represents in another beautiful way to the supergrace believer the social prosperity of having true friends and great friends and having something worthwhile for all eternity. The Trumpets is a reminder that we will get together in eternity, even if not on earth.

The next feast is the feast of atonement — Leviticus 23:26-32; Hebrews 9:24-28; Romans 3:23-26. It represents the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants: the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New covenants to Israel. These are given to the born-again Jews of the past dispensation. The eternally saved of Israel will have the land and the covenants forever under Jesus Christ, and this is a reminder of paragraph SG³.

The next feast is the Tabernacles. This is blessing on earth; the atonement is blessing in eternity. The Tabernacles: Leviticus 23:33-43; Zechariah 14:9, 16. It is a picture of the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a reminder of what Jesus Christ will produce on the earth — the prefect environment because Satan is bound and demons are removed from the earth, as per Revelation 20; the optimum spirituality which will exist in the concept of Isaiah 65:24 or Joel 2:28,29; or Israel restored as a nation, the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants, the objectivity in administration of justice, the perfect environment, creation is loosened from the power of sin, the animal life loses its ferocity.

5. The feast of Hanukkah, 25 December through 1 January. This is where we got the idea of celebrating Christmas. Christ was not born on 25 December, 25 December was when the temple was cleansed from all of the pig’s blood of Antiochus Epiphanes and the human blood of all the people he sacrificed. Hanukkah is the independent celebration of Israel. It was first celebrated on 25 December 164 BC when the temple was cleansed from the corruption of Antiochus Epiphanes. It meant freedom through military victory. Military victory always is the basis for providing human freedom.

6. The relationship to the agricultural economy of the ancient world. All of these feasts also had an economic connotation.

a) The Passover was held during the time of the latter rains or the barley harvest and was a reminder of the importance of free enterprise.

b) The feast of the firstfruits was held during the wheat harvest and it was a reminder that God has provided through free enterprise, the only basis for sustaining a nation.

c) Pentecost was the time when the early figs were ripened, a reminder to the Jews always that under free enterprise there is opportunity for new business, and that it must be done by following diligent laws of economy in establishment.

d) During the six months between Pentecost and the Trumpets there was the great olive, fig, and date harvest, depicting the principle that even the delicacies of life all come from free enterprise.

e) The Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles were observed during the early rains and the time of sowing, a reminder that as a nation sows against divine institutions they are destroyed, as they sow by the utilisation of the divine institutions they survive and become great. All great nations have been founded on the basis of the laws of divine establishment. These three feasts were related to the sowing time of the agricultural economy of Israel.

f) The feasts were related to the practical everyday living of the Jews, and a principle emerges: Bible doctrine has practical and temporal applications as well as spiritual blessing. Bible doctrine is the producer of common sense.

g) We have the Sabbath month as a feast. This is called Tishri. This was the seventh month, equivalent to the last half of September and the first half of October. The Sabbath month was a special month is all Jewish history. The Jews had a thirty-day month, a twelve-month year. So to compensate for this they had to have a leap year in which they added a month. On leap year they had 13 months in the year. The seventh month or Tishri had seven feasts. The first day of the month they had the feast of the Trumpets and the feast of the New Moon. On the third day of the month they had a special commemoration for the murder of Gedaliah. On the seventh day of the month they had the fast for the golden calf incident. The tenth day of the month was the feast of Atonement. Then on 15-21 of the seventh month the feast of the Tabernacles. On the 22nd day the solemn assembly and prayer for rain, and on the 23rd day they celebrated the dedication of the first temple.

“By means of doctrine resident in the soul he executed the Passover with the result that it became a permanent institution.” It was Moses who under the teaching of God set up the original seven feasts in Israel. Leviticus 23 is the chapter and that chapter was written by Moses himself. All of the original grace commemoratives were set up by Moses. In other words, the whole structure of holidays was set up by Moses at the beginning of the Jewish nation. Other holidays came along, but the structure of holidays is grace, doctrine resident in the soul. The holidays are only meaningful to those who have doctrine resident in the soul. A vacation is based upon capacity for life, capacity for life is based upon maximum doctrine in the soul.