The Three Groups of Feasts
When Jehovah delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He brought them into relationship with Himself in a way that would teach them the cost of redemption and the importance of holiness. He gave them seven solemn feasts to keep these things in remembrance. They are divided into three groups of feasts corresponding with three annual celebrations when all the males were to go up to Jerusalem. These three celebrations reveal the Lord’s dispensational plan of blessing for the past, present and future. The first two feasts were celebrated along their journey through the wilderness, but the others were celebrated only after they arrived in the land of Canaan. These last feasts align with the spring harvest of barley and wheat and the fall harvest of olives and grapes. At that time they rejoiced together with Jehovah over the harvest of their fields. Though Israel did not at that time know the fullness of God’s plan, yet they rejoiced together with Him concerning similar things. God could celebrate with those who had faith and obedience in keeping His feasts. He with His foreknowledge could view them as a preview of Christ and His work. Now, after the full revelation of God’s purposes in Christ has been made known, we see how the first two feasts speak of Christ and His past work. We also can see what is being fulfilled in this present time as revealed in the second two feasts, and that which will be fulfilled in the future as portrayed in the last three feasts. May our hearts rejoice with Him in greater measure as we look into His revealed plan of blessing.
The Basis of Blessing
The first feast in each of the three groups is the basis of blessing for what follows. The offering of the Passover lamb is the beginning of all blessing to Israel. Through this Passover they were redeemed from Egypt and brought into relationship with Jehovah. The other feasts depend on this. The feast of unleavened bread was celebrated with the Passover. The eating of unleavened bread for seven days in connection with the Passover shows God’s desires to have His people dwelling with Him in holiness.
The first feast of the second group is that of the Firstfruits. It prefigures the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from among the dead. The Feast of Weeks followed fifty days later when the grain had been harvested. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus opens a new avenue of blessing not connected with the earth. The risen Man has entered heaven and is gathering a people to be with Him at His second coming. The two wave loaves pictured this. The saints are this “new [meal] offering” which was waved before the Lord Jehovah. They are a heavenly people.
The last group of three feasts was celebrated in the seventh month in connection with the fall harvest. These feasts are figurative of the earthly blessing the Lord will establish in His kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy. The close of this kingdom will usher in the eternal rest of God as pictured in the Sabbath of the eighth day.
The distinction between these two spheres of blessing, heavenly and earthly, is important to the proper appreciation of God’s plan. Let us now consider in more detail how each feast fits into the whole plan.
The Passover and
Unleavened Bread
The first two feasts came to pass as they left Egypt and began the wilderness journey. Afterward, Jehovah instituted them, giving them a new calendar (Ex. 12:1212For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. (Exodus 12:12)) while doing so, as a celebration of their deliverance from Egypt and how, in their haste to leave Egypt, they took no leaven with them on the journey. The feasts also looked forward to the future redemption that the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, would accomplish, bringing them into fellowship with Himself in holiness.
The feast of unleavened bread is connected with the Passover. Leaven in Scripture is always a picture of evil working. The children of Israel were to be physically separated from the unclean things of evil. The holiness of God requires separation from evil in order for us to have full fellowship with Him. The seven days of eating unleavened bread was a perfect period of separating themselves unto Jehovah who had called them out of Egypt. God desires to have a people in communion with Himself according to His holiness. The sacrifice of the Passover Lamb made this possible and should cause separation unto Him. This is the basis of fellowship with God.
Today we are to be morally separate from evil. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which supersedes the Passover, we are told to “keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8). For Israel in times past the unleavened bread was called “bread of affliction,” as it was contrary to human nature. For believers in the present time it is called “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”; it is agreeable to the new nature, though not to the old.
The Feasts of Firstfruits
and Pentecost
The second group of feasts was connected with the wheat harvest and was not counted according to lunar months and solar days. It began on the morrow after the Sabbath when the first grain was ready to eat. None were allowed to eat of the grain of the field until a sheaf of it had been presented to Jehovah as a wave offering by the priest. The priest was to keep the sheaf of firstfruits until the first day of the week (the morrow after the Sabbath) when he waved it before the Lord along with its accompanying burnt offering, meal offering and drink offering. This was, no doubt, a reminder to Israel that a thanksgiving to the Lord Jehovah should be the first thing of the new harvest. There is much more in this celebration for us to see. The sheaf of firstfruits represents the resurrection from among the dead of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20). As a man in resurrection life He has ascended into heaven. “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:1818And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)).
After the sheaf of firstfruits had been offered, fifty days were counted to culminate the Feast of Weeks. During that time the grain harvest proceeded. When the fifty days were fulfilled, all the males were to go up to worship the Lord in celebration of the harvest. At the Feast of Weeks, the priest waved two loaves of bread baked with leaven as an offering to Jehovah in the same manner as he had waved the sheaf of firstfruits. These loaves were a thanksgiving offering of the food of the harvest.
The two wave loaves represented not only the bounty of food for themselves, but the bountiful harvest for heaven in all believers who have that abundant life (John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)) through faith in the Risen One. The Lord Jesus ascended into heaven; He will gather a heavenly people to Himself at the close of this age. This is what we Christians await. The two wave loaves are a representation of these believers. For this reason, they were baked with leaven, a picture of sin, but the action of the leaven was stopped, and a sin offering for them was included in the other offerings. In the sheaf of firstfruits, no sin offering was made, for Christ was sinless.
The heavenly harvest began on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit being sent down to accomplish this, on that very day of the Feast of Weeks. Through the preaching of the gospel in this present time, souls are born anew. Through faith in Christ, souls receive the resurrection life of Christ (John 11:25-2625Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25‑26)). The new bodies will be given at His coming, at the completion of the harvest when the Lord returns to take His heavenly saints home. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:22-23).
The Gleanings Left in the Field
“When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 23:2222And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 23:22)). Souls saved during the present time, beginning with the day of Pentecost up until the rapture when the Lord comes, are not the only saints that participate in heavenly blessing with the Lord. There is a special allowance typified in the grain left in the field for others to participate in heavenly blessing. The saints martyred during the tribulation before the Lord’s earthly kingdom (Rev. 20:44And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)) will participate in the heavenly sphere. Once the heavenly harvest is complete, only earthly blessing is left for those who are faithful to the Lord. With them He will establish His kingdom on earth.
Those participating in the heavenly sphere include the Old Testament saints, though it was not made known to them. “Now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:1616But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)). Although the Old Testament saints do not have the same relationship with Christ, they do have a heavenly portion, and heavenly blessing is superior to earthly. The Lord told His disciples in John 14, when He first revealed the heavenly things, “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
The wheat harvest takes place four months before the fall harvest and is representative of those who will dwell with God in heaven. Scripture consistently uses the sowing and harvest of wheat in reference to the heavenly portion, and it is so in the parables of the kingdom. The Lord reminded the disciples of this when He said, “Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:3535Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (John 4:35)). The Lord desired the harvest for heaven before the earthly harvest. As the wheat harvest is heavenly, so the harvest of grapes (the vine) and olives is representative of the earthly time of blessing. The last three feasts of Jehovah take up this subject.
The Last Three Feasts
It is significant that the last three feasts return to the lunar calendar. They are prophetic of the “times and the seasons” which have to do with this earth. On the first day of the seventh month Tishri there was to be a memorial day of blowing of trumpets. This first day of Tishri was originally the beginning of the new year before Jehovah instituted the Passover as the beginning of months. The Jews’ civil calendar begins the year on this day.
These last three feasts are prophetic of the preparation for and fulfillment of blessing on earth. Before this can take place, two things are necessary: The people of Israel must return to their land, and they must repent of the rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The blowing of trumpets by the priests is the call for Israel to return to their land. Though large numbers have returned since they became a nation in 1948, this cannot be considered a call from the Lord, for they have not as a nation owned Jesus as their Messiah. They are guilty of rejecting Him. During this time since their dispersion, the nations are given to Israel as a city of refuge while Christ is High Priest in heaven. Until that time is finished, as figured in Numbers 35:2828Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession. (Numbers 35:28), any that return are liable for the avenger of blood, being outside their place of refuge.
The Day of Atonement
After Israel is truly called to return to their land, they will realize their guilt of rejecting the Lord Jesus and will realize that He made atonement for them, as it says in Isaiah 53:45, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” Though He made atonement long ago, yet they will realize it only when they mourn for Him in true repentance. “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zech. 12:1010And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)).
The Feast of Tabernacles
The time prefigured in the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles will follow upon their mourning and repentance. Israel will dwell in unwalled villages, every man sitting under his vine and fig tree, being protected by the Lord from all enemies (Mic. 4:44But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. (Micah 4:4)). Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and other recent aggressive acts of terrorism in the world, this verse takes on increased significance. The Lord Jesus will bring in earthly blessing, fulfilling all the prophecies given to Israel and the other nations. In the millennial reign of Christ, He will bring the earth back into perfect order (Num. 29:1234). When this is completed, the eighth day of rest will be celebrated as the Lord gives all back to God in a perfect state, that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).
How wonderful to see that the teaching of these feasts fits together perfectly with the New Testament Scriptures. God, in His dispensation to man, will have His Son, the Lord Jesus, accomplish this, “that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him” (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)).
D. C. Buchanan