273
The Tabernacle of these one-day acts. Again we turn to the inspired record and read, "These are the feasts of the Lord" (Lev. 23 :4): 1. The Feast of the Passover, which finds its fulfill- ment in the death of "Christ our passover" (I Cor. 5 :7), was to be observed "in the fourteenth day of the :first month at even" (Lev. 23: 5). It was not by accident that our Lord was crucified on the Feast of the Passover, as all four of the evangelists are careful to tell us. He was the Paschal Lamb, "without blemish and without spot." 2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately fol- lowed the passover, and was closely linked with it. It be- gan "on the fifteenth day of the same month," and was to be observed for seven days (Lev. 23 :6). This finds its ful- fillment in the holy walk of the believer as he feeds upon Christ, "the bread of life." Leaven is a type of sin, and all leaven was to be put out of the house during this week. Even so, we must confess and forsake our sins, if we would have fellowship with Christ, "the bread of life." 3. The Feast of the Firstfruits, observed "on the mor- row after the sabbath" (Lev. 23: 11) ; that is, three days after the passover, on the first day of the week, is a remark- able type of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead, on the first day of the week, "when the sabbath was fully past," three days after He offered Himself as the Paschal Lamb on Calvary's cross. He is, indeed, "the first - fruits of them that slept" (I Cor. 15 :20). 4. The Feast of Pentecost, so called because it came fifty days after the feast of the firstfruits ("Pentecost" is a Greek word meaning "fiftieth"), finds its fulfillment in the descent of the Holy Spirit "when the day of Pente- cost was fully come" (Acts 2: 1), exactly fifty days after the resurrection of Christ. The Day of Pentecost marks
The Tabernacle
272
The Seven Feasts of Jehovah "These are the feasts of Jehovah," which set forth, in type, God's great plan of the ages, from Calvary's cross to our Lord's millennial reign on earth: The Feast of the Pass- over; the Feast of Unleavened Bread; the Feast of the Firstfruits; the Feast of Pentecost; the Feast of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; the Feast of Tabernacles. These Jewish feasts were times of worship, to be observed annu- ally, at certain stated times. Israel was thus continually re- minded, year after year, century after century, of the les- sons God was teaching her concerning her coming Mes- siah. Again, these "holy convocations" began with the Sab- bath and closed with the Sabbath. This is an important truth for us to grasp. The Sabbath before the feasts of Jehovah points back to God's eternal rest which He had before sin entered the world to break that rest. The Sab- bath following the feasts points on to God's eternal rest which He will share with the redeemed forever. And be- tween these two Sabbaths there came the feasts of Je- hovah-a picture of God's purpose for man throughout the ages, in redeeming him and leading him on, even unto his eternal rest in heaven. By faith we "enter into" that rest in this present life; but in its full and complete en- joyment "there remaineth . .. a rest (or 'keeping of a sab- bath') to the people of God" (Heb. 4:9). There were seven of these feasts; and seven is the num- ber that speaks of completion. Some of them were to be observed in one day each, whereas the others covered a period of seven days each. The one-day feasts represented definite acts of God, accomplished in a day; whereas the seven-day feasts represented His dealings with His people over a period of time. They pointed on to the outcome
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online