All the Jewish Holy Days Point Us To Jesus.

Several weeks ago I shared in our message that all the holy days of Israel pointed us to Jesus and his work.  Acts one begins with the day of Pentecost.  The day of Pentecost - It was 50 days after the Passover.  It was the 4th of the Old Testament Feasts of Jerusalem.  Each Feast was fulfilled by Jesus.  To a faithful Israelite seeing Jesus in each one of these days should have been a no-brainier. 

The First was Passover -Passover,  where the blood of a innocent, pure, precious lamb saved you from Death Angel and brought you out of bondage.  The tradition was that prior to the sacrifice you were to bring the lamb into the house and it lived with the family for three days.  Think of how attached the children would have been to this precious little innocent animal.  Then, the lamb was slain and the children and adults were to eat it all in one setting.  It is not lost on me that Jesus came and lived among the people for 3 years and so attached were the children and adults to him that they would chase him and follow after him from the shore as he traveled the sea of Galilee.  Yet they crucified him and in Jesus' death on the Cross, he paid the penalty of our sins for those who would believe.  His blood poured out rescued many from the power of Sin and made a way for all to come.

The Second Feast was Unleavened Bread - It was the same time as Passover.  It was a week long and started the day after Passover ended.  Every  family was to search his house for leaven/Yeast and remove it...search for Sin.  get it out of there so that can have fellowship with God.  Leaven was seen as the thing that separated us from God.  Their house had to be clean of leaven and Our "house" has to be clean.  Paul say to the church in Scripture - "7Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."  Now, Paul is saying because of Christ death, let us repent of our sin - (clean out the old leaven...) and come to him

3 days into the festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread you had the festival of First Fruits.  In First Fruits the first of fruits of your grain harvest was brought to God so that the rest of the Harvest would be acceptable.  Question - Who is worthy to be the first fruits for all mankind - You or me?  NO!  Only one.  Jesus.  Do you see the connection?  Jesus dies on Passover and 3 days later is raised gloriously for our justification.  Don't believe me that he is the first fruits prophesied in the OT.  Notice what Paul said in 1 Cor. 15;20-23 - "But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ."  His death, and subsequent victory over death provides a way for all who come to be acceptable to God.

That brings us to what we talked about a few weeks ago, the feast of Passover. It was  50 days after Passover.  Pentecost in the OT was a feast to celebrate the ingathering of the crops.  It was the first reaping of the Harvest.  Oats and Barley were brought into the storehouse. Pentecost celebrated the bountiful harvest the Lord had blessed the people with that year.  Now, after Peter's sermon, we will see the beginnings of a Harvest.  The harvest is the birthday of the first church, where 3000 souls will come to be saved and gathered in under the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior, the first fruit.

Now in Israel you did nothing for 7 months but work and wait.  At the end came the feast of trumpets.   During the  feast of trumpets you laid down your work utensils and went home and worked no more.  It was the end of the season.  Paul speaks of the end of this age  in 1Thes. 4:17 - "Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord...."  Our work is not done yet.  We are to work until we are called to be home with Jesus and we can lay down our weapons of our warfare and go home and rest with him and enjoy the feast he brings to the table.

Only two more!   Next was the day of Atonement.  The Day of Atonement was where the people's sinfulness was judged by God. (Lev. 23)  Now,  one day Jesus will Judge the world and anyone not resting in him alone and trying to do any work to justify their personal righteousness will be put out of his kingdom, and destroyed.

And that brings us to the final feast which was the Feast of Tabernacles.  The Feast of Tabernacles was a week long feast where everyone would come together as the people of God and would set up booths or tents around the temple and live in community and communion with the Presence of God.  They would remember what it was to live in exile and in wandering for the week.  It was the people of God in communion with their creator.   It is so much a picture of the eternal state were we come together and tabernacle with God and go home an worship the king....whose kingdom has come and whose will is being done. 

All of the feasts pointed to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.  What a wonderful Savior - foretold from days of old and coming again to rule and rain.  "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done..."
Rejoice in Him
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