The Feast of Passover

 

A s with the Law, the Tabernacle (Temple), the Priesthood, the Sacrificial Offerings, the Feasts of the Lord have been changed!

They are still the same Feasts of the Old Testament, but in an advanced form. They have progressed from Shadow to Image, from Picture to Reality. They each have an application to the Christian Church!

Passover is fulfilled in the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on Mt. Calvary; Pentecost at the Outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost; and in this day, Tabernacles is scheduled for fulfillment.

The great Alfred Edersheim records in relation to Tabernacles, "Whether or not our suggestions be adopted as to the typical meaning of the two great ceremonies of the 'pouring out of the water' and the Temple illumination, the fact remains, that the Feast of Tabernacles is the ONE ONLY type in the Old Testament which has not yet been fulfilled." And again, " ..... in the writings of the apostles, but more especially in the Book of Revelation, whose imagery is so often taken from them; and we still look for the accomplishment of the one yet unfulled type - the Feast of Tabernacles, as the grand harvest-festival of the Church."

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty:

The Hebrew word for feast means to fix by appointment, to meet at a stated time, to summon to trial, to engage for marriage.

Leviticus 23:4 These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

The three feasts of the Lord are Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. As the three primal colours, (red, blue and yellow), divide into seven (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet), so also do the feasts of the Lord: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks (Pentecost), Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles.

Seven is the number of completeness or perfection. It is also the number of the end time.

It is important to understand that each feast (appointment) is to be proclaimed in its season. It is equally important to understand that today is not the season of Passover: neither is it the season of Pentecost. It is the season of Tabernacles! Now is the time for heralding this truth. And yet where is this sound being heard, where is this teaching beAing proclaimed? If this is the season of Tabernacles, why are its distinctive notes not being trumpeted with resolute clarity?

2 Peter 1:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Present truth is Tabernacles. God requires not only that His children hear and embrace the teaching, but that they be established in it. (Passover is not present truth. Pentecost is not present truth.)

1 Corinthians 14:8 For if the trumpet shall give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

The greatest battle in the history of the Christian Church lies immediately before it. The current message (present truth) must be taught, or the required preparation will not be effected.

Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have never heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

 

T imes and Seasons

The root Hebrew word which means appointment, means a fixed time or season.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; and a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, ane to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to loose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Acts 1:6,7 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times and seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

Psalm 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.

Amplified Version: Blessed - happy, fortunate, to be envied - are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolised by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favour of your countenance.

The translators of this version of the Bible interpret the joyful sound as people who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolised by the feasts.

It is possible to understand something without appreciating it. It is also possible to appreciate something without understanding it. The joyful sound is to those who both understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings. These blessings are symbolised by the feasts!

The symbolism of the feasts of the Lord is threefold in its application.

Firstly, there is an historical application. The feasts of the Lord were literal festivals observed in the corporate life of the Old Testament church.

Secondly, they are prophetic in their symbolism of both the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.

Thirdly, the feasts of the Lord are experiential in the life of every Christian believer.

 

T ypes and Symbols

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.