The Case for Integrity
and Continuity in
Jewish Feast
Fulfillments
By
Gene Lawley
The seven Jewish
feasts that were
ordained by God and
given to Moses in
Leviticus 23 have an
order to them, a
flow of continuity
in a chronological
manner.
This is the
pattern evidenced in
the fulfillments of
the first four
feasts.
Order and
consistency has been
the hallmark of
God’s plan for the
ages, not a
haphazard,
after-thought and
mish-mash of events.
He is
sovereign; He knows
the beginning from
the end and
orderliness is
characteristic of
His plans.
For review, the
seven feasts are:
Feast of
Passover; Feast of
Unleavened Bread;
Feast of First
Fruits; Feast of
Weeks (Pentecost);
Feast of Trumpets;
Feast of Atonement;
and Feast of
Tabernacles.
Passover, however,
was introduced at
the time of the
Exodus and later
combined with the
other six feasts.
The seven feasts
appear to highlight
the redemptive
ministry of Jesus
Christ in the world,
from the cross to
His second coming.
Colossians
2:16-17 tells us
that the feasts are
shadows of things to
come, but “the body
is of Christ”.
So the feasts
are commemorations
of future events to
be fulfilled, and we
can readily see that
in the fulfillments
of the first four.
And, as well,
it identifies them
with the person and
ministry of Christ;
they are not
unrelated or
isolated occasions
of religious
practice.
Christ was the
Passover lamb, was
buried (pictured by
the nature of
unleavened bread),
and rose again the
third day as the
first fruits of the
resurrection.
Fifty days
later, at Pentecost,
the Hold Spirit came
upon the little band
of believers,
indwelling them,
just as Jesus had
promised the
disciples in John
14:17, “He dwells
with you and
will be
in you”.
My
argument is that
there is one
fulfillment for each
feast, and they come
about in the order
they were given.
For example,
the next feast to be
fulfilled in order
is the Feast of
Trumpets and it’s
certainly no
accident that the
descriptive details
of that festive
activity are
highlighted in
Paul’s description
of the rapture in I
Thessalonians
4:16-17.
The parallel
is too apparent to
conclude otherwise.
This next feast has
been ignored or
given little
significance in the
plan of God, or
plugged in at the
time of the Second
Coming of Christ all
too often.
I suspect
that the reluctance
to give it a proper
position in the
scheme of end-time
events has a lot to
do with a fear of
being labeled a
“date-setter”
because it pinpoints
the rapture to a
certain time-frame.
And that is a
valid concern, but
certainly no excuse
for avoiding a
straight-forward
consideration of the
teaching of
scripture.
Jesus did
tell us to “watch,
for you know not
what hour your Lord
comes”, and we are
certainly pressing
toward that hour.
If one is ready for
Jesus to come, it
will not matter a
lot if he does not
know the day or the
hour.
I suppose
Enoch, who “walked
with God, and he was
not, for God took
him” (Genesis 5:24)
was not aware of
what God was about
to do, but he was
totally engrossed in
who he was with.
That is our
challenge today.
I have thought some
on the way a shadow
performs in the
sunlight.
Our bodies
cast a shadow as the
sun shines on us,
and as the day
progresses the
shadow becomes
shorter and shorter,
until a high noon,
we are standing on
top of our shadow.
In a sense we
have fulfilled the
pronouncement of our
shadow.
The
Colossians 2:16-17
identity of the
feasts as shadows of
the Christ who is to
come, or the things
having to do with
Him, works out the
same way.
One day soon
the fulfillment of
the Feast of
Trumpets will turn
its shadow into
reality.
The issue of “the
day and the hour” is
no simple
calculation.
We have
established time
zones and an
international date
line that puts some
locations in a
different day than
others.
We have
daylight saving time
to further confuse
the issue. And, more
confusing is this—my
daughter lives in
the Denver,
Colorado, area, and
I am in southern
Idaho.
Both are in
the Mountain Time
Zone, yet we were
talking on the phone
once and she
remarked that it was
dark there, while I
noted that we still
had sunlight in
Idaho.
Over the time
zones to Israel, the
time here in Idaho
would be nine hours
later(I think). Only
God can figure this
out, so I choose to
let Him do it!
The last two feasts
portray the
fulfillment of two
final events in
Jesus’ redemptive
ministry, that of
the Jews’ acceptance
of Jesus as their
true Messiah and
true atonement (the
Feast of Atonement)
part-way into the
“time of Jacob’s
trouble”, the
seven-year
tribulation period.
And, finally,
the Feast of
Tabernacles, which
pictures the Lord
coming to dwell with
His people, which He
will do at His
second coming to the
earth.