THE JEWISH FESTIVALS-A SHADOW OF CHRIST
These (Jewish festivals) are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.-Colossians 2:17
Action: a) Display of picture of the shadow of Christ
b) Display of picture of a Jewish calender of Festivals
Oh yes, most of the Christians may not be celebrating the Jewish Festivals like some First Century Christians did (especially those of the Jewish background – Romans 14:5) but boy…are there lessons to be gleaned from them!!! What better time than now…when the World over in the next 20 days or so, the Jews will be celebrating three of their important festivals…Rosh Hashannah…Yom Kippur…and Sukkoth. Mind you complete Chapters in the Bible like Leviticus 16/23 and Numbers 28/29 are dedicated to their observance. When Apostle Paul wrote that they were a “shadow of the things to come” (Colossians 2:17) what did he actually mean? When someone is walking towards us, with bright light in the background, we are bound to see his shadow first and then the person. Right? Similarly when the Son of God was coming to us, with the indescribable light of his Father (I Tim 6:14-16) behind him, we were bound to see His shadow first, as a sure proof of His approach. The Divine instructions about Jewish festivals “hewn in rock” as it were in the Scriptures served and still serve as a “shadow of Christ” to come not only in his first advent but also in his second advent! Simply put, the Jewish Festivals portray symbolically the landmark events in Christian history…the ones’ which have already occurred and the ones’ which would occur.
The ORDER in which the Jews have been Divinely commanded to celebrate their festivals beginning with Passover and ending with Purim in the Jewish calendar year of 12 months (from April to March) is an adequate pointer to God’s sovereign hand in operation who in His infinite wisdom had concealed the entire history of our times in it! Didn’t Wise King Solomon say that it is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them (Proverbs 25:2)? So let us for once don the apparel of an explorer like Indiana Jones in unraveling the “significance” of Jewish Festivals to us Christians especially in the times when the dispensation of Grace is drawing to a close.
In this message/series of two parts, we would categorize the Jewish festivals into two groups
I) Jewish festivals signifying those events in Christian history, which have already occurred!
1. THE PASSOVER
2. THE FESTIVAL OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
3. THE FESTIVAL OF FIRST FRUITS
4. THE PENTECOST
It has been a constant allegation by contemporary Jewish Biblical Scholars that historical Christian events are not DIVINELY MANDATED as they did not happen in full public glare, like the Divinely mandated events of the Jewish Scriptural history…like say events of the Passover night, parting of the Red sea, descent of the Holy consuming fire on Mount Carmel etc etc. God’s work they claim would always be a national revelation, not happening in a remote corner. Now who is to tell them, that landmark events in Christian history occurred on Jewish festivals-PUBLICLY (Acts 26:26)!!! Praise God, they did serve as a revelation for many Jews of the first century, who received Christ as their Savior in their lives (Acts 2:41/5:14)!
II) Jewish festivals signifying those events in Christian history, which are yet to occur! They are also significant to the future of the Jews.
1. THE FEAST OF THE TRUMPETS
2. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
3. THE FESTIVAL OF TABERNACLES
4. THE FESTIVAL OF DEDICATION
5. THE FESTIVAL OF PURIM
Firstly…Jewish festivals signifying those events in Christian history, which have already occurred!
I) REDEMPTION
1. THE PASSOVER-(Hebrew: Pesach) Leviticus 23:5/Numbers 28:16
Jewish reason for celebrating :
To commemorate, deliverance from Egyptian slavery, a lamb called the Pascal lamb is sacrificed (Exodus 12:21-27).
Christian significance:
Jesus symbolizing the Pascal Lamb died on the Passover day (Matt 27:50) to liberate us not from physical Egyptian bondage but from spiritual slavery to sin (I Cor 5:7-8).
The Heavenly Father had decided about Divine Passover offering-both its place and time in the eternity past -1 Peter 1:20/Rev 13:8
ACTION: Display of pictures of
a) Jerusalem being in the centre of the World
b) Time showing 3 PM.
Now why Jerusalem was chosen as the “THE PLACE OF ALL PLACES” where the Redemption plan prepared before the foundation of the World (I Peter 1:20/ Rev 13:8) would be completed? By virtue of its location in the MIDDLE of the World (Ezekiel 5:5), it typified Jesus’ mediatory Ministry of bringing about reconciliation between Holy God and sinful mankind (1 Tim 2:5). The penalty of the Cross which requires the condemned “hands and legs be fastened by the nails to it” also in a way portrays the “MIDDLEMAN” role of the Saviour for in the Cross the condemned man’s head neither touches the sky nor do his legs touch the ground. He is right in the MIDDLE between God above and man below. FINALLY IS IT NOT FAR MORE EASIER FOR THE GOOD NEWS (1 Cor 15:1-4) TO TRAVEL TO ENDS OF THE EARTH (ACTS 1:8) FROM THE MIDDLE SPOT ON PLANET EARTH RATHER THAN FROM ITS NORTH POLE OR SOUTH POLE?
At this stage, I intend to increase the intensity of the spotlight on the subject of SOVEREIGN God… it would stun many of us when we observe the sequence of events leading upto the Cross as to how the Almighty had “everything in His Sovereign control in order everything takes place at the right place and in the right time”. Now consider this Scripture in the background of Jesus’ arrest “in the night before His crucifixion” and Judgment of the High Priest (Matt 26:57-66).
Next day morning...
“Then the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. They began to state their case: “This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king.”
So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus replied, “You have said it.”
Pilate turned to the leading priests and to the crowd and said, “I find nothing wrong with this man!”
Then they became insistent. “But he is causing riots by his teaching wherever he goes—all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem!”
“Oh, is he a Galilean?” Pilate asked. When they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.” (Luke 23:1-7)
ACTION: MAP OF ISREAL DURING JESUS TIME
DISTANCES: A) CAESAREA TO JERUSALEM -112 KMS
B) TIBERIAS TO JERUSALEM-176 KMS
C) CAESAREA TO TIBERIAS – 90 KMS
Before I go any further, for the uninitiated a picture of the Geo-political “climate” at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion is essential to understand better the COMPLETE picture of God’s Sovereign control over the sequence of events.
For smooth governance, the Land of Palestine was divided by Rome (the World super power at that time, which had over-run the Land of Palestine) into 6 provinces’ with three provinces of
A) Galilee, Samaria and Judea (North to South in the Western side of River Jordan) and
B) Iturea, Decapolis and Perea (North to South in the Eastern side of River Jordan)
While the Rome-appointed Governor for Judea and Samaria was Pontius Pilate with his headquarters at the Coastal city of CAESAREA (not Jerusalem, obviously commercial reasons influenced Rome in the matter of choosing Caesarea -with a thriving port- over Jerusalem), the provinces of Galilee and Perea were under the Governorship of Herod Antipas, with him stationed at TIBERIAS (we will restrict the information on the Geo-political climate to this, for this is what matters for better understanding of the afore-captioned Scripture portion).
Now consider the magnitude of God’s sovereignty over the sequence of events leading upto the Cross. If Pontius Pilate had NOT been at Jerusalem in the climactic hours before crucifixion, doubtless the Priests (virtual local rulers over Jews) would have taken Jesus to Caesarea to get the ruling of Pontius Pilate (did not the scene of action shift from Jerusalem to Caesarea when Apostle Paul was arrested in Jerusalem – Acts 23:23-33) which is good 112 Kms away from Jerusalem. Now at Caesarea too in the questioning process Pontius Pilate would have discovered Jesus was from Galilee and would have directed the Jesus’ accusers’ to take him to Herod Antipas in Tiberias in Galilee which is a good 90 kms away from Caesarea. Undoubtedly Herod Antipas after examining Jesus would have passed “the buck” back again to Pontius Pilate. In all this ponder for a moment… tick –tock…tick-tock… on the time ticking away. JESUS HAD TO DIE IN JERUSALEM ONLY ON THE PASSOVER DAY ONLY BETWEEN 3 PM -5 PM AT GOD’S APPOINTED TIME. Now lets go on stitching together the probable sequence of events…
Finally in Caesarea Pontius Pilate under severe pressure from the highly influential Priestly class “would have washed his hands off “ and the High priests would have crucified Jesus in Caesarea itself well after Passover time… may be 2 days LATER after the subsequent Sabbath days’ (John 19:31) were over. Bye, Bye Divine plan of God’s Paschal Lamb dying in Jerusalem at the appointed twilight time??? NO WAY!!!THE ALMIGHTY ADONAI(HEBREW TERM FOR SOVEREIGN GOD) ENSURED THAT THE BOTH THE GOVERNORS (INTRUMENTAL IN DECISION MAKING PROCESS) WERE IN JERUSALEM AT THE RIGHT TIME BECAUSE EVERYTHING HAD TO OCCUR AS PER THE PRE-DESTINED UNALTERABLE TIME TABLE.
Hey, the Adonai God can make the Earthly authorities virtually dance to His tune without even their own knowledge (Proverbs 21:1). The Earthly Kings may undertake to do something to achieve their own selfish ends but the Almighty can turn their actions around in such a way it would all fit His Greater plans. Historically speaking during that Passover festivities both Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas came to Jerusalem for “selfish reasons” one “announced” and the other “secret”. Firstly about the former…like in modern times, even 2000 years ago the politicians were all for PUBLIC PLEASING and it was a custom for Rome appointed Governors to “identify themselves with the Jews during their most prominent Festival time…the Passover” by being at Jerusalem (the temple city where the festival is celebrated) and come-up with some public-pleasing gimmicks (Matt 27:15). In the Indian context, do not our political leaders all with an eye on vote-bank go the “extra-mile” announcing sops to some communities on the occasion of their festivals and participating in some occassions like “Iftar”, “Christmas” parties (Nothing has changed eh?)? Coming to the “secret” reason (now our Indian political leaders are innocent on this score), whenever lakhs of Jews are gathered in one place, one jingoistic shout “Freedom from Rome” would be sufficient to spread the wildfire of “rebellion against Rome”. So presence of large number of heavily-armed Roman soldiers on ground and Mounted cavalry with gleaming swords under the personal supervision of Rome-appointed Governors would serve as a deterrent to such nationalistic uprisings besides making crowd-control process that much easier. SO THERE WERE PONTIUS PILATE AND HEROD ANTIPAS IN JERUSALEM AT THAT TIME RATHER BEING AT CAESAREA AND TIBERIAS, RESPECTIVELY. AH, THE BOTTOM-LINE IS THAT ALMIGHTY WAS IN COMPLETE CONTROL KEEPING THE AUTHORITIES IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME IN ORDER THE DIVINE REDEMPTION PLAN PREPARED EVEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD WAS LAID WAS CARRIED OUT AT THE RIGHT PLACE AND AT THE RIGHT TIME. HALLELUJAH!!!
ACTION: Display of pictures of
a) Jewish High Priest condemning Jesus
b) Pontius Pilate washing his hands off
Now let’s go the actual “Passover sacrifice”? Who were ordained by the Law to offer Passover sacrifices? ONLY THE TEMPLE PRIESTS!!! Now with Pontius Pilate “washing his hands off” both figuratively and literally the responsibility for “slaying the Divine Passover Lamb” passed onto the Jewish Levitical hierarchy headed by the likes of Annas and Caiphas (who condemned Christ of blasphemy and accused him of the same before Pontius Pilate) as THE LAW PRESCRIBED. HALLELUJAH!!! That is why it is said that at Jesus’ sacrifice
SIN WAS NULLIFIED, LAW WAS SATISFIED AND GOD WAS GLORIFIED!!!
Remember Jesus himself said that He had come to fulfill the Law (Matt 5:17). Because, He fulfilled the Law, we do not have to repeat the OT sacrifices’. HALLELUJAH!!!
II) ACCELERATION
2. FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD (in Hebrew-Hag HaMatzah) -Immediately follows the Passover Leviticus 23:6-8/Numbers 28:17
ACTION: Display of pictures
a) of Jews observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread
b) Chist uttering his final words on the cross
c) the tearing of the curtain in front of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish
Temple
Jewish Reason for celebrating
To commemorate the SPEED at which they left Egypt. From the time the Pharoah allowed them to go there was no delay, in “breaking away from the past”(Exodus 12:39).
Christian significance
As soon as Jesus gave-up His Spirit on the Cross, INSTANTLY the curtain secluding the Holiest place in the Jewish Temple was split apart from top to bottom (Matt 27:50-51), symbolizing the immediate passage of the people from Old Testament dispensation of Law to New Testament, age of Grace.
III) RESURRECTION
3. FESTIVAL OF FIRST FRUITS ( to be celebrated ONLY ONCE in the history of Nation of Israel) –in Hebrew Reshit Katzir- Leviticus 23:9-14
ACTION: Display of pictures of
a) Harvest in the Promised Land
b) Resurrection of Christ
Jewish Reason for celebrating
In thanksgiving of the first crop ONLY in the Promised Land. Not to be celebrated annually
Christian significance
Jesus rose from the dead once and for all - “first and final time” -as “First fruit” of millions of believers who would also rise from the dead (I Cor 15:20).
IV) CONFIRMATION
4.PENTECOST (IN HEBREW LANGUAGE SHAVUOT) Leviticus 23:15-17/Numbers 28:26
ACTION: Display of pictures of
a) Jews celebrating the Pentecost
b) The Lord coming down as fire upon Mount Sinai
c) The Holy Spirit descending upon the disciples like tongues of fire in
the Upper room
FIRST- Jewish reason for celebrating
To commemorate, sealing of the covenant with the redeemed Jewish people by giving of the Law, 50 days after redemption from Egypt, even as the Lord came as FIRE upon Mount Sinai
Christian significance
The Almighty sealed the covenant of redemption (from Sin) to the Christians by giving birth to the Church, 50 days after the atoning death of the Savior, by coming down in the form of FIRE upon the Upper room. We can go on comparing…hey… the Law kills whereas the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6). During the time of the giving of the Law, 3000 men died (Exodus 32:27-28), whereas during the time of the giving of the Spirit 3000 men were given a “new life” (Acts 2:41) which comes with “born-again” experience.
ACTION: Display of waving of "two loaves" in the Jewish temple during the Pentecost
SECOND-Jewish Reason for celebrating
After experiencing the blessings of the FIRST rains of the year, to commemorate annually the FIRST CROP of “that spring season”. Mind you, there were always TWO rains (Joel 2:23) in the Blessed Land and two crops too. Rains of month of May are referred to as “rains of Spring season” whereas that of Sept/October are referred to as “autumn season rains”. Two loaves would be “waved” before the Lord on the Day of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:17).
Christian significance:
“Fiery "Holy Spirit (in the form of good rain) came upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost and on that day about 3000 souls (Acts 2:41) were gathered into His Kingdom as “the First crop of New season of Grace”. From then both the “loaves “(Jews and Gentiles) would be acceptable to God (Eph 2:11-22)!
ACTION: Display of Jewish Festivals calender
The first three Jewish festivals, take place within a span of 50 days. Crucifixtion, Resurrection of Christ and coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples signifying the birth of the church age (in that order providentially) took place in that period. Afterwards note the considerable gap (4 months), which represents the existing church age!
In the next concluding part of this series on Jewish Festivals, we would focus on those which portray events yet to occur in Christian history.
Suresh Manoharan
