Seeing the Reality through the Shadows
Jesus Fulfills the Feasts – Part 1
Colossians 2:16-17; Exodus 12; Leviticus 23
Colossians 2:16-17 - 16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Series Intro
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Do you ever doubt Christianity? Do you ever face doubts that eternal life is really as easy as trusting Jesus for your salvation and God giving it to you? Do you doubt that Jesus’ sacrifice is really the way that God has planned?
Does it ever enter your mind that maybe Jesus was a great guy and all, but is He really the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God who came from heaven to pay for our sins?
Well, we can be sure that Satan will continue to seek to tell us lies and get us to doubt Christ and rob us of the joy and assurance of salvation of those who are saved and seek to prevent those who have not trusted in Christ from turning to Him and being saved.
But we can truly know that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the one who was prophesied to come, that He is the Savior of the world, and that this has been God’s plan all along.
It wasn’t just plan B when the Old Covenant didn’t seem to work out. This was God’s plan from the very beginning.
Slide
Today, we are starting a new series that takes us into Easter called, Seeing the Reality through the Shadows, and we will be taking a look at how Jesus is the fulfillment of many of the things God established in the Old Testament.
For the next 2 weeks we are going to look at the feasts of Israel and their purpose and how Jesus fulfilled the first feasts literally and next week we are going to look at the fall feasts and how we can be certain of their fulfillment with Christ’s second coming!
Then, on Easter Weekend, we will look at some of the prophecies found in the Old Testament concerning the coming Messiah and see How Jesus is the fulfillment of those perfectly!
There is no doubt that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that He is our hope.
It is my hope that after this series, you will be even more confident of your faith in Christ or that, after seeing the reality of Christ even in the shadows of the patterns and prophecies of the Old Testament, you would put your hope in Christ and receive Him as your Savior and receive the everlasting life that He died to attain for you and rose from the dead to be able to give it to you!
Sermon intro
So let’s begin today looking at the first of the feasts of Israel that Jesus fulfilled in His first coming.
What are the feasts of Israel?
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The feast days that Israel celebrated were times appointed by God that were commemorative and communal. They were used to bring the people of Israel together to celebrate the Lord and His works as they remembered their common origin and the experiences of their ancestors. There were 7 times that were appointed by the Lord in the Old Testament.
The observance of these holidays presented the Israelites with lessons on sin, judgment, forgiveness, the need for thanksgiving to the Lord, and the importance of trusting God instead of hoarding their possessions.
But of even greater, I believe, theological importance is how each of the feasts are typological, of how they are a foreshadowing of greater fulfillment found in Christ.
Paul says this when he is talking to the Colossians about some of the appointed times of the Lord.
Slide
Colossians 2:16-17
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Question
How is Jesus the reality of these feasts that were only a shadow of the things to come?
Well, I want to start by looking at the Spring feasts that Israel celebrated and that are right upon us currently on the calendar. Let’s take a look at each of these feasts and what their purpose was for Israel.
The Feasts of Israel
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The first of these feast days is
The Passover (Pesach) (Pay Sock)
Turn with me to Exodus 12
To give you a little background as you turn there, God has just sent 9 plagues against Egypt to judge them for Israel’s captivity and is using these plagues to ultimately free the Israelites.
Now the Lord is about to bring the 1oth plague against the land of Egypt which is the killing of the first born of every household, but God is making provision for the people of Israel to be spared from this plague.
And it says beginning in Exodus 12:2
Exodus 12:2-3, 5-7, 11-14
2 "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. …5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. … 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover.
12 "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals — and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord — a lasting ordinance.
So God will spare those of Israel who act in faith and slaughter a lamb without defect and take some of the blood and put in on their door posts so that when the Lord came through to strike down the first born in all of Egypt, He would Pass Over those houses with the blood on them and spare them.
This was to be a lasting ordinance and something the Israelites celebrated each year to remember how God redeemed them and saved them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.
Transition
The day after the Passover, was another appointed time. It was the feast of
Unleavened Bread
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We read in Exodus 12:17-19
17 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses.
The feast of unleavened bread celebrates the day the Israelites actually left Egypt. It is the day after the Passover. In celebrating the feast of unleavened bread, an observant Jew was to bake bread without yeast and in fact, remove all the yeast from their houses. This was done meticulously.
The baking without sin was indicative of the haste with which they were leaving Egypt. There would be no time for the bread made with yeast to rise.
More importantly, however, is that Leaven or Yeast is a common Jewish metaphor for an invisible, pervasive influence. Most often it is associated with a corrupting influence, i.e. sin.
So
The Removal of Yeast was symbolic of Purification from Sin
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Jewish households continue to do this cleaning out all of the Chametz, anything that has yeast in it, from their homes and taking time to reflect on their own sin and repent.
The third feast of Israel is The Feast of
First Fruits
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Turn with me to Leviticus 23. This chapter in Leviticus gives an overview and summary of all of the appointed times and feasts.
Leviticus 23 gives a summary of all the feasts of Israel and it says in
Leviticus 23:9-11, 14
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. …14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
This feast occurs during the same week as Passover and the feast of Unleavened bread. It occurs on the day after the Sabbath following Passover, so that would always be on a Sunday, because the Jewish Sabbath is always on Saturday.
On the Day of the First fruits, they were to wave the first fruits of the Barley harvest to honor God declaring their trust in His provision and faithfulness.
After this feast of the first fruits, came
The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)
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Also known as Shavuot
Lev 23:15-17, 21
15 "'From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord…21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
Pentecost or Shavuot was 7 weeks or 50 days after the feast of first fruits and this was also timed with the agriculture and you were to bring some of the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
Here they were told to bring an offering of bread baked with yeast trusting God to provide a great harvest during the year.
This is also the day that the Jews historically associate with the giving of the Law to Moses.
Transition
Ok, so now you know about the first 4 of the seven biblically commanded feasts that the Lord gave. Interesting to know, but how are these a shadow of the reality of Christ?
Well let’s take a look at how Jesus is
The Fulfillment of the Feasts of Israel
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Passover
Well, in the New Testament we see that
Jesus is the Passover Lamb
In John 1:29 - The next day John(John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
It is the Father who has provided the perfect Lamb without blemish to be the true and eternal Passover Lamb that could take away our sins.
Also, the author of Hebrews tells us
Hebrews 10:1, 4, 10 - The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities themselves. … 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. [But]…10 we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Jesus is the reality that has fulfilled the shadow that was seen in the Passover. It was always to point to Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment.
That there are so many Jews (as well as others) who do not understand this yet. For the Jews this seems to speak to the fact that the Lord has hidden this from many of them during this time until his attention again turns back to them. Then I believe they will see and understand like Paul when he met the Lord and after the Lord blinded him for a time, it says “something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see” (Acts 9:18).
The reality then will be seen that Jesus is the Passover Lamb that has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7)
Transition
Jesus fulfills the Passover as the Passover lamb in several other ways as well.
First, we see that
Jesus entered Jerusalem on Selection day
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What we celebrate as Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus rode in to Jerusalem was also the day that the Jews were selecting the lambs that would be sacrificed.
Remember in Exodus
Exodus 12:3, 5
3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. …5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,
Not only was Jesus selected by God on selection day, but
Jesus was Sacrificed on Preparation Day
At the precise hour when the lambs were being sacrificed
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In Exodus 12:6 is said they were to slaughter them (prepare them) at twilight. The Jews would do this about 3pm.
In the gospel of Mark we read that it was about the ninth hour, which is about 3pm, on preparation day that Jesus died.
Also, just like the Jews used the blood of the lamb to cover their doors so they would be saved from death,
Jesus’ Blood cover us for our Salvation
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Not only is he our Passover lamb, but it is His blood, the blood of the lamb, when applied to us through our belief in Him, allows God to Passover us for death.
Romans 5:9 - Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
Revelation 1:5 - To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
Jesus is the Passover lamb that has made real, the shadows and significance of the Passover!
But not only is Jesus our Passover lamb, But he is also the fulfillment of the feast of
Unleavened bread
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And he does that by being buried with the Leaven of our Sin
Jesus was the buried with the Leaven of our Sin
Just as the all the leaven representing sin needed to be removed from the homes of the Jews, symbolizing their purification, so to Jesus purifies us by removing the sin of those who trust in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 - God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus took the sin of the world upon himself and was buried. He was in the tomb, taking our sin with Him, on the precise day of this feast.
There is a great verse in 1 Corinthians that Paul speaks, that I believe ties this altogether for us so nicely as he associates sin and yeast.
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1 Corinthians 5:6-8
6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
Jesus took our sin and he removed it from us and put it on himself and was buried with it. But not only did her remove the leaven of our sin, to fulfill the feast of unleavened Bread, but
Jesus is the Bread of Life
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In John 6:35, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life” (John 6:35)
During this week long celebration they eat unleavened bread.
On the first night of Passover, during the Seder, there is a tradition of there being 3 pieces of Matzah, unleavened bread, and the middle piece is broken before dinner and the larger piece is wrapped in a napkin and hidden. Then at a point in the meal, it is searched for and found and each person is given a piece of the afikomen to eat.
The symbolism of this middle piece of unleavened bread, with the matzah being pierced with holes and striped, could be symbolic of the Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the bread of life, who said to the disciples as he broke this bread and said, take and eat this is my body which will be given up for you, the body that was hidden in the tomb, but did not stay hidden in the tomb, but resurrected to eternal life!
Jesus is the fulfillment of the feast of unleavened bread by removing from us the leaven of our sin and being the bread of life.
It is amazing how you can start to see the reality through Christ of what where only shadows before.
And it doesn’t end there. Jesus is also the fulfillment of the feast of
First Fruits
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Jesus is the First Fruits of the Resurrection
IN Leviticus, we learned that this feast of First fruits was celebrated on the day after the Sabbath during Passover, which would have been and always would be a Sunday since the Sabbath is on a Saturday. Well this was the day that Jesus Resurrected and listen to what Paul says in
1 Corinthians 15:20-23
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“Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
He is the fulfillment of the faithfulness of God being the first fruits of the resurrection, a resurrection that we know God will be faithful to since He raised Jesus from the dead!
Transition
And after Jesus resurrection, we see in Scripture that He walked the earth for 40 days and then ascended into heaven and then told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem.
Well 10 days later, 50 days after the feast of unleavened bread, we see the fulfillment of
Pentecost
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This is when
Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit
Not only was Pentecost, the feast of weeks or as it is called today by the Jews Shavuot, a celebration of the harvest and on this day we saw the harvest of 3000 souls that received Christ and were baptized by the Holy Spirit, but this is also a day that the Jews celebrated as the giving of the law to Moses so they knew how to live.
Well, on this day as believers received the Holy Spirit, they had written on their hearts the law of Christ, so they would not only know how to live, but now had the power to live as the Lord calls us!
Conclusion
The feasts of Israel were only a shadow of things that pointed to the future, ultimate fulfillment that we can now see clearly in Christ!
Christianity is not, and was never intended to be, a plan B, but it was always God’s plan from the very beginning!
Even as we have gone through these first four feasts that are in the spring, and have seen their fulfillment, I hope for one of 2 things.
If you are already a believer, that you are walking in greater assurance of your faith and can now experience greater joy from that assurance.
Or, if you were not a believer in Jesus, that today you have been able to see the reality that Jesus is the Christ and He is the fulfillment of all things that the Lord has revealed in the past.
And it doesn’t end here. Make sure you come next week to see how the Fall feasts are only a shadow of Jesus’ second coming!
But if you have never received Christ as your Savior, won’t you turn and confess your belief and experience the reality of the salvation He provides today.
Let’s pray
