Seeing the Reality through the Shadows
Jesus Fulfills the Feasts – Part 2
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.
Intro
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I have to tell you that this series so far for me, preparing for it, preaching it, has been transformational to me and to my faith.
Last week, we started out talking about doubts that we all have at times about Christianity and how those doubts can be overcome when we look at how God has been orchestrating history and how we can see His work through the shadows of History, and how He has fulfilled through Jesus, the Old Testament feasts that were only a shadow of the things to come.
This week we are going to be addressing the doubts we may have about Jesus coming back and God’s plan for the future.
We may believe God is real, but is Jesus really coming back? Have we misunderstood Scripture? How can we know?
Well, Jesus is coming back. He has told us in His word.
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John 14:3
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Acts 1:10-11
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
He is coming back.
But I believe that as we look at the remaining feasts of the Old Testament, we can again see the reality of His return through the shadows of the feasts.
That is what we are going to look at today and to start I want to recap briefly what we saw last week.
The Spring Feasts
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We saw that the first 4 feasts of Israel were a shadow of the future that Jesus fulfilled in his first coming. We saw that God is the God of all of history ordaining the way of salvation through Jesus from before the foundations of the world. Christianity was not just some plan B that God came up with because the Old Covenant did not work out. We saw that
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Jesus fulfilled the Passover as our Passover Lamb,
that He fulfilled the feast of Unleavened bread by taking our Sin on Himself and removing it from us by entering the tomb,
that He fulfilled the feast of First Fruits by being the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead through His resurrection, and
that He fulfilled Pentecost by sending the Holy Spirit with the beginning of the harvest and writing the law on our hearts!
All of these occurred on the exact day that Israel was celebrating those spring feasts!
The Fall Feasts of Israel
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So now, let’s turn to the Fall Feasts and see what these remaining feasts are all about and then we will see what they were shadows of.
The first of the Fall feasts is
The Feast of Trumpets
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Known today as Rosh Hashanah. It actually means the “Head of the Year.”
It is the Jewish New Year and we see God give the command for this day in
Leviticus 23:23-25
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire.'"
The Central observance of the Feast of Trumpets is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, a trumpet like instrument.
It ushers in what is known as the Days of Awe or Days of Repentance.
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For 10 days after Rosh Hashanah, after the blowing of the trumpet, the Jews will consider and recognize their sin from the previous year and repent of that sin, turning to the Lord for forgiveness.
Transition
Following these 10 days comes the next Feast day and that is
The Day of Atonement
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It is known today as Yom Kippur, which means Day of Atonement.
We see God give the command for this in the verses directly following what we just read in
Leviticus 23:26-28, 31-32
26 The Lord said to Moses, 27 "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. 28 Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God… 31 You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. 32 It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath."
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish nation. It is the day that God forgives and purifies and cleanses you from your sins that they have repented of.
Transition
Then 5 days later in that same month is
The Feast of Tabernacles
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Today it is known as Sukkot
Leviticus 23:34-36, 41-43
34 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. 35 The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. 36 For seven days present offerings made to the Lord by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly … 41This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come… 42 Live in booths for seven days…43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt.'"
Today, the Jews call this feast Sukkot (Sue Coat). We go from one of the most Solemn days of the year to one of the most joyous and is often referred to as “the Season of our Rejoicing.”
It commemorates the forty year period during which the children of Israel wandered in the desert living in temporary shelters, before the Lord brought them into the Promised Land.
Observant Jews will build temporary shelters during this time and dwell in them remembering the wandering of their ancestors and rejoicing in the faithfulness of God to bring them to the Promised Land.
There were a couple of other aspects to this feast that were added to it before the days of Jesus.
One was a
Water ceremony
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This feast was also timed with the fall harvest and water in this day and age was a very precious commodity. They would recognize their dependence on water from the Lord for life.
And it was also a recognition of the water that the Lord provided for the people out of the rock at Meribah when they were in the desert so they could live. (Exodus 17:6)
But this water ceremony was a pretty big event and during this time, they would also have a
Light Ceremony
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They would light these huge candelabras or Menorah’s that contained oil in them and it is said that they “shone forth with a light so bright that "there was not a single courtyard in all of Jerusalem that was not illuminated by the light of the Festival of the Water Libation"
https://www.templeinstitute.org/sukkot.htm - Accessed 4-12-14
This was an incredible time of great rejoicing. It is said that if you have never participated in and seen the rejoicing that occurred here, then you have never seen rejoicing.
Transition
Ok, that is the last of the Old Testament Feasts that God gave to the Israelites in the Old Testament.
Given that the Spring feasts were fulfilled by Jesus Christ in His first coming,
How are these feasts fulfilled in Christ?
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The Feast of Trumpets
Well, regarding the Feast of Trumpets, we would want to look for trumpet calls in Scripture.
We see several places where trumpets are blown
At the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
During the Great tribulation – there are 7 trumpet judgments (Rev 8-9)
And when Jesus returns to set up his millennial kingdom (Matthew 24:31)
Which could it be?
Well, when we recognize that the Jews commemorated this time as a time that ushered in the Days of repentance, it seems to me that this feast is
Fulfilled at the Rapture
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This is a time when Jesus removes the church, all of those who have trusted in and believed in Jesus as their Savior and God’s attention turns again to the nation of Israel.
Just like what happens as the Jews celebrate the feast of trumpets today and that ushers in the Days of Repentance, the rapture of the church
Ushers in a time of repentance for Israel
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At the rapture, the final “week,” the final seven year period decreed for the Jewish nation spoken about in Daniel will commence. (Daniel 9:24-27) This will be when Israel will begin to repent of their unbelief in Jesus as their Messiah as they recognize Him as their King!
During this time, many Jews will again be gathering in Israel and many will come to recognize Jesus as their Messiah, the King.
Transition
Now, when the Jews finish the feast of Trumpets and are done with the Days of Repentance, they come to
The Day of Atonement
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How and when does this get fulfilled?
Well at the end of the 7 year tribulation period, the days given when Israel will repent of their unbelief in Jesus as the Messiah and recognize Him, comes the day that Jesus sets his foot back on the earth.
Zechariah speaks of this day in
Zechariah 12:10, 13:1
10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son…13:1 On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
The Day of Atonement is
Fulfilled at the Second Coming
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The Day of Atonement for Israel now is a Solemn day for Israel when they have repented and God atones and forgives their sin
This is fulfilled when Jesus sets his foot up on the Mount of Olives and, as Zechariah says, cleanses them from their sin and impurity.
They will mourn and truly recognize what Christ has done for them and they will recognize what Jesus has done to take away their sin!
Paul confirms this for us in Romans as well
Romans 11:25-27
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25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
"The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."
They will recognize Him whom they have pierced and know that it is because of Him that their sin has been atoned for.
And then after Jesus returns and atones for their sins comes the fulfillment of
The Feast of Tabernacles
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This will be
Fulfilled during the Millennial Kingdom
This will be a time of celebration when we see that people will live and reign with Christ for 1000 years in peace and joy.
And just as the feast of tabernacles was a remembrance of the time that God dwelt with the nation of Israel during their time after freeing them from Israel, being with them as a pillar of fire at night and providing water for them, before entering into the Promised Land, this will be a time that Christ dwells with man on earth and provides for them during a time of great peace.
Water and Light Ceremonies?
And do you remember the 2 ceremonies I spoke of that they do during the Feast of Tabernacles feast? The water ceremony and the light ceremony?
Well, even though we don’t find Old Testament prescription for these ceremonies, we do see Jesus go to this feast in John 7.
This is pretty cool when you can recognize what He is saying in conjunction with the celebrations and ceremonies that are happening.
John 7:2-5
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But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
But then Jesus does go half way through the feast and in
John 7:37-38 it says
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37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
Jesus provides us Living Water
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Jesus is saying these things right as they are having the Water Ceremony during the last night of the Feast of Tabernacles!
The feast of Tabernacles was to commemorate their time before entering into the Promised Land. Well at the end of the Millennial Kingdom we find that there is a judgment and that a new heaven and earth are prepared, the ultimate Promised Land that God will lead us into.
Listen to how it is described in
Revelation 21:1-6
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21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
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5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life
Again, at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus provides us with living water!
And that is not all.
In John 8:12, Jesus says
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"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Jesus is the Light of the World
Transition
It is amazing how the Lord shows us his power and his plan through the shadows of the Old Testament feasts.
And while these are the 7 feasts that God mandated in the Old Testament, there are is another feast we see that Jesus celebrated in the New Testament.
In John 10, we see that Jesus goes to Jerusalem to celebrate the
Feast of Dedication, which we know as Hanukah
John 10:22-23
22 Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade.
This feast is also known as the feast of lights. It is a remembrance of at time between the Old and New Testament that a band of men known as the Maccabees fought and regained possession of the temple after Antiochus Epiphanies had desecrated it and caused the Jews to worship false gods.
This feast is to commemorate this rededication and cleansing of the temple for the Lord so the people could again be in the place of the presence of God.
Historians also call this the feast of lights because by a miracle of God there was only enough oil for one day, but it lasted 8 days.
God provided light for them miraculously in the temple to worship.
Fulfillment
I believe He brings fulfillment to this feast ultimately as well.
We have partial fulfillment now as the Holy Spirit indwells us and purifies us from our iniquity. Scripture tells us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19 - Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
Matthew 5:14 - You are the light of the world
We have been dedicated and cleansed by the Holy Spirit’s presence and His light indwells us so that we can a light to the world.
But I believe we see an ultimate fulfillment of this as well.
I was reading revelation 21 earlier when we spoke of Jesus being the living water.
Further on in Revelation 21, it talks about the temple and the light.
Revelation 21:22-24
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21:22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
Ultimately, the Lord God almighty and the Lamb are the temple and the Light of Jesus will shine not just for 8 days, but for eternity because Jesus is the Light of Life forever!
Conclusion
The Old Testament Feasts of Israel are just a shadow of the reality found in Christ.
The Spring Feasts were fulfilled during Jesus first coming and the Fall Feasts have partial fulfillment now, much like the shadow of the reality that will be seen in the future.
But the reality of their ultimate fulfillment is as certain and as sure as the fulfillment of the spring feasts.
Have you put your trust in Jesus and received Him as your Savior?
He is your only hope of experiencing the reality of those things that are only a shadow now.
He is your only hope of worshiping in the temple that is the Lord God and having the Light of Life shine for eternity on you.
I am going to close in prayer and lead in a prayer of confession.
If you have never confessed to the Lord your belief in Jesus as Lord, then do that today and experience the cleansing of the Spirit as He indwells you and prepares you for the reality of eternal life with Him.
He will provide you with living water and be the Light of Life.
Let’s pray
