Foreshadows Of The Feasts: Leviticus 23
Today we will be looking at the Old Testament Feasts of Jehovah as found in Leviticus 23. We are going to cover the entire 23th chapter of Leviticus, 43 verses. Now when I preach on a long chapter in one sermon, I take that as a challenge and when you hear that I’m going to preach on a long chapter, you probably take that as a challenge as well, but not in the same way. For me it is a challenge for brevity but for you it may be a test of endurance. In Bible college that taught us that the sermon’s strength is not in its length. They also taught us the acronym KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Or the three S’s Stand up, Speak Up, then Shut Up. As a pastor I try to operate by those precepts. So, hang with me and together we shall overcome, the 23rd chapter of Leviticus.
I think that after this we are going to move to depth and joy of the Psalms. We can really use the encourage and hope that is so easily found there. Then we’ll move into the New Testament Epistles which are so needful in this evil day.
Back to the feasts of God. These feasts, as almost everything in the OT, gives us a picture of God the Son who would come to Israel as their redeemer and Messiah. As it is often said, “The Old Testament concealed what the New Testament would reveal.” And the feasts of God truly are an example of this hiding in plain sight way of God’s revelation.
- Paul R. Van Gorder has said, “Those seven feasts comprise a sacred calendar of redemption. They are a record in picture form of God’s dealing with man in grace from the death of Christ to His millennial kingdom.”
These seven feasts also give us God’s plan of redemption for the universe long before the book of Daniel or Revelation was ever written. Seven feasts foretell the seven events that precede the coming of Jesus. It does not give us a date, but they do give us a timeline of events. The order of the feasts are the landmarks of God’s plan for the ages. Let’s go to Leviticus 23 and look at this incredible revelation of God’s plan.
The Sabbath / Shabbat - Leviticus 23:1-3
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations (an assembly), even these are my feasts. 3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
The Messianic Jewish Tree of Life Version - 1Then ADONAI spoke to Moses saying: 2“Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, and tell them: These are the appointed moadim of ADONAI, which you are to proclaim to be holy convocations—My moadim. 3“Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Shabbat of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You are to do no work—it is a Shabbat to ADONAI in all your dwellings. - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), Le 23:1–3.
The Sabbath or Shabbat
This was a Holy Convocation, a sacred time of assembly, that occurred each week. It marked the Day of Creation when God rested from the labor of creating the universe and God’s people were to come together to honor their God.
To mark the great work of creation and honor God who was Creator, the people would assembly to worship and praise Him and they would do no work. They would rest from their labors as God had rested from His. They would rest in their faith of God power and provision.
The day of Sabbath Rest was changed from the 7th day of the week to the 1st day in order to honor the work of salvation accomplished by Jesus, the Son of God on His resurrection day. The day has changed but the principle has not. Rest in God’s power and provision and rest in Jesus’ redemption and resurrection. One day is not enough to honor the work of God, but ignoring the day of rest is to dishonor what God has done.
Paul in the book of Hebrews 4:6-11 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief
Passover - Leviticus 23:4-8
These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. 5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Passover’s Foreshadow
Foreshadowing. All of the feasts of God in the book of Leviticus are what we call a foreshadows. So what exactly is a foreshadow? In literature foreshadowing is a hint of something that is going to happen often shown by an object or person who is a symbol or cause of the coming event. But that is not really what we mean by foreshadowing in the Bible.
In the Bible God as the author of all time and history uses events, history, people, nations and things like the feasts as a type of Jesus who is coming. It has been explained as someone moving forward from the sun casts a shadow before it, so the coming of Christ casts many foreshadows throughout the Old Testament. The feasts of Israel are some of the strongest shadows cast forward by Jesus.
Shadow of the Passover
Passover in Hebrew is Pesach. It took place on the 14th day of the first month Nisan. It was a commemoration of the deliverance of Israel from slavery by the Angel of God.
Exodus 12:13-14 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
The lamb was chosen, kept penned up for 4 days and then slain. The blood of the lamb was collected in a basin and then sprinkled with a hyssop branch upon the doorpost and lintel of the house. Then as the Angel of God passed through the land that night, He would see the blood and pass over the home, sparing the firstborn within.
The lamb of the Passover would be roasted with fire and the children of Israel would eat on the lamb roasted with fire.
Passover’s Fulfillment
The Shadow’s Shape / Its First Purpose
Just as the Passover lamb was kept and then slain, Jesus the Lamb of God was arrested, imprisoned, and then slain by crucifixion on the Cross of Calvary.
Just as the Passover lamb was examined and found without spot or blemish, Jesus was put on trial and found without sin. Pilot said, “I find no fault in this man.” Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Just as the Passover lamb was roasted with fire, Jesus was
beaten, mocked, scourged and humiliated, before his crucifixion. In the Old
Testament, the prophet Isaiah saw this terrible ordeal and wrote Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
Just as those in the house partook of the Passover Lamb, Jesus said, John 6:48-54 I am that bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. … 53Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Just as the Paschal lamb kept the Angel of Death’s judgment from the homes of the Hebrews, so also Jesus blood protects us from the eternal wrath of God. So said Peter in 1 Peter 1:18-19 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Just as the Passover Lamb delivered Israel from the slavery of Egypt, Jesus Christ the Lamb of God delivered us from the slavery of sin. John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed!
Let’s go on to the next feast found in verse 6
The Feast Unleavened Bread - Leviticus 23:6-8
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened (matzot) bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened (matzot) bread. 7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile (regular) work therein. 8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Unleavened Bread’s Foreshadow
The Shadow’s Shape / Its First Purpose
This feast in Hebrew is called Chag Hamatzot. It takes place on the day following Passover, Nisan the 15th and is kept for the next 7 days. For 7 days the Hebrew eat unleavened bread, bread with no rising, no yeast, in remembrance of their coming out of Egypt.
Numbers 33:3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. When they came out it was only with matzah bread for the leaven had been cleaned from their houses. The flat bread was all they had for their journey.
The leaven or yeast represented the old ways of Egypt and idolatry; the unleavened bread represented the new life with God.
Unleavened Bread’s Fulfillment
The feast of unleavened bread shows us that we also are to have a new life. It is a life lived apart from the power and influence of sin. Such a life is not possible in ourselves but must be lived in the power of the sinless life of Jesus Christ.
John 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing
We acknowledge the sinless life of Christ and our reliance on Him for eternal life and for a life under His control whenever we participate in the Lord’s supper and partake of the matzah bread today.
The Feast Of Firstfruits - Leviticus 23:9-14
Firstfruits’ Foreshadow
The Shadow’s Shape
The feast of Firstfruits is called HaBibkkurim. It also takes place on Nisan the 15th during the feast of Unleavened Bread. It was a Sabbath, a Holy Day, to acknowledge God’s deliverance into a land flowing with milk and honey. On that day the participants would bring to the temple or tabernacle an offering of grain the first fruits of year. They would go to the field and cut a sheaf of barley which as a winter crop was ready to harvest in the spring. This along with the a tithe of any other fruit or animals they would take to the priest and wave it before the Lord and recite
Deuteronomy 26:5-10 5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: 6 And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: 7 And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: 8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: 9 And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:
The offering was meant to proclaim faith in God’s provision through the coming full harvest later that fall. It was also meant to supply the priests with their living for the summer month as God’s servants depended on the faithfulness of God’s people.
One of the reasons we still take up the offering as a separate act of the worship service come from this example. We bring our tithes into God’s house and we offering them as an act of worship. (I would appreciate it though if you don’t wave your offering envelopes in the air, just putting them in the plate is good enough.)
Firstfruits’ Fulfillment
The Bible tells us that the Feast of Firstfruits was a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a “firstfruits” of the great harvest of those who will be resurrected one day through faith in Him.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
The feast of Firstfruits occurred on the day following the Sabbath, on the first Day of the week, Sunday for us. Here we see the divine hand of God writing thousands of years before the event the exact day on which Jesus the true fulfillment of the picture of the feast would rise from the dead.
Mark 16:1-6 1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
We celebrate the reality, the fulfillment, of the Feast of Firstfruits every time we congregate on Sunday in the Lord’s House. We are rejoicing in our the promise of the firstfruits of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. We wave before God a sheaf of praise, lifting before God, the name of the Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead as a sure promise of the coming harvest of all resurrections, all who have put their faith in His name.
The Feast Of Pentecost - Leviticus 23:15-20
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. 17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. 18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. 19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
Pentecost’s Foreshadow
The Shape of the Shadow
Pentecost is the Greek word for 50 it counts 50 days, 7 Sabbaths plus 1, since the Passover.
In Hebrew it is called Shavuot, the feast of weeks.
The interval between the two feasts was called Sfirat HaOmer, the counting of the sheaves and was spent in meditating on God word and special prayers. In the synagogues Psalms 119 is read to the congregation.
(No, I won’t be reading the longest chapter in the Bible to you this morning. I should, but I won’t. I thought hard about it, but I thought better of it. It would be good for you in the long run, but not so good in the short run of a Sunday morning.)
Then on the fiftieth day there would be a wave offering of loaves.
Unlike the feast of unleavened bread these would be baked with leaven. They would be leavened, made with yeast. The two loaves along with 7 lambs, one young bull and two rams were to be offered to the Lord as a burnt offering.
This feast was also called Atzeret shel Pescach, the completion of the Passover.
“It ties together the first night of Passover to the final observance of Shavuot, continually reminding the faithful that God is the Redeemer and Rock of our salvation, the only One who can rescue us from bondage.” – Martin De Haan II.
Pentecost’s Fulfillment
Pentecost marks the place in history where God poured forth His Holy Spirit on man, beginning the New Covenant that had been so long promised in the Old Testament scriptures.
The two leavened loaves do not represent Christ, since leaven is a symbol of sin, but they show two peoples, Jew and Gentile, now both included in God’s plan to pour forth his grace to all.
It was on the day of Pentecost that Jesus baptized his church in the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
It was on this day that God established a new house of witness and include us, a people far off, in his wonderful plan of grace. This was not the birth of the church that took place when Jesus called His Disciples in Mark 6 and Matthew 5. This is not the church’s birth, but it is the church’s empowering. The church was baptized that day in the rushing and mighty wind of the Holy Spirit by Jesus from His throne in heaven. As a body the church was immersed in the Paracletos and as members of that body they were indwelt by the fire of that Divine Spirit of God.
Summer Interval
Summer’s Foreshadow
Between the last feast of Pentecost and the next of trumpets in the fall were the long months of summer. During this time the people would water, weed and begin the harvest of their crops.
The days were filled with work and preparation for the coming months when the labor was ended.
The Fulfillment of Summertime
In this interval of the Summer we see a type of our own time, the Church Age. This is our time as the body of Christ to “Occupy till He returns” to work till Jesus comes. We are to be planting, watering, weeding and harvesting the Gospel of Christ in the fields of men’s hearts. We sow our seed in the wayside, shallow, weedy and good soils of mankind’s hearts. This is a time when we are to be working, planting and preparing for the coming final harvest that will be announced with the sound of trumpet.
With each passing generation this interval called the Church Age is drawing closer and closer to and end and we must work and plan as though even tomorrow the trumpet could sound.
God has blessed us with the opportunity to serve him during the greatest age of broadcasting the seed of the gospel in all of history to all the world. We must use wisely the time God has given us.
One day we want to hear from the lips of our Savior, Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
We work until the trumpet calls. That brings us to the feast of Trumpets.
The Feast of Trumpets - Leviticus 23:23-25
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. 25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD
Trumpets’ Foreshadows
Its First Purpose
In Hebrew this feat was called Rosh Hashanah. It took place on the first day of the seventh month of Tishri in the fall.
As the harvest was finishing the people would make their way to the temple in Jerusalem as they drew closer they would hear the sound of the two trumpets calling them to assemble and worship God who had blessed them in the harvest.
Numbers 10:1-3 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. 3 And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
(Do you see where this is going? Isn’t it exciting? Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it the very fingerpring of God upon the history of the world and His people?)
Trumpets’ Fulfillment
The Feast of Trumpet will be fulfilled in the two final trumpets of God signaling the end of the age.
One trumpet will blow for the end of the church age. This is the Rapture
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The Second Trumpet of God. But there were two trumpets at the feast of Tabernacles. What is the fulfillment of the second silver trumpet? That 2nd trumpet will also blow and it will signal the call for the return of Israel to God.
Matthew 24:29-31 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Two Trumpets just as there were two silver trumpets made for gathering God’s people to the tabernacle and Temple. There are two trumpet blasts one for God’s Old Testament people, Israel and one for his New Testament People, the redeemed by grace.
Not all can respond to those trumpet blasts, but only those who believed that Jesus is coming again. Only those that believed He is coming to reclaim that which is rightfully His. Only those who believed He is truly Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Only those who have accepted Him as their Savior. Only these will hear the trumpets and rejoice at the sound, those who do not believe will flee in terror but there will be no place to run.
When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder
The Song was written in 1893 by James Black a Methodist Sunday School Teacher.
Black, a Methodist Sunday school teacher in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was calling roll one day for a youth meeting. Young Bessie, daughter of a drunkard, did not show up, and he was disappointed at her failure to appear. Black made a comment to the effect, “Well, I trust when the roll is called up yonder, she’ll be there.” He tried to respond with an appropriate song, but could not find one in his song book:
This lack of a fitting song caused me both sorrow and disappointment. An inner voice seemed to say, “Why don’t you write one?” I put away the thought. As I opened the gate on my way home, the same thought came again so strongly that tears filled my eyes. I entered the house and sat down at the piano. The words came to me effortlessly…The tune came the same way—I dared not change a single note or word.
The last verse of the song sums it up for us in working now in the “summer” interval.
Let us labor for the Master from dawn till setting sun, Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care; Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done, And the roll is called up yonder, (Say it with me) I’ll be there.
I’m going to stop here with the call of the trumpet ringing in our ears, next Sunday, the Lord willing we will look at the foreshadowing and the fulfillment of Yom Kippor and The feast of Tabernacles. You can probably see what they foreshadow even now. I would love to finish today but as Winston Churchill once said, “The head cannot take in more than the seat can endure.”
Conclusion Part 1 The Feasts of God
I will say it again, When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there!
When the Lamb’s book of life is opened and the names read, I’ll be there. I’ll be there because so many have worked during this summertime of the church age. The Gospel has been preached, Bibles have been published, missionaries have been sent and churches have been planted.
I’ll be there because one day the seed of the Good News was sown in the good soil of my seven-year-old heart and I heard Jesus say, “Come unto me.” I answered that call and because I answered that call, I’ll be there when the trumpet shall sound.
Now, today in the summertime, we must work in the fields of the world. The feasts show us the Gospel in a bold, dynamic, moving tableau of history. The Bible speaks with the very voice of God, and it is our task to broadcast the seed.
We “work for the night cometh, when man works no more.”
I pray you will be there when the trumpet sounds. I pray you will hear the voice of Jesus say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant?” I pray we are you committed to work till Jesus comes.
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