The Feasts and Holy Days of God Lesson 2

 The Feasts and Holy Days of God Lesson 2

Feast of Unleavened Bread

Leviticus 23:6-8 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.  In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.  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.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread Foreshadow

To the Jews This feast 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 Hebrews would eat only unleavened bread in remembrance of their coming out of Egypt.

When the Israelites came out of Egypt it was only with flat bread, for the leaven, the yeast, had been cleaned from their houses. The flat bread or matzah was all they had for their journey. The leaven was a representation of the old ways of Egypt and its idolatry; With the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they could see a new life, free from the sin of Egypt.

Feast of Unleavened Bread Fulfillment

The feast of unleavened bread shows us that we that through Jesus’ sinless life and vicarious death, we have a new eternal life.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Our new life is free from the destruction of sin. The leaven which was swept from their homes and not in the bread for seven days, was a symbol of sin. In Christ, our new life has been swept free from the power of sin to our souls.

The unleavened bread of the Lord’s supper, which was taken from the matzah bread of the Passover, represents the sinless body of Christ broken for us and by faith in Jesus Christ I can truly begin a new life, no longer under the corruption of sin.

Hebrews 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrew 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

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.

 

The Feast of Firstfruits

Leviticus 23:9-14 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.  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:  And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.  And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.  And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The First Fruits ForeShadow

The feast of Firstfruits is called HaBibkkurim. It also takes place on Nisan the 15th during the feast of Unleavened Bread. It was an holy day, a Sabbath 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 of the first fruits of year. They would go to the field and cut a sheaf of barley, which as a winter crop, that would be ready to harvest in the spring.  This along with the tithe of any other fruit or animals they would take to the priest and wave or present it before the Lord and the recite Deut 26:5-10

Deuteronomy 26:5-10 …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:  And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: 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: 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:  And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.  And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me…

The offering was meant to proclaim faith in God’s provision through the coming harvest later that fall. It was also meant to supply the priests with their living for the summer months as God’s servants depended on the faithfulness of God’s people.

Firstfruits Fulfillment

The Bible tells us that the Feast of Firstfruits was a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a “firstfruit” 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.  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  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. We see the divine hand of God writing thousands of years before the event the exact day on which Jesus the true picture of the feast would rise from the dead on the first day of the week.

Mark 16:1-6 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.  And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?  And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.  And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here….

In a very real way, we celebrate the true feast of firstfruits every time we meet on Sunday. Once again, we rejoice waving before God our sheaf of praise, the name of Jesus Christ, our firstfruit,  resurrected from the dead as a promise of a coming harvest one great day, the resurrection of all those who believe in His name.

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.