Luke 24:25-27

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

 

Leviticus 23:1-2

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

 

Jesus told Cleopas and his companion that they were fools and slow of heart, because they hadn’t been reading their Bibles.

Otherwise, they would have recognized him as the Messiah, who had been promised to Israel for hundreds of years. After all, the Old Testament (Moses and the prophets) are all about Jesus. His birth, death, resurrection, and even his bride the church and that future day when all of God’s people will live with Him forever in love, peace, and righteousness.

Some scholars have said that there are over 300 prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament. It truly is His story. It points forward to a day when He would come to save His people from their sins.

One of the beautiful pictures of Jesus, his death, resurrection, church and second coming is in Leviticus chapter 23 where God gives seven feasts to the children of Israel to keep and celebrate.

Four of the feasts are close together in the spring and three are close together in the fall.

What do these feasts picture? Why are they bunched together and not spread out across the year?

The first is the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. (Lev 23:5).

The second is the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the fifteenth day of the first month for seven days (Lev 23:6).

The third is the Feast of the Firstfruits of the harvest (Lev 23:9-14).

The fourth is the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) for 50 days after firstfruits(Lev 23:16).

The fifth is the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashana) on the first day of the seventh month (Lev 23:24).

The sixth is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 23:27).

The seventh is the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) on the fifteenth day of the seventh month fo seven days (Lev 23:34).

The Lord gave these feasts to the people of Israel as holy convocations, a calling together of the people to rest and sacrifice.

Each of these feasts points forward to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Passover lamb. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 — Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Jesus is our Passover, perfect and sinless. On the cross he took our sins on himself and died for those sins and, in exchange, gave us his perfect righteousness, so that we could be accepted by a holy God.

Leaven (or yeast) is a symbol of sin. Jesus was without sin. Unleavened bread is a symbol of his perfect, sinless body which was sacrificed for us on Calvary.

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.

When Jesus was resurrected, he was the firstfruits of many more to come one day. Our hope is to be in that many to come.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared for 40 days to his disciples and over 500 eyewitnesses, and then he ascended back to the Father just before the day of Pentecost.

Jesus had promised to send a Comforter when he went away. He did just that on the day of Pentecost as his disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem.

This Comforter, the Spirit of God, was with the disciples as they took the gospel to the world and turned it upside down.

This time between the day of Pentecost and the first festival of the fall is the church age. This is the big gap between the spring feasts and the fall feasts.

The church age will come to an end when the trumpet sounds. This is symbolized by the Feast of the Trumpets.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 — 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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

When Jesus comes back again, it’s going to be loud! He’s coming back with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God!

Jesus will come again, and he will judge the righteous and the unrighteous. He will separate the sheep from the goats. This is the Day of Atonement.

This is the day when the atonement of Jesus for his people is finally realized.

And then comes the Feast of the Tabernacles.

John 14:1-3 — Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

God will create a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness, and we will tabernacle with the Lord forever.

May God Bless You