|
|
Leviticus 23 presents a chronological overview of the prophetic plan of God.
Using types, it presents a historical/prophetic overview of Israel from the
Exodus through the endtimes; an endtime fulfillment for Israel and the world;
the personal works of Jesus in our redemption; and a prophetic plan involving
the fulfillment of those works in the church.
Lev. 23:2 says, "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."
The word feast or feasts is used nine times in this chapter. Of
those usages, four are translated from the Hebrew word chag (meaning
festival - used of Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles, i.e. multiple day
observances), and five are translated from the word moed (used in the
plural and referring to all the holy days). Moed is defined as: appointment, a
fixed time or season. So we see right at the beginning that the seven feasts of
Jehovah in Lev. 23 are appointments that he will keep with mankind at a fixed
time, and we see the word season again in the definition of moed. This is
the same as the Greek kairos (I Thes. 5:1 "but of the times and
seasons…), defined as occasion, set time or season. Because, as we shall see,
Jesus was the fulfillment of some of these moeds, he must also be the
fulfillment of those that remain. This means these moeds are prophecies of the
redemptive works of Jesus. By comparing the fulfillment of these moeds in
Israel, in the world, by Jesus and in the church, we also find that each has a
theme.
Lev. 23:3 says, "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 sabbath that the whole world is
longing for and that Christians are looking for is the one thousand years millennial
reign of Jesus. There is also a spiritual sabbath that is to be kept by
Christians, but it is not a specific day of the week, it is a sabbath life. Very
simply, the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Wages are paid for work, death is
the wage of sin, therefore sin is work. Christians are to stop doing their own
works and do the works of God, i.e. cease from sin, determine his will for our
lives and live accordingly.
Lev. 23:4 says, "these are the feasts (moeds - appointments) of the LORD,
even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons." Here’s the
word seasons again. Israel was to proclaim these seasonal appointments each year
by special observances. The moeds are actually rehearsals of events that were
and are to be fulfilled by Jesus. It is interesting to note that the church also
memorializes those moeds which have already been fulfilled.
The first moed is Passover and its theme is death. Lev. 23:5 says, "In the
fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s passover." There are
four New Years in the Jewish calendar, the two most important being the sacred
new year observed on the first of Nisan (this is the 'first month' referenced in
this verse) and the civil new year observed on the
first of Tishri. Nisan always falls in the spring and Tishri is always in the
fall. Because of calendar manipulation, Passover doesn’t usually coincide with
Easter.
While Passover commemorates the Lord passing over the houses of the
Israelites when the first born of Egypt died, it was also prophetic of the death
of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, for the sins of the whole world. I Cor. 5:7
says, "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."
When we appropriate the blood of Jesus shed for us, our old spirit, which is
alive in spiritual death (separation from God) is killed. II Cor. 5:14-17 says,
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died
for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them,
and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though
we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new." The word creature is better
translated as creation. This passage is actually stating that a saved
person is a recreated person. Since it is not our body that is recreated, and
since our minds still need to be renewed, the part of our triune being that is
recreated is our spirit. In order to be REcreated, that old spirit must
first die. This is the death that all Christians experience at the moment of
salvation. The old spiritually dead (separated from God) spirit is destroyed and
recreated, holy and pure, when a person accepts the sacrifice of the blood of
Jesus for his sins.
Because Jesus has kept this appointment, we Christians have passed from death
into life and we remember it when we take the communion cup.
In Lev. 23:6-8 we see the second moed: the feast of Unleavened Bread, and its
theme is cleansing. In scripture, leaven represents false doctrine (Matt. 16:12)
and hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). In Judaism this moed begins with Passover and lasts
seven days, and it commemorates that the Jews ate unleavened bread when they
left Egypt. I Cor. 5:8 says, "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth."
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew is defined
as: house of bread. He is the fulfillment of the feast of Unleavened Bread, the perfect
sacrifice, because there was no false doctrine, hypocrisy, malice or wickedness
in him. He Col. 2:9 says, "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead
bodily." That body lay in a tomb for three days. In like manner, we Christians
are to be as dead to sin as Israel was to be dead to the things of Egypt, i.e. the
life they irrevocably left behind as they went through the Red Sea. While we
Christians are not yet perfected, we are made part of the body of Christ at the
moment we believe and have been provided with forgiveness of sins when we
confess them, and further, with cleansing from all unrighteousness (those things
that are not pleasing to God that we are not aware of) I John 1:9. Jesus is the
bread from heaven (John 6:32-51) and we remember
that he kept this moed when we take the communion bread.
The third moed was to be observed on the day after the sabbath, or on Sunday,
during the feast of Unleavened Bread. For Israel, this moed commemorates their
emergence out of the Red Sea. This moed was fulfilled in the resurrection of
Jesus. I Cor. 15:20 states that Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection,
and verses 12-19 teach that his resurrection guarantees ours. Christians keep
this moed in the act of salvation and it is memorialized in baptism. Rom. 6:4
says, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life."
These first three moeds are observed in the spring. Both Israel and Jesus
kept these moeds over a period of three days, but in the church they have a
simultaneous fulfillment on an individual basis. At the moment of salvation the
Christian receives the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus, he is cleansed from all
sin up to that point, and his old spirit dies and resurrected to walk in
newness of life. All of mankind is called of God to keep these moeds. Those who
don't, like Pharaoh, will find themselves immersed in a ‘sea’, the lake of fire,
and like Pharaoh, they will experience death: the second death.
The fourth moed is Pentecost, which was to be observed in the summer, fifty
days after Firstfruits, and its theme is covenant. This moed stands alone
between the spring and fall moeds, and it is the one that the people of God are
to live in. This feast commemorated the calling out of the covenant people of
God, the Jews, on the first Pentecost in Ex. 19. It also was prophetic of the
calling out of the church. Jesus fulfilled this feast by pouring out the Holy
Spirit as recorded in Acts 2. We observe it when we receive the empowerment of
the Holy Spirit.
Lev. 23 was given after the fulfillment in Israel of the first four moeds,
close to the beginning of the forty years in the wilderness. During this time
they did not enter the land. In the same way, there is a gap of (to date) 1975
years between the fourth and fifth moeds as fulfilled by Jesus and in the
church. During this time we Christians have looked forward to inhabiting our
heavenly city just as Israel looked forward to inhabiting the land of Canaan.
While a partial fulfillment of these moeds is a historical fact for Israel,
there is yet to come an endtimes fulfillment for them.
Just as the first three moeds are fulfilled simultaneously for each
individual Christian, so will be the last three, and further, they will also be
fulfilled simultaneously for the corporate body of Christ.
The fifth moed, and the next one to be fulfilled, is the feast of Trumpets.
Lev 23:23-25 says, "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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.
Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire
unto the LORD."
The moed of Trumpets was a memorial feast, remembering the events that
occurred in Ex. 19, the only significant trumpet prior to that time. The theme
of Trumpets is remembrance because it is a time when God remembers his covenants
with his people. Because we see trumpets in rapture passages such as I Thes.
4:16, I Cor. 15:52 and Rev. 4:1, it has been thought by many that the
fulfillment of this moed which is of greatest significance to Christians could
only be the resurrection/rapture of the covenant people of God: all of them, Jew
and Gentile together; those who are accounted righteous by faith under both the
Old and New Covenants. Both historically for Israel and prophetically for the
church, there is a connection between Pentecost and Trumpets and that connection
is covenant. None of the covenant people will be left behind.
But historically, Israel also had a very significant WEEK of blowing
trumpets. In Joshua 6 we find the story of the beginning of Israel’s conquest of
Canaan. The people were told to march in silence around Jericho once each day
for six days while the priests blew trumpets. On the seventh day they were to
march around seven times while the trumpets sounded, and when the command was
given they were to shout. When they did, the walls of Jericho fell down and the
city was taken. That was the opening event in Israel’s conquest of Canaan and it
was a significant WEEK of blowing of trumpets.
I happen to be one of those who think the rapture could
occur on Pentecost or Rosh Hashanah. The moed of Trumpets can be fulfilled
in the rapture or the second advent (or both). Speaking of the second
advent, Matt. 24:23 states that Jesus will "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." This is a significant trumpet and it
occurs at the end of a period described as one week. Further, just
as the first three moeds were fulfilled within a single year, ending with
Pentecost which is a continuing moed, it is likely that the last three will also
be fulfilled within a single year, ending in Tabernacles which will continue for
one thousand years.
According to I Thes. 4:16 the trump of God will sound
at the rapture, and I Cor. 15:52 calls this trumpet the 'last trump'. I
believe it is the last trumpet of a set of two trumpets. The trumpet in Exo. 19
(the first trumpet) summoned Moses up to the top of the mountain, and the last
trumpet will summon the people of God to meet the Lord Jesus in the air.
The first four moeds of Lev. 23 were fulfilled by Jesus in a period of sixty
days in 30 A.D. - one right after another in the same year. These moeds
were principally for the Jews under the law, and because as a people they are
still under the law, they also still observe these days. As was stated
above, the moeds also have a fulfillment in the lives of individual Christians,
and we also commemorate these days, but in a new, spiritual manner. More
about this after we look at the remaining two moeds.
The sixth moed is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, and its theme is
judgment. In reading Lev. 23:26-32 the importance of keeping Sabbath is
stressed. In the New Testament a Sabbath rest is promised to the people of God.
We learn from Rom. 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. From this simple
statement we see that wages are paid for work performed, sin is work and its
wage is death. Through salvation, Christians are called to stop doing their own
works and to start doing the works of God. To do this is to enter into the
Sabbath rest promised in such scriptures as Matt. 11:28-30 and Heb. 4:11.
Historically Yom Kippur was fulfilled in Israel by the Babylonian captivity
which signaled the beginning of the times, or years, of the Gentiles. At the
beginning of this time period, which would not end for 2550 years, the Jewish
people lost the land of Israel and their holy city, Jerusalem. There is a yet
future fulfillment in the tribulation, particularly in the second advent of
Jesus. God’s judgment is going to fall on those who reject Jesus Christ.
On the Day of Atonement, Israel’s sins either were or were not forgiven.
Those who are unsaved at the second advent will be relying on their own works
for salvation. This is very hazardous: most of them will be destroyed, including
everyone
who has worshiped the beast and received his mark. Those who
did not take this mark, yet also did not receive Jesus, will attend the sheep
and goats judgment of Matt. 25:31-46. The Day of Atonement judgment will be
fulfilled in the second advent of Jesus.
But the church also has a judgment to come, although not a judgment between
life or death, heaven or hell. Each Christian will experience the judgment of
his works. This judgment, which will occur in conjunction with the rapture, will
be treated in more detail in a later section.
The seventh and last moed in Lev. 23 is the feast of Tabernacles, also known
as Succoth, and its theme is new beginning. The feast lasts seven days plus an
eighth day and is observed by building and residing in temporary booths made out
of sticks to commemorate Israel’s time in the wilderness.
Historically this moed was fulfilled for Israel on May 14, 1948. At that time
the U.N. had partitioned Palestine and Israel was given to the Jewish people.
For the first time since 607 B.C. Israel was under Jewish control and the Jewish
people had a homeland.
Isaiah prophesied regarding this event. Isa. 43:4-9 says, "Since thou wast
precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:
therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am
with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I
will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons
from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is
called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea,
I have made him. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that
have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be
assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them
bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and
say, It is truth." If we read further, the passage lets us know that when this
prophecy was fulfilled Israel would still be in unbelief.
Jer 16:14-15 also prophesied concerning the same event. "Therefore, behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth,
that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD
liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and
from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into
their land that I gave unto their fathers."
In recent years we have seen these prophecies fulfilled in a very literal
way. Perhaps most striking was the fall of the Berlin Wall which was symbolic of
the release of the Russian Jews. And who could ever forget Israel’s airlift of
the Falasha, the black Jews, from Ethiopia to Israel.
Israel is currently living in the fulfillment of her historic feast of
Tabernacles.
Prophetically, the feast will be fulfilled by the millennial reign of Jesus
Christ. Even though it will be a time of total blessing, it is temporary and
will eventually be followed by life in new Jerusalem and the new heaven and
earth.
In the fulfillment of Tabernacles, the church will jump to the eighth day of
the moed: the new creation and permanent dwelling. In John 14:2-3 Jesus said
this, "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." At the time of the rapture Christians will be resurrected, our
works judged, and we will enter into our permanent, blessed state: a new
beginning.
Lev. 23 gives specific dates for each of the moeds, set times, appointments.
Passover was to be observed on Nisan 14 in the evening, Unleavened Bread was to
be observed on Nisan 15-21, Firstfruits was to be observed on the first Sunday
after Passover, and Pentecost, which today (incorrectly) has a set date on the
Jewish calendar, was to be observed fifty days after Firstfruits.
Not only have the first three, and the first half of the
fourth, moeds of Lev. 23 already been fulfilled by
Jesus, their fulfillments occurred on the exact days of each of the moeds. These
seven moeds were and are appointments that God has with mankind through Jesus.
It seems reasonable that the remaining moeds will also be
fulfilled on their actual feast days. Pentecost falls on the fiftieth day after
the first Sunday following Passover, Rosh Hashanah falls on Tishri 1; the Day
of Atonement, Yom Kippur, falls on Tishri 10; and Tabernacles, or Succoth, is
observed on Tishri 15-21 plus Tishri 22.
Because Jesus will fulfill the moed of Trumpets as part of His works of
redemption, it is possible that the second advent might occur on a future Rosh
Hashanah. However, there is one more significant matter to consider. Lev. 23:24
says, "…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." The
word first is the Hebrew word echad. It can mean a numeral (1),
but it is also defined as: properly, united. The word is used regarding one
bunch of grapes or one congregation. A very striking use of the word is
found in Deut. 6:4, the shema, which Jesus called the "first of all
commandments (Mark 12:29) – "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah, our Elohim, is echad
Jehovah." The word echad indicates individual parts which make one whole
entity.
The first three moeds of Lev. 23 are fulfilled on an individual basis in the
church as each person becomes born again and the fourth is where we live. We
receive the blessing looking back to the cross and the finished works of Jesus.
The last three moeds, comprising the echad or compound unity (three moeds
occurring at the same time) of Tishri, will be fulfilled simultaneously in the
corporate body of Christ, but they will occur prior to his fulfillment of the
moeds, therefore, just as in the earlier moeds, their fulfillment for Christians
may not be tied to any of the three remaining specific dates.
Home
Times & Seasons
|