THREE TRIPS

I found a neat chart on the internet that shows the seven feasts of Israel. It has the 360 days of the Jewish calendar with a pie-chart format, and by looking at it, I suddenly realized that the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles are exactly six months apart. One falls on the fifteenth day of the first month called Aviv or Nisan (Lev. 23:6), and the other falls on the fifteenth day of seventh month called Ethanim or Tishri (Lev. 23:34). Both feasts show Christ as righteous: Unleavened Bread (leaven always represents sin) shows Him as One without sin in death, and Tabernacles picture the resurrected Christ ruling in righteousness.

There is another parallel between the Spring and the Fall feasts: the tenth of each of the two months holds great significance. The tenth of Aviv is the day the Passover Lamb was chosen (Ex. 12:2-3). The tenth of Ethanim is Israel's Day of Atonement, which also involved the selection of an animal as a sacrifice to God for sin (Lev. 16:5-10). Unlike the head of a household choosing the Passover Lamb, and keeping it for four days before sacrificing it, lots were cast to see which of the two goats God chose to be killed (Lev. 16:8-10). The other was released into the wilderness, and ironically, it is called the scapegoat. Today, we call the person who takes the blame for something the scapegoat. But at the Feast of Atonement, the scapegoat is the one who lives. The symbolism is awesome! The "innocent one" dies, and the one which represents the actual sinners, continues to live (compare Lev. 16:9, and 16:21).

I have mentioned in earlier posts that the first three feasts of Israel represent Christ as the Lamb of God at His first advent, and the last three feasts picture Him as the Lion of the tribe of Judah at His second advent (Jn. 1:29, 36; Rev. 5:5). The fourth feast, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, is another advent. It is the day the priest waved two loaves of leavened bread to celebrate the previous day's wave offering (Lev. 23:15-22). This advent was not of Jesus, but of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). The coming of the Spirit was the beginning of the Church, which consists of both Jew and Gentile believers (hence the leavened loaves). The original Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, involved the offering of two lambs, one representing each of the two peoples which make up the Body of Christ (Lev. 23:19). The two lambs were for a peace offering, and it is the Lamb of God who has made peace between Jewish believers and Gentile believers (Eph. 2:11-16).

Oddly enough, of the seven feasts, only three called for Jews to go up to Jerusalem: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Deut. 16:16). And wouldn't you know it, those feasts picture God visiting His people! God came when His people came! God wants us to come to Him (Matt. 11:28). Will you?