THE FEASTS OF ISRAEL: PART FOUR

The fourth feast of Israel is the Feast of Wave Loaves, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Pentecost. As I have already said, it is totally unique from the other feasts. Basically, the only thing it has in common with the others is that the Jews were instructed by God to celebrate it when they arrived in the "Promised Land" (Lev. 23:15-22). The first three feasts, celebrated in Israel's first month, represent Christ's First Advent, and the last three, celebrated in Israel's seventh month, picture His Second Advent which is yet to occur. The fourth feast stands by itself in the six month gap between the two "clusters."

Christians recognize that Christ came in the flesh two thousand years ago, and we know He intends to return to take His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of lords, but why do the Jews not understand? There are two reasons. The first is that Christ's coming twice, once as the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), and the second time as the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), is still a mystery to the Jews (Mk. 4:11; Rom. 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7; etc.). Perhaps the clearest and most concise statement regarding the gap between Christ's two appearances is Ephesians 5:32 which says, "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

The second reason is related to the first, in that it is also said to be a mystery. God has hidden the truth from Israel for a season. Romans 11:25 says, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." The gap between Christ's two appearances is focused upon the Gentiles, as is known as the Church Age, the period of time between Acts 2:1 and Revelation 4:1.

The word, "Church," comes from the Greek word ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia), which means, "a gathering of citizens called out to some public place, an assembly." Christians are called out of the lost world to be God's "peculiar people" (Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:9). The Church is also known as the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27), and Christ, although He is not physically present, is the Head of the Body of Christ (Col. 1:18).

The Feast of Wave Loaves is celebrated by the priest waving two loaves of leavened bread before the Lord. As I said before, leaven represents sin and corruption. Because there are two loaves, and because this particular feast pictures the Church Age, most theologians believe the two loaves represent the Church which is made up of Jews and Gentiles. The leaven is present because members of the Church still sin (Rom. 7; 1 Jn. 1). Christians are counted as righteous in the eyes of God because we have believed in His free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 3:6; Jam. 2:23).

Tomorrow, a summary, Lord willing.