When people read the descriptions of Israel’s feasts in the Old Testament, they are often tempted to shift into high speed . . . what possible relevance do they have for us today? Yet we believe that this often overlooked subject is full of spiritual truths that are intensely relevant to our past, present, and future.
7. “Feast of
Unleavened Bread”
“Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread
the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
“Where do You want us to prepare
for You to eat the Passover?”
Matthew 26:17
1 2 3 4 5
9. Unleavened Bread Tabernacles
(Booths)
Pentecost
(Weeks)
“Three times in a year
all your males shall appear
before the LORD your God
in the place which He chooses,
at the Feast of Unleavened Bread
and at the Feast of Weeks
and at the Feast of Booths...”
Deuteronomy 16:16
11. Month/
Day(s)
1st
14
Looks
back
on...
Looks
ahead
to...
1st
15-21
1st
16
3rd
6
7th
1
7th
10
7th
15-22
Scripture
Redemption
of Firstborn
Christ’s
redeeming
death
1 Cor. 5:7
1 Pe. 1:18-19
Separation
from
Other
Nations
Harvest in
the Land
Israel’s
New Year
Israel’s
National Sin
Israel
in the
Wilderness
Holy Walk
of Believers
Resurrection
of Christ
Sending
of the
Holy Spirit
Israel’s
Regathering
Israel’s
National
Conversion
Israel
in the
Kingdom
1 Cor. 5:7-8
Gal. 5:9,
16-17
Completion
of Harvest
1 Cor. 15:20
-23
Rev. 1:5
Acts 2:1-47
1 Cor. 12:13
Is. 27:12-13
Matt. 24:21
-31
Zech. 12:10
Rom. 11:26
-27
Zech. 14:4-6
Rev. 7:9-17
Passover Unleavened
Bread
First
Fruits
Weeks
(Pentecost)
Trumpets Day of
Atonement
Tabernacles
12. Spring Feasts Fall Feasts
First Coming Second Coming
Summer Gap
“Do you not say,
‘There are yet four months,
and then comes the harvest’?”
John 4:35
23. Prophetic Significance
“Knowing that you were not
redeemed with perishable
things like silver or gold from
your futile way of life inherited
from your forefathers, but with
precious blood as a lamb of
unblemished and spotless,
the blood of Christ” 1 Peter 1:18-19
25. Passover Details
from Exodus 12
Fulfillment in
Jesus Christ Scripture
Exodus 12 speaks of only
one lamb although
many were slain
All the sacrificial lambs
pointed to the Lamb
John 1:29, 36;
Revelation 5:6,12
The Passover victim must
be a lamb (12:13)
Jesus Christ was the
Lamb of God
Isaiah 53:6-8, 10;
John 1:29, 36
The lamb must be
perfect and without any
blemish (12:5)
Christ’s life was sinless
and His sacrifice was
voluntary
2 Corinthians 5:21;
Hebrews 7:26
26. Passover Details
from Exodus 12
Fulfillment in
Jesus Christ Scripture
The whole congregation
representatively killed the
lamb (12:6)
Christ was killed by the
consent of the common
people as well as the
religious leaders
Mark 15:6-15
Acts 4:27
The lamb must be killed
“between the
evenings” (between 3:00
and 6:00 PM.; 12:6)
Christ died on the cross
between 3:00 and 6:00
P.M.
Mark 15:34
The blood of the lamb
must be shed and
sprinkled that the first-
born might live (12:23)
Christ’s blood was shed
that all might have life
John 3:16
Romans 5:8
33. “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump,
just as you are in fact unleavened.
For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate
the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
34. “...lay aside the old self,
which is being corrupted
in accordance with the lusts of deceit...
and put on the new self...”
Ephesians 4:22-24
35. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold, new things have come”
2 Corinthians 5:17
37. Passover Unleavened Bread
14th day of the first month 15th to 21st days of the first
month
Lasted a day Lasted a week
A point in time (sacrifice of
the lamb)
A continuing process
39. 1. The lack of leaven illustrates His sinlessness
2. The matzoh is striped
3. The matzoh is pierced, illustrating His suffering
40. “And when He had taken some bread
and given thanks, He broke it,
and gave it to them, saying,
‘This is My body which is given for you...’”
Luke 22:19
47. “But now Christ has been raised from the dead,
the first fruits of those who are asleep.
For since by man came death,
by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive”
1 Corinthians 15:20-22
50. Passover
Unleavened
Bread
First Fruits
14th day (the
day before
the Sabbath)
Friday Christ’s Death Salvation
15th-21st
days (began
on the
Sabbath)
Saturday Christ’s Burial Separation
(the 16th day
after the
Sabbath)
Sunday Christ’s
Resurrection
New Life
51. “…As Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life”
Romans 6:4
52. “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:11
57. Historical Significance
Festival of thanksgiving for the wheat harvest
Outlined at Mt. Sinai; observed later
Fulfillment of God’s provision anticipated in First Fruits
62. Prophetic Significance
“For He Himself is our peace,
who made both groups into one,
and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
by abolishing in His flesh the enmity...
that in Himself He might make the two into one new
man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile
them both in one body to God through the cross…
64. Prophetic Significance
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit
“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free,
and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:13
69. Historical Significance
1. To call the people to repentance
2. To remind God of His covenant with Israel
3.To thwart Satan’s work of accusing Israel before
God
74. “And He will lift up a standard for the nations,
and will assemble the banished ones of Israel,
and will gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth
…and you will be gathered up one by one,
O sons of Israel. It will come about also in that day that
a great trumpet will be blown; and those who are
perishing in the land of Assyria and who were
scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship
the LORD in the holy mountain of Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 11:12
75. “…and they will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of the sky
with power and great glory.
from one end of the sky to the other.”
Matthew 24:30-31
And He will send forth His angels
with a great trumpet
and they will gather His elect
from the four winds,
76. Prophetic Significance
Annual cycle of 10 days of judgment and repentance
Rosh Hashanah
Christ has already been judged on our behalf
(2 Corinthians 5:21)
87. 1st Goat Scapegoat
Covered sins; temporary
Cleansing and removal of
sin
Typified death of Christ in its
Godward aspect Typified its manward aspect
“Christ died for our sins...”
1 Peter 3:18
“and took away our sins...”
1 Peter 3:18
89. “And I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the Spirit of grace and supplication,
and they will weep bitterly over Him,
like the bitter weeping over a first-born.”
Zechariah 12:10
so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him,
as one mourns for an only son,
90. “…a partial hardening has happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
‘And this is my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.’”
Romans 11:25-26; cf. Acts 15:14-16
‘The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’
100. “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried out, saying,
‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said,
“From his innermost being
shall flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:37-38
101. “‘…Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying,
‘I am the light of the world;
he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness,
but shall have the light of life.’”
John 8:12
104. “Then it will come about that any who are left of all
the nations that went against Jerusalem
will go up from year to year to worship the King,
the LORD of hosts,
and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Zechariah 14:16
106. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth…
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God…
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying,
‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among them,
and He shall dwell among them,
and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes...”
Revelation 21:1-4