Feast Related Ministry of Christ & Teaching of the Primitive Church
Feast
Passover
Comment
Observation Period:
14TH of Nisan or in modern June-July
OT/NT Scriptural References:
Exodus 1 to Exodus 11 provides the background
Exodus 12 established the Passover ritual and set the first day of the Jewish year.
Leviticus 23: 5
John 12:24
Hebrews 9:22
John 3:36
I John 1:7
Hebrews 10:10-14
Matthew 26:26-29
I Corinthians 5:7
I Corinthians 11: 23-26
Typical Event:
This feast had to do with the Exodus of the Children from Egypt. Moses had interceded
with Pharaoh for their release and Egypt had been plagued with nine plagues but
Pharaoh would not yield. The final and tenth plague was the death of all firstborn as
the Angel of Death passed over Egypt. This event required household preparation that
included selecting an unblemished lamb of the 10th day of the month and keeping it
until the 14thday when it was sacrificed in the evening and the blood applied to the door
posts and lintel of the house. In the evening the lamb was roasted with fire and eaten
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It was to be eaten in haste by the Hebrews
with their loins girded, their shoes on, and their staff in their hand. The angel of the
Lord would pass through the land of Egypt that night and smite all the firstborn. But
when the angel saw the blood he would “pass over” the house and family. Whatever
remained of the lamb was burned the next morning. This was to be a memorial and a
feast to the Lord to be kept by all generations forever. When the angel passed over the
land, Pharaoh’s eldest son died and the Israelites were released only to be pursued by
Pharaoh’s army which drowned in the Red Sea.
Antitypical Event
Scofield observed that The Passover is a type of Christ our Redeemer: (1) The lamb had
to be without blemish and to test this it was kept for four days answering to Christ’s
unblemished public life under hostile scrutiny; (2) The lamb was slain; (3) The blood
must be applied which answers to appropriation by personal faith; (4) The blood
applied by itself constituted a perfect protection from judgment; (5) The unleavened
bread typified Christ as the bread of life.
Christ forever tied The Passover to the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 in which
God would make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah by
writing his law on their hearts and minds. Thus Passover and the New Covenant
prophesied by Jeremiah and the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist or Mass are one and the
same feast.
In the former Anglican Eucharist when the priest holds a half of the priest’s host (bread)
over the Chalice of Wine he says to the congregation:
“Behold the Lamb of God: behold him that takes away the sins of the world.”
In the revised liturgy the priest says as he holds the bread and the wine:
“The gifts of God for the people of God. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;
therefore let us keep the feast.”
The people respond:
“Allelujah.”
Antitypical Lamb:
With reference to the Lamb being without blame, it should be noted that Christ was
tried before six tribunals. ‘Six’ is the number of man. In his work “The Life of Christ”,
Dean Farrar pointed out that Jesus was tried before six courts of which three were at
the hands of the Jews. The first before Annas is related by John; the second before
Caiaphas is related by Matthew and Mark; the third before the Sanhedrin by Luke
alone. The first was the practical; the second the potential; and the third the actual and
formal decision that the sentence of death should be passed. The decision of Annas
was the authoritative ‘pre-judgment’; that of Caiaphas the real determination; that of
the Sanhedrin at daybreak was the final ratification.
Jesus as then led to Pilate. The Jews wanted Jesus killed by Roman crucifixion They
could have stoned him as they would have the woman taken in adultery or as they did
Stephen but crucifixion was a Roman method, a horrible death, that they wanted Jesus
to suffer. Pilate despised the Jews and the Jewish authorities. His first verdict was, “I
find no fault in him at all.”
Among the accusations, Pilate caught the name Galilee and took the opportunity to
send him to Herod Agrippa the Galilean tetrarch who had come to Jerusalem to
nominally keep Passover. Herod derided Jesus as Priest and Prophet. Herod showed he
treated the accusations against Jesus as frivolous. It was the second public distinct
acquittal. Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.
Herod told the priests and Sanhedrin that after full and fair inquiry he had found their
prisoner absolutely guiltless; he had sent Jesus to Herod who had found that Jesus had
committed no crime deserving of death. He was willing to scourge Jesus and make him
vile in their eyes before setting him free. The Jewish mob would have none of it. Finally
Pilate asked, “What do you want me to do with the King of the Jews? What evil has he
done, I find no cause of death in Him.” The Jewish answer was, “Crucify! Crucify!”
Sabbath and High Sabbath:
The events of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Christ cannot be fully
understood without an appreciation of the Jewish Sabbath.
Sabbath comes from a root word meaning to cease or desist. The principle is that one
day out of seven is to be holy to God and observed accordingly. The Decalogue made it
clear the Sabbath belongs to the Lord. The Lord rested on the seventh day and man is to
rest also. It is a commandment and an ordinance. Servants are also to rest and in that
respect it is humanitarian. But as Jesus stated, the Sabbath was made for man and not
man for the Sabbath and in that sense it is a provision for all men. It is evident that
whatever the cause, Sabbath was not being observed when Ezra and Nehemiah
returned to Jerusalem and they saw to its re-institution. During the inter-biblical period
a change crept in and great attention was paid to the minutiae of observation according
to oral tradition which Jesus opposed. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the
week and Christians began to assemble and worship on “Sunday” which they called “the
Lord’s Day”.
However, there were regular seventh day Sabbaths and what are called High Sabbaths
and failure to recognize this distinction has caused some difficulty in understanding the
events of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. E. W. Bullinger deals
with this subject very effectively in the Appendix 156 to the Companion Bible.
It should be realized that the first day of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles was a
holy convocation or a Sabbath on which no servile work could be done. That Sabbath
and the high day of John 19:31 was the holy convocation and the first day of the feast
and overshadowed the regular weekly Sabbath:
“The Jews therefore because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain
on the cross on the sabbath day, for that sab bathday was a high day, besought Pilate
that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”
This first day was called ‘Good Day’ by Jews and that is their greeting on this day to the
present time. The Great Sabbath has been mistaken by Gentiles for the weekly
Sabbath and has led to confusion on this subject.




The high day of John 19:31 was the first day of the feast and on the 15th day of
Nisan.
Since the Jewish day starts at sunset, this day started on what we would call the
14th.
The first day of the week, the day of the resurrection, was from our Saturday
sunset to our Sunday sunset.
Calculating back three days and three nights gives the day of burial which must
have been before sunset on the 14th of Nisan which is before our Wednesday
sunset.



Wednesday, Nisan 14th, commencing on the Tuesday at sunset was the
preparation day on which the crucifixion took place. Jesus was entombed
before our Wednesday sunset.
Since the killing of Passover lambs did not commence until four hours after
Jesus had been hanging on the cross, no Passover lamb could have been eaten
at the Last Supper.
Thus our Lord was crucified on our Wednesday and entombed on that day
before sunset; he remained three days and three nights in the tomb; he arose
at the end of the weekly Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week or halfway through the day after Sabbath or about dawn on our Sunday.
Easter
Passover, which Christians see as typical of Christ’s sacrifice, is mentally and practically
associated in our modern time with Easter which is celebrated with church services and
conventions, festive family meals, Easter egg hunts, bunny rabbits and gift-giving. So it
is reasonable to ask, “How is all of this related?”
The first and only mention of Easter in the Bible is in Acts 12:1-4.
“Now about that time Herod (Agrippa I) the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain
of the church. And he killed James (The Greater) the brother of John with the sword.
And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.
(Then were the days of unleavened bread). And when he had apprehended him, he put
him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending
after Easter (Scofield notes ‘the Passover’) to bring him forth unto the people.”
The word for ‘Easter’ in Acts 12:4 is the Greek ‘pascha’ meaning Passover and so this is
an interesting choice of words by the translators.
Easter is not a Christian name, it is Chaldaean and refers to celebrations related to
Astarte or Ishtar, the consort of Baal and the Babylonian Queen of Heaven. So Easter is
an annual pagan ritual of widespread observation in the ancient world.
In the third and fourth centuries after Christ, the celebration of the Passover was not
known by any such name as Easter but was called Pasch or Passover and though not
instituted by the Apostles was very early observed by many professing Christians in
commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ. Pascha agreed originally with
the time of the Jewish Passover when Jesus was crucified and in the second century was
believed to have been March 23rd. Pagan Easter was generally held in April, so to
conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome took steps to get the pagan and
Christian festivals amalgamated with the result that the festival of the pagan goddess
came to supersede that held in honor of Christ in the popular mind along with all its
trappings such as Easter eggs.
In ancient times, eggs were used in the religious rites of the Egyptians and the Greeks
and were hung up for mystic purposes in their temples. The classic poets are full of the
fables of the mystic egg of the Babylonians. According to the Egyptian Hyginus who was
keeper of the Palatine Library in Rome in the time of Augustus:
“An egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen from heaven into the river
Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the bank where the doves settled on it and
hatched it and out came Venus (the goddess of love) or Astarte.”
Hence the egg became one of the symbols of Astarte and/or Easter.
The occult meaning of this egg had reference to the ‘ark of the flood’ in which the
whole human race was shut up as a chick in an egg before it is hatched. The sacred egg
of paganism was known as the ‘mundane egg’ which means the egg in which the world
was shut up. In the pagan mind the greatest blessing to the human race which the egg
held in its bosom was Astarte who was the great civilizer and benefactor of the world.
The Roman church adopted the mystic egg of Astarte (the dangerous concept and
practice of redeeming the culture) and consecrated it as a symbol of Christ’s
resurrection. Pope Paul V introduced this prayer – “Bless O Lord we beseech thee, this
thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome substance unto thy servants,
eating it in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Beside the mystic egg there was also another emblem of Easter and that was the
pomegranate which is a fruit full of seeds and an emblem of that vessel in which the
germs of the new creation were preserved and the post-diluvian world was to be sown
with man and beast when the Flood was over. But in the ‘mysteries’ there was a
deeper meaning to the pomegranate.
Astarte was also called ‘Idaia Mater’ or the ‘mother of knowledge’. The sacred mount in
Phyrgia famed for the celebration of her mysteries was called the Mount of Knowledge.
The ‘knowledge’ to which her votaries were admitted was the practical knowledge of all
that was evil and base with emphasis on extreme sexual perversions. In other words,
Astarte was worshipped as Eve, the incarnation of the Spirit of God, and the mother of
all mankind.
In European countries where pomegranates did not grow, the golden fruit or the orange
was substituted for the pomegranate. So in Scotland, oranges were joined with eggs in
observation of Easter.
The pomegranate and the orange are thus representatives of the fruit of Eve’s tree and
the concept goes back to classic antiquity and to the famed Gardens of the Hesperides
in the West which are reckoned by scholars who have studied the subject to be the
counterpart of the Paradise of Eden in the East. They were described as situated in the
‘isles of the Atlantic’ against the coast of Africa and probably identical with the Canary
Island group. According to the pagan story, God is made identical with the serpent of
Eve who jealously guarded the sacred fruit and was slain by Hercules, the Pagan
Messiah, who released knowledge to man. God is the bad one; the devil is the good
one; and man is not cursed but blessed by carnal knowledge.
If you go to the Internet and type in the word ‘Hesperides’, you will find some intriguing
images – some modern and some ancient but the symbolism is clear. The tree is a tree
of carnal knowledge and the guardians of the tree are three nymphs. Three is the
number of divinity and these beings are female and not male as God is generally
presented. Thus Eve is the benefactress of mankind and Easter is a celebration of Eve’s
rebellion and the release of carnal knowledge. It’s all about carnal knowledge, sex and
fertility of which eggs and bunny rabbits are fitting symbols.
Unleavened
Bread
Observation Period:
From 15th to 22nd of Nisan or in modern March- April.
OT/NT Scriptural Reference
Genesis 19:3
Exodus 12:17
Exodus 23:15
Leviticus 23:6-8
Matthew 26:17
Luke 22: 1,7
I Corinthians 5:7
Typical Event
The first historical event occurred at the Exodus although it should be noted that when
the angels visited Lot in Sodom, Lot baked unleavened bread for them. According to
Exodus 12:14, the Feast of Unleavened Bread started on the 14th of the month at
evening and lasted seven days. It started with a holy convocation and ended with a
holy convocation. It would appear that the feast was symbolic of putting evil and
‘lightness’ out of their hearts and minds. This was a solemn occasion and demanded a
solemn attitude.
Antitypical Event
In I Corinthians 5, Paul accuses the church at Corinth of being ‘puffed up’ which the rest
of the passage shows is a reference to the aerating effect of leaven. Paul warns that
that a little leaven leavens the whole lump – in other words the problem they have in
their congregation is contagious. Paul instructs them to purge out the old leaven that
they may be a new lump because they are to be an ‘unleavened’ people. Paul identifies
the leaven as malice and wickedness as opposed to the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth. In this passage Paul uses a phrase that in part of the liturgy in the traditional
church where the priest says:
“ Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”
Priest and people respond together:
“Therefore let us keep the feast.”
In Christian tradition and thought, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the new walk and
life in Christ which is free of the wickedness and unholiness of life before Christ. It
represents a pure and clean life in which Christ, the Bread of Life, is their food and
substance.
Firstfruits
Observation Period:
Nisan mid-month or 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits or about end of March and
beginning of April.
OT/NT Scriptural Reference
Exodus 23:14-17
Exodus 34:22
Leviticus 23:10
Numbers 28:26
Deuteronomy 26:10
Romans 8:23
Romans 11:16
Romans 16:5
I Corinthians 15:20
James 1:18
Revelation 14:4
Typical Event
In Exodus 23, three national crop-related feasts were decreed – Unleavened Bread,
Harvest or Firstfruits, and Ingathering at the end of the year.
In Exodus 34:22-24, the people are commanded to observe the Feast of Weeks, the
Firstfruits of the Wheat Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year.
Bible Dictionaries are not precisely agreed on these feasts. It is agreed that the Feast of
Ingathering was the Feast of Tabernacles. It is agreed that the Feast of Weeks was the
Feast of Pentecost or Fifty Days. However it is hard to agree that the Feast of Firstfruits
and Pentecost are the same, as some claim, since in Leviticus 23 the people are told to
count 50 days from Firstfruits to Pentecost – unless they consider Firstfruits to
Pentecost as being one long festival. Based on Leviticus 23:15-21, Jewish teaching and
practice is to count the fifty days from the last day of Passover in a ritual called “The
Counting of the Omer” where an omer is a measure of dry grain similar to a rural
American bushel basket.
Firstfruits was celebrated by bringing a wave-sheaf of the firstfruits of harvest to the
priest who would wave it before the Lord (wave offering) on the next day when a lamb
without blemish would be sacrificed.
It does not take much imagination to realize that an agricultural people who had
endured the desert would appreciate times of harvest in the new land ‘flowing with
milk and honey’.
In Jewish practice Shavuot is the Day of Firstfruits and in modern Jewish thought
Shavuot is a memorial of the giving of the Torah or the five Books of Moses at Sinai.
Antitypical Event
The idea of harvesting natural produce was also extended in prophetic thought to the
harvesting of human beings. Thus Jeremiah 8:20 says, “The harvest is past, the summer
is ended, and we are not saved.” In Jeremiah 51:33 we are told, “The daughter of
Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while and the time of
her harvest is come.” Hosea 6:11 announces, “Also O Judah, he has set a harvest for
thee…” The same thought can be found in the NT. Jesus said in Matthew 9:38, “Pray ye
therefore the Lord of harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” Mark
4:29 says, in speaking of the kingdom of God, “But when the fruit is brought forth,
immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” Revelation 14:15 says,
“And another angel came out of the Temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on
the cloud, Thrust in the sickle and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the
harvest of the earth is ripe.”
Paul employs this line of thought in reference to the indwelling Spirit being the
firstfruits of adoption, the redemption of our body. In Romans 16:5, Paul refers to the
man Epaenetus as being the firtsfruits of Achaia to Christ. In I Corinthians 15:20, Paul
calls the risen Christ “the firstfruits of them that sleep.” In James 1:18 we read, “Of his
own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creatures.” Finally in Revelation 14:4 those who follow the Lamb on Mount Sion were
redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits to God and the Lamb.”
However the critical thought is that Christ Jesus is the firstfruits of man unto God by his
resurrection from the dead.
Pentecost
Observation Period:
In the Hebrew month of Tammuz or in modern June-July and fifty days after Firstfruits.
Firstfruits and Pentecost are feasts associated with the period of harvest ; this is
extremely significant in an agricultural-pastoral community. Pentecost is also known as
the “Feast of Weeks”.
OT/NT Scriptural References:
Exodus 34:22
Leviticus 23:15-22
Numbers 28:26
Deuteronomy 16:9-12
II Chronicles 8:13
Jeremiah 5:24
Acts 2:1
Acts 26:16
I Corinthians 16:8
Typical Event:
On the day of the feast the instruction in Leviticus 23 was to bring two wave-loaves
baked without leaven for a wave-offering and offer unto the Lord by fire seven lambs of
the first year without blemish, one young bullock and two rams. Then one kid of the
goats was to be offered as a sin offering and two lambs for a peace offering.
This was to be a holy convocation to the Lord and a day wherein no servile work was to
be done. At the same time they were instructed not to glean the corners of their fields
but leave them for the poor and strangers.
To the Christian, the two wave loaves offered fifty days after the wave-sheaf are
symbolic of the fifty days between resurrection and Pentecost. No leaven was offered
with the wave-sheaf for there is no evil in Christ. The wave-loaves were baked with
leaven and are seen as a type of the church in which there is evil as history testifies.
In accordance with Jeremiah 5:24, the key attitude in involved was one of reverential
fear of the Lord – trust, respect, and hatred of evil. Jeremiah is saying this attitude has
been dispensed with by his people.
Antitypical Event
Antitypical Pentecost followed fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus. A mighty
rushing wind filled the upper room and flames of fire sat on the heads of the one
hundred and twenty who began to speak in foreign languages and spilled out onto the
street where pilgrims to Jerusalem from the world heard them speaking in their native
tongues.
There was a priestly aspect to the event that is commonly not perceived. When Jesus
was accused of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub, he responded by saying
that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand and if he cast out devils by such
means, by whom did his accuser’s children cast them out? Then he added:
But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is
come upon you. When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in
peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he
taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He that
is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
The word used in Luke’s gospel for “house” is the same word used in Matthew twenty
six and three for the palace of the high priest Caiaphas. It has the meaning of “open to
the wind” as in a courtyard and is therefore a “mansion”, not a normal everyday
dwelling, and is derived from a word meaning “to blow”. The word used for “armed”
means “fully armed from head to toe” and is not used elsewhere in the New Testament.
The phrase “all his armor” is “panoply” and is only used elsewhere in Ephesians six and
verses eleven and thirteen for the “armor of God” of which part is the “breastplate of
righteousness” of the High Priest. The word for “spoils” occurs only here in the New
Testament and means something stripped like a hide or flayed. There can be little
doubt that the choice of words on the part of the writers, Luke and Paul, was very
deliberate. The meaning to them, and the message to others, is that Jesus was the
stronger one who had overcome Caiaphas spiritually and taken his ceremonial
garments including his High Priest’s breastplate. Did that in fact take place?
On the Day of Pentecost, the one hundred twenty were in the Upper Room. There
came the sound of a mighty rushing wind and cloven tongues as of fire appeared on the
heads of those present. They began to speak in tongues. I have never heard anyone
relate the “wind” to the “open-to-the-wind (palace)” of the High Priest or the “tongues
of flame” that appeared above those assembled as being anti-types to the flame in cold
colors on the garments of the high priest or the flame-like draperies of the Holy of
Holies. However, the implication of the account is clear. The Upper Room is a
heavenly “high-priestly palace” and the ethereal tongues are the insignia of a new
international priesthood. The intent, whether reckoned divine or human, is clear;
namely, there is a new high priest, a new priesthood, and a sublimated palace.
When Peter stood up with the eleven on the Day of Pentecost to explain the
manifestations of real presence, he raised his voice and said, “Ye men of Judaea and all
ye that dwell at Jerusalem…ye men of Israel, hear these words. This is that which was
spoken by the prophet Joel.”
By this action Peter assumed the role of prophet to corporate Israel and by his words of
direction and conciliation unwittingly assumed the role of high priest. By these actions,
Peter became the ecclesiastical successor to Jesus the Christ. Within days, a Levite
named Joses of Cyprus was serving the apostles unaware he was becoming the first of a
new order of Levites called deacons. There followed “presbuteros” or elders and thus
priests, because the elder or patriarch of a family was priest to his family. Within forty
years the Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed not to be rebuilt, and Jewish priesthood
and high priesthood ceased to exist. Strangest of all, the priests of this “new” Jewish
sect would succeed to priestly robes of splendor while the displaced leaders of the old
temple would slowly but surely change their form of external apparel to a drab black of
an outdated secular style. If this is coincidence, it is stranger than fiction. If it were
fiction, it would be rejected as being implausible.
The most significant fact about Pentecost is that it transferred the High-Priesthood of
Israel to Jesus Christ and the Priestly and Levitical functions to the church in an “Order”
that was after the order of Melchisedec and thus an order of “King-Priests”. That this
was to be an international order of king-priests was indicated and signified by the 120
speaking in foreign languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Trumpets
Observation Period:
First of Tishri or September-October
OT/NT Scriptural References:
Exodus 19:13
Leviticus 23:23-25
Judges 3:27; 6:34; 7:16-19
I Kings 1:34
II Kings 9:13
II Chronicles 13:12-16
Psalm 47:5
Psalm 150:3
Isaiah 58:1
Jeremiah 51:27
Ezekiel 33:3-6
Joel 2:1
Zechariah 9:14
Matthew 24:31
I Corinthians 15:52
Hebrews 12:19
Revelation 8:2
Typical Event:
The sounding of trumpets (shofars) had been significant in Israel since the time of the
Exodus. At Mount Sinai when God appeared to Israel there was a frightening sound of
the trumpet. The people were instructed to come to the mount when the trumpet
sounded which may be a type of Israel rallying to the mountain of the Lord at the end of
the age. Thereafter, Moses used trumpet soundings to signal the brigades to advance
and in what order. Trumpets were used in Israel to summon assembly, make great
announcements, sound alarms, and praise the Lord. In Psalm 47 the trumpet is
especially associated with God as King. In Isaiah 58 the prophet is told to lift up his voice
like a trumpet.
Leviticus 23: 23-25 summarizes it succinctly:
“In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work
therein: but you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.”
Trumpets in Israel sounded throughout the land on this feast day.
Antitypical Event:
Scofield comments:
“This feast was a prophetical type and refers to the future re-gathering of longdispersed Israel. A long interval lapses between Pentecost and Trumpets, answering to
the long period occupied in the Pentecostal work of the Holy Spirit in the present
dispensation. Study carefully Isaiah 18:3; 27:13 (with contexts); entire chapter of Isaiah
58; and Joel 2:1 to Joel 3:21 in connection with the trumpets and it will be seen that
these trumpets, always symbols of testimony, are connected with the re-gathering and
repentance of Israel after the church, or Pentecostal period, is ended. This feast is
immediately followed by the Day of Atonement.”
The Feast of Trumpets is associated with assembly and warning and preaching to Israel.
In the author’s opinion the antitypical feast began with the ascension of Christ as
prophesied in Psalm 47 which introduced the gospel age and will conclude with the last
trumpet as taught by Paul in I Corinthians 15. Much light is also shed by the sounding of
the seven trumpets in John’s Apocalypse.
Atonement
Observation Period:
Tenth of Tishri or September-October.
OT/NT Scriptural References:
Exodus 29:1-46
Exodus 32:30
Leviticus 16:1-34
Leviticus 23:26-32
Numbers 15:25
I Chronicles 6:49
II Chronicles 29:24
Nehemiah 10:33
Romans 5:11
Typical Event - Introductory:
In Exodus 29 we read about the consecration of the priests and the order of
consecration for the High Priest. This is where the word ‘atonement’ first appears in
the OT. The priests were washed and then the high-priestly garments were put on in
the reverse order given for making them.




First was the ‘coat’, a long garment made of linen and worn next the person.
Second was the ‘robe of the ephod’ which was a long seamless garment of blue
linen with an opening for the head and worn over the coat. Pomegranates in
blue, purple and scarlet were embroidered on the skirt of the robe and
alternated with golden bells which rang as the priest moved. The robe was tied
with a linen girdle. This is the basis for ringing bells at the Eucharist.
Third was the ‘ephod’ which was a short linen garment embroidered with gold,
purple and scarlet. It consisted of a front and a back secured with shoulder
pieces and a band at the bottom. The names of the twelve tribes were
engraved on the shoulder pieces for a memorial before the Lord.
Fourth was the breastplate which was a square linen pouch to hold the Urim
and the Thummin (Lights and Perfection). An oblong gold piece displaying four
rows of three precious stones per each was attached to the pouch. Each stone
contained a tribal name. The breastplate was attached to the shoulder pieces of
the ephod by golden chains. Golden rings were sewn onto the ephod and
breastplate and secured to each other by laces of blue.


Fifth, a mitre or turban of fine linen bearing a golden plate, engraven with the
words “Holiness to the Lord”, covered the head.
Sixth were linen breeches from the loins to the thighs.
The clothing of the priests was followed by sacrifices.
Verse 33 of Exodus 29 says:
“And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and
to sanctify them.”
The English word ‘atonement ‘ was a translator’s interpretation of the Hebrew word
“kaphar” meaning to “cover”; the hyphenation of “atonement” to make it “at-onement” is a regrettable. Verse 46 should be noted for its corporate application and
remembrance of deliverance from Egypt. In Leviticus 16:34 It should be noted that
atonement was to be made for Israel once per year.
As apposed to the ‘Day of Atonement’, the idea of “kaphar” or “atonement” in the OT is
not restricted to a once-a-year practice or to a coporate recipient. Atonement by
sacrifice was made for a man, a woman, Levites and so forth as a reading of scripture
will show. Our subject is not the general OT practice regarding “atonement” but “The
Day of Atonement”.
Typical Event – Liturgy:
The liturgy for the Day of Atonement was given by God to Moses, and by Moses to
Aaron, as described in Leviticus 16.
Leviticus 16:6 & 20 makes it clear that atonement was to be made for:
 Aaron and His House
 The Holy Place
 The Tabernacle of the Congregation
 The Altar (of Burned Offering)
Aaron was to put on the linen coat, the linen breeches, the linen girdle and the linen
mitre and take a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. From
the congregation Aaron was to take two kids of the goats for a sin offering and a ram
for a burnt offering. Aaron was then to take the two goats, bring them before the door
of the Tabernacle, and cast lots on them – one for the Lord and the other for the
scapegoat (Azazel).
Aaron was then to offer his bullock of the sin offering for himself and make atonement
for himself and his house. The procedure was to kill the bullock and take a censer full
of burning coals from the altar and a handful of incense and bring it inside the veil. The
incense was put on the fire and its cloud covered the mercy seat. The blood of the
bullock was taken on his finger and sprinkled seven times on the mercy seat eastward
and before the mercy seat.
Aaron was then to kill the goat of the sin offering for the people and make atonement
for the holy place taking a censer full of burning coals from the altar and a handful of
incense and bringing it inside the veil. The incense was put on the fire and its cloud
covered the mercy seat. The blood of the offering was taken on his finger and sprinkled
seven times on the mercy seat eastward and before the mercy seat. The second half of
verse sixteen is a little obscure but says, “so shall he do for the tabernacle of the
congregation.”
No man was allowed in the tabernacle of the congregation when Aaron went in to make
atonement in the Holy Place and came out having made atonement for himself and his
house and all the congregation of Israel.
Aaron then came out from the holy place to the altar and make atonement for it by
putting the blood of the bullock and the goat on the horns of the altar and sprinkling it
seven times with his finger.
Aaron then took the live ‘scapegoat’, laid both hands on its head, confessed the
iniquities of Israel over it, put the sins and transgressions of Israel on the head of the
goat, and sent it away into the wilderness. This is the origin of the ‘scapegoat’ concept.
Ceremonial disrobing and washing followed. The remains of the bullock and goat for sin
offerings were carried outside the camp and burned. Further ceremonial washings
followed.
It should be noted that the day of Atonement is the first case in history of ‘deferred
accounting’ – not in the financial sense but in the moral sense. Israel’s sins were not
forgiven but covered one year at a time with final reckoning deferred until the Day of
Judgment. Individuals thus covered were sealed for ‘a good year’.
Antitypical Event
The Feast of Atonement is not mentioned in the Gospels. The word ‘atonement’ does
not occur in the NT although in Romans 5:11 a Greek word meaning ‘exchange’, or
figuratively ‘adjustment’ and thus ‘reconcile’, ‘is translated ‘atonement’. The RV uses
‘reconciliation’. Further the biblical use of the word ‘atonement’ must be distinguished
from its theological use where it is a term employed to cover the whole redemptive and
sacrificial work of Christ. However, reference to the spiritual significance of the Day of
Atonement does occur in the teaching of the NT Epistle to the Hebrews as in Hebrews
9:1-28 and Hebrews 13: 10-14.
There is a beautiful thought in Hebrews 13:12-13 and Acts 5:41 that links Christ and the
Church as the ever-living scapegoats who share his reproach as wanderers in this world
outside the camp of conventionality and correctness.
The Levitical sacrifices covered the sins of Israel in anticipation of the Cross. These
sacrifices enabled God to go on with a guilty people because they typified the Cross. To
the author, the Feast of Passover and the Lord’s Supper relates to the individual
whereas the Feast of Atonement relates to the nation Israel and for the nation this is
yet future. That Israel is to be saved nationally is made clear by Zechariah 12:10 and by
Paul in Romans 11:26 Scofield makes an interesting comment in this connection:
“That the Christian now inherits the distinctive Jewish promises in not taught in
scripture. The Christian is of the heavenly seed of Abraham and partakes of the spiritual
blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant; but Israel as a nation always has its own place
and is yet to have greater exaltation as the earthly people of God.”
With reference to symbolism, the goat for the Lord is the aspect of Christ’s death that
satisfies the righteousness of God and enables Him to be just and the Justifier of those
that believe; it is expiatory. The scapegoat is that aspect of Christ’s death that which
carries away our sins and is Christus Pro Nobis (Christ for Us, or, Christ on our behalf)
which is one of the deepest developments in the understanding of modern Christian
thinkers like Paul Tillich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Tabernacles
Observation Period:
Fifteenth of Tishri or September October.
OT/NT Scriptural References:
Leviticus 23:33-44
Deuteronomy 16:13-15
Deuteronomy 31:10
II Chronicles 8:13
Ezra 3:4
Hosea 12:9
Zechariah 14: 16-21
John 7:1-53
Typical Event:
The Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days. The first day was a holy convocation and
offerings by fire were made for seven days. The eighth day of the feast was a Sabbath.
On the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick
willows and willows of the brook were taken and booths were built and dwelt in for
seven days that their children might know that when the Lord took them out of Egypt
he made them dwell in booths (Exodus 13:14).
Typical Practice:
At Tabernacles the people built a sukka or booth of three walls with the sides covered
by cloth and the roof of tree branches through which the stars can be seen. This was a
time to trim the date-palms. On the inside, the booth was decorated with fruits of the
harvest and colorful items crafted by children. Family meals are eaten in the booth for
seven days.
Antitypical Event
To Christians, the Feast of Tabernacles speaks of a life in Christ that is separate from the
world not in the sense of being invisible to the world but in the sense of being visible
and open to observation yet separate. From a prophetic viewpoint, the Feast of
Tabernacles speaks of that coming time when God will dwell with his people. This is
what Ezekiel speaks of in his last verse when he says, “And the name of the city from
that day shall be, The Lord is There (Jehovah Shamah)” – implicit in that statement is a
holy people living in holiness.
Dedication,
Lights,
Hanukkah
(NonMosaic)
Observation Period:
Chislev or November-December
OT/NT Scriptural References:
I Maccabees 4:47-59
II Maccabees 1:35-36
John 8:12
John 10:22
Typical Event:
Alexander the Great invaded the Holy Land about 300 BC. Alexander was gracious to
the Jewish People but his successors known as the Seleucid Kings were not. Under one
of these kings, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Jews endured extreme suffering. Finally a
family known as the Maccabees arose and the Jews were delivered after many
struggles.
After the death of their Seleucid Greek persecutor Antiochus, the people of Jerusalem
and Judea sent letters to the Jews of Egypt and invited them to come and celebrate the
celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in mid-December - it was in fact an invitation to
celebrate the dedication of the Temple. Thus the Feasts of Tabernacles and
Dedication which both last eight days are linked. The salient feature of Dedication is
the lighting of the nine-branched Menorah called a Hanukkiah – eight lights for the
eight days and an additional prominent ninth branch called a ‘shamash’ or ‘attendant’
for extra light and practical use
Today the Feast of Dedication which falls in December is known as Hannukah. Jewish
women are supposed to light the Hanukkiah candles during the feast because it is the
woman who brings light and warmth to her home and women who a great role in the
drama of Jewish liberation from Persians and Greeks. In modern Jerusalem at Hanukkah
the lights are supposed to be placed in a window facing outward to shed light on the
streets.
At Tabernacles the people built a sukka or booth of three walls with the sides covered
by cloth and the roof of tree branches through which the stars can be seen. This was a
time to trim the date-palms. On the inside, the booth was decorated with fruits of the
harvest and colorful items crafted by children. Family meals are eaten in the booth for
seven days.
The Feast of Tabernacles was established by Moses and concluded the yearly feasts.
But Jewish historical experience and tradition has added the Feast of Dedication. Jesus,
recognizing the relationship between the feasts and declared as he acknowledged the
Lights of Dedication:
“I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the
light of life.”
In chapter seven of John’s gospel we read that Jesus went to the Feast of Tabernacles.
Part of the traditional celebration was to pour buckets of water down the street. On
the eighth day, as Jesus watched, he stood and cried:
“If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
Another event in the life of Jesus relative the Dedication is recorded in John chapter
ten. It was wintertime and Jesus was standing in Solomon’s Porch which was the only
remaining part of the First Temple or Solomon’s Temple. The Jews asked Jesus if he was
the Messiah. Jesus stated that he and the Father were one. Jesus then left and went
to Jordan where John first baptized. This established the pilgrim practice of visiting
Bethlehem at Advent and then rushing off to the Jordan thus linking Nativity and
Epiphany as Christian celebrations answering to the non-Mosaic Feast of Dedication.
Antitypical Event:
To the Christian, the Festival of Lights is celebrated at Christmastime by the lights of
Christmas which speak of the Light of the world and by the work of Christ that delivers
us from darkness and brings us into the light of His word.
Epiphany
(Christian)
Epiphany
There is another church feast that need to be recognized in connection with Christmas
and the Nativity of Christ and that is Epiphany which is observed in the mainline church.
The Christian Feast of Epiphany is the commemoration of the Baptism of Jesus and was
also called, by the Greek fathers of the 14th Century, the Theophany or Theophanies,
and the Day of Lights meaning the illumination of Jesus or of the Light which shone at
Jordan. In the West it became the Festival of the Three Kings (the Magi) or the Twelfth
Day.
Clement of Alexandria mentions the celebration of Epiphany in 194 AD and by 300 AD it
was widely in vogue. In the 4th century its celebration took place on January 6th.
In Antioch as late as 386 AD the two great feasts of the year were Epiphany and Easter
while as yet the physical birth of Jesus was not yet celebrated. After nightfall on the
eve of Epiphany springs and rivers were blessed and water was drawn from them and
used for lustrations and baptisms for the entire year. In 385 AD Pope Siricius called
January 6th “the birthday of Christ or of Apparition”. Thus Epiphany was regarded as
“Christ’s second nativity” and was of more renown than his first because now the God
of Majesty was inscribed as his Father.
January 6th had also been regarded as the date of the physical birth in Bethlehem
before December 25 became fixed and January 6th was also associated with the water
miracle at Cana. According to tradition, the faithful met before dawn at Bethlehem to
celebrate the birth from the virgin in a cave and then hurried of 13 miles to Jordan on
the other side of Jerusalem to celebrate the Baptism and as a consequence neither
event could be celebrated fully or reverently. An appeal was made to the Pope who
chose December 25th based on the record of Josephus.
The earliest surviving Greek text of the Epiphany rite, dated 795 AD, is in the Vatican
and the prayers recite that at his baptism Christ hallowed the waters by his presence in
the Jordan and requests that they now be blessed by the Holy Spirit visiting them with
his power and in-working as the streams of the Jordan were blessed.
Epiphany is also related to the words and actions of Jesus when he asserted his divinity
as recorded in John 10:22-42 which was also the time of the Festival of Lights or
Dedication. The Jews wanted to stone Jesus but the scripture simply says “he escaped”
and “went away again beyond Jordan into the place where Joh n at first baptized and
there he abode”.
Technically, an epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia,
"manifestation, striking appearance") is an experience of sudden and striking
realization. Generally the term is used to describe scientific breakthrough, religious or
philosophical discoveries, but it can apply in any situation in which an enlightening
realization allows a problem or situation to be understood from a new and deeper
perspective. Epiphanies are studied by psychologists and other scholars, particularly
those attempting to study the process of innovation.
Epiphanies are relatively rare occurrences and generally follow a process of significant
thought about a problem. Often they are triggered by a new and key piece of
information, but importantly, a depth of prior knowledge is required to allow the leap
of understanding. So whether the church believes that it was at this time that Jesus had
a sudden insight and understanding in his recognition of who and what he was I do not
know but it is an interesting passage of scripture.
Purim
(NonMosaic)
Observation Period:
Hanukkah
relates to
OT/NT Scriptural References:
Adar or February-March
Purim as a
Rabbinically
decreed
holiday.
Esther 9:28
Typical Event:
The story of Purim is told in the Book of Esther which starts with a conflict over women.
Chapter One and in the days of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes), it was celebration
time. The men had a celebration and the women had a celebration. Seven days of
drinking wine gave Ahasuerus the idea that he ought to call for his queen Vashti to put
on a somewhat lewd show of dance for his men. Vashti declined the “honor” and thus
a dilemma. The wise men were consulted and were of the opinion that Vashti’s
behavior had put all Persian men on the spot. Feminism must be squashed at its onset.
She must be replaced. It sounded good to the king who added a national decree that
“every man shall bear rule in his own house”.
Chapter Two was the “Let’s Crown a New Queen Beauty Contest!” Esther won and was
crowned Queen of the beauty contest and the empire.
The rest of the book is about the political contest between Mordecai and a highly
placed Persian. Mordecai barbed Haman the Persian by not paying him the deference
he felt he was due. Haman decided to get rid of Mordecai and the Jews at one blow.
Esther interceded for her people and turned the tables. Haman and his ten sons were
hanged and the Jews were let loose on their enemies in a bloodbath of unparalleled
ferocity. Mordecai wound up as number two in the empire.
Purim is a Jewish festival that stems from the time of Esther and the deliverance of the
Jews from the pogrom of Haman. It appears that Haman was a suspicious man who
cast lots to determine an auspicious day for his intended massacre. The word pur
(Esther 3:7; 9:24 & 26) is said to mean “lot”. Pur is not a Hebrew word but is probably
the Assyrian puru meaning a pebble of small stone which would be used for casting lots.
Antitypical Event
Purim is not mentioned in the NT unless it is the feast referred to in John 5:1 as a “feast
of the Jews” where the infirm man was lying beside the Pool of Bethsaida. To put it in
modern terms, this was a “chancy” situation for people seeking healing and it may have
served the writers intent to contrast it with the certainty of hope in Christ.
Esther was originally named Hadassah. Hadassah means "myrtle" in Hebrew. It has
been conjectured that the name Esther is derived from a reconstructed Median word
astra meaning myrtle. "Esther" may have been a different Hebrew interpretation from
the Proto-Semitic root "star/'morning/evening star'".
Wilson, who identified Ahasuerus with Xerxes I and Vashti with Amestris, suggested
that both "Amestris" and "Esther" derived from Akkadian Ammi-Ishtar or Ummi-Ishtar.
Hoschander alternatively suggested Ishtar-udda-sha ("Ishtar is her light") as the origin
with the possibility of -udda-sha being connected with the similarly sounding Hebrew
name Hadassah.
The Targum connects the name with the Persian word for "star" explaining that Esther
was so named for being as beautiful as the Morning Star. In the Talmud, Esther is
compared to the "morning star", and is considered the subject of Psalm 22, because its
introduction is a "song for the morning star" but since Psalm 22 goes back to David, this
idea is patently contrived and anti-Christ.
If the name Hadassah means myrtle tree it reminds us of Zechariah vision of the horses
where the myrtle trees are symbolic of the returnees from the Captivity who in the
sight of the Gentiles appear as something between a bush and a tree – namely,
insignificant nothings.
If this feast has significance for Christians it is this – we cannot hide the testimony of
who we are. If the church perishes, we perish. Maybe we are come to the kingdom for
such as time as this, and maybe we are not. But like the Hebrew children facing the
fiery furnace, we must not bow down and worship the image of gold. The ‘lots’ reminds
us of the lots cast for the garments of Jesus and the ‘lot’ cast for the apostolic successor
of Judas. If the lot falls to us in pleasant places, so be it; if the lot falls to us for service
unto Christ, so be it. The lot is in the hand of the Lord.