Think not that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. -Matthew 5:17, 18
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. -Romans 15:4
Figures of Speech
- Simile: Resemblance (Gen 25:25; Mt 7:24-27).
- Allegory: Comparison by representation (Gen 49:9; Gal 4:22, 24).
- Metaphor: Representation (Mt 26:26).
- Hypocatastasis: an implied resemblance or repre- sentation (Mt 7:3-5; 15:13).
- Type: A figure or example of something future (Rom 5:14; Gen 22, 24).
- Analogy: Resemblance in some particulars between
Types
Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11
Manna: Exodus 16
- In need of food, God provided a daily provision of
- Manna, a miracle bread from heaven.
- It was provided only on 6 days, with a double portion on the 6th, to prevent gathering on the Sabbath.
- Note: This was before the Law was given (Ex 20).
The Brazen Serpent: Numbers 21
- In response to murmuring, God sent fiery serpents, which bit the people, and they died.
- Moses interceded and was instructed to place a brass serpent on a pole on a high hill; all that would look toward it would be spared. Why this strange remedy?
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. -John 3:14-16
Waters at Meribah
- At Rephidim: water from striking the Rock (Ex 17:6).
- At Meribah: water for the asking (Num 20:8f).
- Type: “The Rock was Christ”
Significance of the Feasts
Each “feast” has an historic, memorial context (not to be a basis of criticism). Each “feast” is also prophetic!
And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: -Genesis 1:14
“Seasons”: ~ydI[]Amh “The Appointed Times”
As an Equidistant Letter Sequence, it appears only once in Genesis. Statistical expectation: 5 times in the 78,064 letters of Genesis. It appears only once, at an interval of 70. And, it is centered on Genesis 1:14! The odds against this happening by unaided chance have been estimated at greater than 70,000,000 to one!
The Feasts of Israel
The Spring Feasts (1st Month: Nisan)
- Passover
- Feast of Unleavened Bread
- Feast of First Fruits
— Feast of Weeks
The Fall Feasts (7th Month: Tishri)
- Feast of Trumpets
- Yom Kippur
- Feast of Tabernacles
Passover: 14th of Nisan
Passover is so essential for the Christian that the entire next session will be devoted to it.
Jesus is our Passover
The Passover lamb was examined on the 10th of Nisan (Mt 21:23-27; 23) and was to be without blemish (1 Pet 1:18-21). Pilate: “I find no fault in him” (Jn 19:4). It was offered “between the evenings” (Ex 12:6) on the 14th of Nisan. “Not a bone to be broken…” (Ex 12:46; Num 9:12; Ps 34:20; Jn 19:31-33, 36). Jesus is our Passover.
(Jn 1:29, 36; 1 Cor 5:7): He is introduced as “the Lamb”
(Jn 1:29, 36). OT details the sacrifice (Isa 53; Ps 22).
Feasts of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits
“Three days and three nights” (Mt 12:40). The sign of the Prophet Jonah: Resurrection at sundown Saturday. “At the End of the Sabbaths…” (Mt 28:1): Sabbath(s) = plural (high sabbath of Feast of Unleavened Bread in tervenes). The Feast of First Fruits is on the “morning after the Sabbath after Passover” = thus, always on a Sunday! The Empty Tomb was discovered on Sunday.
Feast of First Fruits
- “The morrow after the sabbath after Passover…” (Lev 23:11).
- The morning of the ultimate “First Fruits” (1 Cor 15:20-23; Mt 27:52-53; Eph 1:6; Rom 11:16; Cf. Job 19:25-26)
- When did the Flood of Noah end? (Gen 8:4). Our new beginning on the Planet Earth was on the anniversary, in advance, of our new beginning in Christ!
Quartodecimanism
- “Fourteenism,” derived from Latin. The practice of fixing the celebration of Passover for Christians on the 14th day of Nisan in the Old Testament Calendar (Lev 23:5).
- This was the original method of fixing the date of the Passover, which is to be a “perpetual ordinance” (Ex 12:14).
2nd Century Tensions
- 115-125 a.d.: The Roman church celebrated Passover on a Sunday at least since the time of Bishop Xystus or Sixtus I (Eusebius H.E. 5.24.14).
- 154 a.d.: Polycarp visited Rome to discuss the dif- ference in Paschal calculation with Bishop Anisettes and reached an amicable compromise.
- Polycrates of Ephesus and Irenaeus wrote in support of the Quartodecimans (Eusebius H.E. 5.24.17).
Council of Nicea
- The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full moon should occur on a Sunday, and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the following Sunday.
- As result of the Council of Nicea, and amended by numerous subsequent meetings, the formal church deliberately attempted to design a formula for “Easter” which would avoid any possibility of falling on the Jewish Passover, even accidentally!
- Quartodecimans were excommunicated.
Calendar Difficulties
- Jewish day starts at sunset.
- Lunar calendar: 11 1/2 days shorter.
- Ancient calendars: 360 days (all change in about 701 b.c.).
- Jewish Intercalary months (leap years of 13 months: 3rd, 6th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 19th = leap years).
Confusion Reigns
- About 465, the church adopted a system of calculation proposed by the astronomer Victorinus, to reform the calendar and fix the date of Easter (elements of his methodarestillinuse, althoughsignificantadjustments to the Easter cycle were made in the 6th century).
- Refusal of the British and Celtic Christian churches to adopt the proposed changes led to a bitter dispute between them and Rome in the 7th century.
- Reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, through adoption of the Gregorian calendar, eliminated some of the difficulties in fixing the date of Easter and in arranging the ecclesiastical year.
- Since 1752, when the Gregorian calendar was also adopted in Great Britain and Ireland, Easter has been celebrated on the same day in the Western part of the Christian world.
- The Eastern churches, however, which did not adopt the Gregorian calendar, commemorate Easter on a Sunday either preceding or following the date ob- served in the West. Occasionally the dates coincide; the most recent times were in 1865 and 1963.
- In 1928 the British Parliament enacted a measure allowing the Church of England to commemorate Easter on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April.
- Despite these steps toward a consolidation, Easter continues to be a “movable” feast.
The Fall Feasts (7th Month: Tishri)
Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah)
- Coincident with the civil New Year: Rosh HaShanah; Lev 23:23-25. (Torah = 1 day; 2nd day added ~500 b.c.)
- Teki’ah Gedolah, “the great blowing”: 3 series of 10 blasts each; final blowing of 10 blasts: Not short blasts (= “alarm”), but long blasts = victory!
- “Last Trump?” vs. “7th Trumpet Judgment?”
- “Trumpet of God” (only 2X in Bible): Giving of the Torah at Sinai (Ex 19:13, 16); the Rapture (1 Thess 4:16).
- Followed by (10) “Days of Affliction” Yomim Noraim.
- Teki’at Shofar: ram’s horn (not the silver Temple trum- pets) Shofar (Isa 58:1; 27:13); Akedah: substitutionary ram (Gen 22). Left horn = “first trump”; right horn = “last trump.”
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
- 10th of Tishri (Lev 16:1-19; 23:26-32; Heb 9:1-16).
- Day of national repentance (Isa 53).
- High Priest enters the Holy of Holies: God, who “dwelleth between the cherubim,” looking down on the broken law, is propitiated (hilasterion) by the shed blood (of Christ); cf. Heb 9:1-16.
- The Scapegoat: two goats (Lev 16:20-34; Mt 27:33; 2 Cor 5:21; Isa 53:6; 52:15). [The Lottery box for the Third Temple available for viewing at the Temple Institute in Jerusalem.]
Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
- 15th of Tishri: 5 days (grace) after Yom Kippur (Lev 23:33-44); compulsory attendance (Deut 16:16).
- Temporary dwellings: 7 days + special sabbath. Gaps in sides, roof = wilderness wanderings… They then leave their temporary dwellings for their permanent one.
- The Millennial Kingdom? (Hos 5:15-6:3; Zech 14:4, 9). Our permanent habitation? (1 Cor 5:2).
- Transfiguration during Feasts of Booths? Cf. Peter: build 3 “succoths”? (Mt 17:4).
Feast of Weeks (Shavout)
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days;
Lev 23:15,16
- “Counting the Omer” (49 + 1 days). Always on a Sunday.
- One of three compulsory (Deut 16:16).
- Only use of Leavened Bread! Two loaves (Jew & Gentile?) Page Prophetic: The Birth of the Church—Feast of Pen- tecost (Acts 2).
The Mystery of Enoch
- Oldest prophecy uttered by a prophet and it is about the 2nd Coming of Christ!
- Three groups of people facing the judgment of the Flood: 1) those that perished in the flood; 2) those that were preserved through the time of the flood; and, 3) those that were removed prior to the flood.
- Was Enoch born on Shavout? Was Enoch removed prior to the judgment on his birthday?
- The Church was “born” on Shavout (Acts 2).
- Will the Church be removed on its birthday? Will the Jewish “clock” restart on the same feast day that it was stopped?
