Do the Feasts of the Lord apply to me? After the Lord delivered His people out of
bondage in Egypt, there was a mixed multitude of people following Him. Some aliens and Egyptians joined Israel
because they saw the Lord’s miracles and they all wanted to be free of bondage
in the house of slavery.
Whether we are an Israelite
or alien, we all need to be delivered from physical,
emotional or spiritual bondage and pride.
Observing these holy times of the Lord, or feasts, help individuals see
what is missing in their life.
These feasts teach us how to
feed on Jesus’ life and death to be reconciled to Him. Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood you
have no life in yourselves,” (John 6:53).
The feasts illustrate God’s glorious
plan of salvation. The good news of these scriptures is veiled
to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the glory of Christ,” (2Corinthians
4:4).
The
feasts, or appointed time, are part of “the Law which
acts as our tutor to lead us to Christ,” (Galatians 3:24).
When we realize our sinful
condition and see the love of God, we will run to God’s throne of grace. These holy times help us see these
steps:
The first holy time is the FEAST OF PASSOVER when
the Lord passed over all the dwelling
places where the blood of the Lamb was applied (Exodus 12:42, 13:9, Leviticus
23:2-3, NASB throughout). If we fear the death sentence due to us
because of our sins we will apply
the blood of the Passover Lamb to our temporary tent that we live in during
this life
The second holy time of the
Lord is the FEAST OF UNLEAVENEDBREAD. IF we believe in Him (Christ our Passover)
and follow Him, we are eating His unleavened bread – that is His
teachings and His Law, exemplified and fulfilled by Jesus Himself.
In scripture leavening symbolizes moral
corruption, the root of Pride. All leavening was to be cleaned out of our
spiritual houses. That means anything
that would puff up our pride and encourage our self will against God’s ways
(Exodus 12:15-20, 13:3-16, Leviticus 23:6-8, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10).
The
third holy time of the Lord is the FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS. This is the day when scripture officially
recognizes the resurrection of the first fruits offering, Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:20-23). The wave sheaf is the first cutting, or first
fruits of the new grain harvest. The handful of sheaves was brought to the high
priest to wave as an offering to the Lord so that the complete harvest would be
accepted by Him, (Lev 23:9-14).
“Jesus was raised from the dead that first fruits of those who are
asleep.” Those “in Christ”
get acceptance before God provided through Jesus.
The
fourth holy day of the Lord is the FEAST OF PENTECOST. It is common to get an annual physical
examination to protect our health. The
Lord also planned for us to have an annual “spiritual checkup” to protect the health of our soul. Over the seven weeks after the Wave Sheaf
Offering to the feast of harvest (Pentecost) we are to consider what
effects the hope of the gospel imparts to us.