The Seven Feasts of Jehovah: Part 2

From: The Christian Shepherd: 1999

• 5 min. read • grade level: 12

The Period of Time Between Feasts

We now come to quite a long period from Pentecost until the first day of the seventh month. It takes in the whole church period, on to the time when Israel is gathered back in its land. In the period that passed between these two feasts they were instructed not to reap the corners of their fields, but to leave them for the poor and the stranger. No doubt this shows us that through the glorious work of Christ on the cross there will be blessing to many called “poor” and “strangers.”

We know that after the rapture, the coming of Christ for His own (1 Thess. 4:16-18¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ¹⁸Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑18)), there will be many Gentiles and poor of the flock of Israel (Zech. 11:7⁷And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. (Zechariah 11:7)) who had not rejected the gospel of the grace of God who, hearing the gospel of the kingdom preached during the tribulation period, will be gathered in (saved) and brought into blessing. We read of these (some martyrs) in Revelation 6:9⁹And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: (Revelation 6:9), chapters 14-15 and chapter 20:4. The ones who are martyred have a heavenly portion, as we learn from Revelation 6:9⁹And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: (Revelation 6:9), chapter 14:13, chapter 15 and chapter 20:4.

The Feast of Trumpets

This brings us to the feast of trumpets (Lev. 23:23-25²³And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ²⁴Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. ²⁵Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:23‑25)). We read in Matthew 24:31³¹And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31) how this will be fulfilled in regard to the nation of Israel in a future day, after the church and all who have died in faith have been raptured to glory at the Lord’s coming (1 Thess. 4:16-18¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ¹⁸Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑18)). In Matthew 24:31³¹And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31) we read, “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” It is also prophesied in Ezekiel 37³And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: (Ezekiel 38:3) under the figure of the valley of dry bones when a remnant from all the twelve tribes will be brought back to their land. They will then possess the land of Israel promised to them by Jehovah their God in Genesis 15:18-21¹⁸In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, ²⁰And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, ²¹And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. (Genesis 15:18‑21).

The Feast of the Day of Atonement

The next feast is called the “day of atonement.” Even though the glorious work that secured their blessing and their possession of the promised land in peace had been accomplished, typified in the passover, they have to be brought to repentance and to the acknowledgment of their guilt in the rejection and crucifying of their Messiah, the true Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7⁷Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Corinthians 5:7)). This is foretold in Zechariah 12:10-14¹⁰And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. ¹¹In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. ¹²And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; ¹³The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; ¹⁴All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zechariah 12:10‑14) and chapter 13:6-9. There will be true repentance for that awful act, and then, but not till then, will they possess their land in peace.

It says in Leviticus 23:29²⁹For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. (Leviticus 23:29) that any of that nation, and particularly the two tribes who were in the land when Christ came, who do not truly repent will be cut off from their people. They would be lost souls. Also, on this day of atonement, they were not to do any work, for if they did, they would be cut off. Salvation is “not of works” (Eph. 2:9⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:9)).

When it is a question of doing anything, any work at all, to add to Christ’s finished atoning work, it would only spoil it, for “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him” (Eccl. 3:14¹⁴I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14)).

The Feast of Tabernacles

Then there is the last feast, the seventh, the feast of tabernacles (Lev. 23:34³⁴Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:34)). This will be a celebration of the final blessing of possessing the good land God had given to them. In it they called to mind their journey through the wilderness, dwelling in tents (booths), and how God had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt, brought them safely through the wilderness and given them the land of Canaan.

The previous six feasts we have been considering show us His ways with them as a nation and the means by which the blessing was secured to them. This feast had an eighth day, for it introduces us, in figure, into the new creation. In that wonderful verse in Ephesians 1:10¹⁰That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10), the key verse of all God’s ways with man, there will be two circles of blessing. Israel will be the center of all the earthly blessing, and the nations on earth will recognize Jerusalem as the city of the great King and will come up there year by year to worship (Zech. 14:16¹⁶And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16)).

Then there is the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22-23²²But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, ²³To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:22‑23)) where will be the church, the bride of Christ, and all who have died in faith in the Old Testament. These last, with the martyrs of the tribulation, will be there as the friends of the Bridegroom. We are told in Revelation 21:24²⁴And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. (Revelation 21:24) that the earthly Jerusalem will walk in the light of the heavenly Jerusalem in that glorious millennial day.

The Eighth Day

We have noticed that there was an eighth day for this feast of tabernacles, and this points on to the eternal state (Rev. 21:17¹⁷And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. (Revelation 21:17)) called “the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12-13¹²Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? ¹³Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:12‑13)) when there will not be “nations,” as such, any longer, but we read, “The tabernacle of God is with men.” Nations came about as the result of sin, and therefore in the eternal state there will be eternal blessing for redeemed men on the earth, and in heaven the church will be there as the bride of Christ, with the friends of the bridegroom. The Lord Jesus Christ will remain a Man forever to have the company of His bride. This is the eternal state. What a miracle of God’s grace, when God in trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28²⁸And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:28)). The sad, eternal doom of the lost is given in Revelation 21:8⁸But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8).