The purpose of this article is to inform, educate and encourage the community of believers in Yeshua. See end of article for more information.
THE SPRING FESTIVALS
The Festivals of G-d are blueprints for the plan of G-d.
When you look at a set of blueprints for a house that is to be built, it is difficult to visualize what the house will look like when it is finished. It is hard to imagine all the details as a whole. But if you look at the blueprints for a house that you are familiar with, perhaps the house you live in, then you can relate those plans to your own experience. You can fully visualize the whole of its completion and the blue prints will help you see where the foundation is laid, where the pipes and cables run, and how the structure supports itself.
It is the same with the Feasts of G-d. When we look at the spring festivals, we can look back at the first century and see how the prophetic elements of those festivals were fulfilled. We can see how the plan of G-d was carried out in perfection.
As we enter the Passover season this year, we should review how this season of festivals has been fulfilled in Y'shua our Messiah.
There are Four Moedim (Appointments or Feasts) which occur in the spring. They are Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Firstfruits, and Pentecost.
PASSOVER
Passover or Pesach in Hebrew is the first spring festival. It commemorates the slaying of the Pesach lamb whose blood was applied to the doorposts in Egypt the night the angel of death killed the firstborn of all Egypt.
In Shemot (Exodus) 12, G-d commands the children of Israel to select a lamb for this purpose on the 10th day of Nissan. The lamb had to be a year old male, spotless, without blemish. It was taken into the household of each Israelite and checked for blemish or spot for four days.
In the first century, a lamb was chosen by the high priest outside of Jerusalem on the tenth of Nissan. Then the priest would lead this lamb into the city while crowds of worshippers lined the streets waving palm branches and singing Psalm 118, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the L-rd."
Y'shua our Messiah entered Jerusalem this same day, probably right behind the High Priest's procession. The crowds that had just heralded the entrance of the sacrificial lamb heralded the entrance of the Lamb of G-d. Thus Y'shua identified himself with the Passover sacrifice.
The High Priest would then take the lamb to the Temple where it would be tied in public view so that it could be inspected for blemish. In the same way, Y'shua sat and taught in the Temple courtyard for four days. He was inspected and questioned as the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law sought to trip him up in his words and entrap him. They could not because he was perfect and without blemish.
On the Fourteenth of Nissan, Y'shua and his disciples celebrated the Seder a day early. This was an acceptable practice in the first century if you had an appointment or for some reason could not celebrate the seder on the fifteenth. Y'shua did indeed have an appointment. Remember that the Jewish day begins in the evening, so it was still the fourteenth of Nissan when Y'shua was tried and executed.
On the Fourteenth of Nissan, the priest tied the lamb to the horns of the altar at 9:00 AM. At the same time, 9:00 AM, Y'shua was nailed to the tree. (Mark 15:25)
In Shemot (Exodus) 12:6 G-d commanded Israel to kill the lamb in the evening. The Hebrew literally says "bain haarbayim" which means "between the evenings." This phrase was interpreted to mean 3:00 pm, specifically between the evenings. In the Temple in the first century, the lamb was slain on the altar at 3:00 PM on the 14th of Nissan, and the High Priest would say, "It is finished." At that same hour, just outside the walls, Y'shua said, "It is finished" and died.
Y'shua was taken from the cross and laid in the tomb before evening when the next day, the festival of Unleavened Bread began.
FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
Feast of Unleavened Bread or Hag HaMatzah is the second spring festival and it is a week-long festival beginning on the 15th of Nissan. During this week, nothing with leaven (yeast) in it may be eaten. The first day, the 15th of Nissan, is the day that the Children of Israel left Egypt. This is remembered in the Seder meal where the matzah (unleavened bread) is broken and the ritual cups of wine are drank.
In his Seder meal with his disciples, Y'shua identified the matzah as symbolizing his body and the wine as symbolizing his blood. The entire Seder is laden with Messianic symbols and pictures of the work of Messiah. The Matzah bread itself is striped, just as He was striped for our transgressions. It is pierced for baking, just as his body was pierced, and it is made without yeast, just as he was without sin.
FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS
The Feast of First Fruits occurred the day after the first Sabbath in the week of Hag HaMatzah. In the year Y'shua died, it fell on the 17th of Nissan. On that same day, during the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites came up out of the Red Sea and the Egyptians were drowned. In the first century, the festival was celebrated by bringing the first harvest of barley to the temple, where it was ground into flour and passed through thirteen seives. When the flour was fine enough, it was said to have been transformed into the imperishable. On that same day, Y'shua rose from the grave, transformed from a perishable to an imperishable body.
PENTECOST
Pentecost, or "Shavuot" in Hebrew, is a commemoration of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It was at the first Shavuot in Exodus 20 that the mountain shook and trembled, the Shofar was sounded and blasted louder and louder, fire came on the mountain, the wind roared and thundered, and the voice of G-d spoke the Ten Commandments. Midrash teaches that the Ten Commandments were uttered in the 70 known languages of the world, that is to say, in every tongue.
The book of Acts tells us that it was on Pentecost that the Holy Spirit descended on the believers in a rushing wind and with tongues of fire. Then the voice of G-d was again heard in all the languages of the world as the believers spoke in tongues, testifying about Y'shua the Messiah.
As we review the Spring Festivals, we see the plan of G-d fulfilled in such dramatic detail that we cannot help but be struck by the awesomeness of our Eternal King. If the Spring Festivals so clearly prophesied the first coming of Messiah, does it not stand to reason that the Fall Festivals are also prophetic of His second coming? Watch for the article on the Fall Feasts and the plan of G-d for the end of the age, this Summer in this forum.
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Daniel Lancaster is a teacher at Kehilat Sar Shalom. Sar Shalom is a Messianic congregation in St. Paul, Minnesota. We invite those in the Twin Cities to join us for worship on Saturdays at 10am and for Bible studies on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. We're one block west of Fairview Avenue in the Highland Park area. Address: Kehilat Sar Shalom, 1901 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, Minnesota 55116. WRITE FOR A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO OUR NEWSLETTER.
