Today in the Bible

Nisan 17, 5784; from sunset April 24, 2024, to sunset April 25, 2024

The past few days have been busy ones on the biblical calendar.  And today in the Bible we’d like to take a break and summarize what’s happened by taking a closer look at Leviticus 23.  This is the chapter in the Bible where God lists His Appointed Times – they are His self-proclaimed Holy Days.  He starts off by telling Moses that these “feasts” belong to Him.

The word translated as “feasts” above is “mo’adim” in Hebrew.  It comes from a verb meaning “to appoint, assemble, or meet.”  It can refer to an appointed time or an appointed place…and in our instance it’s both.  The Appointed Times were to take place in Jerusalem.  The place where the LORD chose to put His Name.  One related word to “mo’adim” is “edah” which means “a congregation.”  The Appointed Times are times when God wants His people to gather together in His appointed place.  So, let’s take a look at God’s Holy Days.

Leviticus 23: The Appointed Times

The weekly Sabbath – the seventh day Sabbath is the first of the LORD’s Appointed Times listed (v. 3).

Passover – “Chag Pesach” is the 14th day of the 1st month (v. 5).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread – “Chag Hamatzot” begins on the 15^th day of the 1^st month and lasts for seven days (v. 5-8).  The first day and the seventh day are Sabbath days, no matter what weekday they fall upon.

Firstfruits of the Harvest – “Reshit Ketzir” – this refers to the first ripened fruit of the barley harvest (v. 9-14).  It is to be offered as a wave offering on the day following the Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Next, the LORD, commands us to count seven weeks, forty-nine days, from the time that the Firstfruits offering was made (v. 15).  This is known as the “Counting of the Omer” or “Sefirat Ha’omer.”

The “Feast of Weeks” occurs on the 50^th day, when an offering of two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven is made.  This is also called a Firstfruits offering.  The Feast of Weeks is known to most Christians by its Greek name, “Pentecost” (v. 16-21).

Immediately following the Feast of Weeks is a commandment to allow the poor and the stranger to glean from your fields.

To this point, all of the Feasts of the LORD occur in the springtime of the northern hemisphere.  After the Feast of Weeks, the Land of Israel experiences a long, dry spell; and then we come to the Feasts of the LORD which occur in late summer to early autumn.

First up is what is commonly called the “Feast of Trumpets.”  It’s kind of funny that the word trumpet is included in its name because that word is not present in the original language.  The Bible calls this Appointed Time “Yom Teruah” or “Zicharon Teruah.”  The word “teruah” refers to the sounds that a trumpet makes.  But it’s not just a trumpet, it could be a shout or any sort of alarm that is raised.  “Yom” means “day” and “zicharon” means a “remembrance.”  This occurs on the first day of the seventh month (v. 23-25).

On the tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement or “Yom Kippur” (v. 26-32).

Five days later, on the fifteenth day of the seven month, and lasting for seven days, is the Feast of Tabernacles (“Sukkot”).  It is also referred to as the Feast of the Ingathering.  The first day and eighth day of this seven-day-long feast are Sabbath days (v. 33-36; 39-43).

And finally, on the eighth day (after the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles), we arrive at the conclusion of the Appointed Times.  It is called the Eighth Day Assembly or “Shemini Atzeret” (v 36b).

Now that we’ve become familiar with the LORD’s Appointed Times, we’d like to take this opportunity to discuss how Jesus has fulfilled portions of this all-important chapter in the Bible.  We’ve already considered some of the Appointed Times in our posts over the past week, but let’s do a review and then dig a little deeper on the ones where we’ve just scratched the surface.

Passover

When we look at the commandments for Passover, we see that we are first to select a perfect lamb and then, four days later, we are to sacrifice it.  In our posts for Nisan 10, we read God’s command to choose the lamb and then we considered how Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem could fulfill that commandment.  The people had chosen their “Passover Lamb.”  It’s interesting that choosing the Passover lamb is not listed in Leviticus 23.  But if we think about it a little, perhaps we can understand why.  The LORD’s Appointed Times are times when God will act on our behalf in the fabric of space and time.  Revelation 13:8 tells us that Jesus was chosen as the Lamb from before the foundation of the world.  In other words, He had already fulfilled that Appointed Time – and now, as our Chosen Lamb, He had four “days” to fulfill the sacrificial portion of God’s commandment.

The Apostle Peter tells us that, to the LORD, “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8)  If we place the commandments for choosing and sacrificing the Lamb in the context of God’s timing, perhaps we can see how Jesus’ sacrifice fits into both mankind’s time and God’s time.  If Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world as the Lamb – that would mean that four thousand years later, He should be sacrificed.  This timing fits in nicely with the Jewish reckoning of time.  On mankind’s time, Jesus was chosen by the people as their Lamb on the day of His triumphal entry and, four days later, He was sacrificed.  He fulfilled His obligation to the commandment in both concepts of time.  Passover fulfilled.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

In 1 Corinthians, Paul refers to Jesus as our “Passover” – our “Pesach” – our “Sacrifice.”  He is our perfect, unblemished Lamb.  Leaven or yeast in the Bible has been used as an analogy for sin.  Paul continues His comparison between Jesus and the Appointed Times of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread by encouraging us to become sinless like Jesus, remove the leaven from your life and replace it with sincerity and truth. 

Jesus is the sinless Bread from Heaven.  A few weeks ago, we remembered His teaching on this from John 6.  Feast of Unleavened Bread fulfilled.

Firstfruits Offering

We haven’t spoken much about this Appointed Time yet.  It’s little talked about in Christianity because of another event that occurred on this day…the resurrection of Jesus.  In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul compares Jesus’ resurrection to the Firstfruits – because it happened on the Appointed Time of the Firstfruits offering.

Though it’s not mentioned in the Bible, we understand there was a process for offering the Firstfruits.  The binding of Jesus and His resurrection fit in with this process.  Let’s take a look.

The Firstfruits offering was of made from the barley crop. It was not able to be harvested, eaten, bought, or sold until its first ripened fruit had been offered before God, in the Temple, as a wave offering.  Because the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were busy times in the Temple, early in the morning, on the day that the Passover lambs were slaughtered, the priests would go out into the field and find the portion of the crop marked as the first to ripen.  They would bind together a sheaf in preparation for the day after the Sabbath when they were commanded to harvest it.  This binding of the sheaf coincides with the time that Jesus was bound by the priests after His arrest…early in the morning on the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed.

Then, on the day after the Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the priests went out early in the morning and cut the sheaf loose from the earth in order to bring it into the Temple and wave it before the LORD.  This coincides with Jesus’ resurrection – He was freed from the earth that bound Him early in the morning on the day after the Sabbath.  When viewed through the lens of the Firstfruits offering, perhaps Jesus’ words to Mary Magdalene become a little clearer.

Maybe Jesus wouldn’t allow Mary to touch Him because He, like the barley crop, could not be “touched” until He appeared before the LORD.  Just as the priests waved the sheaf of barley before God, so too, Jesus appeared before His Father as a “Wave Offering.”   In Mathew 28:9, the text tells us that, at one point after His resurrection, the women were allowed to hold His feet and worship Him.  This must have occurred after He had appeared before the Father.  Firstfruits fulfilled.

Imagine.  God provided specific instructions that were to be accomplished on specific dates and Jesus fulfilled these instructions to the letter on the dates commanded by His Father in Heaven. 

We have more Appointed Times occurring in the spring and we will study Jesus’ fulfillment of them as we arrive at the appropriate dates.  But, we think it’s safe to say, that Jesus fulfilled the spring Appointed Times the first time that He came to dwell on the earth.  The Appointed Times listed in the springtime are separated from the autumn Appointed Times by a long, dry spell.  This long period of time is represented by the nearly two thousand year wait we have experienced thus far.  We believe that He will fulfill the autumn Appointed Times when He returns.  He will fulfill them on the time appointed by His Father.

With the expected arrival of the antichrist, it seems important to us that we should study those times so that we can watch and understand how the real Christ will fulfill them.  We don’t want to find ourselves fooled by a false christ.

Leviticus chapter 23 contains God’s plan of salvation.  The Appointed Times listed here and the furnishings of the Temple provide a floor plan for how the LORD intends to redeem and restore His creation so He may dwell once again with His people.

We, here at Today in the Bible, encourage you to study out biblical references to the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day Assembly.  Read what God’s commandments are regarding these Appointed Times.  Learn what days they fall upon.  And when you’re reading the Bible, keep your eyes open for references to them.  How did the people in Bible times observe them?  Read the book of Revelation; though they may not be mentioned by name, it contains imagery associated with the autumn Appointed Times.  We’ve provided links to posts we have associated with the Appointed Times and are ever searching the Scriptures for more.