- Importance of God’s Feasts
- Classification and Names of the Seven Feasts in Three Times (Seven Major Feasts)
- The Feasts of the Old Testament Prophesy What Jesus Would Do in the New Testament Times
- Origin of the Seven Feasts & Fulfillment of the Prophecies
- 1) Passover
- 2) Feast of Unleavened Bread
- 3) Day of Firstfruits (Day of Resurrection)
- 4) Feast of Weeks (Day of Pentecost)
- 5) Feast of Trumpets
- 6) Day of Atonement
- 7) Feast of Tabernacles
In the Bible, there are seven major feasts that God commanded His people to keep. Those who want to meet the true God and have eternal life must know these feasts correctly and keep them. Let’s find out the significance of the seven feasts, and the prophetic meaning of each.
Importance of God’s Feasts
The reason we must know and keep God’s feasts is to receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. In the Old Testament times, God prophesied that He would dwell in Zion forever, granting the blessing of eternal life (Ps 132:13–14; 133:3). Zion here refers to the spiritual Zion that Jesus, the prophetical King David, would establish, not the Zion built by David, the second king of Israel. What is the spiritual Zion?
Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals . . . There the LORD will be our Mighty One . . . the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven. Isa 33:20–24
Zion is often mentioned in the prophecies of the Bible, referring to the place where God’s feasts are celebrated. In Zion, God is with His people and the forgiveness of sins is given to them. Since the wages of sin is death (Ro 6:23), when we receive the forgiveness of sins, death vanishes and we can have eternal life. Zion is established by God Himself (Ps 87:5; 102:16). As prophesied, Jesus built Zion by establishing feasts such as the Sabbath, the Passover, and the Feast of Tabernacles of the New Covenant, and promised the forgiveness of sins and eternal life (Lk 4:16; Mt 26:17–28; Jn 7:2,14). Therefore, whoever wants to receive salvation must find Zion, the church that keeps God’s feasts. In order to do so, we must first know about the feasts of God.
Classification and Names of the Seven Feasts in Three Times (Seven Major Feasts)
What are the feasts God commanded us to keep? The Bible teaches that there are feasts God’s people must keep three times a year.
Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you. Dt 16:16–17
Thus, the feasts of God include the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles to be kept three times a year (2 Ch 8:13). Among them, the Feast of Weeks is also called the Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Ingathering (Ex 23:14–17; 34:18–23).
Three times does not mean that there are only three feasts. In detail, there are seven feasts (Lev 23). The feasts in three times are representative feasts when the seven feasts are grouped into three. So they are called the Seven Feasts in Three Times. The names of the Seven Feasts in Three Times are as follows.
- 1st Time: Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread
- 2nd Time: Day of Firstfuits, Feast of Weeks
- 3rd Time: Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles
The Feasts of the Old Testament Prophesy What Jesus Would Do in the New Testament Times
God established the feasts according to the work of Moses from the time of the Exodus to the building of the tabernacle. This was not just a past history, but a prophecy about what Jesus would do in the future.
“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth . . .” Dt 18:18–19
“For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.’ . . . Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.” Ac 3:22–24
Jesus came as a prophet like Moses. This means that what Moses did in the Old Testament times is a shadow of what Jesus would accomplish in the New Testament times. That’s why Moses’ work that appears through each feast prophesies Jesus’ work of redemption.
Origin of the Seven Feasts & Fulfillment of the Prophecies
The origin of the seven feasts established according to the work of Moses and the fulfillment of the prophecies are as follows.
1) Passover
- Date: Evening of the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) by the sacred calendar
- Origin: Emancipation of the Israelites from the slavery in Egypt (Ex 12:1–14)
- Promise: Forgiveness of sins, eternal life, protection from disasters, judgment against all other gods, and God’s seal
- Fulfillment of the Prophecy: The history of the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt is a shadow that shows the spiritual state of humankind becoming slaves to sin in the sinful world (Jn 8:32–34). The Israelites were freed from Egypt through Moses by keeping the Passover with the flesh and blood of the lamb. This prophesies that God’s people will be freed from the sinful world through Jesus Christ by keeping the Passover. Jesus is the reality of the Passover lamb (1 Co 5:7). He established the New Covenant on the Passover by using bread and wine, which represent His flesh and blood, to give us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life (Mt 26:17–28; Lk 22:7–20).
2) Feast of Unleavened Bread
- Date: The 15th day of the first month by the sacred calendar
- Origin: Suffering from the moment of leaving Rameses on the 15th day of the first month by the sacred calendar until crossing the Red Sea while the Egyptian army was pursuing them
- Promise: Becoming complete through suffering. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are persecuted for Christ (Mt 5:10).
- Fulfillment of the Prophecy: In the Old Testament times, the Israelites kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread by eating unleavened bread for seven days to remember their suffering from the day after the Passover until they crossed the Red Sea (Dt 16:3; Lev 23:5–6). Jesus fulfilled the prophecy, and hung on the cross for the sins of humankind for six hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the day after the Passover. In the New Testament times, we fast to participate in Christ’s suffering (Mk 2:20).
3) Day of Firstfruits (Day of Resurrection)
- Date: The day after the first Sabbath [the first Sunday] following the Feast of Unleavened Bread
- Origin: The Israelites’ landing from the Red Sea, and complete destruction of the Egyptian army that chased after them
- Promise: Resurrection
- Fulfillment of the Prophecy: Moses’ going into the Red Sea with the people represents Jesus’ going into the tomb; and their landing from the sea represents Jesus’ resurrection. Just as a sheaf of the first grain was offered to God on the day after the first Sabbath [on Sunday] after the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the Old Testament times, Jesus was resurrected on Sunday as the firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep (1 Co 15:20).
4) Feast of Weeks (Day of Pentecost)
- Date: The 50th day from the Day of Firstfruits
- Origin: The day Moses went up to receive the first set of the Ten Commandments
- Promise: Holy Spirit of the former rain
- Fulfillment of the Prophecy: On the Day of Pentecost, the 50th day from the resurrection of Jesus, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the saints and the early Church greatly prospered (Ac 2:1–4).
5) Feast of Trumpets
- Date: The 1st day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar
- Origin: While Moses was staying at Mount Sinai for forty days to receive the Ten Commandments, the Israelites committed the sin of worshiping the idol of a golden calf. Seeing this, Moses threw the Ten Commandments and broke them to pieces, and about three thousand people were killed by a disaster (Ex 32:1–28). Afterwards, the people repented of their sins and took off all their ornaments, and Moses prayed for the people. He could receive the second set of the tablets of stone of the Ten Commandments on the 10th day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar (Ex 34:4–35). This meant that God had forgiven their sins. God appointed the day Moses received the second set of the Ten Commandments as the Day of Atonement, and ten days before it as the Feast of Trumpets, so that the people could prepare for the Day of Atonement by blowing the trumpet of repentance.
- Fulfillment of the Prophecy: When Moses was so long in coming down from Mount Sinai, the Israelites became corrupt and worshiped a golden calf. It was a prophecy that as years passed after Jesus left, churches would become corrupt and celebrate the days of the sun-god in the New Testament times. Just like blowing the trumpet calls to announce the Day of Atonement, there were ten years of William Miller’s Advent Movement that urged people to repent.
6) Day of Atonement
- Date: The 10th day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar
- Origin: The day Moses came down from the mountain after receiving the second set of the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. It means that the Israelites were forgiven of their sins of worshiping the golden calf.
- Promise: Forgiveness of sins
- Fulfillment of the Prophecy: When the Israelites repented, the truth began to be partially restored on the Day of Atonement on October 22 (the 10th day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar), 1844, just as the Ten Commandments were given again on the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament, the high priest laid his hands on the scapegoat and sent it into the desert after placing all the sins of the Israelites on its head. This is a prophecy that Satan represented by the scapegoat, will be thrown into the fiery hell after being imprisoned in the abyss, bearing the sins of all people.
7) Feast of Tabernacles
- Date: From the 15th day to the 22nd day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar
- Origin: Coming down from Mount Sinai after receiving the second set of the Ten Commandments, Moses delivered to the Israelites God’s will to build the tabernacle. The people brought more materials than enough for the sanctuary (Ex 36:3–5).
- Promise: Preaching to gather God’s people, and the Holy Spirit of the latter rain (Jn 7:37; Zec 14:16–18)
- Fulfillment of the Prophecy: The Feast of Tabernacles had a custom of making booths with branches and staying there. Since the materials and branches of the sanctuary represent the people who will be saved (Rev 3:12; Eph 2:20–22; Isa 60:21; 61:3), the prophecy of the Feast of Tabernacles is fulfilled through the gospel work of gathering the people who will be saved.