Easter Reflections on Jewish Holy Days

In the Jewish Law of Moses, the Jews were given seven holy days to observe yearly.

The first three of these seven, the Spring Feasts (mid-April-ish), represent the Suffering Messiah. They all occur/begin within three days of each other.

1) Passover (Pesach)

In the middle of the month of Nisan (roughly April), this feast served to remind the Israelites that God had delivered them out of Egyptian slavery (a la "The Ten Commandments" story). The last plague on Egypt, which led to the Exodus, was the death of the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt. The Israelite sons were spared, because the Israelite families had each sacrificed a lamb that night, and painted the lamb's blood on the door frame of the house, signifying that in this house was a firstborn son belonging to the God of Israel, so that the Angel of Death would "pass over" this house.

Jesus fulfilled Passover, becoming our Passover lamb. His blood was shed, and covers us. He was crucified on Passover.

2) Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matza)

This week-long festival begins the day after Passover. The eating of unleavened bread for seven days symbolizes a perfect period of purity. With leaven being a symbol of sin, and Jesus being sinless, Jesus makes the perfect representation of unleavened bread, and like the piercings which form stripes in unleavened matzo bread, he was beaten with stripes and pierced for our transgressions, and like the afikomen of the Passover meal (the middle piece of bread that is broken, wrapped in linen, and hidden for a short while), the body of Jesus was broken, wrapped in linen, and hidden in the tomb for a short while.

3) First Fruits

A representative sampling from the first harvest of the summer is offered as the "first fruits". This holy day is the day after the "high sabbath" of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Jesus, rising from the dead, became the First Fruits of the resurrection; at the end of the growing season, the full harvest will result in the rest of us attaining to the resurrection.

Easter is the early church's celebration of Jesus as the First Fruits of the resurrection.

4) Pentecost (Shavuot)

Fifty days after Passover, this holy day commemorates the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai, when God came down in fire and established the Mosaic covenant. You may recall that at that time the Rebellion of Korah resulted in the death of about 3000 souls.

In Acts 2 we read about another Pentecost, when a new covenant was established, when the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire, and resulted in the saving of about 3000 souls.

All four of the above holy days have had a New Covenant fulfillment. 

The next three Fall Feasts (September/October) represent the coming of the Conquering King.

5) Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah, Rosh Hashana)

This is the Jewish (civil) New Year, and begins a ten-day period of self-reflection, forgiveness, repentance, remembrance of God's judgment, and joy. God also examines the lives of his people during this time, by opening the Book of Life; if the person's record shows more good than bad, the name remains written in the Book of Life for another year. The Jewish trumpet (shofar) is blown many times during this period.

You may be familiar with the New Testament promises of the return of Jesus at the last trump, when the dead in Christ shall be the first to rise, to then stand before the Judgment Seat of God who then searches the records in the Book of Life.

The above Rosh Hashana feast and the next Yom Kippur feast are the two Jewish High Holy Days.

6) Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)

Ten days later is the Day of Atonement. It's a day of repentance, prayer, fasting, and reconciliation. On this day, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holiest Places in the Temple, after offering a sacrifice for the sins of himself and the people. He's the only one ever allowed in there (so the Jews started tying a rope to him to pull out his body should the Lord not accept his offering and strike him dead), and only on this one day of the year. When the priest returns from the Holiest of Holies, the people rejoice, for God has accepted the sacrifice. Compare the first half of Hebrews 9.

Jesus has gone into the Holiest of the Holies (second half of Hebrews 9), and he "will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation" (Heb 9:28).

7) Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

Five days after the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths reminds the Jews, who live in temporary booths during this feast, of their forty years in the wilderness, when they lived in tents, until they could move into permanent homes in the Promised Land.

In Jesus' day, the people carried torches around the walls of the temple to demonstrate that the Christ would be a light to the Gentiles (non-Jewish nations). It was at this feast (John 7:2) that Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12).

The priest also performed a water ritual as a symbolic pouring out of the Spirit.
You may recall that Paul wrote to the Corinthians about dwelling in earthly tabernacles (our bodies), to be replaced with heavenly tabernacles when we reach the "Promised Land". He adds, "God ... also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit" (1 Cor 5:5).

The fulfillment of these last three holy days are yet in our future.

The better we understand these seven Jewish feasts, the better we'll understand the context of much of New Testament writing.

Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2019/04/easter-reflections-on-jewish-holy-days.html