The Biblical Feasts, Pt. 1: Seasons... of the Gospel

'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." - 2 Cor. 5:17

This isn’t going to be a normal post for me. I can’t weave a clever story together or make ends meet neatly for this topic. Instead, it will likely end up being a straightforward narrative with very little embellishment and lots of biblical citations and appeals to the symbolism of scripture. The reason being that it has already taken me almost a month to organize the idea on paper in a coherent format. It will also be in, likely, four parts, so you may wait until all parts have been integrated before you come to conclusions. Forgive me if the presentation is overly academic, but perhaps the thrilling content of the scripture will make up for my dry means of communicating it.

The topic at hand is the biblical feasts and the seasons in which each are appointed.

Let’s start with an overview of where this began and where we are going. This series of articles began, for me, with the goal of disproving the assertion by premillennial thinkers that the biblical feasts have only been partially fulfilled. That is to say, that the spring feasts and the summer feast of Pentecost were fulfilled with Christ’s first coming, and the fall feasts are yet to be fulfilled at his second coming. In my mind, the gap in fulfillments necessitated a premillennial eschatology and vice versa. As an amillennial (or partial preterist) thinker, my objective was to prove that all the feasts were fulfilled at Christ’s first appearance.

However, as I set out to disprove the former and prove the latter, I came to the conclusion that neither are correct but, in fact, neither are incorrect also. And this series is to show you exactly how that is so.

The series will consist of three crude “mind maps” to illustrate what will be rather hard to communicate solely in writing. Plus a final timeline to show how the three mind maps overlap. These are the parts of the series:

1. Seasons… of the Gospel

2. Seasons… of History

3. Seasons… of the Ages

4. Seasons… Through All Time

Plus, the preface to this series, Typology, Symbolism, & the Language of Imagery.

The Hebrew word for “feasts” is “moadim” and it means “appointed times.” This is also the word that we translate as “seasons.” Hence, the title of this series. Appointed times = feasts = seasons. These will be used interchangeably through this series,

The Feasts: God’s Appointed Times

If you are not familiar with the biblical feasts, I recommend reading about them in Leviticus 23 and/or Numbers 28-29 and possibly some other material to get a general understanding of how the feasts were practiced in biblical times. Here we shall list the three seasonal feasts and the respective seven feasts encased in their larger categories:

• Passover (spring), made up of:

  1. Passover

  2. Unleavened Bread

  3. First Fruits

• Pentecost (summer) (The Feast of Weeks)

• Tabernacles (fall), made up of:

  1. Trumpets

  2. Day of Atonement

  3. Tabernacles (Booths)

• (Winter - no biblical feast)

Before beginning part one on the seasons and their respective feasts, we have to take a moment to tie in the closely related thread of eschatology, which relates to the timing of the fulfillment of the feasts.

Eschatological Dimension

Eschatology, or the study of “last things,” plays an indispensable role in the biblical feasts. That is because eschatology informs our view on when these appointed times did or will take place.

There are 3 tenses in which these “appointed times” find their fulfillment and which we must consider: past, present, and future. And each of these tenses correspond to an overarching eschatological position:

1. Past: preterism

2. Present: partial-preterism (amillennial/post-millennial)

3. Future: futurism (premillennial)

If you are unfamiliar with any of these eschatological positions, I recommend brushing up on them before continuing here, though I think the thrust of each will become clearer as this series goes on. It is typical of Christians and churches to take one of the three positions. The implication is this: do we believe God’s appointed times expressed in the biblical feasts have been, are being, or will be fulfilled? I would like to present an unconventional hypothesis for your consideration.

The three tenses & the nature of prophecy

I do not think it is a light matter for Christ to refer to himself as the God of past present and future in the book of Revelation:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” - Revelation 1:8

It is also notable that we are given a working definition for “prophecy” later in the book:

“Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

- Revelation 19:10

In other words, the nature of prophecy is that it testifies of Jesus Christ. Christ is eternal, existing in all three tenses as we experience them, since he is outside of time. It is not unreasonable to conclude, then, that prophecies (testimonies) of Christ would be fulfilled in a multi-faceted manner as time goes on. Therefore, I posit that prophecy does indeed find its fulfillment in all three tenses: past, present, and future. Just as the seasons (as well as life, weather, and everything else in nature) occur in cycles, so prophecy is, in a sense, repeating. After all, “the Word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12) and nature is fashioned to testify of the character of its Creator. Hence, Revelation 19:10.

(As a side note, there are also three tenses of salvation. Scripture speaks of the church body and individuals as having been saved, as being saved and as will be saved. These tenses we could also align with the three great doctrines of justification [have been], sanctification [are being] and glorification [will be].)

The conclusion then is that all three tenses of eschatology, if not totally correct, are at least partially correct in their assessment of the timing of last things. By extension, the three tenses in which the biblical feasts find their fulfillment are also all at least partially correct. Here we will expound upon the first tense that Christ used to describe himself in Revelation 1:8—“The One Who Is.”

Here you will see a rough diagram of this tense, which I will explain at length below. Please refer back to it for a visual map as needed.

The past work of the Christ

Spring

Historical Fulfillment of Passover

How were the biblical feasts, which tell the story of Christ’s redemptive work on behalf of sinners, fulfilled in Christ? Let’s begin with a universally agreed-upon fact within the church: Christ fulfilled the first three feasts when he came to earth approximately 2,000 years ago. He was sacrificed as the Passover Lamb on the preparation day of Passover and was buried and laid in the grave during the feast of Unleavened Bread (1 Cor. 5:7; 1 Cor. 15:3-4). He resurrected on the Feast of First Fruits (1 Cor. 15:20). Thus, he was the substance of the shadows which prophesied of his work (Col. 2:17).

Justification secured

The fulfillment of these spring feasts secures our justification—the “have been” saved tense of salvation. For, with his sacrifice and resurrection, Christ atoned for a particular people who would make up his body (John 10:16). All who are destined to come to Christ will come and their justification was secured at the cross (Romans 8:29-30).

Passover = The Gospel Message

This is the gospel message. Christ lived a sinless life, was crucified, dead and buried, and resurrected on behalf of sinners to reconcile them to God (2 Cor. 5:21). Because man could not work to save himself, Christ worked on his behalf. The spring feasts, historically fulfilled in Christ, encapsulate the message of scripture to hopeless sinners.

It’s for this reason that God appointed that these things take place in the spring. Spring is the dawn or morning of a new year, a new time. Spring is the season of new life and first harvest. And that is exactly what Christ accomplished at his resurrection.

Summer

Historical Fulfillment of Pentecost

From Christ’s resurrection to his ascension, we count 40 days. During that time he appeared to many (Luke 24). After ascending, we count 10 more days, totaling 50 days from his resurrection on the Feast of First Fruits until the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. (As a side note, these 50 days harken back to another celebration known as Jubilees [Leviticus 25].)

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples in the upper room and they preached the gospel boldly so that many were added to their numbers that day and also received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2; Joel 2:28-29). This is an event that, in my opinion, is either not given enough attention or is given the wrong kind of attention within the church.

The day of Pentecost was the birth of the church and fulfilled much of the prophecy in scripture that we think of as being about “the second coming.” However, we tend to project these prophecies out into the future preceding the end of the world or as relating to a literal earthly millennium. In truth, there are three comings of Christ: the first to earth in body, the second into his kingdom in Spirit at Pentecost, and the third at the conclusion of history. The discrepancy with our lingo speaking only of the “first” and “second” comings of Christ is that the prophecies concerning Christ coming into his kingdom are projected into the future rather than applied to the birth of the church at Pentecost.

The day of Pentecost was not Christ coming in the flesh, as was his first appearance on earth, but it was the much anticipated event of Christ coming into his kingdom—Christ coming in Spirit. This was the day prophesied in Daniel 7:

“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.”

-Daniel 7:13-14

Recall that at Christ’s ascension, a cloud hid him from their sight (Acts 1:9). We also think of Christ coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24:30) just as we see him coming with the clouds in Daniel 7.

In essence, the birth of the church is when heaven and earth intersected. Christ came into his kingdom and the kingdom came into the church. The work that Christ did was born in his church, so that she was freed for good works (Eph. 2:10). As Christ told his disciples, it was better that he go so that the Holy Spirit could come (John 16:7), for with his coming, greater gospel work could take place among the nations than Christ ministering on earth as one man could accomplish (John 14:12). Instead, his Spirit now dwelt in every believer and could multiply exponentially with the preaching of the Word (Rom. 10:14-17).

Sanctification Engaged

If the fulfilling of the spring feasts was the securing of sinners’ justification, the fulfilling of Pentecost was the point at which the body of Christ began to be sanctified, or, “set apart;” both individually and in the corporate sense.

This is the essence of summer: work. It’s the heat of the day. It’s a time of continual growth and ongoing harvest and a season of abundance (Matt. 9:37-38).

Fall

If the feasts of spring encapsulate the gospel message of Christ’s work on our behalf, and the summer feast of Pentecost was the application of that work to the church, the feasts of the fall season are the proclamation of that work.

The Historical Fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets

The trumpets were blown in the ten days leading up to the Day of Atonement. Trumpets were a call to the people; for gathering, for battle, for victory, and, in this case, a call to repentance in preparation for the Day of Atonement, a warning that judgment day is coming.

Christ himself is referred to as the trumpet, or the horn, of his people throughout scripture. One example is in Hannah’s prayer from 1 Samuel 2:

“The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

- 2 Samuel 2:10

This prophetic prayer points to Christ, who is the Anointed One, the horn that the Lord exalts.

A Warning to Repent

The Horn came calling all to repent (Matt. 4:17). He began gathering his church from Pentecost onward into this age which scripture calls the last or latter days (Isa. 2:2), i.e. the final days of harvest. Just as the trumpet was also blown for assembly, for battle and for victory, so the trumpet began to blown to gather the church to Christ (Matt. 24:31), to call the saints to war against the flesh and to battle in prayer and evangelism for the souls of the nations, and to proclaim the victory of Christ over sin and death. The trumpet resounds a warning that judgment day is coming.

In a sense, The Day of Atonement is still to come for the unrepentant, but, with the crucifixion of Christ, the wrath of God was satisfied for those who would come into the kingdom (and all those who believed by faith up to that point as well). Following that payment, the Holy Spirit was dispensed so that God dwelt with men in Spirit, and springs of living water flowed from him (John 7:38), fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles. (If you read about the feasts prior to reading this, you will know that drink offerings were a major part of the feast of Tabernacles; this symbolized the life-giving Spirit poured out for the nations [Joel 2:28-29].)

The present work of the Gospel

Glorification realized

When asked about where he was going, Jesus told Peter he could not follow him at the time but would soon after (John 13:36-37; 2 Pet. 1:14). And all the disciples followed, save John who was exiled to Patmos until his death. Followed in what?

Although we will ultimately be glorified with him in the new heavens and new earth, Christ’s greatest moment of glorification was, ironically, his death (John 13:31). And this is where the mystery of Christ and the gospel is realized in the church.

Because we are in Christ, we follow him in his death. It is required that we follow him in his death in order to follow him into eternal life (Luke 9:23). Not everyone in Christ is martyred, but all must die to their sin and themselves and “lose their life” if they are to follow Christ into glorification. It is when the Christian dies, both in a spiritual and bodily sense, that they are most glorified because this most glorifies God.

Conformed to the image of Christ

But it is not only Christ’s death that we follow him in. Christ historically fulfilled the feasts in himself and the church walks as he walked. What does that mean? The feasts are currently being fulfilled every day in Christ’s church. It is the ongoing present work of Christ through his church and his gospel.

Passover

As Christ was crucified, so the repentant sinner who harkens to the Gospel message and turns from sin is crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). The justification secured by Christ is applied to him.

Unleavened Bread

As Christ, the Bread of Life with no leaven, was dead and buried, removing our sin, so the sinner dies to sin and the leaven is removed from his life (Rom. 6; 1 Cor. 5:8). He goes on removing leaven from his life and dying to his flesh in the life-long practice of sanctification.

First Fruits

As Christ was resurrected as the first fruit of all who would come after him, so the sinner is raised to new life in Christ and glorified with him (Col. 2:12; James 1:18), in spirit in this life and one day at his return.

Pentecost

As Christ historically sent the Holy Spirit into his people on the day of Pentecost, enabling them to be set free from their labor and simultaneously set free for good works, so now the crucified, buried and raised to life sinner receives the Holy Spirit so that he rests from his labors and is freed to do good works in Christ (Titus 2:14). His great work is his loving God and the brethren, and the multiplication of the gospel.

Trumpets

Thus, he goes forth and makes disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19), sounding the trumpet to gather the sheep (Rom. 10:13-15). He goes forth as his Lord did (and still does) through the church and he calls all to repentance, proclaiming the work of Christ. He warns of the coming judgment.

Day of Atonement & Tabernacles

For, though his own sins have been judged and dealt with at the cross, the judgment of the unrepentant is yet to come. If a sinner harkens to the trumpet call and turns, he is justified and the atonement of Christ pays for his sins now and God comes to tabernacle with him. Streams of living water begin to flow from him, just as the water poured out in the historic feast of Tabernacles depicted and as Christ promised (John 7:38). And this sinner who heeded the trumpet call of the gospel….

…is crucified with Christ (Passover), reckoned dead to sin (Unleavened), raised to new life (First Fruits), given the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), begins sounding the trumpet he himself responded to (Trumpets), living always covered by the blood (Atonement), with streams of living water flowing continuously from him (Tabernacles). Thus, the cycle continues. It has been our present reality since Christ first came and fulfilled all the feasts in himself. The kingdom of God multiplies. Just like a seed sown in good soil producing an abundant harvest.

“And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” - Mark 4:8

It is in these feasts that the church finds herself being conformed to the image of Christ.

The Unrepentant

But what of the one who hears the trumpet proclaiming the work and victory of Christ, calling to repentance and warning of the coming judgment and does not harken to it? His sins are not atoned for by Christ. Instead, he stands vulnerable before Holy God whose judgment is destruction. He is cast out into eternal punishment and must atone for his own sins—a requirement that will never be met when reparations are owed to an eternal Holy God. Thus, the eternality of his death and atoning.

Those who reject Christ enter a place where there is only darkness, there is no feast, no harvest, and no glory—always winter. And it is only by God’s longsuffering that a sinner does not have this reality solidified in eternity today.

But those in Christ enter a place where there is no night, there is no darkness—no winter, if you will. There is a marriage feast and abundant harvest. Eternally a place where the work of Christ is treasured, the people of God are enabled to do glorious good works forevermore, and his works are proclaimed. And it begins today.

Conclusion

And so, we have come to the end of part 1. The appointed seasons and the feasts therein tell the story of redemption. Not only how Christ himself was the fulfillment of each when he walked the earth 2,000 years ago, but how they are always in motion in the church. They are realized in the present and ongoing work of the gospel every time a sinner hears that trumpet call and repents.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.” - John 12:24-26a

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash