Israel, as a nation, was given by God seven feasts to celebrate as they came to possess the land that the LORD promised to them. Since their inception, these feasts were a national gathering of the people to celebrate special occasions that God commanded to be celebrated.
The feasts are to be a memorial, a remembrance of particular events that God did for the Jewish people during their exodus from Egypt.
You can read about these feasts in Leviticus 23. These are seven feasts in all, the first four feasts are celebrated in the spring and the last three feasts are celebrated in the fall.
Here they are:
- Passover
- Unleavened Bread
- First Fruits
- Pentecost
- Trumpets
- Day of Atonement
- Tabernacles
In the western world, we celebrate holidays but holidays are simply a memorial of a historical event and nothing more. The feasts of Israel, in particular, have a much deeper meaning than merely historical as they have both prophetic and spiritual significance.
The amazing thing is the prophetic significance of these feasts was a mystery for a long time and revealed only when the Lord orchestrated events that happened exactly on the dates that the feasts were celebrated.
For that reason, there is no mistaking what the Lord’s prophetic messages were. He allowed the passage of about 1,200 years (from Exodus to Pentecost) before revealing to us these gems of truth. Look at the chart below to see what was fulfilled during the celebration of the Spring Feasts 2,000 years ago:
| Jewish Feast | New Testament Event/ Mystery Revealed |
| Passover | Death of the Lord Jesus on the cross on Passover; He was revealed as the Passover Lamb |
| Unleavened Bread | Triumph of Messiah over sin, over leaven; freeing man from the bondage of sin |
| First Fruits | The Lord Jesus rose from the dead as the first fruit from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20) |
| Pentecost | The coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who stands alongside the believer, who baptizes the believer with fire so he can walk with power and authority. On this same day, the Church of Christ was born. |
Even while these feasts had meaning and significance at the time these were first celebrated, a new, more important meaning came about, telling us that the feasts, when given, were prophetic messages of something that God will do in the future which is in His plan to do all along. This plan is integral to His bigger plan of salvation which is to be completed when the Fall Feasts are fulfilled.
In order to have a deeper appreciation of the mystery that was revealed, let us dig into the details and history of the feasts.
Common Characteristics of the feasts
The command to the Israelites is very clear. The feasts are to be celebrated at their appointed times, meaning the dates are firm and should not and cannot be changed. They are to be a holy convocation (gathering). They were given as a statute forever (with the force of law) throughout their (Jews) generations, wherever they may be dwelling. The Jews today still celebrate these feasts in whichever part of the world they live in.
Please note that at the time the feasts were first celebrated, there was an event that happened worthy of celebration.
Spring Feasts
Passover – The Angel of Death passed over the houses (where the Jews lived) whose door posts and lintel were painted with lamb’s blood. The Angel of Death took the first born from the houses where the lamb’s blood was not applied. Except for the Jews, there was not a house in Egypt that did not mourn on that day. Passover is celebrated on the 15th day of the first month (Nisan).
Unleavened bread – On the night of Passover, the Israelites were instructed to bake unleavened bread, instead of the usual leavened bread they make. God told them to be ready to leave in a hurry and did not have time to wait for the bread to rise. It is the beginning of getting back to basics as they have to live in the wilderness for some time.
The feast is celebrated for a week coinciding with Passover.
First Fruits – This feast was first celebrated on the plains of Jericho, their first harvest of crops in the land they were to possess. At the time the Jews crossed over the Jordan into Jericho, all of Jericho, including the farmers whose farms are outside the city, have sought refuge from the invasion by the Jews into the walled city. They left their houses and crops unguarded.
By the providence of God, the Israelites arrived and crossed over the Jordan into Jericho during harvest and as you can imagine, the barns, fields, vineyards, and gardens of Jericho were theirs for the taking. Manna ceased on the day after they have eaten the produce of the land (Josh 5:12).
This feast speaks of God’s timely and abundant provision for Israel and this harvest, given by the grace of God, they did not have to plant nor water. The feast is celebrated during Passover week.
Pentecost – Fifty days from the Feast of First Fruits is the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). It is called the Feast of Weeks because it is celebrated seven weeks from the feast of first fruits. It is in thanksgiving for their deliverance from a hard life in slavery into a new life, with freedom and abundance. They were commanded to make an offering from their spring harvest, to acknowledge it was God who made this possible.
The Fall Feasts
Trumpets (also called Rosh Hashanah) – This feast is celebrated as a memorial to the blowing of trumpets. The use of trumpets began in Numbers 10 when the Lord instructed Moses to make 2 silver trumpets.
The trumpets were used for calling the congregation and directing the movement in the camp. Jewish tradition says that the memorial being celebrated was the event in Exodus 19:16-20, when, at the trumpet blast, the LORD descended on top of Mount Sinai and Moses went up the mountain to meet Him.
Note that the event was God descending from heaven and man, Moses coming up to meet Him. The Feast of trumpets is celebrated on the first day of the seventh month (Tishri).
The Day of Atonement – On this day of solemn rest, the Lord commanded that each one afflict his soul and make an offering made with fire to the Lord. It is a day of preparing the soul to draw close to God. Brokenness and a contrite heart are recurring themes in the bible and it is not surprising that the Lord set aside a day exclusively for it. This feast is celebrated on the 10th day of the seventh month (Tishri).
Tabernacles – Along with the Sabbath rests on the first and eighth days of this feast, the children of Israel are to dwell in booths to remind them that the Lord made them dwell in booths during the exodus from Egypt. They lived in tents for 40 years. But what is often overlooked is that during the exodus journey, God tabernacled (dwelt) with them through the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud and He constantly met Moses in the tabernacle of meeting. This feast is celebrated from the 15th day to the 23rd day of the seventh month (Tishri).
Those are the Fall Feasts, the last three of seven whose prophetic events are yet to be fulfilled.
God’s Plan of Salvation advancing
As we can see, the Spring Feasts acted as a bellwether or indicator of some “big” future events that unfolded revealing to us the workings of God’s plan of salvation. If Moses saw the fulfillment of these Spring Feasts, his jaw would have dropped, and praised God amazed and in awe at what God did. Consider what was accomplished in these four events: Passover, when the Son of God was lifted on the cross to pay for the sin of man, the resurrection, His rising from the dead, sending the Helper, the Comforter for the believer, and the birth of the Church.
What is to be Fulfilled in the Fall Feasts
Now, the prophetic events tied to the Spring Feasts were all fulfilled during the Lord’s first coming as we can see in the chart above. What about the Fall Feasts? God gave us a pattern with the Spring Feasts tying great events to them. For the Fall Feast, we can expect nothing less.
The Lord told His disciples in John 14, I will leave to prepare a place for you, and afterward, I will return for you and take you with me to My very place. We, having believed and being included in that promise, have been waiting for His return and it has been 2,000 years since.
Let us consider carefully the Fall Feasts and see what we can expect.
| Fall Feast | Anticipated Event |
| Feast of Trumpets | With the shout of an archangel and the trumpet of God, the Lord Jesus comes from heaven to take His Church home to heaven in the rapture |
| The Day of Atonement | National repentance and preparing the hearts of the Jews to receive Yeshua HaMashiach as their Lord and Savior as in the Days of Elijah |
| Tabernacles | God, in the person of Jesus Christ physically dwelling with His people, ruling and reigning physically in Jerusalem as king over all the earth |
As you will probably agree, the Lord is not following man’s calendar, the Gregorian calendar which was introduced in 1582, during the time of Pope Gregory XXIII.
God is using His calendar, the Biblical Calendar of God especially so because to Him dates do matter. Each month in God’s calendar begins with a new moon and the appearance of a visible crescent moon, as can be seen in Jerusalem. Under this calendar, the full moon is always the middle of the month, and where there is no visible moon (called the new moon), it is the end of the month.
The phases of the moon in God’s calendar
If you look carefully at all these seven feasts, you will note that the six feasts are all celebrated on a fixed date on the lunar calendar, when the moon is beaming its light. The Lord set the Feast of Trumpets to be celebrated on the first of the month or on a new moon.
There is a Jewish tradition that says the High Priest (Remember he has to perform some of his duties precisely on the day the Lord specified. If he enters the Holy of Holies on a wrong date, his life is in jeopardy.) must assign two scribes (two witnesses) to go out at night in Jerusalem to observe the moon. They will start observing the moon at the end of the month, when the moon is in total darkness, and go out every night to observe the first sliver of light making up the crescent moon. When they see it, that was what they will report to the High Priest and he make it official on record that it is the first of the month.
The Feast of Trumpets and the Rapture
Now, the Lord Jesus said that the time of His coming (the rapture) is not known to anyone except to the Father only. If so, if the LORD wish to have a feast associated with the rapture, He has to choose a date for the feast that is consistent with the secrecy of that date. Choosing the 1st of the month, where you have to wait and watch for the sliver of light of the crescent moon to know if it is the first of the month, fits the bill.
Remember, the scribes assigned by the High priest to watch the moon have to start watching it when it is in total darkness and come again the next day and the next until the crescent moon appears. Like the ten virgins in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins in Matthew 25:1, we are told to watch for we do not know the day or the hour He will come.
What we Expect will be Fulfilled on the Feast of Trumpets
Now, the coming of the Lord for His church is described as the rapture and this is what is written:
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord, Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)
and
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of the eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthian 15:51-53)
The angel will shout and the trumpet will sound and those called for deliverance into immortality, will rise and meet the Lord in the air giving this event its name – the Feast of Trumpets.
You may ask, is not the second coming of the Lord also a good candidate for the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets? No, there are two points that make us conclude so:
- The rapture event is like the coming down of the LORD from heaven on to Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. The trumpet sounded and God descended on to top the mountain and Moses was told to come up to meet Him. Observe the similarity, the trumpet sounds, the Lord descends from heaven and those called are caught up to Him in the clouds.
- In the second coming, we read “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of the trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29) Note that the trumpet will sound after He arrives and for a different purpose. The sign that the precedes the Lord’s second coming is not the sound of trumpets but the lightning that flashes from east to west as mentioned in Matthew 24:27.
What we Expect will be Fulfilled on the Day of Atonement
The day of atonement is a day of afflicting the soul, a day of fasting and solemn reflection, like a penitent expressing his repentance before God. It is preceded by a Ten Days of Awe, the period between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. The feast is intended as a national event, as atonement for the whole nation Israel. We say this because the sacrifice commanded to be offered by the High Priest on this day are the two goats, one as a sin offering and another as the scape goat, both are offered for the sin of the people of Israel.
There is prophecy in Zechariah 12:10-11 and 13:6 that has not been fulfilled to this day. The verses talk of Jerusalem mourning for the Pierced One and on the other, one is asking what are the wounds in His arms.
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a first born. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Meggido.” (Zechariah 12:10-11)
and
“And one will say to him, “What are these wounds between your arms?” Then he will answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (Zechariah 13:6)
The setting of Zechariah 12 and 13 in the biblical calendar is during the great tribulation, at the end or towards the end of the seven years. At that time, a war is taking place and all the nations of the earth are gathered against Israel. There is destruction all over from the war, unimaginable cataclysmic events and a lot of people killed, not only in Israel but worldwide. The times can be described as days of awe. These days of awe are celebrated today on the 10 days before the Day of Atonement. Could these be called Days of Awe as a memorial to the future travail brought about by the tribulation?
Even with a strong army, Israel is no match to this confederacy of nations and is about to be annihilated. The Lord has arrived in his second coming to deliver Israel from defeat and fight her enemies. It appears that in between the battles, He showed up to visit with the people and the events spoken above in Zechariah took place.
The Jews, from the beginning until now, never acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah. They have been waiting and are still waiting for Messiah until now. Notice that by this Spirit of grace and supplication, their eyes will be opened to this fact: The Messiah, who recently came from heaven, who came on the clouds with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30) is the same person whom they rejected and whom their fathers crucified. They discovered this when they interacted with Him. They saw Him as the “Pierced One” with the mark of the nails showing in His hands and feet. He was the Jesus their fathers crucified and is now before them. Then, instead of rejoicing that help is there for their deliverance from the war, they will mourn, as one mourning for a first born, in repentance for what they and their fathers have done.
On the Day of Atonement, the feast is celebrated nationwide but the sacrifice that is offered (the 2 goats) is done centrally, in Jerusalem, by the High Priest. Since there is mourning in Jerusalem, where the religious leaders and the High Priest are, when their eyes are opened, I believe the nation will follow after. They will repent as a nation and own their mistake and mourn for having rejected their Messiah when He first appeared.
I believe this is how the prophecy of the Day of Atonement will be fulfilled.
What we Expect will be Fulfilled on the Feast of Tabernacles
The Feast of Tabernacles is a memorial of the time when God dwelt with His people, the Jews during the exodus from Egypt. Being the final feast, the seventh, it completes the cycle that was began in Passover and ends with God dwelling with man. Looking at the big picture of salvation, this is where it will end, a sinner, undeserving of His grace is reconciled with God and as a son and daughter allowed to dwell in the abode of the Triune God. Man will again experience God, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, ruling over him in the millennium.
“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.” (Zechariah 14:4)
“Thus, the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You.” (Zechariah 14:5b)
“And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.” (Zechariah 14:9a)
“And I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast…And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4)
These verses are very clear, the Lord will reign on earth as King. He will dwell with man physically in Jerusalem. Read these verses which will be fulfilled in His second coming – Isaiah 2:1-4; 9:6c-7; 11:1-10; all speaking of His reign on earth.
The Lord will fulfill the prophecy of the Feast of Tabernacles Himself when His millennium reign on earth will begin. But, the millennium is just a foretaste of greater things that will follow after it. For after the millennium, He will take the saints with Him to the New Jerusalem and will forever tabernacle with Him.
Maranatha!
Conclusion
As you have probably noted, the dating and sequence of the feasts is intentional. All the prophecies of the Spring Feasts were already fulfilled and the prophetic events of the Fall Feasts are waiting to be fulfilled and will be fulfilled according to God’s precise timing. He said it emphatically in Leviticus 23 – “the feasts are to be celebrated according to their appointed times”.
The feasts speak of the goodness of God He graciously gifted to man. God designed the feasts to have dual purpose – memorialize the events that took place then and orchestrate new events that are associated with those events while revealing the big picture of salvation.
Only a Sovereign and Omnipotent God can make things happen like that. He has the power over all thing, over time, over nature, over the will of men. We stand in awe as we watch these things unfolded and will unfold.
If we know that this is what God is doing, that should prompt us to take steps to benefit from it. We do not want to be under God’s wrath. We want to be saved and be rescued with His saints by being part of the rapture and the eventually dwelling in heaven. If you are unsure of your salvation, meditate on the blog Superficial vs True Conversion. It is a practical self-check of our faith to ensure we are right with God.
Praise God, we are the generation that is alive at this time to watch God fulfills the end-times events. But we should not be spectators but participants, stewards in His work of grace.
As we wait, we must draw closer to God, steadfast in our faith, passionate to study and meditate on His word. We are not to be idle and distracted with the things of this world but occupied (in His business) until He comes.
Remember, we are disciples of Christ, the salt and light for the kingdom in this ever-darkening world. Let us tell others of the awesome things God is doing with the end of bringing them into the kingdom while there is still time.
Footnote: I am not a prophet and I am writing based on my understanding and reading of how prophecy will be fulfilled. I also make conclusions based on what I understand. Things may not play out as I anticipate and understand.
Bottom line, the scriptures is true and my interpretation (and others with whom I agreed and taken the same position) may be wrong. My intention is to encourage us to think and stand in awe at what God is doing. God’s word is true and His word will not fail.
Bibliography:
- Biblical Calendar – https://bible-menorah.jimdofree.com/english/calendar-and-feasts/
2. Mourning for the Pierced One
3. Grafted: Surprising End Times Mysteries in the Feast of Trumpets – https://youtu.be/O83HjLJUlkQ
4. Israel’s Fall Feasts and Date Setting of the Rapture
In this article by Thomas Ice, professor at Liberty University and author of many books, dated May 2009, https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=pretrib_arch. Professor Ice wrote about the Fall Feasts and the practice of date setting for the rapture.
(My comments: I agree that date setting is wrong and should not be done. However, Professor Ice discounted the possibility of the rapture taking place on the Feast of Trumpets and his position is that it can take place at any time. He reasoned that the feasts of Israel are for the Jews only and do not apply to the Church.
However, in my understanding of scripture, there is no event in the future of Israel, exclusively as Israel, where the sounding of the trumpet sounded as a call to action like in the rapture. When Jesus comes the second time in glory, as spoken of in Matt 24:24-31, verse 30 says the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and the tribes will see Him coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
No mention of trumpet sounding until verse 31. Verse 31 says “He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds,” The context of this gathering is to separate the sheep from the goats (judgment on the nations) and is not the rapture of the church. This is so much unlike the trumpet blast for the rapture.
I think professor Ice has not placed importance to the fact that the feast takes place on an uncertain date, between the new moon and the 1st of the month, which makes for its uncertainty and fits the idea, no one knows the date and the hour.
The feasts of Israel were indeed given to the Jews but when the prophecy they embody is fulfilled, the Gentiles are benefited also as a branch that has been grafted into the vine.
Bibliography (Continued):
5. The Rapture of the church – Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum http://www.arielcontent.org/dcs/pdf/mbs039m.pdf
6. The Basis of the Second Coming of Messiah by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum http://www.arielcontent.org/dcs/pdf/mbs003m.pdf
7. Feasts of Israel https://www.ariel.org/resources/feasts-of-israel
8. End times prophecy found in Yom Kippur – One for Israel, Dr. Erez Soref https://youtu.be/Y7vu-st59e8
9. Yom Kippur and the Tribulation, How Soon? by Olivier Melnick https://youtu.be/MW8-vqr7f0M
