What significance do these festivals hold for understanding God's covenant with Israel? Scripture Focus: The Tri-annual Festivals “Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed. And you are to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your fruit from the field. Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.” Why Three Festivals? Covenant Purposes at a Glance • Memorial of God’s mighty acts (Exodus 12:17) • Thanksgiving for daily provision (Deuteronomy 8:10) • Personal encounter with the LORD (Exodus 23:17) • National unity before the covenant King (Deuteronomy 16:16) Unleavened Bread – Covenant Rescue Remembered • Timing: Month of Abib/Nisan, following Passover • “For on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:17) • Significance – Fulfills promise of deliverance to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14) – Marks Israel as a redeemed people (Exodus 19:4-5) – Leaven removed—call to holiness (Exodus 12:19; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8) • Christ connection: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7) Harvest (Pentecost) – Covenant Provision Celebrated • Timing: Fifty days after Firstfruits, early summer • “You are to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow” (Exodus 23:16a) • Significance – Firstfruits offered—God owns the land and its yield (Leviticus 23:10-17) – Gifts demonstrate ongoing dependence (Proverbs 3:9-10) – Linked with Sinai revelation—word and bread together (Exodus 19) • Christ connection: Spirit poured out on “the day of Pentecost” (Acts 2:1); believers become firstfruits of the new creation (James 1:18) Ingathering (Tabernacles) – Covenant Presence Anticipated • Timing: Seventh month (Tishri), close of harvest year • “The Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year” (Exodus 23:16b) • Significance – Booths recall wilderness care (Leviticus 23:42-43) – Full harvest pictures completed promise and rest (Deuteronomy 16:13-15) – Ceremonies highlight water and light from the LORD (John 7:37-38; 8:12) • Prophetic horizon – Nations will keep this feast (Zechariah 14:16) – “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14) – “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man” (Revelation 21:3) Three Visits, One Covenant Story • Unleavened Bread: Past rescue—“I brought you out.” • Harvest: Present provision—“I sustain you.” • Ingathering: Future rest—“I will dwell with you.” Together they trace the entire arc of God’s covenant faithfulness. Covenant Threads Woven Through the Year 1. Redemption precedes obedience. 2. Grace fuels gratitude. 3. God desires nearness. 4. The festivals preview Messiah’s work—cross, Spirit, kingdom. Living in the Light of the Festivals Today • Stand in awe of the LORD’s unbreakable promises to Israel (Romans 11:29). • See how each feast finds its fullness in Jesus without losing its witness to Israel’s future. • Let remembrance, reliance, and anticipation shape daily worship as they once shaped Israel’s year. |
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