The Seven Feasts  ⅧThe True Meaning of the Seven Feasts,  The Seven Feasts and Jesus ChristThe True Meaning of the Seven FeastsThrough the seven feasts, we have been able to see the work of God that began with the death of Jesus on the cross. This shows us that even though he came to Israel, the extent of what he accomplished went far beyond that nation as the will of God that was hidden for ages and generations was fulfilled and the gift of salvation revealed to all the peoples of the world.The three feasts outlined in Exodus chapters 23 and 34 and Deuteronomy chapter 16, in contrast, seem to be related rather more to physical matters and have a close connection with “works” on this earth. That is not, of course, to say that the content of these three feasts is different from the seven feasts. Perhaps they can be seen as an explanation of the things that mankind, attached as we are to the earth, must know and keep in mind in the course of our history from its beginnings as farmers until the end of our long journey, in other words, until God accomplishes these seven feasts. Through the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we come to know Jesus’ obedience, and through the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks, we are reminded of Jesus’ resurrection and the work of the Holy Spirit. Then the Feast of Booths gives us hope in the blessing that is to come to us. We cannot understand everything, but as God spoke about these feasts, he seems to have had a definite intention in distinguishing between the three feasts when the produce of the land was to be presented as an offering before God, and the seven feasts where a longer and more detailed explanation of the burnt offerings is given. Since the three feasts are included in the seven feasts, for the sake of convenience, we generally just refer to “the seven feasts.” Yet, as we read the passages that deal separately with the three feasts, we learn about the work of salvation accomplished as God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have been carrying out their work. We also learn about the kingdom of God that first began through all of this, in other words, the history of the church and the kingdom of heaven that will later be established in Jerusalem. We should see the seven days of the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread as commemorating the Lord having accomplished the Passover with his own blood and fulfilling all the remaining feasts. Through his cross, Jesus completely accomplished the new creation, in other words, he opened the way for the birth of God’s children. For the six days prior to his crucifixion, Jesus taught in Jerusalem, and then he suffered and died, and on the seventh day, the Sabbath day, his body was laid in the tomb. He had completed all that was to be done. In this way, the Lord accomplished all the other six feasts on the cross at the time of the Feast of the Passover. The Feast of Weeks, at which time the crops were gathered and presented to God, contains the secret of the church that was to begin with the coming of the Holy Spirit and which would be formed before the establishing of the kingdom of heaven over which the Messiah will reign and which the Israelites have been awaiting. That is the secret of the kingdom of God. The Feast of Dedication and the Feast of Booths, which are celebrated in the fall when the grains and fruits have all been harvested, signify the establishing of the kingdom of heaven, which will begin with Christ’s kingdom coming on this earth, in other words, the completely restored kingdom of Israel which the Israelites have been eagerly awaiting for thousands of years. The three feasts seem to explain the gifts that the Lord really gives to man. The Israelites were told to keep these feasts “at the place that the Lord will choose” (see Deuteronomy 16:15). The place where the Lord was crucified was Jerusalem, as was the place where he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, and the place where the Holy Spirit came down to this earth. When he comes the second time, it will also be to Jerusalem. We should be deeply grateful to the One who had regard for Abel’s offering of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions, but did not have regard for Cain’s offering of the fruit of the ground. God knows our inevitable limits as sinners and so he revealed to us the produce of the land in things such as barley, wheat, and grapes. It would seem that this is why the law stipulates that a burnt offering of an animal must be accompanied by a grain offering. This does not mean that God has regard for man’s efforts. We offer to God in our hearts the One who came to the world in the form of a servant, a level that sinful man can understand. Furthermore, his blood is poured out together with the burnt offerings of lambs, goats, and calves, and is accepted as a sweet-smelling food to God.The Seven Feasts and Jesus ChristLastly, let’s take a look at how Jesus is the central figure in all of this. Let’s examine how the feasts in Leviticus chapter 23—in the order of the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths—are fulfilled in Jesus.Jesus began his ministry when he was about thirty years old. As he taught many people and healed the sick, he also miraculously healed a sick man on the Sabbath day, and for this he was persecuted and misunderstood. Using the pretext that Jesus had worked on the Sabbath day and in doing so had broken the law of Moses, the religious leaders of the Jews who had rejected him now began to persecute him.As we find in Leviticus chapter 23 verses 2 to 3, the weekly Sabbath is an important day that is included in the feasts of the Lord. The leaders of the Jews, however, did not know that Jesus had come to this world in accordance with God’s plan for salvation that began because, by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man had become a sinner and broken God’s sabbath rest. Jesus was the One who had commanded the law of the Sabbath which they had read in the law of Moses and made every effort to keep, and he had come to give mankind the true Sabbath rest, but they did not recognize him.And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.  John 5:16-18God established the Sabbath day for man, but ever since Adam sinned, God has been working and he has not been able to rest even for just a moment. Jesus, who fulfilled the entire will of God the Father, worked in obedience to the commands of the Father, and he came to restore the true sabbath rest to the Father and give that rest to sinners as well. God said the following through Moses.“You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”  Exodus 31:13-17It says here that the Sabbaths were for a sign between God and Israel. He commanded the Israelites to keep the Sabbath, signifying that he is the God of the Israelites and that Israel was distinguished as holy. Since God rested on the seventh day of the creation, he gave the Israelites the Sabbath day as a sign.Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.  Genesis 2:1-3When God had finished the creation, he blessed the seventh day and made it holy. Then, so that man might enjoy this holy day even if only in a small way, God designated the Sabbath day and gave it as a privilege to his chosen people, commanding in the law that it be observed. Yet Adam, the forefather of all mankind, interrupted God’s sabbath rest, and so God has had to keep working continually. It is not for sinful man to judge Jesus no matter what work he carried out on the Sabbath day. Yet, when Jesus appeared as an ordinary man, the Jews were quick to judge him, and when he said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working,” they heard this as the words of a sinner who was making himself equal with God. And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”  Mark 2:27-28The Lord of the Sabbath revealed that the “Sabbath to the Lord” was designated for man. This is why the “Sabbath to the Lord” is introduced first of all in Leviticus chapter 23. As the Israelites kept the Sabbath day each week, God wanted them to understand the true Sabbath (day) to the Lord. All the feasts that come after this stem from God’s plan to restore his holy Sabbath day. When we read John’s Gospel carefully, we find that Jesus went through two Passovers after he was baptized, and then he was crucified and died at the third Passover. We cannot know the exact date, but we can see that about three years passed after his baptism. John the Baptist, who was the last of the Old Testament prophets to bear witness of Jesus was put to death some time before the second Passover. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”  Matthew 14:12-17The Bible says of this matter, “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it” (Luke 16:16). At this point in time, the Old Testament times had come to an end and a new age had begun. Let’s take a look at what John’s Gospel says in this regard.Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”  John 6:4-9Jesus fed five thousand people with five barely loaves and two fish, and in verse 4 it s

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