The Seven Jewish Feasts and Their Connection to Christ

The Jews celebrate seven religious feasts a year, which are considered among the most wonderful symbols in the Old Testament that pointed to the coming of Christ. We will review them with you to notice the alignment between the prophecies and the coming of the LORD Jesus Christ.

1. The Jewish Passover/Pesach (Celebrated on the 14th of Nisan and lasts for a week)
– Leviticus 23:5 “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.”
“Pesach” in Hebrew means “Passover”. The Jews celebrate the Feast of the Passover on the 14th of Nisan, and the feast lasts for 7 days. During it, they offer a “a lamb without blemish,” as a sign of the coming of the One without blemish who would offer an atonement for us. With the coming of Christ, who is without blemish, and their crucifixion of Him on the very same day, Christ became our Passover, as the Apostle Paul says in the First Epistle to the Corinthians 5:7 “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us”

2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread/Unfermented Dough /Matzah (They celebrate it for 7 days, from the 15th to the 21st of Nisan)
– Leviticus 23:6 “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.”
This feast also begins on the 15th of Nisan and coincides with the Jewish Passover, lasting for 7 days. The unleavened bread is a symbol of the body without sin, and who else could this be but Christ? The Jews are celebrating Christ Himself! As stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews 4:15 “but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
And as the Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:19 “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”

3. The Feast of Firstfruits/Yom HaBikkurim (The day following the Passover Sabbath)
– Leviticus 23 “9- And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10- Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11- And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
The Jews celebrate this feast on the first Sunday after Passover, when the people present the firstfruits of their harvest to God. But who is the Firstborn / Firstfruits? It is Christ Himself. The prophecy was fulfilled in Christ, and He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, as stated in the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians 15:20 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
And the firstborn from the dead, as in the Epistle to the Colossians 1:18 “And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.”

4. The Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost (50 days after the second day of Passover)
– Leviticus 23 “15- And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16- Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.”
It comes exactly fifty days after the second day of Passover. Jews celebrate the anniversary of Moses ascending Mount Sinai 50 days after their exodus from Egypt to receive the two tablets of the Law, which were the covenant of the Old Testament. Here, too, the prophecy was fulfilled literally. As Christians, our ‘Pentecost’—if the term is permissible, as it is non-biblical—is fifty days after the Resurrection, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, which is the covenant of the New Testament.

The Book of Acts 2 mentions: “1- And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2- And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3- And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4- And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
I want to point out a significant numerical and spiritual correspondence between the souls that perished in the Old Testament and the souls that were saved in the New Testament. When Moses descended with the tablets in his hand, he found the Children of Israel worshiping the golden calf, so he broke the tablets. God put to death exactly three thousand souls on that day, as in the Book of Exodus 32:28 “and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.”
In the New Testament, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, they all preached on that very day, and three thousand souls believed and were baptized at their hands, as in the Book of Acts 2:41 “and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Thus, three thousand died because they could not fulfill the Law, and three thousand souls were made alive by the Holy Spirit.

5. The Feast of Trumpets / Rosh Hashanah (1st of Tishrei)
– Leviticus 23 “23- And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24- Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.”
This feast falls on the first day of the seventh month according to the Hebrew calendar and corresponds to October. The Jews gather to blow the trumpets, where the LORD God commanded Moses to make two trumpets of silver, as in the Book of Numbers 10:2 “Make thee two trumpets of silver”

– But why exactly two trumpets?
I believe these two trumpets symbolize the Old Testament and the New Testament, serving as two trumpets calling people to follow the LORD Jesus Christ until His Second Coming, for He is the way, the truth, and the life. I also believe that we are living today in the time of the true trumpets mentioned in the Book of Revelation, as we await the coming of the LORD of Glory on the clouds after the trumpets end, as recorded in the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians 4 “16- For the LORD Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17- Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.”

6. The Day of Atonement / The Holiest Day / Yom Kippur (10th of Tishrei)
– Leviticus 23:27 “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”
This feast is set on the tenth day of the month of Tishrei and, according to Jewish belief, is their last opportunity for repentance. While the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament was the annual declaration of the need for purification, which is clearly shown in Leviticus 16. In the New Testament, however, it is the proclamation of the completion of this purification eternally through Christ, who forgave and reconciled humanity with the Father once and for all, as stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us”
This is the feast referred to by the Prophet Zechariah in his Book, 12:10 “and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” This is what repeated in the Gospel according to John 19:37 “And again another scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

7. The Feast of Tabernacles/ Sukkot (From the 15th to the 22nd of Tishrei, a holy convocation to the LORD)
– Leviticus 23:42 “Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths”
The Jews celebrate it on the fifteenth day of the month of Tishrei, and it also lasts for seven days. It was named the Feast of Tabernacles as a metaphor for the dwelling of the Children of Israel in tents during their exodus from Egypt, because the Hebrews stayed in booths (booths/tents) during their exit from Egypt after taking with them gold, silver, and clothing from the Egyptians. Therefore, it is historically linked to the celebration of ingathering the crops and thanking God for the harvest seasons. The LORD God says in the Book of Leviticus 23:43 “That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” Tents were also mentioned in the New Testament when Peter said in the Gospel according to Matthew 17:4 “LORD, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles” It is the dwelling place that Moses made for worship, as in Leviticus 23. As for us today, as Christians, we are still waiting for the fulfillment of this promise—that the great heavenly tabernacle will cover us, and we will live forever under the shadow of the LORD Jesus Christ, as stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews 9:11 “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building”

Finally, we observe with deep spiritual insight the extent to which the symbolism of the Jewish feasts aligns with Christ. Nevertheless, not all Jews have yet acknowledged His coming due to their literal understanding of the written word.

March / 18 / 2021