1992 Issue 3 - Christ and the Feasts: The Spring and Summer Feasts - Counsel of Chalcedon
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8/12/2019 1992 Issue 3 - Christ and the Feasts: The Spring and Summer Feasts - Counsel of Chalcedon
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IN Gary rampton
THE
SPRING
SUMMER
FE STS
Introduction
In Old Testament
Israel there
were
seven great
ceremonial
festivals
which
were
to
beobserved annually. Fourof
these (Passover, Unleavened Bread,
First Fruits, and Pentecost)
were
held
n
the spring and summer of the
year,
and
three (Trumpets, Day
of
Atonement, and Booths
or
Tabernacles) were held in the
fall.
The J
ewish
liturgical and/or
religious
year
began in the
first
month
of the
Hebrew
calendar year
with
Passover.
The
civil
year began
with Trumpets
n
theseventhmonth.
Thespringfestivals
symbolized the
beginning
or revival
of religious life,
and the
fall, the cutting
off
of
the
religious
year.
On
several of these
festive
occasions
Israel was
to observe
Sabbaths
which
were
in addition
to
the regularweeldy
Sabbath (d. Lev. 23:3,37,38; cpovv.
4-36,39-44; Col. 2:16). likewise,
sacrifice and the
ivin of tithes
and
offerings was
stressed. Thus, the idea
of rest and worship
was prevalent.
There
was
also a
special
Sabbath
year,
called Jubilee,
which occurred
every
fifty years, nwhich
rest and worship
was
mandated.
These
were
all
a pan
of th
e covenant structure
of Israel's
liturgical system.
It
was
required that
all
adult
males of
Israel
go
to
Jerusalem
to
attend
three
of the
festivals:
PassoverlUnleavened
Bread,
Pentecost, and Booths
(Dt.
16:
16).jerusalemwastheplacewhere
God dwelt
in
His temple
, and
men
were
required
to
go
there
to
properly
worship Him on these particular
occasions.
Again,
the
stress
was
on
the need of God's
people
to
be in His
presence and worship
Him. These
events were
holy convocations and
joyous
times of covenantal Sabbath
celebration.
The
seven
feasts and the
year
of
Jubilee
were all
ceremonial in impon
and
typicaVprophetical
of
the Lord
Jesus Christ
and
the New Covenant
era.
The
apostle Paul
makes
this clear
n
Colossians 2:16,17: Therefore let
no
one
act as
your judge
n
regard to
food or drink or
n
respect to a
festival
or
a new moon or Sabbaths
[pl.]
-
things
which are a mere shadow of
what
is to come;
but
tlle
substance
belongs to Christ. OurLord perfectly
fulfilled
all
of these in His person and
work, and through His ushering
n
of
the Messianic (N.T.)
age.
Inthisseries
of
articles
we
will
study
these feasts
in
light of
their redemptive- historical
fulfillment.
Itshould be mentioned that
Israel
did
celebrate
other
days
and
years,
such
as
montluy new moon festivals and
the Sabbatll year. These will not be
studied
n
separate articles as such,
butwillbe covered under otheranicles
where
appropriate.
It shouldalso be noted that
two feasts
not prescribed
by
God
in
the
Pentateuch (tlle five books
of Moses)
became
apart of theJewish calendar:
Purim and Hanukkah. These two
postexilic feasts were not ceremonial,
and therefore, did not point
to
ilie
coming
Messiah.
Theywill, however,
be briefly
dealt with
n
ashort, separate
article.
Christ
and
the
Spring
and Summer
Feasts
Passover and Unleavened Bread
ld Testament
Old
Testament
passages
regarding
these
two
feasts:
Exodus 12-14;
23:
14-
17; 34:18-26; Leviticus 23:5-8;
Numbers 28:16-25; Deuteronomy
16:1-8,16,17.
A
study
of the
passages
listed above
(plus others noted) reveals the
following
regarding these festivals:
March, 1992
UlE
COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon 7
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1)
Passover and
Unleavened
Bread
were so clOsely related in Jewish
thought that the New Testament
authors often spoke of them as
practically a single feast (lk. 22:l;
Acts 12:3).
2) Passover
was
celebrated on the
14thofAbibINisan, the fustmonthof
the Hebrew calendar .
Unleavened
Bread followed
on the 15th
throughthe21stofthesame
month. Together they
began the Jewish liturgical
year with a celebration
commemorating the
deliverance of israel from
Egypt under the leadership
of Moses. in this sense, it
was the "birthday" oflsraeLY
Passoverwas a onedayJeast
when a lamb was slain and
eatenalongwith bitterherbs
(a
reminder
of
the bitterness
of slavery) and unleavened
bread:
Rabbjnic
writings
maintain
hatfour cups of wine
were
also
taken
at the Passover feast. The third cup
was called "the cup ofblessing
d,
1
Cor.
10:16). That wine was a part of
the Passover celebration is
obvious
from Luke 22:14-20.
1
During the seven days that followed
therewasto benoleavenfoundwithin
Jewishhouseholds.Asearchwasoften
made to purge all
leaven
from the
home. Leaven represented growth,
and the removal of this substance
from Israel's family units symbolized
the purging of the
leaven
of Egyptian
sinfulness. During this
time
there
were two Sabbath days (the first and
last)andseveralassembliesofworship,
along
with
the
offering of special
sacrifices and the giving of tithes and
free will offerings
from the
winter
crops.
3)Aspotlesslambwasslainat Passover,
thus demonsttating the
necessity
of
bloodshed (death)
for the
forgiveness
of sin (lev. 17 :11; Heb. 9:22).
likewise, redemption through the
shedding of blood portrayed that
salvationwaspurelyofJehovah'sgrace
(Dt.
7:6-8).
4) The PassoverlUnleavened
Bread
festival had a threefold aspect:
a)
Past: Israel was always
to
rernernberwhat Godhaddone for His
covenant people in the Exodus event.
b) Present:
it
was
to
serve
as
a
constant reminder of
the
need of the
people
to
trust in Jehovahand
walk
in
obedience to His law.
c)
Future: lsrael was to participate
in this
event
looking to the time when
the
Messiah
wouldcome andusher in
18 f m COUNSEL of ChaIcedon f March, 1992
the Kingdom ofGod I Cor. 5:7).
5) his
was
an annual
festival
in
which the males weretequired to go
toJerusalern and worship
(Ex.
23:17;
Dt.16:16).
Teclmica11yspeaking,
only
the males were communicant
members of the Old Testament
church. An uncircumcised person
(sojourner males and/or Hebrew
females)
could not partake
of thePassover (Ex. 12:48),
' and thus, could not
participateinthefullbenefits
6f,
Old
Testament chUrch
membership. In fact, a
'person who was unwilling
tbbecircurncised,ortohave
his male children
,circumcised, was
considered (along with his
'children)
to
be unworthy
'(unclean). He was
to
. be
excommunicated from the
church (Gen. 17:14;
Ex.
4:24-26). Non-adherence
to
God's required covenant
signs and
sea s was,
andstill
is,
a serioUs
matter.
As
noted,
Passover
attendance
was
only
mandatory for
males
(Ex.
23:17;
Dt. 16:16); it was
for
those who had
been circumcised
(Ex.
12:48).
Thus,
only
the
males could participate in
the
sacramentalaspectofthefeast. Further,
Passover was only f r those males
who were
old
enough
to
examine
themselves and make a viable
profession
of
faith.
his
is
obvious
from
Exodus
12:26 and
13:8,
where
we read of the male children
undergoing catechetical instruction.
Before
one could participate in .the
sacramental
aspect
of the feast,
he
had
to understand the principle behind
it.
at
should be noted that the luke
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2) Jesus,
as
the New Testament
Mediator, leads the people of God in
the greater Exodus, which
is
the
exodus from slavery
nsin
to
freedom
in Christ
(Rom.
6:15-23).
Luke
9:31
makes reference
to this,
where
we see
Moses and Elijah with the Lord at the
Transfiguration, speaking about
His
coming Exodus (d. the Greekusage
ofexodos).This
is
thetrueredemption
thatPassovermerelysymbolized.Jude
(vv.
4,5) strongly connotes
this
when
he
states that it was Jesus Christ who
led the people ofIsrael out
of Egypt
in
the Old Testament redemption.
4) The
idea
of sanctification and the
Lord's Supper
is also
present in 1
Corinthians5:6-8.
Here Paul writes
that the
New
Testament feast (Lord's
Supper)
is to
be taken only
after
the
church (corporatelyandindividually)
has dealt with her
sin (removal
of
leaven). TheLord'sSupperisameans
of
grace,
wherein
the believer grows
in
His
relationship with
Christ.
At the
Supper,
the
elements (unleavened
bread and wine) take on special
significance
- the bread
represents the
body of the Lord and the wine
represents
His Blood.
3)AsaNewTestamentsacrament,the ' When the sacrament
is
properly
Lord's Supper is a covenant sign and adminstered, there
is a sacramental
seal of the Christian's abiding
n
a union which
takes
place between the
covenant relationship with Christ. elements and that which
they signify
Water
baptism which fulfills
(WCFXXVlI,2).
Therefore, when the
circumcision(Co1.2:11,12),istheNew ' rth . .
akes
th S'
wo
y parnclpant t e upper,
Testament sign and
seal
of entering he 'inwardly by
faith, yet
not
carnally
into the Covenant of Grace (WCF
XXVIII,1,6;assymbolicofHolySpirit and corporally
but
spiritually,
receive[s),
and
feed[sl
upon, Christ
baptism,i.e.,salvationU Cor. 12:13]).
cified
dallbenefi f d
The Lord's Supper symbolizes em
..
' ,an tso
His
eath,
sanctification _ a continuing in the
for
spiritual nourishmehtand
growth
Covenant of
Grace (WCF
XXIX,1).
(WCFXXIX, 7;
d . l
Cor.
10:16,17).
Therefore,asbaptismisadministered, Due to the importance of this
only once, wherein the recipient is sacrament with regard to the
wholly passive
(as
in
salvation),
the Christiah'ssanctification
process,
the
Lord's Supper is
to
be taken often, presentwriter,alongwithjohnCalvin,
withtheparticipantbeingactive(asin ' john
Owen,
jonathan Edwards, et.
the process of sanctification).
al., is
a firm adherent to a
weekly
Lord's Supper (Acts 20:7).
In both of these New Testament
sacraments, thebloodyOlelTestarnent
rite has been replaced bythebloodless
NewTestamentsignandseal. Thisis,
of course, due to the
finished
work of
Christ's bloody sacrifice
(Heb. 7:27;
9:28; 1
Pet.
3:18). Thus,
we
can
say
that
all
of
the Passovers
in
Israel's
'
history pointed to thegreater
Passover
whichtookplaceat Calvary(l
Cor.5:7 .
Further, to be true
to
the actual
institution of the Lord's Supper, the
church should
use
wine (not grape
juice) and unleavenedbread. Thefeast
w s i n u ~ r n t e d
with
these elements
(Jesus
distinctly used
these two, thus
abrogating
any
need
for
bitter
heros,
lamb, etc.) and they should be
nOrrllative for
today.
20 f TIlE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon f March, 1992
Note: that wine
is
to be used
is
[historically speaking] practically
unquestionable
in
Reformed
churches.>
. But the same should be
true of
unleavened
bread, esus,
as
a
good
Jew, certainly
instituted
the
the
feastwith unleavened
bread
[theLord's
Supper was inaugurated at the
Passover festival {Lk. 22:14-20}, in
whichunleavenedbreadwasrequited
{Lev. 23:4-9}]. And Paul, in 1
Corinthians5:6-8,
teUsus,
at the very
least implicitly, that weare still
to
use
unleavened bread today.)
5)The
New
Testament sacrarnenthas
a threefold
aspect:
,
a)
Past:
the Christian
is
to
always
rememberwhattookplaceat Calvary,
never
forgetting this
monumental
event in
redemptive
history - do
this
in remembrance of Me
elk
42:19).
b)
Present:
the
one
partaking
of
the
feast,
in a worthy manner, by
faith,
actually(spiritually)
feeds
ontile Lord
forspititualgrowth(1 Cor.l0:16,l7).
c)
Future: the church
is.to
PaItake
ofthis feast until
tile
second.advent of
, . .
, .
.
Christ.
T h u s a s s h e t a k e s t h ~ S u p p e r
she does
so looking
forward to that,
great
marriage
supper of iJte lamb in
the eternal
state (1 Cor.
:
26; Mt.
26:29).
6)
In the
~ w
Testament
age
, all
believers (inale
and
female)
'and
h ~ i t
children are to be baptized, and
thereby, become members of the
church (Acts 2:38,39; 16:14,15;
Gal.
3:26-29).
And,
in
the
New
Covenant
era, all
church memberswho
are able
to
make a
credible
profession of
faith,
exarninethernselves,discemtheLord's
body
0
Cor.
11
:27-29),and
do
this
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[take the Supper] in remembrance
[i.e., with understanding] ofMe
Lk
22: 19), both male and female, are to
partake of the sacrament of theLord's
Supper. They are communicant
members.
New
Covenant
communicant
membership is expanded to include
females as well as males (Gal. 3 28).
But, as in the Old Covenant, where
membership in the church was
restricted to those families which
underwent circumcision, likewise, in
the New Testament
church
, membership
should be restricted to
those
families
which
undergo baptism (both
believers
and
their
children). Thus, Christian
families which do
not
baptize their covenant
children should not be
allowed to join the church .
(cf.Ex.12:48;Gen.17:14).
7)
Th e Passover/
Unleavened Bread feast
took place in the spring of
theyear, representing
new
beginnings (Song 2:11-
13), with the commencement of the
Jewish liturgical year. Likewise, in the
New Covenant age we see
the
beginnings of God's new creation in
the person and work of Christ
(2
Cor.
5: 7; Heb.12:22-29;
Gal.
4:26). The
Kingdom of God has broken into
redernptivehistory. The Lord'sSupper
points
to
this
fact.
t should also be noted that as Israel
offered special sacrifices and tithed
from her winter crop at
Passover,
the
New Testament Christian presents
his whole life unto God as a living
sacrifice
(Rom.
12:1,2). It is highly
probable that the number of
seven
(representing perfection in Jewish
numerology) days that the Jews
celebrated the Feast of Unleavened
Bread was symbolic of the perfection
of Christ.
First Fruits
Old
estament
The primary passage regarding the
worship, Israel recognized God's
bountiful provision for His people. .
3) The first fruits of the harvest
represented the whole of Israel's
splinglsummer crop, and pointed
toward the final spring/summer crop
that would beharvestedat the time of
Pentecost. It was, inasense, apromise
andlor guarantee of the "whole" crop.
New
estament
Feast of First Fruits in the Old The
New
Testament passages
Testament is Leviticus 23:9-14. Here
the follOwing is taught:
1) The feast was held on the 16tll of
AbiblNisan, the first day after the first
Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. First
Fruits therefore had a close
relationship with the Passover/
Unleavened Bread
feast.
2)At this time Israel was to presentthe
first fruits of the Barley harvest as a
wave offering before Jehovah. There
was also to be a burnt offering and a
grain offering sacrifice. In this act of
regarding First Fruits are:
John
20:19-22; Romans
8:23; and 1 Corinthians
15:20-23. A review of
these passagesrevealsthe
following:
1) In John 20:19-22,
Jesus gave the first fruits
of the Holy Spilit to His
apostles,pointingto and
promising the full
outpouring which
would take place fifty
days later
at
Pentecost
(Acts 2) .
2) This promise On.
20:19-22) was giver on the day of
Christ's resulTection, which was the
first day after the
Sabbath
of
Unleavened Bread. Thus, Jesus
Himself is the First Fruits of the
resurrection, and He is the fulfillment
of all of Israel's wave offerings. In 1
Corinthians 15:20-23, we read that
the Lord's resulTection, as the first
fruits
of
all believers, guarantees that
the whole crop of God's elect willbe
resulTected unto eternal life.
3) The New T estamer t views the first
fruits of Christ's resulTection
an
March, 1992
l'
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immediate beginningof theKingdom
of
GoeL But
it
also anticipates
the
progressive sanctificationof the world
as this Kingdom advances through
the preaching of the Word of God
(ML13:31-33). Hence, the New
Testament Christian
is
to
understand
that as Jesus has fulfilled this Old
Test:aIIlentfeast in
His
person
and work,
JehovahhasgivenHis .
church
the
fullness of
bounteous blessings
in His Son. Jesus
Christ is the Amen to
all
of God's promises
(2
Cor.
1:20).
We celebrate the
r e d e m p t i v e
significance of . this '
feast at the Lord's
Supper,justastheOld
Testament church
celebrated it during
the Feast
of
Passover/
Unleavened Bread.
Therefore, when we
taketheLord'sSupper
we
do
so looking
forward to a boun-
teous harvest of salvationgrace in the
New
Test:aIIlent
age.
4) In Rornans 8:23
(cp.
Eph.l:13,14)
Paul teaches that the believer has a
presentpledge(down'payment) of the
Holy Spirit
as
a
first fruits,
which
guarantees his eternal salvation and
the fullness of the Spirit in
glory.
5)
As
Christ arose on
this
day of First
Fruits, we must
also assume
that the
Old Testam.ent feast prefigured, and
thlisprophesied, the
Christian Sabbath
or Lord's Day. ' ' .
Pentecost
ld Testament
Old Testament
passages
about the
Feast
ofPeruecostarefoundin:
Exodus
23:14-17;34:21-24;
Leviticus
23:lS-
21; Numbers 28:26-31; and
Deuteronomy 16:9-17 (and
others
noted).
1)
his
feast was called Pentecost,
Harvest,
Weeks, and First
Fruits
(as
distinguished
from
the
previously
discussedfeast). Itwasheldfifty(thus
Pente [ fifty ] cost )
days
(the day
followingseven weeks )after
Passover
on the 6thdayofSivan, in the summer
of the year. It was, for
all
intents and
purposes, considered an extension of
the PassoverJUnleavened Bread feast.
This
was
the time
of
the climax of the
wheat harvest (thus
Harvest ). It
TIlE (COUNSEL of Chalcedon March, 1992
symbolized
the
completion
of God's
provision in the spring and sununer
harvests.
Hence,
it was n extension
ofthe
earlier
feasts and aSabbath
day,
atwhich time thepoorwereespecially
cared for (Dt. 16:9-12).
2)
Pentecost was
.a time of joyous
celebration where
the
titheofthegrainharvest
was presented to
Jehovah. This was
offered
in the fonn of
loaveS, ' rather than
sheaves the loaf
.symbolizing the
oneness of God's
people;
they
are
many
sheaves, comprising
one
loaf (see Ezel
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l)All of the
Old
TestamentPentecosts
prophetically pointed to
the great
Pentecost of
Acts
2. This
is
revealed
in
the first
verse of this chapter,
which
reads
(literally), "when
the
day of
Pentecost was
being
fulfilled."
Just
as
all
of the
Passovers
pointed
to
the
great Passover fulfillment in the
sacrifice of Christ, so also the
Pentecosts of antiquity typified the
Acts 2 antit:ype (A.D. 30) .
In Old Testament times the church
had the Spirit
of God,just as
the
New
Testament
church does . The Spirit
was a
partofIsrael
theocratically(Hag.
2:5),
aswellasindiVidually(Ps.
51:
11:
Is. 63:11; 1 Pet. 1:11). (Of
course, the
Spiritwas
also active cosmica ly in
the
Old Testament as
well
[Gen.
1:2].)
In
Romans 8:9,
Paul
teaches us that it is
impossible for
a
(any)
person
to
be
saved
withouttheindwellingpresence
of the Holy Spirit. Thus, if the third
person of the Godhead
was
not
personally indwelling His elect
in
the
OldCovenant,theycouldnotbesaved
.
The difference between the Old and
New
Covenants
is that in the former
dispensation the gift
of
the Spirit
was
proleptic
(i.e.
,anticipatory). That
is,
it
anticipated the coming New
Testament
age.
Numbers
11:16-30
makes this clear. Here we read
of
a
proleptic Pentecost, where
God
poured out His Spirit on the seventy
elders
as
a
sign
of that which would
take
place
in the New Covenant.
Moses' prayer of verse 29 reveals that
the mighty work
of
the
Spirit
on the
seventy
was prophetic of
the
Acts .
fulfillment
(cf.
Joel 2 :28). The
PentecostofA.D. 30was the "fullness
of times" for
this
feast.
2)The first
fruits
oftheSpirilhadbeen
realized
in
John
20:19-22;
in Acts
2,
the "whole crop" came . Further, the
Acts
2 Pentecost is
to
be
seen
as a
reversal of the TowerofBabelincident
(Gen. l1) .AtBabel,
Godhadconfused
the
"one
tongue"
of
the sinful
world
and scattered the people with
"many
tongues".
At Pentecost,
the Lord
restored
the "many tongues"
of
the
peoples under the "one tongue"
of
the
gospel.ThepromisethatJellovahhad
made to Abraham in Genesis 17:5
was
coming
to
pass
- many nations
were
partaking of
the blessings
of
God.
3)
In
Acts
2:41,
weseetheingathering
of
the harvest
of
souls.
The
one body
(''loaf,'' d .
1 Cor. 10:16,17) of
the
church was being waved
before the
Lord
as
anact of worship. In contrast
to
the
3000
persons who were
put to
death after
the
giVing of
the law
at
Sinai, now we
wimess the
coming of
the
Spirit in order that
the people
of
God can keep the law
CHeb.
8:8-12).
Further,
we read
that
3000
souls
were
saved at this time. Here
we
recognize
that
the
leavenused
at
Pentecostin
the
old
dispensation was
symbolic
of
the
leavening
work of
God's
Spirit in
advancing His Kingdom in
the
new
age (Mt. 13:33).
4)
The
pouring out
of
the Spirit at
Pentecost revealed that God was
fully
proViding for His
elect.
The New
Covenant, which was established in
the
Upper Room
and sealed on the
cross at
Calvary,
was now empowered
for theadvancement of His Kingdom.
The final establishment of this
Kingdomwas also prophesied in Acts
2 in verses 19 and 20. Here we read
of
the overthrow
of
Jerusalem
that
wouldoccurinA.D. 70 d. Mt. 24:29-
31). At
this time
the Old Testament
dispensation, with
all
of ts
ceremony,
sacrificial system, etc., would once
and
for
all times be abolished. This
cataclysmiC event in redemptive
history was foretold by the Lord in
Luke
21:5-32
(see
v.
31).
5) t s also noteworthy that Pentecost
took
place on a Sunday. Herein we
see the diVineblessing on the Christian
Sabbath, the day of our Lord s
resurrection
.
6) With
the coming
of
the Spirit at
Pentecost we witness the New
Testament covenant
prOVision
for
dynastic succession.
This
is integrally
related tocovenantrenewal. Formore
on this
see
the later article on
The
Sennon
on the Mount and Covenant
Renewal.
Endnotes .
1.
Alfred
Edersheim, The
Life
andTimes
ofJesus the Messiah Vol. pp. 479fI.
2.
See
Charles Hodge, Systematic
Theology
Vol.
III pp.
615-617.
March, 1992 ;. l l iE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ;. 23
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