1992 Issue 3 - Christ and the Feasts: The Spring and Summer Feasts - Counsel of Chalcedon

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

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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


3/7


4/7

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


5/7

[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

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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


7/7

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

1992 Issue 3 - Christ and the Feasts: The Spring and Summer Feasts - Counsel of Chalcedon

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