It has
been a while since I last wrote. As I meditate on the Lord in these past few
months, I felt led to write you a message on God’s (Broad) Timetable.
God,
through Moses, has commanded the Israelites to observe the Jewish Feasts each
year on an annual 7-month cycle basis. The
Jews have faithfully done so for the past 3500 years. God, in return, has
blessed them and their land, turning a dessert into an oasis, a land of
abundance, truly a land flowing with milk & honey [Exo. 3:8]!
The New
Testament Church can learn a lot from the Old Testament teachings God gave to
the Nation of Israel through Moses. The yearly Jewish Feasts help us to
understand God’s Plan of Salvation and His time table for the Church, the Body
of Christ, which will comprise of Jews & non-Jews who confess Jesus as
their Lord and Saviour.
1) 3 Feasts of Passover [Spring
Feasts]
i)
Feast
of Passover
[Lev. 23:5]
5 The LORD's Passover begins at
twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
ii)
Feast
of Unleavened Bread
[Lev. 23:6-8]
6 On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days
you must eat bread made without yeast.
7 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.
8 For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on
the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'"
iii)
Feast
of First Fruits
[Lev 23:9-14]
10 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the
land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a
sheaf of the first grain you harvest.
11 He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on
your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering
to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect,
13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine
flour mixed with oil an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma and
its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.
14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very
day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for
the generations to come, wherever you live.
2) The Feast of Pentecost
[Lev. 23:15-17]
15 "'From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf
of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.
16 Count off fifty days up to
the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to
the LORD.
17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an
ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the
LORD.
3) The Feast of Tabernacles
[Autumn Feasts]
i)
The
Feast of Trumpets
[Lev. 23:24]
"Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you
are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.
ii)
The
Feast of Atonement
[Lev. 23:27,32]
27 "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and
deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire.
32 It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From
the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are
to observe your sabbath."
iii)
The
Feast of Tabernacles
[Lev. 23:34]
"Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month
the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins,
and it lasts for seven days.
The first 3 Feasts together with the Feast
of Pentecost have been fulfilled by Jesus and the Holy Spirit through Jesus’ sacrificial
death on the cross, His resurrection 3 days later, and the coming of the Holy
Spirit upon the 120 believers in the Upper Room.
For the
Church, they are fulfilled when a person confesses their sins and accept Jesus
as Lord & Saviour (Passover), born-again (First Fruits), gets baptized in
the Holy Spirit (Pentecost) and continues to live a holy life (without yeast –
Unleavened Bread)
These
have gone on in the past 2000 years.
Since
2000 AD, we have entered into the last 3 feasts, signaling the end of the
Church Age soon.
We are
in the time of the Feast of Trumpets and
Feast of Atonement, warning unbelievers to repent and proclaiming the
imminent 2nd Coming of Jesus. The increase in frequency of
earthquakes, floods, crisis, strifes and wars are signs referred to as the end of the
age in [Matt. 24],
Time is
running out!
Then the world will enter 3 and 1/2 years of Great
Tribulation – a time of unprecedented suffering before the real end of the
Church Age and the start of the Millennium, the 1000 year rule of Jesus on
earth (Feast of Tabernacles).
God has
also hidden this time-table in the construction of the Tabernacle He instructed
Moses to build.
a)
Dimension of the Outer Court
[Ex 27:18]
The courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide,
with curtains of finely twisted linen five
cubits high, and with bronze bases.
(100+50+100+50)x5
= 1500 years = Old Testament period
b)
Dimension of the Tabernacle
[Ex 26:15-23]
15 "Make upright frames of
acacia wood for the tabernacle.
16 Each frame is to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,
18 Make twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle
20 For the other side, the north side
of the tabernacle, make twenty frames
22 Make six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the
tabernacle,
23 and make two frames for the corners at the far end.
(30x10x10)
= 3000 years
Holy Place – Church Age
(20x10x10)
= 2000 years
Most Holy Place – Millennium
(10x10x10)
= 1000 years
I would
proclaim (with trumpet blasts) that the Church Age is nearly up. Whilst we do
not predict exactly the day or hour of Jesus 2nd Coming, God’s (Broad) Timetable illustrated above confirms the time we are in.
May I
encourage you to “spiritually” observe the Jewish Feasts by doing the
following:
1)
Feast of Passover – repent of your sins and accept
Jesus as you Lord & Saviour (if you are not a believer yet)
2)
Feast of Unleavened Bread – continue to live a Holy
Life (free of sins - Lust of the Eyes, Lust of the Flesh and Pride)
3)
Feast of First Fruit – be born again (and look
forward to a resurrected body in heaven)
4)
Feast of Pentecost – get baptized in the Holy
Spirit
5)
Feast of Trumpets – share the Good News of Jesus
Christ with unbelievers (family members, friends, colleagues, strangers that
cross your path)
6)
Feast of Atonement – encourage unbelievers to
repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord & Saviour
7)
Feast of Tabernacles – look forward eagerly to the
1000 years of reign with Jesus on earth (while Satan will be bound for 1000
years)
May the Lord bless you and keep you until His 2nd
Coming!
