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The Jewish law contained a number of feasts that God’s people were to participate in every year. These feasts represented important events in the plan of salvation and ministry of Christ.
The first three feasts of the Jewish year served as an enactment of the events during Christ’s First Coming. These included the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits.
The Feast of Weeks represented Pentecost (“the fiftieth day”), which occurred after Christ’s ascension. The Feast of Weeks commemorated the day God gave His people the Ten Commandments, which was 50 days after the Passover. Fifty days after Christ’s death—the true Passover—His disciples received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They were empowered to go and preach Christ Jesus, who is the embodiment of the law, to the world.
The last three feasts in the Jewish calendar pointed to the Second Coming of Christ. These included the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Read about the Feast of Atonement, and the Old Testament prophecy regarding this feast.
When Christ died, the curtain in the temple that hid the Holy of Holies was ripped in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51). In this way, God demonstrated that the Jewish sacrificial system with its rites and ceremonies had ended. Atonement for sins was only available through Christ, and the symbolic practices had been fulfilled through Christ. Do we still need to keep the feast days?
Some people think that because Christ fulfilled the sacrificial system in the ceremonial law, we can now ignore all laws given in the Old Testament—including the Ten Commandments and the health laws. Read about the relevance of the moral law and the health laws in today’s world.
The Gospel in Type and the Gospel in Truth
The Old Testament sanctuary service, with its rituals and feasts, is symbolic of the Gospel. The New Testament is the Gospel that fulfills the Old Testament’s symbols. Studying the sanctuary leads us to a greater understanding of Christ’s ministry, which is important to understanding the plan of salvation.Understanding the ministry of Christ is also important because the Bible warns that deceivers will try to lead us astray:
For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an
antichrist (2 John 1:7).
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).
Anyone who changes the Gospel or tries to introduce a new way of salvation is a deceiver, and denies that it is Jesus who fulfills these Old Testament symbols. The Bible warns that the Antichrist will come to replace the ministry of Jesus with another system. We must be alert to this deep deception that is sweeping across the world.
Let us follow the words of Peter as we seek to live in purity and righteousness:We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19).
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This article is adapted from Truth Matters by Professor Walter J. Veith, an international speaker who has studied Biblical issues in-depth in his quest for truth. His popular series Genesis Conflict brings the debate between Creation and evolution to a new climax as he dissects the arguments with a scientific eye. His highly-acclaimed series Total Onslaught sheds light on the state of the world today as we move to a one-world government and an anticipated apocalypse.
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