October 19, 2020
The Feasts
Trumpet, Atonement, Tabernacles
Leviticus 23
The first four feasts all pointed to the first coming of the Lord Jesus. They had to do with the commencement of God’s personal invasion of history, the work of the Savior in terms of redemption, regeneration, and resurrection, and also the work of the Spirit.
Then came a pause of length. The feasts of the commencement period were counted by days. The Passover was killed on the fourteenth day. Unleavened Bread began the next day. On the morrow after the next Sabbath, Firstfruits was celebrated. Fifty days were counted from then to Pentecost, which foreshadowed the work of the Spirit.
But there was no counting of days to the next feast (Trumpets). We are simply told it fell on the seventh month. This time lapse foreshadowed the time from Pentecost to the rapture of the church. We do not know the precise time covered by this period, but the Feast of Trumpets looked ahead to future events connected with the nation of Israel.
Thus we come to the completion feasts, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. Just as the first four feasts all anticipated the first coming of Christ, so the last three feasts all look ahead to the second coming of Christ. Just as the first four feasts were all fulfilled to the letter, and to the day, at the Lord’s first coming, so the last three feasts also will be fulfilled to the letter and to the day. We can be sure of that.
The Feast of Trumpets focuses on the gathering. Trumpets figured promimnently in Israel’s national life. Two silver trumpets were made from the redemption money given by the Hebrews for the building of the Tabernacle. They were sounded when the tribes were called upon to march, when it was necessary to sound an alarm because danger threatened, and when all the assembly was required to appear before the Lord, The prophet Isaiah tells how “the great trumpet” will regather the scattered Jewish people in the end times (27:13). The first beginning of this return has already begun. Already Jews back in the Promised Land number several million. During the period covered by the Apocalypse, trumpets will herald certain events—in particular seven trumpets will sound as the Antichrist comes and furthers his nefarious plans (Rev. 8—9).
The Feast of Atonement focuses on the grief. In reality this feast was a fast, a time of national conviction and repentance. It was the day when the sins of the nation were covered up for another year. It anticipates the day when the Jewish remnant, in the end times, will see the returning Christ and will be convicted because of their age-long rejection of Him.
The Feast of Tabernacles focuses on the glory. It was celebrated after the harvest was gathered in (Deut. 16:13). It was a weeklong festival of praise and joy. It anticipates the millennial reign of Christ. An extra day (an eighth day) was added. In Scripture the number eight is associated with Resurrection and a new beginning. The music scale illustrates this. There are eight notes in a scale, but the eighth note is the same as the first one, only it is an octave higher.
The millennium will end in judgment; but that will not be the final end, for God will begin again, but on a higher note. He will create a new heaven and a new earth and usher in an endless, eternal day of bliss and joy.
These things told in Old Testament typology in the annual Jewish feasts will as surely come to pass as did the things that pertained to the Lord’s first coming. Any day now, the trumpet wall sound. The church will be gone, and Israel will enter into its time of trial and ultimate blessing.