Leviticus 23:1-44

The Lord set up a calendar for His people to follow that included the holidays and festivals that His people were supposed to celebrate and remember each year.  These special dates were designed to remember events from the past, demonstrate gratitude for provision in the present as well as to prefigure events in the future.  These feasts give us a very clear illustration of God’s sovereignty in the lives of His people and the events of this earth.  The feasts were divided into two seasons of the year and I believe that they represent significant events in the two comings of Christ to the Earth.

FEASTS FULFILLED IN THE FIRST COMING: The first feast was the Passover and was initiated as a means of remembering and celebrating the liberation of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt.  This was a hugely significant even in the Jewish calendar and continues to be to this day.  The children of Israel were to sacrifice a perfect lamb, spread that blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes and by so doing they were spared from the angel of death that killed all the first-borns of Egypt.  This is the perfect picture of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  Significantly, Christ was crucified during the Passover.
The second feast was that of unleavened bread.  This was a feast that would last for several days and was a reminder that the Children of Israel were to be a different people and leave the sin out of their lives just as they left the yeast out of the bread they ate.  This is a picture of our death to sin in the sanctification process and is symbolic of the burial of Christ.  Jesus was buried on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
The next feast was called first fruits and was a celebration of the planting of the fields.  A portion of what had been planed was saved out and eaten during the feast in anticipation of a greater harvest later on.  Seed was buried in the fields but by faith they believed it would sprout and provide a great harvest.  This celebration was a means of thanking God for His provision prior to it actually taking place in full.  This is symbolic of the resurrection of Christ.  Christ rose from the dead on the day that they feast of First Fruits was celebrated.  Jesus is the First Fruit of the resurrection.  Because He bore our sin on the Passover and then was raised again, we all have hope of a future resurrection if we have placed our faith in the work of Christ on our behalf.
The final feast of this first series of feast was called Pentecost because it was celebrated exactly fifty days after the other feasts ended.  Today we associate the name Pentecost with the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and they started the Church.  However, centuries before this great event took place the Children of Israel celebrated this feast every year as a part of their calendar.

FEASTS FULFILLED IN THE SECOND COMING: There are still three feasts in the Jewish calendar that have yet to be fulfilled, and I believe that they will be fulfilled is a very clear manner when Christ comes again.  However, these feasts were not prophetic in nature they are types of future events, and as such I believe it unwise to be dogmatic as to how they will be fulfilled.  Since we have prophesy of events surrounding Christ’s second coming we are able to speculate as to potential fulfillment of these feasts, but we should not get too “hung up” on these things.
The feast of Trumpets was a call of the children of Israel to come back to their homeland and celebrate together the harvest of the year.  We know that as we near the second coming of Christ there will be a mass migration of the Jewish people back to Israel.  There are several plans to relocate the Israelites who are spread throughout the world back to Israel.  There are those who have tried to predict the rapture of the Church according to the date of the feast of Trumpets.  This may happen, but I tend to think that this has more to do with the return of the Jews to Israel during the Tribulation period after the rapture.
The Day of Atonement was the day in which the sins of the children of Israel were dealt with in the most complete and significant way.  It was the one day of the year during which the High Priest was permitted to enter the holy of holies.  Once again it is hard to pinpoint a future fulfillment of this feast before it happens.  I have a tendency to see it being fulfilled during the time were there will be a mass spiritual revival in Israel during which time the Jewish people will recognize the crucified Christ as the Messiah for whom they have been waiting for so long.  This will result in the national salvation of Israel as their sins are finally washed away through their faith in the blood of the Lamb of God.
The feast of Tabernacles was a long feast that was celebrated by the people making temporary tents outside of the city and the celebrated harvest as well as remembered the time when the Children of Israel wandered in the desert and lived in tents.  It is hard to pinpoint exactly what this feast was prefiguring but I believe that it will be fulfilled during the Millennial reign of Christ on the Earth after His second coming.  He will provide for and live among His people just as He did in the desert wanderings when bread and quail fell from the sky every day.  It is a great comfort to know that God has been in control of the past, He is in control of the present and He knows exactly how the future will “play out.”   We can rest in this truth.