Hebrew Roots Part Seven – God’s Prophetic Spring Feasts

The seven feasts of the Bible are prophetic (and how interesting is it that this is part seven?).  The four spring feasts were completed 2000 years ago:

Passover – Called Pesach in Hebrew, Passover was a foreshadowing of the Messiah as our Passover lamb who would shed His blood for us: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival,” (1 Corinthians 5:7).  Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation for the Passover at the very same hour that the lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover meal that evening (John 19:14).

Unleavened Bread – Chag HaMotzi is the festival of Unleavened Bread.  After giving the house a thorough cleaning (perhaps where the idea of spring cleaning comes from), the wife goes through the whole house with a feather, dusting away every trace of leaven.  This was precisely when the Messiah’s body was put in the grave.  Leaven is often used as a symbol in the Bible for sin (Matthew 13:33, 16:6-12; Mark 8:15-21; Luke 12:1-3, 13:20-21; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; & Galatians 5:9).

Have you ever looked at the Matzo, the traditional Jewish unleavened bread?  Matzo resembles a big cracker, and is made without any yeast (leaven).  It is:

• Bruised (or at least it looks bruised) – “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed,” (Isaiah 53:5, emphasis mine).
• Striped – “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed,” (1 Peter 2:24, emphasis mine).
• Pierced – “They will look on Me, the One they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son,” (Zechariah 12:10, emphasis mine).
• Pure – “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God,” (2 Corinthians 5:21, emphasis mine).

First Fruits – Reshit Katzir celebrates the fertility of the Promised Land.  They would go into their fields and tie a red cord around the part of the crop that ripens first.  It is later cut, taken to the Temple, and given to the priests as a wave offering.  First Fruits foreshadowed the Messiah’s resurrection as the first fruits of the righteous dead.  Jesus was resurrected on this very day, which is why Paul says, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep,” (1 Corinthians 15:20, emphasis mine[1]).

Passover starts the evening of 14 Nisan and continues for seven days.  Unleavened Bread starts 15 Nisan (the day after Passover starts) and continues for the week of Passover.  First Fruits is celebrated on 16 Nisan, the day after Unleavened Bread starts.  So these three feasts are one right after the other—14, 15, and 16 Nisan.

Pentecost – Shavu‘ot, also called the Feast of Weeks comes fifty days after the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Pentecost foreshadowed the great harvest of souls and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).  The Church was actually established on this day when God poured out His Holy Spirit and 3,000 Jews responded to Peter’s great sermon and his first proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Two loaves of leavened bread were offered at the Temple, symbolizing the Hebrews and the Christians grafted into Israel.

Then there is a long interval between these spring feasts and the fall feasts.  In my next post I will discuss the fall feasts.  If you liked the revelations of the spring feasts, just wait until you read about the fall feasts to come.  Jesus is coming back soon!  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!”  Maranantha!  God is good!

[1] “Fallen asleep” is Paul’s way of saying that they died, but emphasizing that death is a temporary state.