Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
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We are studying the Feasts of Yahweh, there are seven of them listed in chronological order in Leviticus 23. As we have seen, these feasts are a study in typology. The feasts of the Lord actually convey two forty year exodus periods, the type and the antitype. The first exodus period is when Israel was removed from bondage to Egypt at Passover, and they were put in the wilderness on a physical journey to a physical promised land. Now, the more important, the anti-type, is the spiritual exodus. This exodus runs from the Cross to A.D. 70. In this exodus, Israel, after the Spirit, left its bondage to the Law of the sin and the death (Ro. 8:2) and begins a forty year spiritual journey to a spiritual inheritance; the Kingdom of God, or the New Heavens and New Earth.
In our past studies, we looked at the first three feasts, which were: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. We saw that Passover pictures the substitutionary DEATH of Yeshua as the Passover Lamb. The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the DELIVERANCE from bondage. FIRST FRUITS pictures the RESURRECTION of the Messiah.
The fourth feast is known in Hebrew as Shavuot, which means "weeks." It is found in our text in Leviticus 23:15-22:
'You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 'You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. 'You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. 'Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. 'You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 'The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the LORD; they are to be holy to the LORD for the priest. 'On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. 'When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'" Leviticus 23:15-22 NASB
This feast is called the Feast of Weeks, because God specifically told the sons of Jacob that they were to count seven weeks from First Fruits and then the day after, this fourth feast was to be observed:
'You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 'You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. Leviticus 23:15-16 NASB
Seven weeks are 49 days. Add one day "the day after," and it brings the total to fifty days. This fourth feast was to occur precisely fifty days after First Fruits.
During these 50 days between the Resurrection and Shavuot, Yeshua met with His disciples many times, and on the 40th day He acceded into heaven. Yeshua had told them to stay in Jerusalem and "...wait for what the Father had promised."
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Acts 1:5 NASB
What were the disciples doing in the ten days between the Ascension and Pentecost? The selection of the twelfth apostle is the only incident that Luke recorded during the ten-day period of the disciples' waiting. Why did there need to be twelve apostles? Yeshua was reconstituting Israel. As such, twelve apostles were the perfect number; not only to show the ending of the Old, but of the beginning of the New. Luke tells us that the full complement of the twelve apostles has been restored. This is the New Israel, the True Israel. And now the New Israel is ready for Pentecost.
Names are very important in the ancient Hebrew world. They usually reflected the significant character, history, or meaning of that to which they were attached. Three separate names were used by the Hebrew Scriptures for the Feast of Shavuot, which in the Hebrew means: "Weeks." Each name emphasized a different facet of its observance. The most common Hebrew designation was Hag Hashavuot, meaning: "The Feast of Weeks." Sheva means seven, shavu'ah means week, and Shavuot means weeks. Shavuot was called the Feast of Weeks, because seven weeks were counted from the Feast of First Fruits until the observing of this feast.
The primary meaning of the feast was reflected in the Hebrew name, Yom Habikkurim, or the "Day of First Fruits," since Shavuot was the day on which the first fruit offerings of the summer wheat crop were brought to the Temple:
"And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Exodus 34:22 NASB
Thus, Shavuot marked the BEGINNING of the SUMMER WHEAT HARVEST even as Israel's earlier Feast of First Fruits marked the beginning of the SPRING BARLEY HARVEST.
The third designation, Hag Hakatzir (hog ha kot-seer) or "The Feast of Harvests," reflected the fact that this festival was the official beginning of the summer harvest season. In addition to the biblical designations, the Talmud and Josephus referred to this festival as Atzeret, meaning: "CONCLUSION." They viewed Shavuot as the conclusion of the Passover season and of the seven-week spring harvest since there are no other major Jewish holy days until the autumn.
In the Greek language Shavuot was known as Pentecost, meaning: "fiftieth" since it was celebrated on the 50th day from the Feast of First Fruits. Fifty days has the fragrance of Jubilee. Jubilee is a fifty year concept that has to do with releasing the captives.
'You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. Leviticus 23:15 NASB
What date was Shavuot to be celebrated? The Tanakh gives it no explicit place in the Jewish calendar. Instead, it is to be arrived at by counting seven weeks after the beginning of the Omer, on First Fruits. So this feast comes fifty days after First Fruits, which has no date either.
The measure of barley, which was brought to the Temple as a first fruit offering on the Feast of First Fruits, was known as the omer (Hebrew: "measure, sheaf"). Since this counting of days was to begin with the offering of the omer, this 50 day period is also known as THE OMER.
History of the Feast of Shavuot
In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the Sinai desert and camped opposite Mount Sinai. Moses was then told by God to gather the Israelites together to receive the Law:
In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: 4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 'These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." Exodus 19:1-6 NASB
Does verse 6 remind you of anything? Writing to believers Peter says:
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1 Peter 2:9 NASB
Believer, understand this: We are Israel--true Israel, the people of God. Back to Exodus:
So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do!" And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. Exodus 19:7-8 NASB
Moses gave the Israelites two days to cleanse themselves, wash their clothes, and prepare to receive the Law on the third day. At the same time, Moses told them not to come too near Mount Sinai. From early morning, dense clouds covered the peak of the mountain. Thunder and lightning were frequently seen and heard. The sound of the shofar (ram's horn) came very strong, and the top of the mountain was enveloped in fire and smoke. The Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai stood in great awe:
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. 19 When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. Exodus 19:18-19 NASB
Moses then went up alone on the mountain, and as he neared the top, a mighty voice announced the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:20-25; 20:1-21). No date is actually associated with the giving of the Decalogue in the Bible. Yet, ask any observant Israelite concerning this event and he will tell you that it is celebrated fifty days after the Feast of First Fruits.
So, a very notable historical event happened on the first Shavuot, and that was the giving of the Ten Commandments. Israel came to Mount Sinai on the third day of the third month (Exodus 19:1). Yahweh visited the people three days later (Exodus 19:10-17). Therefore, the Law was given by God on the sixth day of the third month of the biblical religious calendar, which is the month of Sivan (Sive-in). This day is exactly 50 days from the crossing of the Red Sea.
Shavuot is called the season of the giving of the Torah in Hebrew, because this is the literal day that God revealed Himself to the people of Israel as they stood at the base of Mount Sinai. Shavuot at Mt. Sinai is sometimes considered the day on which Judaism was born. Rabbinic tradition says that the Torah was actually given on the sixth of Sivan, the Shabbat following the new moon of Sivan that year (which would make the new moon of Sivan a Monday (Shabbat 86b).
Shavuot and Leaven
At Passover, leaven was absolutely forbidden (Exodus 12:15,19-20), and in the regular meal offering, no leaven was permitted (Leviticus 2:1,4-5, 11). We saw in our last study that leaven represents influence. It can be a good influence or a bad one. Passover and Unleavened Bread were to be without leaven, yet on Pentecost, God commanded just the opposite:
'You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. Leviticus 23:17 NASB
The Temple services for Shavuot followed much the same pattern as that of the Feast of First Fruits, since both holy days were celebrated with first-fruit offerings. However, the offering for Shavuot was unique. It consisted of two long, flat, LEAVENED loaves of wheat bread as commanded by the Lord.
The loaves were not burned, because the Lord had forbidden leaven on the altar: "You shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the Lord made by fire." Instead, these loaves and two lambs, as a peace offering, formed the WAVE OFFERING for Shavuot. The priest waved them before the altar forwards and backwards, then up and down. Afterward, they were set aside for "the priest" (Lev. 23:20), and formed the festive meal eaten by priests later that day in the Temple.
So on Shavuot, they were to wave two loaves of leavened bread. Why are the loaves leavened? As we said in our study of Unleavened Bread leaven represents influence. They were to take no leaven from Egypt, they were to break from the influence of Egypt. Now why two leavened loaves? I think these represent both houses of Israel who are to influence the world with the Word of Yahweh.
During the counting of the Omer, Psalm 67 was recited daily because it is composed of exactly 49 Hebrew words which correspond to the 49 days of the Omer count. The Psalm is seasonally appropriate because of its harvest motif. It is spiritually appropriate because it speaks clearly of God's salvation (Yeshua) being made known over all the earth.
God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us-- Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him. Psalms 67:1-7 NASB
So in the year our Lord was crucified they are reciting this Psalm each day as they come to Shavuot or Pentecost.
The New Covenant anti-type of Shavuot is--Pentecost
When you hear the word "Pentecost," what do you think of? Tongues? Charismatics? What should come to your mind is, the birth of the Church; the beginning of the New Covenant.
Yeshua was crucified on Passover, which gave Israel deliverance on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He was resurrected on the Feast of First Fruits. Then fifty days after the Resurrection of Yeshua, the promised New Covenant arrived on the Feast of Shavuot/Pentecost. Do you see that the whole Christian message is in the Feasts? This is not Replacement Theology, but Fulfillment Theology. Christianity is the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel, because we are true Israel. Every single piece of the Christian Bible falls right into the framework of the Hebrew world. Believers, our roots are Hebrew.
Shavuot was a particularly important feast in Bible days. Of the seven divinely appointed feasts that were given to Israel, THREE were decreed by Yahweh as "SOLEMN FEASTS." Their presence in the Holy City on the three major festivals was in obedience to the Torah as God commanded Moses:
"Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Deuteronomy 16:16 NASB
This really covers all the Spring Feasts. Passover and Unleavened Bread are virtually one eight day feast. The Feast of First Fruits takes place in the middle of Unleavened Bread. So it seems like they were to be in Jerusalem for all the Spring Feasts.
The Roman historian Tacitus, speaking of the Feast of Shavuot wrote, "The Holy City, with a population then of about six hundred thousand, exploded into between two and three millions because of the pilgrims." Now as Israel is gathered for this feast, notice what happens:
And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Acts 2:1-4 NASB
With a touch of divine irony, on the very day that the Jews from around the world gathered in Jerusalem to reaffirm their commitment to the Covenant of Moses, the Holy Spirit descended upon Israel to offer the promise of the New Covenant to all who will believe. This New Covenant makes Torah a matter of the heart.
The Hebrew people had gathered for the Festival of Shavuot as they did every year for a thousand years. But this time it wasn't a rehearsal, it was the antitype. The prophecy that they came to rehearse was being fulfilled. This day they were to become the "first fruits"; members of a new Church, God's Church, the Church of Yeshua the Messiah. There was a new message for a new people, it would be heard in every language and by every people. Christian scholars mark that historic Pentecost in Jerusalem as the "spiritual birthday of the church."
And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Acts 2:1 NASB
Who is the "they"? Some seek to limit this to the apostles, referring it back to the phrase "the eleven apostles" in 1:26. But from 1:15 on the stress has been on "the disciples," whom Luke then immediately defined in terms of the one hundred and twenty. I think that 120 disciples are the "they" mentioned here.
"...All together in one place"--I see this as a reference to the Temple where they were regularly meeting for prayer:
and were continually in the temple, praising God. Luke 24:53 NASB
Why doesn't Luke say in Acts 2:1 that they were in the Temple? I think it is because Luke's focus is not on the old physical Temple, but on the new spiritual temple. The Jewish Temple is now being replaced by the temple of His people who will soon become the dwelling place of God:
Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 2 Corinthians 6:16 NASB
What is Paul quoting here?
"My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. "And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."" Ezekiel 37:27-28 NASB
The New Covenant had arrived on Pentecost. The center of their worship will no longer be the old Temple, but the place of prayer and worship through the Spirit wherever they may be. The old Temple is being "left behind."
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Acts 2:2 NASB
The phenomenon of Pentecost was spectacular. First, there was a loud sound, like the sound of a mighty, rushing wind, but only "like" it. There was no wind, just the sound. This perhaps "tornado-like" sound seems to be that which drew the large crowd to the place where the disciples were gathered. Pentecost was an audiovisual experience.
The word used for wind here is interesting. It is not the usual word for wind. The Greek word used here is pnoe. It is used only one other time in the New Testament:
neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath (pnoe) and all things; Acts 17:25 NASB
Here it means: "breath" and is paralleled with "life." This word is common in the Septuagint, where it is most often translated: "breath of life" (e.g. Genesis 2:7; 7:22; 2 Samuel 22:16; Psalm 150:6; Isaiah 42:5; 57:16). In Genesis 2:7 it is the breath of life breathed into man to give life.
Luke uses this particular word here to stress the life-giving breath of God, as symbolized by the wind. This would immediately bring the thoughts of those who knew their Scriptures to another time when the breath of God came like a mighty wind. In Ezekiel 37:5-10 Israel was likened to a valley of dry bones, which remained dead until God's wind came and revitalized the people. The wind blew on them and they lived through the breath of God. The picture is of God giving life to a spiritually dead people. It is the imparting of resurrection life. The disciples were being empowered to bring life to the dead bones of Israel. God is breathing into His people and beginning His new creation, which will finally result in the New Heaven and the New Earth (Isaiah 65:17-19; 66:22).
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Acts 2:2 NASB
Notice that this wind filled the "House"---the question that is asked here is what house? In Luke's writings the Temple is elsewhere referred to as "the House" (Luke 11:51): "your [Jerusalem's] House" (13:35; Acts 7:47-50); while when he refers to private houses he usually tells us whose house it is (12:12; 18:7; 21:8). Luke elsewhere describes the Temple, in words of Yeshua, as the "House of prayer" (Luke 19:46).
In the Temple area, apart from the Holy Place and the court of the priests, there was a courtyard for the men of Israel, a further courtyard which women also could enter, and an outer court for Gentiles. Each courtyard was surrounded by walls in which were large porticoes where people regularly met for prayer. There were thirty spacious rooms around the Temple Court, described by Josephus and called oikoi, houses. Later these became a general meeting place for disciples (Acts 3:1, 10-11; 5:12).
Their presence at this time in the Temple would explain how the crowd gathered so quickly and could witness the "sound" (2:6), and how such a large group of disciples could be together (120). But Luke avoids stressing the Temple because he does not want to suggest that the Temple has become the center of Christianity.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. Acts 2:3 NASB
What is the significance of these tongues of fire? Throughout the Scriptures, fire is always a sign of God's presence among His people. You remember that when God came and spoke to Moses He said, "Moses, I want you to be My leader," how did He speak to him? Out of what? A burning bush. There was fire. God regularly revealed His presence by "fire." He did it to Abraham (Genesis 15:17); when God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, there was a pillar of fire that went before them. It signified the presence of God (e.g. Exodus 13:22) at Sinai (Exodus 19:18; 24:17) and at the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:38), and Moses could say that God "spoke out of fire on the mountain" (Deuteronomy 4:11) at the giving of the covenant, so that they saw no likeness of God, only heard His voice. Moses stated, "Our God is a consuming fire" (Deut. 4:24). Similarly in Ezekiel 1:27; 8:2 God reveals Himself in "the likeness of the appearance of fire"; while in Isaiah 4:5 God is to be a flaming fire shining over His people when He covers them with His protection. This would suggest that the fire is here a symbol of the presence of God.
Note how at Pentecost the manifestation of the flaming presence of God is not positioned over a tent or Temple. This time it is over PEOPLE. Why? Because they are the new tabernacle and the temple of God. God is descending in fire on the new temple of His people by His Spirit.
This tongue of fire resting on each of them, in the same way as it had rested on the Mount, is declaring that as God had dwelt on the Mount so He was now permanently indwelling each and all of His people as His new tabernacle and temple, while the dividing of the fire demonstrates that each one present is experiencing the fullness of the whole. Notice what Peter says about this event:
"For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; Acts 2:15 NASB
It was the third hour, that's nine o'clock in the morning. It is the time of the morning sacrifice that the Holy Spirit is being poured out:
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Acts 2:4 NASB
They are all "filled" with the Holy Spirit. It means: "to come under His complete and total control." They were under the complete guidance and direction and control of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1-4 as a whole is describing the "baptism [baptizo] in the Holy Spirit" of Acts 1:5. It is the arrival of God by His Spirit in His permanent power and distinctive presence in His people, never to leave them.
To whom was the promise of the Spirit given? Israel. Pentecost is the fulfillment of that promise, and the Church--true Israel, is its recipient.
Pentecost Type and anti-type
Fifty four days after the first Passover in Egypt, the Law was given to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, written upon tables of stone. Fifty four days after the final Passover Yeshua was sacrificed and the Law was given to the "Israel of God," written upon their hearts by the Spirit of God (2 Cor. 3:3), thus fulfilling God's promise to Israel:
"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:33 NASB
On the first Shavuot, the Law was given; 3,000 people died for worshiping the golden calf, signifying the covenant of the Law that brought death (Ex. 32:28; cf. 2 Cor. 3:16-18).
On the first New Covenant Shavuot/Pentecost Day, the Spirit was given; 3,000 people received life and were added to the Church of Yeshua the Christ (Acts 2:41), signifying the covenant of the Spirit brought life:
who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:6 NASB
We see here that the New Covenant is LIFE, but the Old KILLS:
But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 2 Corinthians 3:7 NASB
On the first occasion, and 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits, God came down to Moses on Mt. Sinai to bring the Law. In the giving of the Law, God established the nation of Israel. As His covenant people, they were destined to become a people manifesting the righteousness of God. They would become a "royal priesthood and a holy nation." Both the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai and the giving of the New Covenant through the Holy Spirit to the 120 in the Temple were events that occurred on the very same day of the lunar calendar, the sixth of Sivan, the Day of Pentecost.
Pentecost was the fulfillment, the anti-type, of the type given to Israel. It was the birthday of the Church of Yeshua the Christ. God was now to dwell, not in a tent, but with His people. We, the Church, are the New Israel of God and in us all the promises made to the Fathers are fulfilled.
The giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai involved the Aaronic priesthood, the sacrificial system, the Tabernacle, the Sabbath days, the festivals, the civil and ceremonial laws, and the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:17,20; 20:1,21-22; 21:1-2,12; 22:1,16; 23:10-11,14; 24:1-8,12,18; 25:1,8-9,40; 28:1; 31:12-18; 32:1; 34:27-28; Hebrews 8:1-6; 9:1-12,15,18-24; 10:1,10; 13:20). These things were given by God as a shadow of things to come (Hebrews 10:1) to teach us (Galatians 3:24) about Yeshua and the redemptive work of God (Colossians 2:16-17). Shavuot was the birth of the congregation in the wilderness (Acts 7:38). The things given at Mount Sinai were divine and from God, but shown in a physical way (Hebrews 9:1) to enable us to understand the spiritual truths that God wanted to communicate to us (1 Peter 2:5-9). So God gave Israel the Covenant; the Torah; the services; the oracles of God; and the promises (Romans 9:4-5; 3:2), which were divine (Hebrews 9:1), at Mount Sinai to teach us about Yeshua:
Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me; Psalms 40:7 NASB
The Tanakh was to point us to Christ. It is all about Yeshua!:
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16 NASB
All the promises that God made to Israel are fulfilled in Christ. All believers are in Christ and share all that Christ is and has.
To natural Israel, Passover was their freedom from the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 12). Unleavened Bread was the separation from the land of Egypt into the immersion (baptism) in the Red Sea and the Cloud in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). First Fruits was a guarantee of the coming harvest. Finally, God led the people to Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1) where they experienced Shavuot, and God revealed Himself to the people in a deeper and greater way than He ever did previously.
The Spring Festivals were fulfilled by Yeshua, who was our Passover Lamb Who died on the day of Passover, which brought deliverance from the bondage of the sin during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yeshua arose as First Fruits of the barley harvest; He Himself being the first of those to rise from the dead. Finally, the promised New Covenant arrived during the Feast of Pentecost to gather all believers in Christ to be God's Spring Harvest in the earth. As these four feasts describe in detail the significant events during the first coming of Messiah, when He came to redeem man back to God following the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we will find that the Fall Festivals give us tremendous insight and understanding concerning the events of Yeshua's Second Coming.
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