Overview
FEAST
SEASONS |
FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD |
FEAST OF HARVEST/WEEKS
PENTECOST |
FEAST OF BOOTHS/TABERNACLES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE FEASTS
OF
THE LORD |
|
UNLEAVENED
BREAD
(Hag Ha Matzah) |
|
|
|
|
|
GOD'S WORK |
CREATION
OUTWORKING OF GOD’S CREATIVE & REDEMPTIVE WORKS |
REVELATION
GOD’S WORD & SPIRIT |
REDEMPTION
REST • REFLECTION • RESTORATION • RELATIONSHIP • REVIVAL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Getting in Sync with God’s Covenant Way
God operates and engages with mankind through an order and framework of a kind of relationship He calls covenant. He has made and recorded in the Scriptures several progressive covenants with mankind through various individuals. He established a covenant with Noah, an everlasting one with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and a covenant and a law with Moses. He made an everlasting covenant with David, and as the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel proclaimed, God said He would make a new kind of covenant written on peoples’ hearts.
Through Isaiah, God specifically defined the two key components characterizing His covenant: His words and Spirit.
"As for Me," says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants," says the LORD, "from this time and forevermore." (Isaiah 59:21 NKJV)
An important aspect of God’s covenant relates to the Feasts of the LORD. The Bible marks these feasts as appointed times and seasons. They serve as a cycle of ways God desires to engage with His people. He didn’t appoint these encounters to be legalistic rituals, but real ways to relate and interact with Him in a refreshing and dynamic way! Truly, God designed these events to be perpetual ways of engaging with Him in very real and relevant ways. They are His feasts—the Feasts of the Lord.
God established seven particular feasts grouped into three feast seasons. Through these feasts, we see God’s overall pattern of Creation, Revelation and Redemption. It is a pattern He continuously works through. It is the pattern of His cadence—His rhythm. It is the way He designed for us to be in sync with Him!
God’s Way and Cadence: Creation → Revelation → Redemption
In his Star of Redemption demonstration, Rosenzweig viewed God’s people as “carriers of revelation.” He specifically saw in the feasts:
Unleavened Bread: Liberation as an experience of Creation; the outworking of God’s creative process
Weeks or Harvest: Revelation of Torah; God’s law and instruction
Booths or Tabernacles: Rest, Messianic deliverance, Settlement, Destiny, Certainty of Redemption
God is always creating new things for His glory. His works find destiny in redemption. The first way, in fact, God revealed Himself was as Creator. He is the Creator. God is always creating new things. He spoke to Isaiah several times (chapters 42:9, 43:19 and 48:6) about the new things He creates. Through the cycle of feast seasons, we see the outworking of God’s process of Creation, Revelation and Redemption.
Through Unleavened Bread, we see God initiating His creative and redemptive process. He separates light from darkness, truth from lies, righteousness from sin—and people from bondage. God creates new things by speaking His Word and breathing His Spirit. The first fruits of what God creates serve as His testimonies and demonstration of His creative acts. In Unleavened Bread, God draws us unto Himself, reveals His plan of peace, and provides for a way to transition and grow a step closer to God.
Through the Feast of Weeks or Harvest—and evidenced in Pentecost—we see God’s Word and Spirit revealing and manifesting the knowledge of God, His truth, His power and His glory. We also see God preparing us for a deeper and more meaningful experience with Him.
Through Tabernacles, we see God’s process come to a state of rest and completion. We see His kingdom order established. We see trials come to a resolution in Messiah’s victory. We value God’s presence in a fresh way, and come to a place and state of rest, reflection, redemption and restoration.
Through the feast seasons, we see God connecting heaven with earth; His will being accomplished on earth as it is in heaven. We see God’s purposes work through the process of time, and Messiah’s kingdom manifesting and revealing itself. We see a way that brings alignment and unification between man and God—our Creator. We see a path leading towards destiny.
Finally, we see Messiah in the feasts—in a multitude of ways! May you see the light of Messiah in the feasts, and your relationship with God grow in a real, dynamic and refreshing way.
A beautiful parallel and picture of this process of Creation → Revelation → Redemption through the Feasts can be seen through the story of how Joshua and the children of Israel were led by God across the Jordan into the Promised Land. Follow it and be blessed!
The Testimony of Joshua and the Children of Israel Crossing and Settling into the Promised Land
The book of Joshua begins a new dispensation of time for the children of Israel. The long 40-year journey in the wilderness has come to an end. It is time to cross over into a new place, and experience a new kind of life; a life of faith—a life experiencing a dynamic relationship with the living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and participating in the fullness of God’s glorious benefits. That was God’s plan.
See how the story begins. See the promises God outlines.
1 Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them -- the children of Israel….5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:2-8 NKJV)
Immediately after this exhortation, Joshua issues more instructions revealing God’s plan.
11 Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.'" 12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, 13 "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.'
See how Joshua outlines God’s process in three simple phrases pointing to His way of Creation → Revelation → Redemption
Prepare provisions: Get ready! God is preparing you for a new redeeming work of His Creation!
Possess the land: Receive the Revelation, Realization, and Reality of God’s Promise!
The LORD is giving you rest and this land: Experience the fullness of God’s Redemption!
What is amazing about the whole story—the exodus from Egypt to the entering of the Promised Land—is that BOTH occur at Passover! The children of Israel celebrated the first Passover upon leaving Egypt—and again 40 years later upon arriving in the Promised Land. It’s a beautiful picture! God’s timing and cadence is awesome. He has made the way for us to participate in it.
Be encouraged and inspired in the awesome way God designed to relate and interact with us as you read the story. Then, allow Messiah and His Spirit to relate and interact with you as you continue your life along His pathways to ZION!
The Parallel of the Feasts in the Testimony of Joshua and the Settlement in the Promised Land
FEAST
SEASONS |
FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD |
FEAST OF HARVEST/
WEEKS
PENTECOST |
FEAST OF BOOTHS/TABERNACLES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE FEASTS
OF
THE LORD |
|
UNLEAVENED
BREAD
(Hag Ha Matzah) |
|
|
|
|
|
GOD'S WORK |
CREATION
OUTWORKING OF GOD’S CREATIVE & REDEMPTIVE WORKS |
REVELATION
GOD’S WORD & SPIRIT |
REDEMPTION
REST • REFLECTION • RESTORATION • RELATIONSHIP • REVIVAL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCRIPTURE |
JOSHUA
2:24 |
JOSHUA
3:5 |
JOSHUA
3:11-13 |
JOSHUA
3:10-4:24 |
JOSHUA
5:13-6:21 |
JOSHUA
7 and 8 |
JOSHUA
11:23 |
SCRIPTURE
TEXT |
“Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.” |
"Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." |
“Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you…And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off” |
“By this you shall know that the living God is among you…”
“… that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." |
“…as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come..."
“…And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" |
“But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things…”
“…And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings…”
“…And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings…” |
“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.” |
MAIN
POINT
|
The LORD had gone before them to prepare, provide and preserve a place. They were justified in inheriting the promise. |
God requires us to be a holy: a sanctified, grateful people who worship and honor the LORD for His love, divine providence and intervention; and walk in His light. |
The ark represents Messiah, the first
fruit crossing over and entering into—and also risen unto—eternal life. The priests represent the first fruit offering in faith of the people who will cross over. |
God reveals and demonstrates His glory: the realization of His Word and Spirit manifested in and by His presence and power, leading us to all truth, goodness and peace. |
The King arrives!
His message: Marching Orders.
Encircle the enemy’s stronghold; blow the trumpets, calling the army of the LORD to battle; behold and preview the new kind of life of triumph! |
After experiencing the miraculous victory, sin and treachery prevented continued success. Upon confession, the LORD reversed judgment; and the people re-committed to His way, truth and life. |
Simply amazing!
God performed many miracles. The people defeated their enemies and won the spoils of war. They learned God’s way of working out their salvation. They enjoyed God’s rest. |
|
