Hey friends!  With specific intent, we cut our study of the feasts of Israel into two lessons so you could meditate on the substance…the fulfillment…of those feasts.  Indeed, Jesus is our Passover Lamb, the essence of Unleavened Bread, the fulfillment of First Fruits, and part of the three-in-one Godhead revealed at Pentecost!

That is the substance of the first four feast! Those are fulfilled, and just as surely as those were fulfilled through Jesus our Messiah, so will He fulfill the final three!  God is still ON MISSION, and He will see that every feast is fulfilled! 

Remember our passage from Colossians 2:16-17?  The feasts are shadows of what is to come, but the substance is Christ.  Look for substance as we study the fifth, sixth and seventh feasts of Israel.

Feast #5: Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teru’ah in Hebrew)

Modern-day Jews know this day as Rosh HaShannah (“Head of the Year” or New Year’s Day). That, of course, is civic in nature because God clearly identified Passover as happening in the first month. Thus, Passover is the first feast.  Those are details we won’t get into here. Just know that today’s Jewish population views this festival more as a New Year’s celebration than anything.

Study tips:

• Read Numbers 10:1-10.  This one is more complicated, so stick with me!
  • Why trumpets?  (Why not flutes or drums?) Because trumpets were used to call an assembly together or to direct movement.
  • Why silver, rather than gold?  Because silver is precious metal, though not perfect. His people are precious in His sight, but not perfect!
  • Why two, rather than 5…or 10…or 100?  Because there are exactly two precious, but imperfect groups God intends to use for His purposes.  Read Isaiah 43:10 and Acts 1:8.
  • Based on those two passages, who do you believe the two witnesses of the Lord (trumpets) are?

Once the Church Age began, Israel as a nation existed only until 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews around the world. Until Israel’s rebirth in 1948, there was no Israel.  Only since 1948 have Israel and the church existed at the same time!  God intends for us to partner together to “trumpet the news” of the Messiah’s coming. Israel does it unknowingly, and the church should be doing it knowingly and intentionally!  Both groups are currently failing.

But, while Jews view the Feast of Trumpets as the potential first coming of the Messiah, Christians view it as His Second Coming (Jesus’ physical return to earth, not the rapture).  Remember, these are Jewish feasts, not Christian feasts! There are many trumpets referenced in Scripture. This trumpet is not the one that sounds at the rapture. This one will blow when Jesus returns to earth to redeem Israel…and all Israel will be saved!  Find the Second Coming on our diagram and you will have a sense of chronology.

As the church (body of Christ), I hope we are blowing our trumpet with a clear, certain sound (1 Corinthians 14:8). The substance is Jesus, and He is coming again. Meanwhile, God is at work tuning the trumpets and preparing them to blow.

Feast #6: Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew)

The Bible teaches us that only after Jesus’ actual return to earth (Feast of Trumpets) will there be full and complete national repentance.  This feast illustrates that.

Study tips:

• Read Leviticus 23:26-33 and Zechariah 12:10.
• This prophecy is yet to be fulfilled.  When do you think it will happen?

Only those who confess with their mouth and believe with their hearts will be saved.  (Romans 10:9) Every person comes to Jesus the exact same way. Therefore, only those who confess and believe prior to the rapture will be raptured. That excludes most Jews. Those Jews and Gentiles who do not confess and believe must endure the tribulation. But let’s examine what happens when Jesus returns.

Study tips:

• Read Zechariah 12:10-11.
• What does the prophet Zechariah say will occur when the Jewish people finally recognize Jesus as Messiah?

This occurs at Jesus’ Second Coming, after the tribulation.  It is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The feast will be fulfilled and all Israel will be saved!

And then the celebration…

Feast #7: Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot in Hebrew)

Let the party begin!  We know this, Biblically, as the Millennial Kingdom.

Study tips:

• Read Leviticus 23:34 and Zechariah 14:16-21.
• Describe what those 1,000 years will be like.
• Once again, this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. 

We can only imagine what Jesus’ fulfillment of the prophecy will look like exactly. But what we do know is this:

• Our King Jesus will return to Jerusalem, and we will be with Him.
• Everyone will be there to worship Him.
• There will be no distinction between Jews and Gentiles, as we all follow our Messiah together!
• We will celebrate for 1,000 years!

My friends, God has a plan, He knows the end from the beginning, He will fulfill His plan, and He is currently at work preparing His uniquely-called people for their national day of salvation!  They may have missed His first visitation, but there is no way God will allow them to miss the second.  He is ON MISSION, and we have chosen to join Him where He is working!

Congratulations, we have completed two weeks of study together!  But the best is yet to come!  Next week we will examine God’s plan for us in His mission.  We’ll discover His calling and will be challenged in how we accept His invitation to join Him in His work.  Stay tuned…we’ll be right back here to start week 3!