The Feasts of Israel point to Jesus as Messiah

Precept Acts Part 1 - Lesson  2

 Acts Chapter 2

So..... this past week we studied Acts Chapter 2, which is all about the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  My "a-ha" moment this week was that I didn't understand that Pentecost was also a Feast. 

The 7 Feasts of Israel were set up by God.  Ultimately, they were a picture of the Messiah. So that when The Messiah came, the Jewish people would recognize Him.   The Messiah was Jesus, our Savior.  And the 4 Spring Feasts all were fulfilled at Jesus' first coming.

I've studied the Feasts briefly before, but decided to go a little more in-depth this time.  (The names of the feasts are listed in English.  The bracketed names are Hebrew.

The Spring Feasts:

Fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ

1)  Feast of Passover - (Pesach) - Originally set up to remember freedom from slavery in Egypt.  Perfect white lamb slain and blood on the doorpost.  This was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross.

2)  Feast of Unleavened Bread -(Hag Hamatzot) - Originally set up to remember leaving Egypt quickly.  Leaven was a sign for sin.  So this was fulfilled in Jesus' sinless life and burial.

3)  Feast of First Fruits - (Hag HaBikkurim) - Feast that celebrates and offers the first fruits of the harvest.   Jesus is the "First Fruit" of those that will rise from the dead.  Because Jesus is accepted before God, we are also now accepted.

4)  Feast of Weeks/Pentecost (Shavuot) -  Pentecost is the Greek word for Weeks.  This feast was a remembrance of the giving of The Law on Sinai.  This was fulfilled in the coming of the Holy Spirit into believers.

The Fall Feasts:

To be fulfilled at Jesus' 2nd coming

(We're not covering this in the Book of Acts, so I won't cover them in-depth here.)

5)  Feast of Trumpets - (Rosh Hashanah)

6)  Feast of Atonement - (Yom Kippur)

7)  Feast of Tabernacles - (Succoth)

If you want more information I found two really good, easy to understand websites:

1)  Discovering the Jewish Jesus. http://discoveringthejewishjesus.com/category/teaching-notes/
Rabbi posts his teaching notes here that goes along with his tv show.  He has several notes on the feasts.   These are great to understand the Feasts from a Jewish perspective.

2)  Jesus Plus Nothing:  http://www.jesusplusnothing.com/studies/online/FeastsIntroduction.htm
There's easy to understand explanations along with two really good charts.