The Feasts of Israel in the New Testament
and their relevance to the Christ event
In Part One of this series, we surveyed the Feast Days established under the Old Covenant system and found them to be for the purpose of memorializing and celebrating Israels deliverance from Egyptian slavery and celebrating the three harvest seasons. As noted in Part One,some Christian teachers see in these Feasts of Israel a prefiguring of events in the life of Christ. Some see these Feasts as designed and ordained to prefigure Christ.
However, in studying the Feasts of Israel, there is nothing within the OT narrative describing and discussing these Feasts that in any way points to the Christ event. You cannot read the OT narrative regarding the Feasts and come away with the conclusion that these Feasts prefigure the Christ event. To do so is assuming the thing to be proved. It amounts to reading into the text what isn’t there.
As I alluded to in part one of this series, if you had never read the New Testament or had any prior knowledge of the Christ event and you would read the OT narrative about the Feasts, you would not conclude that these Feasts were prefiguring the coming of a Messiah. There would be nothing there to indicate that. It is only after learning about the Christ event that you can match up events in His life with events associated with the OT Feasts. Is there evidence that such match-ups are valid? Are some evidentially valid while others are pure speculation?
There are two basic approaches to Bible study which are best explained by the two Greek words exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is where great care is taken to consider the circumstances extant when a document was written (context) and how those reading such document would have understood it (audience relevance). Eisegesis is the process of interpreting a text or portion of text in such a way where one's own presuppositions, paradigms, agendas, or biases are introduced into the deciphering of the text. This is commonly referred to as "reading into the text.”
To conclude, on the basis of the OT narrative, that the Feasts of Israel prefigure the Christ event or even, as some believe, were specifically designed and established to prefigure the Christ event, is to practice eisegesis. As already observed, the context wherein the Feast Days are recorded in most cases give the reason for their establishment and that reason is not the prefiguring of the Christ event. These Feasts appear to be primarily established to reflect upon Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and to celebrate harvests.
A brief review:
The Sabbath was established to keep Israel in constant awareness of God delivering them from Egyptian slavery.
Deuteronomy 15:15: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”
The Passover is shown to be a commemoration ceremony of Israel being spared while the first born of Egypt were being killed.
Exodus 12:25-27: When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ”
As discussed in Part One, The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a memorial of the Israelites leaving Egypt and the fact they had to leave Egypt in haste and not have time to leaven their bread. Deuteronomy 16:3 calls it “the bread of affliction because you left Egypt in haste.”
Exodus 12:17: “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
The Feast of Firstfruits appears to be connected to the first gathering of the barley crop. It is part of the firstfruits motif associated with the ingathering of harvests and was for the purpose of honoring God for providing Israel with these harvests after arriving in the Promised Land. These firstfruits ordinances, like the Feasts in general, were tied to God delivering Israel from Egypt.
Deuteronomy 26:8-10: So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, LORD, have given me.”
The Feast of Weeks was another harvest festival tied to the wheat harvest in late spring/early summer. Deuteronomy 16:9-12 speaks of this Feast and ties it to the release from Egyptian slavery as is true of the other Feasts. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.”
The Feast of Trumpets is not defined as to its purpose. While it appears that it was trumpets that were blown, it may have been a “Feast of Shouting” where the sound of human voices are involved rather than a machinal instrument such as a trumpet. We are not told what the purpose was for this Feast or the significance of the trumpets being blown or shouts being made.
What about atonement? This Feast does not appear to be associated with the deliverance from Egyptian slavery. It appears to be an ordinance established for the purpose of allowing the Israelites to have their sins covered on an annual basic in order to maintain a relationship with God. God provided a sacrificial protocol for the people of Israel to have their sins expiated for the previous year. While it may appear obvious to some that the sacrificial events associated with the Day of Atonement in the OT prefigure the sacrifice of Christ, there is nothing in the narrative regarding Atonement to suggest it prefigures the sacrifice of Christ. There is nothing in the OT narrative of this event that says that. It is an association that can only be made by reading certain passages in the NT and drawing certain conclusions as to their association with the Day of Atonement.
The Feast of Tabernacles is definitely tied to the deliverance from Egypt and a celebration of the fall harvest.
Leviticus 23:42-43: Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’ ”
Exodus 16:13b: “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.
Let us now turn to the New Testament and see if it can be determined whether the Feasts can be validly construed as prefiguring the Christ event. Let’s begin with the Sabbath which in Leviticus 23 is included in the list of Feasts.
Feast Days in the New Testament:
The Sabbath:
In the New Testament, the word Sabbath appears 58 times and primarily is used as a reference point to identify some event or activity taking place on the Sabbath. There is nothing in the NT narrative to show that Jesus in some manner fulfilled the Sabbath except for possibly in the Book of Hebrews, a letter written to Jewish Christians in the first century. In Hebrews 3, the writer speaks of the Israelites who were disobedient during the 40-year journey through the wilderness and never entering God’s rest.
Hebrews 3:9-11: where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest (Greek: κατάπαυσίν (katapausin).’ ”
Hebrew 3:17-19: And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
The Greek κατάπαυσίν (katapausin) rendered as “rest” in these passages and throughout the Book of Hebrews has the basic meaning of “a putting to rest, a resting or a place of rest” according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. This word appears only in the Book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 4:1 the writer says,
Hebrews 4:1-3: Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
It would appear that the gospel preached to Israel in the wilderness was the good news of escape from Egyptian slavery into the rest of the Promised Land. It must be noted, however, that under the leadership of Joshua, the Israelites did not obtain a complete rest in the Promised Land. It is recorded that Joshua was only able to obtain for them partial victory over the inhabitants of the Promised Land (See Joshua 13, 15:63, 23:11-13). We see this acknowledged by the writer of Hebrews.
Hebrews 4:8: For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.
This being said, the focus here in Hebrews is on those who did not make it to the Promised Land because of their lack of faith in the process. The Scriptures reveal that, except for a few people, the entire generation of those who left Egypt did not go into the Promised Land. Entry into the Promised Land was accomplished by the succeeding generation under the leadership of Joshua. It was primarily this first generation of Israelites that left Egypt to whom rest was denied. Thus, it is written that another rest was going to be available and it appears that rest has something to do with the Christ event.
The writer speaks of the gospel (good news) being preached to the first century Jewish Christians (Hebrews 4:1-3). What good news was this? It certainly wasn’t good news about entering the Promised Land given to ancient Israel. When put into the overall context of the Book of Hebrews, the gospel preached to the first century Hebrews, and all others who heard it, was salvation through the Christ event which amounted to coming out of slavery to sin and death and into the rest that salvation provides. Within this context the writer says:
Hebrews 4:9-11: There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest (Greek: σαββατισμὸς (sabbatismos) for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example (The ancient Israelites) of disobedience.
Under the Old Covenant it was works that were required to gain an acceptable standing before God. Under the New Covenant a good standing before God was facilitated through faith in the Christ event. The writer is exhorting his readers to not depart from their faith in the Christ event and fail to enter the eternal rest of eternal life facilitated by Christ.
Hebrews 4:14: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Some believe Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. Christ is seen as our rest. Christian theologians see in Christ the fulfillment of a variety of OT prophecies and Old Covenant regulations. As seen in the quotes from Luke 24 as seen in Part One of this series, Jesus believed He was the fulfillment of things written about Him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.
Was the Sabbath established with Christ in mind? Was it instituted to prefigure Christ? Was the Sabbath a type of Christ with Christ being the anti-type? Was the OT Sabbath rest deliberately established to prefigure a rest attained through faith in the Christ event?
There is no teaching in the OT that directly associates the Sabbath rest of Israel with the Christ event or that suggests it prefigures a rest in Christ. In the NT, in his letter to the Colossians, Paul speaks of dietary regulations, religious festivals, new moon celebrations and Sabbath days as a shadow of things to come. The writer to the Hebrews speaks of the law as a shadow of good things to come and goes on to show that the law he is talking about is the law of sacrifices done under the Old Covenant and how those sacrifices prefigured the sacrifice of Christ. The things to come are seen in both the writings of Paul and the writings of the author of Hebrews as associated with the Christ event.
Colossians 2:16-17: Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Hebrews 10:1: The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. Chapter 10 goes on to show how Christ took the place of bulls and goats in becoming a permanent sacrifice for sin.
The writings of Paul and that of the author of the letter to the Hebrews indicate that Christ is in some manner a fulfilment of the Sabbath. However, this does not necessarily mean the Sabbath was made with Christ in mind. After all, Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27). As noted in Part One, in Deuteronomy 15 and Exodus 23, there is indication that the Sabbath rest was given to Israel as a reaction to their having had to work seven days a week while in Egyptian slavery. It was given as a reminder of they having been delivered by God from Egyptian bondage.
More importantly, as seen in Exodus 31, the Sabbath was established as a sign to identify the God of Israel as the God of creation and therefore the one true God as distinguished from the gods of the nation’s surrounding Israel. The Sabbath is seen as being established as a covenant sign between God and Israel.
In view of the above, it does not appear that the Sabbath was established as a prefigurement of Christ or anything connected with Christ. It appears that the author of Hebrews was simply using the historically documented experience of Israel as a template to admonish first century Christian Israelites to not make the mistake ancient Israel made. They were being exhorted to not miss out on the eternal rest that salvation through Christ brings as the first-generation Israelites that left Egypt missed out on entering the Promised Land.
The generation of Israelites that left Egypt did not believe God could deliver to them the Promised Land and the rest that came with it. So, they all died in the wilderness. Christ is seen as being our Sabbath rest in the sense that we rest in the knowledge of our being secure in the salvation facilitated by the Christ event provided we maintain faith in Christ and what He did.
This being said, the writer to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10) speaks of the law (sacrificial law in this case) being a shadow of good things to come and not the reality of such things. Was the sacrificial system established to prefigure the sacrifice of Christ or was the sacrifice of Christ simply a greater fulfilling of the sacrificial law. Paul speaks of the Sabbath, festivals and new moons as shadows of things to come but the reality is found in Christ (Colossians 2). Is Paul saying these Old Covenant regulations were specifically established to prefigure the Christ event or did the Christ even facilitate a greater fulfillment of these regulations or what amounted to a greater reality of these events? Can an ancient event be a shadow of a contemporary event without having been designed to be that?
It certainly appears that Jesus saw in the writings of Moses and the prophet’s at least some narrative that directly pertained to Him (Luke 24), narrative that Paul saw as a shadow of what was to come. What was the narrative that Jesus saw as pertaining to Him? Some believe Jesus had Deuteronomy 18:15 in mind when he said what is recorded in John 5:46-47.
John 5:46-47: If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
Was Moses referring to Jesus when he said what is recorded in Deuteronomy 18?
Deuteronomy 18:15: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.
This statement by Moses is commonly seen as pertaining to Christ because Peter uses this statement in reference to Christ. In the NT book of Acts, chapter 3, Peter is addressing an audience made up of Israelites, and chastises them for their role in the death of Jesus. He exhorts them to repent. Then he quotes what Moses said as recorded in Deuteronomy and relates it to Jesus.
Acts 3:22: For Moses said, `The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.
The context of Acts 3 shows Peter is associating what Moses said about God rising up a prophet with the man Jesus. Peter appears to be saying that Moses was prophesying the rise of Jesus as a prophet. In Acts chapter 7 we see Stephen, while defending His being a follower of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, alluding to Deuteronomy 18:15 as pertaining to Christ.
Acts 7:37: "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, `God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.'
In Deuteronomy 18, Moses is addressing the Israelites and giving them general instructions as to the priesthood of the Levites, and the need to avoid the detestable practices of the nations around them. Then Moses makes the statement about God rising up for them a prophet like Moses whom they must listen to. Moses follows this statement by saying the following:
Deuteronomy 18:16-19: For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die." The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.
If we are to honor audience relevance which is to consider how those hearing Moses would have understood what he was saying and if we are to honor context which is to consider all that Moses said to the people, it should be apparent that Moses was telling them that God would raise up a prophet like himself to lead them after he died.
The context of Deuteronomy 18 is Moses addressing the Israelites of his day. When Moses says, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me," the "you" Moses is addressing are the Israelites standing before him. There is no indication Moses is using the word "you" in an editorial sense where "you" is being used to pertain to those living hundreds or thousands of years into the future. Furthermore, YHWH says, "I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him." Who is the "them?" It would be logical to conclude the "them" are the Israelites being addressed at the time.
Since the instruction in Deuteronomy 15 and to the end of the book appears to have been given shortly before Moses died, it stands to reason that Moses would have reassured the Israelites that they would not be left leaderless. Therefore, he tells them that God would raise up a prophet like him to lead them.
The next fifteen chapters of Deuteronomy contain continuing instruction from Moses to Israel as to how to conduct and not conduct themselves as a nation. There is no reason to believe that in the midst of all the instruction Moses is giving to the Israelites that pertain to them in their here and now and to their immediate future, he suddenly departs from their here and now and immediate future to tell them God will raise up a leader for them 1,500 years in the future after they all will have been dead for multiple hundreds of years. Of what relevance would it be to the Israelites Moses was addressing to say God would raise up a prophet like him to whom they must listen if the "they" were all going to be dead when this prophet arrived on the scene.
In the final chapter of Deuteronomy, chapter 34, the death of Moses is recorded. After the death of Moses, Joshua becomes the leader of Israel. Joshua replaces Moses and leads Israel into the Promised Land. Before his death, Moses laid his hands on Joshua and Scripture shows God promised to be with Joshua as He was with Moses and the people responded to Joshua as they did to Moses.
Deuteronomy 34:9: Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.
Joshua 1:5: No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Joshua 1:16-18: Then they answered Joshua, "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!"
The context here clearly shows Joshua has received the mantle of leadership and the people are to listen to him as they had listened to Moses. God said through Moses that He would raise up for them a prophet like Moses from among their brothers, put His words in the mouth of this prophet and expect everyone to listen to this prophet and if they don’t, they will be held accountable. While it could be argued that Joshua is nowhere called a prophet in Scripture, when considering the context here and paying heed to audience relevance, it would appear when Moses says God will rise up a prophet like unto himself, Moses is talking about his successor Joshua. Further evidence this is the case in found in Joshua 3:7 and 9.
Joshua 3:7,9: And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Verse 9: Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.
It is clear from this passage that YHWH was with Joshua as He was with Moses and that He spoke through Joshua as He spoke through Moses. This passage shows God put His words in the mouth of Joshua just as He had put His words into the mouth of Moses. This appears to be a clear fulfillment of what God said through Moses about raising up a prophet like Moses. In Numbers, chapter 27, just before his death, Moses asks God to provide a leader for Israel to take his place. God directs Moses to have Joshua anointed as his successor.
Numbers 27:15-18: Moses said to the LORD, "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd." So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him.
Some may argue that what was said by YHWH as recorded in Deuteronomy 18:16-19 could not have applied to Joshua because of what is recorded in Deuteronomy 34:10-12.
Deuteronomy 34:10-12: Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt--to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
While it is true that Joshua was no Moses as to all Moses accomplished, He still became the mouthpiece for YHWH after the death of Moses just as Moses had been the mouthpiece for YHWH. This may be all that is meant by "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him" (18:18). YHWH is not speaking of this prophet performing awesome deeds as did Moses. He is talking about this prophet being the vehicle through whom God would communicate His will to Israel. It should be evident from the Scriptures reviewed above that Joshua had become the mouthpiece for YHWH just as Moses had been and, in this respect, fulfilled 18:18.
In view of the Scriptural evidence that it is Joshua who Moses is speaking about in Deuteronomy 18, why does Peter, Stephen and possibly even Jesus associate Jesus with what Moses said about God raising up a prophet like Moses? It would appear Peter, Stephen and Jesus are saying that God through Moses was prophesying the arrival of Jesus. Yet context and audience relevance would suggest this OT prophecy was fulfilled shortly after the time it was given and it has nothing to do with Jesus.
So how do we explain Peter and Stephen seeing Deuteronomy 18:15 as being a prophesy about Christ? It is apparent that when NT writers see Jesus in OT prophecies they are doing so because they came to understand that even though such prophecies may have had an initial fulfillment at the time or close to the time they were given, they also were meant to foreshadow events in the life of Christ. They came to this understanding because this is what Jesus taught them.
Luke 24:44: He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
The Greek word translated “fulfilled” here in Luke 24:44 is pleeroo. This word appears 90 times in the NT and has the basic meaning of “to make full, to fill, to fill up and to fill to the full.” It is apparent Jesus saw in Himself the bringing to the full a number of prophetic events recorded in the OT Scriptures. While many of these prophesied events had initial fulfillment in the past, they are seen as being brought to greater fulfillment in Christ. I address this issue in detail at http://theologicalperspectives.com/old-testament-prophecies-and-jesus-part-one
While some NT scholars question the validity of NT authors using already fulfilled OT prophecies as having been fulfilled a second time in Christ, it is apparent from what Jesus taught His disciples about such prophecies that He believed that such prophecies were intended to have application beyond their immediate fulfillment at or near to the time such prophecies were uttered.
Was the Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, Feast of firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles prophetic of the Christ event? Where these annual observances specifically established to prefigure the Christ event? Or, as indicated, where these Feasts established as celebrations of deliverance from Egypt and harvesting of crops and nothing more than that? Let’s take a look.
Passover and Unleavened Bread in the New Testament:
Passover is mentioned 28 times in the NT and Unleavened Bread is mentioned 8 times. In all 28 references to the Passover, all but one is simply a reference to preparation for the Passover or the Passover taking place. There is nothing said about the historical significance of the Passover. In the case of Unleavened Bread, all 8 references are references to it being prepared for or kept. As with the Passover, there is no discussion of its historical significance.
It is apparent the NT authors are simply citing the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread as markers of time and place. The narrative shows Jesus and others attending these observances or engaging in various activities during or around the time of their occurrence. There is no commentary provided about the purpose for keeping these observances. It can only be assumed they were keeping these observances for the same reason their ancestors kept them. They were commanded to keep them throughout their generations as celebrations of their deliverance from Egypt and the ingathering of crops.
There is one reference to Passover in the NT where it is used as a designation for Christ. In 1st Corinthians 5, Paul deals with a situation in the church where a man was sleeping with his father’s wife. Apparently, the church members were ok with this. Paul chides them for this and compares this man and what he is doing to yeast infecting the church and advises this man be disfellowshipped. Paul points out that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. Paul is saying to the church that if the immorality of this man is allowed to be acceptable, it will negatively affect the entire church. Paul then says this:
1st Corinthians 5:7-8: Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Here Paul analogizes the Passover lamb to Christ and leavened bread to sin. Since this is primarily a Gentile church, it would be incongruous with other of Paul’s teachings to believe he is instructing the Corinthians to observe the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. So that does not appear to be what Paul is doing here.
Paul appears to be analogizing the sacrifice of the Passover lamb to the sacrifice of Christ and analogizing leaven bread to sin and unleavened bread to righteousness. Since it would be incongruous for him to be instructing the Corinthians to be literally observing the Passover and Days of unleavened bread, he apparently is using Passover and Unleavened as symbolic imagery to tell them they are to remove the sin from their midst and pursue righteousness.
The Passover lambs were sacrificed and their blood shed to protect the firstborn of Israel from being killed along with the Egyptian first born. The sacrifice and shed blood of Jesus is Scripturally seen to protect humans from eternal death due to sin. In Paul analogizing the sacrifice of Christ to the sacrifice of the Passover lambs, is he teaching that the sacrifice of Passover lambs in Egypt was an event specifically designed to prefigure the sacrifice of Christ? No, he is not.
Paul is analogizing the sacrifice of Christ to the sacrifice of the Passover lambs. To conclude that in Paul identifying the sacrifice of Christ with the Passover lamb proves the Passover was inaugurated to be a prefigurement of the Christ event is assuming the thing to be proved.
Assuming the thing to be proved is a logical fallacy known as begging the question or circular reasoning. It occurs when an argument's premise assumes the truth of the conclusion, rather than providing independent evidence for it. Essentially, one is using the conclusion itself as part of the proof for that conclusion. A good argument provides independent evidence to support its conclusion. If the premise relies on the conclusion, it offers no new information or justification for believing the claim.
Paul does appear to be using the Days of Unleavened Bread as a template for using leaven bread as symbolic of sin and unleavened bread as symbolic of righteousness. However, there is nothing in the OT narrative about the Days of Unleavened Bread being about sin, coming out of sin or leaven representing sin. Nowhere else in all of Scripture is leaven seen as a symbol of sin.
Therefore, Paul’s use of leaven as symbolic of sin appears to be metaphorical and has nothing to do with the meaning or purpose of the Days of Unleavened Bread. A metaphor is the use of something to stand for or symbolize something else. As discussed in Part One of this series, the Unleavened Bread ordinance is tied to the fact that the Israelites had to leave Egypt in haste and didn’t have time to leaven their bread. Deuteronomy 16:3 calls it “the bread of affliction because you left Egypt in haste.” The observance of Unleavened Bread appears to be a memorial of the Israelites leaving Egypt in haste and means nothing more than that.
This all being said, Jesus is identified as a lamb a number of times in the NT. John the Baptist calls Jesus the lamb of God in John 1:29 and 1:36. He is alluded to as a lamb in Acts 8:32. He is called a lamb in 1st Peter 1:19. In the Book of Revelation Jesus is identified as a Lamb 30 times. In the Revelation His name virtually becomes Lamb as He, as the lamb, is seen as doing many things. Peculiarly in Revelation 5:6, the Lamb is characterized as having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Revelation 5:12 speaks of the lamb having been slain. Revelation 13:8 speaks of the Lamb being slain from the foundation of the world.
While Jesus is identified as a lamb in the NT, except for 1st Corinthians 5:7-8 discussed above, there is no association made between Jesus as a lamb and the Passover in any other NT Scripture. The OT Passover event is clearly associated with the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
Deuteronomy 16:1: Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.
Israel is instructed to celebrate the Passover because it is the time when YHWH delivered them from Egyptian slavery. There is no evidence that the Passover was designed to be celebrated for any other reason. There is nothing suggesting it was designed to prefigure the sacrifice of Jesus. The belief that it was designed to do so is predicated on an a prior belief that this is indeed the case, in other words, assuming the thing to be proved.
The NT designation of Jesus as a lamb appears to be a metaphoric association with the Passover lamb of the Exodus. Remember, a metaphor is the use of something to stand for or symbolize something else. Though the OT Passover was a specific sacrificial event in ancient Israel, in the NT it came to stand for the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of a lamb in the Exodus Passover is being used as a template for the sacrifice of Christ. What essentially is being done here is the taking of an OT event and superimposing unto a NT event. To superimpose is to combine two events, systems, ideas or perspectives so that one influences the other.
Feast of Firstfruits in the New Testament:
Christian teachers often teach that the OT Feast of Firstfruits is a prefigurement of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul is often quoted to support this claim.
1st Corinthians 15:20: Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
The reason some teach that the Feast of Firstfruits prefigures the resurrection of Christ is because this Feast took place shortly after the Passover, during the Days of Unleavened Bread as discussed in Part One of this series. Since it is believed the Passover occurred to prefigure the crucifixion of Christ, it is believed the Feast of Firstfruits occurred to prefigure His resurrection. Both are assumptions based on a pre-conceived belief that the OT Feasts were designed with Christ in mind. They were created to be types of Christ. Jesus is seen as the antitype and fulfillment of these types which are seen as being created to prefigure Christ. .
The concept of “firstfruits” is found several times in the NT. Romans 8:2 speaks of Christians having the firstfruits of the Spirit. 2nd Thessalonians 2:13 speaks of the first Christian converts as the firstfruits of those being saved. James 1:18 says something similar. Revelation 14:4 speaks of those who follow the lamb as firstfruits.
It should be obvious that the use of the term “firstfruits” is simply a way of saying the first of something or the first of a group of something. While the OT Firstfruits ceremony can be used to picture the firstfruits resurrection of Christ, there is nothing in the OT Feast of Firstfruits ceremony that hints at it occurring for the purpose of prefiguring the resurrection of Jesus.
Like other of the Feasts, The Feast of Firstfruits appears to have been inaugurated to keep Israel aware of what God had done for them in bringing them out of Egyptian slavery. Now that they had settled in the Promised Land and had begun to grow their own crops, they were to show their appreciation for this by offering the first picking of their crops as an offering to God.
The Feast of Weeks in the New Testament:
In the NT the Feast of Weeks is called Pentecost. It is mentioned a total of three times. As mentioned in Part One, the word Pentecost is an English transliteration of the Greek πεντηκοστῆς (pentēkostēs). In Greek Lexicons, this word is defined as “the fiftieth day after the Passover.” A transliteration is the matching of the alphabet of one language to the alphabet of another language. It differs from translation in that it is not concerned with meaning only with a similarity of sound.
Acts 2:1: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Acts 20:16: Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
1st Corinthians 16:8: But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost.
It is obvious that in Acts 20:16 and 1st Corinthians 16:8, Pentecost is simply mentioned as a marker of time and place. In Acts 2:1 it is also a marker of time and place but here the giving of the Holy Spirit is described as occurring on this particular Pentecost observance. This event is generally seen as the inauguration of the Christian Church.
In Judaism, the Feast of Weeks is known as Shavuot, a Hebrew word that means “weeks.” Much of the Jewish community believes it was on Shavuot that the Ten Commandments (AKA the Decalogue) and the Torah (The Law recorded in the first five books of the OT) were given to Moses at Mount Sinai. However, there is no Biblical or secular evidence for when the Ten Commandments and Torah were given.
Furthermore, it doesn’t make any sense to conclude the Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai on Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Weeks most probably didn’t yet exist at the time Moses climbed that mountain and received the Ten Commandments and the Law (Exodus 20-24). Except for Passover and Unleavened Bread, it is evident that the rest of the Law, including establishment of the Feast of Weeks and other Feasts, was given to Moses over a period of 40 days (Exodus 24:18) while at Sinai. Here are a few comments from Hebrew scholars regarding Shavuot.
Schauss, Hayyim, in his Guide to Jewish Holy Days History and Observance, p.87, writes the following: "Shovous played a minor role in comparison with the other two harvest festivals; it was considered no more than a continuation of and an epilogue to the Festival of Unleavened Bread. There was no effort made, even in later biblical times, to tie up the festival with a historic event; it remained through all that time, an agricultural holiday, the festival of the completion of the grain harvest. In none of the books of the Bible is there any trace or mention of Shavuos in connection with the giving of the Torah."
Bloch, Abraham P., in his book The Biblical and Historical Background of the Jewish Holy Days, p.229, writes: "The connection of Shabuot with the Revelation at Mount Sinai is of later origin and is not mentioned either by Josephus or Philo. In the Torah the day is designated as the 'feast of harvest' or 'the day of the firstfruits' or 'the feast of weeks.' The designation as 'the day of the giving of our law,' found in the prayerbook is of much later origin."
Even if it could be shown that the Feast of Weeks had already been established before Israel reached Mount Sinai, it could not have been on the date of this Feast that the Law was given.
Exodus 19:1-3: On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel (NIV).
The phrase “On the first day,” as seen in the NIV, is not in the Hebrew text. Almost all other English translations have “In the third month” and indicate it was on the 15th of the third month that Israel arrived at Sinai, the same day of the month they left Egypt. They left Egypt after the Passover (the 14th) and at the beginning of the 15th as covered in Part One of this series.
In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai (ASV).
In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai (ERV).
In the third month after the Israelites went out from the land of Egypt, on the very day, they came to the Desert of Sinai (NET).
The Hebrew Scriptures are clear that Israel left Egypt on the 15th of the month which was the beginning of the seven Days of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Weeks was arrived at by counting 50 days from the day after the Sabbath that occurred during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Fifty days would have been seven weeks after Israel left Egypt. Israel arrived at Sinai in the third month after leaving Egypt and indication is they arrived at Sinai on the 15th of the third month. This obviously would have been many weeks after Shavuot.
So even if Shavuot was established before Sinai (and its unlikely it was), the fact it would have occurred weeks before Israel arrived at Sinai dismantles the idea that the Law was given on Shavuot. Several Hebrew scholars I read take this position.
Both Shavuot and Pentecost are names for the Feast of Weeks. However, to conclude the Law was given on this day is a false conclusion based on the evidence discussed above. The law was given in the third month after Israel left Egypt. This is when the Scriptures show they arrived at Sinai. It is very probable if was around the 15th of the third month they arrived at Sinai as suggested by Exodus 19:1 when properly translated. This would have been approximately 75 days after they left Egypt.
It is instructive that in Exodus 19:2-25, we get a running dialog of what occurred after they arrived in the Desert of Sinai. It is said they camped in front of the mountain (verse 2). God is seen as calling Moses from the mountain and giving him instruction as to what he is to say to Israel. (verses 3-6). Moses returns to the people and shares with the elders and the people what God had said. The people agree to abide by the words of YHWH and Moses brings their answer back to YHWH (verses 7-8).
God then instructs Moses to have the people consecrated the next two days and on the third day He will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. God instructs that no one is to touch the mountain (verses 10-15). On the morning of the third day the people stand before the mountain and hear God speaking to Moses. YHWH is seen as descending to the top of Mount Sinai and calling Moses to the top of the mountain. So, Moses went up to the top of the mountain and was given additional instruction to give to the people. Meses then descends the mountain and gives the instruction to the people (verses 16-25). In Chapter 20 is a record of God giving the Ten Commandments seemingly directly to the people.
From the narrative of Exodus 19 we really can’t determine how long the people camped before the mountain before being consecrated and appearing before YHWH. We see Moses going up to the top of Sinai several times and coming back down again. Mount Sinai is 7,497 feet high. A mile is 5,280 feet. Climbing to the top of Sinai takes two to four hours. A round trip takes twice that long. The point I am making is that it may have taken several days to accomplish what is recorded in Exodus 19. We really have no idea when the Ten Commandments were given to the people let alone the rest of the Law. It certainly didn’t happen on Shavuot as taught in much of Judaism and Christianity. There simply is no association between Shavuot/Pentecost and the giving of the Law.
For a comprehensive discussion of the Pentecost of Acts 2, go to http://theologicalperspectives.com/tongues-2
The Feast of Trumpets in the New Testament:
There is no direct mention of the Feast of Trumpets in the NT. There are several references in the NT to a trumpet sounding to announce the resurrection of the dead. Since the resurrection of the dead is in Scripture associated with a return of Christ to planet earth, it is believed these trumpet passages are announcing the return of Christ.
In the Olivet Discourse we read, “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:31).
1st Corinthians 15:52: in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
1st Thessalonians 4:16: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
In the Revelation, the word trumpet appears 15 times. Twice the author of the Revelation says he heard a voice like that of a trumpet. Twelve other occurrences of the word are describing angels announcing plagues and other events. The final occurrence of trumpet is informing us that the sound of a trumpet and other musical instruments will never again be heard in Babylon after it is destroyed. There is no direct association made between the sound of a trumpet and the return of Christ in the Revelation.
Some interpreters associate the trumpet references to announcing the resurrection/return of Christ as being prefigured by the OT Feast of Trumpets. However, as discussed in Part One of this series, there is no specific reason given for this Feast in the OT. There is no indication whatsoever that it was designed to prefigured the Christ event. To say it does is to practice eisegesis.
The Day of Atonement in the New Testament:
The Day of Atonement is not directly mentioned in the NT but there are some apparent allusions to it.
Acts 27:9: Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement (NIV).
The phrase rendered “Day of Atonement” in the NIV is the Greek νηστείαν (nēsteian) which means to fast. This Greek word is rendered “fast” in most English translations of Acts 27:2. The NIV translators took liberty with the Greek nēsteian and rendered it “Atonement” because the Day of Atonement was a day of fasting.
In Hebrews 9 is a description of the Tabernacle and in verse 7 it is recorded that the high priest entered the inner room (Most Holy Place) once a year and offered animal blood for the sins of the people. This appears to be a reference to the Day of Atonement. The writer goes on to say that Christ came as high priest and went through the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Tabernacle, offering His own blood for the sins of the people.
Throughout the NT, Jesus is pictured as shedding his blood for the sins of the human race. Many see Passover as prefiguring the shedding of the blood of Christ to pay the death penalty for human sin. The shedding of Christ’s blood is seen as inaugurating the New Covenant system. The night before His crucifixion Jesus used wine to represent the shedding of his blood for the forgiveness of human sin
Matthew 26:28: This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Some see the Feast of Atonement (It’s listed as one of the Feasts of the LORD in Leviticus 23) prefiguring the return of Christ in that when He returns to planet earth and the dead are raised, his sacrifice will bring salvation to the resurrected dead which will enable them to live forever because the death penalty for their sins will be eternally forgiven and not just covered on a year-to-year basis as seen under the Atonement regulation of the Old Covenant.
Hebrews 9:28: Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Was the Old Covenant Feast of Atonement established specifically to foreshadow the atonement offered through Christ? A number of Christian teachers believe it was and also believe all the other Feast Days of the Old Covenant were established to prefigure the Christ event. We will deal with this issue in concluding remarks at the end of this series.
The Feast of Tabernacles in the New Testament:
As covered in Part One of this series, the Feast of Tabernacles is shown to be a celebration of thanksgiving for the fall ingathering of crops. This Feast is sometimes referred to as the feast of ingathering (Exodus 23:16 and 34:22). It is also apparent this Feast was for the purpose of reflecting upon the Israelites having to live in temporary dwellings after they left Egypt.
Some Christians teachers believe the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the return of Jesus and He establishing His Kingdom on planet earth. There is no hint of this in the Old Testament. Is there reference to this in the New Testament? In the New Testament, the Feast of Tabernacles is mentioned only once.
John 7:1-3: After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.
The narrative continues by showing Jesus did decide to go the Feast after all but did so in secret. Midway through the Feast He is seen as teaching in the temple and the people having mixed beliefs as to who He was or represented. He then says the following:
John 7:37-39: On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
There is nothing in what Jesus said as recorded in John 7 that in any way says the Feast of Tabernacles was being fulfilled in Him or in some manner it was pointing to His return or the establishment of His Kingdom. The mention of the Feast of Tabernacles, as is true of the mention of other Feast Days in the NT, was a marker of time and place and apparently nothing more than that. He speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit. This appears as a reference to the coming Feast of Pentecost where Acts 2 records the giving of the Spirit.
In John chapter 8:1-3, it’s recorded that after His appearance on the last day of the Feast (the eight day), Jesus apparently went to the Mount of Olives for the night and then appeared again in the temple courts the next morning where the people gathered around him and He taught them. This appears to be the day after the Feast had ended. It must be noted, however, that the earliest manuscripts of the NT and many other NT manuscripts do not contain the first eleven verses of John 8.
In Hebrews chapter 8, The earthly tabernacle seen in Israel is seen as a copy and shadow of the heavenly tabernacle. The writer speaks of Jesus serving as high priest in a heavenly tabernacle. A heavenly tabernacle is also mentioned in Revelation 15:5. The writer to the Hebrews expands on the tabernacle motif in chapter 9.
Hebrew 9:11: But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.
It is to be noted that the tabernacle spoken of in Hebrews and the Revelation has nothing to do with the Feast of Tabernacles. The Greek word rendered “Tabernacles” in John 7 is σκηνοπηγία (skēnopēgia) and has specific reference to the temporary booths built in association with the Feast of Tabernacles. This word appears only this one time in the NT. The Greek word rendered “tabernacle” in Hebrews and the Revelation is σκηνή (skéné) and has specific reference to a structure that contains holy things.
Conclusion:
There has been much written by Christian teachers as to the Feasts of Israel prefiguring the Christ event.
The Passover is seen as pointing to Jesus as our Passover Lamb who shed His blood for the sins of the world. The NT Gospels show Jesus died on the day Passover was being observed. This is seen as no coincidence. No bones of the Passover lamb were to be broken (Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:2). The writer of the Gospel of John says no bones of Jesus were broken. The writer believes this is a fulfillment of the Exodus and Numbers passages.
John 19:33-34: But when they (the Roman soldiers) came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
John 19:36-37: These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” “and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
It is instructive that Exodus 12:46 does not say “Not one of his bones will be broken.” It says, “Do not break any of the (Passover Lamb’s) bones.” The Numbers passage says the same thing. The writer of the Gospel of John sees these OT passages as being fulfilled in Christ. He does the same with John 19:37. In this passage the writer appears to be referencing Zechariah 12:10 where YHWH appears to be saying He was pierced by the bad behavior of Israel. Here too the writer of John infers a connection to Jesus. In neither of the OT passages here discussed, is there suggestion of a connection to Christ.
Paul speaks of Jesus being our Passover lamb (1st Corinthians 5:7). In 1st Peter 1:18-19 the writer speaks of our being redeemed with the blood of Christ who is described as a lamb without blemish or defect. The lambs of the Passover were to be without blemish or defect. Jesus is called the Lamb of God by John the Baptist and is repeatedly seen as a lamb in the Revelation.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is believed to point to the sinless life of Jesus as leaven is believed to be a symbol of sin in Scripture. Some see Egypt as a symbol of sin and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as prefiguring our coming out of sin when acknowledging Jesus as Savior. Some analogize the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Jesus being like a seed of grain planted in the grave which then busted forth to life at His resurrection and became our bread of life.
The Feast of First Fruits is believed to point to the resurrection of Jesus when He became the first of the firstfruits of those who have died to be given eternal life (1st Corinthians 15:20). It is believed this pictures the first of many who will be resurrected from the dead and given eternal life because of Jesus paving the way for this to occur
The Feast of Pentecost, aside from being the occasion when the Holy Spirit was given, is seen as pointing to a greater harvest of converts to Christianity that began with the resurrection of Jesus depicted by the Feast of First Fruits. These converts (Jew and Gentile) will be given eternal life by responding to the Gospel message during the “church age.” They are seen as firstfruits.
The Feast of Trumpets is seen as pointing to the return of Christ and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God on planet earth. Some view Trumpets as picturing the establishment of a spiritual kingdom which one enters when accepting the sacrifice of Christ.
The Feast of Atonement is seen as occurring in conjunction with the return of Christ when atonement for sin will be bestowed upon those raised from the dead at the return of Christ.
The Feast of Tabernacles is believed to picture the establishment of the Kingdom where Christ will eternally tabernacle with the saints.
This all being said, the OT narratives pertaining to the Feast Days give no indication of any of the above. There is nothing in the OT narratives about the Feasts that shows them to prefigure, predict, or foreshadow events in the life of Christ. The OT narratives regarding the Feasts clearly identifies them as celebrations of harvests (harvest festivals) and commemorations/memorials of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery. Except for the Passover lamb being seen as prefiguring Jesus as being the sacrificial lamb of God, there is little else in the NT narrative that identifies the Feasts as prefiguring events in the life of Christ
Therefore, is it possible or even probable that the OT Feasts are standalone events pertaining only to the Old Covenant system? Did Jesus see the OT Feasts as prefiguring events in His life?
Paul and the writer to the Hebrews sees OT ordinances such as the Sabbath, New Moons (beginning of months), animal sacrifices and Feast days as shadows of things to come. Is this how Jesus saw these OT regulations? As asked above, does a shadow have to be based on an ancient event that was specifically designed to be a shadow of another event or can an ancient event simply be used as a prototype or pattern of a different event. Was this how Paul is seeing the OT Feasts? Was Christ seeing OT events in the same way?
To repeat, there is nothing in the narrative of the OT Feasts that suggest the Feasts were designed to prefigure events in the life of Christ. Other than the lamb motif, there is virtually nothing in the NT that relates events in the life of Jesus to fulfillments of OT Feasts. The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), Atonement and Tabernacles are seen in the NT as markers of time and place and not as events prefiguring events in the life of Jesus. The Feast of Trumpets isn’t even mentioned in the NT.
When Jesus said, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Luke 24:27), was He including the OT Feast Days? When Jesus said, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms" (Luke 24:44), did this include the Feast Days?
While one can look at various New Testament passages and draw parallels between those passages and the OT Feast Days, in doing so one is practicing eisegeses in that one is placing meaning unto OT texts of the Feast Days that is not apparent in those texts. To conclude that the OT Feast Days were specifically designed to prefigure the Christ event is to assume the thing to be proved, a fundamental error in thinking.
Skeptics see the use of OT Feast Days, as well as a number of supposed prophesies about Christ in the OT, as narrative taken out of context and used to characterize and promote the man Jesus as a divine figure upon which was then built a new religious system called Christianity. Therefore, skeptics believe Christianity is built on a false foundation.
For a comprehensive discussion of the skeptics (atheist/agnostic) perspective on Christianity, go to my multipart series entitled Skepticism and Christianity at http://theologicalperspectives.com/skepticism-and-christianity.
Aside from the Feast Days, there are a number of OT passages that are believed to pertain to Jesus. Some Biblical scholars and church historians believe that after Jesus was crucified and the disciple’s hopes of He restoring the Davidic kingdom were dashed, they were desperate to show Jesus was still the promised Messiah. So, they took prophecies from the OT that in their original context appear to have nothing to do with Jesus and applied such prophesies to Jesus. It is believed they simply wrote Jesus into OT passages that when read in their OT context were not at all prophetic of Jesus.
Matthew in particular is seen as associating OT prophesies with events in the life of Jesus which in their original context appear to have no association with Jesus. Some NT scholars have been very critical of Matthew’s use of OT prophecies to prove Jesus is the Christ. Matthew is accused of taking OT prophecies out of context and fraudulently applying them to Jesus.
Jewish scholars, who by and large don’t believe Jesus is the Christ, are quick to provide alternative interpretations of OT Scriptures used by Matthew and other NT writers as referencing events in the life of Jesus. Jewish scholars see such OT prophecies, sayings and events as having nothing to do with events in the life of Jesus.
Some critics have suggested Jesus created events in His life that fit OT prophecies so that it would appear such prophecies were being fulfilled in Him. However, such a suggestion is very problematical in that there are certain prophecies seen as being fulfilled in events associated with the birth of Jesus and His crucifixion where He would not have had any control over what happened.
Since Jesus is not mentioned by name in the OT, it is asked how can we know for sure that OT prophecies and events reported in the NT as being fulfilled in Jesus were actually meant to foretell or relate to events in the life of Jesus? It is asked what justification is there for seeing OT prophecies and events that in most cases appear totally unrelated to Jesus as being fulfilled in Jesus? Since I address these issues in detail in my series of essays entitled Old Testament Prophecy and Jesus, I will not address them here. Please go to: http://theologicalperspectives.com/old-testament-prophecies-and-jesus-part-one.
I began this Two-Part series with an a priori belief that the OT Feast Days were inaugurated and designed for the specific purpose of prefiguring the Christ event. I took this position because for some 30 years I was a member of a Christian fellowship that taught this perspective.
After objectively studying this issue, I no longer can take that position. Christian teaching that the Feast Days and their associated events occurred to prefigure the Christ event is not supported by the evidence. As stated above, the OT Feast Days are seen in the OT narrative as celebrating harvests and celebrating deliverance from Egyptian slavery. There is nothing to suggest they were designed to prefigure the Christ event. They appear to be standalone events.
In the NT, other than Jesus being seen as the lamb of God in apparent allusion to the Passover event, there is little else in the NT that clearly points to an association between OT Feast Days and events in the life of Jesus. It would appear that Christian teachers who make these associations are taking events related to Christ and inserting these events into the OT Feast Days without evidence from the NT that such insertion is Scripturally supported. While associations between the Feast Days and events related to Jesus can appear on the surface to be valid, they still are interpretive conjectures as neither the OT or NT Scriptures provide evidence for their associative validity.
When Jesus, Paul and Peter allude to OT Scripture pointing to the Christ event, these allusions often pertain to the sufferings of Jesus without there being any connection made to OT Feast Days. In Luke 24, Jesus connects what was written about him in the OT to He having to suffer the crucifixion. He does the same in Luke 18. In Acts 2 and 3 Peter connects the fulfillment of OT prophecy to Christ having to suffer. In Acts 26, Paul sees Moses and the prophets predicting the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
In the NT, authors see many OT events being fulfilled in Christ. However, in their OT context, there is little if anything in the narrative of these events that can be seen as connecting them to Christ. It is only in retrospect that such events are connected to Christ. I discuss this issue in depth in my series entitled Old Testament Prophecy and Jesus. However, I do not much discuss the Feast Days in that series because, except for the Passover connection to the death of Christ, there is next to nothing written by NT writers that connects OT Feast Days to Christ.
Therefore, the question that remains to be answered is what Paul meant by saying, “Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of the coming things, and the body is of the Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17, Young’s Literal Translation).
Paul refers to diet, feasts, new moons and sabbaths. These are all dynamics of the Old Covenant system. He calls these a shadow of things to come. In essence, he is referring to the entire Old Covenant system of rules and regulations that was instituted to establish and maintain a relationship with God. This system was a shadow in that it is believed to prefigure the coming of a different system for developing and maintaining a relationship with God, the New Covenant system.
As covered above, Jesus, Paul and Peter saw in the law of Moses and in the writings of the prophet’s narrative that pointed to the Christ event. Were the over 600 regulations in the Law of Moses (Feast Days included) set in place for the specific purpose of prefiguring the Christ event. This appears unlikely.
It is evident that the Passover event facilitated the inauguration of the Old Covenant system and the Christ event facilitated the inauguration of the New Covenant system. Paul called the old system a shadow, as did the writer to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:1). It appears to have been a shadow in so much that it was a precursor to a greater reality which was the Christ event.
I trust this discussion of the OT Feast Days and the Christ event will stimulate further research into this issue.