THE BIBLICAL FEAST DAYS - GOD'S CALENDAR

The 1st day of the first month (Abib/Nisan) was the first day of the Jewish religious year. It would begin at the new moon of our March / April and coincides with the latter rains (Joel 2:23). Each month began with a new moon. (Num 10:10, 28:11, 1 Sam 20:5, Psa 81:3, Isa 66:23, Ezek 46:3, Amos 8:5, Col. 2:16.) The 1st day of Tishri, in the Fall, customarily begins the new civil year.

THE SABBATHS OF THE JEWISH YEAR

In addition to the observance of the new moon, which begins a month, the following Sabbaths and festival days are found in the Bible.

1. The seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath - (Shabbat)

Lev 23:3, Num 28:9-10, Exo 20,8-11, Deut 5:12-15
A convocation day. No servile work done.

This is the only feast day mentioned that occurs more than once a year. Because it occurs on a weekly basis, it is separate and distinct from the yearly religious calendar (Lev. 23:37-38), the feasts of which all are a shadow or type of some event that would be their fulfillment, or antitype. The seventh day sabbath is a memorial to creation and the creator, established at creation. It was not a day that originated with the Jews, it preceded them, although it was celebrated as a feast day. When one of the feast days fell on the seventh day Sabbath, it was referred to as a high Sabbath day (John 19:31).

2. Passover (Erev Pesah or Ta'anit Bechorim)

The 14th day of the 1st month (Abib / Nisan)
Exo 12, Exo 13:6-8, Lev 23:5, Deut 16:3-8, Num 28:16
Note: this was not a convocation day (no public gatherings)

The Jews consider this day to be the day before Passover (Pesah), which to them is the same as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The type was the Passover in Egypt, with the blood of the lamb being smeared on the door posts. Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover meal (Matt 26:18-20) of unleavened bread and wine in the early hours of this day (Exo 12:18), which would have been our Thursday evening (the biblical day begins and ends at sunset). Jesus was crucified the afternoon of the 14th (Friday), at the time the Paschal lambs were being slain (Exo 12:6). Passover is a shadow or type of the sacrifice of Jesus (the antitype), the lamb of God, at the cross (1 Cor 5:7).

(Ta'anit Bechorim is a fast observed only by the first born. It is to commemorate being spared from the last plague to fall on Egypt- the death of the first born.)

3. Feast of Unleavened Bread (Pesah) - a week long observance.

First day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread -
15th day of the 1st month (Abib/Nisan)
Lev 23:7, Num 28:17,
A convocation / Sabbath day.
First born dedicated to the Lord's service.
Travel to the Sanctuary in Jerusalem required of all men (Exo 23:14,17, Exo 34:22, Deut 16:16).

A celebration of release from bondage in Egypt (Exo 13:6-10). All leaven bread (hametz) removed and replaced by unleaven bread (matzah). This day fell on the seventh day Sabbath, the day after the crucifixion, making it a high Sabbath day - (John 19:31). Jesus spent the entire day in the tomb, at rest on this Sabbath.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, was a type of the sinless nature of Jesus releasing us from the bondage of sin (if we we have faith in His atoning death). Jesus is the sinless bread of life (John 6:32, 48-51) and leavened bread represented the corruption of sin in your life, that Jesus overcomes - (1 Cor 5:8). Putting away the sin in your life (leavened bread / hametz), and replacing it by accepting sinless Jesus Christ (unleaven bread / matzah) in its place, is the Gospel Message symbolized in the Passover meal, known today as the Lord's Supper or Communion. You participate in the Lord's Supper to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for you at the cross (Luke 22:19).

This was the time of year of the latter rain (March/April).

On this day Israel began to eat from the old corn and the manna ended the following day (Josh 5:11)

The Day of First Fruits (The Omer)

The 16th day of the 1st month (Abib / Nisan)
Exo 34:25-26, Lev 23:10-14, - Late Passover Num 9:10-11
Not a convocation day. No restriction on servile work.
Barley harvest - Firstfruits presented to the Lord (Lev 23:10-11)

This was the day of first sheaf waving (type), the first fruit of the barley harvest. The antitype was Resurrection Sunday which also occurred on 16 Abib / Nissan. Jesus was the first fruits of the resurrection, (1 Cor 15:20, 23, 2 Tim 2:6-8), the antitype. It is important to note that it was not a day of convocation (NOT A SABBATH) to the Jews, so there is no reason for it to be a Sabbath in antitype (post-resurrection) to Christians. This is because the festival Sabbaths were not just commemorative in nature, but also prophetic, pointing to future holy events as fulfillments. To suggest a new Sunday holy day was instituted on resurrection day, is to say the festival calendar appointed by God was in error, since it omits a weekly 1st day observance.

In Jewish Tradition, the period called the Omer begins on 16 Nisan and extends for the count of 50 days to Pentecost or Shavuot

Manna ceased to fall on this day (Josh 5:12)

7th and last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Yom Tov)

The 21st day of 1st month (Abib / Nisan)
Exo 12:18, 13:6, Lev 23:8, Num 28:25
A convocation / Sabbath day. No servile work.
Traditional celebration of the crossing of the Red Sea.

Passover	Feast of Unleavened Bread
14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st
Paschal Lamb Slain	1st Day Feast of  Unleaven Bread	The Omer (First Fruits)	-	-	-	-	7th Day Feast of  Unleaven Bread
Not a Sabbath	A Sabbath	Not a Sabbath	-	-	-	-	A Sabbath
Unleaven Bread Eaten
	All Leaven Removed From the House
Crucifixion	In the tomb	Resurrection	-	-	-	-	-
1st Day	2nd Day	3rd Day

4. Pentecost (Shavuot)

The 6th day of the third month (Sivan)
Exo 34:22, Lev 23:15-21, Acts 2:1, Acts 20:16, 1 Cor 16:8
Occurs 50 days after the day of first fruits (16 Nisan) or sheaf waving (barley).
A convocation / Sabbath day. No servile work done.
Travel to the Sanctuary in Jerusalem required of all men (Exo 23:14,17, Exo 34:22, Deut 16:16).
Wheat harvest - Firstfruits presented to the Lord (Lev 23:17, 20)

Also called Feast of Weeks (Ex 34:22), the day of First Fruits (Exo 23:16, Num 28:26) Feast of the Harvest (Ex 23:16) and in the New Testament - Pentecost (Acts 2:1) A festival that celebrated the first fruits of the wheat harvest with the offering of two wave loaves of leavened bread (Lev 23:17, 20). This feast was also a shadow or type because fifty days after the resurrection there was the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that resulted in three thousand souls being added to the church in one day (Acts 2:41).

This was the day that Jesus was anointed in heaven with the Holy Spirit as our High Priest, which was also prefigured by the anointing of Aaron (Exo. 40:13) as mentioned in Psalms 133:1-3. Having finished His ministration in the outer court of the sanctuary (the work of justification by His sacrifice, Rom 5:9), Christ then began the priestly work of sanctification in the heavenly temple that was typified by the holy place, the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit is also known as the early rain (Antitype) and reached from heaven down to the Apostles gathered in the upper room on mount Zion. There will also be a latter rain, the greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit near the end of time (Joel 2:23, Zech 10:1, James 5:7) for the proclamation of the three angels messages (Rev 14).

With the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., the Jews were unable to celebrate this festival as commanded, and substituted the celebration of the revelation of the Torah to Moses on Sinai, something they themselves admit has no biblical foundation. They also have no explanation for the reason to count 50 days to Shavuot. Since the Jews do not recognize the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the second chapter of Acts as a fulfillment of Pentecost/Shavuot, they are consequently unsure about the true meaning of the festival.

5. Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Ha-shanah)

The 1st day of the 7th month (Ethanim / Tishri)
Lev 23:24, Num 29:1
A convocation / Sabbath day. No servile work done.
The first day of the Jewish civil year.

This was an announcement to Israel of impending judgment, which occurred on the Day of Atonement, nine days later. The antitype of Trumpets was the worldwide proclamation of the second coming in 1843, during the "Great Awakening" revival, which was based on the 2300 days/years prophecy in Dan 8:14, which began in 457 B.C. and ended in 1844. This was mistakenly interpreted, by William Miller and others, to predict the time of the second coming and end of the world in 1844, when in fact it was the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary and the beginning of the pre-advent investigative judgment.

6. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)

The 10th day of the 7th month (Ethanim / Tishri)
Lev 23:27, Num 29:7, Lev 16
A convocation / Sabbath day. No servile work done.

This was the holiest day of the year and signified a cleansing of sins and reconciliation with God (Judgment day). The people were to afflict their souls and fast. On this day only the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of the people (Lev 16). This was a shadow or type of Jesus carrying out his role as our High Priest (Heb 9) and entering the Holy of Holies in the heavenly sanctuary when he began the investigative judgment at the end of the 2300 days / years of Dan 8:14 on October 22, 1844. This was the beginning of the antitype or fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, which is still underway in heaven today. This judgment begins with the righteous dead and will end with the righteous living. At the end of this period of judgment, probation for humanity will have closed, and the 7 plagues of God will then fall on the wicked. Soon after will be the second coming, to gather the righteous to join the kingdom of God in heaven for 1000 years.

The Jubilee year begins on this day (Lev 25:9).

7. Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth) - An eight day feast of ingathering.

The first day was the 15th day of the 7th month (Ethanim / Tishri)
Exo 34:22, Lev 23:34-36, 39-43, Num 29:12
A convocation / Sabbath day. No servile work done.
Travel to the Sanctuary in Jerusalem required of all men (Exo 23:14,17, Exo 34:22, Deut 16:16).
Fruit Harvest - Firstfruits presented to the Lord (Exo 23:19)

For seven days the people moved out of their homes and lived in temporary shelters called "Sukkah" as a reminder of their wanderings in the desert for forty years. The branches cut from palm, willow and other trees were to be waved in celebration to the Lord during the first seven days of the feast (Lev 23:40).

This final feast of the year is a celebration of ingathering at the end of the harvest (Exo 23:16) and is a time of rejoicing and fellowship. It symbolizes the gathering or harvest of God's people, who leave earth for the marriage supper of the Lamb, to be celebrated in heaven after the second coming of Jesus. This begins the millennium.

The 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Festival of Willows (Hoshana Rabbah)

21st day of the seventh month.

Considered by Jewish custom to be the final day of judgment. A ritual of beating willow branches on the ground is practiced, which is thought to symbolize the casting away of sin.

The 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Shemini Atzeret)

22nd day of the seventh month.
Lev 23:36,39, Num 29:35
A convocation / Sabbath day. No servile work done.

The final day of Tabernacles was also a Sabbath, a day of solemn assembly. At this time of year the former or early rains fell (late October / November), when the fields were plowed and sown.

See also The Shadow Sabbaths of Colossians 2:17

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