Kingdoming Well Part 6
We have been talking about the tension of living between the two Ages in what we have been calling the Now and the Not Yet. The Kingdom is here, but not fully here. The power of the Age to Come has broken through into this present evil Age at the cross. Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom when He came the first time, He will consummate it when He comes back again.
To further illustrate this concept we are taking some time to look at another fascinating picture of living in this tension that is presented in the seven feasts that God commanded Israel to observe every year.
Last week we talked about Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits and how Jesus has perfectly fulfilled each one, on the exact time and day that they should have been fulfilled. Now let’s look at the next feast.
The next feast comes fifty days after First Fruits, and it is called Pentecost.
Leviticus 23:15-16 (NIV)
15 “‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.
Pentecost was a celebration of the summer harvest, which was larger than first fruits but not as large as the fall harvest that was still to come. This feast was perfectly fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:1-4 (NIV)
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Peter stands and delivers the good news and 3000 repent and believe and are added to the church.
Acts 2:41 (NIV)
41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
This was exactly what should have happened according to the purpose of the feasts. This was a greater harvest of souls than Jesus presented at First Fruits, but it was just a token of what is going to happen at the end of the fall harvest.
The first four have been fulfilled in the crucifixion, resurrection, and outpouring. The final three remain to be prophetically fulfilled.
The feast of Trumpets occurs at the end of the large harvest season.
Leviticus 23:24-25 (NIV)
24 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.'”
Matthew 24:36-40 (NIV)
36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NIV)
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. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
1 Corinthians 15:50-52 (NIV)
50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– 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.
The first three feasts all occurred in the first month, usually sometime in April, Pentecost occurred fifty days later in late May or early June, Trumpets occurred in the seventh month, normally September. This time period is another dramatic picture of the tension between the ages that we live in. We live in the tension of the ages, the Kingdom here but not yet fully here. As believers we are waiting on Trumpets, redeeming the time by fulfilling the great commission.
Trumpets occurs on the seventh new moon of the year. According to the feasts, the Church will be taken out of the world and God will move on to the fulfillment of the next feast with the children of Israel. Which makes sense, when you consider that Jesus has already atoned for the sin of all those who have put their faith in Him.
Romans 3:21-26 (NIV)
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished– 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Ten days later, is the Day of Atonement.
Leviticus 23:27-32 (NIV)
27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. 28 Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. 29 Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people. 30 I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on that day. 31 You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. 32 It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.”
To get a little insight on what happens we need to look at the book of Zechariah.
Zechariah 12:10-14 (NIV)
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.
Zechariah 13:1 (NIV)
1 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
Romans 11:26-27 (NIV)
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
We need to make sure we don’t read this in such a way that we think it means that we don’t need to share the Good News with the children of Israel. The verses above refer to the Israelites who have managed to survive until the Lord returns, not all of Israel from the beginning of time. All people, both Jew and Gentile need to repent and believe while they are alive to obtain salvation.
The seventh feast is Tabernacles.
Leviticus 23:33-36 (NIV)
33 The LORD said to Moses, 34 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. 35 The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. 36 For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.
Leviticus 23:41-43 (NIV)
41 Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths
43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'”
Tabernacles represents the Lord’s shelter in the Kingdom Age.
Jesus has already fulfilled the first three, the fourth one was fulfilled at Pentecost, and that we are waiting for Jesus to come back to fulfill five, six, and seven.
While we wait, we are to be working in the harvest field. Doing the stuff that Jesus taught and told us to do.
Luke 10:2 (NIV)
2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
