THE SEVEN FEASTS OF THE LORD

     The feasts are called "The appointed times of the Lord". The unfolding of these feasts is an unfolding of the times of the Lord. These 7 feasts extend over a period of seven months but are not divided up in one feast per month. There are three feasts in the first month, one feast 50 days later and three feasts in the seventh month. Each of these feasts were a harvest feast. Even though Israel's civil year was 12 months, their agricultural year was just seven months. For five months the land rested from harvest but was being prepared for harvest. This included the preparation of the soil and the planting of the crops. By the first month of the agricultural year the crops were ready for harvest. The five months do not represent "rest" but preparation.
     The complete sequence of the feasts, including some of the details are recorded in Lev 23. It is interesting that the Holy Spirit repeats some things to impress upon us their importance. For example: LEV 23:2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'The Lord's appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations-- My appointed times are these: LEV 23:4 'These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. LEV 23:37 'These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord-- burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, {each} day's matter on its own day-- LEV 23:44 So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord. It is evident that the Holy Spirit wants to impress upon us that these are the "appointed times of the Lord". These shall each be proclaimed at the "appointed time" for the feast. These were not to be proclaimed as circus events of fun and games but were "holy convocations to the Lord".
     EXO 23:14 "Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. EXO 23:15 "You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. EXO 23:16 "Also {you shall observe} the Feast of the Harvest {of} the first fruits of your labors {from} what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in {the fruit of} your labors from the field. EXO 23:17 "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
     EXO 34:23 "Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. EXO 34:24 "For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
     DEU 16:16 "Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.      We will develop these thoughts later but now we want to see that each of these feasts are requirements and not options. There are definite blessing for participating and there are definite problems if we don't. The church has consistently ignored certain of these feasts and treated them as unnecessary or as options. Some churches have proclaimed "Passover" but neglected "unleavened bread" and have ignored "first fruits". Others have reviled the feast of the 50th day as rank emotionalism. Many other churches believe that if you have kept the first part of Passover, the rest of the feasts are unimportant. The deliverance of Canaan is directly related to keeping each feast at the proper time. The protection of our possessions is directly related to keeping each feast at the prescribed time. It is amazing that so many feel that they can appear before the Lord empty handed, without participating in harvest.
     The first feast of the Lord which He calls "a holy convocation" is the killing of the Passover lamb. However, this was the preparation for the rest of the feast. We can easily put so much emphasis upon the killing of the Passover lamb that we miss it's relationship with the rest of the feast. First we will take the significance of the first Passover and the sequence of events within the feast.
     Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years. Because of a famine in Canaan, they had gone down to Egypt to purchase food. God had prepared this whole plan many years before and had sent Joseph ahead of them. God had given Joseph a high position next to Pharaoh and Israel stayed and prospered in Egypt. However, that Pharaoh died and another Pharaoh rose up who did not know Joseph and brought Israel into bondage and slavery. After many years Israel cried out to God for deliverance. God had been preparing Moses as a deliverer for 40 years and got Moses attention and sent him to deliver Israel from the bondage of Egypt.
     Moses did many signs and many plagues came upon Egypt but the Pharaoh still would not let Israel go. We may wonder why Israel didn't just go anyway. One reason was because Israel had developed a slave mentality. Not only did Pharaoh think they were his slaves, they also thought they were his slaves. Another reason was because Pharaoh had sovereign authority over Egypt and all those in Egypt were under his authority.
     Finally after all other things failed to convince Pharaoh, God said He would bring judgement upon all the gods of Egypt and totally humble Pharaoh. When we see the reality of the fulfillment we shall see that Jesus did the same thing with the Devil and humiliated him publicly through the cross. God told Moses to have Israel prepare the Passover Lamb.
     The agricultural year began with the month of the Passover. EXO 12:2 "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.  On the 10th day of this first month of Abib they were to select a goat or a sheep that was 1 year old and that had no defect and to keep it until the 14th day of the same month. They were to hold it for inspection for four days. On the evening of the 14th they were to kill the Passover lamb.
     We have to pause here to explain about Israel's days. When God restored the earth He numbered the days from evening to morning instead of from midnight to midnight as we do. Their days changed at sunset or it says at twilight. Other places it says between the two evenings. We could say about 6:00 o'clock in the evening the days changed. In other words the 14th changed to the 15th at about 6:00 o'clock in the evening. This is extremely important when we trace Jesus' movements and see the events that transpired before and at Calvary.
     On the 14th was the day of preparation for the Passover but the 14th was called Passover. At about 6:00 o'clock they killed the Passover Lamb. In a few minutes the day changed to the 15th which was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast was in three parts. (1) Passover, (2) Unleavened Bread, (3) Feast of Firstfruits. However, the Feast of Firstfruits could not be kept untill Israel entered into Canaan and harvested the crops. Since no harvest could be gathered in the desert, no harvest could be brought to God as an offering. This is extremely important when we see how we fulfill this feast. EXO 23:16 "Also {you shall observe} the Feast of the Harvest {of} the first fruits of your labors {from} what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in {the fruit of} your labors from the field. Since no one could appear before God empty handed, this is very important that we see the harvest is what YOU SOWED and what YOU HARVESTED from your field. Unless we enter Canaan ( The Kingdom) we can't offer the Firstfruits to God. There is no harvest in the wilderness.