This is a 50,000-foot-high view of the fall “feasts to the LORD” (Lev. 23:2) — Yom Teruah (Trumpets, aka Rosh Hashanah), Yom haKippurim (Atonement) and Sukkot (Tabernacles). We’ll look at what they are and what meanings are stacked on top of each other as memorials of the actions of the Messiah past, present and future.
The theme of Exodus 30 is what was to happen in front of the veil between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle. Moshe (Moses) was to make the oil and use it to anoint everything for the Tabernacle. It’s all about atonement, about Yom haKippurim, Hebrew for the Day of Coverings, a.k.a. the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:11-15).
It’s boring if you just sit there and read it. But if you ask God while reading this, “What did you have in mind?” it becomes fascinating. What God set up here is not mere ritual. It’s a picture of the Messiah’s actions to atone for the deviations of the people of God from the guidelines of Heaven.
This is a special time in God’s calendar. We have reached Shavuot, the “Feast of Sevens.” It’s also called Pentecost, which is Greek for 50th. This feast is, in a sense, a continuation of the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham.
When human beings try to obey God in the flesh without a redeemed spirit, they will inevitably fail.
We lift up two loaves at Shavuot, one made of wheat and one of barley. Both are His, and we will give both back to Him. There is so much hope for mankind at this time, even for those who are “not of us.”
What is so special about the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? What makes it special is not the death of the Egyptians or the fact God “saved” the Israelites from slavery. Rather, God would teach Pharaoh one final lesson about His power, and His people would pass from bondage and death to freedom and life.
When Messiah Yeshua died on the cross, He sanctified you and me. It happened then and is happening now. You might not see yourself as sanctified but the only reason we are sanctified is due to the bread and blood of the Messiah. We celebrate freedom.
Is the Feast of Unleavened Bread all about “getting sin of your life”? Is that the only message here? I’d submit to you that there’s much more. It is where the Father, the Creator, has placed you. He has placed you in the world, in the place where He wants you to be. It’s not just the “bread of affliction” but also the “bread of hope.”
We are to be “unleavened” — clear, transparent and easy to see, i.e., not “actors” a.k.a. hypocrites. And the community we worship in is also supposed to be clear, transparent and easy to understand in all matters of our lives.
As we prepare ourselves for the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, let’s focus our attention on the group of Psalms that are called “The Egyptian Hallel.” The phrase “Hallelu Yah” — praise the Lord — shows up frequently in these Psalms. That is why they are nicknamed “the Hallel.” These are the Psalms that Jews in New Testament times commonly sang during the Passover seder and we see in the Scriptures that Yeshua and the Apostles sang “The Egyptian Hallel” with Him for the last time before His death.
The Apostle John tells us that John the Baptist was the first one who proclaimed the primary purpose of Yeshua’s mission. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (Jn. 1:29, 36) But this Lamb did not show up the way the experts wanted and when Yeshua refused to fulfill the violent desires of the religious experts, they inflicted grave violence on Yeshua, but Yeshua expected that, and so did John the Baptist, even though he didn’t live to see it.