I will go ahead and tell you that I have gone back and forth and back and forth on my thoughts and convictions regarding what we’ll be studying this week. I started researching the information for this lesson months ago and started writing it weeks ago and I will tell you that there is information out there that both confirms and debunks just about everything. Therefore, we will be relying on Scripture, on ancient texts such as Enoch and Jasher, and on 1st Century

It is hard to believe that we are at our 7th and final feast of all the feasts of the Lord. And guess what? He saved the best till last! The Feast of Tabernacles (also called the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Ingathering and Sukkot) is the most glorious, joyful, and blessed of all the feasts. By the time we get to the end of this lesson, you are going to want to start making plans for how your family can celebrate this feast when the fall of the year gets here. This feast occurs at the very end of the harvest season. You might as well begin celebrating this year because you’ll be celebrating it throughout the millennial reign of Christ.

This week, we come to the most high holy day of all of the Jewish feasts, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. We have just come from that day of blowing called the Feast of Trumpets and the 10 days of awe designed for others to repent and get things right with God. Now we arrive at this holiest Day of Atonement. Read Lev. 23, 26-32. When was the Day of Atonement to be celebrated?

We have now moved past the 3 spring feasts and past the early summer feast of Pentecost. The hot summer months have passed and now we are going to be looking at the 3 fall feasts. During the summer months of Tammuz, Ab, and Elul, no feasts take place. One writer explains that this lul in time matches the overall dispensation of time when God is no longer dealing directly with the Jews, but with the Gentiles. In other words, this span of time kind of serves in a historical way as the Church age. We know that when the Church age ends with the rapture of the Church, God will again turn His attention to the Jewish people. In the same manner, after the silence of the hot summer months, God turns His attention to the redemption of His people that was promised to Abraham. Buckle up! This is going to be an amazing ride!

The Feast of Pentecost is known in Hebrew as Shavuot and is referred to as the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Ingathering. Let’s recap what we’ve learned so far. Jesus,

The Feast of First Fruits is the 3rd and final feast of the 3 Spring feasts. It is also the one that people tend to know the least about and the one that is the most lightly celebrated (if at all) among Jewish people. And yet, I think you will find by the end of this lesson just what an amazing feast it is in the imagery and promises it contains. Read Lev. 23:9-14 and let’s answer some basic questions about this feast.

I kinda hate to leave the Feast of Passover. Its meaning has deep implications and I marvel at and am comforted by the extreme measures that God went to in order to paint such a comprehensive picture for us of the redeeming nature and work of Christ on the cross. The day after Passover begins the next feast of the 7, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The 1st and last day of this feast constitutes a High Sabbath.

Last week, we learned about the beginnings of the Feast of Passover. We also learned that the original story of Passover goes much deeper than the story of the death angel passing by the homes with the blood-stained lintels and doorposts. This week, we’ll go a step deeper. How do you best remember things, events, people?

Passover is perhaps the most well-known of all the Feasts of God. Passover occurs close to the holiday of Easter. It is the first of the 3 spring feasts. Exactly when does it occur according to Lev. 23:4-5?

The first question that we need to answer here is, when does twilight begin? We know that in western civilization, our new day begins at midnight, 12:00 am. However, the Jewish day begins at twilight, or the moment when the sun disappears from the horizon. That means that we cannot necessarily look at our watch and say definitively when twilight will be. If we categorize it according to our watches, the time would vary from evening to evening and would be even more varied from season to season. There are times of the year, like winter, when we do not have as much sunlight.

I will admit to you that I have struggled terribly to even know where to begin this study. It is so deep and so rich in the lessons and in the imagery it offers. You will become very familiar during this study with Leviticus 23, a chapter that many of us have only glossed over in our reading of Scripture. It is important for us as present day believers to understand the Jewish roots of our faith. A deep dive into the 7 feasts of God will broaden our understanding and we will be able to make connections from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The one important concept that I want you all to understand as you get into the study is this: