Letter: The Passover Lamb a beautiful picture
There are seven feasts of the Lord as recorded in Leviticus Chapter 23; Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles.
The first three feasts represent Jesus’ first coming. The Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. The last three feasts represent His second coming.
Because we don’t know about the feasts of the Lord, we don’t understand verses like Matthew 12:40 where Jesus says, “As Jonah was in the whales belly three days and three nights so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”
History tells us the Passover lamb was sacrificed on the 14th day of the first biblical month, (Our calendar does not align with this). Jesus was crucified, hung on the cross on the 14th day of Nisan at 9 a.m. and at 3 p.m. the very hour the priests were sacrificing the last Passover lamb, He said “It is finished” and He died. He was placed in the tomb by sundown Wednesday evening. The Feast of Unleavened Bread began at sundown Wednesday evening. Remember the biblical days begin at sundown. The first day of Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath, not to be confused with the weekly seventh day Sabbath. Jesus rose at the very beginning of First Fruits which is the first day of the week. He was in the tomb three days and nights as the scriptures said.
Jesus died on Passover. In John 1:29, John said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus was placed in the tomb by the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He was the unleavened (without sin) bread of life. John 6:35 Leaven symbolizes sin or the traditions and doctrines of men. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Matthew 16:6, 12.
He was in the tomb three days and three nights, just as He stated in Matthew 12:40. At the beginning of First Fruits Jesus rose from the dead. Death had no power over Him. When the women went to the tomb in the morning He was not there, He had risen!
Jesus, with His death, burial and resurrection, kept the first three feasts. As we celebrate the feasts we remember His redemptive work on the cross and look forward to His second coming and setting up of His Kingdom.
What a beautiful picture of God’s plan of salvation made mention of during the fourth day of creation. The word seasons, (translated appointed times), used in Genesis 1:14 and Numbers 9:2, refers to the Feasts of the Lord.