God instructed Moses to lead the people of Israel to observe seven feasts throughout the year. These feasts, in the order of their observance, is as follows:

• Feast of Passover
• Feast of Unleavened Bread
• Feast of Firstfruits
• Feast of Weeks
• Feast of Trumpets
• Day of Atonement
• Feast of Tabernacles

Each of these feasts are seasonal, memorial, and prophetic in nature. Seasonal in the sense that they are celebrated annually. Memorially in the sense that they are to keep before the people of the nation certain aspects of God’s faithful dealings with His people. And prophetically in the sense that they point to something in the vast panorama of God’s design for Israel, and for those who would embrace by faith the ultimate message these feasts present.

This week we are focusing our attention on the first three listed above: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. These are all relative to the events of Christ’s week of passion. The people of Israel have been unknowingly celebrating the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ each year as they celebrate these three annual feasts.

First, let’s think about the memorial aspect of these three feasts. The Feast of Passover memorialized the night God sent His death angel to kill the firstborn of every family throughout the land of Egypt. Moses instructed the people of Israel to kill a lamb and spread the blood over the doorposts of their homes. When the death angel came through the land, when he observed the blood, he would pass over those houses, sparing the firstborn of each home. However, every Egyptian home suffered death to the firstborn. The feast of Passover was an annual reminder of God’s protection through the shedding of blood.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread memorialized the command given through Moses to cook with unleavened bread as they prepared for their quick departure after the death angel had ravaged the land. This would have been an act of separation from the Egyptians, and an act of obedience to the Lord. It came to represent the putting away of sin, as leaven became symbolic of sin.

The Feast of Firstfruits would be celebrated on the first day of the week following Passover. It was the day in which the Israelites would bring the firstfruits of their harvests as a wave offering to the Lord. They did this as an act of faith in the fact that God would bring in the fullness of the harvest at the appropriate time.

Let’s turn our attention now to the prophetic aspect of these three feasts. On the Feast of Passover, a sacrificial lamb would be slain by each family, and would be eaten as the head of the house would recount the deliverance of Israel from the death angel. Prophetically, the sacrificial lamb is pointing to THE sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ. These powerful words spoken by John the Baptist clearly display this prophetic truth:

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

John 1:29

John obviously recognized Jesus as the One who would fulfill the prophetic aspect of the Passover lamb slain each year as a reminder of the fact that they had been saved from Egypt by the shedding of blood, and that now Jesus, through His shed blood, will make it possible for sinful man to be forgiven and reconciled to God. To further substantiate this prophetic aspect of Passover, the Apostle Paul makes this assertion:

“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

1 Corinthians 5:7

Christ our Passover! John and Paul affirm the same phenomenal, prophetic truth: Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophetic aspect of the Feast of Passover. And now, His blood is spread upon the heart of the believer so that when the judgment comes, God’s wrath will “pass over” those who are covered with His blood.

Then, the Feast of Unleavened Bread prophetically points to fact that Christ cleanses us from our sin. Just as it represented the separation of Israel from Egypt, it represents our separation from sin as we put all “leaven” away from us.

And then finally we have the Feast of Firstfruits. Paul once again shows how this is fulfilled in Christ in these words:

“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

1 Corinthians 15:20

Christ being the firstfruits guarantees the resurrection of those who believe in Him and receive His gift of salvation. The Feast of Firstfruits is Easter. It was on this feast that Jesus was resurrected from the grave, and therefore we celebrate this Jewish feast on resurrection Sunday.

So, we see that these three feasts of Israel are all about Jesus. Therefore, unknowingly, the people of Israel have been celebrating the death, burial and resurrection annually ever since God gave Moses instructions on the observance of these feasts. And Christians, often unknowingly, observe the Feast of Firstfruits every year on the day we call Easter.

So, this week, I bid you happy Passover, happy unleavened bread, and happy firstfruits. Let’s celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ.