Keeping the Feasts of the Lord

Posted on Jul 05 , 2011 in Blog

Exodus 23:14 KJV Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

Many teach that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. The Old Testament is full of spiritual truths which are “shadows” of things which were fulfilled in Christ. As an example, in the Old Testament the Lord instituted three feasts to occur within a year. His people were commanded to make the journey to His appointed place, Jerusalem, the main city of government as well as the center of worship unto the Lord.

For many, keeping a feast required making a long journey that required time and endurance. It was an act of worship, a sign of putting the Lord first place. The phrase “keep a feast” meant to move in a circle and it reflected individual lives and the lives of families being centered around the Lord and His ways. This was a cycle of events which was repeated every year.

Proverbs 22:20 KJV Have not I written to thee excellent things (measures of three) in counsels and knowledge,

Throughout the Bible, the Lord spoke of and performed things in groups of three. For example, in Mark 4:8, the Lord teaches the harvest of the Word of God takes place in a 30, 60, or 100-fold fashion. This three measure working of the Lord reflects the trinity of the godhead himself:

The Father,
The Son and
The Holy Spirit.

The three major feasts found in the Old Testament reflect the three fold nature of the trinity producing a New Testament harvest of maturity in His sons and daughters. Though many still keep the natural elements of these feasts, the Lord’s intention was for us to experience the fullness of Himself by allowing His Word to come to full maturity in our lives.

First the blade,
then the ear, then –
the full corn in the ear

(Mark 4:28).

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

The three major feasts instituted by the Lord are:

The Feast of Unleavened Bread –Passover
The Feast of Weeks –Pentecost and
The Feast of Tabernacles—the great feast of ingathering.

The first and the third feasts were further broken down into three feasts each; producing a total of seven feasts altogether; seven being a number of perfection. Each of us should experience the work of the three major feasts (seven feasts in total) within our lives before we finish our race on this earth.

As a quick summary,

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover represents:

Our encounter with Jesus Christ, the Passover lamb.
Without the blood of Jesus Christ there is no redemption, no reconciliation back to the Father.
Jesus Christ is the incorruptible seed of God.
By receiving that seed we are born again and receive the nature of God.

The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost represents:

A baptism into the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to become true witnesses of Christ;
Martyrs who die to their own selfishness and live their lives to the glory of God.

The Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering represents:

An immersion into the work of the Father, an ingathering of mature fruit.
Living our lives as sons and daughters of God, whose purpose is to please the Father, as we continue to grow in grace and maturity in Christ.
Our lives being conformed to the very image of Christ, not doing our own will but the will of the Father who sends us out into the world to represent Him.

The truest elements represented by these three feasts are an ongoing spiritual work within a son or daughter’s life. However, the Lord has chosen the pattern of three feasts a year here in the Church in Marshall to bring a concentrated work of God to our lives. These events center around the apostolic and prophetic work of Christ where Christ sets His children’s lives in order. It is during these set apart times, the Lord often sets another stone in the foundation of our lives. Those who come hungry and seeking the Lord never go away disappointed.

I would encourage you to check out our calendar for scheduled events, seek the Lord and see if He would have you to join us in one of these spiritual encounters with Him. In doing so, we outwardly express His commandment to “keep His feasts”.

1Co 5:8 ESV Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

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