Each of the God’s Feast Days, from the Sabbath to the Last Great Day, celebrate a memorial of God’s ability to save us from bondage, sin, death and an enemy.
The Sabbath
In the two chapters known for their list of the Ten Commandments, the Lord gives two reasons for the Sabbath:
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- Exodus 20:11 – For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
- Deuteronomy 5:15 – And remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.
Unleavened Bread
From the Creation story in Genesis 1 and 2, we know the Sabbath is a memorial of God’s rest at the completion of Creation.
“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Genesis 2:1-3
But the second reason given for the Sabbath in Deuteronomy 5:15 is a little surprising. We know from the Exodus story that it is the Feast of Unleavened Bread that holds the memorial of deliverance from Egypt and symbolically, deliverance from slavery of any kind.
“Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shall show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shall therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.” Exodus 13:7
The second reason for the Sabbath listed in Deuteronomy 5:15 links the Sabbath together with the Feast of Unleavened Bread because they share a memorial of the Exodus. This begins to spark a question in our minds about how else God’s Feasts and His Sabbath are linked. If they are both found together in the Commandments in Deuteronomy 5, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread part of God’s Sabbath Commandment?
The verses we read in Exodus 13 also told us that the Feast of Unleavened Bread stands as a sign in our forehead and our hand that we have been saved by God. But doesn’t the 7th day Sabbath also stand as a Seal of belonging to God? We read about this in Ezekiel 20.
“Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” Ezekiel 20:12
“I am the Lord your God: walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:19-20
Since we know that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was given as a Seal of God in our foreheads and in our hands, we can see that these verses in Ezekiel about God’s Sabbaths standing as His Seal, relate to more than just the 7th day Sabbath, but also include at least one of God’s Feast Days.
Here God has linked together His Sabbath and His Feasts by 2 witnesses: the memorial of deliverance and the Seal of God. Are the other Feasts linked together with the Sabbath through these same two symbols of deliverance?
Pentecost
There is evidence found in Deuteronomy 16 that connects another Feast to the same memorial of deliverance. This is the next Feast of the year, Pentecost:
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- Deuteronomy 16:10-12 – And thou shall keep the Feast of Weeks [Pentecost] unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which thou shall give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.… And thou shall remember that thou was a bondman in Egypt: and thou shall observe and do these statutes.
The Feast of Trumpets
Then we find that the most profound evidence the Bible gives us about The Feast of Trumpets is also a memorial of deliverance. Trumpets is the only Biblical holiday that falls on a new moon. Here we see it in Psalm 81, a Psalm of deliverance, where the Bible includes this feast as the same sign that God is the One who has delivered us:
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- Psalm 81:3-10 – Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou called in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; there shall no strange god be in thee; neither shall thou worship any strange god. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
And we also can see that the Feast itself is given to us as a Sabbath memorial. This time we are told that it is a memorial of the blowing of trumpets.
“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, saying: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.” ’ ” Leviticus 23:23
And within the instructions God gave for the blowing of trumpets comes an exciting promise of deliverance:
“When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.” Numbers 10:9
So we find that the Feast of Trumpets is also both a Sabbath of rest and again a memorial of deliverance.
The Day of Atonement
We can see a future incidence of deliverance subtly shown in the Day of Atonement in Daniel 8:13-14 when the question is asked, How long will the Little Horn inhabit an earthly sanctuary and persecute God’s people? The answer and the solution are both given in this statement: For “2300 evening-mornings, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” This deliverance will be brought by Christ who saves us from the bondage of our sin and those who would rule over us.
This theme of deliverance is also seen in a second way on the Day of Atonement.
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- Leviticus 25:9 – Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.
The Day of Atonement marks the announcement of the Jubilee on the 50th year when the slave would go free, the land would revert to its owner and all would finally be brought home.
The Feast of Tabernacles
The Feast of Tabernacles has many lessons. But one of the most profound of these is about the Lord covering us under His shelter—or the booth, sukkot or tabernacle. This lesson brings to mind the symbol of the Great Eagle and the many texts that say He will cover us with His feathers and under His wings we will find refuge. The most outstanding of these texts is in Isaiah 26:20 through Isaiah 27:1 where the Lord gives the people who live through the 7 Last Plagues the comfort that He will shield them. Along with this promise comes the guarantee that He will destroy the serpent who has enslaved us in sin and in death.
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- Isaiah 26:20-21 – Isaiah 27:1 – Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain. In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and He will slay the Dragon that is in the sea.
- Psalm 57:1-3 – Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.
- Psalm 91:1-4 – He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
The Last Great Day
The Last Great Day, the final Feast of the year, holds the direct promise of freedom from the grave and death. It is shown in Jesus’ words:
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- John 6:39-40 – This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
- John 6:40-44 – And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” … No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
- John 6:53-54 – Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- John 7:37-38 – On the Last Day, that Great Day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
The Sabbath Commandment
A real pattern is developed here.
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- The Sabbath –“The LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm.”
- Unleavened Bread –“With a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.”
- Pentecost –“Thou shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt.”
- The Feast of Trumpets –“I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. … I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.”
- Tabernacles –“He shall send from heaven and save me.”
- The Last Great Day –“And I will raise him up on the Last Day.”
The Sabbath was given to us as a memorial of deliverance from slavery, and the rest of the Feasts hold this same memorial purpose. This is one witness that links together the Feasts and the Sabbath as part of God’s Sabbath Commandment.
The Seal of God
But there is a second way that the Sabbath and the Feasts are bound together. This witness is found in the Ten Commandments themselves as Christ shows them to be the Seal of God. We find the Feasts listed as the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34:
“The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. … Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. …”
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.” Exodus 34:18, 20-22, 27-28.
And then we find Jesus linking these Commandments, including all the Feasts, together with the sign of our belonging to God. He also shows obedience to God’s every command as the evidence of our love for Him.
“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His Commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” 1 John 2:3-5
From beginning to end, all the lessons of the Feast Days connect us to God, reveal God’s Plan of Salvation and prove His ability to save us. □
