(week 34/16)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Colossians 2:16-17 NIV: Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Someone has said that the Old Testament is the ‘glove’ while the New Testament is the ‘hand’ that fits the glove. When the ‘hand’ fits the ‘glove’ fully then we say the scripture has been fulfilled or ‘fully-filled’.
In particular, the three annual feasts of Israel are shadows of three experiences we are to have in Christ.
Passover
The feast of Passover foreshadows our experience of being born-again:
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 KJV: Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
This was fulfilled when Christ died for us on the cross and was raised from the dead.
Pentecost
The feast of Pentecost foreshadows our experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues. This also was fulfilled in the early church as recorded in
Acts 2:1-4 KJV: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Tabernacles
The feast of Tabernacles foreshadows our experience of coming to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ.
John 7:2 KJV: Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.
John 7:37-39 KJV: In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Exodus 23:14-16 KJV: Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Deuteronomy 16:16 KJV: 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.
In these scriptures, the feast of Pentecost is also called the feast of the harvest of the first fruits and the feast of weeks. This is because the outpouring of the Spirit in the feast of Pentecost was just the first fruits of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. The outpouring of the spirit in Pentecost was limited in measure. However, the outpouring of the Spirit in the feast of Tabernacles will be without measure as it was in the life of Jesus.
So in this experience of Tabernacles. we will be endued with the Spirit without measure as Christ was and do the works Christ did and even greater.
Ephesians 4:13 KJV: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
John 3:34 KJV: For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
John 14:12-13 KJV: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
This manifestation of the sons of God will lead to a worldwide revival and harvest of the fruit of the spirit in the church, as well as the evangelization and discipleship of all the nations (tribes and tongues) of the earth. For this reason, it is also referred to as the feast of ingathering.
Exodus 34:22 KJV: And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
Romans 8:19 KJV: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Isaiah 60:1-5 KJV: Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves
Now, just as Passover (i.e. being born-again) and Pentecost (being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues) are fulfilled in our lives INDIVIDUALLY, so now TABERNACLES must NOW be fulfilled in our lives INDIVIDUALLY because 2014-2015 were the years of the blood moon tetrad that synchronized with the Jewish feasts of Passover and Tabernacles. Furthermore, 2015 was a 7th Shemitah year of release (Dt.15.1), so from the day of Trumpets (Lev.23.24) of 2015 (Sept.14 2015), we entered into a Jubilee year.
We will see how to do this in more detail in our article next week.
