FESTIVAL - All The Bible Teaches About

Series 4 - God's Plan for You and the Entire World: Unlocking the Secrets of God's Festivals

---

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. These are just a few of the many references to God's festivals in the New Testament. We will cover more of them in future lessons. Will all nations celebrate these festivals after Jesus Christ returns to set up the Kingdom of God? One of the commanded celebrations of the Kingdom of God will be the Feast of Tabernacles, an integral component of the progression of God's festivals. The Bible uses the analogy of spiritual harvests as a description of God's wonderful plan of salvation.

Let's look at several examples that correlate with the three harvest seasons. The firstfruits of the physical harvest were the first grains and fruits to ripen. They were offered to God Exodus By analogy Jesus Christ is the perfect spiritual firstfruits and the first to be resurrected to eternal life. Was the Church founded on the Feast of Pentecost also compared to a harvest? Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. Pentecost is the Greek name for the festival referred to by several names in the Old Testament, such as "the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors" Exodus It signaled the end of the spring harvest and thus can represent the spiritual harvest of the Church during this time.

What about everyone else? Does the Bible show a sequence for these spiritual harvests? But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. This quick overview has probably raised many questions in your mind.

Each of these future harvests and the related festivals will be covered in more detail in future lessons.

Feasts and Festivals of Israel - Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology Online

We hope this lesson has introduced the biblical analogy of harvests as it relates to the unfolding plan of salvation for humanity. God truly has a plan for each and every man, woman and child who has ever lived, and understanding and observing the festivals of God can help us unlock some of the wonderful depths of meaning that we might otherwise easily miss. Jesus Christ taught His disciples with many agricultural analogies. One of His most famous parables is the parable of the sower in Matthew The Bible also promotes this powerful educational technique.

In the Bible, God established an annual reenactment and preview of His plan of salvation. The seven steps of this plan remain a mystery to many people today, and even Christians who base their beliefs on the Bible have often missed the significance of these ancient biblical festivals. When we understand the symbolism and celebrate these seven feasts, we uncover greater understanding of the unified, perfectly connected plan of God.

The other articles in this section begin to explore the encouraging and sometimes surprising answers. Jesus Christ, His apostles and the early New Testament Church all celebrated these biblical festivals. You can find three quick examples by looking at 37 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. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Consider what the prophet Zechariah recorded about the time after Jesus Christ returns to the Mount of Olives 9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

This [same] Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. A major theme of the Bible is spiritual growth and bearing spiritual fruit. God uses the analogy of spiritual harvests as a description of His awesome plan of salvation. The first produce to become ripe in the spring was called the firstfruits and was offered to God 19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. Spiritually, Jesus Christ was the perfect firstfruit and the first one to be resurrected to immortality:. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

Most Relevant Verses

And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,. Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Should Christians Observe Easter?

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

God's Spiritual Harvests

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Feasts and Festivals of Israel

Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord , the praises of the Lord , according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.

• Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction
• Deadly Factbook: Insects and Spiders: Book 2 (Steve Backshalls Deadly series)
• The Millionaires Club: Ryan, Alex and Darin: Breathless for the Bachelor / Pretending with the Playboy / Fit for a Sheikh (Mills & Boon Spotlight) (The Millionaires Club, Book 4)
• Music In and On the Air
• LUCÍA DE GARCÍA, A PEACEFUL LIGHT: MY JOURNEYS TO THE CENTER OF THE HEART