Numbers 28:16-29:6--Offerings For Three Special Feast Days OF Holy Convocation (The Gospel Told In Three Feasts)

Numbers 28:16-29:6
English Standard Version

Offerings for the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Pesach/Passover)
16 “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD's Passover, 17 and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 19 but offer a food offering, a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish; 20 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two tenths for a ram; 21 a tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs; 22 also one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. 24 In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. It shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.

Offerings for the Feast of Weeks (The Feast of the Harvest/Firstfruits/Pentecost)
26 “On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 27 but offer a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old; 28 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for one ram, 29 a tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 with one male goat, to make atonement for you. 31 Besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. See that they are without blemish.

Offerings for the Feast of Trumpets (The Feast of Ingathering)
29 “On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets, 2 and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 3 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram, 4 and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offering, according to the rule for them, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.

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We've already covered each of these feast days as to their meaning, but we're going to refresh a bit today as I think God keeps bringing His people back to these days of remembrance and it's good for us to continue to remember as well.  Let's summarize that each of them has significance in asking the people to remember something about who God is by remember something that He has done for them while also directing them to think about how God is unchanging and will continue to do that same things for them and each teaches them a part of the gospel.  Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of all of these feasts and Sabbath days and is also the fulfillment of all of these sacrifices that we are studying from last time and this time (and everything else required by the Law).  We no longer enter God's presence by the blood of bulls and goats, but by the body and blood of Jesus who is our Great High Priest and has made atonement once for all those who belong to Him.  Unlike all these sacrifices that had to happen over and over and over again, Jesus died once and His death was sufficient for all people in all places at all times who would call upon the name of the Lord in faith believing that He died in their place so that they could be made new through the Holy Spirit and live in the Spirit and the power of Christ's resurrection.

The first three feasts mentioned here are no ordinary holidays.  They are the three days of holy convocation that the LORD required the whole nation of Israel to gather together every year and celebrate.  First is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (which normally gets referred to by the name Passover, but Passover is one of the days of that week).  Christians would associate this time in Jesus's life as as Passion Week and is everything between when He cleansed the Temple until His Resurrection Day.  It was God's plan that all the people of Israel would be there in Jerusalem that week to see and participate in those events.  This is why Cleopas, one of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus asked Jesus, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” when Jesus played dumb as to why they were so grieved and upset.  Surely if Jesus was Jewish He would have seen and participated in all that happened that week.  Everyone had to know about it.  This was part of God's plan with sharing the gospel with all the Jewish people.  The sacrifices that were required at this time prepared people to be ready to look for Jesus their Passover Lamb.  We believe it was during this same feast when John the Baptist points to Jesus and says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  There's much more that lines up here with this feast and with Jesus' earthly ministry, but that is not the focus of today's article.

Next on the list here is the feat of Pentecost (Pentecost means 50 days or 50th day because it is celebrated after seven weeks, 49 days, have passed since the day of Passover).  This is an Old Testament Feast, though we mostly know about it as Christians because of something that happened that day in the book of Acts--but that "something" (the coming of the Holy Spirit) is exactly in line with the meaning of this holy days from the very beginning.  Once again, this is one of the days that the whole nation was required to gather together at the Temple.  God intended all the Jews to be there in Jerusalem to see and hear what happened at Pentecost and not miss that part of the gospel message.  The sacrifices of that day are to point people back to Passover (notice they offer the same kinds of sacrifices again), but this time they are giving thanks for the firstfruits of the harvest which the LORD is providing for them, and they are believing by faith that God will provide even more harvest and a better harvest.  This is also the only feast in which we see the LORD require that they offer leavened bread as part of the sacrifice--a symbol that is was always God's intent here to bring Jew and Gentile together into one Body of Christ.  Everything offered to the LORD this Feast was to be part of the new harvest and nothing was to be mixed in from the old harvest (the Church was not just going to be a repackaged, freshened up version of the Judaism that people were used to where they thought they were declared righteous by adherence to the Law, but it was going to be something altogether "new" to them, though not new at all, where the Holy Spirit would take those who were dead in sin and make them alive in Christ).  The sacrifices we see offered here got people ready for the coming of the Holy Spirit and the harvest of souls when God reversed the curse from the Tower of Babel and made a single people out of the nations of the known world and took the languages that were confused and allowed everyone to understand the message of the gospel in their own tongue.  We are to remember that Jesus is the Firstfruits of many brethren from among the dead (the first and the best that could be offered, but that more fruit and better fruit is to follow)--which leads us into our next feast day.

The third feast day mentioned here is the third day that God required the whole nation of Israel to come together for holy convocation.  It looks forward to something that has not yet happened yet, as it looks forward to the return of Christ to gather all the people of God, all of His kingdom citizens, the Bride of Christ, the Church, true Israel, unto Himself.  The book of Revelation makes it clear though that there will not only be a harvest of the righteous, but also a harvest of the unrighteous   See revelation 14:14-20 where the Son of Man (that is Jesus) harvests the good grain, but there are angels that are sent to harvest the harvest of grapes which are fully ripe, which symbolizes all those who have been allowed to live in rebellion against God and judgment has not come on them yet.  Judgment will come upon them in the Day of the Lord.  We don't have a specific holiday as Christians that we celebrate which corresponds to this day, but we are to expect to hear the trumpet at any time that would announce the return of Christ the King, and we are to celebrate Jesus as Lord of the Harvest.  I will not say this with any certainty or authority, but it would make sense to me that if God was already careful to make the first two of these three important holidays line up with the fulfillment of those holidays, why would He not do that again for this third holiday?  Don't you think that He wants all of His people to be expectant and ready at the time of His coming?

The combination of these three feast days help us to see God's gospel work past, present and future as well as help us focus on justification, sanctification and glorification.  It is something God has done for us before the beginning of time when He chose us to be a people that He would redeem unto Himself and a price that has been paid in full by the body and blood of Jesus in His penal substitutionary atonement for us.  It is an ongoing process for us as we are now in the period where the Holy Spirit is convicting of sin and making us holy and into the very likeness of the Son of God, preparing us for every good work that God has prepared for us in Christ Jesus for the here and now and also getting us ready for the Day of the Lord.  Finally, it is something we look forward to that is not yet for us, but is as certain as what has happened in Christ and what is happening in Christ right now.  We can live confidently and expectantly that "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

Philippians 1:6
English Standard Version
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The time of the harvest is approaching and while we will be able to look and see that the time is right for harvest to take place, the exact moment of when that harvest will come will be a surprise to us.  There will be an announcement from God the Father to tell Jesus that it's time, and He will not hesitate to execute that command and come back for His Church.  Which harvest will you be a part of?  There are only two!  Once all the grain is gone, everything left is grapes and there is no indication that I see that Jesus is going to come back again for anyone that He "missed" the first time.  The Law actually prohibits the Jews from going back over their fields a second time to try to harvest more grain, and I think that's probably consistent with what we'll see with the harvest here (only God is going to miss anyone).

Revelation 14:14-20
English Standard Version

The Harvest of the Earth
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

It is personal conviction on my part (and also how I read certain passages of Scripture) that we are currently waiting for the harvest to come to fullness--not so much that we are waiting for historical events to line up and for certain people to be in place.  We see several times that it is mentioned both Old and New Testaments that God is going to cause all the peoples of the earth to be gathered unto Him and to worship Him and we see people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people group around the throne of God in the book of Revelation in worship.  Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every tribe, tongue, nation, and people group.  I don't think it's a mistake that this is the same language used to describe the makeup of the people in heaven.  There will be a remnant from every tribe, tongue, nation and people group.  God has promised that and will bring it to fulfillment, but God has chosen to use the Church as His means of accomplishing this.  we are the workers that He has sent out into the harvest.  Are we helping to expedite the return of Christ for all the people that belong to Him or delaying it?  Be about the business of preaching the gospel to all people in all places in all times by all the means of your gifting and equipping you have been provided by the Holy Spirit.  Live in a way that shows people that you are citizen of the kingdom of heaven and that you're anxious for the day when you get to go home and be united with your friends and family, but that you also want to invite everyone else that you love to be able to go with you and be a part of the friends and family that you love.