8. The Feasts of Israel (Part I)

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The primary organizational pattern used by the writers of the New Testament to fit together the truths of the gospel is the Tabernacle of Moses. A second pattern often used is that of the Feasts of the Lord and their place in the journey of Israel from Egypt to the temple in Jerusalem.

– For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7).

In order for us to know what God is doing in our lives and how we are to hear the gospel truths, we must understand how the Feasts are fulfilled in the Church.

The Ruling Metaphor. It is important for us to understand how the metaphors of God fit together. The largest and the ruling metaphor of the Bible is the reproduction of life, and I finally know specifically what that metaphor is describing. How does the life of God become the life of the Church? The answer to that question must include God as part of the Church, for life is not something that exists separately from the Father in Person.

How does the Church share life with God? – This question is the entirety of John’s concern in all he wrote.

The Ruling Answer. We have one question – “How does God share life with the Church that He might be seen and known as many loving one another?” The answer to this question rules all God’s metaphors. If the Lord Jesus has taught you from what I try to share, then you have the answer to that question.

Father at home in my heart is a means to an end. That end, that completion, is the Church. Yet not the Church as a woman receiving Seed, but rather, as a many-membered son ruling all creation through love. Revelation 12 contains the end goal of John’s gospel.

A System of Unbelief. Because they placed evil and not Christ between us and God, neither Augustine nor John Calvin had eyes to see any of this multitude of verses that speak of God life revealed through the Church. So many verses had no meaning to them. Both men were born again, however, and knew the Spirit a little bit, and thus they were able to receive the redemption verses. Yet they arranged those verses together around their core belief that Jesus is not actually part of our lives.

And so all the redemption verses became part of an entire system of unbelief, arranged together only by confusion.

The Power of Confusion. Here is that organizational pattern. – Confess a belief in Christ, be under the right covering, do the right Bible things, then, after you are dead, you will “go to” heaven where you will finally see Jesus and then you will know what all these other verses mean. But right now, they are out of your league because you are evil.

The lie is not an “alternative way of thinking.” The lie is contrary to all honest appraisal of facts (or verses). And it rules by making people feel trapped in dishonesty, that “God’s way” or “truth” has to be explained contrary to so many verses. It’s power is to make honest people go mad.

God’s Organizational Patterns. Yet it is so clear that God has His own organizational patterns, for the writers of the New Testament used those patterns all the time.

The most important is the Tabernacle of Moses, primarily the Ark of the Covenant. Second is the Feasts, which actually become the journey of that Ark. The Tabernacle is the Ark at rest and the Feasts are the Ark in motion, that is, the Journey of the Ark. We could say, at least in part, that the Tabernacle includes the Church, but is focused on the individual, whereas the Feasts include the individual, but are focused on the Church.

Fitting the Metaphors Together. The Tabernacle is three major parts or rooms containing seven pieces of furniture. The Feasts are three in total, but consisting of seven parts.

Passover and the Gate into the court of sacrifice are the same experience in the believer and in the Church. Then, Pentecost and the Door into the Holy Place are the same, and Tabernacles and the Veil into the Holy of Holies are the same.

Yet the seven are arranged differently. In the Tabernacle, they are two together, then three, then two. But in the Feasts, they are three together, then one, then three.

Never Confusion. God’s reason, I believe, is to show us that, while the two organizational patterns are speaking of the same huge gospel realities, yet they approach those realities from slightly different perspectives so that our understanding of God through us might increase. And so we can say this. – The metaphors of the Tabernacle and the Feasts are two different ways of arranging and thus understanding the critical truths of the gospel.

The two patterns fit together wonderfully, yet their differences never bring confusion, for we are simply looking at a God who, by nature, is beyond knowing, yet He has given His knowing to us, that is, Jesus.

Passover – Pentecost – Tabernacles. Passover, then, has three parts, first the moment of Passover, which is immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, which is immediately followed by the Feast of Firstfruits.

Pentecost has one part. Nonetheless, although Passover is clearly journey, the Ark of the Covenant itself comes out from Pentecost on Mt. Sinai.

Then Tabernacles has three parts, yet each of these three parts have a few non-feast days in-between. First is the Feast of Trumpets, then, a few days later is the one Day of Atonement, followed a few days later by the full Feast of Tabernacles, or dwelling in booths for seven days.

The Boxes. Before continuing, now, let’s look at the titles of the boxes I have placed on the two pages devoted to the Feasts. On the first page, which we are covering today, are first a neutral section titled “God’s Pattern of the Feasts” followed by a box titled “The Reproduction of Life.” What I have written thus far helps me greatly to write those two. Then, the final three on today’s page are “Passover,” “Unleavened Bread & Firstfruits,” and “Pentecost.”

The next page also has five boxes: “Trumpets,” “the Day of Atonement,” “Tabernacles, “The Eighth Day,” and “Applied to John’s Gospel.” These will be the next Zoom lesson.

God’s Pattern of the Feasts. The primary organizational pattern used by the writers of the New Testament to fit together the truths of the gospel is the Tabernacle of Moses. A second pattern often used is that of the Feasts of the Lord and their place in the journey of Israel from Egypt to the temple in Jerusalem. – For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

The three major feasts are memorials of three great events in the journey of Israel. Passover celebrated the departure from Egypt; Pentecost remembered the law given on Mt. Sinai; but Tabernacles was not truly known until God filled Solomon’s temple with His presence. These three events, then, are fulfilled in the Church in very similar ways, from the cross to the resurrection.

Knowing Is Life. As I have pondered what I wrote above about life, a clearer understanding of WHAT LIFE IS has come to me. – This is age-unfolding life, to know the Father through knowing Jesus Sent into us (paraphrased).

Life is knowing Father with me, at home in my heart, sharing all that I am and every moment of my life with me. And I know this Father through Jesus who is my life. This knowing is the reproduction of life in me; this knowing makes me the same kind as Jesus. Therefore, what makes us human is the capacity to KNOW God with us, at home in our hearts, given to us by Jesus.

Our Reproductive Capacity. Everyone who has been conceived out from God [knows no separation from God]… We know that the Son of God IS presently and actively come [is present, has already arrived] and has given us an understanding, a through-mind [a spirit-mind capacity], so that we might know [Him who is] the true; and we are inside of [Him who is] the true, in His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 5:20).

This “through-mind” given to us by Jesus’ presence inside of us, is our God-kind sexual reproductive capacity. I live every day in the profound knowing of Father with me, sharing my life with me in all things. I am still human, but I know nothing of any separation from God. This is LIFE!

The Reproduction of Life. The ruling metaphor of the Bible is the sexual reproduction of life, both plant life and human life. Every Bible truth from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 is found inside this metaphor and is known first only through it. The question is - How does the life of God become our life as well? - He who has the Son has the life.

And what is life? Life is knowing God with us, sharing our lives, through knowing Jesus Sent into us. In the same way that the male sperm penetrates the female egg and a new human life develops rapidly, so the Word God speaks penetrates our faith and Christ is formed in us.

An Instantaneous Transfer. Let’s talk about Passover, now, in preparation for the next box on The Jesus Secret II page.

Passover is the larger combination of the first three on the list, and Passover is the moment of time just as the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins. Passover is our instantaneous transfer out from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. The moment before Passover, the children of Israel were slaves to the Egyptians. The moment after Passover, they were heading down the road, on the Way to the Promised Land.

Ready to Journey. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover (Exodus 12).

Ready to head down the road, ready to Journey. Yet they are not yet a nation together. Becoming a nation together comes out from Pentecost at Mt. Sinai. Passover is large numbers of people heading somewhere.

“When I see the Blood; I will pass over you.” Passover is our moment of redemption, when we receive the Blood of Jesus, our Passover, and our black hearts turn white. Then we join the throngs of people heading somewhere.

On Our Way to - ? Where are we going?

The false organizational pattern says that we are “going to” heaven, a concept that the New Testament mentions only once, when Paul said, “Do NOT say, ‘Let’s go to heaven to see Jesus ’” (Romans 10). Why not? Because Jesus, the Word God speaks, is inside of you and you are inside of Him.

Paul’s gospel, confirmed by John, says that we are going to Church. – The Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Christ who fills all inside of all. The Church is the revelation of God to all heaven-earth.

Passover sends us running on our way to Church.

The Moment of Redemption. Then, as its point of organization, we see that Passover brings together all the verses related to the “flash-point” of our redemption, that moment when we receive Jesus and His Sacrifice. – The old man is dead, we are conceived from above, redeemed out from your useless manner of life… by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot – and so on.

Then, the importance of Passover being one nano-second of time is that it places the believer in Jesus INSTANTLY into the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that is, all the purity of Christ, contrary to Augustine and John Calvin.

Passover. Passover is that moment when we receive the Blood of the Lamb shed for us as our reconciliation with God. It is our instantaneous transfer out from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son.

Yet we partake of Passover in haste, prepared as for a great journey. As the light dawns in us, so we join with many others going to meet with God together.

Then, Passover includes a second experience when we pass through the waters of baptism, for God wants us to see clearly that all the old is gone and only the new remains. By Passover, we live only inside of Jesus, one spirit with Him.

You Are Complete in Christ. Because Passover is a moment only, the Feast of Unleavened Bread feels like the Feast of Passover, and it is.

Leaven, in the Bible, represents dishonesty and thus impurity. Impurity is not, technically, the presence of sinful actions, but rather, dishonesty towards those actions. When we walk in the light, we put everything into the light, including our foolish mistakes. We hide nothing.

Nonetheless, the moment we begin eating of Christ and His Word, we are eating all purity and completion. We are complete, and we are completely clean, from the moment we receive the Lord Jesus.

Inside of Christ. Augustine claimed that his “evil nature” must prevent God from being part of his life. John Calvin claimed that when you see God, you will know just how evil you are. But God commanded Peter, very sternly, “Do NOT call unclean that which I have cleansed.” Augustine and Calvin were defying God.

Unleavened Bread arranges together all the New Testament verses of our living “in Christ,” as they are set against our escape from the false “struggle against sin,” specifically Paul’s verse of our escape from such a false way of thinking, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

The Need for Firstfruits. Yet there is disaster ahead, as evidenced by the false organizational patterns that erase all the “in Christ” verses as a “nice idea” only, because Jesus is far away right now. You see, when “in Christ” is removed, then all the New Testament verses on “sin” become the place where all Christians live now, not “in Christ,” but “in sin.”

“God revealed through His Church now upon this earth is a ridiculous impossibility.” – A true statement (almost). And thus God places the Feast of Firstfruits as the promise of things to come. In essence, God is saying with Firstfruits, “I only need a few, and then the full harvest is guaranteed.”

Unleavened Bread & Firstfruits. The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the moment of Passover. Full union with Christ begins the moment we receive the redemption of Jesus, though we hardly know what that means. We journey on to know the Lord. We partake of Christ, of every Word He is, as living bread. We are complete inside of Him.

Leaven is dishonesty. From the moment of our redemption, we eat of a true Word, containing no disconnection from God. Yet the journey is long and many will turn aside from the fullness of Christ in His Church. Firstfruits is God’s promise that the few will be followed by the many.

The Writing of Covenant. Pentecost is the Baptism of the Spirit. Pentecost is the writing of Christ upon tablets of hearts of flesh, mirrored by, but in contrast to, the writing of law upon tablets of stone. Pentecost is the penetration of God into the human soul, into our story of self.

Immersion into the Spirit is marked first by the words of the Bible coming alive as Christ Jesus to us. And it is marked second by the flow of the anointing in the assembly. Of truth, it was Pentecost that made Israel one nation together, marked by the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, a nation signified by God in their midst.

Out from Pentecost. Only by the immersion of our souls into the Spirit of God can we know the meaning and purposes of God. Before then, Moses had said, “We’re just going a little way into the wilderness to meet with God.” Only out from Pentecost and out from placing the Ark of the Covenant into its place in the Tabernacle, could the children of Israel begin to consider their destiny in the Promised Land.

Yet Pentecost is also the feast in which leavened bread is eaten, that is, dishonesty. It is when Christians get a hold of the anointing of God in the power of the Spirit that they really start playing games with God’s people.

The Sorrow of God. It took several months to construct the Tabernacle, and thus God seemed to mean for the entrance into the Land, marking the fulfillment of Tabernacles in Israel’s year, to be the second year of Israel’s journey. But that’s not really the case, for it is 490 years in-between the Day of Pentecost and the Day of Tabernacles. And those 490 years are marked by wandering around in the wilderness, by being defeated by giants in the land, by choosing a false king, before God could send a man after His own heart who would prepare the way for Tabernacles.

Pentecost is the sorrow of God for His unbelieving Church.

Pentecost. Pentecost is full immersion into the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit flooding into our souls, our minds, our desires, and our emotions. By Pentecost, the Words of Christ become alive to us and we know the Lord.

Pentecost is the writing of the Word of Christ with Spirit ink upon our hearts of flesh. It is in the experience of Pentecost that we become the Church together, the dwelling place of God.

Yet Pentecost contains the bread of leaven, for it is in the release of the Spirit that humans, already possessing all authority, can now use the Spirit to manipulate God and people. Let us go on to know the Lord.

The Entrance of Tabernacles. We live inside of great sorrow for our brethren, and, if we are wise, for ourselves as well. You see, we have not yet gone to Church; we are not yet inside the full Feast of Tabernacles. We look at ourselves and at our fellow believers in Jesus, and all we see is an impossible, even horrific disaster.

And this is the importance of placing God’s two organizational patterns together, for you see, as individuals, we live entirely inside the Holy of Holies, inside the secret place of the Most High. And it is here where we set forth our souls for our brethren, the Church.

The Ark is coming up the road – entering into Tabernacles.

Let’s Pray Together. Our prayer today will be synergeoing with God to turn into goodness any suffering of loss either you or a loved one has recently experienced. Think of a loss you have recently experienced, something that you thought was yours, but is now fully gone. It is in accepting that loss, in giving thanks, that the doors into God’s next wondrous season are open to us.

“Father, I place before you this that I thought was mine, but is now gone. I know that You are sharing with me Your own Heart which has lost so much, and the grief that You carry. Father, I give you thanks inside this loss, for You are Good and True. We share our sorrow together.

"Yet Father, I also know that You have given me the power of an endless life, and that all things that are truly mine will return to me in their season. And Father, You and I synergeo together to turn even this loss we have suffered together into the outcome of pure and utter goodness. Father, You share Your confidence with us and we share our confidence with You, that our precious and Devoted Spirit is, even now, accomplishing all that we intend.

“And Father, as we together with You turn our loss and our sorrow into unending goodness, so we stand in the expectation that new seasons of life out from You are even now coming upon us. We lose nothing, for all things are restored to us.”