The first three of the seven feasts are related to the first coming of Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away sin. Pentecost is related to the ministry of the truth. But the last three feasts, viz: Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles, are kingdom related. That is, they are related to the coming of the King to take up residence in His temple people.
The last festivals begin with the feast of trumpets. Trumpet connotes a message. The feast is to prepare God’s people for the arrival of the King. It is to prepare the way of the Lord in the hearts of men.
God’s people, the Church, is being given a final chance to repent and prepare their hearts for the arrival of the King. And why the heart? Because without holiness no man shall see the Lord, nor experience His Kingdom power and glory [Matthew 5:8; John 3:5; Hebrews 12:14].
The feast of trumpets will restore truth to the Church. Jesus promised that Elijah will first come and will restore all things [Matthew 17:11]. Though the immediate reference was to the spirit of Elijah that was manifest through the ministry of John the Baptist whose purpose was to introduce Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; the ultimate reference is to a corporate ministry that will emerge in these last days to prepare the way of His coming. Like John the Baptist, these are a voice in the wilderness, calling men to repentance and giving direction to the Church.
The Day of atonement is a day for God’s people to afflict their souls; a time when man must give up his self-life in exchange for the fullness of the God-life. It was the day in Israel when the high priest enters through the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, on behalf of the rest of Israel, which signified that God’s people would someday be required to break through the veil of their own flesh to enter the realm of the fullness of life in Christ.
Atonement means “to cover” or “at-one-ment” with God. In these last hour, God is calling His people to total repentance and surrender to Him, so that He can cleanse us from all our sins and cover us with His own righteousness. God is calling His people to come and dwell in the secret place of the Most High and to abide under the shadow of the Almighty [Psalm 91].
The age will end with a visitation from God. When He came visiting in the Garden of Eden, man was found naked because he had sinned. God replaced the fig leaves with which Adam had clothed himself with animal skin, which was indicative of the righteousness by which He would clothe man through Christ. [Genesis 3:10, 21].
The feast of Tabernacles is the feast of fullness – the fullness of the Spirit of Christ streaming through the lives of believers. Jesus came to give the God-life to believers, and He came that believers might experience that kind of life in overflowing abundance [John 10:10].
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. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. [John 7:37-39 (NKJV)]. That was during the feast of Tabernacles [John 7:2].
This is in line with what God had in mind from the beginning when He said, “Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” [Genesis 1:26]. In verse 27 of Genesis chapter 1, God created man in His image, it took thousands of years for that project to be fully realized. It was realized in the Man Christ Jesus [Ephesians 3:11] and it shall be realized in a corporate Man, the Body of Christ, at the end of the Church age.
“Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.” [Matthew 17:1-2 (NKJV)].
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [Revelation 19:10]; that is, the life of Jesus was prophetic – what was true of Him shall become the reality of those who believe in Him. After six prophetic days (six thousand years from Adam), a people shall be transfigured [be changed; the Greek word is metamorphoo] – just like Jesus. “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” [1 Corinthians 15:49 (NKJV)]. A beautiful butterfly is going to emerge from the cocoon of the visible Church.
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” [1 John 3:2-3 (NKJV)].
Now, we are like Him in spirit, having been recreated in His image [Ephesians 4:23,24]. We shall be like Him when He was manifested to Israel and walked in moral perfection and unsullied ministry for three and a half years [Philippians 3:11 (AMPC)]. And we shall be like Him when our lowly bodies shall be made to conform to His glorious body [Philippians 3:27]. These are the things to be expected at the end of the Church age.
The Church age shall not end in defeat for God’s people, neither shall we be scared away from the earth. The devil knows what is coming and he is scared like chicken. Our God is coming, and we are rising to meet with Him.
In our next write up we shall be looking at the meeting place. That is, where we must be gathered, ready to meet with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Written by luckydionne