How Did Jesus Fulfill the Biblical Feasts? Understanding Prophecies in Christianity

How did Jesus fulfill the biblical feasts in Leviticus 23? The seven feasts are divided into two groups. This post examines the four spring feasts that look to Jesus’s first coming. Here are the three fall feasts that look to Jesus’s Second Coming. Each feast was fulfilled when celebrated: Jesus was crucified on Passover (Pesach), Jesus’s sinless (unleavened body) was buried during Unleavened Bread (Hag Hamatzot), Jesus was resurrected on Firstfruits (Hag HaBikkurim), and the church was born on Pentecost or Weeks (Shavuot). 

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The seven biblical feasts are divided into two groups. The four spring feasts look to Jesus’s First Coming, and all were fulfilled when they were celebrated:

• Jesus was crucified on Passover
• Jesus’s sinless, or unleavened body, was buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread
• Jesus was resurrected on Firstfruits
• The church began on Pentecost

The three fall feasts, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles, look to Jesus’s Second Coming, and because the spring feasts were fulfilled when the feasts were celebrated, it is reasonable to expect the fall feasts to be fulfilled when they are celebrated.

Passover is observed on the fourteenth day of the first month, Nisan, at twilight (Leviticus 23:5). Its Gregorian date changes from year to year; Nisan 14 is not a fixed March 30.

Firstfruits was celebrated during Unleavened Bread. The table separates the observances so we can see the connection this study draws between Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

The count from Firstfruits to Pentecost spans seven complete weeks, with Pentecost on the fiftieth day. Jesus appeared to His followers over forty days before His ascension (Acts 1:3–9); they then waited in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4).

There is a six-month gap between Nisan, when the spring feasts begin, and Tishri, the seventh month when the fall feasts begin. This six-month gap represents the church age or gap between Jesus’s two comings.

Looking to Jesus’s First Coming

Leviticus 23:4 “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.

The Hebrew word for feasts is môʿēḏ, which means “appointed times,” which is why many Bibles refer to the feasts as appointed feasts instead of only feasts. This is the first of four times in verses two through four that the word appointed is used. God wants us to know these feasts are appointed. Why the repetition? God carefully planned their timing and sequence to point toward Christ and the work He would accomplish in His First and Second Comings.

The First Biblical Feast, Passover (Pesach), Looked Forward to Jesus’s Crucifixion

Leviticus 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover.

1 Corinthians 5:7b Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Every Passover looked forward to Christ, our Passover lamb, who was crucified on Passover:

• Matthew 26:2 the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
• John 19:13 Pilate…brought Jesus out, and…14 it was the day of preparation of the Passover.

At the same time the lambs were being prepared to be slaughtered for the Passover meal, Jesus was being prepared to be slaughtered for our sins.

Exodus 12:13b [God said], “When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

When the Jews were in Egypt, they took the blood of the Passover Lamb and covered their doorposts so the wrath of God would pass over them. The typology is that when the blood of Christ covers us, the wrath of God passes over us, too:

• Passover celebrated Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
• With Christ as our Passover, we can celebrate the true and greater deliverance from slavery to sin and death.

The Second Biblical Feast, Unleavened Bread (Hag Hamatzot), Looked Forward to Jesus’s Unleavened Body in the Grave

Leviticus 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month (so again, Nisan) is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8 But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

Leviticus 23:5–8 places Passover on Nisan 14 and Unleavened Bread on the seven days beginning Nisan 15, through Nisan 21. These dates move within our March–April calendar each year.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread took place right after Passover because it celebrated Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, and Israel was delivered right after Passover. The Israelites were delivered so quickly they didn’t have time for the leaven to make their bread rise:

Exodus 12:11 In this manner you shall eat [the unleavened bread]: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

When the Feast of Unleavened Bread is discussed, Exodus 12:15 and Exodus 12:19 both read whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM ISRAEL. That’s pretty serious! Eat leaven and get killed! Leaven and yeast are the same, so you read this and say, What’s the problem with leaven? What does God have against fluffy bread?

The Old Testament prefigures the New Testament, and in the New Testament, leaven is a picture or type of sin:

• Leaven is a fungus that grows in bread dough like sin grows in a person’s life.
• You can never completely remove leaven from the dough, and we can never completely remove sin from our lives.
• Leaven “puffs up” bread like sin puffs us up or leads to pride.
• A small amount of leaven spreads through a batch of dough as a small amount of sin spreads through a person’s life, a marriage, a family (think of Achan’s sin affecting his entire family), or a church. Paul condemned churches that let sin remain among them: 1 Corinthians 5:6 and Galatians 5:9 both read Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

The Feast of Unleavened Bread looked forward to Jesus’s burial, and Jesus was buried right after He was sacrificed as our Passover Lamb. The feast of unleavened bread refers to Jesus’s unleavened or sinless body being buried in the ground. So, is there a connection between Jesus’s body and bread? Absolutely! We celebrate that connection every Sunday during communion:

Matthew 26:26 Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; THIS IS MY BODY.”

Bread of Life is one of the most common titles Jesus used for Himself:

John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread (referring to His body), he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world IS MY FLESH.”

Jesus’s body is the true and greater sinless or unleavened bread. Jesus described His body as a grain of wheat planted, or buried, in the earth, ready to burst forth as the Bread of Life:

John 12:23 Jesus [said], “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth (or is buried) and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

He’s referring to his death, and He said if He died and were buried, it would bear much fruit. And has there been much fruit from Jesus’s death and burial? Absolutely! The fruit of our salvation.

Just as every Passover lamb looked forward to Christ as our Passover lamb, every piece of unleavened bread looked forward to Jesus’s unleavened or sinless body being buried in the earth.

Jesus’s Unleavened Body Couldn’t Remain in the Grave

Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death

If you sin, you die. But the opposite is also true: if you never sin, you shouldn’t die. And because Jesus’s body was sinless or unleavened, when it was buried, the grave couldn’t hold Him:

Acts 2:24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO BE HELD BY IT.

The Third Biblical Feast, Firstfruits (Hag HaBikkurim), Looked Forward to Jesus’s Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:20 Christ has been raised from the dead, THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP…23 But each in his own order: CHRIST THE FIRSTFRUITS, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

The feast of firstfruits looked forward to Christ being the firstfruits of the resurrection:

Leviticus 23:9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Halfway through verse 11, look at the phrase “On the day after the Sabbath,” which tells us when Firstfruits was celebrated. The Sabbath is Saturday and the day after the Sabbath is Sunday, so Firstfruits was celebrated on Sunday. In other words, Firstfruits was celebrated the first Sunday after Jesus’s death, and we know this Sunday as Resurrection Sunday.

The confusing part is the Feast of Firstfruits was celebrated during the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

• The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days, Nisan 15–21; its weekdays vary with the year.
• The Feast of Firstfruits was celebrated on the Sunday in the middle of Unleavened Bread.

The first three biblical feasts were close because they looked to Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection.

What Are Firstfruits?

We don’t use the word firstfruits much, so think of two things when you hear this word. First, firstfruits were the part of the harvest set apart for God because they were expected to be the best of the harvest, and God wants our best. Christ is called our firstfruits because He’s the best of the harvest of those resurrected.

Second, firstfruits always looked forward to a greater harvest to follow. The Israelites gave their firstfruits to God, believing He would provide a later, greater harvest for them. There was no guarantee they would have more produce later, so it took faith to give the firstfruits of the harvest to Him.

Christ is the firstfruits because he’s the first of the resurrection. His resurrection looked forward to a greater harvest to follow. And this harvest brings us to the last feast…

The Fourth Biblical Feast, Pentecost or Weeks (Shavuot), Looked Forward to the Church’s “Harvest”

Leviticus 23:15 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.

Leviticus 23:15–16 counts seven full weeks from the firstfruits offering and calls for the next feast on the fiftieth day. This is the Feast of Weeks, also known as Pentecost. Acts 2 records the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples when that day arrived.

It says Pentecost is celebrated the day after the seventh Sabbath or Sunday, so:

• Firstfruits, the day Jesus was resurrected, was Sunday
• Pentecost, the day the church was born, was Sunday

Even though the Old Testament emphasized Saturday or the seventh day, there was still much about the first day or Sunday. It took place the day after the 49th day or on the 50th day, which is why it’s called Pentecost.

The Seven Weeks Between the Third and Fourth Feasts

The interval from the resurrection to Pentecost includes two stages: Jesus’s appearances over forty days, followed by the disciples’ wait for the promised Holy Spirit. The ascension and Pentecost are distinct events:

Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father (referring to the Holy Spirit), which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Jesus was telling them to get ready to celebrate the fourth feast! He was going to leave them, but He would send the Holy Spirit, and they needed to wait in Jerusalem until that happened, which is really to say until Pentecost.

Leviticus 23:22 And when you reap THE HARVEST OF YOUR LAND, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after YOUR HARVEST. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

It mentions their harvest twice. The third feast, Firstfruits, expected a greater harvest to follow, and Pentecost represents that greater harvest. This looked forward to the great harvest of souls brought into the church following Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection:

Acts 2:41 those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day ABOUT THREE THOUSAND SOULS.

Acts 4:4 many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to ABOUT FIVE THOUSAND.

Acts 2:41 records about 3,000 people added at Pentecost. Acts 4:4 then says the number of believing men reached about 5,000. We should not add these figures together as though Acts 4 describes 5,000 additional converts. It was still a remarkable harvest!

The Sabbath Looked Forward to the Rest Christ Offers

Leviticus 23:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. 3 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

The Sabbath isn’t one of the seven biblical feasts, but it’s mentioned here because Sabbaths are such a big part of the feasts. Like the feasts, the Sabbath also looked forward to Christ and the true and greater rest He offers:

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

It’s important to remember Jesus said these words to Jews who were already observing the Sabbath because the rest He offers is greater than the rest on the Sabbath:

• The Sabbath rest was physical, and the rest Jesus offered was spiritual.
• The Sabbath rest was for one day, but the rest Jesus offers can be enjoyed seven days per week.

Christ’s True and Greater Rest

It’s the rest we can have from worry and anxiety as we trust in God’s sovereignty and plan for our lives:

1 Peter 5:7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

It’s rest from feeling like we must do everything ourselves or manipulate circumstances. It’s being able to trust God will bring about the best end.

It’s the rest that comes from NOT being in bondage to some sin, addiction, or lifestyle.

It’s the rest that comes from knowing we’re forgiven. Many people spend much of their lives struggling with guilt and condemnation associated with their past actions, but resting in Christ’s forgiveness delivers us from that.

Many people spend their lives terrified of death and the unknown that follows it. Resting in Christ means freedom from fear of death and confidence in where we will spend eternity.

It’s the rest from working for salvation. Consider what the author of Hebrews said to his readers who thought works saved them:

Hebrews 4:3 We who have believed enter that rest [in Christ]…10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

This refers to God resting after the six days of creation. God rested on the seventh day because His work was completed, and we can rest because the work for our salvation is completed:

John 19:30 Jesus said, “It is finished.”

Some of the Hebrew readers hadn’t rested in Christ’s finished work. We are blessed to be able to do so.

What Did the Hebrews Understand?

Did the Hebrews wonder why the biblical feasts were so close together? Did they wish God spread them out a bit? More importantly, did they know the feasts looked forward to the Messiah? Or did they only see the feasts celebrating their deliverance from bondage in Egypt versus the true and greater deliverance the Messiah provides from bondage to sin and death?

Whatever the case, I know this: We are incredibly blessed that God so clearly revealed His Son through these feasts. They were established 1,500 years before Jesus came, and they alone should be enough to give faith to even the most doubtful individuals.