The strongest Old Testament support of God’s seven millennial day construction of human history reflecting the Genesis week is to be found in the pattern of festivals God ordained for Israel in the Mosaic Law. Leviticus/Numbers/ Deuteronomy spell out the yearly system of dates and festivals ordained by God for Israel to keep.

The seven feasts are grouped in three sets: (refer to Leviticus 23 at the end of this post for the text)

• Feasts 1 to 3: Passover (Day 1), Unleavened bread (Day 2-7), Firstfruits (Day 3) – Leviticus 23:4-15
• Feast 4: Feast of weeks (or Harvest or Pentecost)- Leviticus 23:16-22
• Feasts 5-7: Feast of Trumpets (Day 1), Day of Atonement  (Day 10), Feast of  Tabernacles (Day 15- 22) – Leviticus 23:23-44

Significantly, we may note that there are seven feasts spaced over a seven month period. We have discussed one of the feasts before, in section 2.5, the Feast of Tabernacles. All nations of the world will be obliged to attend the feast of tabernacles, in Jerusalem, where Jesus reigns as King during the seventh millennium. We noted that the Feast of Tabernacles is also called the feast of Booths (or dwellings), and this represents Christ’s Millennium, when God will be dwelling with His people once again. The feast of tabernacles will thus be prophetically fulfilled during the millennial reign of Christ on this earth. (Rev 20:1-7)

It thus requires no great deal of understanding from us to start suspecting that each one the seven ceremonial feasts may be providing a prophetic link to God’s plan for mankind (Refer section 3.2). At this stage, four feasts, Passover, Firstfruits, Unleavened bread and Pentecost have already been fulfilled. Jesus was our sinless, pure passover Lamb. He is the firstfruits of our resurrection and dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, first poured out on the day of pentecost.

As the preceding four feasts were literally fulfilled, so the three unfulfilled feasts, Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles will be literally fulfilled in the near future.

The spacing of the feasts is as follows:

• 14 days from New Year to Passover.
• Festival group 1: Passover (Day 1), Unleavened bread (Day 2-8), and First fruits (Day 3)
• Gap of 50 days.
• Festival group 2: Feast of weeks or Harvest or Pentecost.
• gap of 164 days
• Festival group 3: feast of Trumpets (Day 1), Atonement (Yom Kippur, Day 10), feast of Tabernacles (Day 15- 22))
• Remainder of the year.

Note that the feast of unleavened bread occurs on the fifteenth day of the first month. Exactly six months later, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, is the feast of tabernacles. There may be some parallel in this.

Feast 1: Passover

The Passover Feast had its origin in Egypt. It was the feast celebrating the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. It was to them the “beginning of months,” and their annual calendar. It consisted of the taking of a male lamb, without blemish, of the first year, a lamb for a family, and killing it on the 14th day of the month in the evening, and sprinkling its blood, with a bunch of hyssop, on the two side posts and upper lintel of the door of their houses. The purpose was that when the Angel passed through Egypt that night and saw the blood on the doorposts, He would spare the first born sheltered within. The flesh of the lamb was to be roasted, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and none of it left until the morning. Those who ate of it were to do so with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand, ready to leave Egypt.

The Passover Feast was to be to them as a “Memorial,” and they were to keep it as a Feast throughout their generations, and as an ordinance Forever. The Passover Lamb was intended to point the Jews, and all Gentiles, to Jesus, the “Lamb of God.”

The applying of the Passover Lamb’s blood to the doorposts saved those sheltered within. The shedding of Jesus’s blood on Calvary, and our applying it to our hearts by faith, similarly saves us. Jesus Christ, Our Passover, was sacrificed for us (1 Cor 5:7). As that night was the “beginning of months” to them, so the moment a soul accepts Jesus Christ as its Saviour, that moment it is “born again,” and a new life begins.

The first time the Children of Israel observed the Passover Feast it was in the land of Egypt, a type of the world, which they immediately left the next day.  We do not observe the Passover, because it has been completely fulfilled in Jesus, our Passover lamb. We celebrate the broken body and the blood of Jesus during communion, who set us free from our enslaved and worldly sinful nature and the consequence of sin, enabling us to leave our ‘old life’ behind.

Feast 2:Unleavened bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the day after the Passover, Day 15 of the new year, and continued for a further seven days. (Lev 23:6-8- notes Passover (day 14) is the first day that unleavened bread is eaten).  As the Passover is a type of the death of Christ, so the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a pattern of the believer’s subsequent life, rooting out ‘leaven’, which represents sin, out of his life. In addition there should be no interval between the salvation and the believer’s commencement of a holy life and walk. The “seven days” (refer to post 3.1 on patterns) represent the rest of the Believer’s life after conversion.

Leaven elsewhere in the Bible represents sin, so the Feast was to be kept with “unleavened” bread. Ex 13:7. Paul speaks of “malice” and “wickedness” as leaven. “Purge out therefore the ‘old leaven’ that ye may be a ‘new lump,’ as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with ‘old leaven,’ neither with the ‘leaven of malice and wickedness.’ but with the ‘unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.'” 1 Cor 5:7-8. The typical teaching then of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is that, having been saved by the blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb, we are to “walk” in newness of life, purging out the leaven of worldliness; also doing no ‘good’ works in ‘our own strength’, or attempt any ‘good person’ works which are done to earn salvation. Salvation remains a free gift, and we are to live as free, trusting children of God. (ref Appendix F)

Feast 3: First-fruits (Lev.23:9-14):

On the “morrow after the Sabbath,” the Feast of First Fruits was to be celebrated.  The Offering was a sheaf reaped from the waving fields of the ripened harvest and carried to the priest to be waved before the Lord for acceptance, and was to be followed by a Burnt, Meat and Drink Offering, but no Sin-Offering. The Burnt-Offering was to be a male lamb without blemish of the first year.

The Feast of First-Fruits was a type and foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Christ. Jesus’s resurrection, as spoken of by Paul, is the “First-Fruits” of the resurrection of the dead, the “First-Fruits” of the Harvest of those who will be Christ’s at His coming. (1 Cor 15:23)

The priests ‘waving of the sheaf’ represents that the “Great First-Fruits’ Sheaf” had been reaped and waved in the Heavenly Temple on the day of Christ’s resurrection. Christ the first-fruits of the harvest, our resurrection.

There will be no Feast of First Fruits in the Millennium, it has been fulfilled in Christ. (It seems there no Feast of First Fruits during the Wilderness Wanderings if Israel, but only after Israel had entered Canaan and started harvesting.)

Feast 4: Weeks or Pentecost

Fifty days after the Feast of First-Fruits, was the Feast of Pentecost.. The space between the two Feasts, which included Seven Sabbaths, was called the “Feast of Weeks.” It began with the offering of the First-Fruits of the Barley Harvest, and ended with the ingathering of the Wheat Harvest. The First Day was the Feast of the First-Fruits, the Last Day was the Feast of Pentecost. Only the First and Last day were celebrated.

At the Feast of Pentecost a New Meat Offering was to be offered before the Lord. It was called “new” because it must be of grain from the “new” harvest. At the Feast of First-Fruits “stalks of grain” were to be offered and waved, but at the Feast of Pentecost the grain was to be ground and made into flour, from which two loaves were to be baked with leaven. The “two loaves” represent the two classes of people that were to form the Church, the Jews and Gentiles, and as believers are not perfect, even though saved, that imperfection is represented by the leaven.

A “Burnt Offering” of seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young bullock, and two rams, was to be offered with the “Wave Loaves,” as was also “Meat” and “Drink” Offerings for a sweet savor unto the Lord. These were to be followed by a “Sin Offering” of a kid of the goats, and two lambs of the first year for a “Peace Offering.” The “Wave Loaves” were to be waved before the Lord. Note that it is now “loaves,” not loose stalks of grain. The “loaves” represent the elect joined ‘in Christ’, yet still in the flesh subject to “the law of sin which is in my members”. (Romans 7:23)

The Feast of Pentecost had its fulfilment on the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples of the Lord were baptized into one body by,the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 12:13

The Interval.

Between the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets there was an interval of four months during which the Harvest and Vintage were gathered in. There was no gathering of the people during those busy months. This long “Interval” typifies the time between Jesus’s sacrifice and his second coming, in the clouds of heaven, to gather His elect. (Matt 24:29-31)

The Fall feasts:

The fall feasts are:

• Trumpets (Day 180),
• Atonement or Yom Kippur (Day 190),
• The feast of Tabernacles (Day 195- 202)

The three fall feasts start exactly on the mid-point of the year (on day 180). Note the Jewish year consists of 360 days. (The missing 5 days each year are compensated for by adding and extra 30-day month to the year every sixth year. (5 x 6=30))

As discussed above, each feast has a prophetic parallel. The four spring feasts have already been fulfilled, ending with Pentecost. We are now living in the interval between the spring and fall feasts.

The question now is: If the spring feasts are a parallel of Jesus’ first coming, are the fall feasts perhaps a parallel of His second coming? As hinted above, the answer is yes. Firstly, there is a clear parallel between the feast of tabernacles and the millennium. Zechariah 14 makes that 100% clear.

Jesus will be ‘tabernacling’ with us, living with us in person, for 1000 years. Even foreign nations will be compelled to come celebrate the feats of tabernacles annually:

Zech 14:16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. {14:17} And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

This is a clear parallel, which positions the preceding two feasts, trumpets and the day of atonement, into the end-times, the seven-year period between the ‘gap period’ and the millennium.

What parallel could the trumpets possibly refer to? And what could the day of atonement be referring to?  The following is proposed:

• Day 180: The trumpet blast signifies a warning signal: The antichrist is about to set-up the blasphemous abomination.  He is about to demand that the world worships him as God or be killed – all Christians are to flee Judea immediately.
• Day 190: The day of atonement signifies Israel’s mourning over their sin, and then their cleansing from sin (Lev.16:1-34; 23:26-32; Num.29:6-12>:below). The prophetic parallel may therefore refer to Zech. 13:1 “ In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness”.

That is, there will be a National “Day of Atonement” for ‘the remnant of Israel when they shall see Jesus coming on the clouds. They shall ‘afflict their souls’ for having rejected Jesus. For the remnant of Israel protected in the desert, seeing Jesus coming in the clouds, will commence their mourning.

• ⁷ And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein:⁸ But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish:⁹ And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals to a bullock, and two tenth deals to one ram,¹⁰ A several tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs:¹¹ One kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings.¹² And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days:

The timing:

Before continuing with this proposed scenario, the first prophetic parallel to follow up on is the timing, the day on which the feasts re-commence. The feast of trumpets occurs exactly at the mid-point of the year. Where else in scripture does one read of significant events commencing at a similar mid-point? We read of such a parallel in Daniel 9:27:

 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…

Daniel 9:27, commonly referred to as ‘Daniel’s 70^th week’, has a significant midpoint. This is the midpoint of the end time period of seven years. Is the prophetic function of the 180^th day midpoint paralleled by the mid-point of the 7-year end times? If so, we can expect the ‘day of Atonement (the second coming) to occur either 10, 70 or 840 days later.

Why this expectation? Firstly, the second coming could be a literal 10 days afterwards, just like Pentecost was a literal 50 days after the First-Fruits. However, because a Great Tribulation 10 days long can’t really be described as great, a much more likely figure is 70 days. This 70 days is calculated as follows:

• The 180^th day midpoint of a 360-day annual feast calendar is paralleled by the 1260 day (3.5 year) mid-point of the 7-year end times duration.
• One feast year is thus paralleled by 7-end-time years, representing a ratio of one to seven.
• Therefore 10 feast days, using the same ratio, represents 70 days in end times terms.

As a remote alternative, consider the feast of tabernacles, representing the millennium, commences on the 15th day of the seventh month. It is possible that the time between the trumpets and the tabernacles (the millennium) is divided up into two thirds (10/15 days) and one third (5/15 days). In that case the Great Tribulation would indeed be great, spanning 2/3 x 1260 days = 840 days.

Feast 5: Trumpets (Lev.23:23-25; Num.29:1-6):

The Feast of Trumpets, on the first day of the Seventh month (the 180^th day of the year), initiates the second series of the “set feasts.”. It was followed by the “Day of Atonement” on the 10th day of the month, and by the “Feast of Tabernacles” which began on the 15th day of the month, a Sabbath day, and ended on the 22d day of the month, which was also a Sabbath day.

The Feast was ushered in with the blowing of Trumpets. During the 40-year Wilderness Wandering of Israel, two silver Trumpets, made of the atonement money of the people, were blown for the “calling of the Assembly,” and for the “journeyings of the Camps.” Num 10:1-10

The fact that the Feast of Trumpets comes immediately at the close of the “Interval” between the two series of “set feasts” is not without significance. As we have seen the “Interval” represents the time up to the ‘revealing’ of the antichrist at the midpoint of the end-time week. The Antichrist reveals his true evil nature when he stops the temple rites, sets up his abomination and desecrates the temple therewith, and proclaims himself to be God.

One of the antichrists first acts, after erecting the Abomination, is he will make Jerusalem ‘desolate’. He will empty it out of its Jewish inhabitants. (Dan 9:27b) There will be great slaughter, to which the Old Testament prophets testify. This is also the reason why Jesus commands the believers to flee into the wilderness without delay (in Matthew 24).

Thereafter follows the Great Tribulation, which is cut short by the second coming, when “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thess 4:16), and “ We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. “1 Cor 15:51:52

Similarly, we read in Matt 24:29-31, that the Son of Man, when He comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, shall send His angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” From this we see that the “Feast of Trumpets” also initiates the Second Coming of Christ, when all believers will be raptured to evermore be with Him.

Feast 6: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) (Lev.16:1-34; 23:26-32; Num.29:7-11):

The “Day of Atonement” was Israel’s annual cleansing from sin. For a full account of the day and its services read Lev 16:1-34. Its typical meaning was fulfilled in Christ. He is our Great High Priest, who offered Himself as a “Sin-Offering” for us. Heb 9:11-14. But the fact that the “Day of Atonement” is placed after the “Feast of Trumpets” implies that it has some typical significance between those two events. We have seen that the “Feast of Trumpets” will have its typical fulfillment at the ‘revealing’ of the antichrist at the midpoint of the end-time week, and that the “Feast of Tabernacles,” is a type of Israel’s “Millennial Rest.”

It may therefore refer to the time when a “Fountain will be opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” Zech 13:1. That is, there will be a National “Day of Atonement” for ‘the remnant of Israel’ after they witnessed the second coming, missed the rapture, but now repent and turn to God.

Micah 2:12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold;

Micah 5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travails hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. {5:4} And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retains not his anger forever, because he delights in mercy.

Also see Zechariah 12:9-14 and refer to Appendix E, post 2.6 and post 3.5 for more detail on the remnant and on the timing of the revival of the spiritual Israel, those Jews who pass into and are prophesied to populate the millennial Israel.

Feast 7: Booths (Tabernacles) (Ex.23:16; 34:22; Lev.23:33-43; Num.29:12-34; Deut.16:13-16):

This was the last of the Seven Set Feasts. It was a “Harvest Home” celebration to be observed at the end of the harvest and was to continue seven days.  The people during the Feast were to dwell in booths (arbors) made of the branches of palm trees and willows from the brook, which would remind them of the palm trees of Elim, and the “Willows” of Babylon. Ps 139:9. Peter anticipated it, when on the Mt. of Transfiguration, he said-“Lord, it is good for us to be here; if thou wilt, let us make here three Tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” Matt 17:4. What Peter desired, the dwelling of heavenly with earthly people on the earth, was not possible then, but will come to pass in Millennial Days, when Heaven and Earth shall be in closer union. The Feast of Tabernacles points forward to Israel’s “Millennial Rest.”

While the Feast of Tabernacles began on the Sabbath and continued seven days, it was to be followed by a Sabbath. Lev 23:390. This Sabbath on the “Eighth Day” points to the New Heaven and Earth that follow the Millennium,

The text:

Leviticus 23 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

³ Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

⁴ These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

⁵ In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord‘s passover.

⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

⁷ In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

⁸ But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

⁹ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

¹⁰ Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

¹¹ And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

¹² And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

¹³ And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

¹⁴ And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

¹⁵ And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

¹⁶ Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.

¹⁷ Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.¹⁸ And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the Lord.¹⁹ Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.²⁰ And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.²¹ And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.²² And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

²³ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

²⁴ Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

²⁵ Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

²⁶ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

²⁷ Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

²⁸ And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.²⁹ For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.³⁰ And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.³¹ Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.³² It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

³³ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

³⁴ Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.

³⁵ On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

³⁶ Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.

³⁷ These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:³⁸ Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.³⁹ Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

⁴⁰ And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.⁴¹ And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.⁴² Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:⁴³ That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

⁴⁴ And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.