Part of understanding the Sanctuary is to understand the festivals associated with it. There were six festivals that God commanded the children of Israel to participate in every year. Three were in the spring and three were in the fall. Interestingly, the three spring festivals pointed to Jesus’ work in His incarnation, death, and resurrection, i.e. His first coming. Thus, logically, the fall festivals should point towards Jesus’ work in redeeming His people at the end of this age when He comes a second time. Spring is a time of planting and some of the spring festivals were associated with new growth although it was a time of barley harvest also. On the other hand, fall is exclusively harvest time. Thus, Jesus’ statements about the harvest of this world should be applied to the fall festivals. The three spring festivals were the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). The three fall festivals were the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Three of these festivals were pilgrimage festivals where the men of Israel were required to go to the temple in Jerusalem. “Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you” (Deuteronomy 16:16-17).
Pesach / Pesah
The first spring festival was the Passover. This feast occurred on the 14th day of the month of Abib. (Abib was later called by the Babylonian word Nisan.) This became the first month of the Biblical year and corresponds to March/April of our present-day calendar. This feast day commemorated the redemption of the children of Abraham from Egyptian slavery. More specifically, it was a way to re-enact their chilling experience during the tenth plague when all the first born of the land died including animals, except for those who had sacrificed an unblemished year-old male sheep or goat and painted the blood on the doorposts (sides of the doorway) and lintel (top of the doorway). This event is described in Exodus 12. Thus, this holiday looked back on God’s redemption of His people from slavery in Egypt. It also prefigured Jesus’ redemption of the human race with His sacrificial death on the cross. In John 1:29, John the Baptist cries out to those around him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” This was a reference to the Passover lamb. Paul also confirms the significance of this festival. “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1Corinthians 5:7). In short, this festival pre-figured the salvation of humanity from slavery to sin. All should have died, but the Lamb took our place and covered us with the righteousness of His blood.
Chag HaMatzot
Passover was only one day, but it kickstarted the next spring festival which began the following day and lasted for a week from the 15th to the 21st day of Abib (Nissan). This was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 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). During the week, the Jews were to eat unleavened bread. In preparation for this festival, all leaven was removed from the house, not just from the bread. This feast was a continuation of remembering Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. They had to leave Egypt in a hurry and had no time to let bread rise, so they had unleavened bread to eat on the first part of their journey to freedom. “And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves” (Exodus 12:39). Paul equates leaven with sin and being without leaven with purity. “Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1Corinthians 5:8). Thus, the week of unleavened bread symbolizes being purified into sincerity and truth. In fact, the unleavened bread represents Jesus. When He instituted the Lord’s Supper while eating the Passover feast, Jesus identified Himself with unleavened bread. “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (Luke 22:19). There is an interesting connection between the original unleavened bread of Passover—Jesus—and the purity represented by the unleavened bread of the following feast—our sanctification.
An important ceremony was to be performed on the second day of week on the 16th of Abib during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was the Waving of the Sheaf. A sheaf is just a bundle of grain, in this case barley, on the stalk. This ceremony was the presentation of the first fruits of the field to the Lord. The priest would wave this first picking of the barley harvest before God in the temple to show recognition that the whole harvest belonged to the Lord and to express gratitude. Significantly, Jesus rose from the dead on the day of the waving of the sheaf. Paul is referring to this ceremony when he calls Jesus the first fruits in First Corinthians. “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:23). Thus, we are the harvest that belongs to God, and Jesus was the representative of this harvest of life.
Shavuot
The final spring festival was the Feast of Weeks. This was also called Pentecost because of the timing. Pentekoste meant fifty in Greek, and the Feast of Weeks was held fifty days after the Waving of the Sheaf. In other words, it took place on the 6th day of the month of Sivan. Sivan is in May to June of our present-day calendar. At Pentecost the men of Israel were to gather in Jerusalem and bring offerings from their completed harvest to the temple. “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 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. You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:15-17). It is interesting that the loaves at this time would have leaven in them.
Pentecost was a holiday of rejoicing. “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there” (Deuteronomy 16:9-11). This festival has also been associated with the giving of the law at Sinai and the establishing of a formal covenant between God and Israel, which happened during this time according to Exodus 19. “On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai” (Exodus 19:1). The Feast of Weeks was pointing forward to a time of rejoicing when God would put His law into the hearts of His people in a new covenant experience. Jesus was the first fruits, but at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down in full force to dwell in Jesus’ church. This was the time when the disciples were to begin gathering in the full harvest of the world, which Jesus had claimed as His own. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).
Rosh Hashanah / Yom Teruah
The first of the fall festivals is the Feast of Trumpets, which took place on the first day of Tisri (the seventh month). Tisri is equivalent to September-October of our calendar. The day begins with blasts on the ram’s horn called the shophar. Leviticus speaks of this as a solemn day. “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:24-25). According to Numbers 10:10, the sound of the trumpet was to recall to the people that God was with them. “On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the LORD your God” (Numbers 10:10). The sound of the shofar was to focus the people’s attention exclusively on God as their Lord. Since this day was a memorial signaled with the blasts of the shofar, it seems that it was a day to stop everything and just remember that they were the people of God and acknowledge God’s sovereignty. Nine days later was the Day of Atonement, so this festival may have been meant as a time to prepare people’s hearts and minds for the most solemn and heart-searching day of the year, which would be coming a week and a half after the Festival of Trumpets.
The New Testament does not tell us directly what the significance of the Feast of Trumpets is for the church; however, chapters eight through eleven of the book of Revelation describe seven trumpets sounding and the events associated with each sounding of the trumpet. At the sound of the seventh trumpet, the world is declared to belong to Jesus. This scene ends with the most holy place opened as it was on the Day of Atonement. “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail” (Revelation 11:19). If we apply the Feast of Trumpets to this passage, the message seems to be that it is a call to draw people to God as each trumpet sounds, and for them to turn to Him as their Lord. This becomes apparent at the end of sixth trumpet when there is a mournful statement that even after all the trumpets, the people still did not repent. “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).
Yom Kippur
The Day of Atonement was the next fall festival, but it was not a feast like the other festivals. Instead, it was a day of fasting and prayer. It took place on the 10th day of Tisri, just nine days after the Feast of Trumpets. The Day of Atonement centered around the activities of the high priest, but the people had a part to play also. According to Leviticus 16:29-30, the people were to afflict themselves during the Day of Atonement. This means that they were to examine their hearts and repent of their sins. As the people were praying and turning from their sins, the high priest would enter the Holy Place and perform acts that were to erase all sin from the temple of God. During the year, every time a sacrifice was made for sin, the sin was symbolically transferred to the Most Holy Place. During the Day of Atonement, all of that accumulated sin of all the people was then removed from the Most Holy Place and symbolically transferred to a goat which was taken out of the camp away from the people. Thus, the Day of Atonement was a time to cleanse the sanctuary and to get rid of sin permanently. It was a day of judgment, but the judgment was for the people, not against them.
The Day of Atonement pointed forward to a future time when all sin would be taken away permanently. In Daniel, there is a prophesy that references the Day of Atonement. “And he said to me, ‘For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state’” (Daniel 8:14). Micah also speaks of this day of restoration and complete obliteration of sin. “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). However, the process leading up to this wonderful result required much heart searching and a number of sacrifices to purify the high priest. Fortunately, chapter five of the book of Hebrews tells us that our High Priest has no need of purification rituals. There is also a reference to the Day of Atonement in Hebrews chapter nine. “These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:6-10). Thus, understanding the Day of Atonement’s original purpose will help the Bible student understand the messages of Hebrews also.
Sukkot
The final fall festival was the Feast of Tabernacles, also called the Festival of Booths. This festival began five days after the Day of Atonement and lasted for seven days (Tisri 15-20). Unlike the Day of Atonement, this was a festival full of rejoicing. “Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the festival to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete” (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). God wanted His people to have complete joy during this festival. According to Deuteronomy, this was a harvest festival. Leviticus points out that this was also a memorial to the time when the children of Israel dwelt in tents and had no permanent home. “Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God” (Lev 23:42-43). For seven days the people would live in shelters made of branches and rejoice in their freedom. At first, the temporary shelters and the rejoicing do not seem to be related until you read in Hosea 2:14-15 and 11:1-4 that God viewed this time after leaving Egypt as one of great intimacy and closeness with His people. It seems to have been a honeymoon time between the children of Israel and Yahweh. At the end of the Festival of Booths there was a concluding Sabbath on the eighth day. I believe this day is separated out because the people were no longer required to live in booths on this day, but I may be mistaken.
This festival points to a time when the harvest is finished, and all the people of God will converge together to rejoice with the Lord. It will be a time of great intimacy with God. Zechariah paints a picture of enemies joining together in love and celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem. “Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 14:16-21). Revelation seems to be pointing towards the Festival of Booths when describing the great multitude. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Rev 7:9-10). Was this the great feast that Jesus was speaking of in Matthew eight when He was amazed at the faith of a Gentile centurion? “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). The Feast of Tabernacles is the culmination of Jesus’ work to save humanity. It is a time when sin has been eradicated from the universe, and we are dwelling in intimacy with our God. This heartbreaking chapter of Earth’s history is finished, and we have begun our new lives of freedom.
What about Hanukkah? Hanukkah is not one of the yearly feasts that God ordained for the people of Israel to celebrate. Hanukkah memorializes a victory that took place during the time of the Maccabees. A king of Syria named Antiochus Epiphanes had desecrated the temple with idol worship by offering pig sacrifices to Zeus on the altar and using the temple for prostitution. When the Jewish Maccabees finally gained control of Jerusalem, the temple was restored to the worship of Yahweh. According to John 10:22, Jesus was in the temple for Hanukkah at least once. “At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon” (John 10:22-23). Hanukkah is called the Feast of Dedication in the Bible because it was a celebration of the re-dedication of the temple about 164/165 B.C. However, it is not one of the six special holy days that God Himself set up in order to teach about His plan of salvation for the human race. In fact, according to the Bible, Antiochus Epiphanes’ abuse of the temple was not the first time that idol worship had intruded into God’s sacred sanctuary, yet no additional holy days were added to the worship cycle when the temple was cleansed in ancient times or when the new temple was built after the exile. Thus, there is no reason to consider Hanukkah when discussing the yearly festivals of the sanctuary.