SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME

By Kenneth Karuga

EVERLASTING GOSPEL HERALDS April 2013

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SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME

INTRODUCTION
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Colossians 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Read Leviticus 23 Lev 23:38 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. Paul in Colossians doesnt mean that we should do away with the weekly Sabbath, or just eat anyhowlybut specifies that those holydays were a shadow of things to come. Christ Object Lessons p 34.3 Christ's mission was not understood by the people of His time. The manner of His coming was not in accordance with their expectations. The Lord Jesus was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. Its imposing services were of divine appointment. They were designed to teach the people that at the time appointed One would come to whom those ceremonies pointed. But the Jews had exalted the forms and ceremonies and had lost sight of their object. The traditions, maxims, and enactments of men hid from them the lessons which God intended to convey. These maxims and traditions became an obstacle to their understanding and practice of true religion. And when the Reality came, in the person of Christ, they did not recognize in Him the fulfillment of all their types, the substance of all their SHADOWS. They rejected the antitype, and clung to their types and useless ceremonies. The Son of God had come, but they continued to ask for a sign.

23:6 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. 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days;(5th Day 3rd Month) and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. (FEAST OF HARVEST) 23:24 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. (FEAST OF TRUMPETS) 23:27 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. 23:34 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.
FEAST Passover Unleavened Bread First Fruits Pentecost Trumpets Day of Atonement Tabernacles DAYS 14th Day 1st Month 15th Day 1st Month 16th Day 1st Month 5th Day 3rd Month 1st Day 7th Month 10th Day 7th Month 15th Day 7th Month VERSE Lev 23:5 Lev 23:6 Lev 23:11 Lev 23:16 Lev 23:24 Lev 23:27 Lev 23:34 DURATION

SPRING FEASTS Represent Beginning of Christian era

FALL FEASTS Represent End of Christian era

THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE SANCTUARY

Evangelism pg 222.3 As a people, we should be earnest students of prophecy; we should not rest until we become intelligent in regard to the subject of the sanctuary, which is brought out in the visions of Daniel and John. This subject sheds great light on our present position and work, and gives us unmistakable proof that God has led us in our past experience All these feasts were part of the sanctuary services since all the sacrifices and offerings connected to each feast was taken to the sanctuary. The culmination of all these feasts was the feast of tabernacles which marked the end of the Jewish calender after the ministration in the Most Holy place had ended and the cleansing, that is, the sins of Israelites had been blotted out.

LIST OF ALL THE FEASTS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Leviticus 23 23:2 .even these are my feasts. 23:3 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... 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S PASSOVER. 2

Out of these seven feasts, only three feasts were the Time children of Israel commanded to gather at Jerusalem where - Celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Abib, which the Sanctuary was. commemorated the day they came out from the bondage in Egypt. (end March beginning of April) - Exodus 13:3,4 Desire of Ages pg 75.2 ...There were three annual feasts, the Passover, the -Numbers 9:5; 28:16; 33:3 Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, at which all the - Deuteronomy 16:6 men of Israel were commanded to appear before the Lord at Jerusalem Desire of Ages pg 77.1 The observance of the Passover began with the birth of the Hebrew nation. On the last night of their bondage in Patriarchs and Prophets pg 537.1 There were three annual assemblies of all Israel for Egypt, when there appeared no token of deliverance, God worship at the sanctuary. Exodus 23:14-16. Shiloh was for commanded them to prepare for an immediate a time the place of these gatherings; but Jerusalem releaseThus from generation to generation the story of afterward became the center of the nation's worship, and this wonderful deliverance was to be repeated here the tribes convened for the solemn feasts. Patriarchs and Prophets pg 537.3 Those who were to participate in these feasts were Jews The first of these festivals, the Passover, the feast of who were 12 years and above. unleavened bread, occurred in Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, corresponding to the last of March and the beginning of April. The cold of winter was past, the latter Desire of Ages pg 75.1 Among the Jews the twelfth year was the dividing line rain had ended, and all nature rejoiced in the freshness between childhood and youth. On completing this year a and beauty of the springtime Hebrew boy was called a son of the law, and also a son of God. He was given special opportunities for religious Offerings presented instruction, and was expected to participate in the sacred - A lamb without blemish was to be presented. feasts and observances... - Exodus 12:1-5; 34:25 - Deuteronomy 16:2

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FEASTS TO US

Just as all these feasts were important for the Jews, so they are too for us who are spiritual Jews/Israelites since these feasts are illustrations symbolizing the work of Christ in the plan of Salvation. Romans 2:28,29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Galatians 3:7,28,29 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Its significance - It typified Christ the Lamb of God who taketh the sin of the world and how He redeemed us from the bondage of sin. - John 1:29 - Revelation 13:8 - Isaiah 53:7 1 Corinthians 5:7,8 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. Great Controversy pg 399.2 The slaying of the Passover lamb was a shadow of the death of Christ Patriarchs and Prophets pg 377.1 The Passover was to be both commemorative and typical, not only pointing back to the deliverance from Egypt, but forward to the greater deliverance which Christ was to accomplish in freeing His people from the bondage of sin. - Christ was indeed crucified on the actual passover day.

THE FEASTS

1. PASSOVER
- This was the first feast in the spring of the Jewish Calender. Verses - Leviticus 23:5 - Exodus 12:21-28 3

Matthew 26 26:18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. 26:20 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. 27:1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 27:35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. - Peters execution was being delayed until after the Passover, but he was rescued by angels from prison after the brethren had prayed for him. (Read AA pg 144-145) - Destruction of Jerusalem during passover (GC pg 31)

Matthew 27:57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus disciple: (that evening was the end of the passover day, and the 1st day of the feast of unleavened bread was setting in) John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. - No work was done on this first day and the seventh day of this feast Leviticus 23:7,8 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 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. Patriarchs and Prophets pg 539.4 The Passover was followed by the seven day's feast of unleavened bread. The first and the seventh day were days of holy convocation, when no servile work was to be performed

Patriarchs and Prophets pg 539.3 When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same Offerings presented event of which the Passover had been a type - Meat offering of flour mingled with oil (two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs) -Leviticus 23:8 - Numbers 28:19-24 2. FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD - This was the Second feast in the spring of the Jewish Calender. Verses - Leviticus 23:6 - Exodus 12:8,15-20; 12:33,39 - Deuteronomy 16:3-8 Time - Celebrated on the 15th day of the first month of Abib - Exodus 12:18; 23:15 - Leviticus 23:6 - Numbers 28:17 - Ezekiel 45:21 - This feast took seven days, that is from the 15th to the 22nd day of the 1st month. - The first of this day was a ceremonial Sabbath and if it fell on the 1st-6th day (Sunday-Friday), then that day was called a Sabbath but if it fell on the 7th day (Saturday), it was reffered to as a High Sabbath or a High Day. - Christ rested in the tomb on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread (a high Sabbath) 4

3. FIRST FRUITS/ WAVE SHEAF

- This was the Third feast in the spring of the Jewish Calender and was the 2nd day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Verses - Leviticus 23:10-15 Time and Offerings presented - Celebrated on the 16th Day of the 1st month of Abib. Desire of Ages pg 77.1 On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year's harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord Patriarchs and Prophets pg 539.4 On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year's harvest were presented before God. Barley was the earliest grain in Palestine, and at the opening of the feast it was beginning to ripen. A sheaf of this grain was waved by the priest before the altar of God, as an acknowledgment that all was His. Not until this ceremony had been performed was the harvest to be gathered.

Its significance - it pointed to the resurrection of Christ as the first fruits of those who are dead and also as a pledge to the final ingathering.

Acts of the Apostles pg 38.3 Christ's ascension to heaven was the signal that His followers were to receive the promised blessing. For this they were to wait before they entered upon their work. When Christ passed within the heavenly gates, He was enthroned amidst the adoration of the angels. As soon as Desire of Ages pg 785.4 Christ arose from the dead as the first fruits of those that this ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended slept. He was the antitype of the wave sheaf, and His upon the disciples in rich currents, and Christ was indeed resurrection took place on the very day when the wave glorified, even with the glory which He had with the Father sheaf was to be presented before the LordSo Christ the from all eternity. The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven's first fruits represented the great spiritual harvest to be communication that the Redeemer's inauguration was gathered for the kingdom of God. His resurrection is the accomplished. According to His promise He had sent the type and pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He dead. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people. Him." 1 Thessalonians 4:14. - John 20:17 - Matthew 27:52,53 1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.

5. TRUMPETS
- This was the Fifth feast in the Jewish Calender and was the first feast al the fall of the year. Verses - Leviticus 23:24 - Numbers 29:1-6 Time - Celebrated on the 1st Day of the 7th month. Offerings presented - Leviticus 23:25 - Numbers 29:2-6 Its significance - Trumpets were blown 10 days before the Day of Atonement. - In prophecy, a day represents a year (Ezekiel 4:6). Therefore, 10 years before 1844 (the day of atonement) already the signs of the approaching of the day of atonement had started appearing and the first angels message started being preached from 1830s by William Miller. - The sixth seal was opened Revelation 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; (Great Controversy pg 304,306,333) * Lisbon Earthquake - 1755 * Sun darkened and moon became like blood - 19th May 1780 * Stars falling - 13th November 1833

4. PENTECOST/ FEAST OF HARVEST/ FEAST OF WEEKS

- This was the Fourth feast in the spring of the Jewish Calender Verses - Leviticus 23:15-22 - Deuteronomy 16:10-12 Time - This came 50 days after the First Fruits and occupied only one day (pente means 50) - Commemorated the spring harvest - Celebrated on the 5th Day of the 3rd month. Offerings presented - Two loaves baked with leaven

Patriarchs and Prophets pg 540.1 Fifty days from the offering of first fruits, came the Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks. As an expression of gratitude for the grain prepared as food, two loaves baked with leaven were presented before God. The Pentecost occupied but one day, which was devoted to religious service. Its significance - fulfillment of Christs promise of sending the Holy Spirit that occurred to the disciples. The preaching on that day led to a great harvest of 3000 souls into Christs kingdom.

6. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

- This was the Sixth feast in the fall of the Jewish Calender. Verses - Leviticus 23:27-32 - Numbers 29:7-11 Time - Celebrated on the 10th Day of the 7th month. Offerings presented - A goat without blemish for the Lord - The high priest sacrificed a bull - Leviticus 16 Patriarchs and Prophets pg 355.3 Once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, the priest entered the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. The work there performed completed the yearly round of ministration. On the Day of Atonement two kids of the goats were brought to the door of the tabernacle, and lots were cast upon them, "one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat." The goat upon which the first lot fell was to be slain as a sin offering for the people. And the priest was to bring his blood within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat. "And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgression in all their sins; and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. Its significance - Christ entered the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Sanctuary on October 22, 1844 to start the work of investigative judgement (day of atonement) Great Controversy pg 399.4 In like manner the types which relate to the second advent must be fulfilled at the time pointed out in the symbolic service. Under the Mosaic system the cleansing of the sanctuary, or the great Day of Atonement, occurred on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month (Leviticus 16:2934), when the high priest, having made an atonement for all Israel, and thus removed their sins from the sanctuary, came forth and blessed the people. So it was believed that Christ, our great High Priest, would appear to purify the earth by the destruction of sin and sinners, and to bless His waiting people with immortality. The tenth day of the seventh month, the great Day of Atonement, the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, which in the year 1844 fell upon the twenty-second of October, was regarded as the time of the Lord's coming. This was in harmony with the proofs already presented that the 2300 days would terminate in the autumn, and the conclusion seemed irresistible.

Testimonies for The Church Vol.5 pg 520.1 We are in the great day of atonement, and the sacred work of Christ for the people of God that is going on at the present time in the heavenly sanctuary should be our constant study. We should teach our children what the typical Day of Atonement signified and that it was a special season of great humiliation and confession of sins before God. The antitypical day of atonement is to be of the same character. Everyone who teaches the truth by precept and example will give the trumpet a certain sound

7. FEAST OF TABERNACLES
- This was the Seventh and last feast in the fall of the Jewish Calender. Verses - Leviticus 23:33-36 - Numbers 29:12-38 Time - Celebrated 5 days after the day of Atonement that is as from 15th Day of the 7th month. Patriarchs and Prophets pg 540.2 In the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles, or of ingathering. This feast acknowledged God's bounty in the products of the orchard, the olive grove, and the vineyard. It was the crowning festal gathering of the year. The land had yielded its increase, the harvests had been gathered into the granaries, the fruits, the oil, and the wine had been stored, the first fruits had been reserved, and now the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God, who had thus richly blessed them. Its significance - It points to the final ingathering when Christ and His angels shall come to gather in the harvest Patriarchs and Prophets pg 541.2 542.1 The Feast of Tabernacles was not only commemorative but typical. It not only pointed back to the wilderness sojourn, but, as the feast of harvest, it celebrated the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, and pointed forward to the great day of final ingathering, when the Lord of the harvest shall send forth His reapers to gather the tares together in bundles for the fire, and to gather the wheat into His garner. At that time the wicked will all be destroyed. They will become "as though they had not been." Obadiah 16. And every voice in the whole universe will unite in joyful praise to God. Says the revelator, "Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Revelation 5:13 Christ's great work of atonement for men will then have been completed, and their sins will have been forever blotted out. 6

WHY DONT WE OBSERVE THE FEASTS NOW

Sketches From The Life of Paul pg 211.1 But beneath this apparent harmony, prejudice and dissatisfaction were still smouldering. Some in the church were still striving to mold Christianity after the old Signs of the Times, 29 July 1886. customs and ceremonies that were to pass away at the After the crucifixion, it was a denial of Christ for the Jews death of Christ. They felt that the work of preaching the to continue to offer the burnt offerings and sacrifices which gospel must be conducted according to their opinions. If were typical of His death. It was saying to the world that Paul would labor in accordance with these ideas, they they looked for a Redeemer to come, and had no faith in would acknowledge and sustain his work; otherwise they Him who had given His life for the sins of the world. would discard it. Hence the ceremonial law ceased to be of force at the death of Christ. Sketches From The Life of Paul pg 105.1 Paul did not bind himself nor his converts to the ceremonies and customs of the Jews, with their varied forms, types, and sacrifices; for he recognized that the perfect and final offering had been made in the death of the Son of God - Christs death, resurrection and ascension abolished all these feasts

Written by, KENNETH KARUGA (Church in Ngong) April 2013

EVERLASTING GOSPEL HERALDS

P.O. Box 59461-00200 NAIROBI, KENYA everlastinggospelheralds@gmail.com
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