Yes, the title may appear a bit strange. Are festivals really, like prophecies, something to be fulfilled? This seems to me to be the case. As I studied about the Feast of Tabernacles and saw some sort of fulfillment in Isaiah 54 and Revelation 19-21 that I wrote about recently, I had the thought that this may be the case for all the Jewish festivals. After some searching I realized that I am not the first to have had that thought either. But I think that the restored gospel offers a unique perspective on this.
There are 7 Jewish festivals altogether. This is definitely not a coincidence, considering the symbolism of the number 7 in Judaism.
Though the origins of this view are shrouded in the past, it is believed that one prime reason the number seven gained this particular symbolism of “perfection and completeness” is that it combines the number three and the number four. The number three symbolized heaven (or the masculine) and the number four represented the earth (or the feminine). As is commonly explained, “Seven symbolizes wholeness in many cultures, being the union of the divinity (three) and the material earth (four).” Seven was regarded as “a holy number yielded by adding the basic number of the masculine, 3, and the basic number of the feminine, 4.” “Because the number seven (the septenary) combines the ternary and quaternary—heaven or divinity and earth or humanity—it unifies the macrocosm and microcosm and signifies cosmic order.” (Source)
This aspect of the symbolism of seven as a sum of four (earth/humanity) and three (heaven/divinity) is of particular relevance. The Jewish festivals are grouped into four spring and three fall festivals. These are
- Passover
- Unleavened bread
- First fruits
- Pentecost
- Trumpets
- Atonement
- Tabernacles
The four spring feasts are all related to and fulfilled at Christ's first coming, when he was born to earth as a man. So this is the earth part, the four out of the complete seven. The three fall feasts are all related to and fulfilled at Christ's second coming, when he will come from heaven in his full divinity. The four plus three are combined in two comings of Christ to complete the salvation and exaltation of man. There is a lot of beautiful symbolism all around. The common pattern is a Jewish festival with a specific purpose for Israel but also with symbolic significance (that they may or may not have understood). At some point in time, either at the first coming of Christ for the spring festivals, or at the second coming of Christ for the fall festivals, there is the realisation of events that the feast symbolized or pointed forward to. Below is a brief summary of each feast along with my interpretation of their symbolic value and fulfillment. More information on the feast itself is linked in the headlines.
This is the first feast of the Jewish calendar and arguably the most well-known. I think the symbolism is also well-known. The blood of the lamb at the door posts preceding the Exodus out of Egypt representing sin, is an obvious pointer to the Savior and his atoning blood. No further elaboration needed, I think. But it is interesting to note that Jesus was likely crucified on the 14th of the Jewish month, Nisan. This was the day of the pesach feast where the sacrificial lamb would be prepared in every believing Jewish household.
Some Jewish feasts go together. The feast of unleavened bread follows immediately after passover, on Nisan 15. This would be the Saturday where the body of Jesus laid in the tomb. Leaven or yeast was an ancient symbol of sin and corruption. Unleavened bread would therefore symbolize a holy life without corruption. A body in a tomb would normally rot and decay, but the "bread of life" changed the natural course of events. The feast of unleavened bread is fulfilled in Christ and we may even regard the partaking of the sacramental bread (even though we don't worry about its yeast content) as part of this fulfillment or perhaps as a latter day celebration of this feast. The feast actually went on for seven days to have an extended period of time to eat unleavened bread and sustain the uncorrupted life. Similarly, we should let the effects of our partaking of the sacrament last for a full seven days to "walk in holiness before the Lord" throughout the week until the next time.
"On the morrow after the Sabbath" followed after unleavened bread, Leviticus 23:11 schedules the feast of first fruits. So this is another festival attached to passover. It was a feast for acknowledging the fertility of the land. Israelites were to bring the early crops and "wave the sheaf before the Lord". This is the third feast and represents the third day when Jesus arose from the grave. The symbolism is evident to Paul
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
The feasts of passover, unleavened bread and first fruits were all fulfilled in the atonement, death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Perhaps unknown to some, pentecost was also an ancient Israelite feast and not originally a Christian holiday. It obviously became so when it was fulfilled at the day of pentecost. Israel was instructed to celebrate pentecost (Hebr. Shavout) 50 days after pesach. It was supposed to align with the events of the Exodus, where Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai 50 days after leaving Egypt. Pentecost therefore, dispite its focus as an agricultural festival like many of the others, signifies revelation and covenant. It is ironic, then, that the people who are described in Acts on the day of pentecost gathered to renew their commitment to the old covenant, when the Holy Ghost came to fulfill the promise of the new covenant.
The Jewish spring feasts described already and their symbolic fulfillment have been quite conventional, in the sense that all our Christian brothers and sisters would share the LDS view. But now it's getting interesting. The feast of the trumpets was the first fall festival. A season had passed since the spring festivals, just like there has been a long time of spiritual darkness on earth after Christ and until the restoration. Leviticus 23, that gives instructions for all Jewish festivals requires in verse 24
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.
In Israel, the trumpet was the signal for the field workers to come to the temple. The high priest blew it as an invitation to worship. Remarkably, but perhaps not surprisingly given the consistent pattern we see, September 22 1827 was the the first day of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar. In other words, faithful Jews would be celebrating this feast on the very day when the angel Moroni (who is found on top of many LDS temples with a trumpet) visited Joseph Smith. Lord Wilmore has previously written about this so I will just refer to his post linked in the heading.
Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. It was the one day of the year where the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies of the temple, sprinkle blood upon the mercy seat and utter the sacred name of God, YHWH. The symbolism might seem confusing because we would naturally connect this with Jesus' atoning sacrifice, his first coming and therefore the spring festivals. But we already have pesach (easter) and the sacrificial lamb symbolism covering this aspect. According to the pattern we have seen so far, we should expect the day of atonement to be fulfilled in conjunction with Christ's second coming. With the feast of trumpets (restoration) leading up to and marking the preparation for the day of atonement, assuming the day of Christ's second coming happening on that day as its fulfillment is almost inevitable. We should not speculate and "that day and hour knoweth no man", so I hesitate a bit to say it, even though it seems obvious from the symbolism at play. At least we still don't know which year.
We read that Christ will return in glory wearing red, triumph over his enemies and bless the righteous. His coming will usher in the millenium that is symbolized by the last Jewish feast of the year, the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles is also an agricultural feast. This time it is a celebration of the abundance of the recent harvest gathered in. People dwell in tents and invite God to dwell with them. I have recently written a few blog posts with some reflections on this theme. See
here and
here. The symbolism and fulfillment is clearly linked to the New Jerusalem and the Millennium. After the second coming, the resurrected Christ dwells among his people in a paradisiacal state of abundance and prosperity. As explained in the first of the two linked blog posts, Isaiah 54:2 describes the current preparation for this, continually expanding the tent of the covenant people. The end of the Book of Revelation also describes the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles as a wedding feast between Israel and Christ.