Every fall Jewish people all over the world celebrate the fall feasts.  Most believers have come to think of them as Jewish feasts, but that’s not what God calls them.  Are we missing something by not taking note of these special occasions that God Himself instituted?

Leviticus 23:1-2, 4 --“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them:  The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts…These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.”   

Notice that the Bible doesn’t call these Feasts the “Jewish Feasts” but “The Feasts of the Lord.”  The seven Feasts of the Lord as described in Leviticus 23 are as follows:          

            The Spring Feasts

                        Passover--Pesach

                        Unleavened Bread—Hag HaMatzot

                        First Fruits—Bikkurim or Yom Habikkurim

            The Summer Feast is the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost—Shavu’ot

            The Fall Feasts

                        Trumpets—Yom Teru’ah (October 3, 2024)

                        Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur (October 12, 2024)

                        Feast of Weeks or Tabernacles—Sukkot (October 17-23, 2024)

Each feast has a connection to agriculture, to history, and to prophecy.

The Hebrew word for “feast” is “mo’ed” which means an appointed place, an appointed time. The Bible refers to them as “convocations.”  The Hebrew word is “mikra” which means dress rehearsal.

If the feasts are a dress rehearsal for coming events, it seems we should pay attention to them.  Studying the spring feasts, we can see that Jesus fulfilled them at His first coming.  He died on Passover, was buried on Unleavened Bread, and rose on First Fruits.  We also know that the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost was fulfilled in Acts 2 with the coming of the Holy Spirit.  So what about the fall feasts?  Is it possible that Jesus will fulfill the fall feasts with His next coming?

Before we tackle the future prophetic meaning of these feasts, we need to review their descriptions in the Bible.

Feast of Trumpets:  The only feast to occur on the new moon, a dark night; it is not associated with any particular harvest; silver trumpets were blown, no work was to be done; there were special offerings and sacrifices; today it is celebrated as Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, but there is no biblical basis for this. According to the Bible, the month of Passover begins the new year.        

Yom Kippur:  Celebrated as a holy convocation, a day for the affliction of souls; no work should be done; atonement for sins was made.  The high priest would enter the Holy of Holies only on this day.         

Feast of Tabernacles:  For seven days people were to dwell in booths; the first and last days were solemn Sabbaths; males were required to be in Jerusalem; it celebrated the end of the harvest and the beginning of rain. It was a time of rejoicing.

How will the fall feasts be fulfilled?  Will Jesus fulfill them to the very day in His next coming?  I believe that is exactly what He will do.  It makes sense that if Jesus fulfilled the Spring Feasts, that He will also fulfill the Fall Feasts.

It must be noted that there are many wise biblical scholars who have widely varied interpretations of the timing of the events involved in the return of the Lord.  My purpose is not to debate any of those, but to show the connection between the Fall Feasts of the Lord and the future coming of Messiah.

Feasts of Trumpets

Joel 2: 1 “’Blow the Trumpet in Zion.  And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!  Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand.”

The God of the Bible often speaks through the trumpet, proclaiming His news, warning His people, alarming them and inspiring them.  Time and time again throughout scripture we see the blowing of trumpets by angels who are proclaiming something from the throne of God.  God Himself blows a trumpet twice:  when He came down upon Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:18-20) and again when Messiah returns (Zechariah 9:14).

Prophetically this will be a dark time as well as a joyful time.

The prophets talked about the ‘Day of the Lord” which would be a terrible time of judgment at the end of the age when the Lord will pour out His wrath “not only upon Israel’s enemies, but upon Israel herself to bring her to repentance.

The joyful time is that The Feast of Trumpets is intricately connected to the Rapture of the Church.  1 Corinthians 15:51 --“Behold I tell you a mystery:  We shall not all sleep, but shall be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 

Also 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says “for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 

The Day of Atonement

Jesus fulfilled the Day of Atonement as the perfect sacrifice and as the High Priest.  “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Sprit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”  (Hebrews 9:11-14)

“Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.  But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.  Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”  (Hebrews 10:11-12  NLT)

According to scripture, there will also be a future fulfillment for Israel.  “Look!  He comes with the clouds of heaven.  And everyone will see him—even those who pierced him.  And all the nations of the world will mourn for him.  Yes! Amen!”  Revelation 1:7 (NLT)

“In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. “  (Zechariah 14:4 NASB)

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”  (Zechariah 12:10 NASB)

Feast of Tabernacles

The Bible talks about a Day of Ingathering when God gathers His people to Himself and punishes the unrighteous.  Malachi 3: 18—“then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

Messiah will set up His Millennial Kingdom and will “tabernacle” with His people. He will gather the remnant of Israel back to her land.  The righteous of the Gentiles will be gathered too.

“My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.” Ezekiel 37:27-28

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.  God Himself will be with them and be their God.”  Revelation 21:3

As we consider the Fall Feasts of the Lord, let us remember that Jesus is coming soon and it’s time to get ready!