The Lord’s Appointed Feasts: Entering into the New Covenant--1

The Lord’s  Appointed Feasts: Entering into the New Covenant

By Rev. Lonnie C.  Crowe

We are entering into the God’s Appointed Feasts for the Fall, a time of both new beginning and gathering the harvest.  Read about the feasts in Levitius 23: 1-39.  In this season, we are awakened with the sound of the trumpet s on Rosh Hashanah, reminded of the atoning work of Christ on Yom Kippur, and encouraged for the future by the celebration of Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles. 

This year, Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, begins on September 18.

 What we often refer to as the “Jewish Holidays” are much more than that.  They are all about Jesus and the New Covenant we have in Him. 

When Adam entered into covenant with the serpent, every one of his descendants was immediately destined for the Lake of Fire.  Eternal damnation was all the devil had to offer. ^“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “ (John 10:10 NKJV)  

Our propensity for damnation is fed by feasting on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is by our desire to determine for ourselves what is good and what is evil. However, God has stepped in with a new covenant that restores all the enemy has stolen from mankind, a new covenant that redeems us and changes our destiny.  God does not send anyone to eternal damnation.  Instead, God has given us the way to eternal salvation. ^“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22 NKJV) 

The new covenant is foreshadowed in the animal the Lord sacrificed in order to cover Adam and the woman.  He clothed them in His righteousness.  He provided the way for them.  “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10 NKJV)

 

The new covenant is also pictured in the events of God’s appointed times, the Levitical feasts.  It is all about Jesus.  

Although we no longer have the Tabernacle in the Wilderness nor the Temple in Jerusalem, it is important for us to look at the floor plan and the furnishings of those structures  to understand more deeply what God has for us both in the feasts and in the new covenant.

As worshipers entered into the courtyard, they passed the altar of burnt offerings.  It was only the priests who placed the offerings on the altar. Those offerings picture the agonizing sacrifice of Jesus as He took with Him to the cross not only our individual sins but also the spirit of sinfulness, the nature or essence of sin.  

It was only the priests who washed in the laver to picture the cleansing power of the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)

It was only the priests who entered into the first room of the tabernacle, “The Holy Place.”  In John 10:9 the Lord said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (NLJV).  Only the priests could walk through that door.

 In the Holy Place were three articles that represented our relationship with the Lord.  On the north stood the Table of Showbread.  Each Sabbath, the priests placed 12 new loaves of bread, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, on the table.  The loaves were sprinkled with frankincense indicating the presence of God over the tribes.  Only the priests consumed the twelve older loaves.  In the Table of Showbread, we are also reminded that Jesus is the bread of life.  (John 6:35)

Across from the Table of Showbread was the Menorah or lamp stand.  Its 7 branches represented the completeness, the perfection of God.  He is all we need.  The menorah was made from one piece of hammered gold, a graphic depiction of the suffering of Jesus on the cross.  The light from the lamp stand was the only light in the tabernacle.  In its light, we acknowledge that Jesus is the light of the world.  (John 8:12).  In like manner, He has called us to be light in our world. (Matthew 5:14)  He is the both light and the source of light.  The church is to be millions of points of light reflecting His glory in the world around us.

The third object in the Holy Place was the Altar of Incense which represented both Jesus’ intercessory prayer for us (Romans 8:34) and our prayers lifted before the throne of God (Psalm 141:2).  Revelation 8 describes the sweetness of believers’ prayers as they are mixed with the incense of heaven.  “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand”(Revelation 8:3-4 NKJV).

When we understand that only the priests offered the sacrifices, only the priests washed at the laver, only the priests entered into the Holy Place, only the priests ate of the Table of Showbread, only the priests basked in the light of the Menorah, only the priests stood before the Altar of Incense, we will come into a greater understanding of the magnitude of the Apostle Peter’s words:  “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 NKJV).

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, because of the cross, believers are washed of sin, (Acts 22:16); enter into fellowship with God; walk in His light and become reflections of His glory and offer up the sacrifice of praise to our God.  Because of Jesus, we become priests of the Most High God.