1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (1st Study)

[Hidden In Him]

In What Way Were The Early Christians "Keeping The Feast"?

     Because things have changed so much since New Testament times, most Christians today are unfamiliar with what we're going to talk about next. But for reasons I will get into later, the Jewish feasts of the Old Testament were not nearly as foreign to the minds of early Christians as they are today. We are now in 1st Corinthians 5:6-8, and in this passage Paul made a very curious statement. In talking about the approach of the Jewish celebrations of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, he told the Corinthians, "Christ our Passover has been crucified. Therefore, let us keep the feast."

     Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover has also been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of integrity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

     For a brief overview, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were observed together by the Jews, making the two feasts essentially one big, week-long celebration, with the Feast of First Fruits also being celebrated during this time as well. And it's important to note here that Paul was not just encouraging them to keep the feast of Passover, but to keep it with "the unleavened bread of integrity and truth." This latter phrase suggests he was implying they should keep the entire celebration in some sense.
     The question, then, becomes this: If these feasts were to be "kept" by the Corinthians, in what way did Paul specifically intend for them to keep the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits, seeing as how all these celebrations were distinctly Jewish in nature?
     One could argue he was simply telling them to partake of communion together, thereby keeping a Christian "Passover" of sorts. But his numerous references to the Feast of Unleavened Bread as well suggest something more. In light of the rest of the New Testament, however, one thing is certain: Paul did not intend for them to keep these feasts after the same strict manner the Jews did. This is clear from statements he made when Judiazers were starting to gain influence over certain congregations. In some churches, they appeared to be showing signs of potentially coming under bondage to Jewish Law because of it. In the case of the Colossians, an extremely strict sect of Jews known as the Essenes were entering into their meetings and judging them over how they were "keeping" things like the sabbaths, the new moons, and the Jewish feasts, yet Paul warned them not to be concerned about it. Only the church understood what all these Jewish customs actually were: Prophetic foreshadowings of events now taking place in the earth.

    Take heed that there not be anyone leading you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, in keeping with the tradition of men, in keeping with the principles of the world and not in keeping with Christ… Let no one but the body of Christ judge you in regard to food and drink, or in respect of a Feast day or a new moon or sabbaths, which are [merely] shadows of things to come. (Colossians 2:8, 16)

     As stated, it was being revealed to the church that customs instituted by God like the seven great Jewish Feasts had actually been prophetic foreshadowings of events that were now taking place in the life of the church. As a result, there was a deep fascination with all things Jewish, but the teaching of the early church was that Christians who "kept" these things needed to do so only after a spiritual manner, for they were not under Jewish Law, and this applied to observing things like the sabbaths as well.
     Writing around 110 A.D., Ignatius of Antioch stated as follows:
 
     Let us no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner and rejoice in days of idleness... But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law not in relaxation of the body... nor in eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, nor walking within a prescribed space... And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ [also] keep the Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days. (Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Magnesians, Chapter 9, 110 A.D.)

     In other words, early on they were observing both the Sabbath and then the Lord's Day, but they observed the Sabbath only after a spiritual manner and did not bind themselves to the same restrictions as applied to the Jews. The key was in simply not allowing the Devil to entice them into going overboard with things, and bringing themselves back under bondage to Jewish Law.


Feasts Which Had Already Been Fulfilled

     In reminding the Corinthians that Christ their Passover had been sacrificed, Paul's language suggests he believed they already understood that Christ had been prophetically represented by the Passover lamb the Jews sacrificed before leaving Egypt. But there was more to the symbolism than just this. The blood of the lamb on the doorposts inextricably linked this event with the Exodus of the Jews from the land of Goshen, and the same parallel was true of Christ's blood delivering the Old Testament saints from the depths of Sheol after His resurrection, something church tradition would later come to refer to as the Harrowing of Hell. Early church teaching was that after dying on the cross, the Lord descended to the Underworld where He proclaimed to the Old Testament saints being held captive there that the way had now been cleared for them to enter Heaven, for the perfect sacrifice had now been made on their behalf.   
      This is what Peter was referring to in describing the Lord's descent to the Underworld after His death: 

     For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in Spirit, in which He went and preached to the spirits in prison who were once disobedient in the days of Noah, when the long-suffering of God waited as an ark was being prepared, into which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water, an antitype of the baptism that now saves you. (1 Peter 3:18-20)

      Just as with the Jews who were in bondage in Egypt, Jesus had delivered them as captives from a "kingdom of darkness" and had translated them into a "kingdom of His dear Son," i.e. into the kingdom of Heaven. As Paul would also tell the Colossians:

      Giving thanks to the Father, the One having made you fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us from the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. (Colossians 1:10-12)

     So what of the Feasts of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits? Both were prophetically fulfilled at this same time, for unleavened bread represented the pure teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the revelation that He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth is what Jesus preached to them in the Underworld before delivering them out. Moreover, if the Feast of First Fruits represented the first resurrection, the message He proclaimed to them in Paradise culminated in their rising from the dead with Him after His resurrection, at which time many of these Old Testament saints were seen walking the streets of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:51-53). Evidence that this event fulfilled the Feast of First Fruits can also be seen in how the priests sacrificed Passover lambs on the 14th day of Nisan, and the Feast of First Fruits was celebrated on the 16th, three days later. When did Jesus arise from the dead? On the third day after His crucifixion. And regarding Christ's resurrection, Paul would state, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, having become the Firstfruits of them that slept." (1 Corinthians 15:20). This means the Old Testament saints, after being preached to in the Underworld, became the first fruits of the great harvest that would take place in the end-times, when Christ would return in Power.
     The message He preached in the Underworld is apparently the same message He preached immediately after rising from the dead, for when He appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, scripture says that, "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself."

     Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing Him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” He asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel..."
     He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself... And when He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures unto us?” (Luke 24:13-25)

     All the above explains why mention of the Harrowing of Hell appears so frequently in the epistles. It is easy to see why the crucifixion and how He "led captivity captive" after His ascent from the Underworld could became the meditation of the church during this time, for this is when the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits were all fulfilled prophetically.


Feasts Still Awaiting Their Ultimate Fulfillment

     Some might assume that the Feast of Pentecost was prophetically fulfilled during New Testament times as well, but this is only partially true. Both Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets were in the initial stages of beginning to be fulfilled, but their ultimate fulfillment is still set to take place in the end-times. These two Jewish Feasts were the next two in chronological order, and they represented respectively A. the outpouring of power upon the saints of God, and B. their subsequent call to war against the enemy, destroying the works of darkness and setting the captives free. The fulfillment of both in conjunction with each other was mentioned in the Book of Joel as follows:

     Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sound the alarm on my holy mountain!... Like blackness spread across the mountains, a great and powerful army comes. The like has never been seen from of old, nor will it be again after them in ages to come. Fire devours in front of them, and behind them a flame burns. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them... As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains... like a powerful army drawn up for battle. Before them peoples are in anguish, and all faces grow pale... The earth quakes before them, and the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.... It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. And upon My servants and upon My handmaidens in those days will I pour out of My Spirit. And I will shew wonders in heaven, and upon the earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. (Joel 2:1a, 2b-3, 5, 10, 2:28-31)

     Peter quoted this passage on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God fell so strongly upon the church that tongues of fire came to rest upon their heads, and they went forth proclaiming the mighty works of God. But later verses in this passage he quoted - those concerning the sun being turned to darkness and the moon to blood - did not come to pass in Peter's time, meaning that their ultimate fulfillment was reserved for a later time, and there is a simple reason for this. According to Joel's prophecy, both a former and latter rain was prophesied to come, meaning there would be two great outpourings of the Holy Spirit, with the final one being even greater than the first, just as takes place in the natural in the land of Israel every year:
   
     Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. (Joel 2:23)

     Hosea was even more explicit, describing how the Lord Himself through the Holy Spirit would descend upon God's people as the former and latter rain:

     Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

     This strongly suggests that while both Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets, linked by the outpouring and the prophecies of Joel, saw partial fulfillments during the early days of the New Testament, both still await their ultimate fulfillment during the end-times.
     In turn, the final two feasts - The Day of Atonement and the Feast of the Ingathering - represented the natural consequences going to war against the enemy: Satan's threat to exterminate the people of God, and a coming supernatural deliverance of the Lord from Heaven. In specific terms, these two feasts represented the Great Tribulation and the Rapture and Resurrection of the church respectively. Regarding the first, the Day of Atonement was a day of fasting, which meant from its inception this sacred day was associated with sufferings and hardship. There were ceremonies observed in it that suggested some of the saints were atoned for but others would fall away to the enemy. This was typified by the sacrifice of two goats. One was sacrificed to the Lord as a pure offering yet the other was given over to Azazel, whom Jewish tradition says was a demonic spirit that inhabited the deserts:

     And [the priest] shall take the two goats, and set them before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat upon which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer him for a sin-offering. But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be set before the Lord alive to make atonement over him, to send him away into the wilderness for Azazel. (Leviticus 16:7-10)

     Prophetically, this will be fulfilled during the time of the Antichrist, when many are coerced on fear of death into betraying the Lord. Not only will they betray Him, but they will betray His people as well, attempting to save their own lives by exposing other saints as Christians to the authorities:

     Nation shall raise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and earthquakes in [diverse] places. But all these are the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you up to affliction, and will kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be scandalized and deliver one another up, and hate one another. (Matthew 24:7-10)

     Lastly, the prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of the Ingathering will be the Harvest, when the dead in Christ are raised to life and those who remain alive on earth ascend to meet the Lord in the air at His return. The angels of God will go forth to harvest from the earth all that God has worked for for 6,000 years:

     And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in the heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31)

     The Feast of the Ingathering was also referred to as the "Feast of Tabernacles," for just as tabernacles represented temporary dwelling places the Jews set up during the harvest, so too are our earthly bodies just temporary dwelling places in this life. This was again a reminder not to fear what men could do, but the God who could destroy both body and soul in Hell. Rather, the church was to stand strong until the end, clothed in the armor of God and awaiting His deliverance when He returned in Power from Heaven:

     But we who are of the Day should remain sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of deliverance, for God has not appointed us unto wrath but to obtain deliverance through Him who died for us, our Lord Jesus Christ, that whether you may watch or we may sleep, we may all live together with Him. (1 Thessalonians 5:8-10)

     Should then Christians be "keeping" the Jewish Feasts today as they did during New Testament times? It should be understood that no one is sinning should they choose not to keep them. That said, for those desiring to fully return to New Testament Christianity and relate to what was being said in the epistles, keeping the feasts after a spiritual manner is apparently what they were doing. As a last note, I should add that those who readily celebrate the secular holidays would certainly get more edification out of meditating on God's promises concerning the army of God and the great spiritual battle that will take place in the end times than on Santa Claus, Frosty, Rudolph, the Easter Bunny and all the other fanciful but spiritually meaningless stuff that fills our imagination during the holidays. There was a reason they kept the feasts in New Testament times, and it was because they brought to remembrance the great promises of God, many of which were already in the process of being prophetically fulfilled before their eyes.