Colossians 2:16-19, Part 1

[Hidden In Him]

The Feasts: Prophetic Foreshadowings Of Things To Come, Part 1

     The Jewish Sabbaths and festivals were more than just religious observances. They prophetically foreshadowed events that would take place in the life of the church, both during New Testament times and in the end times as well. Many teach on this subject but unfortunately don't teach on it accurately, misidentifying some of the festivals as foreshadowing certain events when they are in reality referring to something else. But before we get into it, let me first quote the passage on which this concept is based. It is found in our current passage (Colossians 2:16-19), where Paul mentions the festivals as being merely "shadows" of things to come:

     Take heed that there be no one robbing you through philosophy and empty deceit, in accordance with the tradition of men, in accordance with the principles of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. For in Him dwells all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily, and having become perfected, you are in Him who is the Head of all rule and authority... Therefore, do not let anyone but the body of Christ judge you in food and drink, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come. Let no one disqualify you, delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, investigating into things which he has seen, being vainly inflated with pride by his fleshly mind and not holding fast the Head, from whom the whole body, being supplied and conjoined together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of God. (Colossians 2:8-10, 16-19)

     As will be proven in Part 2, the New Testament church actually kept the Jewish festivals and Sabbaths, only they did so after a spiritual manner, not after the strict manner of the Jews. But this is where all the conflict was coming from where the heretics and the Colossians were concerned. Statements made in the letter suggest the heretics were Essenes, a Jewish sect who very strictly kept the Jewish Sabbaths, Feast days and cleanliness laws. As a result, it appears they were badgering the Colossians about not observing these things strictly enough according to Jewish law.
    But Paul told them not to let anyone but the body of Christ judge them in respect to such things, for the festivals, new moons and sabbaths were merely a "shadow of coming things." In other words, there was no need to observe them strictly according to Jewish law because they were merely prophetic foreshadowings of things the church was now living out for real, things the festivals only pointed to prophetically. Those not receiving their understanding from Christ as Head of the church, however, would not understand such things. Only the church understood the prophetic significance of the festivals and how they were to be spiritually observed rather than according to the letter of the law, so believers should not let anyone but the church judge them over how they observed them.
     But to understand what events in the history of the church were predicted by the Jewish festivals, let us now turn to examining each one starting with the Passover, the most important of the Jewish holidays.


The Fulfillment Of Passover, Unleavened Bread, And First Fruits

     As should be obvious to any Christian, the Jewish Passover was prophetically fulfilled on the day Christ Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem for the sins of mankind. Though the Passover was instituted some 1400 years earlier, the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled what this feast prophesied would take place perfectly. This was according to God's plan, for scripture describes Him as the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world.
     The interesting thing, however, is that the Feast of Unleavened Bread which immediately followed Passover also found its prophetic fulfillment during New Testament times as well. This was a seven day festival in which the Jews were commanded to eat no unleavened bread whatsoever. Spiritually speaking, this bread represented the unadulterated, pure teachings of the Lord. Leaven causes bread to rise, and by extension, false teaching causes humans to become "inflated" with pride. The pure teaching of the gospel, however - of Christ and Him crucified - causes men to become humbled.
     This Feast was fulfilled prophetically when Jesus descended into Sheol and preached the gospel to the Old Testament saints in the Underworld. Regarding this event, scripture declares:

     Having been put to death in the flesh but made alive through the Spirit... 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. (1 Peter 3:19-20)

     This verse refers to Noah and his sons and their wives, the only eight souls to survive the flood. Peter made reference to them to make the point that whereas only eight souls were saved back then, only a relative few were being saved in his time as well. But in reality, Jesus didn't just preach the gospel to Noah and his family alone. He preached it to all the Old Testament saints who were held captive in the Paradise side of Sheol, which is why He said to the thief of the cross, "This day shall you be with me in Paradise." After revealing Himself to them in the Underworld, the Old Testament saints readily acknowledged Him to be their Lord and Savior. Thus, when He came out of the grave three days later, He led them out with Him, many of whom were seen by witnesses in Jerusalem, as the scriptures also state:

     Having cried again with a loud voice, Jesus yielded up the spirit... And the earth was shaken, and rocks were split, and the graves were opened, and many of the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised up, and having gone forth out of the graves after His resurrection, entered into the holy city, and were made manifest to many. (Matthew 27:50-53).

     Like the Feast itself, which lasted seven days, the prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Unleavened Bread continuing on after the resurrection, when He rose from the dead and then appeared before Peter and Cleopas on the road to Emmaus. There He opened up to them from the Old Testament everything that was prophesied to happen to the Messiah. Later He appeared, and preached the same thing to all the disciples:

     And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He interpreted unto them from all the scriptures the things concerning Himself... and having taken bread He blessed it, and breaking it gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And He disappeared from among them. (Luke 24:27, 30-31)

     So what was the prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits? This festival celebrated the first gleanings of the harvest, and as such was fulfilled when the Old Testament believers were resurrected (or "harvested") by Christ into Heaven. Like the first fruits that Israel offered up to God, the resurrection of the Old Testament saints served as an assurance that a much greater "harvest" was coming in the end-times, when the rest of His church would be raptured up at the second coming. Scripture says that the harvest is the "end of the age," and it is prophesied that more than a billion souls will be saved before the end. How many are alive and on earth when the rapture comes remains to be seen, but just as the First Fruits constituted the early promise of a much bigger harvest later, so too did the resurrection of the Old Testament saints constitute the early promise of a much bigger harvest at the end of the age. This last great harvest is symbolized by the Feast of the Ingathering, which I will cover last. But what is interesting is that all of these first three festivals - Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits - took place at the same time of year, just as the three historical fulfillments took place at the same time in history. The Feast of First Fruits was actually held during the week of Unleavened Bread, so you have Passover being celebrated on the 14th and 15th of Nisan, First Fruits on the 16th and 17th, and Unleavened Bread from the 15th through the 22nd. This means there was exactly three days between the beginning of Passover (representing Christ's death) on the 14th until the end of First Fruits on the 17th, so these three days corresponded to the three days and three nights Jesus spent in the grave before rising from the dead.


The Fulfillment Of Pentecost And The Feast Of Trumpets

     Prophetically speaking, these feasts were fulfilled with the Spirit's outpouring at Pentecost and the rising up of Joel's army which began on the same day when the apostle Peter declared, "This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." What is interesting, however, is that these two feasts were both only partially fulfilled prophetically during New Testament times, with both seeing their ultimate fulfillment come to pass in earnest during the end-times, when the Spirit of God is poured out in even greater measure.
     Like the Passover, the prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost is easy to identify. The Israelites were at Mt. Sinai during the very first Feast of Pentecost or "Feast of Weeks," where God made His Power known to the Jews by coming down in fire and smoke. As scripture declares:

     On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled... Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. (Exodus 19:16,18)

     It must be understood that the fire of God is frequently associated in scripture with His power to make war against His enemies. This is readily apparent from passages like Isaiah 66:1-5:

     Behold, the Lord is coming as fire, and His chariots as a whirlwind; He will bring down His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with His sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by the Lord. (Isaiah 66:15-16, LXX)

     This then is the backdrop behind the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts. The Holy Spirit was distributed in tongues of fire among the saints, and after this the disciples went forth healing, casting out demons, raising the dead, and destroying the works of the enemy. Blowing trumpets served as a call to war, and the Feast of Trumpets followed in sequence after Pentecost. The call to war was a direct result of God's power being made manifest, in keeping with how it is the supernatural power of God that brings the empowerment to conquer in His name. This was also the case when the walls of Jericho to come down during the early days of Israel's conquests in the wilderness, one of the most famous battles where trumpets of war were blown and the power of God was then made manifest:

     Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in"... The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!... When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 6:2-6, 16, 20

     Again, this combination of events was initially seen in Acts, where you had the outpouring of the Spirit taking place first, followed by the saints doing many mighty works including healing and the casting out demons (Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:43; Acts 3:6-7; Acts 9:40-42; Acts 14:8-10; Acts 16:16-18). But these were only the initial fulfillments of these two Feasts prophetically. Their ultimate fulfillments take place in the end-times, as described more fully in the book of Joel. Notice again how the Fire of God, the Outpouring of God's Spirit, and the Blowing of the Trumpets of War will be all inextricably linked once again:

      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)

     The ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy will include the sun and moon being darkened, which did not take place during New Testament times. But the Spirit is prophesying that Army of God as described in Joel is coming, and when it comes it will shake the world once again with God's power, just as in the initial fulfillment did during New Testament times and even more so:

     God is now in the process of recruiting an army with which He will shake this old world one more time. By working through His soldiers, God will produce great miracles that will shake the established hierarchy of the so-called organized religion that is in this world today. These soldiers that God is now recruiting will demonstrate the power of God to a greater extent than did the disciples in the Pentecostal age. Some will be even greater demonstrations than that of Elijah. (Pittman, Placebo, P.42)
 
     This army... which was spoken of by the prophet Joel, will arise from the land and do great works for God. The Son of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings. He shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be ashes under His feet.
     They shall be called the army of the Lord. I will give gifts unto them, and they will accomplish My mighty works. They shall do exploits for the Lord of glory. I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy. This army shall fight against the forces of evil and shall destroy much of Satan's work. They shall win many to Jesus Christ before the day the evil beast arises, says the Lord.
     These are they who have turned to Me with their whole heart, soul, mind and strength. This army will awaken many to righteousness and purity of spirit. I will soon begin to move upon them, to choose for My army those I desire. I will search for them in the cities and in the towns. Many will be surprised by those I have chosen. You will see them begin to move across the land and do exploits for My name's sake. Watch and see My power at work. (Baxter, Divine Revelation Of Hell, P.141-142, 140)


Fulfillment Of The Day Of Atonement And The Ingathering

     In a word, these lasts two Feasts prophetically represented the coming of the Great Tribulation and the End-Time Harvest. Regarding the first, scripture teaches that there will be many who fall away, but that the faithful will endure until the end. This was typified on the Day of Atonement by the sacrifice of two goats. One was sacrificed unto the Lord as a pure offering, but the other - which the Israelites called the "Azazel goat" - was given over to the enemy:

     And he 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)

     In Jewish tradition, Azazel was a demon. According to Jewish scholarship, Azazel belonged to the class of "se'irim," or goat-like demons that haunted the desert, to which the Israelites sometimes offered sacrifice (Leviticus 17:7). Regarding the goat that was assigned to Azazel, the high priest sent it away "into the wilderness," and to prevent its return to human habitation, some sources say it was led to a cliff and pushed off its edge. As for its association with wickedness and the sins of men, the Book of Enoch likewise portrays Azazel as a fallen angel who betrayed God by leading mankind in rebellion and apostasy against Him in the days before the flood. It is said that "on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire… [for] the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin." (1 Enoch 2:8 ).
     The other goat that was for the Lord, however, became a living sacrifice unto Him, just as the saints of God will become living sacrifices as a result of preaching of the gospel during the end-times. This will be fulfilled during the great persecution of the end-times that precedes the coming of the Antichrist:

     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)
 
     These martyrdoms will take place as a result of persecution the saints endure, after the power of God is made manifest through them to preach the gospel throughout the earth (Matthew 24:14). Some believers however will betray Him, and deliver their brothers up to death to save their own lives. In doing so, they will succumb to the spirit of Azazel, the same spirit that first taught men to rebel against God before the flood. But those who become living sacrifices unto God will be a prophetic fulfillment of the goat dedicated unto the Lord.
    This, then, is what the Day of Atonement was instituted to symbolize. It is why the Day of Atonement involved fasting. The mortification of the flesh purifies the soul from sin. Today it is called Yom Kippur by modern Jews, with the word Kippur meaning "to cleanse," and persecution is what has down through history cleansed the faithful from sin, while causing the unfaithful to apostatize and turn away from Him, becoming subsumed by sin, much like Judas did. Hence the symbolism of the two different goats being offered up.
     Lastly, the Feast of the Ingathering was the culminating festival of the year. It was when the harvest was finally gathered. The harvesters would construct temporary booths or "tabernacles" to live in when they were working in the fields, so it also came to be referred to as the "Feast of Tabernacles," but it was actually a celebration of the harvest. In prophetic terms, this festival foreshadowed the rapture of the church, which was described by our Lord with analogies involving the harvest. In the prophetic fulfillment, His angels are the ones who will gather in the true harvest:

     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)

     He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity. (Matthew 13:37-41)

     Just as tabernacles represented temporary dwelling places, so too are our earthly bodies merely temporary dwelling places for the soul. Paul understood the prophetic connection, as is clear from how he described the body as a "tabernacle" in places, telling the Corinthians in one place, "we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens."
     Like Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits which all took place at roughly same time both prophetically and on the Jewish calendar, so too did the Feasts of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of the Ingathering. They take place on the 1st, 10th and 15th-22nd of Tishri respectively. So, too, will the prophetic fulfillments come in succession of each other as a group. The army of God will march forth in the end-times destroying the works of the enemy, and for this they will face persecution. Like real soldiers in war, some will lose their lives in battle, but the rapture will bring an end to it. It will signal the final deliverance of the church, when He descends from Heaven with His angels to execute judgment upon His enemies.


Meditating On "A More Sure Word Of Prophecy"

     The thing that should be encouraging in all this is the following: If the first three festivals were fulfilled completely and the fourth has already been partially fulfilled, we can rest assured the latter rain is coming, the second half of Pentecost will be fulfilled, and the last three festivals will come to pass as prophesied as well. This may not be apparent to every Christian, but it should be to us. For those willing to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, these things are being revealed with ever greater assurances now:

     And we have the more sure word of prophecy, which you do well to take heed to as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day should dawn and the daystar should arise in your hearts; knowing this first, that every prophecy of scripture comes not through private explanation. For no prophecy was brought by the will of man, but being borne by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke. (2 Peter 1:19-21)

     Many Christians are today doing precisely what Peter warned cannot be done. They attempt to interpret Biblical prophecy apart from the Holy Spirit's guidance. This is why even among those who know the festivals are prophetic foreshadowings of end-time events, they still nevertheless apply the festivals incorrectly as referring to things they are not. But the most encouraging for me personally are His promises concerning the Feast of Trumpets and the coming army of God. Certainly it is something we can only hope for because the army of God is still in utter disarray at the present time. But the Spirit has prophesied that it is coming, and it will march forth in greater power against the enemy than at any time in history:

     Suddenly, I was standing on a high mountain overlooking a great plain. Before me, there was an army marching on a wide front. There were 12 divisions in the vanguard that stood out sharply from the great multitude of soldiers who followed behind them... All wore armor that was polished silver, shields that appeared to be pure gold, and weapons that were both silver and gold. The banners were huge, 30 to 40 feet long. As the soldiers marched, their armor and weapons flashed in the sun like lightning, and the flapping of the banners and the tread of their feet sounded like rolling thunder. I did not think the earth had ever witnessed anything like this before.
     Then I was close enough to see their faces - male and female, old and young from every race. There was a fierce resolution on their faces, yet they did not seem tense… not a single one feared the battle to which they were marching… Every soldier also wore rank insignias and medals… [but] from the highest ranking officer to the lowest, they all seemed to be close friends. It was an army of unprecedented discipline, yet it also seemed to be just one big family… I could not detect ambition or pride anywhere in the ranks... As I watched, I noticed that the plain was dry and dusty before the army, but immediately after the first twelve divisions passed, the earth was dark green, with trees giving shade and bearing fruit, and pure streams flowing throughout the land… (Joyner, The Call, 137-142)

      Such encouragements ought to be especially important to those they were spoken over, since the soldiers God will be raising up will be from among the humble; those viewed as of no account by the church. But as the Spirit has promised, He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6), and He is going to do so once again:

      Behold, I am preparing a holy army. They will do mighty exploits for Me... They are an army of holy men and women, boys and girls. They have been anointed to preach the true gospel, lay hands on the sick and call the sinner to repentance. This is an army of working men, housewives single men, single women and school children. They are common people, for not many noble have responded to my call. In the past they have been misunderstood and mistreated, abused and rejected. But I have blessed them with boldness in holiness and in spirit. They will begin to fulfill My prophecy and to do My will. I will walk in them, talk in them and work in them. (Baxter, A Divine Revelation Of Hell, P.139-140)

      I am sending forth Samuels to pour oil upon My true shepherds. Many of these are now considered the least of their brethren, but you will find them serving as faithful shepherds of their little flocks. faithful leaders in whatever I have given them to do. These are My faithful ones who are called to be kings. These I will trust with My authority. They will prepare My people for the great battle at the end. (Joyner, The Call, P.146)

     In Part 2, I will show how the New Testament saints were indeed actually observing these festivals, but only spiritually. Surely there is no harm in doing so today, only it should never be considered a law, and pursuing all things Jewish should most certainly not be something believers go overboard with. But the important thing is in meditating on what the festivals foretold was coming, promises from God that will with absolute certainty be fulfilled in the times that now lay before us.