Christ in the Spring Feasts (part 2)

by Pastor Meng Cham

Jewish feasts
- Appointed by Yahweh
- Sacred assemblies
- Signposts of God's redemption plan through Christ

What's the significance of Jewish feasts for us?
They act as Signposts ...pre figure Messiah and foreshadow his first and second advent

2. Feast of first fruits
3. Feast of weeks
Is there hope in death?
YES!!!

Big idea:
The feasts of first fruits and feats of weeks reveal the power of new life in Christ

Why Hope even in death?
Because of the feast of First fruits which is Hope in the resurrection to new life

Leviticus 23:9-14
The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah[a] of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin[b] of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.


Feast of First fruits happens after feast of unleavened bread

First fruits are best harvest That's why they cut off and wave before the lord then they can eat the bread and grain. Signify God is sole provider

1 Corinthians 15:20
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.


It means we also raided from the dead

1 Corinthians 15:22-23
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.


We too in Christ will also be raised, because of Christ resurrection. Good news to those who received but sadly not everyone. Saduccees control the temple. High priest came from saduccees. Saduccees denied supernatural, denied resurrection. For them death is the end. They said there is no God to hold them accountable.

Daniel 12:2
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.


John 5:25-29
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.


# The spiritual significance of the Feast of First Fruits is that as Jesus Christ did not remain in the grave but was raised from the xx xx will all humanity

Only those who have taken the first two feasts will be raised to eternal life

Vs separation, condemnation

Love with great care, we'll be held accountable, how we live, is it good or evil today, how we treat people, how we live the gospel..

Things don't work out smoothly, we have this hope of new life in Jesus. Resurrection guarantees we'll be raised to new life to eternity

Sense an urgency. Be diligent to pray they will also have new life in Jesus Christ

They will be resurrected to meet their maker. May they also find this hope of new life in Jesus Christ

eg. Myanmar earthquake

Feast of the weeks
Hope in the constitution of the new family

Leviticus 23:15-20
“‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering[a] and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. 20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest.


50 days is the word "pentacost"

The Feasts of weeks have every sacrifices done:
sin offering
Peace offering
Wave offering
Burnt offering etc

When people said disciples were drunk.. to this Peter quoted
Joel 2:28-32
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.[a]


@ Signpost is that God's salvation include everyone when they call upon the name of the lord

Sin is thorough and universal. Leaven is to say all of us have fallen short of the saving grace. We all need the same saving grace as the resurrection children, Jewish or Gentiles

Leviticus 23:22
“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’”


above verse is a sign of God's grace to the outcast, sojourner, the poor, the needy etc

The power of new life in Jesus Christ is now made available to all

# The spiritual significance of the Feasts of Weeks is that the power of the new life in Jesus Christ is now made available to all. Ephesians 2:18-22
For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.


We now connstituted the family of God, Jews and gentiles alike

1. We have the promised spirit that is indwelling us
2. We have the power of the spirit

We are not from here. We are in but not of this world. Something in us will say we are not from here when we face challenges, hardships, persecutions, difficulties, insults, hurts etc

We are new creation, destined for heaven . Let Holy spirit cultivate in us.

We must be peace maker and break down every walls of Division and exclusion






The harvest is now Let the hs Water these seeds with act of kindness Did jesus preach in hell?