Feast Days Central to the feast days was the sacrificial system.

Details were given about what was to be sacrificed and in what manner. But as Hebrews 10:1 says, "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect." Christ's own death was the event that the sacrifices pointed forward to. As the sacrifices were symbols that pointed to a literal fulfillment in the future, so were the feast days. This is clearly taught in Scripture: "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival [feast day, same Greek word used elsewhere such as Luke 2:41; John 7:2; Acts 18:21, etc.] or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." Colossians 2:16,17. The following is a study of how each of these feast day shadows meet their literal fulfillment. As a side note, the mention of "sabbaths" in Col. 2:16 must refer to the feast day sabbaths (aka "high day" or ceremonial Sabbath) that were part of the feast days themselves since the seventh-day Sabbath was primarily created not as a shadow pointing forward to Christ but as a memorial pointing backward to Creation. The yearly feast days are listed in Leviticus 23. What follows is an examination of their literal fulfillments: LORD'S PASSOVER "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us," 1 Corinthians 5:7. The Passover pointed forward to the Lamb of God, the Lord's Supper points backward to Him. UNLEAVENED BREAD Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," John 6:48. He was without sin, represented by the bread without leaven, and his body was broken for us (1 Cor. 11:24). Israel observed this feast the day after the Passover (Lev. 23:5,6), and Jesus' broken body lay in the tomb the day after Passover. FIRSTFRUITS "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.... Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christs at His coming," 1 Corinthians 15:20,23. Israel was instructed to celebrate this feast as soon as the spring harvest arrived (Lev. 23:14), and Jesus' resurrection was the foundation of the harvest of the saved. Just as this feast was celebrated "on the day after the Sabbath," (v.11) so Jesus arose from the grave the day after the Sabbath (both the ceremonial and the weekly Sabbath; see John 19:31). WEEKS (PENTECOST) Acts 2 recounts the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This feast also took place during the spring harvest, with grain and bread offerings, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was accompanied by a great harvest of souls (Acts 2:41). An interesting note I got from the Teaching Hearts website listed below, keeping in mind that the first 4 feast days occured in the spring and the last 3 in the autumn: "Between the spring and autumn months was the hot summer which lasted about three and a half months. During this time, there were no harvests, and no rain. This symbolizes the spiritual drought of the 1260 Years of Papal supremacy." TRUMPETS (the Hebrew doesn't actually say trumpets, but the word "blowing" can also be translated as alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, or blast) "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earthto every nation, tribe, tongue, and people saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water,' " Revelation 14:6,7. As the feast of trumpets signaled the coming of the Day of Atonement the Midnight Cry ushered in the Investigative Judgment, although this wasn't understood until after the Great Disappointment.

DAY OF ATONEMENT "And he said to me, 'For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed,' " Daniel 8:14; "For the time for judgment begins at the house of God," 1 Peter 4:17a (modified, as the words "has come" are supplied by the translators and are not in the Greek; similarly the word "Most/Holiest [hagios hagios]" is unsupported by the Greek in Hebrews 9:8,12 and 10:19 and should instead ready simply "Holy [hagios]", compare with Heb. 9:3 in blueletterbible.org with "SHOW STRONG'S" on; also, the words "in favor" are supplied for Daniel 7:22). An investigative judgment preceding the executive judgment at the resurrection. A time of humbling oneself. TABERNACLES/INGATHERING (Exodus 23:16) "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, 'Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped." Revelation 14:14-16. This feast took place during Israel's autumn harvest, and is fulfilled in the final harvest of the saved (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20,23). They stayed in booths to remind them of their pilgrimage between their slavery in Egypt and entering the Promised Land. There were no feast days for the winter. This, coupled with the Sabbath rest the land was to have every seventh year, is perhaps reflecting the millennium of rest for the earth following approximately 6,000 years of sin. I also want to note a verse someone has brought up to me before to show that we are required to keep the feast days: "When they asked him [Paul] to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, but took leave of them, saying, 'I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing.' And he sailed from Ephesus." Acts 18:2021. They reason that since the NT mentions Paul keeping some of the feasts, we must, as well. However, Paul did not require this of any of the churches he started, neither in this verse nor in any of his letters that we have in the NT. Elsewhere he apparently dismantles such a requirement, saying, "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it." Romans 14:5,6. He was brought up very strictly in the way of the rabbis and it wouldn't be surprising that he continued some of his practices without considering them salvation issues. "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law," 1 Corinthians 9:19-21.

SPIRIT OF PROPHECY
"As referring to the temple at Jerusalem, the Saviour's words, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," had a deeper meaning than the hearers perceived. Christ was the foundation and life of the temple. Its services were typical of the sacrifice of the Son of God. The priesthood was established to represent the mediatorial character and work of Christ. The entire plan of sacrificial worship was a foreshadowing of the Saviour's death to redeem the world. There would be no efficacy in these offerings when the great event toward which they had pointed for ages was consummated. Since the whole ritual economy was symbolical of Christ, it had no value apart from Him. When the Jews sealed their rejection of Christ by delivering Him to death, they rejected all that gave significance to the temple and its services. Its sacredness had departed. It was doomed to destruction. From that day sacrificial offerings and the service connected with them were meaningless. Like the offering of Cain, they did not express faith in the Saviour. In

putting Christ to death, the Jews virtually destroyed their temple. When Christ was crucified, the inner veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, signifying that the great final sacrifice had been made, and that the system of sacrificial offerings was forever at an end." Ellen White, The Desire of Ages, p.165 "Christ was standing at the point of transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death. As He ate the Passover with His disciples, He instituted in its place the service that was to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages." Ellen White, The Desire of Ages, p.652 (1 Corinthians 11:23-25.) To Feel the Pulse of Conscience"In this ordinance [Lord's Supper], Christ discharged His disciples from the cares and burdens of the ancient Jewish obligations in rites and ceremonies. These no longer possessed any virtue; for type was meeting antitype in Himself, the authority and foundation of all Jewish ordinances that pointed to Him as the great and only efficacious offering for the sins of the world. He gave this simple ordinance that it might be a special season when He Himself would always be present, to lead all participating in it to feel the pulse of their own conscience, to awaken them to an understanding of the lessons symbolized, to revive their memory, to convict of sin, and to receive their penitential repentance. He would teach them that brother is not to exalt himself above brother, that the dangers of disunion and strife shall be seen and appreciated; for the health and holy activity of the soul are involved." {5BC 1139.5} "This ordinance does not speak so largely to mans intellectual capacity as to his heart. His moral and spiritual nature needs it. If His disciples had not needed this, it would not have been left for them as Christs last established ordinance in connection with, and including, the last supper. It was Christs desire to leave to His disciples an ordinance that would do for them the very thing they neededthat would serve to disentangle them from the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah. Eating of the body, and drinking of the blood, of Christ, not merely at the sacramental service, but daily partaking of the bread of life to satisfy the souls hunger, would be in receiving His Word and doing His will." (The Review and Herald, June 14, 1898)