For HBCSL Women's Study Gals

So...in my sheer excitement to explain the double Sabbath at the time of Christ's death, I totally skipped teaching how Jesus fulfilled the four spring festivals on the actual day of the festival.  I know I said it ten times, I just didn't expound.  So, please forgive my oversight and to finish what I started, here goes:

1. The Passover - On the actual day of Passover, Jesus became our Passover Lamb. This one is most easily understandable.  At sundown, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples, then went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and to be arrested.  The trials ran through the night and by 9 am, Jesus was on the cross - the innocent shedding His blood to cover the guilty.

2.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread - this is the festival that deals with sin and ceremoniously cleans the house of leaven in order to present themselves sinless before the Lord - this begins the day after Passover and as we studied, it was a "holy convocation," as well.  This would have been Jesus' first day in the grave.  From Ephesians 4:8,9 we understand that upon His death Jesus went into Sheol and led those in Paradise into the presence of His Father.  He was finally dealing with sin, applying His sacrifice to the accounts of those who were waiting for the Messiah to come (Old Testament saints) and basically cleaned house.

3.  The Feast of First Fruits - this feast began on the first day after the Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  It was the feast to offer the first fruits of the first harvest.  This would have been the first day of the week - Sunday - when Jesus rose from the dead.  I Cor. 15:10 tells us that "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep."  His resurrection is the first harvest of a greater harvest to come.  Fifty days later a much larger harvest would come in on Pentecost.

4.  The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost - this is 50 days after the resurrection and on Pentecost, the Lord added 3,000 to the church.  It was the second harvest celebration, three thousands souls brought back to life through the gospel.

Okay, I feel better.  Have a great weekend!