Three Transforming Experiences - Part 11

The Feast of Passover was celebrated in the first month of the calendar that God gave to the Jewish people. The first month represented the beginning of a journey. In the life of the Church, Passover marked the birth of the Church and the beginning of the New Testament age when Jesus died on the cross.

Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after Passover. This was literally fulfilled in the life of the Church fifty days after the cross when the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers in Acts chapter 2.

After these first two great feasts of the Lord were fulfilled within just a few days of each other in the very beginning of the life of the New Testament Church, I’m sure that anyone who realized what was happening began to look toward the seventh month of that year with great anticipation. The third great feast of the Lord, the Feast of Tabernacles, was to be celebrated in the seventh month.

Months went by as the early disciples eagerly waited. Finally, the seventh month came and went that year without anything happening that was out of the ordinary.

What had happened? What went wrong? Had they missed it?

No, they had not missed it. The Feast of Tabernacles was not meant to be fulfilled in the time of the Early Church. When God gave the original instructions for celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, He included clues that tell us when it will be fulfilled in the lifetime of the Church.

“Also [you shall observe] the Feast of Harvest (Weeks, Pentecost, or First Fruits), acknowledging the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. And [third] the Feast of Ingathering (Booths or Tabernacles) at the end of the year when you gather in [the fruit of] your labors from the field.”—Exodus 23:16 (AMP)

Tabernacles is to be celebrated at *harvest time! *We know from what Jesus taught us in the parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13 that harvest time is at the end of this age, not at the beginning!

“… the harvest is the end of the age …”—Matthew 13:39 (AMP)

We see that the calendar that God gave to the Jewish people is actually a timeline of the New Testament age. God’s calendar gives us a timeline of the growing season of the New Testament Church from planting to harvest.

The Feast of Pentecost was also called the Feast of First Fruits. It was a celebration that recognized the very first products of the harvest at the beginning of the growing season. On the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, this feast was fulfilled when the very first disciples were brought to maturity by the outpouring of the early rains of the Holy Spirit.

But at the end of the growing season, we can expect the latter rains to bring the main harvest to maturity.

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”— James 5:6-8 (NKJV)

The latter rains come in the seventh month, at the end of the growing season, just in time to bring the main harvest to maturity.

The number 7 is significant in harvest time. The first month indicated the beginning of a journey or the beginning of the growing season. The number 7 often symbolizes completion or perfection. Here it indicates the culmination of the Church Age when God’s purpose for the Church comes to full maturity.

The numbers 7 and 3 become very significant in end-time events. Those two numbers seem to mark the events leading up to the return of our Lord.

The Seventh Month

After a long growing season, during which it may have often looked like nothing was happening, the seventh month is a very busy time leading up to the harvest and culminating in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Three main events happen in the seventh month.

1st Day: The seventh month begins with the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the month. This prepares the people for the Day of Atonement.

10th Day: The Day of Atonement is observed on the tenth day of the seventh month.

**15th Day: **Finally, the seventh month culminates in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles beginning on the fifteenth day of the month.

I believe that we are already living in the seventh month of the Church timeline, and we are rapidly speeding towards the final fulfillment of the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Three Transforming Experiences

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