Jesus in the Feasts - Part 3
John 7:37-38
Series: In the Steps of the Rabbi # 10

     The roots of Christianity lie deep within the biblical feasts. Three feasts - Passover, First-fruits, and Pentecost - are celebrated in the spring. But three more holy days commanded on Mount Sinai are celebrated in the fall - exactly six months after Passover.

I. The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah).

A. Rosh Hashanah marks the anniversary of the world's creation and the beginning of the Jewish New Year.
B. Rash Hashanah focuses on repentance and self-examination.

II. The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

A. Yom Kippur is a day for prayer, fasting, and repentance.
B. In biblical times the sins of the nation were laid on a scapegoat on Yom Kippur and the high priest entered the Most Holy Place of the temple to make atonement for the sins of the entire nation.
C. He would also lay his hands on a goat (the scapegoat), symbolically transferring the guilt of the nation onto the animal, and then drive it out into the wilderness.

III. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

A. The Feast of Tabernacles (or booths) is also called the "Feast of Ingatherings" because it is the greatest harvest feast of the year.
B. Tabernacles is about discovering that security comes not from the walls you construct around yourself, but from the Lord who protects you.
C. The Feast of Tabernacles was a time to pray that God would send "living water," or rain, for the coming year. At that time of year, it was easy for people to remember how dependent on God they had been in the desert of Sinai.
D. On the last day of Tabernacles that Jesus stood up in the midst of the clamorous crowds and shouted: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."  (John 7:37-38).

     A Feast of Trumpets is coming. The shofar trumpet will sound, announcing Christ's return as King of the new creation. The Apostle Paul said,

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."