How Should The Feasts Be Interpreted
LITERAL OR
SPIRITUAL
FULFILLMENT?
Consistency of interpretation requires that the three
feasts be interpreted by the same principles. The question then is asked:
“Should the feasts be interpreted literally or spiritually, or part literally
and part spiritually?”
Some expositors believe that Passover and Pentecost
had a literal fulfillment and now finds spiritual fulfillment in the church,
while the Feast of Tabernacles has yet to find literal fulfillment in the
Jewish nation.
It is held that the Feast of tabernacles, as do the
other Feasts, must find an earthly, and literal and natural fulfillment in
Israel, and not in the church. It is because of this the spiritual meaning and
fulfillment of Tabernacles is obscured as far as the church is concerned.
The key to discovering and understanding the answer to
this question is the cross of Christ and the finished work of Calvary in relation to
the Old Covenant. Under the Mosaic Covenant, all that pertained to the Feasts
was historical and literal. Actual days, literal animal sacrifices, a literal Sanctuary
services and ceremonies were all a part of the Feasts.
However, the historical and literal were typical and
prophetical of the Person of Christ. The actual things used in the Feasts were
also symbolic of Christ who was to come, or of the church of God, the Body of
Christ.
When Christ came, he fulfilled in himself all that was
shadowed forth historically, typically, and symbolically under the Old
Covenant. He fulfilled and by fulfillment abolished
–the temporal, literal, and symbolic things used in these Feasts and
brought in that which was spiritual and eternal.
Christ fulfilled historically and personally The
Feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. The literal aspects have been
fulfilled and abolished. The external form is done away with (2 Cor 4:18; Heb
8:13; Rom 2:20). What then remains? The things which remain are spiritual and
eternal truths hidden in the previous external forms. These truths are to be
experienced in a believer’s life. It is these which constitute the New
Covenant.
Thus Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles must be
experienced spiritually in each believer in Jesus the Christ. It is
inconsistent since the cross, to have two feasts spiritual and the last one
literal. The Feasts of Tabernacles, for instance could not literally be
fulfilled by the Jewish nation, for that would necessitate a literal rebuilt
temple, a restoration of the animal sacrifices, a restoration of the Aaronic
priesthood, as well as the whole Mosaic economy. This would be a violation of
the book of Hebrews. It would repudiate the New Testament Church (Sanctuary)
the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, his eternal priesthood. It would be a
rejection of Jesus Christ himself, taking one back to the other side of the
cross, and undoing the New Covenant to reinstate the Old covenant
principles.
In conclusion then, we must have consistency when
interpreting the three major Feasts. The Feasts before the cross found
historical and literal fulfillment in natural Israel under the Old Covenant,
and came to fruition in Jesus at the cross under the New Covenant. And again,
they find spiritual and experiential fulfillment after the cross in the church
of God, spiritual Israel (Rom 4:13-16; 9:6-9; Gal 3:22; Eph 2:12-14; 3:3-6;
1Pet 1:9-12, 2:5-9).
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ here are three steps you need to take to be saved:
You must admit you are a sinner, confess your sin to Jesus, repent (turn from all you know is wrong), ask Jesus to come in your heart, and begin to follow Jesus by reading and obeying his word and go to a bible believing church that teaches his word. May God through Christ bless you!
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