God seems to like to take holidays, especially in Leviticus, when he instructs the Israelites to focus their attention to spiritual matters during specific “holy-days.”

Spring Feasts

• PASSOVER: 14th day of the first month (March/April). Remembering when God freed them from Egypt and death passed over the homes of those who had the flawless male lamb’s blood on their doorframe.
• UNLEAVENED BREAD: the day after Passover (March/April). Remembering the urgency of the Israelites as they walked away from Egypt and God delivered them. Leaven represented sin, the yeast that affects the dough.
• FIRST FRUITS: The morning after the Sabbath (March/April). Worshipping God for the fertility of the land and the planting of crops.

Summer Feast

• PENTECOST: The morning after the seventh week or 50 days (May/June). Worshipping God for the Summer harvest. Thanking God for receiving the 10 Commandments.

Fall Feasts

• TRUMPETS: Seventh month on the first day (September). Calling together of a holy assembly.
• DAY OF ATONEMENT/YOM KIPPUR: Seventh month on the tenth day (September). A day of confession and the scapegoat is released in the wild.
• TABERNACLES: Seventh month on the 15th day. Celebrating that God provided shelter for his people in the wilderness. Harvest is brought in.

The meaning of the holidays becomes clear in light of Jesus Christ.

• PASSOVER: Jesus celebrated Passover and turned it into communion, saying that the blood that causes death to pass over our lives is his blood, the blood of a sinless man. Technically, Jesus was crucified on the morning after the Passover celebration, so it was Passover. On that day we are freed from our sin.
• UNLEAVENED BREAD: Jesus died to take away our sins.
• FIRST FRUITS: Jesus rose from the dead, being the “first fruits”, the first of the harvest of resurrected souls. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
• PENTECOST: Peter preached and thousands were saved. The church began harvesting people for Christ. Jesus came to confirm the law of Moses and the Prophets.
• TRUMPETS: A trumpet will sound, one day, indicating the final coming of the king, Jesus Christ.
• DAY OF ATONEMENT: Because of our confession and realization of our sins and the acknowledgement of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, we are at-one with God.
• TABERNACLES: Jesus Christ provides a shelter for our lives, protecting us from the outside wilderness. Heaven will contain the eternal tabernacle, where we will be brought in, harvested, forever.

God was preparing the people for Jesus Christ, so it would be clear to everyone that he was the fulfillment of the Messiah.