PROGRESSION

From Passover, To Pentecost,

To Tabernacles

 "We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts."  2 Peter 1:19

 If the three major Old Testament feasts of the Lord are symbolical and prophetic of New Testament experience, then we do well to take heed to their message.  In an hour when darkness is fast covering the earth and gross darkness the people, we need to open our hearts and minds to the liberating and enlightening power of the prophetic message.  Spiritual experience is too often followed by spiritual darkness, and movements which have been alive spiritually usually fail to retain that of wisdom and revelation so needful for progression in the knowledge of Him.  Both individually and corporately, it is easy to stop short of the mark, short of God's full purpose and objective.  It is easy to confuse the end with the means, and to mistake the part for the whole.  The prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus can be missed by sin, disobedience, or unbelief, but it can also be missed by building "three tabernacles" somewhere along the way and settling for a transient, in-part glory.  In our consideration of the Old Testament feasts, it is our desire to establish that (1) they are prophetic, and that (2) they are related to progressive spiritual experience, i.e. the continual appropriation of the Christ-life into our beings.

 Being prophetic, they have a corresponding time, place, and avenue of fulfillment.  We shall see that their fulfillment occurs: (1) in Jesus Christ,  (2) in the church historically, and (3) in the believer's experience.  Fulfillment in the life of our Lord Jesus was perfect and complete.  Fulfillment in the church historically and in the believer's experience has been only partial.  Thus, for the church, there remains much to be fulfilled, and for the majority of believers, there remains much to be appropriated.  It is my hope that these studies will arouse the believer to "go on unto perfection" (Hebrews 6:1), and cause every church movement to acknowledge that "one mightier than I cometh."  (Luke 3:16)

"Feasts" Writings Continue on Ensuing Pages