Jesus and the Three Jewish Pilgrimage Festivals – Series Outline

My walk with Jesus has always guided me to the text of the Old Testament. In the books of the Old Testament I see Jesus as the great ‘I Am’. I see the work and person of Jesus in the feast, laws, wisdom, psalms, and stories. This series will look at the connection Jesus has to the three Pilgrimage Feast; Passover, Pentecost and Sukkot. Other days and feasts be woven into the series as they connect.

• Post 01 – Shalosh Regalim – Annual Pilgrimage Feasts; Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot
• Pesach (Passover) – Physical Salvation
  • Post 02 – Palm Sunday – Paschal Lamb Brought to Jerusalem [10 Nissan]
  • Post 03 – Observing the Paschal Lamb for Blemish [10-13 Nissan]
  • Post 04 – Passover – Crucifixion [14 Nissan]
• Shavuot (Weeks) – Spiritual Salvation
  • Post 05 – Counting Omer – a Week of Weeks [16 Nissan to 5 Sivan]
  • Post 06 – Feast of First Fruits – Resurrection [16 Nissan]
  • Post 07 – Shavuot – Pentecost – Giving of the Law [5 Sivan]
• Sukkot (Tents) – Joyous Thanks to God for His Encompassing Protection
  • Post 08 – Rosh Hashanah – Head [of] The Year [1 Tishrei]
  • Institution of the Sabbath, the weekly day of rest.
  • Ten Days of Repentance
    • Post 08a – Yamim Noraim – Days of Awe [1-10 Tishrei]
  • Post 09 – Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement – [10 Tishrei]
    • Closest Day to God
    • Single Shofar followed by Song and Dance
    • Holy of Holies
    • Lots over Goats
    • 2nd Tablets
  • Post 10 – Sukkot (Tents, Tabernacles)
    • • Celebration of Joy
      • 2 days of Feasting – [14-15 Tishrei]
      • Continuing ‘Intermediate’ or weekdays of the festival
        • Live in, or at least eat in a Tent structure.
    • Post 10a Arba Minum – “Four Kinds” – [14-22 Tishrei]
      • A palm branch (lulav),
      • two willows (aravot),
      • a minimum of three myrtles (hadassim) and
      • one citron (etrog).
      • The first three kinds are neatly bundled together, the lulav.
    • Post 10b Lights (structure tbd) [14-21 Tishrei]
    • Post 10c  Nisuch ha-Mayim “Pouring of the Water” [14-21 Tishrei]
    • Post 11 – Hoshana Rabbah – “Great Salvation” or Supplication [21 Tishrei]
      • Water from Your Inner Most Being
      • 7th Day of Sukkot
      • Torah from the Ark is Celebrated.
      • Deuteronomy is Read
      • Final Day of Divine Justice
  • • Post 12 – Shemini Atzeret – “Eight[h] [day] Solemn Assembly” [22 Tishrei]
      • People Prepare for Home
      • Dance with Torah Scrolls
      • Last Meal in the Sukkot, Tent
      • Rain for the Year Determined
  • Simchat Torah [23 Tishrei]

I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Psalm 121:1

Shalosh Regalim

Shalosh Regalim refers to the three annual pilgrimage festivals required in Judaism; Pesach (Passover – physical salvation), Shavuot (Weeks, Pentecost – spiritual salvation), and Sukkot (Tents, Booths, or Tabernacles – Joyous thanks for God’s encompassing protection).

These festivals are mitzvot [plural of mitzvah]. Many see mitzvah as a command or a good deed, but the meaning of mitzvah is more complex and rich. The aspect of mitzvah that interests me, is mitzvah as physical actions that reminds us of aspects of our connection to God.

Though I find meaning in the feasts and many mitzvot, I do not claim to try to follow any mitzvot beyond:

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

and

Leviticus 19:18‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

Individual Mitzvah are found in the five books of the Torah:

• Genesis (creation) or Bəreshit (in the beginning)
• Exodus (exit) or Shəmot (Names)
• Leviticus (relating to Levites) or Vayikra (and He called)
• Numbers (numbers) or Bəmidbar (In the desert … )
• Deuteronomy (second law) or Dəvarim (Things or Words)

and supplemented in the Mishnah, the written version of the traditional ‘Oral Law’, which was set in writing about 200 CE

• Mishnah – Composition
  • Six main divisions called ‘Orders’.
  • ‘Orders’ divide further into ‘tractates’.
  • Finally, ‘tractates’are composed of ‘parakim’, which are paragraphs.
    • Each paragraph makes up one of the 611 of the 613 laws.
    • These 611 laws are added to the first two commands
    • Tradition tells that all of Israel heard the 1st two commands from Sinai
      • I am your God …
      • You shall have no other gods …
  • The 6 Orders of the Mishnah
    • ZERAIM – Seeds
    • MOED – Festival
    • NASHIM – Women
    • NEZIKIN – Damages
    • KODASHIM – Holy things
    • TOHORO – Purities

Of all connections to God, the festivals of Passover and Tents are among the strongest. The third festival, Shavuot/Weeks/Pentecost, actually celebrates the connection itself. Pentecost, a week of weeks after the Passover, was God bonding Himself to the Jewish people.

With the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the words, “Let us go to the house of the Lord,” became bitter.

As a follower of Jesus, I can still find meaning in the connections between Jesus and the pilgrimage festivals, Shalosh Regalim. The New Testament evidences Jesus celebrating these feasts in Jerusalem. Before being crucified, Jesus claimed to be the temple of God. Actually, discussing the temple and its destruction was a main reasons why the priest and rulers of the day condemned Jesus to death.

John 2:18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

There have been three structures, maintained by the Jewish people, which have housed the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark contained the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded, and mana, the food God supplied Israel in the desert;

• Tabernacle, tent structure initiated in time of Moses, replaced by the 1st Temple
• 1st Temple, prepared in King David’s reign and built under King Solomon about 1000 BCE, destroyed about 587 BCE
• 2nd Temple, supported by Cyrus the Great and Darius I of Persia, built in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah 537-516 BCE, destroyed by the Romans under Titus in 70 CE,

The destruction of the Second Temple made many mitzvot related to Shalosh Regalim, the three feasts, impossible to follow. Many connection reminders were simply no longer within reach.

The New Testament Gospels takes the time to show Jesus celebrating these feasts in Jerusalem with His disciples. The New Testament book, Letter to the Hebrews, discusses aspects of the temple and temple service related to the work of Jesus as Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, forever.

Psalms 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that the temple and all of the furniture are mere copies of what is in the heavenlies. The Tabernacle, the First Temple, and the Second Temple all reflected the true heavenly temple. They share the same structure;

• Holy of Holies
• Most Holy Place,
• Court yard.

They share the same furniture;

• Ark of the Covenant
• Veil, separating the Holy of Holies from the Most Holy Place
• Gold Altar of Incense
• Gold Lamp-stand, pure oil
• Table of Shew Bread, bread and wine
• Brazen Basin, water to wash hands and feet
• Brazen Altar, where the sacrifice was burned

Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed …. 24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself …. 26 ,,, He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself … 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.