“On the first day you shall take the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God for seven days” (v. 40). This signifies the evergreen, nourishing, beautiful, and rich scenery of the humanity of Christ being lived out from God’s redeemed people.
Trees are of the plant life, and in typology plants signify Christ’s humanity. The trees in verse 40 signify different aspects of Christ’s humanity. Christ is not only full of fruit but also full of leaves, which in a particular way show the beauty of His humanity.
“You shall rejoice before Jehovah your God for seven days” (v. 40b). This signifies the humanity of Christ being lived out of God’s redeemed people in the millennium. Even today, as we are living in the church life, our relatives may be able to see something upon us that is green, beautiful, and overcoming. Some parents have testified of seeing such an expression in their children. In the millennium all the overcomers will live out the evergreen, nourishing, beautiful, and rich scenery of the humanity of Christ.
“You shall keep it as a feast to Jehovah for seven days in the year; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days; all who are native in Israel shall dwell in booths” (vv. 41-42). This signifies that the coming millennium will be a conclusion of all that God has done with His redeemed people in the full course of the ages, the dispensations, in His old creation.
In the four dispensations man cannot have a solid dwelling place. Even today we are still dwelling in tabernacles, in booths. Eventually, the present, portable tabernacles will become a solid one-the New Jerusalem with a foundation of twelve layers.
Now that we have covered the seven festivals, I would like to say a word concerning the dispensational fulfillment of the seven festivals as types.
The feast of the Passover was fulfilled on the day of Christ’s death (Matt. 26:2, 17-19, 26-28; 1 Cor. 5:7).
The feast of unleavened bread is being fulfilled in the church age (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
The feast of the firstfruits was fulfilled on the day of Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20).
The feast of Pentecost was fulfilled fifty days after Christ’s resurrection, on the day of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4; cf. Acts 1:3).
The above four feasts were dispensationally fulfilled in the same year, even in the first half of the year, when Christ died, resurrected, and ascended to pour out the Holy Spirit. This is all related to God’s redemption and has been applied to us as Christians.
The feast of the blowing of trumpets will be fulfilled at Christ’s second coming (Matt. 24:31).
The feast of propitiation will be fulfilled on the day of Israel’s return to God, after they have been gathered back to their fathers’ land (Rom. 11:26-27; Zech. 12:10-14). Israel’s return to God will be not only a physical return to the land of their fathers but also a spiritual return to God Himself.
The feast of tabernacles will be fulfilled in the coming millennium for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4-6) as a conclusion of all the ages of God’s old creation, for the coming of the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as their center (Rev. 21:1-2). The millennium will usher the new creation of God into the new heaven and new earth, where it will remain for eternity as the New Jerusalem, which will be the totality of God’s new creation produced out of His old creation.
The last three feasts will be fulfilled in the “seventh month” of the year, when Christ will come back.
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