In this message we will consider further the statutes concerning the offerings in Numbers 28 and 29.
The first four feasts, which are in the first half of the year, have already been fulfilled, but the last three feasts, which are in the second half of the year, will be fulfilled in the future. The first four feasts have been fulfilled through Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension. The last three feasts are related to the Lord's second coming and will be fulfilled at the time of the Lord's coming back.
Numbers 29:1-6 speaks of the burnt offering for the day of the blowing of trumpets. This day was the first day of the seventh month, the beginning of the second half of the year. On this day a holy convocation was to be held with no laborious work. There was no need of human labor because everything had been done by God Himself. The offering for this feast was the same as that offered at the beginning of the month, with the exception that one young bull was offered instead of two.
There was also to be a burnt offering for the day of propitiation (vv. 7-11). On the cross, Christ accomplished propitiation. To propitiate is to appease. Propitiation is not a matter of propitiating God but of propitiating the situation between us and God. We should not think that God was angry with us and needed to be appeased. No, God loves the world, and propitiation is needed because of our fallen situation, not because God is angry. Our situation was full of problems, full of sins, and needed to be propitiated. Through His death on the cross, Christ dealt with our sins, and in so doing He propitiated our situation with God so that we could be redeemed, forgiven, and justified. When we repented, believed in Christ, and received Him as our Savior, we experienced this feast.
The feast of propitiation has a double application. Spiritually this feast has been applied to us, and literally it will be applied in the future to the Jews. After the Lord Jesus has descended from the air to the earth, the Jews will repent, mourn, and return to God, receiving Christ as their Savior. This will be the literal fulfillment of the feast of propitiation.
The feast of propitiation was on the tenth day of the seventh month. A holy convocation was held with no work. On this day, the people afflicted themselves, that is, they repented, mourned, and felt sorrowful for their sin. The offering on this day was the same as that offered at the beginning of the month, with the exception that one young bull was offered instead of two.