The Tabernacle Elements and the Feasts: Perfect Parallel

God has placed amazing patterns all throughout scripture.  They are there, just waiting for us to discover them!  As I mentioned on my last post, you will often notice how He uses certain numbers over and over again.  Twelve.  Forty.  Three.  Seven.

I think my favorite is seven.  The seven days of creation.  Seven times around the walls of Jericho.  The seven elements of the tabernacle.  The seven feasts of the Lord.  Seven represents completeness.  (And as a side note, I grew up in a family of seven daughters).

Now that we have taken a close look at the tabernacle, let's take a look at how the seven elements of the tabernacle line up beautifully with the feasts of the Lord.  Stay with me... this is so awesome!  The feasts of the Lord are split into three sections.  The first three - Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits - all take place together, in an eight-day period.  There is a break, with the fourth, Shavuot, happening fifty days later.  These are the spring feasts.

1. The Feast of Passover and The Altar.  Passover was fulfilled by Yeshua as He sacrificed His life for us on the cross.
2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and The Laver.  Yeshua, our sinless Savior, was buried and wrapped in linen.  After we receive Him, we are baptized and begin our sanctification - the lifelong process of being "cleaned up" by our Savior.
3. The Feast of Firstfruits and The Table of Showbread.  The Messiah rose on this feast, and has now become our Bread of Life.  We celebrate with Him by commemorating the breaking of the bread.
4. The Feast of Shavuot and The Golden Lampstand.  Fire came to rest on the heads of the apostles the day of Shavuot, or Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit was given to the believers.  This feast is also called Feast of Weeks, as it takes place seven weeks after the Feast of Firstfruits. 

Yeshua fulfilled all four of these spring feasts with His first coming.  The next three feasts, which take place in the fall, will be fulfilled when He returns.

1. The Feast of Trumpets and The Altar of Incense.  The altar featured a horn at each corner, representing the day when the trumpets blast and the Lord will gather His people from the four corners of the earth.  Revelation 8:2-3, in context of the Lord's return, says:  "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.  Matthew 24 says, "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
2. The Day of Atonement and the Mercy Seat. This represents the salvation of national Israel, when God reveals Himself to His people and gives them mercy.  Zechariah 12:10 fortells of that day:  “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced.
3. The Feast of Tabernacles and the Ark of the Covenant.  This is a beautiful picture of God dwelling with man when He returns to set up His kingdom on Earth.  The ark made of wood represents man, and the gold which overlays the wood symbolizes Almighty God Himself - God and man dwelling together.   Jewish people celebrate this "Feast of Booths" by building and living in temporary shelters, looking back to the time of dwelling with the Almighty in the wilderness.  If you would like to have a better understanding of how the Jewish view this feast, I suggest you rent the movie "Ushpizin" and watch it with English subtitles.  It was filmed by Orthodox Jews in Israel, and is a story set during the Feast of Tabernacles.  I love this movie!

Now I wonder, does the shape created from the placement of the elements in the tabernacle strike anyone as a coincedence?   Check this out: