Could you paint a panorama of Israel’s history with seven special holidays? The Lord did!
Three vital chapters reveal God’s plan for the ages: Leviticus 23, outlining the seven festivals of Jehovah, show God’s view of the history of Israel; Matthew 13, with seven parables, explains God’s view of the history of the kingdom; and the seven assemblies in Revelation 2 and 3 unfold God’s view of the history of the Church. If we link Leviticus 23 and 25, we see the following pattern. In 23:1-3, we have a sabbath (or rest day) every seven days. In 23:4, we are introduced to the seven festivals in the year. In 23:5, we see the Passover, which changed the seventh month of the civil year to the first month of the religious year (see Ex 12), while the next feast, of Unleavened Bread (23:6-8), was held for seven days. In 23:9-14, we have Firstfruits on the seventeenth day of the month, followed by Pentecost (23:15-21), the first day of the week following seven sabbaths. Then in the seventh month, there were three festivals: Trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month (23:23-25), then the Day of Atonement (23:26-32), and concluding with another seven-day festival, that of Tabernacles (23:33-36). As if that isn’t enough of a pattern to show God’s perfect plan, when we turn to chapter 25, we have a special Sabbatical Year, to be held every seven years, and a Year of Jubilee, celebrated in the year following seven x seven years! But for all that, God is not only perfect; He is also practical. The festivals were grouped into three periods: three tucked into the first month before harvesting the field crops; one in the third month, after they had garnered in all the grain; and three in the seventh month, after harvesting the almonds, orchard fruit, and grapes, but before the olives. Now wait till we see God’s blueprint for history!