Deuteronomy 16 focuses on three major annual feasts, justice, worship, and leadership. The passover is also very important for us to pay attention to because of the parallel between the passover and the coming of Christ. The crucifixion of Jesus came during Passover and that was no coincidence. Shortly before Jesus was crucified he celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. During this meal he established the New Covenant and we also call this meal the Last Supper. During this meal he gave new meaning to the bread and the cup, pointing to His body and blood. Another thing that is crucial to notice about this meal is they did not bring and unblemished lamb to be sacrificed because Jesus Christ was the unblemished Lamb at this Passover meal. When we have Communion today at church it is for us to remember how Jesus ultimately delivered us from our sin through him freely giving himself to be sacrificed for us. This should show us that God had a plan to redeem us all along.
God commanded Israel to celebrate the Passover every year to remember how He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. During the first Passover, the Israelites sacrificed a lamb and put its blood on their doorposts. When God saw the blood, judgment “passed over” their homes. This points directly to Jesus. Jesus is our Passover Lamb. Just as the blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from death and judgment, Jesus’ blood saves us as believers from the judgment of sin. John the Baptist recognized this when he said “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Paul notices this when he tells the Corinthians “For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.” Jesus was crucified during the time of Passover. This was not an accident. The Passover was a picture that God had established centuries earlier to point toward the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. The Israelites were delivered from physical slavery in Egypt. Through Jesus, we are delivered from slavery to sin.
The Feast of Weeks was a celebration of the harvest and a time for the Israelites to thank God for His provision. They were commanded to give willingly according to how God had blessed them. This is another parallel pointing to Jesus. The Israelites brought their physical harvest and Jesus came to bring in a spiritual harvest. In Matthew 9:37 Jesus says, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.” Jesus came to save people from every nation and bring them into God’s kingdom. As believers, we are now called to participate in that harvest by sharing the Gospel and making disciples. There is also an important connection to Pentecost. The Feast of Weeks is connected with Pentecost, and it was during Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Acts 2. Through Jesus, God was not only gathering a physical nation together. He was beginning to gather people from every nation into His spiritual family.
This chapter also talks about The Feast of Shelters. Which was also called the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. This feast was for Israel to remember that their ancestors lived temporarily in tents while traveling through the wilderness. It reminded the Israelites that God provided for them, God protected them, that their time in the wilderness was temporary, and that God was leading them toward their Promised Land. This is also a parallel to Jesus. Jesus came to dwell among humanity. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus also promises all of us who believe in him an eternal home with God. Just as Israel was traveling through the wilderness toward the Promised Land, believers in Jesus are living temporarily in this world while we are looking forward to our an eternal home with God.
This chapter shows us that God was teaching Israel about salvation way before Jesus physically came to earth. The sacrifices pointed to Jesus’ sacrifice, the Passover pointed to Jesus saving us from judgment, the harvest festivals pointed to Jesus gathering us into God’s kingdom, the temporary shelters pointed to the fact that this world is not our permanent home, and the command for justice points to the day when Jesus will rule as the perfect King and Judge. This chapter should build our faith. I know it builds my faith because there are just way too many coincidences and parallels for Jesus not be who he claimed to be. It should show all of us that God has had a plan all along to deliver us from sin, to bring us into His presence, and to lead us to our true home which is with him. Jesus is the fulfillment of that plan. Love y’all! Have a great day!
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