[Taken from the New Mind Papers  by Walter R. Dolen
 Copyright © 1977-2003 by Walter R. Dolen and/or BeComingOne Church]

NM 16:God's Appointed Times: Tabernacle, Festivals, and Sacrifices 
Foreshadowed Christ

Patterns Foreshadowed Future
Sabbath
Three Harvests
First Harvest: Passover
Sheaf of First Fruit: Time of First Harvest
Second Harvest: Pentecost
Trumpets
Feast of Trumpets
Day of Atonement
Third & Final Harvest: Feast of Tabernacles
Jubilee Harvest
Review: Three Orders of Creation
Sacrifices and Jesus Christ
Tabernacle Table
Tabernacle's Measurement: Higher Meaning
Spiritual Bread & Other Higher Meanings
What is the Lord's Body?
Passover Scriptures
Washing of Feet

NM16 Abstract

Appointed times were festivals and holy days such as the Sabbath, Passover, and Pentecost. During these appointed times there were various rituals and sacrifices that were performed. Moses constructed a Tabernacle in which to perform these rituals. What we show in this paper is that all these things foreshadowed the appointed times of God's plan and the Coming Christ and his Spiritual Body (Church). This paper again manifests the type and antitype of the Bible.

Patterns in the Bible Foreshadow the Future

nm531» When attempting to understand the higher or Spiritual meaning in the Bible, the patterns of the Bible must be observed, marked and understood. If our beliefs go against the patterns in scripture we are in error. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. When you read these books you see patterns occurring again and again. For example, again and again, you see the pattern of six periods of work, one of rest, and one of atonement (see NM15). What we do in the BeComingOne Papers is to point out these patterns, and the type and antitype aspect of these patterns (see BP4; etc.). Not only in the books of Moses do you see these patterns, but in all the books of the Bible. But why did Moses and others write down these patterns? It is because God directed this to be done. In Moses' case, Moses was directed to make the tabernacle and all its furniture by the pattern shown to him on the mountain:

• Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern [type or image] of the tabernacle and the pattern [type or image] of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it. (Exod 25:8-9)
• See that you make them after the pattern [type or image] for them, which was shown to you on the mountain. (Exod 25:40)
• Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan which you have been shown in the mountain. (Exod 26:30)
• Now this was the workmanship of the lampstand [candlestick], hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers it was hammered work; according to the pattern [type or image] which the LORD had showed Moses, so he made the lampstand. (Num 8:4)
• Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. (Acts 7:44)
• [Priests] who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, see, He says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. (Heb 8:5)
• For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. (Heb 10:1)
• Now these things [in O.T.] happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. (1Cor 10:6)

nm532 » Even the way the sacrifices were performed was done by the direction of God. The book of Leviticus was primarily devoted to the ministry and ceremonies of the priests. In this book, over fifty-times Moses wrote that God spoke, or, that is, God told Moses what to write pertaining to the sacrifices and ceremonies. In this book there was

• the law of the grain offering (Lev 6:14)
• the law of the sin offering (Lev 6:25)
• the law of the guilt offering (Lev 7:1)
• the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings (Lev 7:11)

In fact there was a "law of the burnt offering, the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering and the ordination offering and the sacrifice of peace offerings, which the LORD commanded Moses at Mount Sinai in the day that He commanded the sons of Israel to present their offerings to the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai." (Lev 7:37-38) These laws were a shadow of things to come (Heb 10:1).

nm533» Not only were there patterns to the tabernacle and the rituals of the Old Testament, but as Paul indicated also other laws, even laws that dealt with animals were a shadow of future things that pertain to Christians:

• The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, "you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages." (1Tim 5:17-18)

Notice how Paul used a scriptural law meant for an ox to teach Christians about how to best treat their Spiritual elders.

Appointed Times

nm534» In Leviticus, chapter , it describes the appointed times ("feasts") of God: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say to them, Concerning the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my appointed times" (Lev 23:2).

Festivals Foreshadowed the Future

nm535» Most of the so-called Christians say these appointed times or seasons were done away with. But we will show that these appointed times or seasons have a higher and Spiritual meaning. The New Testament Church, unlike the physical Israelites, perceived these appointed times in a Spiritual way because of Christ's own Spirit and these words: "But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24). "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ" (Col 2:16-17). These Old Testament festivals were a shadow of things to come.

nm536» Throughout Paul's scripture, he manifests Spiritual worship, or Spiritual thoughts toward God. Paul's writings show the type and antitype of the Bible. Paul, speaking about the Old Testament scripture, says:

• "These things were our types . . .. Now all these things happened typically unto them: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1Cor 10:6,11).
• The things described in the Old Testament were typical events just as Moses' tabernacle was a shadow of the heavenly things to come" (Heb 8:5).
• The tabernacle "which is a type for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience." (Heb 9:9)
• "For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near." (Heb 10:1)
 

nm537 » The Old Testament festivals and Sabbaths were typical representations of things to come afterward. We will explain these appointed times and show their higher meanings. In short, we will see that the appointed times or seasons pictured the appointed times of God's plan and Jesus Christ and his Spiritual Body (Church).

Sabbath

Six Days of Work; One Day of Rest

nm538» The Sabbath is one of God's appointed times. Notice in Lev 23:2, "these are my appointed times." Then in the next verse, "Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings."

nm539» The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. The Jews of today celebrate the Sabbath. The Sabbath is what we call Saturday. Most so-called Christians keep Sunday, but there is no scripture that says we should keep Sunday. God instituted the Sabbath as the seventh day, the day of rest:

• "Thus the heavens and the earth were being [imperfect verb] finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God will end [imp. verb] his work which he had made; and he will rest [imp. verb] on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and set it apart: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" (Gen 2:1-3).

So God blessed and set the seventh day apart from the rest of the days.

nm540» Before Moses was given the precepts of Jehovah, the Sabbath was pointed out to the children of Israel (Exod 16:1-31). In the words of the ten commandments:

• "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it set apart. Six says shall you labor, and do all your work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your servant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested [imp. verb] the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and set it apart" (Exod 20:8-10).

nm541» The Sabbath is a memorial. The Sabbath has us remember the six days of creation when God created the universe. On the seventh day of this creation God rested from his work. But further, the Sabbath is a memorial to the Israelite people coming out of Egypt:

• "And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out of there through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord your God directed you to keep the Sabbath day" (Deut 5:15).

nm542» Now as Paul projected to us in his letters, the Old Testament was the type of the antitype, or the Shadow of the true or real. The Sabbath has an antitypical meaning. It foreshadows something (Col 2:16-17).

If God had given them Rest

nm543» In the fourth chapter of Hebrews Paul shows us the antitypical meaning of the seventh day rest, the Sabbath:

• "For he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day this way, 'and God did rest [aorist verb] the seventh day from all his works.' And in this place again, 'If they shall enter into my rest [Sabbath].' Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief . . .. For if Jesus had given them rest [aorist verb], then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest [Sabbath] to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest [Sabbath] lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (Heb 4:4-11).

Now this other rest that God's people shall enter is the 1000 year rest (Rev 20:4-5), the millennium Sabbath of peace. This is the 1000 year Sabbath when the Spiritual "Israel of God" (Gal 6:16) shall have fled out of spiritual Egypt and entered God's promised land. "The Son of man [Christ] is Lord also of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28). It is Christ who shall rule as King of kings in the 1000 year Sabbath wherein the Israel of God will cease from its own works.

Three Harvests of the Land

nm550» In the past, and until recent times, most people in the world were involved intimately in agriculture. The Bible appropriately uses agriculture metaphorically to manifest God's plan of salvation. Notice the metaphor of sowing seed and harvesting the crop from the seed:

• Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. (Mat 13:24-25)
• and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; (Mat 13:38)
• And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." (Rev 14:15)

There were three harvest festivals in the year. One was at the beginning of the grain harvest at the Passover feast, one at the end of the grain harvest at the Pentecost, and one at the end of the last and final harvest at the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

Barley, Wheat, Fruit Harvests

nm551» To many of us, harvest time is of little concern, because in our complex life we are far removed from the actual production of our food supplies, but for the Hebrew people, as for those in any agricultural district today, the harvest was a most important season (Gen 8:22, 45:6). Events were reckoned from harvests (Gen 30:14; Josh 3:15; Judg 15:1; Ruth 1:22, 2:23; 1Sam 6:13; 2Sam 21:9, 23:13). The three principal feasts of the Jews corresponded to the three harvest seasons (Exod 23:16, 34:21-22):

• (1) the feast of the Passover in April at the time of the barley harvest (compare Ruth 1:22);
• (2) the feast of Pentecost (7 weeks later) at the wheat harvest (Exod 34:22),
• and (3) the feast of Tabernacles at the end of the year (October) during the fruit harvest.

The seasons have not changed since that time. Between the reaping of the barley in April and the wheat in June, most of the other cereals are reaped. The grapes begin to ripen in August, but the gathering of crops for making wine and molasses (dibs), and the storing of the dried figs and raisins, is at the end of September. [Paragraph taken from ISBE (1915), under "Harvest"]

Three Harvests Correspond to the Three Times Before YHWH

nm552» Corresponding to the three harvests, the males of Israel were to stand before God three times in a year:

Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Passover] and at the Feast of Weeks [Pentecost] and at the Feast of Booths [Tabernacles], and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. (Deut 16:16)

"Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15 "You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 16 "Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering in the produce of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD. (Exod 23:14-17)

nm553» Notice that all three times the males were to appear before God was at the time of the three harvests. The second main festival which was the feast of the harvest of the first fruits is also known as the feast of the wheat harvest, and the last of the three main festival was also known as the Feast of Ingathering:

You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. (Exod 34:22)

There are many patterns in the Bible, but the pattern of the three harvests corresponded to the three times males were to stand before God and as we will see this in turn pointed to the harvest of souls at the appointed times.

Three Pilgrim-Feasts for Males & Angels

nm554» The three main feasts were pilgrim-feasts, which the males were required to attend. "In Hebrew two terms are employed - the one, Moed, or appointed meeting, applied to all festive seasons, including Sabbaths and New Moons; the other Chag, from a root which means 'to dance,' or 'to be joyous,' applying exclusively to the three festivals of Easter [Passover], Pentecost, and Tabernacles, in which all males were to appear before the Lord in His sanctuary" (The Temple, by Alfred Edersheim, p. 196) This word [Chag] is closely related to an Arabic word that means pilgrimage (BDBG Lexicon, p. 290). These three main feasts were pilgrim-feasts, a time of great joy. When you understand the type and antitype of the Bible you understand that males represent the angels, while females represent mankind (God Papers). Notice that Job wrote about how Satan also came before God when the sons of man came to present themselves:

• Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. (Job 1:6)
• Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. (Job 2:1)

The higher meaning of "all males of Israel standing and presenting themselves before God" (Deut 16:16) points to the fact that all angels ("sons of God") will and must stand before God and present themselves to God, and "all" means all.

Not Empty Handed

nm555» The males were to stand before God not empty handed (Deut 16:16, 23:15). They were to bring the fruits of their labor with them.

• "Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. 17 "Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you. (Deut 16:16-17)

Angels are the antitypical meaning of "males" in the Bible. Therefore in the higher meaning, all angels were to appear before God three times with the blessings that God had given to them. These three times were at harvests, and at these harvests the males or angels were to bring their blessings. These blessings were usually from the harvest. So if it was the Pentecost or the harvest of the wheat, then the males brought their first fruits or blessings from that harvest. Notice that at the end of the age it is the angels who are the ones to do the harvesting:

• And the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them [tares or weeds] is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. (Mat 13:38-39)

This "the end of the age harvest" is the harvest of the bodies of Christians who died in the old age, therefore the blessings that the angels bring to God are the physical bodies of Christians who are united with their own angels and become one with God thereby.

nm556» From the God Papers 6, we take the following which shows that Christians do have their own angel:

Our Own Angel

Now everyone that becomes a "son of God" must be begotten of the Spirit (Rom 8:9-10,16). What is this Spirit? What does it mean to be begotten of God's Spirit? Notice that those begotten of the Spirit are led by it (Rom 8:14). The Spirit in them, leads them.

Notice that "these little ones" have in heaven "their angels" (Mat 18:10). Now the Greek word translated "their" means "of one's self." These "little ones" are Spiritual children of God (l John 2:12-13). And these little ones have angels of their own self. Or, thus, since angels are spirits (Heb 1:7), Christians have their own angels or Spirits.

What do these angels or Spirits do? "For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Pss 91:11). In other words, angels lead them, as the Spirit leads the little ones or sons of God (Rom 8:14). Now Pss 91:11 was used in a physical sense concerning Christ (Mat 4:6). But the Bible is dual and speaks in a dual sense, the physical sense and the Spiritual sense. We are to look to the higher sense -- the Spiritual (Col 3:l-2). Not only do angels help out physically, but they help out Spiritually. And since Christ is our example, and the forerunner, then what applies to him applies to all others (cf John 14:6; Rom 8:17; Col 1:18).

Each son of God has his own angel (Mat 18:10). And these angels lead them in the way (Pss 91:11), as the angel of the BeComingOne led Christ (John 14:10, GP 3 & 4), who is our example. Thus, the Spirit of God that leads Christians (Rom 8:14) is an angel of God that is in them. One of God's own Spirits leads each one of them. These Spirits or angels are for the elect humans who are the sons of God (1Pet 1:1-2). These angels or Spirits serve the elect, they are ministers or servants "for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb 1:14). These angels are the "elect angels" (1Tim 5:21).

nm557» It is the angels (Mat 13:38-39) who will be sent by God to resurrect the dead in Christ (Christians):

"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first". (1Thess 4:15-16)

"Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." (1Cor 15:51-52)

Remember it is the angels (who are spirits of God) who will resurrect (Mat 13:39, 16:27, 24:31; Mark 13:27; 2Thess 1:7; Rev 14:15)

Three Harvests Point to Three Orders of Resurrection to Immortality

nm558» God directed that all males must stand before the Lord during three of the annual harvest-festivals: "Three times in a year shall your males appear before the Lord your God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks (Pentecost), and in the feast of tabernacles" (Deut 16:16). And they were supposed to offer gifts from the harvest, "not empty handed." We project in the New Mind Papers that the words in the Bible are shadows or types of the real and true. There is a duality of meaning in the Bible: a physical meaning and a spiritual meaning (see Duality Paper, BP4). Thus, the three harvests and three main festivals have a higher meaning. Through comparison of scripture we can see the connection between the three harvests in Israel and the three resurrections mentioned by Paul.

nm559» Paul wrote about three resurrections in 1Corinthians, chapter fifteen:

"In Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order:

[1] Christ the first fruit;

[2] afterward they that are Christ's at his coming [Rev 14:1-4].

[3] Then the end...." (1Cor 15:22-24)

Paul called these three resurrections, orders, "each man in his own order." This word translated "order" is tagma in the Greek text, which means rank or division or proper order. Paul manifested the three orders or ranks of resurrections. Christ fulfilled the first festival ceremony (sheaf of 1^st fruit) by being resurrected and then going to his Father on the exact day that the sheaf of first fruits was waved (see below). Christians will fulfill the second festival by becoming the first fruits of the creation (1Cor 15:23; Rev 14:4).

nm560» Other allusions to these three resurrections are found in the Bible:

• (1) Mark 4:28: "For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade [Christ], then the head [first-products], after that the full gain in the head."
• (2) Luke 13:20-21: "And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole [all of mankind] was leavened." [Leavened here is used in a different way than when it is used to signify sin or the way of sin in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.]
• (3) Noah's ark with three stories was also a foreshadow of the three orders of salvation of mortal mankind to immortality. All life forms were saved in the ark that was built with three stories: "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. (Gen 6:16)
• (4) Three sections of the tabernacle of Israel indicated and pointed to the three orders of resurrection. The Holy of Holies definitely points to the first resurrection to immortality - Jesus Christ. The Holy Place points to the Church and represents the second resurrection to immortality. Both of these were called the inner court or the upper court. The outer court was for the gentiles and pointed to the last resurrection to immortality. The inner court, with its Holy of Holies and Holy Place, was holy and set apart from the outer court. In the Bible the inner court was counted or measured, but the outer court was not (Rev 11:1-2). We know the count of the inner court (Holy of Holies & Holy Place) represents Jesus Christ and the first fruits of 144,000 (Rev 14:3-4), but we do not know the count or number of the outer court (Rev 7:9, 11:1-2).

Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, "Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. (Rev 11:1-2)

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; (Rev 7:9; Notice the palm branches, see below under Feast of Tabernacles)

• (5) The three orders or divisions of mankind can be seen typically in Joseph and his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim: [1] Joseph, the one set apart from his brethren (Deut 33:16), represents Jesus Christ, who was the first to be born of God (1Cor 15:22-28). [2] Manasseh, the one that was to become a great nation, represents the second group of first fruits to be presented to God, which are the Christians who lived in the old age. [3] Ephraim, the one that was to become a multitude of nations, represents the third group to be presented to God, which are the multitudes of peoples who will be born of God at the end of creation. (See PR1)
• Also see NM24 for more details on these three resurrections or harvest of souls.

Harvest of Souls

nm561» The Bible speaks about the saving of souls (Luke 21:19; Heb 10:39; Jas 1:21, 5:20; 1Pet 1:9). In a sense, souls are sown with a seed, either a good seed or a bad one.

• "I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they will say, 'You are my God!'" (Hos 2:23)
• "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. (Jer 31:27)
• Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. (Mat 13:24)
• Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one. (Mat 13:36-38)

nm562 » This harvest of the antitypical wheat occurs at the coming of Christ (1Cor 15:23) when the first fruits (the "wheat") are redeemed from among men (Rev 14:4).

• "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Mat 3:12)
• Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn. (Mat 13:30)
• Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mat 13:36-42)

nm563 » Therefore at the end of the evil age the evil ones are taken out of the world and burned, while God through his angels gathers the wheat into the barn (Mat 13:30).

When was the harvest of wheat in Israel? It occurred typically just before the Pentecost, which was the festival that celebrated the harvest of wheat and other first grain products (fruits). Is this telling us something about when the coming of Christ is and when the harvest of Spiritual first fruit happens?

We will now study the Feast of the Passover. From this study we will see that what the Passover typified was fulfilled perfectly by Christ, our Spiritual Passover.