In a time of great harvest, Joseph prepared in order that he would be able to feed the people.
Leaders must seek the Lord in order to understand how they are to plan for what is coming. Business men prepare, ministers prepare, Christians prepare. The harvest is on its way!
A new feast is on the horizon
Reports are coming in of outpourings of the Holy Spirit in various parts of the world. The harvest is beginning to unfold. It is still in its infancy, but the signs are there.
The days ahead will be a great challenge as many of our preconceived ideas of what the next move of God may look like undergo revision.
Remember, a receding wave will hold back a newly-formed incoming wave. Let us guard our hearts and seek to see all things from God’s perspective.
In Leviticus 23 Israel were commanded to keep 3 major feasts.
1) All of Israel’s worship and spiritual observance centred around these feasts.
2) These feasts were fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus and need to be experience by all believers.
3) These feasts are a profound prophetic statement to this generation, the end-time church. They contain prophetic insight into what God has reserved for this age.
1 CORINTHIANS 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. So many things have been reserved for this generation
DEUTERONOMY 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
Israel was commanded to keep three major feasts each year: Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The significance of these feasts is important to our understanding of where we are in God’s timing and purposes for the church. These feasts were literally kept by Israel.
They were fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus, and they are meant to be experienced by the believer today.
Passover: speaks of the New Birth experience. Jesus was our Passover Lamb.
Pentecost: speaks of our experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Tabernacles: is yet to be experienced by the believer and has been reserved for this generation.
The Feast of Pentecost was also called the Feast of First Fruits. This signified that the early church would receive a Pentecost that was just the “first fruits” of what was to come.
LEVITICUS 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of Preparing for the Harvest two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.
It was also called the Feast of Harvest (Exodus 23 :16), indicating that the early church would experience a great harvest.
However, that harvest was only the first fruits; the main harvest has yet to be gathered in. The feast of Pentecost was kept with leaven — this is ominous Leaven represents a type of sin, as well as hypocrisy and false doctrine; we have seen much of this in the Pentecostal movements over the years.
The Feast of Tabernacles
The feast that followed Pentecost was the Feast of Tabernacles. However, the latter was preceded by the Day of Atonement.
The Day of Atonement was designed to remove the leaven from Pentecost in preparation for the next great feast: that of Tabernacles.
These feasts are to be experienced by believers today. Most Christians have kept or experienced at least one of these feasts. However, Israel was commanded to keep all of them.