“Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the LORD your God blesses you; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name”. (Deut 16:10-11)

According to Colossians 2:16-17, the feasts are shadows of far greater realities which are and will be fulfilled in and through the Messiah. According to Deuteronomy 16:10-11, the Feast of Weeks is a time when every segment of Israeli society comes to rejoice before the LORD in the place where he has chosen to establish his name. It is difficult to read this passage and not see a shadow of that great and glorious day when all God’s children (rich and poor, slave and free, male and female) will gather in the New Jerusalem to rejoice eternally before the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Temporary to Eternal Feasts

While I’m thankful God gave the people of Israel appointed times to stop and smell the roses, we must never confound shadows for reality. For all these festive roses are scented with the glories of the Messiah and his kingdom by design. They were designed to offer a temporary reprieve from the harsh realities of life under the curse. But one day, every fleeting moment of happiness will be swallowed up by the eternal joys of standing in God’s presence in the New Jerusalem.

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away'”. (Rev 21:2-4)