And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"
Then beginning with writings of Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Like the men on the road to Emmaus, learn how each of the moedim point to the Messiah!
According to John 1:29, Messiah Yeshua is the Lamb of G-d who takes away the sins of the world. Revelation 7:14 declares that our robes have been washed white by the blood of the Lamb.
Every year, the Pesach lamb was to be selected on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Aviv. On that very day Messiah entered Jerusalem in his "Triumphal Entry" as the spotless Lamb of G-d.
Leaven represents sin. Leaven causes things to "puff up" and become "prideful". Scripture refers to One who is without sin (Hebrews 4:15) who was sent as an offering for sin (Romans 8:3)... the Messiah Yeshua. Just as Messiah Yeshua was sinless we are called to be perfectly sinless (i.e. without leaven) for seven days... seven represents perfection or completion.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:20 that Yeshua was resurrected as the first fruits from those who are "asleep" (i.e. dead). First fruit grain offerings were consumed completely and were to be offered without any leaven (Leviticus 2:11).
Reishit Qatzir [the beginning of the harvest] is sometimes called Yom HaBikkurim, the day of first fruits, and it provides a picture of Messiah in several ways. The first we've already noted: it shows us the need for a mediator. The second is found in the offering itself.
When the time of the harvest had come, when the first of the crop was ready, it was cut down and brought before G-d through the mediation of the priest.
When the time of the Messiah had come, when the firstborn of all Creation was ready, He was cut down and slain. The offering of His own life was made before G-d the Father. Messiah was both the offering and the priest Who offered it! (Hebrews 7:27)
It is the greatest love story ever told: a treasured woman is enslaved, beaten, and in chains. Her beloved arrives to free her, vanquishes her captors, and whisks her away to safe, hidden retreat. There, he comforts her, confesses his great love for her, and proposes.
This is the story of G-d and His beloved, Israel.
He saved her from slavery, defeated the Egyptians and their "gods", and carried her safely through the desert, the Red Sea, and the wilderness to Mount Sinai.
After the spring moedim (Pesach, Chag HaMatzot, Reishit Qatzir, and Shavuot) comes a long, hot, and dry summer in the Land of Israel. But the moedim return in the Fall and with them comes cooler weather and relief from the heat.
Like the spring moedim that foretold Messiah's first coming, Yom Teruah marks the beginning of the fall festivals that foretell His second coming (oh, Lord, may it be soon!). In this moed we can see Messiah returning with a great trumpet blast and vanquishing His enemies in preparation for Judgment Day and the Day of Atonement.
The blessing of the moedim return with Yom Teruah: the Feast of Trumpets, the first of the fall moedim.
Prophecy speaks of the Great Trumpet that will herald the return of the Messiah King following the long, hot, and dry centuries since His appearing.
In order to better understand this moed and how it pictures the (as yet to be completed) work of Messiah, we should understand the Scriptural meaning of atonement. We recommend this article on atonement from Psalm11918.org as a thorough study on the topic.
As noted previously, the Day of Atonement is for cleansing by blood from the physical impurity that accompanies life, death, and sin. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews tells us:
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13-14)
There are two interesting facts found in this passage.
First, the author of the book of Hebrews affirms the fact that the blood of goats and bulls does sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh... our outer self. He uses that truth to illustrate the greater truth that the blood of Christ cleanses our conscience... our inner self.
Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are true words of God." (Revelation 19:6-9)