The Annual Feasts in Revelation.
They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” – Rev 7: 16-17 NLT
The descriptions of heaven in the Book of Revelation are mostly negative. Rather than telling us what heaven will be like, it tells us what it won’t be like. It won’t be a place where we will be tired, hungry and thirsty. It won’t be a place of oppressive heat. There won’t be any more tears or death there. The life of heaven means the absence of everything that harms or makes us miserable. Note the reference to Ps23.
The sixth seal is past, the 144,000 have been sealed. With the opening of the seventh seal we have the sounding of the seven trumpets. The trumpets are an illusion/reference to the Feast of Trumpets that occurred in the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar, 10 days (called the ten days of awe,) before the annual Day of Atonement. This was a time of preparation. The Day of Atonement was the Hebrew judgment day which prefigured the work of Christ both as the sacrifice and the High Priest.
In Exodus chapters 19 and 20 we read the account of God’s appearance on Mount Sinai and the initial giving of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 19:5 depicts God inviting the children of Israel into a covenant: In a spectacular revelation, God manifested His presence in the smoke and fire on Mount Sinai—as He came to covenant with His people amidst the sound of a trumpet (rams horn) that caused the people to tremble.
Every year, at the Feast of Trumpets, those same-sounding trumpet blasts reminded Israel that they were a people under covenant; a nation who had accepted the responsibilities of being God’s people. By doing so, the nation also prepared herself for the Day of Atonement, the most solemn time of their calendar.
At this point we need to remind ourselves on how dependent the book of Revelation is on, not only all the major Old Testament stories, but also the Sanctuary and the Jewish Calendar. Both are overlayed over the entire book. Every major section begins with a sanctuary scene.
The diagram included shows how the Jewish calendar can be applied to the entire Christian age and then is superimposed over the book of Revelation. Revelation follows the order of the calendar beginning with the Passover and the slain lamb. In this meal of mutual fellowship there is a concentration on Christ’s death and resurrection (1:5,17-18; 3: 20-21).
Pentecost, which originally was when the Inauguration of sanctuary occurred, is referred to in Rev 5:6 where the Spirit goes out to world. The 1st Pentecost was at Sinai (Exodus 19).
The feast of trumpets was a warning of the impending judgment (The Day of Atonement). There were Seven new moons leading up to feast. This was the most important day in the Jewish Calendar. and is referred to in Rev. 11ff where we see:the Sanctuary, the ark containing the commandments, the judgment, and the Grape Harvest.
The feast of tabernacles (Rev 21-22) follows the Day of Atonement. The Harvest is over (Rev 14) God’s Tabernacle is with us (21:3). There is Feasting, palm branches, music, rejoicing, hallelujahs (cf. Rev 7: 19). Jesus went to the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7 & 8 and there He took all the symbolism of the day to himself (Water and light etc ) . It can be shown quite easily from scripture that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, when the “word became flesh and tabernacle (dwelt) amongst us.” The same word that is used in Rev 21:3, when God will again tabernacle (dwell) with His people. According to the typology of Tabernacles Jesus was born in September.
These 7 holy days are the shadow Sabbaths referred to by Paul, because they were all fulfilled in Christ. They were shadows of the plan of salvation. Jesus fulfilled all the typology of these 7 ceremonial Sabbaths.