Review of Some APPARENT Inconsistencies of The Cross

The feastsIn Scripture a feast — Hebrew chag — is a designated period, not a single day but a span with its own structure and sequence. The Feast of Weeks spans seven weeks; the Feast of Tabernacles, seven days. A feast may contain one or more annual holy days, but the feast itself is the full period, not any single day within it. A feast is not the same as a holy day (a sabbath), though the two connect and can coincide — the Feast of Trumpets is itself a holy day, and Atonement is both a feast and a holy day. Synonyms: festival, appointed time, moed. More land in sequence, at their appointed times. The pattern holds — PassoverThe LORD's Passover, kept on Nisan 14 (Lev 23:5): the lamb slain and its blood marking the houses spared in Egypt (Ex 12). The New Testament presents Christ as the Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7), making it the opening act of the feast year. Synonyms: Pesach. See Was the Passover a Sin Offering? — at the Cross More, Unleavened Bread, the counting of weeks, PentecostThe fiftieth day — the annual holy day (a sabbath) that closes the Feast of Weeks, the culmination of its seven-week count. In Acts 2, the day the Spirit was poured out on the gathered ekklesia. The Greek pentēkostē simply means fiftieth. Pentecost is the holy day, not the feast itself — the feast is the seven weeks it completes. The connection between Pentecost and the eternal Jubilee cycle is explored in From Fifty Days to Eternity. Synonyms: pentēkostē. More, each fulfilled when the calendar said it would be. That sequence has always placed Atonement’s fulfillment in the future: after Pentecost, after Christ’s return, still ahead of us.

Then we read Matthew 27:51.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

The curtain separated the holy place from the most holy place. The high priest passed through it exactly once a year — on Atonement, carrying blood — to stand before the mercy seat. That curtain. Torn from top to bottom at the instant ChristNot a surname but a title: the Greek Christos, rendering the Hebrew Mashiach (Messiah) — "the Anointed." The anointing that set apart Israel's kings, priests, and prophets all converges on the one person it was pointing to. Synonyms: Messiah, Anointed, the Anointed One, Mashiach, Christos. See also: Logos More died.

That is an Atonement event.

And it isn’t the only one.

We have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus. — Hebrews 10:19

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood. — Romans 3:25

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. — 1 John 2:2

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunnerGreek prodromos — one who runs ahead, a scout who enters first so others can follow. Hebrews 6:20 calls Jesus our forerunner, entered behind the veil "on our behalf" — the first through, opening the way we now follow. Synonyms: prodromos, pioneer, trailblazer. See Review of Some APPARENT Inconsistencies of The Cross More, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. — Hebrews 6:19–20

The evidence keepsFrom the Hebrew shamar — to watch over, guard, protect, give attentive care to. A shepherd shamar the flock. The keeping the feasts and sabbath requires is the attentive, protective engagement that creates the conditions for seeing what they reveal — not external compliance with a schedule. Synonyms: shamar, observe, guard, watch over. More coming.

So the conundrum stands: the sequence says Atonement comes after Pentecost, and the cross is saturated with Atonement fulfillments. Both appear to be true. Taken flat, they contradict each other.

Does the Bible demonstrate how this conundrum is reconciled?

See Reconciliation of Some APPARENT Inconsistencies of The Cross

See also: