Review of Some APPARENT Inconsistencies of The Cross
The feastsIn Leviticus 23, a feast is a designated period — not a single day but a span of time with its own structure and sequence. The Feast of Weeks spans seven weeks. The Feast of Tabernacles spans 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. 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, Pentecost, 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.
| Passover |
Unleavened Bread Wave Sheaf |
Feast of WeeksThe longest feast in the Leviticus 23 calendar — seven full weeks of counting from the wave sheaf to the fiftieth day, Pentecost. Beginning with the unleavened first of the firstfruits and culminating in two leavened loaves offered as firstfruits. An alternative name for this feast is demonstrated by its contents: the Feast of Leavened Bread. Synonyms: Pentecost, Shavuot, Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Harvest. More 7 weeks counting |
Pentecost | GAP |
Blowing (Trumpets) |
Atonement | Tabernacles | 8th Day |
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Atonement — fulfilled here?
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← fulfilled | not yet → | ||||||
The feasts are fulfilled in sequence at their appointed times — yet the cross carries Atonement fulfillments. How do we reconcile this?
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