We should recognise how both the Old and New Testaments give special honour to Tabernacles, the final feast of the religious year. Numbers 28 and 29 list the number of bulls to be offered throughout the year at the various festivals: two at Passover; two each day of Unleavened Bread (14 in total); two at First Fruits; two at Shavuot (Weeks); one at the Feast of Trumpets; and one on Yom Kippur. However, Tabernacles at the culmination of the year is treated as a magnificent event. The number of bulls started at 13 on the first day, then decreases by one each day until the seventh day, when seven were offered. This totalled 70 bulls, a glorious and lavish commemoration! Then, on Day 8, it was just one bull. We may ask ourselves, what does this pattern signify? Could it be a picture of the single sacrifice of Messiah Jesus, whose offering of Himself after centuries of animal sacrifices was vicarious and accepted by the Father?
In the Gospel accounts, great emphasis is given to the Feast of Tabernacles, and this occupies the entire seventh chapter of John. On the last day of the feast, the eighth day, when only one bull was offered, Jesus stood and cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”[1] This seems to be pointing to Jesus being that perfect final sacrifice, when He would provide the real atonement for sin. This was additionally a promise that the Holy Spirit would be bestowed upon His followers. Indeed, we are told “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”[2]...
[1] John 7:38
[2] Ephesians 4:30
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.