1 - Every service performed at the Temple—
including the daily sacrifices, the feast days, and
all the rest—ended when Christ died.
“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice,
yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the
temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”—
Matthew 27:50-51 (Mark 15:38).
2 - All the types and shadows ended at the
cross.
“While the Saviour’s death brought to an end
the law of types and shadows, it did not in the
least detract from the obligation of the moral law.
On the contrary, the very fact that it was necessary
for Christ to die in order to atone for the transgression
of that law, proves it to be immutable.”—Patriarchs
and Prophets, 365.
39
3 - The sacrificial laws were ceremonies and
types and shadows which were done away with at
the cross.
“The ceremonial system was made up of symbols
pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and His
priesthood. This ritual law, with its sacrifices and
ordinances, was to be performed by the Hebrews
until type met antitype in the death of Christ, the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
Then all the sacrificial offerings were to cease. It
is this law that Christ ‘took . . out of the way, nailing
it to His cross.’ Colossians 2:14. But concerning the
law of Ten Commandments the psalmist declares,
‘Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.’
Psalm 119:89.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 365.
4 - The Passover is an example of the “types
and ceremonies” which were abolished at the
cross.
The significance of the Passover ceased when
Christ died (DA 723, 774; PP 539). The Passover
typified Christ’s death (6BC 1090; DA 51, 82, 154-
155; GC 399; PP 277, 539; 6T 194-195).
“Christ was standing at the point of transition
between two economies and their two great festivals.
He, the spotless Lamb of God, was about to
present Himself as a sin offering, that He would
thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies
that for four thousand years had pointed
to His death. As He ate the Passover with His disciples,
He instituted in its place the service that was
to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national
festival of the Jews was to pass away forever.
The service which Christ established was to
be observed by His followers in all lands and through
all ages.”—Desire of Ages, 652.
Laws Abolished at the Cross
40 The Feast Days
“The Passover was to be both commemorative
and typical, not only pointing back to the deliverance
from Egypt, but forward to the greater deliverance
which Christ was to accomplish in freeing His
people from the bondage of sin. The sacrificial lamb
represents ‘the Lamb of God,’ in whom is our only
hope of salvation. Says the apostle, ‘Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us.’ 1 Corinthians 5:7. It was
not enough that the paschal lamb be slain; its blood
must be sprinkled upon the doorposts; so the merits
of Christ’s blood must be applied to the soul. We
must believe, not only that He died for the world,
but that He died for us individually. We must appropriate
to ourselves the virtue of the atoning sacrifice.”—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 277.
“On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the
Passover was celebrated, its solemn, impressive ceremonies
commemorating the deliverance from bondage
in Egypt, and pointing forward to the sacrifice
that should deliver from the bondage of sin. When
the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the
significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance
of the Lord’s Supper was instituted as a
memorial of the same event of which the Passover
had been a type.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 539.
“All the ceremonies of the feast were types of
the work of Christ. The deliverance of Israel from
Egypt was an object lesson of redemption, which
the Passover was intended to keep in memory. The
slain lamb, the unleavened bread, the sheaf of
first fruits, represented the Saviour.”—Desire of
Ages, 77.
“The slaying of the Passover lamb was a shadow
of the death of Christ. Says Paul: ‘Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us.’ 1 Corinthians 5:7. The sheaf
of first fruits, which at the time of the Passover was
41
waved before the Lord, was typical of the resurrection
of Christ. Paul says, in speaking of the resurrection
of the Lord and of all His people: ‘Christ the
first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His
coming.’ 1 Corinthians 15:23. Like the wave sheaf,
which was the first ripe grain gathered before the
harvest, Christ is the first fruits of that immortal
harvest of redeemed ones that at the future resurrection
shall be gathered into the garner of God.
“These types were fulfilled, not only as to the
event, but as to the time. On the fourteenth day of
the first Jewish month, the very day and month on
which for fifteen long centuries the Passover lamb
had been slain, Christ, having eaten the Passover
with His disciples, instituted that feast which was
to commemorate His own death as ‘the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ That
same night He was taken by wicked hands to be
crucified and slain. And as the antitype of the wave
sheaf our Lord was raised from the dead on the
third day, ‘the first fruits of them that slept,’ a sample
of all the resurrected just, whose ‘vile body’ shall be
changed, and ‘fashioned like unto His glorious body.’
Verse 20; Philippians 3:21.”—Great Controversy,
399.
5 - The Feast of Unleavened Bread was part of
the Passover (DA 77; PP 539), so it also ended at
Calvary.
6 - Pentecost signaled the time of Christ’s inauguration
into His priesthood.
“The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s
communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration
was accomplished. According to His promise He
had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers
as a token that He had, as priest and king, re-
Laws Abolished at the Cross
42 The Feast Days
ceived all authority in heaven and on earth, and was
the Anointed One over His people.”—Acts of the
Apostles, 39.
We are never told that we should keep the Feast
of Pentecost, but we are told that God required that
the Jews keep it (DA 75; Ed 41-42; MH 281; PP
537; 540).
7 - We are never told that, today, we are required
to keep any Old Testament feast. This is
because required obedience to the whole system
ended at Calvary.
“Christ’s death and resurrection completed
His covenant. Before this time, it was revealed
through types and shadows . . Christ’s sacrifice
is the glorious fulfillment of the whole Jewish
economy. The Sun of Righteousness has risen.
Christ our righteousness is shining in brightness
upon us.”—7 Bible Commentary, 932.
8 - The feasts were an integral part of the sacrificial
system! The requirements for each one of
them, as ordered by God, made it impossible to
separate the feasts from their sacrificial services.
At every yearly feast, animals were sacrificed; usually
one each day. This made each feast a foreshadowing
of the death of Christ.
Because both the daily sacrifices and the yearly
feasts were all about the offering of blood sacrifices,—
this is why, in all of the following statements,
the entire “Jewish system,” the entire “Jewish
economy,” and the entire “Mosaic system”—are said
to predict the coming of Christ as the Lamb of God
who would die for the sins of the world! The sacrifices
were closely intertwined in all that was done
43
in the various services—and definitely in the
yearly feasts!
“The great truths set forth by the types and
shadows of the Mosaic law were brought to view,
and faith grasped the central object of all that
system, the Lamb of God that was to take away
the sins of the world.”—Fundamentals of Christian
Education, 97.
“Christ’s mission was not understood by the
people of His time. The manner of His coming was
not in accordance with their expectations. The Lord
Jesus was the foundation of the whole Jewish
economy. Its imposing services were of divine appointment.
They were designed to teach the
people that at the time appointed One would come
to whom those ceremonies pointed.
“But the Jews had exalted the forms and ceremonies
and had lost sight of their object. The traditions,
maxims, and enactments of men hid from
them the lessons which God intended to convey.
These maxims and traditions became an obstacle
to their understanding and practice of true religion.
“And when the Reality came, in the person of
Christ, they did not recognize in Him the fulfillment
of all their types, the substance of all their
shadows. They rejected the antitype, and clung
to their types and useless ceremonies.”—Christ’s
Object Lessons, 34-35.
“But One greater than Moses lay in the priest’s
arms; and when he enrolled the child’s name, he
was enrolling the name of One who was the foundation
of the whole Jewish economy. That name
was to be its death warrant; for the system of sacrifices
and offerings was waxing old; the type had
almost reached its antitype, the shadow its substance.”—
Desire of Ages, 52.
Laws Abolished at the Cross
44 The Feast Days
“The Jewish economy, bearing the signature
of Heaven, had been instituted by Christ Himself.
In types and symbols the great truths of redemption
were veiled. Yet when Christ came, the
Jews did not recognize Him to whom all these symbols
pointed. They had the Word of God in their
hands; but the traditions which had been handed
down from generation to generation, and the human
interpretation of the Scriptures, hid from them
the truth as it is in Jesus. The spiritual import of
the sacred writings was lost. The treasure house of
all knowledge was open to them, but they knew it
not.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, 104.
“Christ was the cornerstone of the Jewish
economy, and of the whole plan of salvation. This
foundation stone the Jewish builders, the priests
and rulers of Israel, were now rejecting.”—Desire of
Ages, 597.
“The rites of the Jewish economy were instituted
by Christ Himself. He was the foundation
of their system of sacrificial offerings, the great
antitype of all their religious service. The blood
shed as the sacrifices were offered pointed to the
sacrifice of the Lamb of God. All the typical offerings
were fulfilled in Him.
“Christ as manifested to the patriarchs, as symbolized
in the sacrificial service, as portrayed in
the law, and as revealed by the prophets, is the
riches of the Old Testament. Christ in His life, His
death, and His resurrection, Christ as He is manifested
by the Holy Spirit, is the treasure of the New
Testament. Our Saviour, the outshining of the
Father’s glory, is both the Old and the New.”—Christ’s
Object Lessons, 126.
“The glory of the gospel reflects light upon the
Jewish age, giving significance to the whole Jew45
ish economy of types and shadows.”—Evangelism,
231.
“Christ was the foundation of the Jewish economy.
The whole system of types and symbols was
a compacted prophecy of the gospel, a presentation
in which were bound up the promises of redemption.”—
Acts of the Apostles, 14.
“The Saviour of prophecy was to come, not as a
temporal king, to deliver the Jewish nation from
earthly oppressors, but as a man among men, to
live a life of poverty and humility, and at last to be
despised, rejected, and slain. The Saviour foretold
in the Old Testament Scriptures was to offer Himself
as a sacrifice in behalf of the fallen race, thus
fulfilling every requirement of the broken law. In
Him the sacrificial types were to meet their
antitype, and His death on the cross was to lend
significance to the entire Jewish economy.”—Acts
of the Apostles, 227-228.
“Christ’s death and resurrection completed His
covenant. Before this time, it was revealed through
types and shadows, which pointed to the great
offering to be made by the world’s Redeemer, offered
in promise for the sins of the world. Anciently
believers were saved by the same Saviour as now,
but it was a God veiled. They saw God’s mercy in
figures. The promise given to Adam and Eve in Eden
was the gospel to a fallen race. The promise was
made that the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent’s head, and it should bruise His heel.
Christ’s sacrifice is the glorious fulfillment of the
whole Jewish economy. The Sun of Righteousness
has risen. Christ our righteousness is shining in
brightness upon us.”—7 Bible Commentary, 932.
“Thus the law for the presentation of the firstborn
was made particularly significant. While it was
Laws Abolished at the Cross
46 The Feast Days
a memorial of the Lord’s wonderful deliverance of
the children of Israel, it prefigured a greater deliverance,
to be wrought out by the only-begotten
Son of God. As the blood sprinkled on the doorposts
had saved the first-born of Israel, so the blood
of Christ has power to save the world.
“God’s people, whom He calls His peculiar treasure,
were privileged with a twofold system of law;
the moral and the ceremonial. The one, pointing
back to creation to keep in remembrance the living
God who made the world, whose claims are binding
upon all men in every dispensation, and which will
exist through all time and eternity. The other, given
because of man’s transgression of the moral law,
the obedience to which consisted in sacrifices and
offerings pointing to the future redemption. Each
is clear and distinct from the other.
“From the creation the moral law was an essential
part of God’s divine plan, and was as unchangeable
as Himself. The ceremonial law was to answer
a particular purpose in Christ’s plan for the
salvation of the race. The typical system of sacrifices
and offerings was established that through
these services the sinner might discern the great
offering, Christ. But the Jews were so blinded by
pride and sin that but few of them could see farther
than the death of beasts as an atonement for sin;
and when Christ, whom these offerings prefigured,
came, they could not discern Him. The ceremonial
law was glorious; it was the provision made by Jesus
Christ in counsel with His Father, to aid in the salvation
of the race. The whole arrangement of the
typical system was founded on Christ. Adam saw
Christ prefigured in the innocent beast suffering
the penalty of his transgression of Jehovah’s law.”—
6 Bible Commentary, 1094-1095 (Review May 6,
47
1875).
“The types and shadows of the sacrificial service,
with the prophecies, gave the Israelites a
veiled, indistinct view of the mercy and grace to be
brought to the world by the revelation of Christ. To
Moses was unfolded the significance of the types
and shadows pointing to Christ. He saw to the end
of that which was to be done away when, at the death
of Christ, type met antitype. He saw that only
through Christ can man keep the moral law. By
transgression of this law man brought sin into the
world, and with sin came death. Christ became the
propitiation for man’s sin. He proffered His perfection
of character in the place of man’s sinfulness.
He took upon Himself the curse of disobedience.
The sacrifices and offerings pointed forward to
the sacrifice He was to make. The slain lamb typified
the Lamb that was to take away the sin of the
world.
“It was seeing the object of that which was to
be done away, seeing Christ as revealed in the law,
that illumined the face of Moses. The ministration
of the law, written and engraved in stone, was a ministration
of death. Without Christ, the transgressor
was left under its curse, with no hope of pardon.
The ministration had of itself no glory, but the promised
Saviour, revealed in the types and shadows
of the ceremonial law, made the moral law glorious.”—
1 Selected Messages, 237.
“Paul desires his brethren to see that the great
glory of a sin-pardoning Saviour gave significance
to the entire Jewish economy. He desired them to
see also that when Christ came to the world, and
died as man’s sacrifice, type met antitype.
“After Christ died on the cross as a sin offering
the ceremonial law could have no force. Yet it was
Laws Abolished at the Cross
48 The Feast Days
connected with the moral law, and was glorious. The
whole bore the stamp of divinity, and expressed the
holiness, justice, and righteousness of God. And if
the ministration of the dispensation to be done away
was glorious, how much more must the reality be
glorious, when Christ was revealed, giving His lifegiving,
sanctifying Spirit to all who believe?”—6 Bible
Commentary, 1095.
“The gospel of Christ reflects glory upon the Jewish
age. It sheds light upon the whole Jewish
economy, and gives significance to the ceremonial
law. The tabernacle, or temple, of God on earth
was a pattern of the original in heaven. All the ceremonies
of the Jewish law were prophetic, typical
of mysteries in the plan of redemption.
“The rites and ceremonies of the law were given
by Christ Himself, who, enshrouded in a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, was the
leader of the hosts of Israel; and this law should be
treated with great respect, for it is sacred. Even after
it was no longer to be observed, Paul presented
it before the Jews in its true position and value,
showing its place in the plan of redemption and its
relation to the work of Christ; and the great apostle
pronounces this law glorious, worthy of its divine
Originator. That which was to be done away was
glorious, but it was not the law instituted by God
for the government of His family in heaven and on
earth; for as long as the heavens shall remain, so
long shall the law of the Lord endure.”—6 Bible
Commentary, 1095.
“There is no discord between the Old Testament
and the New. In the Old Testament we find the
gospel of a coming Saviour; in the New Testament
we have the gospel of a Saviour revealed as the
prophecies had foretold. While the Old Testament
49
is constantly pointing forward to the true offering,
the New Testament shows that the Saviour prefigured
by the typical offerings has come. The dim
glory of the Jewish age has been succeeded by the
brighter, clearer glory of the Christian age.”—6 Bible
Commentary, 1095.
“But there is a law which was abolished, which
Christ ‘took out of the way, nailing it to His cross.’
Paul calls it the law of commandments contained
in ordinances. This ceremonial law, given by God
through Moses, with its sacrifices and ordinances
. . was to be binding upon the Hebrews until type
met antitype in the death of Christ as the Lamb of
God to take away the sin of the world. Then all the
sacrificial offerings and services were to be abolished.
Paul and the other apostles labored to show
this, and resolutely withstood those Judaizing
teachers who declared that Christians should observe
the ceremonial law.”—Signs, September 4,
