The Spring Feasts: And How Jesus Fulfilled Them
With spring just around the corner, plastic eggs and chocolate bunnies are on display in stores, a seasonal reminder that Easter is on the way. Maybe you’re like me, you see it and something in your heart stirs, you want so much more for your kids than what the commercial symbols of the season offer. You want your kids to know, love and follow Jesus with their whole hearts. As you prayerfully consider what this Easter season will look like for your family, what if you did something new that was actually old and hiding in plain sight? What if you taught your kids about the Biblical spring feasts and how Jesus fulfilled them? I want to invite you to look at scripture and the Easter season in a new way; remembering God’s faithfulness to His people Israel and how He perfectly fulfilled each of the Biblical spring feasts with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.
As a former elementary Christian school principal and teacher, I’m always on the hunt for the perfect picture book to teach about a certain topic, season, or holiday. Last spring, I purchased several picture books about Passover and Easter for my toddler. I was surprised to find that none taught about the Biblical spring feasts and how Jesus fulfilled them, so I decided to write one. Teaching our children about the Biblical feasts outlined in Leviticus 23, from a Messianic perspective, is a high priority for our family. And after all God does command us to celebrate His feasts. So, what are the spring feasts all about?
Passover
For Passover we recount the Exodus story, God allowing His people to endure slavery in Egypt, the suffering they underwent generation after generation in the hands of hard-hearted men highlighting God’s miraculous deliverance from bondage. God sent plagues to change Pharaoh’s mind, commanding Pharaoh to “let my people go.” Before God sent the final plague, He commanded His people to put the blood of a lamb on each of their doorposts which saved Hebrew families from the death that killed all Egyptian first-born, both man and beast. This moment of salvation for the Hebrew nation points to Jesus, our Passover lamb, His blood shed for us, to be fully free from the eternal punishment and death that sin brings.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
For the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we recount the quick flight from Egypt to escape the bondage of slavery. God tells His people to take bread without leaven as they leave for the Promised Land since there was no time for bread to rise as they left hastily. The Hebrews are commanded to sweep their houses clean and remove all the leaven. The leaven is a representation of sin which puffed up their hearts and God wanting His people to be free of that sin as they entered a new season of relationship with Him. The unleavened bread points to Jesus, the bread of life; perfect, sinless and His body broken for all of us to fully be free from sin.
Feast of First Fruits
For the Feast of First Fruits, we recount God bringing His people into the Promised Land with its abundance of fruit and crops. God commanded His people to bring the first fruits as: an offering to the priest, the people finally able to freely worship the Lord, and truly a time of thanksgiving. The offering of the first fruits points to Jesus’ resurrection as He is the “first fruit” risen from the dead. His resurrection points to our final resurrection at the end of the age for all those who choose to follow and obey Him.
Isn’t it beautiful how God weaves the story of His Son and plan of redemption through a whole nation of people and invites Gentiles in too? As you recall each of these familiar stories from the Old Testament, paired with the truth of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection I hope you are now able to look at the Easter season ahead with a fuller perspective and see the richness of God’s Word. Parents, Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts, let’s teach our kids about them!
Check out Jessica’s new book – The Spring Feasts: And How Jesus Fulfilled Them, a picture book introducing children to Jesus’ fulfillment of the spring feasts. 
Jessica AcMoody is a wife and stay at home mother of two. Through a small web-based ministry she enjoys creating and sharing resources for families to grow together in the Lord. She recently released a children’s picture book The Fall Feasts: And How Jesus Fulfills Them. For a decade, before becoming a mother, she was an urban Christian school educator. Serving first as an elementary school teacher at Tree of Life School in Kalamazoo, MI and then as founder and school principal of River of Life School in Benton Harbor, MI. You can follow her ministry page “Elemental Faith” on both Facebook and Instagram for more resources and Bible-based content.
