Podcast Summary

Podcast: Promise of Life Church Podcasts
Episode: Jesus: The Fulfillment Of Feasts Pt. 1 | Pastor Craig Field
Date: April 20, 2025
Speaker: Pastor Craig Field (with occasional remarks from Jennifer)

Main Theme / Purpose

Pastor Craig Field explores how Jesus fulfills the seven biblical feasts of Israel, focusing particularly on the Spring Feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. The episode aims to reveal how these ancient Jewish feasts prophetically point to Jesus' redemptive work and remain directly relevant to Christians today—not as legalistic rituals, but as spiritual realities now fulfilled in Christ.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Context and Purpose of Studying the Feasts

• Pastor Craig emphasizes this is not “going Jewish,” but understanding how Jesus, though not making the church Jewish, fulfills something historic and spiritually significant in the Feasts (01:00).
• The episode explains the importance for Christians, “even if you don’t know it, you’ve lived four of these feasts in Christ, and you’re going to experience the other three” (09:05).

2. The Structure of the Feasts

• There are seven biblical feasts: Four Spring Feasts (already fulfilled by Jesus and experienced by believers), and Three Fall Feasts (yet to be fulfilled).
  • Spring: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost
  • Fall: Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Tabernacles

3. Understanding Calendars and Crucifixion Timing

• Jewish timekeeping differs from the Western (Gregorian) calendar: a new day begins at sunset (6 pm), not at midnight (17:40).
• Jesus was crucified on a Thursday, not “Good Friday,” to fulfill "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40) and other timeline prophecies (21:12).
• Detailed Timeline of Passion Week:
  • Wednesday night (Last Supper): Not actual Passover, but the night before (31:20, 31:55).
  • Thursday (Passover & Crucifixion): Jesus is crucified as the Passover Lamb (34:10).
  • Friday (Unleavened Bread begins): Seven-day feast symbolizing a life without sin (36:40).
  • Saturday (Sabbath): Jesus in the tomb.
  • Sunday (First Fruits/Resurrection): Jesus rises, fulfilling the Feast of First Fruits (45:35).

✦ Notable Quote:

“You’ve lived every one of those feasts. Jesus fulfilled all of those feasts. In Christ, you celebrate those feasts. I don’t mean sitting around a table eating like the Jews do... I’m talking about spiritually.” (11:33, Craig)

4. Passover—The Lamb and Salvation

• Symbolism: Passover lamb = Jesus; blood on doorposts = blood of Christ on believers.
• Application: Salvation is the baseline for believers today—rescued from the destroyer by Christ’s sacrifice (32:03–34:31).
• Details: Jesus was crucified at the same time as the lambs were being slaughtered during Passover preparation (34:10–34:31).
• Scriptural Parallels:
  • Exodus 12 (lamb’s blood, protection from death)
  • 1 John 3:14 (“we passed from death to life”)

✦ Notable Quote:

“He fulfilled Passover. The death angel passed over them. The believer is not supposed to be sick... not supposed to die young... not supposed to have destroyers, plagues, and sickness... It passes over if you’re believing and you’ve got the blood on you.” (33:32, Jennifer & Craig)

5. Unleavened Bread—Holy Living

• Meaning: Represents living a sinless, consecrated life after salvation (36:40).
• The feast lasts seven days (completion, the whole of life), emphasizing ongoing holiness.
• Tradition: Jews ate unleavened bread (matzah) to remind themselves of the call to righteousness. They hid a sweetened middle matzah—symbolic of Christ being "hidden" (buried) and then “found” (resurrected) (39:30–41:42).
• Application:
  • Passover is a one-time salvation moment; Unleavened Bread is ongoing holy living:

    “You’re saved one day, you live holy the rest of your life.” (37:19, Jennifer)

✦ Notable Quotes:

“For every day, the rest of your life, I want you to live without sin... They were still told the ideal, even though they couldn’t really fully make it until Jesus came.” (37:20, Craig)

“You are ought to be walking clean, holy, and righteous, sinless, consecrated, sanctified. Whoo!” (38:41, Jennifer)

6. First Fruits—Resurrection and New Life

• Symbolism: Jesus is “the first sheaf” of the harvest—first risen, firstborn from the dead; believers are the greater harvest (45:35–46:42).
• On this day, Jesus arises before dawn on Nisan 17; the tradition involves waving a barley sheaf as a thanksgiving for God’s provision—fulfilled as Jesus presents Himself alive to God, the “bread of life” (44:50–46:42).
• Application:
  • First Fruits = Resurrection Sunday = new spiritual life and continuous spiritual harvest for believers.
  • “Resurrection power” is also “first fruits power”—the beginning of harvest and increase in every aspect of Christian life (49:53–51:09; Ephesians 1:19–20 cited at 48:47).

✦ Notable Quotes:

“I am the first sheaf. But millions are coming, and I am your harvest. I am your increase. But they are going to have increase too—spiritual, natural, financial, emotional, mental. They are going to have harvest after harvest after harvest in their life. Why? Because resurrection power that raised me up to become the harvest, resurrection power, is raising them up to give them harvest.” (49:53, Jennifer & Craig)

“When you celebrate resurrection power, you’re celebrating the Feast of First Fruits.” (50:43, Craig)

7. Prophetic Foreshadowing—Nisan 17 Examples

Several key Old Testament events occurred on the same day as First Fruits/Nisan 17:

• Red Sea Crossing: Israel’s decisive deliverance (53:05).
• Esther: Haman’s defeat and Israel’s rescue (55:05).
• Noah’s Ark: Resting on dry land—new life for the world (55:29).
• Promised Land: Israel eats first fruits of the land on Nisan 17—the day manna ceases, new harvest begins (55:40).

✦ Notable Quote:

“Over and over and over again, God said, this is a special day. It’s a day of harvest. It’s a day of life. It’s a day of destruction of enemies. It’s a foretelling, foreshadowing future event that Jesus was going to come... as the first harvest of billions and as the holder of resurrection life.” (56:10, Craig)

8. Living the Fulfillment Daily

• These feasts are “not just a Jewish thing,” but spiritual truths for Christians:
  • Passover: I’m saved
  • Unleavened Bread: I live holy
  • First Fruits: I have resurrection life and spiritual harvest

✦ Notable Quote:

“Celebrate these three feasts every day you breathe air. They’re not Jewish in and of themselves. They originated with the Jews. But they culminated with the church. They’re for us.” (61:09, Craig)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Purpose: 00:00–04:30
• Why Study the Feasts / Church & Judaism: 04:30–11:40
• Overview of Seven Feasts: 11:40–17:40
• Jewish Calendar vs. Western (Crucifixion Timing): 17:40–28:30
• Passion Week Timeline Explained: 28:30–45:35
• Passover – Salvation Symbolism: 31:20–34:35
• Unleavened Bread – Holy Living: 36:40–41:50
• Hiding the Matzah / Resurrection Symbolism: 39:30–41:42
• First Fruits – Resurrection, Harvest: 44:50–51:09
• OT Events on Nisan 17 (Red Sea, Esther, Noah, Promised Land): 53:05–56:10
• Summary / Applying the Feasts: 59:33–61:48

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• “An ignorance, a lack of interest is a lack of honor. And I’m really interested in what Jesus has done in the earth and what he’s done in my life.” (10:48, Craig)
• “Passover represents salvation. It is the baseline of everything we believe. You must understand as a born again Christian... that this, which was 3,200 years ago, applies to you today.” (33:37, Craig)
• “For every day, the rest of your life, I want you to live without sin...” (37:19, Jennifer)
• “While the Jews, on Resurrection morning, their kids are eating the sweet middle piece... and they’re waving a single sheaf to the Lord to say, thank you for the bread that you give us life... Jesus is saying, I am the bread of life.” (46:02, Jennifer & Craig)
• “When you celebrate resurrection power, remember, the resurrection power that is in you is to give you harvest. It’s to increase you in your thinking, in your action, in your love work, in your finances, in your healing. Resurrection power’s purpose is to give you harvest.” (51:09, Craig)

Conclusion

Pastor Craig concludes by urging listeners to celebrate and live the reality of Passover (salvation), Unleavened Bread (holy living), and First Fruits (resurrection power and ongoing harvest), not as relics of Jewish ritual, but as powerful, present-tense spiritual truths for all believers. The episode sets the stage for next week’s focus on Pentecost and the yet-to-be-fulfilled Fall Feasts.

Next Episode:
Part 2 will discuss Pentecost and the Fall Feasts—"you do not want to miss next week" (12:50).