Recently, someone commented on a video teaching I shared about how the Old Testament pilgrimage festivals—Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles—find their fulfillment in Jesus and the gospel. The comment read:
“There is absolutely no biblical basis for this whatsoever. You don’t have to go back to the Old Testament and try to twist everything such that it points to Jesus to believe Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. It is these types of unreasonable stretches that delegitimize serious theological practice.”
That’s a strong objection—and an important one. After all, if Christians are twisting the Old Testament to make it say something it doesn’t, then we’re not being faithful to Scripture or sound theology.
But I want to suggest that far from twisting Scripture, reading the Old Testament as pointing to Jesus is exactly what the New Testament itself teaches us to do. Let’s take a deeper look.
Jesus and the Old Testament: Who Started This Way of Reading?
Let’s begin with a simple but crucial point: the idea that the Old Testament points to Jesus isn’t a Christian innovation. It comes from Jesus himself.
On the road to Emmaus, the risen Jesus says to two bewildered disciples:
“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. — Luke 24:26–27
Later in the same chapter, he says:
“Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” — Luke 24:44
According to Jesus, the Old Testament does point to him—not by being twisted or manipulated, but by being rightly understood in the light of God’s redemptive plan.
The Passover and the Lamb of God
Let’s take just one example: Passover. This feast commemorated Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt through the blood of a lamb (Exodus 12). Is it really a stretch to see Jesus in that?
The apostle Paul doesn’t think so:
“Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” — 1 Corinthians 5:7
John the Baptist declares:
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” — John 1:29
And the book of Revelation depicts Jesus as the slain Lamb through whom salvation comes (Revelation 5:6–13). These are not allegorical flights of fancy—they are Spirit-inspired interpretations rooted in the continuity between Israel’s story and the gospel.
Pentecost: Law and Spirit
What about Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks? In Jewish tradition, this festival came to commemorate the giving of the Law at Sinai. At Sinai, God gave his people his Law, written on tablets of stone. At Pentecost in Acts 2, God gives his people the Holy Spirit, who writes his Law on their hearts.
This is precisely what the prophets had anticipated:
“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” — Jeremiah 31:33
“I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” — Ezekiel 36:27
Pentecost is not a reinterpretation of the feast; it’s a fulfillment of what it always pointed toward—a people empowered to obey God from within, by the Spirit.
The Feast of Tabernacles and God’s Dwelling Presence
Finally, Tabernacles (or Booths) celebrates God’s provision during Israel’s wilderness journey. The people dwelt in temporary shelters, remembering how God “tabernacled” among them (Leviticus 23:42–43).
The Gospel of John begins by declaring:
“The Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us.” — John 1:14
At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus proclaims:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink… Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” — John 7:37–39
These aren’t poetic flourishes—they are deeply rooted theological connections. Jesus fulfills the Tabernacle festival by being the presence of God among his people and giving the Spirit as the source of life.
And in the final vision of the Bible, we read:
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.” — Revelation 21:3
The Tabernacle points not just to Jesus’ first coming, but to the consummation of all things in the new creation.
Reading the Bible Like the Apostles Did
Far from “delegitimizing serious theological practice,” seeing Jesus in the Old Testament is serious theological practice. It is how the apostles and early church read Scripture. Their hermeneutic wasn’t a wooden literalism—it was a Spirit-filled, Christ-centered reading that understood the Old Testament in light of the risen Christ.
Theologians from every Christian tradition—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant—have affirmed this approach. It’s not a modern invention. It’s the lens Jesus gave us.
So no, it’s not twisting the Old Testament to see Jesus in it.
It’s actually twisting it not to.
Conclusion
Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. The festivals of the Old Testament are not discarded—they are completed in him. Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles are not obsolete shadows but powerful signs that now find their true meaning in Christ.
You don’t have to see these connections to believe Jesus is the Son of God—but once you see them, your faith will be richer, your Bible will come alive, and your worship will deepen.
Because the whole story really is about him.
“These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” — Colossians 2:17
