In Blog 146, we explored the biblical references to an eighth day following seven days of purification rituals, showing that at the end of the seventh day, a new state of being emerged as a new creation in harmony with God and dedicated to Him. In Blog 148, we looked at the three eighth-day calendar events within the annual holyday timeline: the Wavesheaf, Pentecost, and the Eighth Day. This blog connects the symbolism of new creation with the three eighth-day events of the Festivals of Light.

Using Israel’s exodus flight from Pharaoh as a template, YHWH’s covenant nation left Egypt at the beginning of the first day of Unleavened Bread at night. As the last and seventh day of Unleavened Bread began, the Israelites fled by night into the depths of Yam Suph’s dry seabed, emerging as a free new nation baptized unto Moses. When the Egyptians attempted to pursue Israel, they were drowned and sank to the depths of Yam Suph like lead. The holydays of the first and last days of Unleavened Bread marked the start and end of Israel’s escape from Egypt, during which YHWH destroyed their oppressors. Additionally, tallying from the Sabbath within the seven days of Unleavened Bread (at Etham, when God instructed Moses to turn and enter the winding mountain road leading to Yam Suph’s beach), the journey of counting the seven Sabbaths to Pentecost at Mount Sinai began. On the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, at the end of day three of the count, the Israelites began their crossing of Yam Suph, arriving on the other side at dawn (see Blog 66 Appendix 14). Portrayed as descending into Sheol and rising again, the remarkable Sea crossing symbolized a baptism—going down into the waters and emerging in a resurrection to new life.

The Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai in the third month after leaving Egypt, on the same weekday (Thursday, the fifth day), and at the same time they left Egypt, on Abib 15, as the sun set on Abib 14. Through Moses, YHWH instructed His people to wash their clothes for two days (Thursday and Friday) in preparation for His appearance on the third day, and Moses set boundaries so no one could approach the holy mountain. On that seventh Sabbath, the trumpets sounded long, announcing YHWH’s coming in a fiery cloud upon the mountain. YHWH’s voice thundered His ten words, causing all the people to tremble and stand at a distance. After the events of the third day’s Sabbath, on the following day—the eighth day, the fiftieth day—Moses confirmed YHWH’s covenant with Israel through blood, and Israel’s leaders and priests ate and drank with God and saw Him upon His throne on Mount Sinai. On the third day (Sabbath), Israel was forbidden to approach or touch the mountain of God without risking death; however, on the eighth day (Pentecost), Israel’s leaders were dining in the presence of YHWH on His throne.

During the days of the Messiah, Yeshua, who was crucified on Passover afternoon, was laid in the tomb at the start of Abib 15, the very day and time Israel left Egypt at night. After three days in Sheol—a period covering Thursday, the annual Sabbath of the First Day of Unleavened Bread, Friday, the Day of Preparation for the weekly Sabbath, and the Sabbath itself—just as the wavesheaf was cut at the twilight of the Sabbath signaling the start of the eighth day and the beginning of the weeks count, God raised Yeshua from the dead. Later that day, around the time of the morning wavesheaf offering, Yeshua ascended to the Father, then returned and appeared to the disciples, and again on the eighth day after the count started. His resurrection occurred at the close of the third day. Similarly, John’s first sign, related to Passover, begins with “on the third day,” pointing to a resurrection connected to the Passover and the wavesheaf offering that marks the start of the spring harvest (See Blog 26).

The eighth day in Scripture is connected to intriguing patterns, all of which appear in John 20–21. Circumcision on the eighth day symbolized entering into covenant promises—the circumcision of the heart or baptism—”putting off the body of the sins of the flesh” (Col. 2:11-13) and being raised as a “new man” (Col. 3:1-5). “We are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phl. 3:3). Since He was raised and would dwell in them by the Spirit, they were also raised “not in the flesh” (Rom. 8:9-11). Jesus was “not ashamed to call them brethren” (Jhn. 20:17, Heb. 2:11) because we are cleansed, separated, and serving the Father’s will—like the cleansed leper (healed), the Nazarite (separated), and the priest (who stood in service)—each will be presented before YHWH and accepted on the eighth day, beginning our active service in His family. The Father saw them as His new creation, filled with His strength, in the abundant fertility of the new heaven and new earth. Just as He raised His Son on the last day of the week, He would raise His firstfruits on the last day of the weeks and Israel on the last day of Sukkot, marking an eighth-day new beginning of the new creation.

After saying He would return in the Father’s glory with the holy angels, and that some to whom He spoke would see the kingdom of God, eight days later, Yeshua took three disciples up the mountain. As Yeshua prayed, His face changed in appearance, and His clothes became dazzling white. Transfigured, He spoke with Moses and Elijah about His soon-coming exodus (Luk. 9:27-36). The Father spoke directly to the disciples out of a cloud, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Mat. 17:5; Deu. 18:15, 18). Yeshua willingly put off His fleshly tabernacle, defeated all principalities, rulers of darkness, and wicked spiritual hosts, and God raised Him in glory and power with all authority in heaven and on earth. As the obedient Son of Man doing the Father’s will, the Father gave Him authority on earth to judge (Jhn. 5:27), to forgive sin (Luk. 5:24), and to lay down His life and take it up again (Jhn. 10:18). Through His transfiguration on the eighth day, the three disciples witnessed that hearing God’s voice (shema, knowing Him by walking in unity of Spirit and will of God) resulted in God’s love brought to fullness in an eighth-day transformation to glorious light. All of Yeshua’s followers must walk as He walked, for the person who does the will of God lives in glory forever (1Jo. 2:6, 17).