The Passover, the most significant feast of all, a national festival the Jews kept for 1500 years “was to pass away forever.” The Desire of Ages, 652. In its place Christ instituted the communion service which is a memorial of His great sacrifice on Calvary and will be observed by the followers of Jesus “through all ages.” Ibid. The communion service is a sacred ceremony, a symbol of the sacrifice on Calvary referred to by Paul, as “Christ our Passover sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7). The sacrifice on the cross at Calvary is the real Passover which we commemorate every time we participate in the communion service and this is not commemorated just once a year. We do this often (I Corinthians 11:26), though Calvary will never be repeated.
The feast of unleavened bread represented the result of the Passover—the life of the believer will be lived without the leaven of wickedness and will be lived in harmony with the truth (the law). This began to be fulfilled on the exact dates of the feast of unleavened bread for the disciples of Christ in A.D. 31 (John 20:22). Unfortunately, one disciple did not begin to have this experience until the end of that period (John 20:27). The first fruits in the antitype are Christ and those raised with him on the 16th day of the first month A.D. 31. As Christ was raised on the day of offering the first fruits, so every baptized Christian is to rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). Baptism is a memorial of the antitype of the offering of the first fruits which occurred on the second day of the feast of unleavened bread. The Christian living in sin is giving the lie to his profession and is violating the sacred antitype or reality of the experience of the feast of unleavened bread. This feast was observed once a year, but in the New Covenant it occurred only once for all time—on the 16th day of the first month in A.D. 31 when Christ was raised from the dead. This experience will never be repeated.
The feast of weeks or Pentecost occurred once for all time on the very day of that feast in A.D. 31 when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples and the harvesting of the world began. This feast represented the gift of the Holy Spirit which was to be with the true church from that time forever. Only those Christians who have received the Holy Spirit are experiencing the reality of the feast of weeks in the antitype and this experience is to be constant, not just once a year.