Leviticus 23 (Click title for audio access)
"Times For A Feast!" • 11.17.11 •
Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship
Intro.
- Coming into
this chapter, we are understanding that God has called His people to be Holy,
as He is Holy. They were to be set apart and different in all ways from the
world around them.
- This included
their calendar. They were to celebrate certain days throughout the year, that
would be unique to them, that would commemorate their past and how God had
ministered to them.
- To you and I,
much of our own history is outlined in this section, as these holidays are
typologically pointing to realities that we now understand.
- The seven
feasts that are outlined for us here, speak of the works of God in Israel and
in our lives as well.
Text
• Leviticus
23:1-3 : "And
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to
them: The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations,
these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is
the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." : God speaks to Moses, who is in turn to speak to the people
about the appointed assemblies, the feasts.
- The word "feast" is a little misleading,
as there is not much that has to do with eating. There is food involved in some
of these, but the term appointed time is much preferred.
- Israel was to set aside certain times to
memorialize their relationship to Him, especially regarding what He had done
for them.
- God wants us to remember where we came from
and more importantly, what our God has done for us. These feasts are His idea
and accomplish that very thing.
-
God says that they were to consider them holy assemblies or sacred meetings.
- The first thing that they were to hold in
high regard were the weekly Sabbaths, that would cause them to remember that
God rested and that they were to be people defined by rest.
- Every other god that has ever been created by
man has defined man by work. Our God wants us to be defined by rest. Their
weekly Sabbaths were days of rest and refreshment.
- He wants you and I to find our rest from the
work of trying to save ourselves. He wants His people to be characterized by
their rest in His finished work of salvation.
• Leviticus
23:4-8 : "These are the feasts of the Lord, holy
convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the
fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. And on
the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord;
seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a
holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an
offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a
holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’" :
The first feast that the people were to proclaim or announce was the
feast of the Passover, beginning at twilight. This happened in March or April
of our calendar year.
- We studied this event in Exodus 12, where God delivered his final plague against the
oppressive Egyptians, causing the death of all that were not covered by the
lamb's blood.
- This feast of the Passover commemorated God's
deliverance of Israel from the bonds of Egyptian slavery. They could not have
done that themselves. It was God's Passover.
- God's deliverance from Egypt prefigures the
deliverance that He would accomplish at Calvary. The allusion is particularly
strong, as the Exodus is referred to in Christ's life.
- In Luke
9:31, when Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus on the mount of
transfiguration, they talked with him literally about the "Exodus"
that He was about to accomplish.
- Jesus accomplished a deliverance for us from
sin and the power of Satan.
- On the very next day in the Jewish calendar,
God commanded that the Feast of Unleavened Bread take place. They were to expel
yeast or leaven from their homes for 7 days.
- Every time that they ate that flat bread, it
was a reminder that the flesh was to be rejected. The people of God were to
live in purity once they have been delivered from the Kingdom of Sin.
- In the same way, on our Passover lamb, the
one without sin, without leaven, was offered before the Lord on our behalf!
Now, that Jesus has done the work of deliverance, we are to follow.
- We are to reject leaven from our lives as
well. This does not mean that we will be sinless perfect. It does mean that
when the Holy Spirit exposes leaven in our lives, it is to be rejected!
- I
Corinthians 5:6, Paul tells the Corinthians to purge out the leaven from
our lives, speaking contextually there of immorality. But wait there's more.
- I
Corinthians 5:8 tells us to purge the leaven of malice and wickedness. Luke 12:1 warns us of the leaven on
hypocrisy. Galatians 5:7 & 9
tells us to purge false doctrine from our midst.
- In Mark
8:15, we are to commanded purge the leaven of Herod, being pride and
worldliness, and finally, in Matthew
16:6, we are to purge the leaven of the Sadducees which is unbelief.
- God has given us His Spirit, so that we might
identify these leavening items and purge them.
• Leviticus
23:9-14 : "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of
Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land which I give to you, and
reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest
to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your
behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall
offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year,
without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. Its grain offering shall be
two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire
to the Lord, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine,
one-fourth of a hin. You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh
grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it
shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." :
This next feast is called the feast of first fruits. We have looked at
this before, the implication being, that the children were to give God their
first and best!
- When they came into the land, this was to be
their custom at the end of the barley season in March/April. They were to
gather it into a sheaf, roughly 2 liters, and wave it before the Lord.
- The seed had gone into the ground and died.
It's been in the ground and there has been no sign of life, that is until the
crop begins to appear.
- First fruits symbolized resurrection. When
was this to take place? On the Sunday after the Passover Sabbath!
- What a perfect time to celebrate and what an
amazing picture that God gives them to recognize that they Messiah would raise
on the day of Firstfruits.
- Paul teaches us in I Corinthians 15, that Christ is our firstfruits, our guarantee of
a resurrection from death.
- Notice that this offering was to include a
lamb, but also an offering of flour mixed with oil and a fourth of a hin of
wine! These are the elements of communion, which is a remembrance of Christ!
- It is associated with the feast that
represents resurrection, therefore, we take the communion elements to remember
Christ's death and to remind ourselves that we will drink new wine with Him!
- Every time that we take communion, it shall
be for the erasing of our sinful past, and the establishment in our hearts of
our future with Christ.
• Leviticus
23:15-22 : "And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the
Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven
Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh
Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring
from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of
fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.
And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without
blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the
Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by
fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the
goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of
a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits
as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to
the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a
holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a
statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. When you
reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your
field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You
shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.'" :
Fifty days from the feast of firstfruits is the feast of weeks or Pentecost
as we know of it, coinciding with the wheat harvest.
- On this day, they were to offer a two loaves
baked with leaven, a burnt offering, a fellowship offering, a sin, peace and
wave offering.
- These are offerings of consecration,
fellowship, reconciliation and thanksgiving.
- God is calling the people in this feast to a
great sense of relationship. God is calling them to come to Him, to be intimate
with Him through these offerings.
- Fascinating that right next to this principle
is the repetition of their responsibility towards one another. They were to
leave the corners of their fields, so that the poor amongst them could gather.
- This was for the poor and for the stranger,
the people who were not natural born Israelis but had left Egypt with the
Israelis. There were people from the nations that would receive benefit.
- He wanted them to understand their
responsibility to faithfully show love to God and to show concern and love for
one another.
- It was on Pentecost that the church was born,
50 days from Christ's resurrection. Israel's ancient feast pointed to this, the
fulfillment being found in the foundation of the church.
- The church would be a place where God would
receive the offering of His people's love, where they would confess their sin
and be forgiven.
- The church would be a place that would be
founded on those principles toward God and would be focused on the needs of
strangers and the poor!
- Now, we have a long pause in the calendar.
Several months have gone by before the next feast, which is known as the feast
of trumpets.
• Leviticus
23:23-25 : "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of
Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall
have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You
shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire
to the Lord.’" : The Jews today call this "Rosh
Hoshanna" which happens on the first of Tishri. This is the Jewish new
year for the religious calendar, in late September or early October.
- Israel had two silver trumpets that were
blown for battle seven times. In the book of Revelation, there are seven
trumpets that are revealed.
- This feast has an element that has yet to be
fulfilled and will be fulfilled when Christ blows the best trumpet!
- I
Thessalonians 4:16 and 17 tell us that Christ will descend to the air and
call us up to be with Him in the air. The rapture will then commence the final
years of tribulation upon this earth.
- Matthew
24:31 tells us that the angels would blow trumpets and gather Israel to
safety preceding the Millenial reign of Christ.
- For you and I, as part of the Church, I'm
convinced that this speaks of the rapture, which will then signal a massive
Jewish revival, which will then bring us to the Kingdom Age.
- While the other feasts have all coincided
with the actual feasts of Israel, I believe that this feast will be fulfilled
at a time that we know not!
• Leviticus
23:26-32 : "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Also the tenth day of this
seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for
you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.
And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to
make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not
afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any
person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from
among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath
of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month
at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.'" : This section is for Yom Kippur, the
great day of Atonement that pointed forward to the Lord's work on the cross.
- The Day of Atonement was the only day that
was to be somber. They were to afflict their souls and if they did not they
were to be cut off from their people.
- Jesus was clearly prefigured in the Day of
Atonement, both as the slain lamb and as the scapegoat. The Day of Atonement corresponds
in prophecy to the Day of salvation for God's people
- This was a solemn remembrance for the Jews,
regarding their deliverance from slavery, but also their deliverance from sin
that was represented in Christ.
- This Day of Atonement will be the day when
sin is finally dealt with. It will be the day when God will bring His people
into the wheat barn and burn the chaff!
- On that great day of Judgment, when sin is
finally judged, there will be great sorrow and lamentation for those who have
discovered the accounting for their sin.
• Leviticus
23:33-36 : "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of
Israel, saying: The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of
Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy
convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall
offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a
holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It
is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it." :
The final feast is the Feast of Tabernacles, which would commemorate God's
faithfulness to Israel in their wanderings.
- God dwelt with His people and met with them
in the desert, faithfully providing for their every need for 40 years!
- The Feast of Tabernacles was to be a week
long remembrance how God had worked on their behalf for all of those years.
They would even construct little booths and stay outside in them.
- The feast of tabernacles was fulfilled in
Christ, who tabernacled with us, but in the future, it will be fully fulfilled
when Christ again Tabernacles with us in the Millenial Kingdom!
• Leviticus
23:37-44 : "These
are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to
offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain
offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day—besides the
Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides
all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord. Also on the fifteenth
day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you
shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall
be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And you shall take for
yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm
trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall
rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast
to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your
generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in
booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that
your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths
when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ So Moses
declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord." :
God directed the people of Israel to keep these feasts, each time for
the sake of bringing offerings for special times of the year. In the final
month, they were to bring fruit.
- The fruit of figs and grapes, etc., were to
be brought for the Lord. This feast of Tabernacles or booths, was the most
joyous of the festivals.
- Imagine how much more joyous it will be for
you and I when we live there with Jesus forever!
Conclusion
- A few things
for you to understand, God has always had us on his mind. It's all planned out
and God will bring it to pass, no matter what it feels like today.
- What is your
hope in? Let it be in the Lord, who has decreed that these things will take
place.
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