Thursday Night Bible Study

Leviticus 26-Leviticus 27 (Click title for audio access)

"Covenant Conditions & Consequences"  •  12.15.11  •  Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- Coming to the end of Leviticus, all who have gone through each of the chapters now knows that a life lived in covenant with God is a matter of great consequence.

- The people had gone out from the bondage of Egypt to live in covenant with Almighty God, who is Holy, unique, separate from the World. Consequently, they were to reflect that.

- In these last two chapters of Leviticus, God having laid out the substance of the covenant, now lays out what would have been a standard set of covenant conditions.

- In the ancient near east, the final words of an agreement would dictate how the participants were to act. One side would act this way towards the group while the other side reciprocated.

- These two chapter before us work out in the following way:

I. Obedience (v.1-13)

II. Disobedience (v.14-39)

III. Confession (v.40-46)

IV. Dedication (Chapter 27)

Text

I. Obedience (v.1-13)

•  Leviticus 26:1,2 : "You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord."  :  Idols, images, pillars and stones were common sights in Canaan. The word "idol" means "worthless thing."

- Their worship was to revolve around rest and the Tabernacle. Everything in your life revolves around that which you worship. For those who love God, nothing can be more valuable than Him.

- Notice that what happens next is contingent on the word "if." These are covenant conditions.

•  Leviticus 26:3-8 :  "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you." :  Canaanite worship was obsessed with pleasing the gods, in order to produce positive results. Rain, good harvests, protection, etc.

- If the Israelites would pattern themselves in the law of God, seeking to bring them to live that which God had commanded, then all these things would be theirs.

- They would have good rain seasons, good harvests, peace and protection for the land. If they needed to fight, God would make their minimal defenses yield maximum results.

- This is nothing short of divine. Only He can make such claims and only He can bring them to pass. This is a great illustration of Matthew 6:33. "Seek first the Kingdom and all will be added."

- There will be some who worship at the altar of pragmatism. God says, "Put me first and all things will be added unto you!" That's what He tells them. Don't go by the World's way.

•  Leviticus 26:9-13  :  "For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright."  :  These are great promises that the Lord delivers to His people. He would look upon them favorably. He would turn toward them and look toward them an intimate regard.

- He would multiply their nation, giving them the promise of a future and a perpetual inheritance in the land. In the land, the people of Israel would enjoy the benefits of God's covenant.

- He would dwell with them and they would walk in freedom with God. This is what God has done with you and I in Christ: He has broken the bands of slavery and caused us to walk upright.

- God would provide, protect and give His presence for those who obeyed.

II. Disobedience (v.14-39)

•  Leviticus 26:14-20  :  " But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit."  : Commandments, statutes and judgments all refer to the Lord's express word to the people in Exodus and Leviticus that they were to perfom before the Lord. That was always the intention.

- The consequences for breaking them would be severe and would in fact, be a total reversal.

- Instead of peace, there would be terror. Instead of being strengthened, they would waste away. Instead of victory, there'd be defeat, fleeing when nobody pursues, which is paranoia.

- Everything that obedience brought, disobedience would waste away. Every security would be gone. What is God's goal? That they continue in self-destruction? Not at all.

- Notice that phrase in verse 18: "After all this, if you do not obey me!" That is a phrase every carnal Christian needs to understand.

- When God allows you to eat the fruit of your rebellious actions, recognize that it's not about God hating on you. It's His mercy not to consume you! These are acts of discipline.

•  Leviticus 26:21-25 : "Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate. And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy." : In that part of the world, wild animals roamed the countryside. God can either remove or commission!

  - God will punish them perfectly, ie. 7 times, the point being to reform them. He tells them that these things are meant to show them His loving kindness.

- In other words, the God of the earth could simply destroy any evidence that they ever lived. Their God gave them every chance to reform and return to Him.

•  Leviticus 26:26-30  :  " When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you."  :  God would decimate His people because of their sins, allowing their choices to play out before them.

- Their deprived condition would even lead them to the depths of cannabalism, which eventually did take place historically. Some might ask, "How can anyone get so low?"

- That is the question that is asked by those who defy God and live in any way that they want.

- In the case of the Israelis, their history brought them to these very places.

•  Leviticus 26:31-39  :  "I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it. And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away." : Notice that the Lord knows that they will not give the land it's Sabbaths, which happened when the Israelites were taken into Babylon for 70 years.

- There is no doubt that people who looked at the land during those times wondered at how it was possible that a land could be so decimated.

- For the person hearing this, I am sure that they never believed that any of it would come to pass. Who would forsake the covenant and live in disobedience? God knows better!

III. Confession (v.40-46)

•  Leviticus 26:40-46  :  "But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.’ These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses." : God works over time to be heard. He wants them to obey. He wants them to reform if they disobey and if they confess, God will be gracious to them.

- The word "confess" means to point the finger at themselves, to accept responsibility.

- God always leaves the door open for His people to return. He wants His people to be with them. God is the first one to call for repentance and to bring restoration.

- In spite of everything, God will remember the land and His promises to their ancestors.\

IV. Dedication (Chapter 27)

•  Leviticus 27:1-8  :  "Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When a man consecrates by a vow certain persons to the Lord, according to your valuation, if your valuation is of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels; and if from five years old up to twenty years old, then your valuation for a male shall be twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels; and if from a month old up to five years old, then your valuation for a male shall be five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver; and if from sixty years old and above, if it is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. But if he is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall set a value for him; according to the ability of him who vowed, the priest shall value him."  : Chapter 27 is all about what one does when they want to surrender themselves totally to the Lord and the price for getting out of that commitment. He begins with people.

- People could dedicate or be dedicated to the Lord. We immediately think of Hannah, who dedicated Samuel when he was weaned. Others had taken this vow themselves.

- The priest would assess a value to them, in case the person wanted to get out of the bargain.

- For those who were male, there was a greater cost, especially in a society built around agriculture. At the same time, people could be given or dedicated to the Lord from a month up.

•  Leviticus 27:9-15  :  "If it is an animal that men may bring as an offering to the Lord, all that anyone gives to the Lord shall be holy. He shall not substitute it or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good; and if he at all exchanges animal for animal, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy. If it is an unclean animal which they do not offer as a sacrifice to the Lord, then he shall present the animal before the priest; and the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as you, the priest, value it, so it shall be. But if he wants at all to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth to your valuation. And when a man dedicates his house to be holy to the Lord, then the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. If he who dedicated it wants to redeem his house, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his."  :  Animals and homes could also be dedicated with the understanding that a 20% overage was charged if they took it back.

- It's interesting that God has to even say this, but how true is it? How many have wanted to bring something to the Lord, but then brought something less valuable to Him in exchange?

- The point that God is making is simple: Be careful what you vow! Be sure that you want to give that and that you will give that in full.

•  Leviticus 27:16-25 : "If a man dedicates to the Lord part of a field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand. But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money due according to the years that remain till the Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation. And if he who dedicates the field ever wishes to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall belong to him. But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore; but the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a devoted field; it shall be the possession of the priest. And if a man dedicates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not the field of his possession, then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation, up to the Year of Jubilee, and he shall give your valuation on that day as a holy offering to the Lord. In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to the one who owned the land as a possession. And all your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel."  :  The field had to be valued by what it produced and according to the the relation to the year of jubilee, which would bring it back to the person.

•  Leviticus 27:26-34  :  "But the firstborn of the animals, which should be the Lord’s firstborn, no man shall dedicate; whether it is an ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s. And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation. Nevertheless no devoted offering that a man may devote to the Lord of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is most holy to the Lord. No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death. And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.' These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai."  :  Finally, God tells the people that they cannot offer Him something already belongs to Him! Firstborn, devoted offerings, the tithe, meaning a tenth, were all His.

- You'll note also that a person who was sentenced to death was not allowed redemption.

Conclusion

- Today, you and I are not under the Mosaic law. A New and better covenant has replaced it. That covenant is not based on our performance but on Christ's.

- That being said, let every person understand something simple: Obedience to God leads to a life that is much better than a life of disobedience.

- To those who are obedient, fully commit yourself afresh, running headlong toward God. To those who are disobedient, fully confess, point the finger at yourself, and watch God work again.

- His standard has not changed and our desire to be Holy should not change either.

Thursday Night Bible Study

Leviticus 24-Leviticus 25 (Click title for audio access)

"Provision And Promise"  •  12.8.11  •  Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- God continues to speak to the children of Israel about a life that is holy, separate from the world and unique, as their God is unique.

- They were to have different attitudes about worship as well as law and life. The life that God prescribed for them was not just random regulation, but pointed principles that would inform us.

- We begin with the provision of a Spirit filled life.

Text

•  Leviticus 24:1-4  :  "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually."  :  The source of light in the tabernacle would come from pure, unadulterated olive oil, provided by the people and administered by the High Priest.

- We have spoken in the past, that the olive oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and that the singular light in the Holy Place would come from the Menorah.

- Jesus is that singular light source, but we are reflections of Him. As a result, the light that shines through us must also have it's source from the filling of the Holy Spirit.

- I don't think that this is an incidental comment, but God tells them that they are to get the oil from the pressing of the olive. Pressure produces the oil.

- In the same way, when pressure comes to bear upon your life, that is when the light will be the most clearly seen in your life! That light, God commands, will be before the Lord perpetually!

- We are to shine this way to the glory of the Lord forever!

•  Leviticus 24:5-9  :  "And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.'" :  In the same way as oil is symbolic of the Spirit, bread is symbolic of the fellowship. These cakes represented the people of Israel before the Lord. We have the provision of fellowship.

- Each week, every Sabbath, there were to be fresh loaves put on the Table of showbread. On what day? On the Sabbath day! Additionally, they were to be annointed with frankincense.

- What a sweet smelling aroma and what a picture: A refreshed body of thankful people sitting before the Lord! God wants this as a perpetual statute, the principle being that He wants fellowship!

•  Leviticus 24:10-12  :  "Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) Then they put him in custody, that the mind of the Lord might be shown to them."  : A young man, of Israelite and Egyptian heritage got into this struggle or a fight, which led to the son blaspheming the name of the Lord.

- In the heat of anger, it's likely that the young boy flippantly said something like, "Curse you and your God!" The fight would probably not have been a big deal, but the cursing of God was.

- This boy was brought to Moses for judgment, then remanded into custody. Shelomith, her name meaning peaceful, was standing by, waiting to see what would happen.

- The people did not act immediately, but waited upon the Lord to figure out what to do. One will never regret waiting on the Lord for wisdom, nor will any be left without the wisdom they need!

- What would God want to do in this situation. They had to fully depend upon the Lord and wait for His desire. We're not sure how long that they had to wait, but God did speak to them.

•  Leviticus 24:13-18  :  "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death. Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. "  :  God decreed that this man who had cursed was to be put to death. How? Did God simply destroy the boy with divine means?

- God allowed this young man to be stoned by those who had witnessed the event. It became a precedent, both for responsibility for the congregation, as well as the penalty for the guilty.

- God's people must take responsibility for what they witness. They must be willing to govern one another. They were to lay their hands upon this young man's head, attesting to his guilt.

- Then, after agreeing upon his guilt, the congregation was to enact God's will that he be put to death by stoning him.

- This young man would serve as a warning that nobody was to curse the holy name of God in this theocracy. Those who cursed God would lose their life before God.

•  Leviticus 24:18-23  :  "Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal. If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him—fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses."  :  God's law provides stern measures equal to the crime, but knowing the hearts of man, He also limited their wrath.

- Any disfigurement would be met with disfigurement. Those who would kill an animal would need to replace an animal. All who traveled with the Tabernacle, Israeli and foreigner were culpable.

- At this point, this young man was removed from the camp and stoned. Why? Because God's name is Holy and to blaspheme His name is to begin to destroy the ethic that governs life!

•  Leviticus 25:1-7  :  "And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food."  :  Every 7th year, the land and the people and animals who cultivated it were to rest from their labors. A year off!

- Whatever it produced in that year would be enough for their familiy's, but they needed to trust God for that. Ultimately, God wanted them to understand that provision came from Him, not them.

•  Leviticus 25:8-17 : "And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field. ‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God."  : Every 50th year, the people were to have a year of Jubilee in addition to Sabbatic years. The word "jubilee" means to be joyful. It's a year of celebration.

- On the Day of Atonement of that year, the trumpet of liberty, freedom, was to be blown.

- God says that in that year, each person was to be relieved of their debts. If they were to buy things from each other, they were to work out prices for complete fairness in relation to Jubilee.

- If there were 40 years until that time, the price would be greater. If under 10, less. God put this into their societal context to keep one group from monopolizing land and oppressing each other.

- This revealed that they revered the Lord. How? By their treatment of each other! Much of our real worship of God will be expressed in how we love and care for each other!

•  Leviticus 25:18-22 : "So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety. And if you say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?' Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest."  :  God always promises safety to His people, a safety based on His presence as they perform what He says for them to do.

- In that year of Jubilee, they are going to worry about what would happen? If they did not plant, how could they expect to eat? But God had this worked out.

- Listen to these beautiful words from the Lord: I will command my blessing on you in the preceeding year and they would have enough for three years!

•  Leviticus 25:23-34  :  "The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession. If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession." : Listen hard to the concept: The people of Israel were to always consider themselves sojourners, even when they came into the land.

- Even in the case of hard times and a person had to sell their possessions, there had to be hope that they could have it returned to them.

- God introduces the concept about one who has the ability to redeem that which had been lost, later known as a kinsmen-redeemer.

- Ultimately, this is a picture of Jesus, who became a near relative through blood and who had the income or righteousness, to affect the transaction of redemption. We'll talk more of that in Ruth.

- The people were to understand that the land was God's and as such it was on loan. Jubilee was the year where people would be restored to what they had to sell for the sake of their debts.

- Exceptions would be in the event of walled cities or for the Levites, who were not to have any inheritance except for the Lord.

•  Leviticus 25:35-38  :  "If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God."  :  God commands His people to look out for those amongst their number that might fall on difficult times, ie. poverty.

- They were to make sure to help them, that they might live together. They were to let him borrow money without charging interest. They were to lend to them because of God.

- They owed their existence to God and that belief would express itself in generosity.

•  Leviticus 25:39-46  :  "And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. And then he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God. And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor."  :  As we've mentioned before, a person with debt could come to work off their debt by indentured servitude. God is reminding them of the boundaries of that position here.

- They were to treat them as employees, not as slaves and then they were to be released during the year of Jubilee.

•  Leviticus 25:47-55  :  "Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him. If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."  :  God calls the people to look for freedom. Look for redemption, don't put someone under the yoke forever. There was to be hope and respect, which reflects the Lord's heart.

Conclusion

- In closing, we have been given God's Spirit, been invited to have fellowship with Him, been called by His name for the exaltation of His name.

- In Jesus, we have both our rest and our freedom. How can we treat others in a way that is unbecoming of that which we have received!

- We glorify the Lord by receiving His great grace but we honor Him by extending that same grace to others.

Thursday Night Bible Study

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.