Leviticus
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Leviticus Chapter 23
Why the feasts? Here is where I speculate. I believe first of all that the feasts were instituted to acknowledge the Lord and take time apart to worship Him in fellowship with Him and with other believers. It is one of God's gifts to mankind that would cause them to be able to take a rest from labors and remember who it is that gave them all these good things. I cover them in more detail later in this article. As humans we tend to forget things. Sabbaths were made for man to remember God and have rest. In the Old Testament dispensation they didn't have the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit except in a few called individuals, so they needed to be reminded many times who God was and how holy God is so that they didn't mimic the nations around them and follow false gods which would destroy their eternal souls. After Christ we have the Holy Spirit to bring all things to our remembrance. We observe the Lord's supper to remember the price He paid for our salvation through His death on the cross. Observing feast days, holidays and such are no longer required as a commandment in the New Testament except the Lord's supper and water baptism but even those were signs of what has taken place already and not a means of salvation. However, we have a movement called the Messianic Jewish movement where some of them do not observe Christmas but do observe the feast days God commanded Israel to keep. As long as these things are done in worship and remembrance and not made into a requirement for salvation, I believe they are an asset to our worship. I personally wouldn't know the first thing about how to go about observing the feast days but I see nothing wrong if some of our brothers and sisters in the Lord want to learn how to observe the feasts. Some may differ with me on water baptism in that area but to me a person is baptized in water after he is saved not to save the person. It's an act of obedience that shows that we were dead to sin and raised in the newness of life through faith in Jesus Christ. It signifies the washing away of sins. The water itself as no regenerational properties. It is the faith in Jesus Christ that saves the soul when one repents of sin and trusts in Jesus to save him or her from sin. The feasts were for man to rest and refresh himself, for fellowship with fellow believers and to remember the Lord and what He did for them. Each feast had a spiritual significance. God doesn't do anything without a purpose behind it.
The reason New Testament believers are not strict about the Sabbath is because Jesus Christ is a Sabbath of rest to those that believe. He takes the place of literal Sabbath observance becoming a rest for our souls. However, if we had church on a Saturday instead of a Sunday and observed that as a day of rest, I certainly would not object. New Testament believers are to walk in the spirit and worship in spirit and in truth every day of the week. It is necessary however, to keep us in remembrance of these things to meet together regularly whether Saturday, Sunday, Monday or whenever, in order to take time apart to worship as a corporate body and share the word of God with one another in the Lord. This is needed or else the church as we know it would die out. We need to have worship services always until the Lord returns to set up a literal kingdom.
We remember the Passover as the time when Israel was delivered from the sentence of death that was pronounced upon all Egypt because of their refusal to allow Israel to leave their land to serve the living God. Blood was put on the doorposts to keep them from suffering the same fate as the firstborn of Egypt. It was a picture of the death of Christ for our sins and His blood covering our sins is the only way of salvation and eternal life. The Passover feast was for them to remember the day of the Lord's deliverance from bondage to Egypt. If we wanted to keep it today, we could use it to remember that day of deliverance but also Christ as our Passover lamb that was slain to save us from our sins.
They had no time to allow for bread to rise so they had to eat it unleavened when they ate the Passover before leaving Egypt. To this day, they observe Passover and the feast of unleavened bread to remember that time. Leaven represents evil also and may play a part in the lack of leaven around Passover time.
Rest from hard word and labor of commanded so that servants and laborers can have a time or spiritual and physical rest. Christ is our rest from trying to obtain righteousness by our own merits. In Christ we lay all things down and trust in him alone to save us since we have no means to save ourselves except by believing in His power to free us from sin and to give us the Holy Spirit to abide with us until He comes again.
The feasts day were for remembrance and worship. They were for rest also from servile type of labor but they were not for fun and recreation with drinking and frivolous behavior as many do in holiday seasons. It was holy feasts as to the Lord not a time for irreverent and rowdy type of parties. Still we must think of this as a time for all to rest and refresh themselves spiritually and physically. This included the servants of that day also. These things should be seen as God's gifts to His people.
The offering of first fruits was a way of worshipping God, putting Him first, and looking to Him for salvation. This reminds me of the words of Jesus about seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness before worrying about other things that will be given to us as needed. When they brought in their harvest they were to brings the first fruits to God.
We see the love of God in these things as we see His divine plan to care for the priests and their families with the offerings brought to the Lord. The Levites were a chosen tribe of Israel that gave up their inheritance as the other tribes had. They didn't have their own land as the other tribes but they were chosen to have the service of God as their inheritance. They were given cities to abide in among the tribes but had no inheritance of their own. They were set apart to serve the Lord and make offerings and sacrifices until the coming of Christ who changed the priesthood to an eternal priesthood of believers with Jesus Christ as high priest. I can see now the wisdom of God in choosing one of the tribes to be scattered among the other tribes to study, plan, and direct the specific ordinances of the feasts, laws and commandments. All believers now are part priests and kings in the kingdom of Christ. Until that time however, the Levites had no way to make a living off land so they had to trust in offerings and sacrifices from the other tribes. It is a picture of a pastor of a local church who leaves his secular job to be used of God to feed a flock of believers that God has placed under his leadership. A local congregation of believers who love God and love their pastor, church and fellow believers will give as God as prospered them and as they purpose in their hearts to give. They are not under the law of tithing but can use the tithe as a guideline if they have no clue how much to give. Tithing is not commanded in the New Testament church but giving is, and is to be done from the heart. Usually a person who listens to the Holy Spirit in this area will end up giving more than a tenth because of the love he or she has for the work of God. The law of Christ centers more on walking in the spirit, not fulfilling the lust of the flesh, walking in holiness as the spirit directs and giving as the Lord directs us to give. We are not to be under threats and false promises of prosperity like modern preachers teach but we are to give as worship and in love. If a person is stingy and does not want to support God's faithful ministers, it shows that they are lacking spiritually and are not made perfect in love. If we have to be threatened with hell to get us to give, that is the wrong motive to give. If we are giving so that we can get back double or triple, then that is the wrong motive. Sometimes that may happen but we should not be giving to get.
Giving is not supposed to be limited to those that work for the Lord but we are to care for the poor. This was before any welfare system was ever thought of. They purposely left parts of their fields alone to be food for the poor to glean and have something to eat. God is so good to people who trust Him. Look how He cares for all. I don't like the prosperity teaching but knowing how God is, I believe those who obeyed the Lord and did as they were instructed having compassion for the poor had better harvest than the stingy ones. Jesus did say give and it shall be given to you but He didn't say that to make us greedy for gain and to give for the wrong reasons because He also said not to lay up our treasures on earth but in Heaven. We have to take the whole bible and not just one or two pet verses when we teach a doctrine.
Trumpets seem to have a large significance in both the law given by Moses from God and also the latter day coming of the Lord returning to gather His believers and set up His everlasting kingdom. When I find a video of someone blowing a shofar, it really gives me the chills. It reminds me of the day when Jesus comes to gather those that have received Him when the dead in Christ shall rise.
The feast of tabernacles is a reminder that once they had to dwell in booths and tents having no continuing city but trusting God for their every need. The first apostles were scattered throughout the region having no place to rest their heads sometimes. They were persecuted and chased from one place to the other.
It would seem that the Passover reminded them of their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, the feast of trumpets their deliverance from the pursuit of the Egyptians and the crossing of the Red Sea. The Sea being a type of baptism in water. The rejoicing that followed their victory was like the sound of the trumpet and jubilee. The atonement was complete. Then the feast of tabernacles came next where they had to dwell in the wilderness with God for testing and trials before going into the Promised Land. Promise land reminds us of the final end when the Lord comes back and sets us a literal kingdom of righteousness that abides for ever. Here is what many believe the significance these feasts represent: 1. Passover (Leviticus 23:5) – Pointed to the Jesus our Messiah as our Passover lamb. Jesus, whose blood would be shed for our sins. Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation for the Passover at the same hour that the lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover meal.
2. Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6) – Pointed to the sinless life of Jesus our Messiah. Leaven represents evil or sin. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for sins because He did not sin in any point. He did not break the law of God in any point. Jesus' body was in the grave during the first days of this feast awaiting the resurrection as the bread of life. 3. First Fruits (Leviticus 23:10) – Pointed to the Messiah's resurrection as the first fruits of those made righteous from His sacrifice. Jesus was resurrected on this very day, which is one of the reasons that Paul refers to him in:
4. Pentecost (Leviticus 23:16) – This feast occurred fifty days after the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and pointed to the gift of the Holy Spirit for both Jew and Gentile, who would be brought into the kingdom of God during the time after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We call this the Church Age. Over 3000 Jewish believers were added to the church and even more added daily. This is recorded for us to read in Acts chapter 2. 5. Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24) – The first of the fall feasts. Many believe this day points to the Rapture of the Church when the Jesus will appear in the heavens as He comes for His bride, the Church. The Rapture is always associated in Scripture with the blowing of a loud trumpet.
These are to be words of comfort not fear. The coming of the Lord to unite with His believers are not to be feared but we are to love His appearing and be looking for His return with anticipation.
6. Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27) – Many believe this points to the day of the Second Coming of Jesus when He will return to earth. This is different from the rapture. This will be the time when Israel as a nation will look upon Him whom they have pierced as prophesied in Zechariah, they will repent of their sins, and receive Jesus as their Messiah
This should cause all believers in Christ to rejoice. Israel is reconciled to the Father through Jesus the same as we who are Gentiles have believed and are saved.
7. Tabernacles or Booths (Leviticus 23:34) – This feast day may point to the Lord's promise that He will once again dwell among His people when He returns to reign over all the world
The Feast of Tabernacles takes place in the latter part of our September and many believe based on the calculations of the birth of John the Baptist that Jesus would have been born at this time rather than in December. That makes an interesting study. Jesus though is coming again and whether we literally observe the feast days or we do not. Keeping the feasts is not what matters but we must be ready spiritually having our sins under the blood and being found faithfully occupying until His comes. We must not be as the five foolish virgins who lived foolishly and did not seek the Lord but let everyone else do the praying and contending for the true faith. Jesus is coming again so let's not let someone else do our worshipping and praying for us, let's seek God ourselves. DC
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