Lev 22-23
- Unacceptable Sacrifices
- Seasons and Feasts
Unacceptable Sacrifices. One of the first church services I ever attended at my current church the Pastor told a story about a woman who found a Butterball turkey in the back of her freezer frozen. She was not sure if it was still safe to eat. She called the “800” number on the package and the company said it was old, but indeed safe to eat, BUT probably not worth baking because it would not be tasty.
So she donated it to the church.
What we bring to the Lord must be our best. When you think of God, do you think of the leftover…time, money, resources…or do we bring our best? God gave us His best. He gave us the most Unblemished Sacrifice. In the Old Testament, bringing forward their unblemished male demonstrated true worship and a foreshadow of Jesus as our unblemished male.
Feasts and Seasons:
The Sabbath:23:1-3 We have read about this several times already, after 6 days we rest on the 7th. Perpetually reoccurring. They were to rest, worship, and a day for them to remember the finished work of God’s creation (Genesis 2:2) We too are to rest and worship but we celebrate the finished work of God’s Redemption.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.The Passover and Unleavened Bread. The Passover was one day a year. This feast reminded the Israelites of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Following Passover was a the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They would withhold the yeast from the bread for 2 reasons. 1. Yeast is a symbol of sin, this would represent moral purity. 2. If you go back and read Exodus Chapter 12 you will see that they left Egypt so quickly that they did not wait for the dough to rise. This is a reminder of that day. On the chart I e-mailed out you will see that Jesus is that Bread, and Jesus is the Bread f Life, so it is important to know that He remained Yeastless, Sinless.
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were being celebrated at the time of the crucifixion. A true lamb of God. See Mt 26:17-19. Look at the Chart again, EACH and EVERY FEAST has a prophetic foreshadow of The Christ. I have 3 words for that…..A MAZE ING!
First Fruits: Giving to the Lord your first harvest of grain, rather than what is left over. A Festival of Harvested Crops! Today this is of food, time, money, self…we are to give to the Lord first, as God did for us. This was a reminder of God’s Provision for them (and for us). God Provided His First Fruit for you…
Feast of Weeks: You will see in verse 16 it says “On the fifteenth Day of the Seventh Month ” Are you paying attention…because it is about to get really cool….. If Jesus was sacrificed on the Passover, and The Feast of Weeks is to happened 50 days later, what is God preparing for? Fifty (pente) days after the Harvest (the Passover) is Pentecost. Jesus was crucified at the time of Passover, resurrected 40 days later and 10 days later the Holy Spirit ascended down to Earth. Feast of Weeks is Pentecost. See God had the plan of Redemption through Jesus the entire time. The timing was always set in motion. Read Acts 2 Regarding the Pentecost.
Feast of Trumpets: We know this day on the Calendar as Rosh Hashanah. New Year’s Day for the Jewish People. A day for the Lord. It seems far from now, but it will be here before you know it, when Jesus Returns, (and He will baby) He will not tip toe in. He will be ushered in with Trumpets!!
Day of Atonement: We have talked a lot about this (Lev 16) so I am just going to sum it us up a day of Forgiveness and confession. Confession to the Lord is the first step in fellowship with the Lord. Once a year the community would come together as a nation and the High Priest would make a large sacrifice and put the blood on the cover of the tabernacle to “cover” our sins for the whole year. Something we have the privileged of doing each day with God directly through His High Priest , Jesus.
Feast of the Tabernacle Also called the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Ingathering. This feast would be celebrated outdoors in booths. The entire family would sit and read the scripture as a reminder to living in the wilderness, wandering, relying solely on God.
In conclusion we are coming up to Easter soon. It will be such an amazing Holiday this year as we are saturating ourselves with the Word of God. Because of our Easter we no longer have to wander in our own lives. He gives us a promise land. HIM. So as we read about all these Feasts and Holidays they are a great reminder of our Holidays for our days of deliverance and Redemption which were set in motion FROM these holidays.
Advent is a time of anticipating the Birth of the Christ. Let this Lent season be and anticipation of the Christ’s Sacrifice.
The Bible has given me much to think about here. Yeast is a fungus (a living thing), I think?? It makes bread rise. Was it a symbol for sin because it was a living thing or because it made bread rise like magic or for some other reason entirely? (There are no mistakes in God's plan so I'm just wondering.)
ReplyDeleteGood point, Sylvia....I have read that yeast symbolized sin, because even the smallest amount spreads
ReplyDelete1 Corinthians 5:6 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Just as a little leaven in bread quickly spreads completely through the dough, one "little" sin affects our whole being. As James points out, if we break one commandment, we are guilty of breaking the whole law. One sin begets another unless the chain is broken through repentance.
Read more: http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/1559/Leaven-as-Symbol.htm#ixzz1EYU8zWAF