Feasts & Responsibility

opportunity to come together that we have the freedom to meet like this to worship you openly and just have a time that we can be in your word and fellowship pray that you'll have your way tonight we talk to you and give you praise in jesus worship together god i'm running for your heart i'm running for your heart till i am a soul on fire lord i'm longing for your ways i'm waiting for the day when i am a soul on fire i am a soul on fire heart i'm a soul i'm not waiting for the day till i am a soul i'm a soul god lord i'm waiting for the day till i am a soul on fire am a soul. I'm running for your heart. Till I am a soul. I'm waiting for the day. Till I am a soul.

Jesus, Lord of heaven, I do not deserve the grace that you have given or the promise of your word. Lord, I stand in wonder at the sacrifice you've made. Mercy beyond measure. My debt you freely, stars in the sky, have given. In wonder at the sacrifice you've made. Mercy beyond measure. Your love is high. Your love is all we ever need. Your love is all we ever need. Your love is all we ever need. Your love is all we ever need.

Your love is deep. Your love is wide. Your love is great. Your love is high. Your love is all we ever need. Your love is... Thank you that your love has no bounds at all, Lord, that you're not with us. Eternal God, unchanging, mysterious, and unknown. Your boundless love, unfailing, grace and mercy shown. Bright seraphim in ceaseless flight. Around your glorious throne.

Voices day and night in praise to you. Our cold and ruthless and pleasure is our hope before.

The stars in all by his word. We think about all you've given us life. You've given us eternal life. Thank you. Thank you so much, Lord. We just pray you'll open our spiritual eyes now.

Glad to see everyone here tonight. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23. We are getting dangerously close to finishing this book, to which some of you may be like, yay, but it's been kind of an interesting study. So today, as we look at the book of Leviticus, we're looking at a couple of things. We're looking at feasts and responsibility. Chapter 23 has to do with...

some of the Jewish feasts. As a matter of fact, it's going to go through the seven major feasts that every Jewish person was to attend. And then in chapter 24, we look at some of the responsibility both to do with the temple and to do with some aspects of morality. So we pick up in Leviticus chapter 23, verse 1, and it says this. The Lord spoke again to Moses saying, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them,

the Lord's appointed times, which you shall proclaim as, as holy convocations, my appointed times are these. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day, there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all of your dwellings. And so as, as Moses introduces this portion to us, he tells us that what the Lord told him is basically,

these are the things you need to put on your calendar. As you're laying out your calendar for the year, these are the main things that you need to put on your calendar. And so, as you're laying out your calendar for the year, these are the main things that you need to put on And the first thing that he talks about is not necessarily a feast day, but it was a day that they were supposed to pay attention to, a day that continues to come up, and that is the Sabbath day. We won't go into a great deal of detail on the Sabbath day, because if you remember, we covered that in pretty good detail on Sunday morning.

But it was something that they were supposed to pay attention to. But again, as most of the feasts do, the Sabbath day found its completion in Jesus Christ. And so they were supposed to remember this Sabbath day, as it tells us here in verse 3. But now what he's going to do over the rest of the chapter is talk to us about these seven feasts that the children of Israel were supposed to attend.

It divides up depending on the time of the year. Four of the feasts are going to be in the spring. Three of the feasts are going to be in the fall, with a good summer break in between the two of them. And we'll talk about why that's important in just a little bit. Each of the four spring feasts have already had their fulfillment. As far as Scripture is concerned, they were fulfilled in the New Testament.

The three fall feasts, we're still waiting for fulfillments on. But Jesus will fulfill them. It has to do with aspects of the end times. And so as we take a look at these, bear in mind that Jesus either has or will fulfill each of them. Now we're told in verse 4, These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, Now the very first feast that's presented to us, of course, was to be their new year. And that was the feast of Passover. If you were to want more detail on the feast of Passover, as well as the next feast that we're going to talk about, which is the feast of unleavened bread, you would turn back in your Bibles. Don't do it right now.

Just maybe write it in the margin. You would go back to Exodus chapters 11 through 13. And if you remember, that Passover feast was the very last of the plagues that God brought against, the people of Egypt, because they refused to let the people go. And finally God said, This plague, I promise, Pharaoh will let you go. And so he said, But you need to pay attention to the fact that you are subject to this plague as well if you don't obey my voice.

He said, The thing that you need to do is you need to go and you need to find a lamb that is completely spotless. And if you remember, we said that according to current Jewish custom, at least when Jesus was around, the lamb would live with the family for about seven days so that they could inspect the lamb, which is the way it is today. Which, interestingly enough, how long was it when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey? He had about seven days before he was crucified.

And so they were to have a certain amount of days that they were to take to inspect the lamb to make sure that it was spotless. And once they realized this is the spotless lamb, then they were to take the lamb. And as a community, they were to sacrifice the lamb. And then remember what they were supposed to do with the blood of the lamb? They were to apply the blood of the lamb to the doorpost so that when the angel passed over,

which is where it gets its term Passover from, so that when the angel passed over, the firstborn in that home would be protected because they were under the blood of the lamb. Of course, we find this ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who was the spotless lamb. Remember what John the Baptist said of him? Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And so this fulfillment is found in Jesus, who was not only examined, but found to be completely spotless and without sin. As a matter of fact, the proclamation made by Pilate was this. I find no fault in him. Remember that? That's a pretty important statement that Pilate makes there, because there was no fault found in Jesus, and yet the blood of Jesus was spilled.

And no longer do we have to take the blood of that spotless lamb and apply it physically to the doorposts of our home. Instead, what do we do? We take that blood of Jesus Christ, and we apply it to the doorpost of our heart. That's what we do in salvation when we invite Jesus into our heart to dwell there, is we apply his blood to the doorpost. And in the same way that the children of Israel were saved from the judgment that was coming on Egypt,

the world, so we will be saved from the judgment that will come upon the world. And so this feast of Passover that they were supposed to celebrate on the 14th day of the month, that twilight, was fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ. And so the next thing that they were supposed to pay attention to, which was the very next day of the month, it tells us in verse 6, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It says, Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is a feast of unleavened bread to the Lord.

For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, Wait. Almost got into my next feast there. This is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

If you remember, again, in those chapters 11 through 13 of the book of Exodus, they were told to do something before the Passover feast. They were told to go all through their home, and they were to get rid of one thing. Do you remember the one thing they were supposed to get rid of? They were supposed to get rid of all of the leaven so that they could make completely unleavened bread.

Now, leaven in the Bible is always pictorial of sin. That's what it always represents. And so in order for their hearts to be prepared, to make this journey, they had to clear all of the sin, all of the compromise out of their homes. Now, you may think to yourself, Well, how did Jesus fulfill the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Well, what did we say that he was?

He was the spotless lamb, meaning that he was completely free of sin. There was no sin in him. And so they were to eat this unleavened bread that was totally pure, not very risen bread. They were supposed to eat that for a period of seven days, starting the day after the Passover ceremony. Well, if you've ever sat through a Passover ceremony, you will take note of something about the bread.

As a matter of fact, if a rabbi ever takes you through the Passover ceremony, this is what he points out about the bread. He said, You may look at this bread and this bread that is broken has two very specific things about it. The two very specific things about these pieces of unleavened bread is that they are both pierced and striped. Of course, pointing us to the fact that Jesus bore our stripes through his stripes.

We are healed. And he was also pierced for our transgressions. And so we see how Jesus fulfilled that Paso or that aspect of the unleavened bread, because not only was he sinless, but he was also the one who was pierced and the one who was striped and the one who was broken for us. And so he fulfills that feast of unleavened bread. Now we move on from there because there's another feast that is again a part of this spring in this same month that's supposed to take place.

Verse nine. It says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you enter the land which I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted on the day after the Sabbath. The priest shall wave it now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord.

It's grain offering shall then be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma with its drink offering a fourth of a hen of wine until this same day until you have brought the offering of your God. You shall eat neither bread or roasted grain or new new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. Now this next feast.

This mentioned is what's called the feast of first fruits. There were two different types of grains that were harvested within the nation of Israel. The first would have been the barley and it would have been harvested earlier. The second one would have been the wheat, which we'll talk about in just a moment with the next feast. But this feast, this feast of first fruits in which they were supposed to bring in the first of their sheaves and they were to wave them before the Lord was to take place the day after the beginning of unleavened bread.

So follow the course of events on the fourteenth day of this month. You have the feast of Passover beginning on the fifteenth day of the month. You have the feast of unleavened bread beginning on the sixteenth day of the month. You have the feast of first fruits beginning. Here's something interesting to pay attention to. When was Jesus crucified. He was crucified on the feast of Passover.

When was he in the tomb on that Saturday on that Sabbath day. The beginning. Of the feast of unleavened bread. So when was he raised from the dead. He was raised from the dead on Sunday. The beginning of the feast of first fruits. Why is that important. Because if you know very much about the New Testament you know what Jesus is referred to as right. That he is the first fruits of those who would be raised from the dead.

Boy it's almost like God knew exactly what he was doing with the timing of the way he did everything. Right. Like if I tried to make something like that work out I would screw it up. I got to do it five times. Be like oh fifth time around. I think I figured it out. Sorry. We've got it this time I promise. And even then it'd be like well I think I still screwed it up.

But we'll do the best we can. God is so awesome in the way that he times these things out. But I think this feast of first fruits at least for me has really been kind of resonating in my mind. Because he is the first fruits of those who have been raised from the dead. I think that's really important for all of us as human beings. Because as I've mentioned before over the past few years it feels like not only have we as a fellowship but us as a community.

We've experienced a lot of loss. And it's good to know that when Jesus was raised from the dead he was that first fruits of those who would be raised from the dead. And when we want to know what our new bodies are going to be like well we look a little bit at what Jesus was able to do. How he wasn't bound. How he wasn't bound physically by all the same things that we're bound by.

How when you saw him they could recognize him but there was still just something a little bit different about him. And yet he still had a body just a glorified body. And so it gives us a great deal of hope knowing that if God raised Jesus from the dead then not only was it just Jesus but he will also raise us from the dead. That we have that hope that goes beyond here.

That we have that hope. That springs into eternity. And that hope that springs into eternity gives us a little bit of hope for today. Am I right? Because when we know that this place isn't our home. That was one of the other things they spent some time talking about the very last session at the conference. Was it was just so important for us to pay attention to the fact that this place is not our home.

And I fear that sometimes myself included we can get a little too attached to this old earth that we live on. And we can get a little bit too attached to the things of this earth. And I think what God is in the process of doing for all of us right now and has been in the process of doing for the last couple of years is setting us free from the hold that the earth has on us. I don't know if you realize this or not but there's another major outbreak of COVID in China right now.

Meaning that they're shutting all kinds of things down. You know what that's going to mean for the supply chain? Nothing good. Right? I hope you don't enjoy things because I don't think we're going to have any. Right? And we can go oh no I'm not going to have fill in blank here. Whatever thing it is. As you wish would come in. But maybe just maybe this is God's way of saying but this place isn't your home anyway.

And your hope shouldn't be in those things. Your hope should be in an eternity. Because all of the things of this earth won't do anything to fill you. The only thing that they'll be able to do is leave you feeling somewhat empty on the inside. Which is why so many people in the culture today have found themselves saying surely there's something more than just the stuff that I can gain on earth.

God's saying that's right. There's an eternity. There's an eternity that has nothing to do with what's here. It has everything to do with what I have in store for you in the future. Because Jesus is our feast of first fruits. Well we go on from there. To the fourth of the spring feasts. It says. You shall also. Verse 15. Count off for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath.

From the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering. There shall be seven. Complete sabbaths. You shall count 50 days to the day. After the seventh sabbath. Then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering. Made of two tenths of an ephah. There shall be a fine flour.

Baked with leaven. I'm going to point out why that's important in just a minute. As first fruits to the Lord. Along with the bread. You shall present. Seven one-year-old male lambs without defect. The bull of the herd and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord. With their grain offering. And their drink offering. And offering by fire. A soothing aroma to the Lord.

You shall also offer one male goat. For a sin offering. Two male lambs one-year-old. For a sacrifice of peace offering. The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits. For a wave offering. With two lambs before the Lord. They are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. On this same day. You shall make a proclamation as well. You're to have a holy convocation.

You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual state in all your dwelling places. Throughout your generation. Now this next feast is called the feast of weeks. As New Testament saints we understand it as the feast of Pentecost. Because it was 50 days after Passover. And isn't it kind of interesting that what they were supposed to do. There's a couple of words I want to point out to you.

A couple of phrases I want to point out to you. In verse 16 it says you shall count off 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a, and this is why I think it's important, a new grain offering to the Lord. I think that that's kind of an interesting thing to pay attention to. Because this is a new grain offering that has nothing to do with the previous ones.

Because what we're going to talk about in just a moment is that the feast of Pentecost of course found its fulfillment in the Holy Spirit coming. In the birth of the church on that day of Pentecost. In the book of Acts. Because the Holy Spirit was doing a brand new thing. It was no longer just the nation of Israel. It was now going to be a combination of Jews and Gentiles together.

Forming a whole new offering to the Lord which we know of as the church. That's where this fulfillment of this is. But there's one other thing I want to point out to you. Not only was it a new grain offering to the Lord. But in verse 17 it says. And you shall bring it from your dwelling places. Two loaves of bread for a wave offering. Two tents of an ephod.

They shall be a fine flower. But all of a sudden it gets a little different than all the ones we've read before. Because this one says baked with leaven. Baked with leaven. As first fruits to the Lord. Now every commentator that I read agreed with the same thing. And they said that that's because as beautiful as the church is. It is a history full of corruption.

It is a history full of sinners made saints. I've talked to people before. And they're like. I don't know if I want to be a part of the church. Do you know everything that the church has done over the years? Do you know how evil the church has been over the years? And I'm like. Yep. And it's God's grace that he still continues to use them in any way shape or form.

Because that's who God is. He uses fallen people who are flawed in every way possible. And he makes something beautiful out of them. In the midst of all of their history. Because that's what God has done. He mixed together a bunch of Jews and Gentiles. And said I'm going to make a whole brand new thing. And they're going to be called the church. And you know what?

They're not going to be perfect. As a matter of fact. Remember some of those kingdom parables. We'll get into them in two or three weeks. In the book of Matthew. Those kingdom parables that says the kingdom of heaven is kind of like leaven. Right? And it's like. Oh no. That means that sometimes there's some corruption mixed in. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that produces a giant tree.

Abnormal growth. Maybe something wasn't quite right there. He says the kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who goes out and sows seed. And his stuff begins to grow. And overnight. An evil person came and sowed tares amongst the wheat. And they said what should we do? Should we pull out the tares? He says no. That'll just pull out the wheat. Instead we'll just sort it all out in the harvest.

It's kind of interesting. Isn't it? That when he tells those kingdom parables. I think he's kind of talking about the church there. Because there's always going to be some issues. And listen. There's no such thing as a perfect church. Because there's no such thing as perfect people. And yet God by his grace uses it anyway. And so. Fifty days after Passover.

In the. Book of Acts. We see that the church is born. God did a whole brand new thing. Remember the disciples were gathered there in the upper room. And as they were gathered there in the upper room. The Holy Spirit fell. Which was a completely new thing. It had been prophesied in the book of Joel. And other places in the New Testament. And they began to speak with those different tongues.

And everybody said. Oh dude. These boys have been drinking. And Peter's like. Listen here fellas. It's only like 10 a.m. I don't think anybody's drunk just yet. He said what this is. Is this is a brand new thing. That was spoken of by the prophets. This is the coming of. The Holy Spirit that had been promised. And in that we've had this fulfillment. Of the feast of Pentecost.

That's what the church is. It's the fulfillment of that brand new harvest. And what we've seen since then. Is we've seen the harvest. Of a bunch of believers in Jesus Christ. Who have found their hope. In the grace of God. Who have found their hope. In their completion. In the fact that God is a God full of grace. Because of the sacrifice. That Jesus made. On the cross.

It's a history that sometimes. Is a little bit shady at best. But quite frankly. I think if we all gave our own personal histories. It's a little bit shady at best. Right? Like that's who we are. But that's what makes us the church. Is that a bunch of people with some shady pasts. Come together. And we praise God that we've been saved by grace. And so we have this day of Pentecost.

Now it's kind of interesting. So the first four feasts. Have already been fulfilled. They were fulfilled in Jesus. But now in between. Jesus. The time of the first. Or the time of the completion of the fourth feast. The time of the completion of Pentecost. You have a really long time. It's like you go all through the summer. Until you get like middle of fall.

Before any of these other three feasts are fulfilled. Kind of interesting isn't it? It's almost like God knew. There would be this huge parenthetical statement. In history. And he said from the time of the birth of the church. Until the time when I begin to move again. With the name of Jesus. With the name of the nation of Israel. There's going to be a long span of time.

Now I just went to this conference. Where they talked about the rapture. And I grew up hearing all about the rapture. Any of you that sat under Pastor Mark. You know that was his thing. And he talked about it a lot. And so I hit a point in my life. And of course I went to Calvary Chapel Bible College. Where they talked about it a lot. And everybody I knew was a pre-tribulation rapturist.

That's what they believed. But I started saying. Do I really believe that? Or do I just believe that? Or do I just believe it because I've been told it? Do I just believe it because that's what everybody's always said? And so I was doing some studying. Not even trying to prove that. Not even trying to study that out. To see if it was true. Because I try to remain an incredibly open-minded person.

Because I don't want to believe something just because somebody says it. I want to believe it because it's true. And then I came across the book of Daniel. It's nothing new to anybody that studied this for a very long time. But it was kind of new to me. Because it was the first time I'd really paid attention to it. It's where I felt like the Holy Spirit said.

Pay attention right here. And what it says is this. Seventy weeks have been determined for your nation. For the people of Israel. Speaking to Daniel. It takes them all the way up to the end of 69 weeks. Which is 69 sets of seven years. Almost everybody. Unless you're an incredibly liberal theologian. Which I don't listen to anything you say at that point in time anyway.

Unless you're an incredibly liberal theologian. Everybody agrees that that means those sets of seven are sets of seven years. That's what those weeks are. Everybody agrees on that. And so you get all the way to the end of 69 sets of seven. And what does it say happens at the end of that 69 sets of seven? It says that that's when Messiah will come riding into Jerusalem.

It says that's when he'll come in. And then he'll be cut off for the sake of his people. Well that's exactly what happened to Jesus. Is it not? And then what happens after that? Comes the 70th week. Well what's the main thing that happens in the 70th week? The abomination of desolation. That will set himself up in the temple to be worshipped. We haven't seen that yet.

Because that's what's known as the Antichrist. And so it's almost like God said there's this huge parenthetical statement in history. Between the 69th week and the 70th week. And I'm like so what does that mean? And God said that's the church. That's the age of grace. Now I would not qualify myself as a dispensationalist. If you don't know what that means it's okay.

Don't spend that much time worrying about it. But I do believe what the Bible says. It's this big parenthetical statement. Because we're living in the age of the church. Well then if you were to take that into the book of Romans. You would find that blindness. And this is straight out of Romans 9, 10, and 11. I didn't write it down. Blindness in part has come upon the nation of Israel.

Until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. We also know that it says that God's not done with the nation of Israel. Has God cast off his people? That's Romans chapter 11 verse 1. Has God cast off his people Israel? God. God forbid. In other words that's a dumb idea. God has not cast off the nation of Israel. He's going to use them again. But right now we're living in this age where God is pouring out his spirit on the church.

On the Gentiles until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. But once the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. That's when God catches away the church. Why does God catch away the church at that point in time? Is it because we're just a bunch of people that don't want to have to go through anything hard? Because we're western culture Christians. Who think we're never going to have to go through anything hard?

I mean I hope so. But I don't think that's the only reason why I believe in a rapture. I believe in a rapture because God has to get the church out of there. In order to once again deal with the nation of Israel. So in the same way that in between the end of the spring feasts. And the beginning of the fall feasts. There's a large span of time. A time of waiting.

A time of, for lack of better terms, harvest. There's also this time between when Jesus rose from the dead. And when the church is caught up. Before God once again begins dealing with the nation of Israel. You see that's what the tribulation is for. It's to pour out his wrath on an unbelieving world. And it's to once again deal with his nation. That's important for what we're about to talk about.

Now we come to this next feast. Verse 23 it says. Again the Lord spoke to Moses saying. By the way these all are fall feasts now. Again the Lord spoke to Moses saying. Speak to the sons of Israel saying. In the seventh month. On the first of the month. You shall have a rest. A reminder by blowing of trumpets. A holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work.

But you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. Now this first fall feast that's spoken of. Is what we would. Referred to as the feast of trumpets. Now some of the commentators that you read. They'll say well this feast of trumpets is fulfilled. In the gathering together of the nation of Israel. I tend to agree with John Corson on this. I think that the feast of trumpets is fulfilled.

When the last trumpet sounds. The dead in Christ shall rise first. And we who are alive and remain. Shall be caught up together. With them. To meet the Lord in the air. I believe and I'm willing to have my mind changed on this. If I'm wrong. I believe that that's what's spoken of with this feast of trumpets. Is that last trumpet sounding to take the church home.

So that God will once again begin dealing with. The nation of Israel. And brothers and sisters. That's what we're waiting for right now. We're waiting for the sound of that last trumpet. And as they pointed out. I don't know how many times at this conference that I went to. When they put this sweet little timeline up there. They were like. See how there's really nothing that needs to be done.

Before that happens. Everything's all lined up. And we're ready to go. Ready to go home. It's just. We're waiting for that last Gentile to be saved. We're waiting for the fullness of the Gentiles. To come in. Before Jesus takes us home. But that's when that feast is fulfilled. And that brings us. To the sixth. Of these feasts. And the sixth of these feasts.

Which is the second of the fall feasts. Is the day of atonement. Verse 26. It says. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying. On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month. Is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you. And you shall humble your souls. And present an offering by fire to the Lord. You shall not do any work on this same day. For it is a day of atonement.

To make atonement on your behalf. Before the Lord your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day. He shall be cut off from his people. As for any person who does any work on this same day. That person I will destroy. From among his people. You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute. Throughout your generations.

In all your dwelling places. It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you. And you shall humble your souls. On the ninth of the month. At evening. From evening until evening. You shall keep your Sabbath. Now this day of atonement. There is a handful of things. That I would like to point out to you about it. First of all this feast. Maybe should not be entitled to feast.

Even though that is how it is labeled within scripture. Because there was no feasting that took place. It says that they were to humble themselves. And they were to. What is the exact word that is used there? They were to. Afflict their souls. Now what does that mean? It means it was to be a day of fasting. It was to be a day of fasting. Repentance. And introspection.

And introspection. Or perhaps we should say. A day of fasting. Introspection. And repentance. That is what that day was to be for. Because if you remember. For historical context. You could go back and read Leviticus chapter 16 on this. If you remember. This was the day. That they would come together as the nation. And they would choose those two goats. One would be the sacrificial goat.

And the high priest would lay his hands. On the head of the sacrificial goat. Showing the transference of sin. Onto that goat. And it would be slain. And that was the one day of the year. That they were to go into the holy of holies. And sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. Remember? And then they chose that second goat. The second goat was called the scapegoat.

And they would lay their hands on the head of the scapegoat. And when they did that. They would actually confess the sins of the people. So that's why this was important. That they take a day to fast. Be introspective and repent. Because they would confess all of their sins. And they would be transferred upon that scapegoat. Who would for another year. Carry all of their sins outside of the camp.

Now. This found somewhat of a fulfillment. In what? What Jesus did for us on the cross. But the ultimate fulfillment of this day of atonement. Is actually going to be. With the children of Israel. During the time of the tribulation. Because remember during that time of the tribulation. Great sorrow will come upon the nation of Israel. Greater than they've ever experienced before.

And when that great sorrow comes upon the nation of Israel. Many of them will begin to repent. And come back to the Lord. Because their souls will be afflicted. They will be humbled. And so it will find its ultimate fulfillment. In the repentance of I believe. Revelation says a third of the nation. Comes back to the Lord. That's where this day finds its ultimate fulfillment.

Why are these things important? Well the trumpet will sound. To bring the church home. So that God can once again begin to deal with the nation of Israel. And when he does. There will be some massive repentance. That takes place on the part of the nation of Israel. Because when that abomination of desolation. Spoken of through the prophet. Daniel. Decides he's going to set himself up to be worshipped.

The nation will go. What did we do? And so this finds its ultimate fulfillment in that. Now there's a couple of things I'd like. Or one thing I'd like for you to pay attention to. About this particular feast. Because every one of them mentions the fact. That there was to be a Sabbath that went along with it. A Sabbath of rest. But did you take note of how many times.

In the day of atonement it said it. I counted five. But I'm not a good counter. So it could have been more than that. But at least five times in that short section of verses. It says that that was to be a day of Sabbath rest to them. There was only one person that worked on the day of atonement. You know who the one person that worked on the day of atonement was?

It was only the high priest. Even the other priests didn't do any work. On the day of atonement. It was only the high priest. Why? Because the day that you and I's sins were atoned for. Who was the only one that could do the work? It was Jesus Christ. Our ultimate high priest. What was our job? Rest. Rest in the work of the high priest. Well we come now to the seventh feast.

It says in verse 33. Again the Lord spoke to Moses saying. Speak to the sons of Israel saying. On the 15th of this seventh month is the feast of booths. I struggle saying that word. It's the T-H-S. Booths. For seven days to the Lord. On the 15th. On the first day is a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.

And on the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation. And present an offering by fire to the Lord. It is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed times of the Lord. Which you shall proclaim as holy convocations. To present offerings by fire to the Lord. Burnt offerings. Grain offerings. Sacrifices and drink offerings. Each day.

These days matter on its own day. Besides those of the Sabbaths of the Lord. Besides your gifts. And besides all your votive free will offerings. Which you give to the Lord. On exactly the 15th day of the seventh month. When you have gathered in the crops of the land. You shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days. With a rest on the first day. And a rest on the eighth day.

Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves. The foliage of beautiful trees. Palm branches. And boughs of leafy trees. Leafy trees. And willows of the brook. For you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord. For seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days. All the native born in Israel shall live in booths. So that your generations may know. That I had the sons of Israel live in booths. When I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So Moses declared to the sons of Israel. The appointed times of the Lord.

Now this last feast. The seventh feast. Is in the exact same month. Of the feast of trumpets. And the day of atonement. This is called the feast of booths. Or the feast of tabernacles. Perhaps you've heard it referred to as. In this feast of tabernacles. They do exactly what it sounds like. They have a week long camp out. Right? They have this week long camp out.

First of all. To commemorate the fact. That when they were in the wilderness. God provided for them that entire time. One of the greatest things to do. When we get to the end of the book of Deuteronomy. Is when God will remind them. Of the fact that. Do you realize that for 40 years. Your shoes never wore out. Do you realize that your clothes never wore out.

You always had food to eat. You always had water to drink. You were always completely provided for. You lived in peace. Because of me. While you were in the wilderness. And so when they were to come. Into the land. On the 15th day of this 7th month. They were to commemorate this fact. By this feast of tabernacles. Now. The fulfillment of this feast of tabernacles.

Will come when the nation of Israel. Is dwelling in peace. In the millennial kingdom. And they remember that God. Is their God. And he is the reason why they're living in peace. That's where it will find. It's ultimate fulfillment. But you know there's a lot of interesting connections. To the feast of tabernacles in the New Testament. As a matter of fact. A lot of things take place.

In the gospels during the feast of tabernacles. Two that come to mind for me. Are things Jesus did in the gospel of John. Remember at the very end of the feast. On that last great day of the feast. I believe this is in John chapter 7. Where Jesus stands up and says. Let him who is thirsty. Come to me and drink. And from your inmost being. Will flow rivers of living water.

You know why that was an important thing that he said? Well if you remember when the children of Israel. Were living in the wilderness. God provided water for them. All the time. God was always providing water for them. So one of the things that they would do. Is every day a line of priests would go down. And they would take a golden pitcher. And they would fill it up down at the well.

And they would come back up to the temple. And they would pour out the water on the stairs. And the water would flow down the stairs. In commemoration of the fact that God always provided. Water for them in the wilderness. Until the seventh day. And you know what they would do on the seventh day? They would take an empty pitcher. And they would pour it out.

Because they didn't need water out of the rock any longer. Because they were living in the promised land. And God was providing for them. So when Jesus stands up in the temple. On the last great day of the feast. And says anyone who is thirsty. Come to me and drink. And from out of your inmost being. Will flow rivers of living water. He was saying I am the fulfillment.

Of that rock producing the water. In the wilderness. Because the rock that followed them was Christ. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Wait there's one more. So if you remember. There was a pillar of fire. That always followed them in the wilderness right? It was either a pillar of cloud by day. Or a pillar of fire by night. So every night of the feast of tabernacles.

They would light a huge menorah. That from what I understand. You could see the light of it from about a hundred miles away. That's how great big this thing was. And it was just an amazing light that it would produce. Until they came to the last day. Or the day after the feast. And they would no longer light it. Instead what they would do. Is they would ask for the coming of Messiah.

So when Jesus. Stood up. At the end of the feast of tabernacles. In John chapter 8. And said. I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness. But shall have the light of life. He was literally saying. Remember the light that lit their way in the wilderness? That was me. I'm the fulfillment of that. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Well anyway.

That's the feast of tabernacles. And those are the feasts. That they were supposed to mark on their calendar every year. To make sure that they knew. And they paid attention to those feasts. Well. From the joy of chapter 23. Comes the responsibility of chapter 24. We pick up in chapter 24 verse 1. And it says this. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying. Command the sons of Israel.

That they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light. To make a lamp burn continually. Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting. Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning. Before the Lord continually. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. He shall keep the lamps in order. On the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.

Now. As we move into this aspect of responsibility. He's going to tell them about two things. That they need to pay attention to with the tabernacle. The lamp and the bread. And so. The first thing he tells them that they're to do. Is to bring the oil. And that they're to keep this lamp burning continually. In other words. The oil can never run empty. Because it always needs to be provided.

So that the lamp will continue to burn. It was a job that the priest was supposed to do. He was supposed to tend the lamp. To make sure that it was always burning. Well there's two very interesting things to pay attention to about the lamp. First of all. We're reminded that the lamp speaks to us of Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus said. I am the. We just said it.

Light of the world. And so we know that he's the light. But in scripture. What does the oil always represent? It always represents the Holy Spirit. So how does the oil represent the Holy Spirit? How are they to tend the lamp. To make sure that the light didn't go out. They were to be continually filling the lamp with oil. It almost sounds like a New Testament scripture.

Doesn't it? Where it says to be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Do not be drunk with wine. In which is dissipation. But be ye being filled with the Holy Spirit. There's to be that continual filling. Why? Because if we want the light of the truth of Jesus Christ. To constantly shine into our lives. Then what must we continually be filled with? The power of the Holy Spirit.

Say Ryan how do you do that? Well the only way I know to do is to ask. Lord overflow my cup. With the power of your Holy Spirit. And you know what he's always faithful to do? Exactly that. So they were to constantly be tending the lamp. It was part of their responsibility. Now the second thing that we're told about is the bread. It says in verse 5. Then 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 to a row. On the pure gold table. Before the Lord. You shall put pure frankincense on each row. That it may be a memorial portion for the bread. Even an offering by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually.

It is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel. 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 Lord's offering. By fire. His portion forever. This is what's referred to as the show bread. Remember we talked about this Sunday morning. Right? With David. David ate the show bread. Which really was only for Aaron.

Only for the high priest and the other priests. Anyway. Different story for a different time. But the show bread is kind of interesting. Isn't it? Because what does bread speak to us of? Well it speaks to us of Jesus. Why? Because he is the bread of life. But what was their responsibility in it? Every Sabbath day what were they supposed to do with the bread?

They were supposed to eat it. They were supposed to replace it with fresh bread. Now that kind of speaks something to us. Doesn't it? What does that tell us about our relationship with Jesus Christ? The ultimate bread of life. We have to keep it fresh. Perhaps you're here tonight and you thought. You know. It's just not quite as fresh as it used to be. It kind of feels like I'm eating some stale bread.

Maybe that's because you've stopped tending the bread. Maybe that's because you've stopped tending the bread. Maybe that's because you've stopped tending the bread. Maybe that's because you've stopped taking the responsibility seriously to make sure that you keep your relationship with Jesus Christ fresh. Now listen. The work is all of him. He's the one that works in me both to will and to do according to his good pleasure.

But in that process I have a responsibility as well. And the responsibility that I have is to make sure that my life is constantly fresh before the Lord. That I don't allow it to get stale through things like sin. That I don't allow it to get stale through apathy. That I don't allow it to get stale through sin. That I don't allow it to get stale through disobedience.

That I don't allow it to get stale through, may I use the word, neglect. Because you see, I think sometimes we as believers, we may not be guilty of some outward or overt disobedience or even some heinous sin. Sometimes I think the issue that we deal with the most is a little bit of apathy mixed in with a bunch of neglect. And because we do that, there's oftentimes not very much fresh in our relationship with the Lord.

Perhaps you're like me. And you're reading through some scriptures that you've read through quite a few times before. That's what I'm doing in my devotional life right now. And it's very easy for me to do something. It's very easy for me to underline the scriptures that I know I like. Right? Have you ever done that before? You're like, oh, I remember this one.

It's coming. Yep, there it is. Like that one. Underline it. That's a good one. I'm going to make a note about that one. And God's like, you mean the same one you've made a note about for the past 10 years? That's the one? I felt like God told me that the other day. And I was like, well, yeah, it's a great scripture. Like, if only you'd look a little bit deeper.

God's really hit me with that here lately. That I'm guilty of sometimes the bread being a little bit stale. And he says, I have so much more for you than the thing I showed you 10 years ago. I have something to show you today that maybe you've never seen before. So we have to keep the bread fresh. Well, we move on from there. Verse 10, it says, Now the son of an Israelite woman,

whose father was an Egyptian, which, by the way, sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it's not. I think that's a Monty Python thing, it feels like. The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, you'll never be able to read that the same again, went out among the sons of Israel, and the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel struggled with each other in the camp. And the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name and cursed.

So they brought him to Moses. Now his mother's name was, That's the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put him in custody so that the command of the Lord might be made clear to them. Now in this story, it's kind of interesting. We have this person who is half Israeli, half Egyptian. It's going to be safer if I say it that way. And he does something wrong.

He's in the middle of a fight. And notice what it says. It says that he, I want to make sure I word this correctly here. It says that he blasphemed the name. Did you notice it didn't even say the name of the Lord? It just says the name. And in my translation, in the New American Standard, the word name is capitalized. So you know that there's something kind of specific about this name.

It says he blasphemed the name. And he cursed the Lord. It's kind of an interesting thing to pay attention to, is it not? Like, I think sometimes because of our familiarity with the Lord, which is absolutely the way that we should be because we now have a relationship that through the Spirit we cry out, Abba, Father. And because of that, I think every now and then,

sometimes we forget just how holy the name of God is. As a matter of fact, the nation of Israel held it in such high regard that they took the vowels out of it and just spelled it Y-H-W-H. So nobody really even knows fully what vowels go in there. We put Yahweh in there because it's what makes the most sense. But it would be like if we spelled God and it was like G-D, right?

Because we held the name of God in such high regard that we didn't want to even screw it up in the way that we spelled it. We weren't even worthy to spell his name. Do you know that in the translation or in the copying down of the law, that if a scribe, when he copied down the law, every time he would write out that Y-H-W-H, he would go, put his pen down, cleanse himself ceremonially, throw away the pen and get a brand new pen? Can you imagine how long Leviticus took, right?

It had to have been the longest book ever. He's like, well, I'm on day 37 of writing Leviticus, right? Bath number 795. But that's how highly they regarded the name. And so they're like, oh no, what do we do? He just blasphemed the name. What do we do with them? And so they do exactly what they're supposed to do. It says, they put him in custody so that the command of the Lord

might be made clear to them. I love this. They weren't sure what to do. So what did they do? They waited on the Lord. Oh, if we would do that more often. I don't know what to do, so this is what I'm going to do, right? Reminds me of that story in the Gospels when Jesus, Peter, James, and John are all up on the Mount of Transfiguration and Moses and Elijah and Jesus are there and it says,

and Peter didn't know what else to say, so he blurted out something stupid and it's like, oh, if only he had the, are you sure you want to say that, right? Like, I think that with Twitter, right? Like, I think if our last president had had the are you sure button, like, I mean, who knows what would have happened because maybe he wouldn't have sent a few of those. It's an interesting thought.

But, you know, how much better to say, I don't know what to do. I'm going to wait and see what God wants me to do instead of, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. Here's what I'll do. I'm really good at the second one. But sometimes God's just like, slow down. Why don't you just wait on me? Chuck Smith in his commentary on this said, I think that we as the church can learn a really good lesson

from the people of Israel here that when we think, what should we do now? Let's not move until the Lord tells us to move. Let's not do something until we hear it from the Lord. And here's what you'll find. When you decide to wait on the Lord, everybody else around you will be impatient. And they will say, no, you've got to do something now. And you'll have to say the same thing.

No, I don't. Because God hasn't given me direction yet. And if I've learned one thing over the years, it's that in the will of God, I have nothing but time. I tell young folks this all the time when they're trying to decide either, A, what they want to do with their life, or B, who they're going to marry. In the will of God, you have nothing but time. No, no, you understand?

You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You understand? You know, the world tells you you have to make a decision now. That's not God. God's not in a hurry. That's one of the greatest lessons anybody has ever shared with me. God is not in a hurry.

And sometimes we get in a hurry, don't we? I'm good at it. I'm a, hey, let's hurry up and get it done sort of a person. And God keeps telling me the same thing over and over again. I'm not in a hurry. Let me do it in my time. And I say, okay, after I've had 15 cups of coffee, right? Right? I'm like, now? Have you decided now? So anyway, so they put him in custody and wait to see what God has to say.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, bring the one who has cursed outside the camp and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head and let all the congregation stone him. You shall speak to the sons of Israel saying, if anyone curses his God and he will bear his sin, moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the name, shall be put to death.

So God passes down this very harsh sentence because of his profaning of the name of the Lord, because of his blaspheming of the name of the Lord. And you and I hear this and we think, whoa, that's really harsh. But you know, sometimes when we hear people use God for their own personal gain, we can think, is it time for that now? It's not. Okay? No one needs to throw rocks at anybody.

But I'm also reminded of what Jesus said in the New Testament. Remember what he said? He said, it's impossible to prevent offenses from coming, but woe to you that stumbles one of these little ones. It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were drowned in the deepest ocean than to have to deal with God when you have stumbled one of these little ones.

We may not be able to deal with everybody that blasphemes the name of God, either in either by the way that they live or by the way they've used God for their own personal gain, but there's always someone who sees it, and that's the Lord. And he's way better at dealing with that than I am. So this is how they have to deal with it, which moves into an aspect of dealing with the fact that the punishment should fit the crime. Notice what it says.

If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. The one who takes the life of an animal shall. Make it good life for life. If a man injures his neighbor just as he has done, so it shall be done to him. Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall

be put to death. There shall be one standard for you. It shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God, and most of you shall be done with one. I am the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I am the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I am the Father, and the Holy Spirit. And I am the Father, and the Holy Spirit. I am the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

And I am the Father, and the Holy Spirit. I am the Father, and the Holy Spirit. The Son of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses. And so he takes time to point out in this that punishment should always fit the crime. Do you know what punishment is always to fit the crime of murder? It means that your life has to be taken from you. Now, I know that there's been major debates.

I feel like it's kind of gone up and down over the years about what should happen in those situations. and you have people say, no, no, killing does not justify killing. Well, according to what it says here in scripture, if you take the life of one, your life is required of you. Why? Because human life is of such great value that if you take it from another, it shall be required of you

because that's how valuable human life is. And I believe that if somebody is guilty of murder, they should be given the gospel because I think that there's still eternal salvation for their soul. But I think that justice must be done because it speaks volumes to the world. So he says the punishment should fit the crime. Now, I'm going to share one more thing and I'll

wrap up for tonight. It uses this aspect of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Now, this that's being laid out is for judicial purposes, not personal relationships. That's why in the New Testament, when Jesus said, you've heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, if one slaps you on one cheek, you should turn the other cheek to them also. That's not

speaking of judicial things, because what they had done is they had took what was intended to be judicial code and applied it to personal relationships. Therefore, if you punch me in the eye, I'm going to punch you in the eye. Whatever you do to me, I'm going to do back to you. And Jesus said, you need to understand that's not the purpose. The heart behind that law was to limit retribution, not to give you an excuse to take vengeance on

another, because God holds us to a higher standard, because God holds us to the standard of love, not vengeance. We're told in Scripture, vengeance is mine. I will repay, declares the Lord. And so with all of these feasts, it's interesting to see how Jesus either has or is going to fulfill them all. But in the process of the feast, he's going to fulfill them all.

They're still responsibility. Amen. Father, we come before you and just thank you so much for your word. It's so good to our hearts and to our souls. And Lord, even a place like Leviticus that every now and then you got to plumb the depths a little deeper than you want to. Lord, it's still good to see you all over the pages of Scripture, to see Jesus everywhere. And so Lord, I pray that

not only as we spend time in Scripture, but as we live our lives, that we would see you more clearly. That you would become the one that we seek with all of our hearts. And Lord, may our lives continue to be fresh in our relationship with you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.