As the book of Leviticus starts
with offerings and offerers, the last part deals with feast and feasters. Five
great festivals are mentioned in this part.
The sacrifices spoke about the
blood and salvation. Feasts speak about food that sustains. These feasts
recalled to their mind that by their own disobedience they were compelled to
wander 40 years in the wilderness, but in spite of their unbelief God was
faithful in caring for them and in bringing them to their inheritance.
The Feast of Sabbath (Lev 23: 1-3)
The Sabbath was given the
important place. In Genesis we have seen Sabbath was created by Christ Jesus on
the 7th day. This festival was a feat to be obeyed through the whole
year on every 7th day. It was the day of worship and rest,
celebrating the finished work of God in creation. Christians celebrate the
first day of the week, the day our Lord arose from the grave. Thus we celebrate
the finished work of redemption. Even though the Law insists not to do a work
in Sabbath, Jesus Christ performed miracles in Sabbath day in which he was
questioned. The Jews are so strict in observing this day as even today they do
not do anything. I heard a man of God mentioning about when he was in Israel a
Jew in the neighbourhood called him on the Sabbath day, just to press the
button on the lift as for the Jews it was considered a work - pressing the
button.
The Feast of Passover and unleavened Bread (Lev 23: 4-8)
Passover speaks about redemption
and it celebrated at every spring. It will be our Easter time. They celebrated
this festival by a great service of worship to God. Passover is for one day,
but the feast of Unleavened Bread that followed immediately lasted for 7 days.
The Jewish people were celebrating this festival when Christ was on Earth. In
Luke 2, Mathew 26 and John 13 we can find Jesus went to the Passover feast.
Jewish people after these many years continue to celebrate this festival as
they are still looking for their Messiah. On this day God wants the People not
to forget the way in which the gods of Egypt were utterly discredited and the
great nation of Egypt humbled.
The feast of First Fruits (Lev 23: 9-22)
This feast of first fruits
typified Christ’s resurrection and ours. 50 days later Passover was observed.
50 days after Christ’s resurrection, Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples
and the Church was born.
The feast of Trumpets (Lev 23: 23-25)
This feast is the New Year Day of
the Jewish people. Israel celebrates this in the fall of September or October.
This feast points forward to the future gathering of the dispersed people of
Israel. When you come to the modern day, Israel was shattered through all
nations and God did a miracle and in 1948, through United Nations, saw a
remarkable re-birth of the modern state of Israel
.
Day of Atonement (Lev 23:26-32)
This comes after the 10th
day of feast of trumpets. This was one important day to God’s chosen people. On
this day the sins of the nation were confessed. Repentance and Confession are
the first step towards righteousness. It reveals a right attitude towards sin.
God says in 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and
will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. On this day
Jehovah’s relationship to his people was established and restored. All the nations’
sins and failures and weakness of the people were atoned for. The blood was
shed and the sins of the people were covered so that God could take up his
adobe in the midst of his people in spite of their uncleanness. Now since
through Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, we are cleansed and made the chosen ones.
In Old Testament, In Leviticus 16
we see God was hidden behind a veil in the Tabernacle and Priests and people
were to remain at a distance. Now we may approach God with freedom and
confidence. (Eph 3:12). Since Christ had made a way, we can run into God’s
presence at any time.
In Leviticus, God was shut in
from humanity and humanity was shut out from God. The Day of Atonement was the
only day in the year when the high priest was permitted to enter the Holy of
Holies. He went to offer the atonement of the sin of the people. This offering
covered the sins of the people until the great sacrifice on Calvary was made.
This was the last required feast
of the year and in the Feast of Tabernacle
people heard the reading of the Law. People lived in booths out of doors and
heard the Law.
The Sabbatical Year (Lev 25: 1-7) is the year of meditation and
devotion. This is a yearlong Sabbath which comes in every 7th year.
The Year of Jubilee (Lev 25: 8-55) was celebrated every 50th
year. Year starts with blowing of trumpets and as Sabbath year, the land was
not cultivated. Importance of this year was that all the slaves were freed and
original owner was returned his land. According to the Jewish historians, this year 2017 is a year of Jubilee.
Significant news came this year
against Israel and God protected them. If you are following the Israel news, we
can find that Arab countries wanted to split Israel into two which the former
president of US supported. Just before he left the office, he tried to call the
nations to sign the separation. He did not want to miss it, so he called 2 days
for the discussion as he knew that the new president of US will support Israel.
But when the nations fail to support Israel, God in a miraculous way interrupted
the discussion and they could not reach any conclusion. This shows even now God
cares about the nation of Israel.
In conclusion, the book of Leviticus
shows how humanity is to worship God. But through Jesus Christ, all the veils
and sins are taken away from between God and humanity and now we can boldly
come to the presence of God. Only thing for worship is that we should repent
our sins, accept Christ as our saviour and believe that our sins are forgiven
through the blood of Christ, and in so we become the chosen one, the new
Israel.
7 is a significant number in Leviticus
- · Every 7th day was the Sabbath
- · Every 7th year was a sabbatical year
- · Every 7 ties 7 years was followed by a year of Jubilee
- · Pentecost was 7 weeks after Passover
- · In the 7th month were the feasts of trumpets, tabernacles and atonement
- · Pentecost lasted 7 days
- · Passover lasted 7 days
I pray that we understand the
true holiness and value of Jehovah and humbly come into his presence, even
though we got the salvation freely through his grace. Amen.
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