Leviticus 23:1-3 - The Lord said to Moses, “Speak
to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed festivals, the
appointed festivals of the Lord,
which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may
work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly.
You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.”
God has given his people another rule…one that required them
to party. This rule required the people
to celebrate God’s love… blessings…mercy… and forgiveness by keeping 7
festivals. Five of the festivals called them to joyous jubilation over the
blessings they received from him…and two required quiet confession and repentance
of any sin that had crept into their lives.
God wanted them to come together in a corporate congregation and give
thanks to the God who had made a covenant of faith with them…and confess their
sins to him …to make an atonement for them…to be freed form the heaviness of
their burdens on their lives.
Those of us that accept Christ’s death and resurrection on
the cross see these celebrations from the window of history. The dates and
exact way they celebrated each one lost to the veil that was torn in that
tabernacle…but the lesson God was trying to instill in his people still ringing
in our hearts and lives. The pompous following of a mere rule has been
transformed into a new way of life…best explained to me in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
- Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may
be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has
been sacrificed. Therefore
let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Let’s face it…not many of us were raised to
even remember the names of all the festivals…let alone keep the traditions as explicitly
laid out here in Leviticus. I know I
have read this chapter at least one time before….but I sure couldn’t have named
all 7 without looking. Maybe God had
them included in his Bible so that we would consider the reason each one was
required of the Israelites…God’s first nation of believers….to see if the
lesson God wanted them to learn is still applicable for us today. I believe
that we should retain some of the concepts of these festivals in our modern
worship of Christ….whatever denomination we feel Christ has led us to honor
him.
Passover….they celebrated the passing of
the death angel as God delivered them from Egypt. We should take time at Easter to celebrate his death on
the cross…and the resurrection that gave us all victory over death from his
sacrifice. We should corporately take his holy communion …whether in routine
rituals…or in random times that just remind us throughout the year of the body
that was broken for us…and the blood that was shed for our sins.
The Festivals of First Fruits…and Pentecost...or
weeks….celebrated the harvest. The
people gave thanks for the crops that God had blessed them with…to remind them
that God was in control of the fruits of their labor. We should take our tithes
to our respective churches…to show our thanks to God for his blessings. We should give freely and joyfully and always
give our tithes before we spend any monies on other things. We should pray about what fellowship and
other offerings we should give…and support his work. We should always remember who is in control
of our material wealth…and offer the first of all we receive back to him to be
blessed and used to support our local churches.
The festivals of Trumpets and atonement
called for remembrance of what Christ did to save them…and gave them a specific
time to offer atonement for their sins. We should still take time to ask God’s
forgiveness and remember what he brought each one of us out of. They were
required to spend a whole day in this mode…we are offered a chance to kneel for
a few minutes at an altar anytime we feel particularly convicted of a sin in
our life.
God also called them to keep the Sabbath…and
interspersed extra Sabbaths …like the festival of the tabernacles to teach them
to worship continually….they spent a full 8 days worshiping God. They
celebrated his goodness….his mercy…and his forgiveness of their stubborn ways.
And even though our modern Sabbath is not always on the original Saturday…we
are called to meet together in worship as many times as we are able. And I love
a good week long revival! I love that many new churches and worship centers are
opening this definition of ‘when’ we worship into more flexible times. The
world we live in does not stop still on Sunday like the camps of the Israelites.
And even if more restaurants…factories…and other business closed on this traditional
American day of worship….hospitals …law enforcement and other emergency services
would still be on 24 hour call.
So even though all these festivals might be
obsolete in the modern Christian’s eyes…the concepts they taught the first
nation of God are still valid and needed to teach God’s ways to our children. We
need times of celebration and times of repentance regularly worked into our
busy schedules. We need to concentrate
on the joy of our salvation and renew ourselves in routine ways that build
these concepts in our children. We need to take time to thank God…to worship
him….to give him offerings…to just bask in his presence and let his peace wash
over our battered souls…weary from the demands of this busy world we live.
Father…I thank you for waking me so early
this morning and allowing me to process such a great amount of wisdom from your
word. I thank you that you have led me to such a wonderful place to worship you
each Sunday. I thank you for the
blessings you have showered on me so freely…and I celebrate the goodness of
your love that allows me to give it all back to you…to do with as you need.
Help me to be more aware of how I celebrate your love for me…and not limit
myself to Sundays…but seek ways to honor and worship you all through the week…all
through the year….all through the life you grant me here on the great Earth you
allow me to live. Amen.
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