May 31, 2025
Today we are wrapping up the book of Leviticus and we begin with the Feasts/Festivals of chapter 23.
Yahweh begins by restating the Sabbath Commandment – once again setting the 7th day apart from all other special days or events.
Next, He designated 6 feasts/festivals that Israel was to celebrate throughout the year. 3 of these festivals were designated as “Pilgrim Feasts” in which all able-bodied men as well as those who could make the journey, were required to come to the Sanctuary to worship.
Just like the Sacrifices pointed to Christ’s Atoning work, the Festival Season pointed to the entire arc of Salvation History.
The first 3 festivals occurred in the spring and happened almost simultaneously:
Passover (14th day of the 1st month at sundown)
The Passover celebration with its solemn ceremonies was intended to cause the people to remember their deliverance from Egyptian bondage – a magnificent act of redemption in the OT that foreshadows the cross in the NT.
Christ was “The Passover Lamb” that would deliver the people from the bondage of sin.
John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Luke 22:7-8, 14-20 - Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." …. 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Unleavened Bread (15th-21st = A Pilgrim Feast)
The 1st and 7th days were holy and no work was to be done. During this festival, the people were to eat bread with no yeast in remembrance of their haste in preparing for their exodus from Egypt.
Christ was the pure unleavened “Bread of Life”
John 6:51 - I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
and pointed believers to the importance of removing all spiritual leaven from their lives.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 - Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast-- as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
First Fruits (16th day)
On the 2nd day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the celebration of the First Fruits of the Harvest. A barley sheaf was waved by a priest before the altar of God – acknowledging God’s care and sovereignty. After this ceremony, the grain could be harvested.
Jesus was the First Fruits of the Resurrection and when he returned to heaven, he took with him the firstfruits of the harvest as a promise to his waiting people:
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 - But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
Matthew 27:52-53 - The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
Ephesians 4:8 - This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
Romans 6:4-5 - We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
50 days from the offering of the 1st Fruits came:
Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks (A Pilgrim Feast)
This was a celebration of the grain harvest. As an act of gratitude, 2 loaves of leavened bread were baked and presented to God.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred during Pentecost. As a result, there was a massive spiritual harvest.
John 4:35 - Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
Acts 2:1-5, 41 - When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven…. 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
7th month of the year brought the final 2 Festivals:
Trumpets (1st day)
The blowing of the trumpets was meant to signal to Israel that they were entering a sacred season – it was time to make personal preparations for The Day of Atonement.
The New Testament does not mention this festival, but Revelation discusses the blowing of 7 trumpets (ch. 8-9), with the 7th Trumpet blast occurring just prior to a Sanctuary Scene related to the Day of Atonement (Rev 11:15, 19)
The Day of Atonement (Evening of 9th day to evening of 10th day)
Strictly speaking, the Day of Atonement was not a festival; it was a day of judgment. At the conclusion of the High Priests work in the Most Holy Place and after the sins of the people had been transferred to the goat for Azazel there was great rejoicing and celebration. This yearly event pointed to Christ’s work of Atonement in the Heavenly Sanctuary.
Tabernacles (15th-22nd = A Pilgrim Feast)
This was the last festival of the religious year and occurred after the autumn harvest was completed. For seven days there was to be a daily procession in which the people waved tree branches to express their joy before the Lord. They were to live in booths as a reminder of God’s care during the wilderness experience and it was to be a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving – a time to acknowledge God’s goodness as well as His mercy, pardon and acceptance.
This feast pointed to the future time when Christ would come and “tabernacle” with humanity:
John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
As well as the day when God’s people, from every tribe, tongue, and nation will “tabernacle” with Him for eternity:
Zechariah 14:16 - Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
Revelation 7:9-10 - After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Revelation 21:3 - And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Chapter 24:
• The lamps in the tabernacle were to burn continuously
• There was always to be bread on the table in the Tabernacle (replaced weekly)
• If someone blasphemed God = death (24:10-16)
• If someone committed murder = death (more information in Numbers 35 and Deut 19 & 27)
• If someone kills an animal = restitution must be made – 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.
o It ruled out excessive retaliation.
o It was equal opportunity punishment with no distinction between social classes.
In chapter 25, God extended the concept of “set apart-ness” to the land because it also belonged to Him (25:23).
• Every 7th year the land would be allowed to rest – no crops were to be planted, the vineyards were not to be pruned and no harvesting was to be done. The people were to depend completely on God, who had promised to provide such an abundant harvest in the 6th year that it would carry them through the Sabbath year.
• Every 50th year was to be a Jubilee year – a reset/redemption year for both the land and the people. As with the 7th day and 7th year, all productive work stopped.
Now we come to a tricky set of verses for the modern mind:
Leviticus 25:44-46 - Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
What is going on Here?
We need to start by placing the verses in their historical and biblical context:
• First, it is vitally important that we do not cloud the issue by looking at these verses through the lens of modern slavery. To the ancients, slavery was a fixed and accepted element of life. It was a common practice and its validity as a system of labor was never seriously questioned – it was not a moral issue. The chief sources of slavery were war, purchase abroad, unpaid debts and inheritance (a child of slave parents). Slavery was a part of a general labor system, where free and slave labor customarily worked side by side with little actual differentiation in respect to wages or treatment.
• Second, this passage is part of the Holiness Code – how God’s people are to live as a holy and set apart people, so, whatever this law was allowing or not allowing it was intended to set Israel apart from the nations surrounding them. However, it is important that we understand that this was not an endorsement of slavery but a recognition of its existence while, at the same time, attaching laws and regulations to its practice.
Chapter 26
• Don’t make or bow down to idols
• Observe My Sabbaths and have reverence for my Sanctuary
• Blessings = v. 3-13 - If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands ….
• Curses = v. 14-39 - But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant …. (see Deuteronomy 28)
• Promise of redemption and reconciliation = v. 40-45 - But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers -- their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies -- then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
SDA Bible Commentary vol. 1 page 1112.2-4 – Thus, in His infinite wisdom the Lord educated His people. His requirements were not arbitrary. Connected with all the instruction received by the people from the Source of all light was the consequence of obedience and disobedience. They were taught that obedience would bring them the richest spiritual grace and would enable them to distinguish between the sacred and the common. Disobedience would also bring its sure result. If the people chose to manage the land in their own supposed wisdom, they would find that the Lord would not work a miracle to counteract the evils He was trying to save them from.
The Lord presented to His people the course they must pursue if they would be a prosperous, independent nation. If they obeyed Him, He declared that health and peace would be theirs, and under His supervision the land would yield its increase.
Chapter 27 = laws surrounding the making of vows of dedication and tithe.
The hard truth is that we cannot live up to the holy and righteous standards of a Holy and Righteous God.
Leviticus shows us that true holiness is the result of sacrifice.
Blood is mentioned 90 times in chapters 1-15
Holiness is mentioned 90 times in chapters 17-27.
The thing we cannot do was accomplished on our behalf by Christ, through his sacrifice. Through our faith in that sacrifice and the transformational relationship that occurs as a result, we become holy and set-apart in the eyes of God.
1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Until Next Time…………
