During the examination of each of these feasts I’ve tried to convey 5 amazing facts about these feasts:
Understand the Hebrew calendar date assigned to each- and when we close the series, we’ll revisit that calendar briefly
Historical significance-how these feasts specifically pertained to the Israelites deliverance from Egypt
Scripture that guides us through this journey-we’ve looked at a lot of scripture and today will be no different!
How each feast leads us to Jesus-we’ll look at today’s feast and how it leads to Jesus, and when we wrap up the series, we will recap each of these 7 feasts
What it means to us as Christians
I’ll admit, it has been challenging for me to avoid taking a deep dive into each feasts, each week.
I’ve learned so much, and I just want to share it with you, in great detail.
However, I feel my role as a preacher is to “spark a fire that inspires”.
I believe that learning on your own creates a longer lasting and more impactful understanding because it forces you to draw closer to God!
So, in light of that thought or belief, I’m giving you fair warning, with a challenge:
November 24th will be CPC first annual “Share-a-thon”.
Don’t worry, it is not like most share-a-thon’s that involve giving of money, but rather a giving or investment in others of your time!
That sharing of your time will revolve around what you have directly gleaned from this series from my messages, what you have learned on your own, or a combination of both.
I truly desire to know what you have learned.
This can be a 1-5 minute sharing with our church family.
Oh, so now you’re paying attention! Pulling out pen and paper, cause teacher got a test!
Body
Let’s begin with a quick recap of each feast, along with scripture for that week, as well as the series scripture.
The series scripture is found in:
Colossians 2:16-17 therefore let no one judge you in regard to food and drink or in regard to the observance of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
Paul is writing to the Colossians because they are getting a little off track with their religious beliefs. He is explaining that following Jesus is not about philosophy as perhaps taught before the coming of Christ, but about Christ Himself.
Let’s look at v16-17 together:
therefore let no one judge you in regard to food and drink or in regard to the observance of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
-ask others what their bible says-
The first festival mentioned in Lev 23 is Passover.
We saw that Jesus is the Passover Lamb, and we used 2 verses to give reference to this:
John 1:29 “The next day John (the Baptizer) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
1 Peter 1:19 “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
This Passover, represented the Death and Crucifixion of Jesus.
The second feast we examined was Feast of Unleavened Bread.
We learned removing the leaven from the bread, represented removing sin from the Israelites lives.
This feast represents the Burial of Jesus, as the removal of sin in our lives.
Our verse for that feast was:
1 Corinthians 5:6–8 “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Next, we examined:
The Feast of First Fruits.
This represents the Resurrection of Jesus, and our key passage that week was:
1 Corinthians 15:20 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Our 4th Feast was:
Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)
This represented the coming of the Holy Spirit, and our key passage was:
Acts 2:1–4 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Our 5th feast was:
Feast of Trumpets.
The first 4 feasts were prophecy already fulfilled.
The last 3 feasts are prophecy yet to be fulfilled, beginning with Feast of Trumpets.
Feast of Trumpets represents the Rapture and Resurrection of Believers.
Our key passage was:
1 Corinthians 15:51–52 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Now, today we look at:
Day of Atonement.
Please stand with me as we honor God while reading His word together.
These are Jesus’ words, and I trust you remember that I again encouraged you to read Matthew chapter 24, especially in light of 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Church, Jesus gave us the forewarning in Matt chapter 24. It is up to us as to what we do with it!
Matthew 24:29–30 ““Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
That’s going to be a glorious day for some of us. For others, not so much!
Let’s look at Day of Atonement as laid out in:
Leviticus 23:27–32 ““Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.””
I’d like us to unbox 3 things in this passage:
Atonement
Deny himself
Cut off
Leviticus 23:27 ““Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.”
-ask others what does their bible say-
Atonement- the Hebrew transliteration is: the act of reconciliation.
In the Feast of Trumpets, we see God command the Israelites to examine themselves with“explicit retrospection”.
In Day of Atonement, He is saying “now that you have explicitly retrospected, it is time for reconciliation with Me.”
Think about that church!
This is about repentance!!!
As I dug a little deeper, it caused me to look at the relationship between love and sin.
Here are a few conclusions. Some probably pretty obvious, others maybe not so much.
Love opposes sin
Forgiveness is within love
God’s love makes room for redemption
Sin impacts our relationship with God
God’s love is perfection embodied
Wrath is love’s response to unrepentant sin
Here’s one I had to really chew on awhile, probably because I didn’t want to admit it:
Disobedience is an act of rebellion, which is sin.
Rebellion and disobedience are forms of idolatry. (re-read)
Deny yourselves v27b- again I had to dig a little to grasp the meaning here.
This actually means to “fast”.
v32 says “from evening to evening”. This type of fasting is no drink or food of any kind!
I’d like us to quickly look at some reasons to fast as laid out in scripture.
According to scripture, here are some reasons to fast:
Become humble
More intimate prayers
Seeking God
For deliverance
Breaking bondages
receiving revelation:
Pause there for just a minute;
Tres Dias fasting
Repentance- as we see in this passage.
In Exodus 12 and Lev 23, we see a few references of what God says will happen to the Israelites if they don’t obey the commands of the Feasts that He has set forth.
Phrases like “put to death”, “cut off”, tell me God is serious about what He intends for our lives.
We’ve made note that God commanded the Israelites to remember and observe these festivals several times in Exodus 12 and Lev 23.
But He also commands a Holy Convocation.
This is God’s appointed times to worship Him, and fellowship with one another.
The author of Hebrews echoes these sentiments in:
Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Church, be honest with me. Have you ever had those Sundays when you wake up and just want to roll over and go back to sleep? (reference Becky)
But then, you get the fortitude to go to church and you leave church with a refreshed and grateful heart?
God does that, through His people!
As we get close to closing today, I want to encourage you to read two passages:
Lev 16:7-10,21-22
Hebrews chapter 9, and verse 1 of chapter 10.
This will help give you understanding of the priests role and of Jesus’ role in atonement. Truly fascinating to me!
Perhaps I can pique your interest by sharing this:
According to what I read, and my understanding, only on the day of atonement could the High Priest enter the Holy of Holies. There was this thick wall that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple.
The priest would take two goats. One would be sacrificed and it’s blood poured on the the mercy of the Ark of the Covenant, and the other would be allowed to escape into the wilderness. Thus the term “scapegoat”.
Think about the crazy symbolism there!
I’ll drop this hint:
Matthew 27:51 “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,”
Again, there is so much I’d love to share with you, but I encourage you to spend some time studying about these Feasts.
