know this may be heard to believe, although we have been in Leviticus chapter 23 this entire series, it has been centered around:
Colossians 2:16-17 The heading or pericope for this passage in the chapter is:
Not legalism but Christ.
16. So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink or for not celebrating certain festivals or new moon or Sabbaths.
17. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.
Today’s word is found in Lev 23:33-44 please,
Stand with me as we honor God while reading His word.
Read from my bible.
As I was putting the finishing touches on this last week, I was reminded of an old public speakers adage:
Tell them what you are going to tell them
Tell them
Tell them what you told them
The entire chapter of Leviticus 23 is just that:
God tells Moses what to tell them
Moses tells them
God tells them what He told them
Go back and read Leviticus chapter 23, and I believe you will agree.
Two additional passages cover the same information:
Numbers 29:12-40 goes into greater detail.
Deuteronomy 16:16–17 ““Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.”
I’d like us to come back to this passage towards the end of today’s message.
At the beginning of this series/study, I asked this question of you:
Would you rather have a pastor who has it all figured out, or one who is still listening to the Lord, studying His word, and being guided by the Holy Spirit to disciple?
Although there have been times when I just shook my head because my brain became overwhelmed, other times when I had AHA moments, when tying in the OT to the NT, times when I got really emotional, as I faced my own shortcomings, and a few times when I had more questions, than answers, which is one of the things that keeps me coming back.
Kinda like taking 100 swings on the golf course, but swing #43, is what keeps you coming back, right Dan.
It has been very rewarding for me.
Really caused me to dig deep, really deep on some occasions.
And I have come away with a better understanding of how the bible in entirety, is the unified story that leads to Jesus!
When we consider the Lev 23:33-44 may seem like a lot of pomp and circumstance, without much “meat”, to us as Christians, but as we’ve taken a deeper dive, we can see a more meaningful purpose and symbolism.
Let’s take a look at this 7th feast for a few minutes.
First off, I’ll remind you that we are in between the spring and fall feasts. Between the 1st and 2nd coming of Christ.
I believe the only delay is, that our Lord doesn’t want anyone to perish!
I know y’all will be shocked, but we are going to take a look at some scripture that relates to this passage, but I’d like to set this up a bit before we do that.
Tabernacles or Booths Festival occurs before the rainy winter time of year.
Let’s begin with a quick look at the word Tabernacles or Booths.
These are dwellings that the Israelites lived in, after they escaped Egypt and were in the wilderness for 40 years. They were a nomad people for 40 years as they dwelled in these booths.
+++build on this+++Exodus 25:8 “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”
Exodus 29:46 “And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”
I want to share with you a little nugget that I found while studying about this feast.
Jerusalem generally receives about 20 inches of rain per year. Booths occurs before the winter rainy season. The people hoped and prayed for rain, and they performed ceremonies as they prayed for rain. This part is not in the Bible, but it’s what became tradition and it’s important because Jesus used this to proclaim who He is to the people.
Each morning during the feast there would be a pouring of water, which was a symbolic prayer for rain. The high priest, along with a group of worshipers, would go to the Pool of Siloam. He would take a golden pitcher and dip it into the pool. Then he would take it back to the temple.
The high priest with the water from the Pool of Siloam would enter the southern gate of the temple. It was known as the Water Gate because of this ceremony. As he entered, three blasts of the silver trumpets sounded from the Temple, and the priests recited Isaiah 12:3: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
The high priest went to the altar in the Inner Court of the Temple and they would pour the water so that it flowed over the altar, along with wine from another bowl. They would blow the trumpets again and that would start their earnest prayers for rain. There was a great deal of rejoicing at this ceremony.
Then in the evenings, they would have a light ceremony in the Temple. On the second evening, people crowded into the outer court and in the center of the court were 4 very tall lampstands. These were lit, and the light would shine throughout Jerusalem.
The they would sing psalms and have a celebration. This celebration was repeated every night from the second night until the seventh night. This ceremony reminded people of God’s power and glory when Solomon dedicated the temple.
Let me pause right here and explain The Talmud. I is which is a collection of writings that covers the full gamut of Jewish law and tradition, compiled and edited between the third and sixth centuries. Written in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic, it records the teachings and discussions of the great academies of the Holy Land and Babylonia.-
. . . “There was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that was not illumined by the light of the place of the water-drawing. Men of piety and good deeds used to dance before them with lighted torches in their hands, and sing songs and praises. And Levites without number with harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets and other musical instruments were there.”
I know this is a lot of background information and I’m almost done with it, but it’s really important, because we see Jesus in this celebration.
The last day of the feast was also called the greatest day of the feast. On the 7th and final day of the feast, the Temple water pouring ritual concluded with a great celebration. On the other six days, the silver trumpets gave three blasts; but on this day, they gave three sets of seven blasts.
On the other six days, the priests made one trip around the altar; but on this day, they made seven trips, as they marched around the altar, and sang the Hosanna verse, Psalm 118:25, as the people waved palm branches.
So, that’s where we’re at with this final feast of Booths.
Now, let’s see where Jesus fits in .
John 7:1–2 “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.”
So, we see what’s happening . . . it’s the feast of booths and Jesus initially isn’t going to go to Jerusalem because the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Him. He was challenged by His brothers to reveal Himself, because they didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah. Now, if we jump down to verses 37-38, John now tells us - - -
John 7:37–38 “On the last day, that great day of the feast, (understand now, this is the Feast of Tabernacles) Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.””
(credit to Michael Deutsch - Sermon Central)
Does that freak any of you out, as it does me?
Jesus is the High Priest pouring out living water!
The scripture that Jesus is referring is:
Isaiah 44:3 “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;”
With that in mind, let’s look at a few more passages, then we will land the plane.
I also found it interesting that the dedication of Solomon”s Temple was during the Feast of Tabernacles:
This can be found in 1 Kings chapter 8.
Let’s begin with some OT scripture:
Zechariah 14:8–9 “And in that day it shall be— That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be “The Lord is one,” And His name one.”
Zechariah 14:16–17 “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain.”
Now, a couple of NT:
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
Feast of Tabernacles assures us that:
Jesus will dwell with us in His messianic Kingdom age!
I’d like to share a few more things with you.
For me, the Feasts that have the most meaning to me are:
First Fruits- we get to be with Jesus as First Fruits (Hope)
Trumpets- really made me do an explicit retrospection of my relationship with Jesus
Tabernacles-assurance of spending eternity with Jesus
Re-visit:
Deuteronomy 16:16–17 ““Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.”
These 3 feasts became known as the pilgrimage festivals, because they had to go and appear before the Lord.
Again, as I threaten to land the plane, I want to share something that I read a couple of weeks ago, that hit me square between the eyes, as I have been studying the 7 Feasts.
The common threads that are evident in each feast are:
Giving to God
Remember and be thankful for the goodness of God
Rejoicing and celebration
Sacrifice
Gathering together
I want to consider of couple of these as we close out the series:
Robert Jeffress wrote this:
The bias of nature is toward the wilderness, never towards the fruitful field.
It make me think of a couple of things, that anytime we neglect something it becomes over-grown, unrecognizable, overwhelming.
When my yard gets neglected, the beauty of the flower beds get choked out.
Isn’t it the same way with God. When we neglect His beauty, His blessings, His grace, and turn away from worshiping Him, and acknowledging everything He has done for us, we deny the rejoicing in our hearts and His dwelling in us becomes dim to us!
We must always remember the goodness of God, and not be neglectful of our relationship with Jesus
The second one is giving to God:
Deuteronomy 16:17 “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.”
If we are being blessed by the Lord, are we giving as we are able?
I’m not talking strictly about money here, although that is part of our giving back to the Lord what is His, be there are so many ways that we can give!
If you have an earnest desire in your heart to give unto the Lord, please see me. We can figure this out together!
Ask Roman to assist me in handing out graphs.
Recap 5 fold purpose of the series:
• Understand the Hebrew calendar date assigned to each
• Historical significance of each Feast
• Scripture that guides us through this journey
• How each feast leads us to Jesus
What is means to us as Christians
As Roman is handing out the 3 graphs.
There is not a graph for “what is means to us as Christians”
I intentionally did not include a graph, although I found a couple that would apply.
I left it off for two reasons:
What is means to me, could be vastly different from what it means to you, and
Maybe some of you will share next week in our first ever “Share-a-Thon” what it means to you as a Christian.
Highlight the graphs.
I hope this study has been enlightening or rewarding as you spent time in God’s word. I know it has for me!
Close in prayer
