A New Year’s Feast
Jan 4/5, 2003
Intro:
New year’s resolutions…
There was a couple who were sitting with a marriage counselor for their first session and the good doctor asked them to identify what seemed to be the root of their problems. The wife responded, "It all started when we thought it would be cute to think up each other’s New Year’s resolutions…”
New Year’s Resolutions for the computer addict…
Calvin?
The Need for Reflection:
I want to spend a little more time around the communion table than normal this morning, to give us the opportunity to begin a new year by examining our hearts before God. 1 Corinthians 11:28 says: “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” The beginning of a new year seems an appropriate time to do that.
So how are you doing in your relationship with God? Are you close, or distant? Obeying, or disobeying? Are you spending time with God – in His word, in prayer, worshipping fully, loving Him deeply, serving faithfully in His Kingdom? Or is your life crowding out your relationship with God?
The Feast of Trumpets:
In the list of the feasts God commanded His people to observe, we find a very short description of one of them: Lev. 23:23-25: “The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: ’On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.’ "”
That’s all it says. There is a little more in Numbers 29, but all it adds are the types of animals to be sacrificed during this feast. If we didn’t know any better, we might conclude that this is a feast day merely to honor people who play the trumpet! But in fact, there is much more going on here than we see at first glance.
See, this “first day of the seventh month” is the day the Jewish people observe as the first day of the new year. The Jewish calendar begins on this day, with this particular feast – it generally occurs after the harvest has been brought in, in the fall (generally September or October), and is known today as Rosh Hashanah. And in addition to kicking off the first day of the Jewish New Year, it begins the busiest month of religious feasts. The feast which follows, 10 days later, is especially significant: it is the day of atonement.
Generally, the Jewish feasts were celebrated with much joy and exuberance. But not these two. The feast of trumpets, which begins the 10 day period leading to the Day of Atonement, marked the beginning of a national exercise of each individual examining their own life before God.
So what’s with the blowing of trumpets? Samuele Bacchiocchi, in his book “GOD’S FESTIVALS IN SCRIPTURE AND HISTORY,” describes it like this:
The blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah was understood by the Jews as the beginning of their trial before the heavenly court, a trial that lasted ten days until the Day of Atonment (Yom kippur). Greenberg explains that the central image underlying the Ten Days of Awe is that of the trial. "Jews envision a trial in which the individual stands before the One who knows all. One’s life is placed on the balance scales. A thorough assessment is made: Is my life contributing to the balance of life? Or does the net effect of my actions tilt the scale toward death? My life is being weighted; I am on trial for my life. Who shall live and who shall die? This image jolts each person into a heightened awareness of the fragility of life. This question poses the deeper issue: If life ended now, would it have been worthwhile?
"The trial image captures the sense of one’s life being in someone else’s hands. The shofar of Ros Hashanah proclaims that the Judge before whom there is no hiding is now sitting on the bench. Sharpened self-awareness, candid self-judgment, and guilt are activated by the possibility that a death sentence may be handed down. Like standing before a firing squad, a trial for life wonderfully concentrates the mind."12
So, the Jewish people celebrate their new year with the Feast of trumpets, which begins a 10 day period of self examination leading up to the day of atonement. The mournful trumpet sounds, announcing “the Judge is now presiding,” and calling us to bring our lives and stand before His throne.
You see why this wasn’t one of the exuberant feasts… In fact, it seems a little bit terrifying, don’t you think? Maybe we can sigh with relief that we aren’t Jewish and aren’t required to go through this process…
Let me return to 1 Corinthians 11 to see if that is the case: “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
Those words are also a little bit terrifying. And the image of judgement is found also in the teachings of Jesus: Matt 23:31ff “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left…”
Hope from the feasts:
Before we get too terrified about this whole idea of standing before the judgement throne of God, let’s return to the feasts. The Feast of Trumpets started a 10 day period leading up to the Day of Atonement: why the ten days? Because it gave the people the time to get things together – it gave them a chance to make some changes – it gave them the chance to examine their hearts and seek out forgiveness from God or others. The feast of trumpets was the beginning of a time of repentance.
Here is the good news – the day of atonement comes next. Without getting into that feast in a great deal of detail, it was basically a day when God provided a way for the sin of all the Israelites – individually and as a nation – to be forgiven. This was a day of cleansing, which followed the period of repentance. It too was a solemn occassion, but the end result was that God removed the sin of His people and restored them to right relationship with Him.
A Lot of Background…
I know that is a lot of background – more than some of you might like. But in the light of that, I want to return to my original question: how is your relationship with God? It is the beginning of a new year, a chance to take stock and evaluate and recognize areas where our priorities might need to be re-shaped. It is also a communion service, where we are instructed to examine ourselves before partaking of the elements.
Take time here to do that
Quiet; then Show Me The Way Of The Cross
Filling in the Picture:
The image of us standing before the judgement seat of God is an accurate one, but let me fill in the picture a little more. Let me tell you what God sees: as He sits there, on His throne, looking out at us, we think He sees our filth, our sin, our dirty rags. But that is not what He sees. If we have repented of our sin, if we have asked for forgiveness, God looks at us and sees not us, but Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:27 puts it this way: “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” The language throughout the NT is that as Christians, we are “in Christ.” So as God looks down from His judgement seat, He sees no penalty left to pay, as Christ has paid it all. He doesn’t see our filthy rags, but the clothes of Christ. The old has gone, the new has come. He looks, and sees us “in Christ.”
So there is no need to fear. No need for apprehension or terror. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. We stand before the judge, and He sees His Son, Jesus Christ. And then He sees His sons and daughters, you and I, in Christ.
And that is what this celebration is about. The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, broke it, and gave thanks.
Give thanks, then pass out the bread
How Deep The Father’s Love
Communion is a ceremony of remembrance – of reliving the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. In Leviticus 16, we have detailed instructions for the day of atonement (vs. 20-22): "When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tabernacle, and the altar, he must bring the living goat forward. He is to lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the sins and rebellion of the Israelites. In this way, he will lay the people’s sins on the head of the goat; then he will send it out into the wilderness, led by a man chosen for this task. After the man sets it free in the wilderness, the goat will carry all the people’s sins upon itself into a desolate land.”
Paul picks up this image of atonement in Romans 3:23-25 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” In Christ, we have the fulfillment of the image of the day of atonement – we have our sins placed on Jesus on the cross, and taken away.
Jesus said, “Do this, in remembrance of me.” Take the bread.
After supper, Christ took the cup, the emblem of His blood shed for us, through which we find forgiveness, and passed it among His disciples. He declared it to be a “new covenant” – a binding agreement sealed with an oath and in this case, with the very life blood of Jesus.
Give thanks; then pass out the cup
All Who Are Thirsty
Let me tell you a story of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow. One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them. One man only seemed to have understanding as to what could be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it.
As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror, "Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?" The leader replied, "My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!"
We stand before the throne of God, forgiven, accepted, adopted, because the blood of Christ has already gone ahead of us and purchased our forgiveness.
“Do this, in remembrance of me.”
One Final Festival:
Five days after the day of atonement, there was one final feast – The Feast of Tabernacles (or booths). Basically, this was a national camping trip. And in contrast to the previous two, very solemn feasts, this was one big party. I won’t describe it in detail, but just imagine taking all your friends and relatives, getting away for seven days, with the agenda being nothing more than to celebrate the goodness of God. For seven days, the Israelites were instructed to have a big party and celebrate, with the best of the harvest, with all kinds of decorations, and with joy in their hearts. Why? Because they had been forgiven. God removed their sin, He welcomed them back into relationship with Him, He restored their fellowship.
That is the right response for us, also. Having repented, been cleansed, and remembered Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we need to celebrate.
Prayer of thanks.
Thank You For Saving Me/Amazing Love (Foote)
