Tag: Leviticus 23

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Atonement: Forgiveness of Sins

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, was one of the seven feasts of the Lord prescribed in the Book of Leviticus. It was to be a day of solemn reverence. No travelers rushed in and out of Jerusalem; marketplaces were closed; craftsmen and tradesmen shuttered their shops; the whole nation was quiet and still. “The Great Fast,” or “The Day of all Days” had arrived. Observant Jews around the world still observe Yom Kippur as a day to worship the Holy One and to confess their sins.

The first five books of the Bible form the foundation for the rest of scripture. In the heart of these five books of Moses is Leviticus. It describes the priesthood, sacrifices, and forms of worship which were to be carried on in the tabernacle, located in the center of the wilderness camp of Israel. In the center of the book of Leviticus is the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34; 23:26-32).

This was the great day when the High Priest declared to the people that their sins were forgiven. God is a forgiving God. Mitch Glaser wrote, “He creates a shelter of sacrifice to protect worshippers from his wrath.”

Past importance

The tenth day of the seventh month was for the people a time of intense self-examination, confession, and repentance. In preparation for the Day, the High Priest was to review the scriptural commands, offer sacrifices to cover his own sins, bathe his entire body and change from his priestly robes into white linen.

On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest sacrificed a young bull and a ram, and selected two goats, one to be sacrificed, and one to be the “scapegoat.” He would enter the Holy of Holies three times, once with incense, once to sprinkle the blood of the bull seven times on the golden cover of the ark of the covenant, and once with the blood of the goat. The blood of the sacrifices covered the sins of the High Priest and of the people.

The scapegoat was not sacrificed. Instead the priest laid his hands on the head of the goat and confessed the sins of the people. He read the law (Torah) to the people, washed himself and changed into his priestly garments. The High Priest then declared to the people, “You shall be clean,” indicating that their sins were forgiven. The scapegoat was released alive into the wilderness, symbolizing the fact that the sins and guilt of the people were removed. (The Hebrew word translated scapegoat means “removed.”)

Present significance

The Book of Hebrews gives us the deeper significance of the Day of Atonement. It pictures Christ. He is superior to the Old Testament priesthood (Hebrews 7:26-28). The High Priest In Leviticus had to confess his sins. Jesus Christ was sinless. He was the perfect Son of God.

The priests in the Old Testament were mortal and they received their appointments through heredity as descendants of Aaron. Jesus is immortal and he was appointed to his eternal priesthood by God the Father (Hebrews 5::4-5). He ascended to God’s right hand where he continually intercedes for his people (Hebrews 8:1). The earthly priests served in the tabernacle and temple. Jesus serves in heaven, “the true tabernacle” (Hebrews 8:2).

The New Covenant is vastly superior to the Old Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31,33). Jesus is the High Priest of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6, 12-13). The Old Testament sacrifices had to be repeated. They offered only a temporary covering for sins. They pointed forward to the ultimate and perfect sacrifice, Jesus’ death on the cross (Hebrews 7:27).

When the scapegoat was released into the wilderness, symbolically bearing the sins of Israel, it pictured how Christ’s sacrifice completely removes our sins. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

Future application

The Day of Atonement pictures a time in the future when ethnic Israel will be cleansed finally and completely. The prophets describe a future time when Israel will repent and offer a great prayer of confession. Jesus Christ will return. Israel’s eyes will be opened to recognize him as their Savior and Messiah (Zechariah 12:10, 13:1).

“In those days, at that time, declares the Lord, search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none. And for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare” (Jeremiah 50:20).

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

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Welcome, Holy Spirit!

Currently, the themes of this blog are the seven feasts of the Lord from the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23. They were key points of reference in Israel’s national calendar, the dates around which God’s people regulated their lives.

These seven festivals are symbols of the panoramic sweep of God’s prophetic calendar. These Jewish feasts were celebrations of both history and prophecy. They represent important features of the Christian understanding of redemption.

The Jewish festival of Pentecost was originally known as the feast of weeks, because the people were commanded to count seven weeks from the feast of Passover to the observance of this fourth feast. It was observed in the late spring, around the time of the wheat harvest. The seven weeks totaled 49 days. The next day was the fiftieth. That is the meaning of the word Pentecost.

Passover pointed to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Unleavened Bread symbolized the removal of sin. The Feast of Firstfuits pictured the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the great “harvest” of the resurrection of believers. The Feast of Pentecost reminds us of the coming of the Holy Spirit because this was the very day when the Spirit descended upon Jesus’ disciples and the church was born (Acts 2).

History

The Jews celebrated this feast as one of three annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles). It was accompanied by sacrifices and offerings and the giving of gifts to the poor. It was a glad harvest celebration, lasting an entire week. On the seventh day there was to be a solemn assembly for worship (Deuteronomy 16:9-12; Leviticus 23:15-25).

Remembrance

The seven feasts of the Lord have historic significance. Passover was a reminder to the Jews of their redemption by the blood of the first Passover lambs in Egypt. Unleavened Bread reminded them of their hasty exodus from Egypt. Firstfruits taught them about the abundance of the promised land.

Was Pentecost a reminder of something in their history? According to Jewish tradition, the Feast of Weeks was the anniversary of the Lord’s appearance on Mt. Sinai, and the giving of the law to Moses (Exodus 20:18). There they heard the thunderous sound of the voice of God, saw lightning and the mountain enveloped in smoke, and God revealed his identity to Moses: “I am the Lord (Yahweh) your God” (Exodus 19:18; 20:2).

Fulfillment

This may have been on the minds of Jesus’ disciples on the day of Pentecost after Christ arose. They were gathered for prayer in Jerusalem. Luke, the author of the book of Acts, is precise about the timing (Acts 2:1-3). Something happened to them which was accompanied by three supernatural signs: a loud noise like wind filled the upper room, tongues of fire appeared over their heads, and they began to praise the Lord in languages unknown to them. The Holy Spirit was coming upon them as Jesus had promised he would (John 7:37-38; Acts 1:4-5). All this happened at the exact time that the Jews were celebrating the annual Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost.

According to 1 Corinthians 12:13, the Holy Spirit formed the spiritual Body of Christ on earth when he came. Every person who believes in Jesus is baptized by the Holy Spirit into his Body (Ephesians 3:2-6). As a result, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the privilege of every Christian. “If anyone does not have the  Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). “God . . . gives you his Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 4:8). “This is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us” (1 John 3:24). “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to help you and he will be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. . . . He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).

The New Testament teaches us that it is the Holy Spirit in us who produces the Christlike character we desire. It is the Holy Spirit who guides and comforts us when we are in need. He promotes harmony among believers. The Holy Spirit helps us understand and properly interpret scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to be witnesses for Christ.

In many churches around the world, Christians will observe Pentecost Sunday this weekend. This will be a good time for us to give thanks for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives and to pray that we might be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

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Resurrection: A Harvest Celebration

Thomas Jefferson, our nation’s third president, was a brilliant man. He was an inventor, a legal scholar, a diplomat, the primary author of The Declaration of Independence, and the founder of a university.

He also edited and published what is known as “The Jefferson Bible.” This was his attempt to draw attention to the ethics and morals of Jesus, while dismissing the elements of Jesus’s life that he didn’t accept as true. He literally took a pen knife and cut out the parts of the gospels that he rejected, including, and especially, references to the resurrection.

Despite the rationalism of Jefferson and other skeptics, the Bible is clear: Jesus rose from the dead, and his resurrection is the “firstfruits” of a great harvest to come in the future resurrection of believers (1 Corinthians 15:20).

This is symbolized in the Old Testament Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:9-14). It was the annual harvest celebration for the people of Israel. It accompanied the festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread. It was observed on the day after the sabbath day that followed the Passover. This would have been on the first day of the week, the day Christians recognize as resurrection day!

The worshipping family would bring a sample of the spring barley harvest to be given as a sacrifice to the Lord. It was an act of thanksgiving, in recognition of the Lord’s gracious provision. In contrast to the ancient Egyptians and Canaanites, the Hebrew people were not trying to manipulate their God into giving them abundant harvests with fertility rituals. They were acknowledging that he was the source of all good things. They were thanking him after the fact.

The New Testament makes use of this ancient practice to show how it represents the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He became the firstfruits. Speaking of his own death and resurrection, he said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). The apostle Paul wrote, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

The Feast of Firstfruits also pictures the resurrection of believers. “But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits,; then when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Corinthians 15:23). Death will not have the last word for those whose faith is in Jesus. A great harvest is coming when Jesus comes again.

“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

The Holy Spirit is the firstfruits of eternal life in the life of the believer. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23). The Holy Spirit is heaven’s investment in us now. The Spirit is God’s downpayment on our future inheritance, the firstfruits of what we may expect to come.

Believers in Jesus, then, are doubly secure. We have the Holy Spirit now, and the promise of resurrection when Christ returns. Believers are said to be “a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (James 1:18). 

Thomas Jefferson was an intelligent man, but he was not a wise man. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).  He denied what God’s word says about Jesus and the resurrection. If only he had understood the significance of the Feast of Firstfruits!

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Get Rid of the Yeast

The Old Testament people of God were given directions for living the way God wanted them to live. Their lives were regulated by seven annual feasts which celebrated their identity as God’s redeemed people.

Passover, the first of the feasts, was followed by the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. These rituals were for worship, rest, remembrance, and national solidarity (Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 28:16-25). They symbolized our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings of salvation.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread began the day after the Passover supper. It required the ceremonial removal of all leaven from their dwellings before the Passover. Why was leaven to be removed? Because in the Bible it represents sin. The New Testament has a lot to say about it. Jesus spoke figuratively of the leaven of the Pharisees (hypocrisy), the Sadducees (unbelief), and of Herod (worldliness). The apostle Paul wrote about the leaven of malice and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:8) and of false doctrine (Galatians 5:9).

We know leaven as yeast, which is used in baking. It makes bread dough rise. Why would God use a beneficial ingredient like leaven to picture sin? Because it spreads invisibly. Although it is small, it infects every part of the lump of dough.

So, for seven days the Hebrew people were to eat their meals with unleavened bread. This was a reminder of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and their covenant relationship to God. They were to be a separated people, consecrated to the Lord. During this week, there was to be a sacred assembly, a suspension of normal work, special offerings, and possibly periods of instruction about their unique place in God’s plan of redemption.

In Christian teaching this applies to God’s New Covenant people, and illustrates how we may have a relationship to him. In the Passover, the Hebrews slaughtered, roasted, and ate the Passover lamb, which represents Jesus, the Lamb of God. He had to die for our sins and go through the fire of God’s judgment for our salvation. We are not saved by self-improvement. We are saved by faith in the blood of the Lamb.

In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the bread pictures Jesus, the bread of life (John 6:25-35). When he instituted the Lord’s Supper, he spoke of the unleavened bread as representing his sinless body as he died on the cross. He was born in Bethlehem (“house of bread”). He said as God fed the Israelites with manna in the wilderness, so he is now the “bread of God” which gives life (John 6:33).

The Old Testament feast also reminds us of the New Testament believer’s spiritual sanctification, or separation to God. “Don’t you know that a little yeast (leaven) 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 has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Sanctification, as taught in the New Testament, means that our Lord wants to remake us like himself: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). As we grow spiritually, we “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is a process of growth through the word of God and by the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

The New Testament guides us away from sinful practices to which we are susceptible. The Holy Spirit convicts us of wrongdoing and leads us to repentance and confession of sins. But there is coming a day in which our sanctification will be complete, when we are with Christ in heaven. “We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

Until then we are to “get rid of the old yeast” of sin and feed on Christ and his word. This is the way to “keep the feast,” that is, to live as life was meant to be lived.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Christ, Our Passover

“Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” ( 1 Corinthians 5:7).

Just a few weeks ago Christians worldwide remembered our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection. Every year this coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover. This is because Jesus’ death was during the Passover season. Even more important is the fact that he is the fulfillment of everything Passover symbolizes.

While there are many symbolic features in the Passover ceremony, I will point out just a few. Passover tells the story of Israel’s national redemption and rescue from slavery in Egypt. The ceremony was unique to the Israelites. No other ancient civilization had anything like it. The Bible tells us that Jesus is uniquely the only savior and redeemer.

The redemption pictured in Passover involved the sacrifice of a lamb. It was to be unblemished. The first Passover lamb was to be killed and its blood smeared on the lintels and doorposts of the houses of the Israelite people. The blood of the lamb was for the protection of the believing families as the angel of death “passed over” them when God’s judgment descended upon Egypt. Jesus, the New Testament tells us, is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He is “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19).

Every year after that, a lamb was to be roasted and eaten in the Passover supper, in memory of the Exodus from Egypt. The meal also included bread baked without yeast, or leaven. Leaven, in the Bible, is a picture of sin. Unleavened bread is sold today as matzah. It looks like a large saltine cracker. It is baked in such a  way that it is pierced with tiny holes and it has brown spots like bruises. Jesus said he is “the bread of life” (John 6:35). When Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, he held up the bread, broke it, and said, “This is my body given for you” (Luke 22:19). This reminds us of a prophecy: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

At the Passover supper the head of the household would lead the family in ceremoniously drinking four cups of wine, the cup of blessing, the cup of praise, the cup of redemption, and the cup of the kingdom. This would be accompanied by the reading of relevant scriptures and singing of psalms. At the last Passover with his friends, Jesus lifted the cup of redemption, and declared, “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:28-29).

Clearly, the New Testament is teaching us that Christ is the center of attention, the object of worship. The Passover was observed by the Jews in the spring of every year. It was a pointer to the ultimate sacrificial lamb whose blood brings redemption and spiritual security. For Christians, the Lord’s Supper is a reminder of these truths.

Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God “chosen before the creation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20). The annual killing of the Jews’  Passover lambs represented the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

The Bible says that while Jesus lived a sinless life, it was not his perfect life that atones for our sins. It was not his good example, as wonderful as that was. It was not his love or compassion alone that secured our redemption. He had to die for sinners. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). “You were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God” (Revelation 5:6-9). “Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

There were seven annual festivals on the Jewish calendar. Passover was to be observed as the first one of the year (Exodus 12:2). Each one of those subsequent festivals was an important picture to us of our Lord Jesus Christ and the panorama of God’s salvation. We shall explore these feasts of the Lord (Leviticus 23) in the coming weeks in this blog. I invite you to read these articles and share them with others on your favorite internet platform.

Pastor Randy Faulkner