Come Celebrate the Feast - Louisiana Precept



Come Celebrate the Feast

The chart of “The Feasts of Israel in your study guide (pg 80-81) is a great tool to accompany notes.

Exodus 23:14 “Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.

Come let us celebrate the feast; a time of celebration, when all the males 20 years old and above are required to come to Jerusalem, it is the time of the feasts.

Leviticus 23 a chapter that has our future laid out in the feasts; feasts they would celebrate three times a year, when they would come up to the earthly Zion, to the city of Jerusalem.

Leviticus 23:1-2 The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

And then He lays out appointed times that are to be celebrated every single week:

Leviticus 23:3 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.

Each one of these feasts, except for Passover, was a holy convocation. A holy convocation meant it was a Sabbath, a day in which they would do no laborious work. Every single week on the 7th day they would celebrate the Shabbat, the Sabbath. On Friday when greeting people, I would say, “Shabbat shalom.” This means “blessed peace on this Sabbath.” The Sabbath is the queen of Israel; it is the time that all the families come together whether they are really religious or ultra Orthodox. The family gathers in the home, and the father stands, puts on his yarmulke and opens the prayer book and begins to read. As he reads he takes the bread and blesses it. He breaks bread and dips it in salt and eats. Then he breaks another piece and does the same and passes it to the next person and then the next around the table. Then a cup of wine is poured for each one. They drink the wine as they celebrate this day; it is a day of rest. It was a day that was made for man. It is a day of remembrance that God labored for 6 days.

In six days God created heaven and earth and then His work was done. God rested on that 7th day and set a pattern for man.

Leviticus 23:4-5 these are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.

In verse 4 He begins to introduce us to seven feasts that will be celebrated three times a year: the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. You’re saying that’s only three, but the Feast of Passover consisted of three feasts and one flowed into the other.

First Feast

The Lord’s Passover: 1st month 14th day of Nissan

This feast was shown to us in Exodus. Now what happened? (Real lamb brought on stage.)

Take a lamb into the house and watch it to make sure it was without spot or blemish. They would wash the lamb and make sure the lamb had no defect. On the 14th day they would slaughter the lamb, and roast this precious lamb and eat it. Can you imagine slaughtering this precious thing? That was the Lord’s Passover. I want you to see that there was a real lamb involved. You look at it and there is a tenderness toward it. But what was this lamb a representative of? This lamb represented the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world.

This feast was inaugurated on a very special day. It was a day when God would finally deliver His children out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of bondage. They had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They had served Pharaoh and had been beaten and whipped. They had been treated as nothing more that cattle, but God remembered His covenant. He heard the cry of the people in bondage. God sent Moses to be a deliverer to the people. But Pharaoh refused to let the people go. Pharaoh said, “Who is this God that I should let these people go.” God began to prove Himself. He brought 10 plagues, and the final plague was the plague of the death of the first born. The Jews were told that the angel of death was coming, and he would kill the first born male and the first born animal, of any bred within the house. They would die unless they would take the lamb, slaughter the lamb, and take the blood of the lamb and put it on the door post of their house. Then when the angel of death came, the angel of death would see the blood over the door post of the house and he would pass-over. So what happened was, because of this plague, they were released from Egypt, they were released from slavery.

What is that a picture of? (8:48)

Pharaoh is the picture of the evil one, and Egypt is the picture of the whole world. The Bible says the world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19)

Before we come to know Christ we are under Satan’s Kingdom

Colossians 1:13-14 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Israelites’ slavery was a picture of our slavery. The bible says, “Whosoever commits sin becomes a slave to sin.”

When you think of the Passover, I want you to think of is John the Baptist crying out:

John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

That day thousands of lambs were slaughtered on the 14th day of Nissan to celebrate the Feast of Passover. Now what did that bring? It brought freedom from sin and that brings us to the next feast:

Feast Unleavened Bread

Leviticus 23:6-8 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 ‘On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 8 ‘But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’

When you think of leaven, you think of sin and how a little leaven leavens the whole lump. There is no leaven put in the dough to make it rise because God wanted to show us to a picture. The blood of Jesus was shed for us and that blood, and when we apply it in faith to the door of our hearts then we are no longer slaves to sin for the Son has set us free. Therefore I no longer have to practice sin. I can keep the feast of unleavened bread.

All celebrations were celebrated from twilight one day to twilight the next day,

Passover began at twilight on the 14th day of Nissan. The 15th day was a Sabbath and the

Feast of Unleavened bread. It was celebrated for seven days. Seven is the number of completion.

Because when the Lamb of God was slain, He did everything that was necessary to set us free from sin. So as Leviticus says we can be holy even as He is holy. We can have a holy walk, a holy life. We are no longer slaves to sin. We have been set free; sin is not going to rule over us.

The first day and the 7th day is a Sabbath. Every other feast had a Sabbath in it. But why doesn’t the feast of Passover have a Sabbath? I believe (Kay’s view) because it is a work that needs to be finished. What did Jesus Christ say? “I must finish the work that the Father has given to Me.” What had the Father given to Him? God had made Him the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world. But what do we know from Hebrews 9:22 “…without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood…” So Jesus must lay down His life so that you and I who are dead in our trespasses and sins might have life, and so we might have it abundantly.

When you look at the feast of unleavened bread: (This church has sin in it.)

1 Corinthians 5:1- 2 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

If that man is committing immorality, what is to be done? He is not allowed to stay in the church. He is to be removed from our midst. Why?

1 Corinthians 5:5, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1 Corinthians 5: 7-8 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The truth is this; when Christ comes into your life, you are no longer a slave to sin. The Son has set you free and you are free indeed. You are to live a life without habitually sin. Sin is not to be the characteristic of your life. If it is, you’ve never celebrated the feast. You’ve have got to go back to Calvary.

Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the 15th day and lasted for 7 days from Sabbath to Sabbath.

Leviticus 23:10“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. This is the Feast of Firstfruits- the 3rd celebration.

Leviticus 23:9-14Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 ‘He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 ‘Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 ‘Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 ‘Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

When did this celebration take place? This feast begins the day after the Sabbath. The Feast of First Fruits is also a Sabbath.

Watch the picture: (there is such a beautiful picture here for us.)

1Corithians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

What does the first fruit show us? The first fruits show us that there is more to some. This is just the first of the ripe grain. There is a whole harvest yet to come. Here we have picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ because He was raised on this very day on the 14th day of Nissan. The people came to Jerusalem to celebrate these feasts. They all happen in the month of Nissan: Passover on the 14th day of Nissan; 15th day Feast of Unleavened Bread and the day after the Sabbath was the Feast of the Firstfruits. So what you have is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ’s resurrection is showing you that because Christ has been raised from the dead you can walk in newness of life. That’s cause to celebrate. There is a feast that tells me there is forgiveness of sin, deliverance from slavery, that there is a God in Heaven that rules over the affairs of man, that rules over the nations, there is a God and when I cry to Him in my distress He hear. He hears so well that He sends His very own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world because no other lamb could do it. Because why? Jesus was a Lamb without spot or blemish.

1 Peter 1:18-19knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Jesus was buried. It looked like it was over. It looked like the devil had triumphed because the wages of sin is death, because the soul that sins, the bible tells us, will surely die. Yet what was there? There was a rumbling earthquake and the stone rolled away and there was the Lamb of God raised from the dead, the firstfruits saying to us, “There’s a harvest coming.” And because He has conquered sin and death, we can live and pass from death to life and never die again. Because for the Christian to die is to go to sleep and be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.

Let me show this to you. What is this picture saying to us?

Romans 5: 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

The lamb offered at Passover is the picture of the grace of God. We all deserve to die, but the grace of God has brought to us eternal life. It has brought us to eternal life because it has given us hope.

Romans 6:1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

In other words, “The more I sin the more I see the grace of God. Should I continue in sin?” He says: Romans 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

What is the picture of the Passover showing us? When Christ died, I died. I died to sin, so how can I live in sin? I don’t. I am able to keep the feast of unleavened bread. Sin spreads; it’s like leaven, that’s why you remove it out of you midst. It does not belong. Now I can keep this feast, so I can’t continue in sin.

Romans6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Baptism means to unite with, identify with;

Romans 6:5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

This Firstfruits was the picture of Christ’s resurrection. It was a picture of my identification in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection. The fact that He conquered death and was raised, means I will be raised.

Romans 6:6-7 knowing this, that our old self (my old self before I was saved) was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

This is the feast of Pesach, the feast of Passover. This is the picture that God gave to us as the church of Jesus Christ to tell us that it is possible to start again, to have a new life, to be set free from whatever sin it was. God sets us free, and that’s why we want to celebrate the feasts. The Jews had the Passover in the book of Exodus but they did not understand the whole picture until they came to the book of Leviticus when He laid the feasts out in order.

You ask, “How can I do that? How can I walk in that newness of life? I feel impotent, powerless; I am not able to do it.” Yes you are, because it is not only the feast of Passover, but it is the feast of Pentecost. There is cause, great cause, to celebrate.

Feast of Pentecost-50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits (“Pente” means fifty) 3rd month (Sivan)

Leviticus 23:15-21‘you shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. 16 ‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 ‘You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. 18 ‘Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 19 ‘You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 ‘The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 ‘On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

They would come to the temple and see the waving of two loaves of bread. It is leavened bread. It’s not unleavened like the matzo in the feast of Unleavened Bread. Why the leaven? What is God showing us in this feast? The awesome truth is that, 50 days after Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, a group of men were in the upper room. They had been promised by Jesus Christ that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. They would have the power of the indwelling Spirit, and they would become witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. These men were gathered on the day of Pentecost. They were waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. They were gathered in the upper room, and all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit descended on them, and rested on them. They spoke with other tongues; they spoke in the language of all the Jews that had come from all over the world to celebrate the feast.

Acts 2:1-4When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Pentecost is the promise of the Holy Spirit, who is going to indwell man, who is going to give you the power to live this righteous unleavened life.

The Jews have the law, but they did not have the Spirit. They were to wait for the promise given to them by Joel.

Acts 2:16-1716 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams.

When Jesus Christ came, He was the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. When Jesus came, the last days started. What they had celebrated all these years was a picture of the final days to come, the final days that would bring us redemption, the newness of life that would bring us identification with the resurrection of Jesus Christ that would bring us the power of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:17-1817 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy.

The Holy Spirit comes not only upon the Jews but also on the Gentiles. We have a truth here, both and men and women, not only men now, not just kings, prophets and priests as in the Old Testament, but now you have both men & women, both young and old. He says, “I will pour forth of My Spirit even upon My bondslave.” They are bondslaves because they have been bought from the blood of the Lamb. They no longer belong to the man, world, devil or the kingdom of darkness, but they have passed from the darkness into light

Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

What is that inheritance? That inheritance is the gift of the Holy Spirit who is in us.

Romans 8:16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

The power of Jesus Christ in us enables us to be witnesses. The power of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit in us, enables us not to walk by the powers of our flesh but to walk by the power of the Holy Spirit - to keep this life of unleavened bread because now His Spirit abides in me. If I am a child of God, I can no longer habitually practice sin because I have been born of God. I have been born of His Spirit (1 John 3)

This is the birthright of every single child of God, every single Christian.

Ephesians 1:13 in Him, (Christ) you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Where is the gospel of your salvation? We see it in the Passover. It is there for every Jew to see if God will remove the veil from their eyes. They’ll see it because all of this was a shadow of a substance, of a reality, of Jesus Christ who would die for us, who would be raised from the dead the firstfruits of those who sleep. There is a harvest. The harvest is seen in the feast of Firstfruits. Why the leavened bread in Firstfruits? Because we still live in a body of flesh. We still battle the flesh. But God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit living in us so that now if we walk by the Spirit we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

But why two loaves of Bread?

Ephesians 3:4-6 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise (Holy Spirit) in Christ Jesus through the gospel,

Now what do you have? The gospel came to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. The gospel is for men and women, the free and the slaves. It was not just for Jews but also for Greeks. Here you have a mystery, Jew and Gentile in one body united now. The two loaves of bread represent Jew and Gentile in one body. (Ephesians 3:6 above)

What did Jesus Christ promise before He ascended into heaven? What did He do after He was raised from the dead? For 40 days He met with His disciples. He taught them and convinced them by many proofs that He had risen from the dead. Then He ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, and they stood gazing up into heaven.

Acts 1:11They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

What did He promise?

John 16:7“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

John 14:17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

So how is this possible?

Ephesians 2:12 remember that you (Gentiles) were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

We Gentiles were alienated. These were not our feasts. The covenant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was not our covenant. It was given to Israel and given to Judah. We were aliens without hope, without promise. We were with out the law. We lived lawless, but what did God do? God took Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God. He slew the Lamb. He brought the Lamb out of the tomb. He was raised and because He was raised He brought to you and me life.

Now in this picture, there is a picture of the breaking down of the wall of partition, the wall that separated the Gentiles from the Jews. Through Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, now you and I are reconciled to God. Because we come, and because we believe in Him, and embrace Him, both Jew and Gentile we are one body in Jesus Christ because that middle wall of partition which was the Law has been taken care of because when Jesus Christ died He fulfilled the law. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. The feasts are a picture.

Ephesians 2:13-15But now in Christ Jesus you (Gentiles) who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,

I was a sinner. I broke the law. The Jews broke the law. But now Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law. He who was without sin was made sin for you and me. Jesus took the curse of the Law.

Galatians 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—

Because Jesus did that I can be a part of the body of Jesus Christ.

Is this the end? No, because the Gentiles have believed and are coming to Christ. But is God through with the Jews? No! He promised them the land forever. Sound the trumpets! There is another feast.

The Feast of Tabernacles which includes the Feast of Trumpets. 7th month (Tishiri) 1st day of the month they sound the trumpet. It was a Sabbath. At the sound of the trumpet, the people are called to gather together.

Leviticus 23:23-25Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 ‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.’ ”

What has God beginning to do even before 1948, before Israel became a nation? He put in them the love of Israel; He put in them the cause of the Zionist movement. They must return to the land. They must be safe. They must have a place to be safe so another holocaust will not happen.

On the Feast of Trumpets you have a picture of the calling and regathering of Israel. It is the picture of the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 & 37 when he says:

Ezekiel 37:12“Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

When the Jews return to the land, there is still blindness. So the trumpets called the Jew back to the land.

[Ezekiel 37:4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’] The Lord is going to breathe life into the Jews. He brought them out of those graves that are the nations where they were scattered. He says, “I am going to bring them back.” So the Jews began coming back to Israel.

The next feast is Feast of Atonement, Month of Siven. (What do you remember about the day of atonement?)

Leviticus 23:27-32“On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. 28 “You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. 29 “If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. 30 “As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 “You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 “It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath.”

This was a somber day when they would humble their souls. They would bring two goats to the temple. They would cast lots and this would decide which goat was to be sacrificed and which one would be the goat of removal which was cast out into the wilderness. What was it a picture of? It was a picture of God crying to His people, “ I can take away your sin.” This is the way He took it away, through the shedding of blood. Because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. (Heb. 9:22) What are you seeing in the feasts? Passover: Lamb, a Passover lamb, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. When you think of Passover think of the first coming of Jesus Christ?

Pentecost, when God is forming a body made of Jews and Gentiles. When the fullness of Gentiles have come in then we will hear the sound of the trumpets. Then we will have Jesus Christ’s second coming. So this Day of Atonement, this day of covering of sins, is the day of redemption for the Jewish people. It is the day that they are going to be redeemed, and it all happening in the month of Tishri.

Day of Atonement- the covering of sin. What follows the day of atonement? There is to be a great celebration, we have the Feast of Booths. He wants them to remember what it was like when He took them out of Egypt, and when they travelled through the wilderness, when they lived in tents those 40 years. He wants them to remember that He is the one that delivered them. So every year they are to celebrate the feast of Booths. They are to make themselves booths and go outside their homes and stay in the booths and put branches over them. There is a cause to celebrate.

Deuteronomy 32:43“Rejoice, O nations, with His people (Israel); for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people.”

Leviticus 23:33-36Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. 35 ‘On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. 36 ‘For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.

He is going to come for salvation and in that day Israel will be saved in an instant. They will recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. They will mourn as one mourns for there only son, because they will see the blindness of their eyes. Finally the veil will be taken away, and those Jews that survive that terrible tribulation will be saved in a day between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. The nation will repent.

This Day of Atonement is the day of the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee is a year of release when every man who is a slave is set free and returned to his family. It is a day of release when every piece of Jewish property is given back to the Jews, whom it belonged to. So this is the day that they would announce the “Year of Jubilee.”

What happened on the Feast of Tabernacles?

Deuteronomy 31:10-12Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. 12 “Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.

At the Feast of Booths they would start the sabbatical year. What is this a picture of? It is a picture of rest, a rest of the whole redemption that the Gentile and Jew has become complete and now we can live in His presence for ever and ever in that Holy City that is called “Jehovah-shammah, the Lord is there.”

There is a rest coming for the children of God. When Leviticus opens He talks of a Sabbath rest. I just want to challenge you to take a year and say to God “God for one year, I am going to take one day of the week and make it a Sabbath rest to You. It doesn’t matter what day of the week. I am going to take a day when I can learn Your word and study Your word and hear what You are saying so I might learn Your words and obey them.”

I promise it will become a time so precious to you. It will be a time for rest and quiet for your soul. It will become a time of renewal. As you do it, you are going to find yourself having a rest of faith because you have celebrated, in essence, the feast.

The question to you today is:

Where are you? Have you celebrated the feasts at all? Do you understand what the Passover is all about? Is there blood that has been shed for the remission of your sins? The answer is yes. But the question is, “Have you applied it to the door post of your heart?” Have you applied it in faith? Do you know that if you are absent from the body you would be present with the Lord? Do you know that because Christ was raised from the dead never to die again, and He is the resurrection and the life, that when you die you will only fall asleep and wake up in the presence of God? You know it because you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Because you have the Holy Spirit of promise on you as Ephesians 1 says

Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

In other words I have the ticket to heaven. It’s the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus Christ. I will be absent from the body and present with the Lord Jesus Christ.

I will not be here when Jesus Christ comes to earth the second time. I will be in heaven, and I will returning with Him. When He has all the nations of the earth come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of booths, I will be with Him because I am part of the body of Jesus Christ. That’s what the feasts are all about; celebrate the feasts. Hear the nay of this goat; let it ring in your ears. Remember that God is not finished with Israel. Romans 11:29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.(NASB95) A Deliverer will come from Zion and all Israel will be saved. There is a Feast of Tabernacles coming. Let’s celebrate, and let’s invite others to come and celebrate the feast with us.

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