The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying of the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 of chapter 11.
Leviticus 11:44-45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
God gave Israel a calendar that was tied to the rhythm of the seasons and the history of the nation. It was an unusual calendar because it not only summarized what God had done for them in the past, but it also anticipated what God would do for them in the future. The salvation work of Jesus Christ, the founding of the church, and the future of the people of Israel. The calendar was constructed around special days.
These special days are called “feasts” and “holy convocations”.
The word feast simply means “appointed times.” “Convocation” gives the idea that during each of these feasts, all the people met together as a congregation, but this also was not true. There were special gatherings on some of the special days, but the word means “proclamation” or “announcement.” The Lord “appointed and announced” these events, which the people faithfully had to celebrate.
There were 7 feasts they are
Passover
Unleavened Bread
First Fruits
Weeks (Pentecost happens then)
Trumpets
Day of Atonement
Tabernacles
These are the notes to Session 19. The link to an audio recording of the session is at the end of the notes.
God’s Calendar for Israel (Leviticus 23)
Calendars are a normal part of our modern busy world, but they weren’t that important to the people of Israel in Moses’ day. The Jews worked from sunrise to sunset, counted the months by the phases of the moon, and watched the seasons come and go. God had promised them “seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night”, and they were content.
Each day was a sacred gift from God.
Genesis 8:22 NIV “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
God gave Israel a calendar that was tied to the rhythm of the seasons and the history of the nation. It was an unusual calendar because it not only summarized what God had done for them in the past, but it also anticipated what God would do for them in the future. The salvation work of Jesus Christ, the founding of the church, and the future of the people of Israel. The calendar was constructed around special days.
In chapter 22, these special days are called “feasts” nine times and “holy convocations” ten times.
“Feasts” have nothing to do with eating. In fact, on the Day of Atonement, the people fasted.
Leviticus 16:1-2, 29 NIV The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you—
The word feast simply means “appointed times.” “Convocation” gives the idea that during each of these feasts, all the people met together as a congregation, but this also was not true. There were special gatherings on some of the special days, but the word means “proclamation” or “announcement.” The Lord “appointed and announced” these events, which the people faithfully had to celebrate.
There were 7 feasts they are
Passover
Unleavened Bread
First Fruits
Weeks (Pentecost happens then)
Trumpets
Day of Atonement
Tabernacles
The Jewish feasts are closely related to Israel’s spring and fall harvests and agricultural seasons. They were to remind the Israelites each year of God’s ongoing protection and provision. But, even more importantly, they foreshadowed the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Not only did they play significant roles in Christ’s earthly ministry, but they also symbolize the complete redemptive story of Christ, beginning with His death on the cross as the Passover Lamb and ending with His second coming after which He will “tabernacle” or dwell with His people forever.
THE WEEKLY SABBATH: GOD ORDERS OUR TIMES (23:1–3)
The weekly Sabbath wasn’t one of the annual feasts, but it was an important day for the Jewish people, and they were expected to honor it. To dishonor it meant death.
Leviticus 23:1-3 NIV The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. “ ‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.
God gave the Sabbath to Israel for several reasons. For one thing, it provided needed rest and refreshment for the people, the farm animals, and the land. (“Sabbath” comes from a Hebrew word that means “to rest, to cease from labor.”)
The weekly Sabbath reminded the Jews that Jehovah God was the Creator, and they were but stewards of His generous gifts.
Genesis 2:2-3 NIV By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
The Lord also ordained Sabbath years and the Year of Jubilee to keep the Jews from exploiting the land and impoverishing it.
Leviticus 25:1-5, NIV The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
8-12 “ ‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
God’s tender concern for His creation is seen in the Sabbath laws. We’ll get more into this when we get to chapter 25.
The Sabbath was also a special sign between God and His covenant people. We talked about that earlier.
Although believers today aren’t commanded to “remember the Sabbath Day” (Rom. 14:1ff.; Col. 2:16–17), the principle of resting one day in seven is a good one.
Romans 14:5-6 NIV One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Colossians 2:16-17 NIV Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
PASSOVER: THE FIRST FEAST RELATED TO CHRIST AND HIS REDEMPTIVE WORK CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS (23:4–5)
Leviticus 23:4-5 NIV “ ‘These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
Passover was the beginning of the Jewish religious year.
Passover is Israel’s feast of deliverance the key passage is Exodus 12.
Exodus 12:3, 5-7 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
The innocent lamb died for the firstborn; because the blood of the lamb was applied to the door by faith, the firstborn sons were safe. This was “the Lord’s Passover” and the only means of deliverance that He provided that awesome night when the death angel visited Egypt. To reject the blood of the lamb was to accept judgment and death.
The lamb typified Jesus Christ, who shed His blood on the cross for a world of lost sinners.
1 Corinthians 5:7 NIV Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Since the Passover lamb had to be perfect, it was chosen on the tenth day of the month and watched carefully until it was slain on the fourteenth day of the month.
The firstborn Jews in Egypt weren’t saved from death by admiring the lamb, caring for the lamb, or loving the lamb. The lamb had to be slain, and the blood applied to the doorposts of each Jewish house. We aren’t saved by Christ the Example, or Christ the Teacher. We’re saved by Christ the Substitute, who gave His life in our stead on the cross at the same hour the Passover lambs were being slain at the Jewish temple in Jerusalem at the feast.
No outsider was permitted to eat the Passover feast. You had to be either born into the family or purchased, and the men had to bear on their body the mark of the covenant which was circumcision.
Exodus 12:43-45 NIV The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: “No foreigner may eat it. Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it.
Today only someone born into God’s family through faith in Christ, purchased by His blood, and marked by the Holy Spirit as a child of the new covenant, can appropriate Jesus Christ through the Word and “feed” on Him, just like the Jews ate the Passover lamb.
Exodus 12:8-11 NIV That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
UNLEAVENED BREAD: SEPARATION FROM SIN (23:6–8)
Leviticus 23:5-8 NIV The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present a food offering to the Lord. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’ ”
For seven days following Passover, the Jews ate only unleavened bread with their meals, and they carefully cleansed all the yeast out of their homes. In many places in Scripture, leaven depicts sin.
The people weren’t saved from death and bondage by getting rid of leaven but by applying the blood of the lamb by faith. People today think they’ll be saved because they reform or get rid of a bad habit, but good as doing these things are, they can never do what only the blood of Christ can do. Salvation is through the blood of Christ alone, the sinless Lamb of God.
Sin can be secretly introduced into our lives and quietly grow so that it pollutes the inner person. One “toxic” Christian in a church body can defile the whole body if given enough time, and the toxicity is not addressed. One false doctrine, if allowed to grow, will destroy an entire ministry.
FIRSTFRUITS: CHRIST RAISED FROM THE DEAD (23:9–14)
Leviticus 23:9-14 NIV The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
The day after the Sabbath that followed Passover, which would be the first day of the week, the priest took the first sheaf of barley from the field and waved it as an offering before the Lord. It was a token that the first and the best belonged to God, and it was done before Israel reaped the harvest for themselves.
It was also an expression of gratitude to the Lord for giving the harvest and supplying their daily bread. The Jews weren’t allowed to eat of the harvest until the firstfruits had been given to the Lord.
The male lamb sacrificed as a burnt offering, at the feast, spoke of the nation’s dedication to God. The meal offering and drink offering were reminders that their two staples, bread and wine, came from God.
There is a deeper meaning to this ceremony for us, however, because Jesus Christ is described as “the firstfruits of them that slept”.
1 Corinthians 15:20 NIV But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
I talked about this in a sermon a couple of weeks ago.
Jesus also compared His death and burial to the planting of a seed.
John 12:23-24 NIV Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, 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.
and Paul carried the image further by seeing His resurrection as the harvest of the grain.
1 Corinthians 15:35-44 NIV But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. 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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Two basic truths emerge here. First, God accepted the sheaf for the whole harvest, and because the Father accepted Jesus Christ, we are accepted in Him.
Ephesians 1:3-6 NIV Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Second, the sheaf is like the harvest. The priest didn’t wave palm branches to represent the barley harvest; he waved a sheaf of barley. As the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest, Jesus Christ is now what one day His people shall be. At the “resurrection harvest,” we shall be like Him.
1 Corinthians 15:45-49 NIV So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
Philippians 3:20-21 NIV But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
1 John 3:1-3 NIV See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
The fact that this ritual took place on the first day of the week, is significant, for Jesus Christ arose from the dead on the first day of the week.
Bible Study Audio
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