I use a calendar a great deal.
As a matter of fact, I'm getting to the age that I can write it
down, look at it, and still forget it. I don't know whether that
has something to do with age or just poor use of gray matter upstairs,
but I use a calendar every day. But I'll tell you something I've
never used a calendar for. I've never used a calendar for
instruction until I came to Leviticus chapter 23, and here We have a calendar full of instruction. It is God's calendar. It is a
calendar of grace. In this 23rd chapter of Leviticus,
the Lord God gives us instruction concerning the feast of the Lord. Now, do not confuse the instruction
here given with that which might be more familiar to you in the
23rd chapter of Exodus. In Exodus 23, the Lord required
the males of Israel, all of them, to come up to Jerusalem and to
worship at Jerusalem three times every year. And those three feasts,
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits,
and the Feast of Ingathering, or Pentecost, were specific times
when Israel was required, all the males in Israel, to come
to Jerusalem to worship in Jerusalem in the house of God at the altar
of God. But these feasts that are given
to us in Leviticus 23 represent the whole course of Jewish history
year after year after year after year. So the Jewish calendar
was marked by these seven great feasts which the Lord God ordained
and here gives instruction with regard to. Now I want this morning
for us to just look at the instruction in these 44 verses very, very
lightly. I'm going to give you just the
highlights. begin to imagine trying to expound these 44 verses
fully in one or two messages. But I want us to look at the
highlights, and I want you to see these seven feasts together
as they're revealed as a unit. Because as such, they are very,
very instructive to us. This is a typical picture full
of gospel instruction. And this is the one thing I want
you to see. Each of these feasts. were typical of and representative
of our Lord Jesus Christ and his great work of grace and redemption
on our behalf. These seasons of joyful solemnity
appointed by God point to Christ's coming and to the salvation of
our souls accomplished by him. Each feast described here pointed
the children of Israel back to something they had experienced
and pointed them forward to things yet to be accomplished in the
purpose of God. Now, you can't help noticing,
if you read these verses together, read the chapter carefully, that
one feast seems to follow the other. The one commemoration
of grace led to another, and each feast seems to suggest its
successor. In other words, the feasts were
given by divine order and were specifically given to teach by
type and shadow the order of things to come. Those feasts
seem to represent the whole course of time. You look at them carefully. Everything begins with a Sabbath. And everything concludes with
the Sabbath. So that at the beginning of each
feast is a Sabbath day. At the end of each feast is the
observance of a Sabbath day. As all things began in the eternal
purpose of God Almighty resting in His glory, and as the revelation
of God began when God rested on the seventh day from all His
works that He had made, And all things shall end in that glorious
rest which Christ has prepared for us and shall accomplish for
us in everlasting glory. And everything in between is
represented in these feasts. It's representing all the wondrous
works of God's grace by which he brings us from the ruins of
the fall into the glorious liberty of the children of God in heavenly
glory. A little difficulty as you read
the chapter. Let's read verses 1 through 4
together. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, now watch
this, concerning the feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim
to be holy convocations, solemn assemblies. Even these are my
feast. Six days shall at work be done. But the seventh day is the Sabbath
of rest and holy convocation. You shall do no work therein.
It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These
are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you
shall proclaim in their seasons." Now, being the kind of inquisitive
fellow I am, when I read this, I think that seems to be out
of place. The Lord's talking to us about keeping feast. He's
talking to us about these holy convocations, about the calendar
of events in the nation of Israel. And he speaks of Sabbath days
in the very outset. Why is that? Well, the fact is,
all of these feasts represent that by which we are brought
into the glorious rest of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, the Sabbath, the Sabbath was given, and it was given only
for this purpose, only for this purpose. It was given entirely
and only to typify the Lord Jesus Christ and God's great salvation
in him. And that's what is ultimately
the end of all that is done for us in our Lord Jesus Christ by
the grace of God, everlasting salvation, blessed rest. that
rest by which God Almighty shall save our souls and find rest
in us and give us rest in him. That's what the Sabbath was all
about. Now, don't take my word for it. Let's look in the book
of God and find out. The Sabbath was a day of rest,
and all of these feasts, all of them are marked by these things.
Every feast described in this chapter had a Sabbath day or
Sabbath days surrounding it. Every feast had sacrifices, sacrifices
by which men came to God and found acceptance with Him. Every
feast then pointed to Christ and redemption by Him. And it
begins with this, which is the ultimate end of God's great sacrifice,
of God's great work of grace, and that is rest in Christ. So he begins this instruction
about the gospel by teaching us to come to him for rest. We don't keep a Sabbath day today. We insist on not doing so because
the Apostle Paul in Colossians chapter 2 absolutely forbids
it. Sunday is not the Sabbath. Never has been, never will be. John speaks of it as the Lord's
Day. It is a day we set aside for
the worship of our God, but there's nothing legal about it. Some
of our brethren in other places have somebody come in and preach
to them. They only come on Monday or Wednesday or Friday. That,
for them, is their appointed day of worship. But Sunday has
nothing to do with Sabbath keeping, nothing whatsoever. Sabbath altogether
pointed to Jesus Christ and the rest of faith in Him. Turn to
Matthew 11. Hold your hands here in Leviticus.
I don't want you to lose your place. Matthew 11. The rest of faith is the same
as the rest of complete atonement and perfect reconciliation to
God. Do you have such rest? Is there such rest and peace
in your soul before God Almighty as if You had never sinned. Such rest that God Almighty,
you know, has nothing to accuse you of. Such perfect rest that
you stand prepared now to meet God Almighty. Oh, I bid you come
to Jesus Christ and rest. Throughout these feasts, the
Lord keeps saying this thing, do no work. Do no work. Do no work. Do no work. Do no work. It's repeated throughout
the chapter in Leviticus. Why is that? Because salvation
is a cessation from work. That's what the Sabbath is all
about, Ron. God rested from His work. That means God quit working. That was the first Sabbath day,
the first Sabbath observance. And so far as God resting on
the seventh day is concerned, it just simply means He quit
working. Now here's your problem. If you have no peace with God,
if your soul is in turmoil, your problem is, I don't have any
question what it is, your problem is you're still trying to work
your way to God. What can I do to get God to be
merciful to me? It's called works. How can I
get God to save me? That's called works. Oh, but
I must pray, I must feel, I must do, I must work, I must give.
Works! Stop working or God will cut
you off forever. Come to Christ and rest. Watch this. Matthew 11, 28. Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I will give
you rest. Rest. Come to Christ and find in Him
everything God Almighty requires from sinners and everything God
gives to sinners. Rest. But it is a perpetual thing. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. and my brothers and sisters enduring
trial and hardship, you're going to never find rest. Now listen
to me. You're never going to find rest
as long as you keep trying to figure out some way to control
God's providence. Not going to happen. Well, preacher,
how do you find rest? Folks shooting people just at
random. Folks threatening, dropping bombs
of horrible disease, infectious disease, spreading it around,
killing people. Folks just at random committing
horrible crimes of violence. How on earth do you find rest?
How do you find rest with all the difficulty and turmoil and
hardship I experienced in my life. How do you find rest? When
you quit trying to control God's providence and trust Him. Look what it says. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. Bow to the yoke. Quit kicking
against God. All it'll do, David, is make
you feel a whole lot worse. You'll never have any rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in
heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, my burden is light. No good thing will he withhold
from you. I call that an easy yoke. I call
that a light burden. Surely God performeth all things
for me. So come to Christ and be at rest. The Apostle Paul of Hebrews 4
says, There remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God. And the word rest would be better
translated, there remaineth therefore Sabbath to the people of God.
So let us labor, let us strive to enter into that rest. Let
us quit working. Let us shake aside every concept
of self-worth and self-merit and rest in Christ our Redeemer
and rest in his sovereign dominion. Now, back in Leviticus chapter
23, here are these seven feasts. First, the Feast of Passover.
Verse 5, in the 14th day of the first month that even is the
Lord's Passover. Now, we don't have to guess what
this is all about, because Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 5,
7, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. The Feast of Passover
was designed of God to be a constant reminder to the children of Israel
of that great memorial night when the Lord God passed through
the land of Egypt, destroying the firstborn of all who lived
in every house in all of Egypt. Oh, but pastor, that's not right.
The Lord didn't destroy any of the Jews' children. He said he
destroyed the firstborn of every house in Egypt. Every house in
Egypt. Every one of them. But none of
those whose doorposts were marked with blood, none of those who
had blood over the lintel, none of those who were sealed behind
the blood actually died. No, they didn't. But they died
representatively in the Lamb's sacrifice whose blood was on
the doorpost and lintel. And God destroyed the firstborn
of all who lived in Egypt. Now listen to me. Listen to me.
The Lord Jesus Christ died in the room instead of his people.
And God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And
he did. He did. Those for whom the Son
of God, the Lamb of God, slain at the foundation of the world,
the Paschal Lamb of God, appointed and anointed of God and accepted
of God, that Lamb who died for our sins at Calvary, those for
whom He died shall be delivered by His grace and delivered by
His power ultimately into resurrection glory. There's no possibility
of anything other than that happening. Well, what are you teaching,
Pastor? This is what the Word of God declares. The soul that
sinneth, it shall die. That means, my buddy Josh Peterson,
you've got to die. You've got to die. You ain't
going to escape it. You ain't going to escape it.
You shall suffer the wrath of God Almighty, either personally
or in a substitute. But it can't be both. It can't
be both. No possibility to be both. Justice,
once satisfied, has no more to say. Justice, once satisfied,
demands no more. And Jesus Christ, our Passover,
was sacrificed in the room instead of his people so that those for
whom he died might be set free. And in the time of God's appointing,
The Lord God said, Abraham said, you're going to take your family
and you're going to sojourn in the land of Egypt for 400 years.
But 400 years later, after you go down into Egypt, I'm going
to bring you out again. And the Lord God sent the children
of Israel down into Egypt for 400 years. And on the night when
he calls the blood to be applied to the doorpost and the lentil,
and he passed by, and the children of Israel were preserved from
destruction, the Egyptians who had held them in bondage and
would not let them go out, and Pharaoh who would not let them
go, they came and said, say, what will it take to get you
out of here? And God Almighty made their most implacable enemies
the very instruments of their deliverance. And they shoved
them out of Egypt, giving them the gold they needed and the
silver they needed and the pots and pans they needed. And out
they went with a mighty arm and a stretched out hand. God delivered
them and finally brought them across the Red Sea. And as he
did so, as he made preparation for this, he said, now you set
up a memorial to me and you say to your sons and daughters when
they say, what's the meaning of this Passover? This is what
God did for us. Hear me, children of God. We
come together. You'll come together tonight
at the Lord's table. Eat the bread and drink the wine
in remembrance of Him, just as the children of Israel in the
Passover supper remembered the accomplishments of God, typifying
the accomplishment of redemption by Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now,
notice this. It is called the Lord's Passover. the Lord's Passover, not yours,
not the Jews, not mine, the Lord's. Why is it the Lord's Passover?
Because it spoke of his work. That which was prominent in the
Passover was a lamb and blood and deliverance. It was ordained
by God. He provided the lamb. He sacrificed
the lamb by his own decree. But that lamb that was sacrificed
was sacrificed by the hands of the very men for whom it was
sacrificed. Sound like Acts 2.23 to you?
Christ being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, you by your wicked hands have taken and crucified and
slain the Lord of glory. He was sacrificed by the will
and decree and purpose of God for his people, but he was sacrificed
by the hands of us for whom he was sacrificed. God accepted
the sacrifice and God shall be praised for the sacrifice. Now
then, look at verses six through eight. Just right on the heels
of the Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Verse 6,
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened
Bread unto the Lord. Seven days must ye eat unleavened
bread. Now this is a picture of faith
in Christ. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
was really a continuation of the Feast of Passover as is indicated
in Exodus chapter 23. On the Passover night, the children
of Israel ate the lamb. And remember, they were required
to eat the lamb that had been roasted with fire, and they were
required to eat it with their shoes on their feet, their coats
on their back, and their staff in their hand, ready to go out,
expecting deliverance. The Passover sacrifice is the
cause of which the unleavened bread is the effect. Now, let
me show you what I mean. The Passover sacrifice is the
cause of pardon. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
is the enjoyment of pardon. The Passover is the cause of
deliverance. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
is the enjoyment of deliverance. The Passover is the cause of
redemption, the accomplishment of redemption by Christ. The
Feast of Unleavened Bread is the enjoyment of redemption by
faith in Christ. Matter of fact, our Lord speaks
of himself and speaks of our faith in him in just this way.
He says, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, You have no life in you. We eat His flesh and drink His
blood by faith. That's not what we do in the
Lord's table. That's a remembrance of Him. But we by faith take
the righteousness of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ and receive
it unto ourselves and by this our lives are nourished and we
have life before God. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
then pictures faith in Christ. But don't miss the connection.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Passover are
intimately connected so much so that they hardly seem to be
divided. And whenever you come to see
the children of Israel coming these three times a year that
were set aside in Exodus 23, they call the Feast of Unleavened
Bread and the Feast of Passover by the one name Passover. How
come? Because wherever the blood was
shed, Life is given. Get it. Wherever the blood was
shed, life must be given. Hold your hands here and turn
to Galatians 3. Galatians 3. I keep stressing this. I can't
stress it adequately. I can't say it emphatically enough.
And I can't say it strongly enough. The most damning, the most blasphemous,
the most heretical, the most soul-destroying doctrine ever
to come out of hell is the notion that Christ died for somebody
who's still going to hell. To suggest such a thing is to
deny the very Godhead of Jesus Christ. I would come just as
near denying the accomplishments of Christ at Calvary as I would
denying the virgin birth of Christ. I come just as near denying that
all for whom he died shall enter into glory as I would to denying
that Jesus Christ is God, for the two are the same. They're
the same. If Jesus Christ died to redeem
somebody who's not redeemed, he died in vain and that means
he's not God and he's as worthless as any of us. But the Lord Jesus
Christ did not die in vain. Those for whom he shed his blood
came out of Egypt and were delivered by the power of God. Those for
whom he shed his blood are delivered from the bondage of sin and from
the consequences of sin into everlasting life. Look here in
Galatians 3 verse 13. Christ hath, hath redeemed us. That means
the work is done. It's done. He hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is
written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now, don't
stop reading there. You'll notice there's not a period
there. The sentence goes on. Underscore the next word, that.
Why did he redeem us from the curse of the law? Why was he
made a curse for us? Why did he bear our sins upon
the cursed tree? Why did he endure the wrath of
God to the full satisfaction of justice for us? That the blessing
of Abraham, eternal life is what he's talking about, the gift
of the Holy Spirit, that the blessing of Abraham might come
on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we who believe,
we who are born of God, might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith. as one great family, the children
of Israel, kept the Feast of Firstfruits, or the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, rather, as a holy convocation to the Lord.
They ate the bread and did no servile work during this feast. They feasted only upon unleavened
bread because leaven symbolizes and pictures sin, corruption,
and evil. But here they eat this unleavened
bread because we are saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
by his righteous obedience unto death. And we feast upon this,
resting in him perpetually. They were all brought together
and united in one holy body of redeemed souls, remembering what
God's done for them. Oh, that's how we come together
as the Church of God. one body of redeemed sinners,
all bought with the same blood, all saved by the same power,
all going to the same homeland, all feasting upon the same Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, back in Leviticus
23, verse 9. First the Feast of Passover,
then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, now the Feast of Firstfruits. Verse 10, Speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land
which I give unto you, and shall reap. It doesn't say when you
possibly come in, if you come into the land and if you reap.
It says when you come into the land and when you reap the harvest
thereof. Because I've given you the land,
because I brought you out of Egypt by my mighty arm, because
I bought you with blood, you're sure enough coming home. You
shall come into the land and you shall reap the harvest. Then
you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest
unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before
the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath. The priest shall wave it. And
you shall offer that day when you shall wave the sheaf, a lamb,
a he lamb, without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering. Now I'm going to read three or
four texts of scripture, but I want you to be turning to Romans
chapter 11. And listen carefully. We know
exactly what this is talking about. It's talking about the
resurrection of Christ and our resurrection with him, the first
fruits. The apostle tells us in 1 Corinthians
15, 23, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the firstfruits from the dead. In James 1, 18, the Lord God
says, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Firstfruits.
You folks who raise a garden or farm at all, you know exactly
what that's talking about. You plow your garden, you sow
your seed early in the spring, and you just, every day you go
out there and watch them. There comes a little blade. You
plant those tomato plants, plant those beans and the corn, watch
them. And you're just anxious, anxious.
I know Shelby's mother, she used to think it was something that
she could get fresh green beans before the 4th of July. Just
put them out early and take the chance. firstfruits. How come? The first mess of beans is pledge
of more to come. Christ is firstfruits. Our resurrection
with Christ in the new birth, we are a kind of firstfruits
unto the Lord. So that the new birth is but
the firstfruits of more to come. In Revelation chapter 14 verse
4, We're told that the redeemed of the Lord, these are the first
fruits unto God and to the land. Now watch verse 16 of Romans
chapter 11. Who's the first fruit? Who's
the first fruit? Christ is the first fruit. If the first fruit, behold, The lump is also holy. If Christ is holy, and he's the
firstfruits, and we are a kind of firstfruits unto God, if we
are the firstfruit unto God and to the Lamb, God accepts us as
holy. He accepts us with Christ for
the same reason he accepts Christ, to the same extent as he accepts
Christ. You understand that? Now look at verse 12 again, Leviticus
23, verse 12. The sheaf of firstfruits is offered
to God with the lamb a burnt offering. And you shall offer
that day when you wave the sheaf and he lamb without blemish of
the first year for a burnt offering to the Lord. What? The priest
comes and he brings the he lamb, Christ the Lord. And he comes
and brings us the first fruits, a bundle of sheaves. and presents
these worthless sheaves with this worthy lamb unto God Almighty
at the same time, and God accepts both. That's how God accepts
sinners, through the merits of Christ. All right, back to Leviticus
23 again, verses 15 through 22. I'll let you read this passage
so I can move along, but I'll give you the highlights of it.
Here's the Feast of Weeks. the Feast of Pentecost, that
is, Christ our Savior. The feast here described was
a feast kept for 50 days, seven weeks and one day, one Sabbath. It was kept 50 days after the
day of the Feast of Firstfruits had ended. It's commonly called
Pentecost simply because that stands for 50. It was held on
the 50th day. It's not called Pentecost. for
the reasons these funny folks in religion today call Pentecost,
enough said. This is the harvest of ingathering. That's what Pentecost was, ingathering. It was prophesied in Joel chapter
2, how that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh and cause
men to hear the word preached. Preached by a man with another
tongue who had never learned his language, but speaking to
these men in their own tongue, so that there was a supernatural,
powerful gift of the Holy Spirit, so that the gospel might be spread
to the Gentile world by a people of another tongue. by the Jews
themselves. And that's what it was talking
about. It was a one-time gift. It's empty. These folks who have
this gibberish rolling in their floor foam and mouth stuff, they
put on suits and ties today, but they're the same idiots they
were in the fifties when they went around and saw those tent
meetings. Same folks. It's absolutely ridiculous. Oh, but you can't say that. I'll
say it and say more if you want me to. It's absolutely ridiculous. It is just a picture. It is a
picture of how absolutely blind men are when God sends blindness. That's all on earth it is. The
Feast of Firstfruits was not talking about speaking in... It was not talking about that
stuff. The Feast of Firstfruits was
talking about an in-gathering. An in-gathering. I'm sorry, the
Feast of Weeks. Talking about an in-gathering. In other words,
the Lord said, now, you've had the firstfruits. Since you've
had the firstfruits, there's coming a day when there's going
to be an ingathering. And he gave us a foretaste of
it on the day of Pentecost, when he poured out his Spirit. In
a mighty unusual way, Christ the risen King, the firstfruits
from the dead, seated on the throne of glory, pours out His
Spirit upon His people as they were gathered in that upper room.
And on one day, with a mighty, mighty stretched out arm of grace,
God Almighty snatched 3,000 souls from destruction and said, hang
on boys, I got more to do. I got more to do. He declares
it to us in Isaiah. He says, I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone
that's called by my name, for I've created him for my glory. I formed him. I have made him. Our Lord put it this way. Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must break. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. In other words, there is a people
in this world who must and shall be saved by God's almighty grace. And God will, in His time of
love and mercy, gather each one to faith in Christ. And more
than that, He will gather them into everlasting glory with Christ,
everyone. That brings us down to verse
23, the Feast of Trumpets. This is talking about the victory,
the triumph of Christ our Lord. It speaks of the glorious triumph
of Christ proclaimed in the gospel. Verse 23. The Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In
the seventh month and the first day of the month shall you have
a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets and holy convocation. You shall do no servile work
therein. but you shall offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. Turn back to Psalm 89, or over
to Psalm 89. I have no question at all this
Feast of Trumpets is exactly what the psalmist is speaking
of in Psalm 89.15. Blessed is the people that knoweth
The joyful sound. It's talking about the preaching
of the gospel. The sounding of victory. The sounding of triumph. The sounding of success. The
declaration of a work finished and done for the glory of God. You see, contrary to popular
opinion, preaching the gospel is not good advice. It's good
news. The preaching of the gospel is
not offering men a proposition. It's declaring to men redemption.
It's not offering men an opportunity to get saved. It's declaring
to men that God Almighty, by His grace, has saved somebody.
The preaching of the gospel is the declaration of redemption
and grace accomplished by Christ. Oh, how I love the joyful sound.
I'm not a musician, but I know every note in this song by heart. And I hear it every time I hear
the trumpet blow. It is a declaration of justice satisfied, redemption
accomplished, sin pardoned and put away, righteousness brought
in, God glorified, salvation assured, grace, grace, grace,
declaring eternal salvation because Jesus Christ died and Jesus Christ
sits on the throne above. He cannot fail. Look here in
Psalm 89. Look at it. You're still there.
Verse 14. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. Boy, that's not any reason for
rejoicing. It is if you understand what
justice and judgment are. If you understand that God Almighty,
in absolute righteousness and strict justice, has judged our
sins in a substitute. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. By mercy and truth iniquity is
purged. Blessed is the people then that
know this joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. That's how we live in this world.
Rejoicing to know that mercy and truth have gone before him.
Justice and judgment have been performed in Christ our Lord.
In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness
shall they be exalted. That's the joyful sound, because
Christ died, because justice is satisfied. Now, God Almighty
has proclaimed pardon to our souls, and we shall at last be
exalted with Him through His name. That's what the Feast of
Trumpets is about. Then in verses 26 through 32,
The Lord describes for us the feast of atonements. I put it
in the plural because the word atonement in verse 27 really
should be plural, atonements. But I thought it was just one
atonement. There he is. But the word really is not atonement
at all. It's the word expiations. It's
a feast of expiations. Speaking of Christ, our reconciliation. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, expiated our sins, He sat down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken
away our sins. He has taken away God's wrath. He has taken away judgment from
us. He has taken away condemnation. He comes in the power of His
grace and slays the enmity that's in our hearts by nature. And
in resurrection glory, He shall at last present us faultless
before the presence of God. So the Word is talking about
reconciliation. It's not talking just about the
accomplishment of redemption by the sacrifice of Christ, but
it's talking about the reconciliation of our souls to God. But it's
even more than that. There is a time coming, spoken
of by all the prophets since the foundation of the world,
called the time of the restitution of all things. A time when Christ,
the mediator, shall gather together in one all things under God.
A time when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. When every
creature shall speak His praise. Even the dead in hell and the
demons of hell and Satan himself shall fall down at His feet and
worship Him and everything shall redound to the praise and glory
of Him who sits on the throne. That's what's spoken of here.
It's a feast of atonements, of expiations. Then cometh the end,
when he shall have delivered up the kingdom unto God the Father,
and shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and all power. This feast of trumpets was a
prelude to the proclamation of liberty. Turn over to Romans
8 for just a minute. Romans 8. I'll be done in just
a minute. Verse 18. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us. Oh, my soul, if we could
get a little bit of that. Set your heart on things above
and just kind of forget about things down here that give you
so much trouble. Just kind of forget about them. What's my little headache? What's my little bereavement?
What's my little pain? What's my little temporary setback? I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to even be thought about,
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the
creation. The earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made
subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has
subjected the same in hope. Because the creature, the creation
itself, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. Now then, back in our
text again. Leviticus 23, 33-43. The Lord describes here the Feast
of Tabernacles. The Lord spoke to Moses saying,
verse 34, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth
day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for
seven days unto the Lord. Hear the children of Israel.
were reminded how that God caused them to dwell in booths. But
they were reminded of more than that. When they dwelt in their
little old pup tents, and they broke down the boughs of the
trees and they made them a little booth to dwell in, God dwelt
with them in the pillar of cloud and in the pillar of fire. It's a picture, a foretaste of
everlasting glory with Christ our inheritance when God shall
dwell with men and the tabernacle of God shall be with men. The feast of tabernacles was
held in the Jews commonly called the eighth day. the great day
of the feast. And this shall be the great day
of time, when time shall be no more. Our Lord Jesus, who came
to fulfill all these types, very significantly, we're told in
John chapter 7, verse 37, on the great day of the feast. He
looked at all these people. The Feast of Tabernacles was
over and they were coming away from their meaningless, ritualistic
religion at Jerusalem. And the Lord Jesus, with passionate
heart for their souls, lifted up His voice and He said, If
any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. And I shall
give him Living water, it shall be in his belly, a well of living
water, springing up and everlasting life. And that living water was
what the Jews ignorantly thought about and practiced portraying
with waters from the Pool of Siloam in their celebration of
the feast, when the water of life was standing in front of
them. Now, look at Revelation 21. Let me show you what this
is all about. This Feast of Tabernacles. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
And He will dwell with them. And they shall be His people.
And God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more