For several weeks, I've been
bringing messages to us from this chapter. And as we see in
verses one and two, the Lord spoke these words to Moses, gave
this law concerning the feast and the holy convocations, that
is the assembly together. verses 1 and 2, and the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them concerning the feast of the Lord, which
you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are
my feast. Since all the scripture speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ and some aspect of his work of redemption,
we've looked at these feasts, hoping and praying to see Christ. And we've looked at five of the
feasts so far. Tonight, we're going to look
at the last three that are mentioned. The first one of these last three
is the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets, if you will, down in verse 23. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh
month, in 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." We notice in those two verses about this
feast, it was observed on the first day of the seventh month. And no matter which day of the
week that first day of the seventh month fell upon, it would be
observed to be a Sabbath. That is, concerning the law given
of the Sabbath, that they were to do no work on this day. Now, this is the first time and
the only time that These feasts are referred to as a memorial. If you notice in verse 24, speaking
to the children of Israel, saying in the seventh month, in the
first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial. We haven't seen that concerning
any of these other feasts. It was to be a memorial. One
thing that is somewhat confusing is that this first day of the
seventh month was actually the first day of the year. It was
New Year's Day. The first day of the seventh
month was New Year's Day because when God gave Moses the law concerning
the Passover. He said there, and this is found
in Exodus chapter 12, this month shall be unto you the beginning
of months. This month, the month in which
they observed the Passover, God told Moses that this month would
be the beginning of months. What month was that? Well, in
Exodus chapter 13 and verse four, We read, this day came ye out
in the month Abib, A-B-I-B. Now when they came back out of
captivity, this month's name was changed to Nisan, N-I-S-A-N. What the seventh month was, when
from that beginning of months, the Passover, they counted seven
months. That's when this feast was to
be observed, a memorial, but it was the first day of the year. That's kind of confusing, isn't
it? I've told you before in these studies that they had two calendars. They had one religious calendar
that went by the moon. What do you call it? I can't think of the word, but
phases, the phases of the moon. And another calendar that they
measured the years by, they counted the years by. So this, this feast,
the feast of blowing of trumpets was on the first day of the seventh
month, which was the first day of a new year. So what was this
a memorial of? There are several different opinions
about that. Some believe it was a memorial
just giving thanks unto the Lord since it was the first day of
the year, first day of a new year, giving thanks to God for
the blessings of the past year. Because this was at the end of
the year when all the fruit would have been gathered in from the
fields, all of the increase that God had given them. Some see
this because it follows the Feast of Pentecost, that's the one
we looked at last time, that it is in anticipation. This is a feast, they say, that
God gave, which was really in anticipation of the Lord's return. The Feast of Pentecost, we know,
was when the Lord Jesus Christ poured out His Spirit upon His
church. From that day until tonight,
we haven't heard the trumpet blowing. You say, what trumpet
is that? When the Lord returns again.
Because the scripture says in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 52,
when this takes place, when the Lord comes again in a moment
and the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed. Others say, no, it wasn't a memorial
of the old year passing and the blessings of God in that year.
It isn't given in anticipation of the Lord coming, but it was
in anticipation of the way they conquered of Jericho. Remember how they came around
Jericho, marched around it, blowing of trumpets, the ram's horns
that they were to blow. And they said that these trumpets
were to be ram's horns made into trumpets. Without being dogmatic,
and since it is a memorial, as I looked at this, could it be
a memorial to God coming down on Mount Sinai. Because if you
look back with me into the book of Exodus chapter 19 and chapter
20, as I said, without being dogmatic, could this be a memorial
of God coming down and giving his law to the nation of Israel? Remember, Paul in Romans tells
us that one of the greatest blessings of the Israelites, of the nation
of Israel, was to them was given the oracles of God. And we know
the oracles of God, the law of God, at least, was given unto
Moses when the Lord came down. And there was a blowing of a
trumpet to two places in chapter 19. And verse 16, we read, and
it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there
were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount
and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud so that all the
people that was in the camp trembled. Feast of the blowing of the trumpets. Could it have reference to the
Lord coming down on Mount Sinai? Look in chapter 20 there of Exodus
and verses 18 and 19. And all the people saw the thunderings
and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountains
smoking. And when the people saw, they
removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak
thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us,
lest we die. You know, this is the one time
the nation of Israel did something right. This is the one time when
they did something right. They called for a mediator. They
recognized that they could not deal themselves with God. that
God, the holy being that he is, and man, the sinful being that
we all are, we need a mediator, lest we die. They said, Moses, you hear what
God has to say, and you tell us, and we'll speak to God through
you. So it could be, I just suggest
that, that the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets could have been a
memorial of God coming down and giving his law to the nation
of Israel. Now, the second feast that we
see in these verses tonight is the Feast of Atonement. Go back
to Leviticus 23 with me. The Feast of Atonement, beginning
with verse 26. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Also in the tenth day of this seventh month there shall
be a day of atonement. It shall be an holy convocation
unto you, and you shall afflict your souls, an offering, offering
made by fire unto the Lord. And you shall do no work in that
same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement
for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be
that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut
off from among the people. And whatsoever soul it be that
doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy
from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work.
It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
In all your dwellings it shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest,
and you shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month,
and even from even unto even shall you celebrate your Sabbath. So this next to the last feast,
there was three feasts in this seventh month. The feast of the
blowing of trumpets on the first day of the month, and now the
feast of atonement on the tenth day. One of the things that we
notice reading these verses concerning this feast is they were commanded
to afflict their souls. We haven't seen that before in
any of these feasts. They were never commanded to
afflict their souls, but now they are, which most of the writers
believe it means that they were to fast on this day. but not
just to fast, not just to deny themselves from food, but to
afflict their souls by repentance and humiliation for sin. It was also, we say, to be a
Sabbath day. They were not to do any work
on this day. But what is the first thing that
comes into your mind When we read this word atonement, the
feast of atonement, what is the first thing that comes into your
mind? Well, look back into chapter 17. I believe this is the thing
that would always come into our mind when we read the word atonement,
chapter 17 and verse 11, where the Lord through Moses to the
nation of Israel said, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. When you go to the hospital,
what is the thing they do? They take blood samples, don't
they? Why do they do that? Because they can tell so much
about your body and what's going on in your body by your blood.
Just like the Lord said, the life of the flesh is in the blood,
but that's not my point. And I've given it to you upon
the altar, here it is, to make an atonement for your souls. The blood, the first thing that
comes into our mind when we think about atonement is that God established
that an atonement for sin had to be made with blood, with blood. The word atonement, it literally
means covering. When Noah built the ark, he pitched
the ark inside and out, and that's the same word that is translated
atonement. It covered it, covered the ark,
inside and out. And the word atonement means,
of course, to cover our sins. But I like to break it down into
those three words, don't you? At-one-ment. That's what atonement
means, at-one-ment. And the only way that we, as
sinners that we are, are ever brought into at-one-ment with
God, reconciled to God, is through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, in Leviticus chapter 16,
we're not going to go through the ceremony that was given there. I just briefly want to remind
us of it. The high priest, You know, the
high priest had those beautiful garments. God told him how to
make them for beauty and for glory. And I've read this, that
when Alexander the Great conquered Palestine, that the high priest
went out of Jerusalem and he was dressed in his beautiful
robes for glory and for beauty. And really because of that, Alexander
did not sack the city. He did not destroy Jerusalem. The robe was so beautiful. But
on the Day of Atonement, he took that robe off. He didn't wear
that robe. This is a day for work. What
kind of work? Making an atonement. And what
he would do, first of all, he'd put on linen. And we know linen,
white linen, is a picture of righteousness, right? The righteousness
of the saints. And this high priest would put
on linen garments and he would, first of all, take blood from
a bullock and go into the holy place. The only day in the year
he ever went into that most holy place And he would sprinkle blood
from that bullock on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat
to make an atonement for his sin. That was the first work
of the day. And then he'd come back out,
you know, and the congregation would have two goats there, and
they would cast lots. And one lot would be for the
Lord's goat, and one lot would be for the scapegoat. lot that
fell upon the goat, which was called the Lord's goat, then
that goat has to be slain and its blood is caught. And once
again, with blood, the blood of that goat and incense, he
would open up that veil, remember, and go underneath into the most
holy place and sprinkle that blood upon the mercy seat and
before the mercy seat, and then he'd come back out and he'd go
to that live goat, the scapegoat, and he'd lay his hands on him.
You know, that's the way the Lord pictured faith in those
sacrifices in Leviticus, isn't it? When a man brought a sacrifice,
a burnt offering or a sin offering, what would he do? He'd put his
hands on it. He'd lean upon it. I was thinking
of that course that we've sung before, learning to lean, learning
to lean. Oh my, leaning by faith, laying
our sins upon Christ. That was pictured there. But
anyway, the high priest would lay his hands on the head of
that live goat and always been impressed. He would confess the
sins, the iniquities and the transgressions. There's somewhat difference between
those three things. Sins, transgressions, and iniquities. And then that man that had been
chosen, an honest man, a good man, he would lead that goat
off. And they were never to see that
goat again. A pitcher, right? Took two goats
to pitcher the Lord Jesus Christ, his one offering. that he bore
our sins in his own body on the tree, and he took them away. The Feast of Atonement, they
were to observe that every year, and that was the only time, and
in Hebrews it points this out, the only time the priests went
into that most holy place, not without blood. Not without blood. What would have happened if a
priest had dared go in there without blood? We'd have been
slain immediately. Why? Because that mercy seat,
that's where the Shekinah glory, that was really the throne of
God. God dwelt there. We go to the
Lord tonight on a throne of grace. When we approach Him in prayer,
We call upon him on a throne of grace, and the reason it's
a throne of grace is because the Lord Jesus Christ has made
an atonement for our sins. Here's the third, the last feast,
the Feast of Tabernacles, beginning with verse 33. And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles
for seven days unto the Lord. So we have three feasts in this
seventh month. The Feast of the Blowing of Trumpets
on the first day, the Feast of Atonement on the tenth day, and
the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day. On the first day
shall be an holy convocation. You shall do no servile work
therein. Seven days you shall offer an
offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall
be an holy convocation unto you, and you shall offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly. and
you shall do no servile work therein. These are the feasts
of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations,
to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering,
a meat offering, a sacrifice and drink offering, everything
upon his day. Beside the Sabbaths of the Lord,
and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all
your freewill offerings, which you give unto the Lord. Also,
in the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered
in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast unto the Lord
seven days. On the first day shall be a Sabbath,
and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. You shall take you
on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm
trees, and boughs of fig trees, and willows of the brook, and
you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You
shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever
in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the
seventh month. And you shall dwell in booths
seven days. All that are Israelites born
shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made
the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them
out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Moses
declared unto the children of Israel the feast of the Lord. This feast of tabernacles lasted
for seven days. It's also, in Exodus, it's called
the feast of ingathering because it was after all the produce
and all the crops had been gathered in at the beginning of the year. Something I point out to us in
this feast in verse 40, and you shall rejoice. Notice that, you shall rejoice
before the Lord your God seven days. Some people have the idea
that Being a Christian means that a person never has any joy,
that he doesn't rejoice. God commanded his people to rejoice. And if anyone in this world has
any cause to rejoice, it's a child of God. Right? I mean, we have every reason
to rejoice tonight in Christ, and we're commanded to do that.
But they were to rejoice in this feast. They were to dwell, it
would take a big, branches off of trees and they would make
some kind of lean-to or something that have to live out there like
campings. Some of you like to go camping.
Well, they had to camp out every year for seven days in these
booths. But notice in verse 43 what he
said, what God told Israel that he would accomplish by this. that your generations may know. In other words, this was going
to be an object lesson. We all like object lessons, don't
we? Children, especially, and the
children of Israel. This is going to serve, God says,
as an object lesson to the generation. In other words, the children
that are born in your generations. You know, someone said one time,
it only takes one generation to lose the gospel. And I believe
that. It only takes one generation
for a people to lose the gospel. Brother Henry Mahan said one
time, usually the first generation has the truth, the second generation
has the ceremony, and the third generation has nothing. the first
generation. Well, we're commanded to teach
our children and in Deuteronomy chapter six, you
know, God told the nation of Israel to teach their children.
We were talking last Sunday morning before anyone got here, except I think
Pauline and Pat and I, we were talking back in the fellowship
hall. No, it was Saturday when they were decorating. Angie was
here. But we're talking about teaching children. And I pointed
out, I said, we tried to teach our children to give. I mean,
you want to teach your children. There's a lot of things you want
to teach them. Teach them the word of God. But teach your children
to give. You give them an allowance or
a certain amount of money every week or every month or something
like that. Let them know that they should
give that to the Lord. Part of it, not all of it of
course, but a portion. There's so many things we teach
our children and we're supposed to teach them from the Word of
God. God gave this object lesson to
the nation of Israel for them to live in these booths for seven
days. And I noticed these three things
that they would be taught. First of all, that your generations
may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths.
Now notice, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, that's
the first thing. You're going to teach your children
that salvation is of the Lord. You didn't bring yourself out
of Egypt. You were slaves in Egypt. You
were servants there. And the bondage was severe, wasn't
it? They had to make brick and work
in the fields making brick and finally without any straw even.
They had hard taskmasters. And all sin and Satan is a hard
taskmaster. But teach your children, first
of all, that salvation is of the Lord. I brought you out of
Egypt. You didn't bring yourself out
of Egypt. The second thing, that the Lord is your God. Notice
that. I made the children of Israel
to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God. Now, there's only one true and
living God, And in that sense, he is the God of the whole earth.
That he is everyone's God. Everyone will stand before him.
In judgment, we recognize that. But there are some people in
this world who know him as their God. Remember our Lord Jesus
told Mary, go to my disciples and tell them that I send unto
my God and your God, my Father and your Father. Yes, teach your
children that our God is different. He's a jealous God. He's a good
God. Oh, there's just so many wonderful
things about God to teach our children, the attributes, the
characteristics of God. And then the last thing, the
third thing, I believe it doesn't state it here, but What the Lord
is teaching them is He provided for them. They knew that for
40 years they were in the wilderness. For 40 years, they never plowed
a field. They never sowed any seed in
the ground. And yet they were provided for. Water is essential, right? I
mean, you can't live a day or two without water. Well, there
was no water there, but God opened up water out of the rock, which
pictures, of course, Christ, who is the water of life. And man needs bread, needs food. And God, for 40 years, sustained,
some people believe, way over a million people. Way over a
million people. Can you think, in Houston, there's,
I think, four or five million people. How many train loads
and 18-wheeler, 40-foot van loads of food come into this city every
day? What it would take to sustain
this nation for 40 years. Well, God's able, isn't He? And
He did. That's another thing they were
being taught, I believe, what God provided. And God will always
provide for his children. He's given us that promise. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto thee. Amen. Let's sing a hymn before
we're dismissed.