Celebrating the Lord Throughout the Year—Leviticus 23

Pinterest just emailed that they were “updating” their privacy policy. I didn’t read the email since I hardly ever use Pinterest. I’m sure any changes they have made are inconsequential to me, but of course, I don’t know that. However, when my retirement community changes (updates) its rules, I carefully read the notices. One of the reasons some people don’t want to live in a retirement community is because of the rules. But we all live by rules; it’s just a matter of whose rules they are. I am sure you have a rule in your home that trash goes in a trash can and not somewhere else, right? And, of course, there’s the rule that certain things shall not be brought inside the house, such as a dirty shovel or dead animals (like the mouse your cat caught and wants to show you.) Most human-made rules are reactions to whatever someone did that resulted in a problem, to prevent further problems. God, however, did not need to wait for his people to cause problems—he knew their inclinations to do what others did. When we think we are being wise according to the world, we should remember that “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile” (1 Corinthians 3:20). In the wilderness, God instructed Moses about his good rules for Israel’s feasts to be observed during the year, to remember Him, His grace to them, and presence with them. He was preparing Israel for a long history with him as His unique nation, but Israel failed. For four hundred years, God was silent. When Christ appeared on the scene in human flesh, he did all that God required for us to have a long history with him. But, do we celebrate the Spirit’s presence with us, immerse ourselves in his Word, and eagerly worship Him? Do we rejoice, knowing He will return to complete His salvation for the world?

Remembering the Lord on the Sabbath

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts…for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, besides the Lord’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.’” (Leviticus 23:1-2, 37-38) “This chapter…[focuses] on the Lord’s holy times and. in particular, when and how to observe them…[and] begins with the weekly holy time (the Sabbath) and then turns to annual holy times…During these annual holy times, seven days in particular are identified as days of rest. This brings a Sabbath feel to the entire year and thus a constant reminder of the covenant the Sabbath signifies……With his typical grace, the Lord commands the Israelites to proclaim their loyalty to him in a way that brings them blessing (needed rest and refreshment).” (1) “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.” (Leviticus 23:3) “God made us to be seekers of joy and pleasure, and He intends for us to seek joy and pleasure in Him. God’s Word compels us to build all of life around Him and direct all of life to Him. When we are happy we express thanks to Him; when we are working we talk with Him and work for His glory; with our families we talk about Him; when we are depressed, lonely, or worried we cry out to Him; our free time is for His glory and in accord with His command we gather with God’s people weekly to offer worship to Him.” (2)

Remembering the Lord in the Beginning of the Year

Perhaps the Sabbath observance for Israel became routine, automatic, or mundane, as it does for us sometimes. There were other “feasts” or “festivals” which God established to draw close to him, to remember not only who he is but what he had done and will continue to do for his people. The year started with the Passover and Feast of Unleaved Bread (usually combined today as the Passover). “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.” (Leviticus 23:5-6) “By [celebrating the Passover] in the first month, they began their year by declaring that the Lord is a God who saves…The New Testament writers use the Passover to explain the death of Jesus, who was crucified at the same general time as the Passover and is described as ‘our Passover lamb’ (1 Cor. 5:7). It is a fitting metaphor, since Jesus’ sacrifice also delivers us from the Lord’s judgment and leads us out of sin’s slavery into adoption as the Lord’s children.” (3) “Of the 365 days God could have chosen for Jesus’ crucifixion, God arranged for Him to be crucified by the decision of wicked men on the Friday afternoon when the lambs were killed in preparation for the Festival of Passover…Jesus delivers from slavery all people who put their faith in Him…from slavery to sin, self, and the Devil…In the timing of Jesus’ death and resurrection God has given us physical, historical illustrations of what He did in Jesus.” (4) Today, many Christians remember Christ’s sacrifice especially on Christmas and Easter. But we are to celebrate the Spirit’s presence with us and eagerly worship every Sabbath and Lord’s Supper—and hopefully, even, every day, from the beginning of the year to its end.

Remembering the Lord of the Harvest

“When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest…And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.” (Leviticus 23:10, 14) “Thankfulness is one of the first emotions to evaporate; this requirement made sure the Israelites gave proper thanksgiving and honour to their bountiful King enjoying his generous provision.” (5) “Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the firstfruits were offered.” (6) Another celebration of the harvest was the Pentecost celebration. “You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord…as firstfruits to the Lord. And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams…You shall hold a holy convocation…And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 23:16-22) “On the Pentecost after the death and resurrection of Jesus, was there a harvest? Yes, the second chapter of Acts says that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the church. Acts 2:41 says, ‘That day about 3,000 people were added to them.’ Those new Christians were the harvested fruit of the continuing ministry of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It was a harvest of souls.” (7) Now we believers are the harvest of the Lord, so we celebrate not only all the spiritual harvests that the Lord has provided but all those that are to come, bringing his elect into Christ’s kingdom.

Celebrating God’s Presence and Peace

“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.’” (Leviticus 23:24) “In contexts in which trumpets are blown, it is to acknowledge and request the Lord’s help. The blowing of the trumpets was therefore a musical prayer acknowledging and requesting the Lord’s favour. And since the Lord is the one commanding them to do this, it is his assurance that he will hear their prayer.” (8) “The New Testament says that one day God will order trumpets to be blown to herald the arrival of Jesus and the gathering of His church to His side (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The book of Revelation also says that during God’s judgment at the end of this age, seven angels will blow seven trumpets to signal that God’s judgment has arrived.” (9) After the Festival of Trumpets came the most solemn holy day, the Day of Atonement.** “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:27-28) “[Verses 26-32] emphasize the importance of observing this day, repeating twice the punishment for those who do not observe it, three times that the people must deny (or ‘humble’) themselves on it, and three times that people must do no work on it. This emphasis is no surprise: this is the day on which the people’s sins and impurities were cleansed and removed so that they could continue in covenant fellowship with their holy Lord. Those who did not observe this day were denying either the Lord’s holy hatred of sin or their desperate need of his cleansing and forgiveness (or both). Either way, they were fundamentally rejecting their covenant Lord and their need of him. But those who did observe this day could rest assured that the Lord had cleansed them fully. The holy God who is offended by sin is also the compassionate and gracious God who delights to cleanse and forgive it.” (10) We have no greater memory than Christ’s perfect obedience, sacrifice, and resurrection for our forgiveness and victory over sin.

Remembering God’s Deliverance

One of my most vivid childhood memories is watching our Orthodox Jewish neighbors create a booth in which they would eat for seven days during Sukkoth. This was a significant celebration for Israel after God delivered the nation from enslavement in Egypt. “On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord…And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice…You shall celebrate it as a feast to the eighth for seven days in the year…You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” (34, 39-40, 43) “In the feast of Tabernacles there was a remembrance of their dwelling in tents, or booths, in the wilderness, as well as their fathers dwelling in tents in Canaan; to remind them of their origin and their deliverance. Christ’s tabernacling on earth in human nature, might also be prefigured. And it represents the believer’s life on earth: a stranger and pilgrim here below, his home and heart are above with his Savior.” (11)

“Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:44) “When the Israelites forgot that the Lord was their powerful and gracious King, they doubted his care for them and became quick to grumble and disobey. The Lord therefore provides constant reminders of his character and actions in these holy times…the Lord instituted these times to help the Israelites remember his power and grace, enabling them to respond to him with appropriate dependence, obedience and worship. What is more, he did not want the Israelites to come before him simply as individuals; he made these times holy’ gathereings.’ The Lord always calls individuals into a body of covenant keepers, knowing that all believers need brothers and sisters to strengthen and encourage them to live as his holy people. Given these realities, it is no surprise that Jesus institutes a regular feast—the Lord’s Supper—to do in remembrance of him as a regular proclamation of his powerful and gracious act of salvation for his people, a reminder that enables them to respond to him with appropriate dependence, obedience, and worship.” (12) “How should we live differently in light of God’s revealed truth in Leviticus 23?…The sacred calendar of the old covenant says that knowing God is good, life’s blessings come from Him, and going into His presence is a feast…The Dutch statesman and theologian Abraham Kuyper once famously said, ‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christs, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: “Mine!”‘ To paraphrase Kuyper, there is not a split second in all our existence over which Christ does not claim ownership!” (13) We, Christ’s beloved, gladly live by God’s holy, sovereign rule through Christ’s intercession and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.” (1 John 2:28)

Related Scripture: Exodus 12:25-27, 43-50; 23:14-17; 31:12-17; 34:6-7a, 18-24; Numbers 10:1-10; Deuteronomy 16:1-17; 26:10-11; Proverbs 3:9-10; Micah 7:19; Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; John 1:29; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 John 1:9-10.

Notes:

** For a detailed devotion on the Day of Atonement, see my blog “Rejoicing For Atonement—Leviticus 16,” April 28, 2023.

1. Sklar, Jay, “Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary,” Leviticus 23, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP Academic, 2014.

2. Moseley, Allen, “Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Christ-Centered Exposition Series,” Leviticus 23, B&H Publishing Group, 2015.

3. Sklar, Ibid.

4. Mosley, Ibid.

5. Sklar, Ibid.

6. Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, Leviticus 23, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn/leviticus-23.html.

7. Mosley, Ibid.

8. Sklar, Ibid.

9. Mosley, Ibid.

10.Sklar, Ibid.

11.Henry, Ibid.

12. Sklar, Ibid.

13. Mosley, Ibid.

June 22, 2023