Feasting on the Blessings of God

So how many feasts are there in the bible? Some people say 8, some 7 and because of this it gets a little confusing.  The big picture lesson may get a  little blurred. God is always teaching, either directly or through foreshadowing, proverbially or in figures. So when I ran across the following verses in Exodus, things seemed to simplify for me.

Exodus 23:14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) 16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.

In the first feast listed, the Feast of the unleavened bread, Passover and the barley harvest can be included. It was a feast celebrating the Exodus from Egypt. This meant deliverance and an escape for God's people. Jesus Christ is our passover today.

The second feast is called: the Day of Harvest and the Day of Firstfruits. A good study of 'firstfruits' yields utter perfection and reason for this description. The Feast of Weeks is involved the wheat harvest. For the Hebrews it was a day commemorating the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai and God's presence in the holy of holies in the Exodus tent. In the New Testament, those that are Christ's are considered the 'firstfruits' of God's beautiful grace through a spiritual relationship. The veil to the holy of holies dividing God from His people was ripped in half.

The last feast was The Ingathering. It was the celebration of the final harvest. This included the trumpet announcement, day of atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles (booths). For the Hebrew this was a remembrance of God's oversight throughout the 40 years in the wilderness. The parallel under the New Covenant involves the gathering together of 1st Thessalonians, the judgements, and the ultimate reign of Christ.

I like the way God maps out his plan: deliverance, firstfruits and conclusion. God has provided an escape out of bondage and corruption. Those who believe in his provision are blessed and receive power. Finally, in the grand scheme of all things everything is set right and we all live happily ever after!

Maybe I'm being a little simplistic, but it is a simple framework and a story of eternity. Each feast has additional embellishments and plans, but basically the big picture and results are the same. It fits nicely into my brain!

Check out Leviticus 23!!

Burnt Offering and Peace Offering

After the listing of the ten commandments, God mentions the 'burnt' offering and the 'peace' offering. There are other types of offerings but He specifically calls attention to these two. They both involve the sweet smelling savor to God and they are voluntary offerings:

Exodus 20:22 And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

It is interesting that God prescribes an 'altar of earth' rather than a tooled man-made structure as the altar of these sacrifices. No gold, no silver, no man-made designs were to be involved. God even goes so far as to call it pollution.

Offerings provide lessons and foreshadowing. A 'burnt' offering implies 'ascending'. It is a symbol of commitment and devotion. A flame burns upward. On Pentecost, there were tongues like as a fire that sat on the heads of the apostles as they sat in the temple 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These men recognized Christ's Lordship and were committed to all the provision of God through His son. It heralded in the receiving of the holy spirit. What came out of their mouths was perfect praise and thanksgiving to God. The 'peace' offering heralds thanksgiving, praise, and vows because of the peace provided by God. God delights in these offerings.

As with the commandments, God offers protection, guidance and instruction through what he lays out. We can clearly see what he values and enjoys.

In Awe!

Very basic and the starting place to understand God- "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"- Ok, so the Hebrew says 'God in the beginning'..... regardless this still is a very humbling concept.

Seeking and Finding - From the Strait and Narrow

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The word 'find' in the above verse is interesting. It's a Greek word which means 'discover'. Used alone is usually has a sense of 'not seeking'. The same word in used in previous verses: Matthew 7:7,8.
In these two verses 'seeking' is included in the verse and a prerequisite to finding. Without seeking, few people will discover what they are looking for.

Strait and Narrow

Sometimes it is hard to cut ties with something you have been involved with for a long time. Whether it is a change of job, a change in location or a change in affiliations, change is hard. The Israelites in Exodus had a difficult time leaving Egypt despite the hard times they had there. Even as they were on their way, they questioned whether they were doing the right thing.

Strait doesn't mean straight!

In the the record labeled 'The Beatitudes', Jesus talks about a lot of very practical things about life. When I was thinking about the records of Exodus, a couple of verses popped into my mind and I dug in and found some gold.

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The gate can be strait (small) or wide and the way can be narrow (link-compressed, hemmed in) or broad (spacious). There are a couple of ways one can look at this verse: from the legal point of view or the love point of view, or both. From a purely legal point of view only it sounds hard, but when a person understands God as a loving Father it makes so much sense.

Yup, the gate is small and the the road it leads to can be pressed in, but the pressure is not from God.  Jesus Christ is the way, that was God's decision. The world is full of forces pressing in on human lives, just turn on the current news and see. Pressure starts the moment we get up and there is a broad spacious avenue that tantalizes us to deal with it in various ways. Life is not easy because of the pressure of evil that strives and vies for the dominion of the world. That doesn't change the fact that there is a gate to the way to life that the Father lovingly provides us with.

Sometimes those pressures make us feel like God is not around, that He is not real or that he doesn't love us. We should push back those thoughts. Making Jesus Christ Lord and believing that God got him out of death is the wall that holds back the pressure big or small. Jesus Christ was  and is God's plan. There's a lot that has been written, interpreted, theorized  and opined about him, but God is the ultimate authority on him. The gate is small and there is pressure on the way it leads to, but we are to trust God and therein we truly find life that is exceedingly abundant (John 10:10).

At the side a narrow driveway, brush and greenery needs to be constantly clipped back or it will overgrow the roadway or at the very least, scratch the side of your car.  Sometimes I just hate to cut back raspberry bushes, but it has to be done.  Sometimes in our spiritual lives we need to clip back the branches that grow into our path and move on ahead. When it was time for the exodus this was true for Moses and his crew.

The Ten Commandments

While the Israelites stayed near Mt Sinai, Moses ascended and descended Mt Sinai several times. It was after one such descent he brought back the 10 commandments from God. This occurred after Moses had already divided them up in groups and put rulers over the groups.

The ten commandments are pretty simple. The first four listed have to do with loving God and the second group with loving each other. Later on, Jesus Christ narrowed the ten down into the same two basic categories. 

As Moses was sharing them with all the people, they saw thunder and lightening, heard the noise of the trumpet and saw the mountain smoking. Scary! They were panicked:

Exodus 20:19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Moses's answer was comforting:

20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

God wanted them to remember how he had brought them out of bondage.  He wanted them to know Him. He didn't want them to be afraid but He also wanted their respect (also written as 'fear') so that they would benefit from His love as he provided the best way to live. Remember all the complaining these guys had done. They almost went back to the grind again. Sin is missing the target that brings the best results.

God created this world.  I should think He knows how to run it best. If it were up to natural man, he would redesign all of creation (and continues to try to do this). These commandments are not grievous. Just love the God who has blessed us so much already and don't do your neighbor in.

In the gospels, there is a record of a rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16ff, Mark10:17ff, Luke 18:18ff) who asked about eternal life. Some of the commandments are mentioned in this dialogue between Jesus and the young guy, the ones dealing with loving one another. The young ruler says he had done all those commandments from his youth. Jesus establishes in that record at the very start that there is none good but God. He told the ruler that if he wanted to be mature, he should sell everything he had and give to the poor. This young man was proud of himself to the point of it being a stumbling block. I don't know what happened to this guy later on after the resurrection, but pride was a challenge to him as his life seemed to be all about him. Eternal life is based on "What I trust" rather than "What must I do".

Who are These Guys? Road To Emmaus Revisited

The record of the road to Emmaus has always amazed me. Luke records the journey in Luke 24:

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory. 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. 36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

I don’t think I ever really looked at verses 28 and 29 closely. It is interesting that Jesus acted as if he was going on and leaving them at this point. However, they constrained him. Jesus hadn’t tried to persuade them; he simply just shared God’s word. By their own free choice they wanted to hear more. They had been blessed by his expounding of the scriptures from Moses, the prophets and the Messiah. Can you imagine how illuminating that would have been? When they broke bread together, the men put it all together as their eyes were open, and then Jesus vanished. They were deeply moved (big case of heartburn, the good kind) and returned to Jerusalem to join the disciples. It is so interesting that these two men were back with the others when Jesus came in and stood in the midst of them. Not much else is said about these guys, so we don’t know really who they were, but it is interesting to think about the length and substance of the record of their interaction with the risen Christ!

Question: How is Christ building his church today? Would love your thoughts.

Good Advice

Sometimes challenge drops a huge heavy invisible veil around us. It can be suffocating and stifling.
It accelerates drama and raps a huge band around us. Actually, it is a dark bubble that needs to to pop. I always could quote 'Light dispels darkness', but when I finally decided to get after it in practice, I was amazed.  'Light dispels darknes!' It is that simple.

Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings (listen). Let them not depart from thine eyes (focus); keep them in the midst of thine heart (put them at the center of your heart). For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Advice and Stress

Jethro was a Kenite and a priest of Midian. He was probably a descendent of Abraham through Keturah. He had seven daughters and had an extensive flock.  He is mentioned in Exodus 2:18-21 and  is referred to as 'Reuel'.

And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

 Jethro reappeared later (recorded in chapter 18) when he visited Moses during the exodus and was excited about how God was helping the Israelites. He rejoiced in the God of Moses.

At that time Moses was burning the candle at both ends trying to take care of all those people. They had struggles and problems and there were a lot of them! Some people might ask the question: 'If God was delivering His people, why all the hassle?" Go back and read Genesis 3 again. In verse 19 God told Adam (among other things):

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,

In other words, He told Adam that because he has listened to the 'sneaky snake' there would be stress. Stress in our lives should come as no surprise. It is everywhere in this world. In the original paradise, in the garden of Eden, work existed but there was no stress because the tree of knowledge of good and evil had not been bought into. Fear of the loss of good and the presence of evil, changed idyllic life for Adam and Eve. Stress resulted and stuck around and was passed on. We have to deal with it.

Moses had a lot of stress. When Jethro observed his daily schedule of constant counseling all day, he offered some advice so he would not burn out turning well-doing into over-doing.  I have thought a great deal about this section, wondering why after all the great communication between God and Moses, a priest of Midian dropped by for a visit and Moses took his advice.  Jethro, to his credit, told Moses to run his advice through God:

Exodus 18:23 If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.

Jethro's advice was a beautiful description for us (2 Timothy 2:2) of the type of people that provide examples worthy of seeking advice from:

²¹ Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear (respect,honour, revere) God, men of truth, hating covetousness (covetousness = susceptible to bribes) ......

Our reaction today to stress is to take it to God first because we have direct access. Just this morning I woke up thinking I had missed a small but significant detail in something I had done and I started to worry about how to find out if I did or not. In trying to figure it out, I could cause a big stir, so I shut off the 'worry voice' in my head and replaced it with thoughts of how willing God is to help and within seconds literally, God provided a very simple answer to check it out. There was no problem and I was given direct real tangible proof. Now all I can think about is how great God is!

Foot Washing

At the end of the 'last supper' Jesus launched out into a significant dialogue with his disciples. Chapters 13 through 17 of John are extremely important and worthy of our attention. Jesus Christ was about to leave. It is a gold mine in truth and teaching. The very first illustration he presented was 'foot washing':

John 13:5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.  

8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.  

10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

Peter is a funny guy. "Lord, are you washing my feet?" Can you imagine what was going through his head? Dusty feet was a common problem in their dry sandy culture. Peter's reaction was: 'I'll take care of it myself.' Jesus told him there is something deeper behind what he was illustrating. The point  made involves caring for others. Jesus was pretty blunt with Peter. Peter overreacted and offered his head and hands to clean. 'Pete you are clean, it is just your feet.'

Walking through life we get dust on our feet. Our friends are the ones who help us dust it off. We do that for each other. Spiritually speaking, as we walk through his world we are bound to get dusty but we shouldn't let this contaminate our whole being. 'Shaking the dust off our feet' from this world is paramount and others can help us do that at times. Jesus also indicated that some individuals are totally 'dusty' from head to toe when he says "Ye are not all clean." He was referring to some who had bigger problems than dusty feet.

Jesus asked the disciples:

 Know ye what I have done to you? ¹³ Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. John 13:12b-16

Do we understand what he was illustrating? 

What is Pentecost?

The celebration of Pentecost originated in the Old Testament times during the Exodus.  It is the celebration of the end of Passover. It occurs 50 days after Passover. The word 'Pentecost' comes from the Greek-speaking Judeans and translates into the 'fiftieth day'.

It is one of the three major  feasts celebrated by Judeans. Interestingly, these feasts coincide with harvests: the barley harvest (Feast of the Unleavened Bread), the wheat harvest (Pentecost) and the final harvest of all crops at the end of the year (Feast of Ingathering).

Barley and wheat were planted during the winter months. Barley was harvested  in the first month of spring (Nisan 15-21). It was at this time that the Feast of the Unleavened Bread was celebrated which commemorated the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:15-20). During this 7 day feast, the firstfruits of the barley harvest were offered on Sunday, the day after the regular sabbath which was on Saturday. Jesus Christ as the firstfruit from the dead was resurrected on Sunday during this time.

²⁰ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits (singular in interlinear)
 of them that slept. (I Corinthian 15:20)

Counting that Sunday as day one, the Hebrews would count 7 weeks plus one day to equal 50 days. On the fiftieth day Pentecost was celebrated. This coincided with the wheat harvest. This feast was also sometimes called the Feast of Weeks, Feast of Harvest, or Day of the Firstfruits (wheat).  In the Old Testament the Hebrews commemorated the giving of the law on Mt Sinai (Exodus 23:15-17) at Pentecost. Fifty days after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the outpouring of the gift of Holy Spirit was given initiating the firstfruits of the spirit.

²³ But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits (singular in interlinear); afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (I Corinthians 15:23). 

The feasts in the Old Testament were shadows of things to come.  A shadow projects and provides a vague outline of an image. Christ's resurrection  and what happened on the day of Pentecost  50 days later are no longer shadows but actual reality. The Word of God is a beautiful tapestry that fits together with an intricate view of God's heart to provide us with power  in our life to handle whatever we need to handle.

This weekend, this holiday will barely be noticed in Hallmark circles. There is no fat jolly ole bearded guy or cute little bunny rabbit to mark it out . There will be no easter egg baskets teaming with glucose and fructose taken to the altar to get blessed. 

The last thing Jesus Christ said to his apostles before his ascension says it all about our blessing on Pentecost and it's meaning:

⁸ But ye shall receive power, after that the holy spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8

To be 'witnesses unto me' is to manifest the prince of peace. The power of Pentecost goes beyond human will-power  It is a settling, calmness that overrides the storms. Think of the 12 apostles on the Sea of Galiliee in that horrible storm. Christ came to them and the first words out of his mouth were "Be of good cheer, be not afraid".  Paul describes this effect as the 'peace that passes all understanding'.  That is what Pentecost is really about.