Today I want to talk to you about feasts. I want to talk to you about the gospel in the feasts of Israel. With the feasts that God was giving to Israel, He was painting a picture for us. When I think of pictures, when I think of art, I think of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling. Maybe it's one of the most beautiful, most complicated works of art ever created by men. Well, with the feasts God was giving Israel, I think an even more beautiful picture than this great ceiling. I think God was giving Israel a beautiful picture of the gospel. If you got your Bibles, take those out and open with me to the book of Leviticus. We're going to be in Leviticus chapter 23. Hey, when was the last time you heard a sermon from Leviticus? I could see you're excited about that. You may know Leviticus is part of the Torah. It's the third book in the Bible. It was written by Moses. And you may know that this book contains in it a lot of descriptions of different sacrifices that God called Israel to give. In our opening scripture this morning, we were talking about, we read there about how Jesus was sharing on the road to Emmaus. And he started with what? With Moses. I don't know exactly what portions of the Bible he was sharing, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the book of Leviticus, and if he was sharing with them about how he fulfilled all those sacrifices, and how, as we will see today, he fulfilled the feasts that he gave to Israel. And of course, unless your name is Scrooge, you love feasts, right? And you love holidays. So, let's begin by reading about some of these holidays and some of those feasts that God gave to Israel. Let's begin with verse 4, Leviticus 23, verse 4. These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. So, henceforth, we're going to talk about those feasts. And before we do that, let me just say that I want you to think of this, I want us to think of it like a play, okay? You have Act I in a play, right? And you have Act II. In between, there is intermission. And that's the way that I want us to see these feasts, okay? Act 1, intermission, Act 2. Let me explain. Spring Feast that we're going to read about is Act 1. Spring Feast will see point to past event. Spring Feast Act 1, past event. Then we have intermission. We have the summer. No feasts. Intermission. And then we have Act 2, which are the fall feasts. Fall Feast Act 2, point to future events. Future events. Now, I got to stop right here and I got to say that on each one of these feasts that we're going to read about today, you can actually write a book on each one of these. You can give an entire sermon series on each of these feasts. They are extremely rich. Today we're going to look at these feasts from high up, kind of like a 30,000 feet view. We're going to go quickly through them for the sake of time. But if you're interested and you want to know more, come and see me in my research table. I've got there books that actually talk about those feasts, okay, and how Christ fulfilled each and every one of those feasts. But today we're going to go through them rather quickly for the sake of time. Okay, ready? Let's begin. Act 1, First Feast, Spring Feast. Look, Leviticus 23, verse 5. We begin with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In the first month, on the 14th day of the month, at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. Passover is the Feast of Redemption where we tell of our exodus from Egypt. The Exodus story. And as we do that in Jewish homes, we share a Seder meal. Seder is the Hebrew word for order. That meal follows a specific order. During this time of Passover, during this entire time, we eat only unleavened food. We don't eat leaven. It's also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Verse 6, 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. Now, Jesus' last supper was a Passover Seder meal. During this meal, there are many traditions that we follow. For example, traditionally we drink four cups. We begin with the cup of sanctification to consecrate this Passover meal to the Lord. Then we have the second cup, which is called the cup of plagues, where we recite the 10 plagues that were poured out upon the Egyptians. Now, the final plague was the firstborn slain. How were we saved from this plague? Well, we were saved because of the blood of the lamb. And we took a lamb, we sacrificed it, we killed it. We didn't break any of the lamb's bones. We didn't break any of his bones at his death. And then we took the blood and we put it on the doorposts of our homes. Now, during this meal, we take the matzah, you have a picture of matzah, and we break a small piece of it. And we take that together with the third cup. The third cup is called the cup of redemption. The afikoman that is broken into small pieces, each person receives a piece of it about the size of an olive. And that size of an olive piece is taken together after dinner with the third cup, the cup of redemption. This ritual signifies the body, the small piece of matzah signifies the body of the lamb that was slain for us so that we would be delivered from the 10th plague. And the fruit of the vine, the third cup, the cup of redemption represents the blood of the lamb that was placed on our doorpost so that the 10th plague will pass over our homes. So, both the small piece of matzah and the third cup, they're taken together after dinner. In Luke 22, we find Jesus celebrating Passover, verses 19 and 20. And he, Jesus, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So, this small piece of Afikoman, the third cup, the cup of redemption, that's the origin of our communion service. That's the origin of our Lord's Supper. And Jesus, we find that He takes this entire Feast of Passover and He says, Hey, this Feast is about me. This Feast points to me as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus fulfilled Passover. And Passover points to us to the crucifixion. It points to us to Jesus' death for our sins. That's the first feast. The next feast, Leviticus chapter 23, verses 10 and 11. "'Bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it.'" This feast is called the Feast of Firstfruits. And it was instituted when the nation of Israel was still wandering in the desert. So, the Passover lambs were sacrificed on the 14th day of the first month, which began at sundown on the 13th day of the month. And the Feast of Firstfruits happened on the 16th day of that first month. So, we find Jesus who is there celebrating the Passover and goes to the cross. On the 16th day of the first month, three days after the Feast of Passover, three days after his death, Jesus rises from the dead. On this feast, the Feast of Firstfruits. The Feast of Firstfruits symbolizes for us the resurrection. The Apostle Paul understood it completely. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15, verses 20 to 23. He says, By a man has also come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, then it is coming those who belong to Christ. Firstfruits from the dead. That's Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits in the resurrection. That is the Feast of Firstfruits. So, that's the second Feast. What's the next? Well, look at verses 15 and 16. You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the way of offering. You shall count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. This is known as the Feast of Weeks. In Hebrew, weeks is Shavuot. It's known as Shavuot. You know this feast. We call it Pentecost. It occurs 50 days or 7 weeks after Passover. This is a harvest celebration commemorating God's provision for and sustenance of His people. This feast involved a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It involved firstfruits offerings at the temple. Now the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Pentecost in Jewish tradition, is the time when Moses received the law from God at Mount Sinai. Therefore, today in synagogues, the Ten Commandments are read. Also, traditionally, during this day, during this feast, that's the birthday of King David, and also the day when he died. So we read also the book of Ruth, Ruth being David's great-grandmother. And Ruth is also a book that has in it the theme of harvest. In this Feast, traditionally, we only eat milk products. Because the Rabbis say that when our people received the laws, they were as newborn babies and they didn't have teeth to be able to eat meat, right? So, they were just receiving the law and just learning it. So, we eat only milk products like babies. Now, for us, the Church, this Feast is mentioned in the New Testament. Acts chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all gathered in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The Feast of Pentecost in the New Testament is the giving of the Gospel. God's grace revealed through the Living Word. When the Holy Spirit came unto the disciples in tongues of flames, and they began speaking other languages, they were preaching the Gospel to Jews who had come to Jerusalem from every nation to observe this feast. It's very interesting to realize that it seems that Peter knows the tradition that King David was born and that he died on this feast. Because when he gave his sermon in Acts chapter 2, Peter used the prophecies of David in the Psalms to speak of the resurrection of Jesus. So, what happened? Mighty revelation occurred that day as 3,000 Jewish people understood the truth of Peter's words and they became followers of Jesus. The Feast of Weeks for us as the church is considered the birthday of the church. It begins the age of the church and it also ends the Spring Feasts. So, we saw Act 1, Spring Feast. Point 2, past events. Really, all those events surrounding the first coming of Messiah and the giving of the Holy Spirit. So, what comes after Act 1? Well, we have intermission. After the spring comes the summer. Act 1 completes and we have intermission. Now, intermission is not a time for us to go to the concession stand and to buy some popcorn and so on. We will see what it means to be in intermission, to be in the summer. We'll see that at the end. We'll talk about it shortly. But let's go on to Act 2, to the Fall Feasts. Look at Leviticus 23, verse 24. In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest and memorial proclaimed with blasts of trumpets. Now traditionally, this is called the Jewish New Year. You know this probably as Rosh Hashanah. Rosh means head, Hashanah means the year, the head of the year, the Jewish New Year. You're probably familiar with that. But where does that come from? Why is this considered to be the Jewish New Year? It doesn't come from the Bible. Let me explain. When we got that, where we got that from is we got it actually from Babylon. We got that because the calendar in Babylon began in the fall. So when the Jewish people returned from Babylon after the exile, they brought with them the lunar calendar which and is the Jewish calendar today that Jewish people use, and with it, the Fall Jewish New Year. By the way, this feast just happened. The Feast of Trumpets just happened on September 18th, so a few months back, and that's when we began the Jewish year of 5781. So what traditional things do we do? Well, we eat apples. We eat apples dipped in honey so that we would have a sweet New Year. And we do, till today, blow the trumpets, ram's horns, the shofar. And biblically, that is really what this feast is all about. We read it's the Feast of Trumpets. God said that we are to blow trumpets. But why? Why did God say blow trumpets? Well, He said that because back then we didn't have iPhones. And we didn't have calendars, and not calendar books, and not calendars on the wall. And God said for us to blow the trumpets, to call the nation of Israel to come and prepare for the most important, for the holiest, for the most significant day of the year. It's coming up. It's called the Day of Atonement and it occurs 10 days later. To call the nation to come to Jerusalem, to take part in repentance for their sins, to restore their souls. It's all about souls. So at the sound of the trumpet, all of Israel had to drop everything. And they had to begin the long journey to Jerusalem to participate in the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement. Imagine with me for a second. Imagine. Close your eyes if you need to. Imagine that you live in Israel during the Second Temple period. Imagine that you're up in the Galilee, let's say, and you're a typical middle-class family. The man is out in the field working the land. The wife is home, maybe cooking dinner. Kids are all around playing. And you know that something feels a little bit different for you because it's no longer so hot. It's getting cooler and cooler. And you're wondering, is the fall here? Are we starting to see that the fall is coming? If you recognize it and you're smart, maybe you already are preparing because you know what's coming. You know the Day of Atonement is coming. But needless to say, once you see the priests come out with those rams horns and when you hear the blast of the trumpets, of the shofar soundings, what do you do? What do you do? Well, you drop everything. You drop everything. You gather your family. You gather your bags. You put them on the donkey and you start the journey to Jerusalem. Now church, this picture, what does that remind you? Well, it reminds me of the rapture. One day we will just be going on our ways, maybe we're stuck in traffic, maybe we're at work, maybe we're at home having dinner, when all of a sudden we hear the trumpet blast, we hear the shofar. 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17 says, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. One day we will hear the blast of the trumpet and then we will be caught up. We will be raptured up with the Lord in the clouds. The Feast of Trumpets symbolizes for us. It gives us this amazing picture of the rapture of the church. Leading us to Leviticus 23, verses 27 to 28. Now, on the tenth day of the seven months is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for your time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves, 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. So the nation of Israel was gathered in Jerusalem for judgment, for repentance, for atonement. The high priest served as a mediator. And this was the one and only time during the entire year when he would enter the holiest place on earth, the Holy of Holies, to put the blood of the sacrificial animal on the altar as a sin offering. Now, after the destruction of the first temple, second temple period, two goats were brought to the temple. One goat would be sacrificed and another goat would be sent away. That was called the scapegoat. That goat that was sent away was to symbolize that we're sending our sins away. Before entering the Holy of Holy, the high priest will lay his hands on that goat and send it away, sending our sins away, never to return. to Jerusalem again. Now, the Second Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed in 70 AD. So, what do we do now? How do we give sacrifices in the Temple? Well, we don't. The rabbis come up with modern-day Judaism. Well, there is no Temple, they say. We get atonement for our souls on Yom Kippur by praying, by doing good deeds, and by fasting, with the hope that it's enough to atone for our souls. But Church, we know that it's not enough. Atonement is only done through the blood of the Lamb, the Lamb of God, Jesus the Messiah. It's only done through sacrifices. And today it's only done through the one and only sacrifice that Jesus did for us. Jesus fulfilled this Day of Atonement once and for all, forever and ever. So for us today, as the church, the Day of Atonement symbolizes. It gives us this picture of the most important, the holiest day, the most significant, awesome event that is coming up in redemptive history. And that is our future hope. That's the day we're all looking forward to. The day of the return of Jesus. What a glorious day that would be. I got asked, Church, are you ready for the second coming? Are you ready for the return of Jesus? Are you ready for that day of atonement? That day would be a day of judgment and of supplication. And a day where all of Israel will be saved. A day where we, as His beloved, we will rejoice. in seeing our King. What a glorious day that would be. What a glorious day that would be. Leading us to the final Feast, verse 34. On the 15th day of the 7th month, and for 7 days, is the Feast of Tabernacles to the Lord. Last Fall Feast is called the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot in Hebrew. This Feast begins after the Harvest. So, after a lot of work you get to rest. The Feast was a time of rejoicing in what God has provided for you. It was all about giving thanks to God, praising God for His provisions. You give sacrifices to the Lord every day of the feast. And you live in a tabernacle, in a booth, for seven days. Why? Look at verse 43. So that your generations may know that I brought them out from the land of Egypt. So that your generations would know of the atonement and salvation and redemption that I have for my people. So, we find Jesus celebrating this feast. We find Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem during this feast. You can read all about that in John chapter 7 and John chapter 8. I don't have time to go through all that text, but let me just tell you that we find Jesus during this feast saying some amazing things about himself, showing how he is the great and ultimate provider. John 7, verse 37-38, the Bible says, Now on the last day, the great day of the Feast, of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Jesus is saying, hey, to survive you need water. Well, come believe in me. And you won't need water anymore. Of course, Jesus is talking spiritually here. Jesus is saying, Hey, I am providing for you. I am the living water and I've been provided. For you come, believe in me, you'll never thirst again, Jesus said. Another thing you need to survive is light. Jesus said in John 8, 12, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Jesus says, hey, you believe in me, you'll have light. Again, of course, speaking spiritually. You'll have light. You won't walk in darkness. Both of these famous statements were made by Jesus during the Feast of Tabernacle. Now for us, the church, this Feast gives us a picture of a time where all will be provided for us. Not just spiritually, but also physically. Where we won't have any more pain or suffering. where everything will be provided for us by the Lord. This feast symbolizes for us the Millennial Kingdom. In church, if you realize it or not, one day all of us are going to be celebrating this feast together. Listen to the prophet Zechariah chapter 14, verse 16. He says, And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacle." Church, one day we're all going to be celebrating this great feast together. It will be a festival for all nations, all people gathering, worshiping the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Wow! I don't know about you, but I can hardly wait. Well, this brings us to the end. But let's summarize, okay? The Spring Feasts. What did we see? The Spring Feasts, Act 1. Point to past events. Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread symbolizes the crucifixion of Messiah Jesus and our redemption. Feast of Firstfruits symbolizes the resurrection of Messiah Jesus. The Feast of Pentecost symbolizes the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. Spring Feasts? Past events. Then we've got Fall Feasts. Fall Feasts? Future events. The Feast of Trumpets symbolizes the raptures. The Day of Atonement symbolizes the second coming and the judgment and the atonement that will come with it. The Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the millennium reign of Messiah. Fall Feasts, future events. So that's the end of our feast, but we got to ask ourselves this question, so what? I mean, who cares? What difference does any of this make to our lives today? What's the application? If there is ever a sermon that begs this question, it's this one. Church, let me say that right now, right now, We are living in crucial times. You say, well, of course we are. I mean, I understand that with the elections that just happened, with COVID still being around. I mean, in the Middle East with the Abraham's Accords, and now we have peace between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan. I mean, of course, these are crucial times that we live in. Well, all these are true, but that's not what I'm referring to. Church, we're living in crucial times because we don't live in the spring and we don't live in the fall. We live in the summer. We live in the summer. Now, of course, I'm speaking metaphorically here, right? I mean, obviously, it's cold outside, but we're in the summer. We are in between the two comings of Messiah. We're after Jesus's first coming and before His second coming. The kingdom of God is here. But not yet. We live in the summer. We are in the summer. Now, what do you do in the summer? Well, in the summer you work the fields. I'm not talking about agriculture. I'm talking about people. Here is the point. Here is the lesson. That is, that above everything else, God cares about people. God cares about people. Every soul matters to God. It's no coincidence that we are in the summer. What do we do in the summer? We labor for what? We labor for souls. Every soul matters to God. Above everything else, above everything else, God values people. People's lives matter. And I really believe today as the church living in this time, in this culture, with this trouble, in this pandemic. I really believe today this is a message that we desperately need to hear and be reminded of. I mean, think about it. Leviticus 23, way before Jesus came, God was communicating to Israel and through Israel to the world. What? He was giving them the full picture of the gospel. Past, present, future. God was giving a future hope to the nation of Israel and to the world. Because it is all about communicating the gospel, the grace of God, the love of God. It's all about the amazing love that God has for people. People matter to God. And therefore, church, they should matter to us as well. As the church, we desperately need to be reminded that Jesus came and died on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world for us, for people, for human beings. Jesus died for people. Jesus gave his life on the cross for souls. And Jesus is coming back. for souls. He's coming back for people. The big so what for us today. The difference that this makes and what this means for us here at church. What it means for us also as individual followers of Christ is that we have a decision to make. And the decision we have to make is simply this. Are we going to exhibit the value system of the Lord? Are we going to exhibit the value system of Jesus? Are we going to open our arms to people of every race, of every creed, from every religion? economic situation from every background, who unfortunately are committing every sin known to man, even though it gets a little messy? Are we going to be like the apostles, like the disciples? Or are we going to insulate ourselves from all of this, from all these people and live in our own bubble? That's not just a question for us as a church. It's a question for us as individuals, as well if we're followers of Christ. I mean, the bottom line is, are we going to fulfill the Great Commission? Are we going to make disciples of all nations? My question to you and my question to myself is, do we have the courage to preach the gospel in this day and age, in this culture? Do we have the courage to make disciples in this day and age, in this culture right now? I don't know about you, church, but I say yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Do you agree with me? Now, don't misunderstand me. Do we have open arms for people so that we can encourage sinful behavior? No, absolutely not. But we do have open arms for them so that we can tell them about Jesus, so that we can show them the grace of God and the love of God. See them give their lives to Christ. See Christ make them into a new creation in Him and see them get eternal life. Yes, we have room for people for that purpose. One of our values must be people matter to God. People matter to God, so they matter to us. We've got to project the true heart of God. We've got to project to the people, the true value system of God. We've got to project to people that God's value system is not about money. It's not about power. It's not about politics. It's about people. It's about helping people, about redeeming people. That is the message of the Feasts of the Lord. That is the message of the Gospel. And that's our job, to make disciples of every nation. And you know what? If we can communicate that to the people around us, if we can communicate to the people around us that God truly cares about them, that that is what therefore we care about as well, then we will get the opportunity to share Christ with a whole bunch of people. And I believe we will see people come to faith. Let me say in closing, I understand the difficulty of sharing the Gospel and of making disciples in this culture. Therefore, an important factor in all of this for us is this word on the screen, perseverance. Let me explain. Listen, does everyone here in this town want to hear what we're telling them? Does everyone in New Jersey want to hear the Gospel? No, absolutely not. But that's not our job. Our job is not their interest level or their response. That's not our job. Our job is to keep reaching out and keep on loving them and keep on serving them and keep on praying for them and to keep on sharing with them in the hope that eventually some of those people will really believe that we're here for them. That Jesus is here for them. And when they do, we will get a chance to share Christ with them. Church, that's our calling. That's our mission. That's our mandate. God is calling us to evangelism. God is calling us to discipleship. God is calling us to sharing the gospel. To going around and telling people what God has done and who He is. We're doing it all for the glory of God until Jesus comes back. Amen? So church, let's go there and tell people who Jesus really is and what He really cares about, which is them. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the reminder today that we as your church, that we are as your body as Christians. This message that we desperately need to be reminded that you didn't leave us here to pursue money, power, and more influence in this culture. But you left us here to pursue people, to love people, to help people, care for them with the value system in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, keep us as a church focused on what you really left us here to do. Lord Jesus, help us keep the main thing, the main thing, and not be drawn away by the siren calls of this culture. But Lord Jesus, keep us focused on people and on reaching out to them with Your love, with Your grace, with Your mercy. May that be true in our individual lives as well as in our church life. Make us to understand that our goal is to go around and tell people what the Lord Jesus has done for us and how He has mercy on us. And to show them the love of Christ, the love of Messiah. Showing them the gospel in word and deeds. So Lord, change our lives because we are here, Lord. Change our lives because of your Word. Keep the life of this church so focused where it needs to be. Lord, thank you so much for Pastor Steve and his family. Thank you so much for this amazing church family here, Lord. I pray your blessings upon them, Lord. Father, thank you so much for speaking to us today from your Word. We love you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. God's people said,