Rabbi Jesus in the Jewish Festivals

you know I don't know a single person who doesn't love holiday of celebration and one of the cool things the kind of breaks up our year instead of just you know constant work and sort of repetition and all this sort of stuff to be able to celebrate holidays to look forward to special times you know birthday celebrations and how Christmas and Easter Thanksgiving all of that kind of stuff everybody loves loves holidays and celebrations and and as a matter of fact this being the month of March st. Patrick's Day immediately comes to mind now whether the religious roots of a number of those days are largely lost on a lot of people in biblical times everybody knew that the Jewish feasts and festivals that were celebrated were totally focused on God they completely understood what took place at he's each of those feasts and festival days and and what they meant about people of Israel's relationship to the Lord as a matter of fact the New Testament tells us that that these feasts and festivals were an important part of Jesus life as he was growing up his parents we are told would take him to the temple in Jerusalem travel two days both directions in in order to arrive there so that they could celebrate some of those feasts and festivals and in addition to being exposed to them then as as a child Jesus also took part in them as an adult and one of the things it's a little bit tempting to to skip over as we're reading through the Gospels is paying attention to when certain events took place because you know the Gospel of John for instance Donal say while Jesus was in Jerusalem at this particular time of the year celebrating this festival such-and-such happens we'll skip over the festival part and try to figure it out without realizing the context every text has a context and part of the context of understanding what's going on in the Bible is understanding these festivals because sometimes they can just you know really open things up for us knowing what those festivals were why they were important in that day and why they remain important to us today can offer us amazing insights into Jesus life and teaching we're actually going to close with a little case study or example of but what I want to do in today's message is basically a couple things but look at these questions what were those those festivals when did they happen what did they mean why were they so important and how do they help us understand the Bible better how do they speak to us today now God lays out this sacred his sacred calendar for these holy days in Leviticus chapter 23 it's not a book that a lot it's not like a go to book for favorite verses or anything like that but it is a great book and in Leviticus chapter 23 the word that God actually uses to describe these feasts and festival days is appointed times it's like God has appointed these times for particular reasons to teach us certain things now the these festivals and feast days were celebrated around planting and harvest seasons which took place at two times during the year in the springtime and by the way this is going to be a little calendar and this is springtime and this is summer and this is gonna be fall all right so when I you know go like that I'm just pointing to the calendar just to let you know that's what's going on in my head I want it to go on in your head as well and and because they they kind of clustered around the planting and harvest seasons they offer the people of Israel an opportunity to thank God for a couple of things one of the things they thanked God for was providing for them giving them food and and so on the other thing that they thanked God for was with the great things that God did in history now three of these festivals were celebrated in the springtime and then there's a big gap and the other three were celebrated in the fall many Christians the Apostle Paul think being one of them as we can see from this morning's text have have viewed these festivals as having special meaning for us as followers of Jesus that they they are almost prophecies if you will pointing to the coming of Jesus and his second coming as a matter of fact many Christians believe and I happen to count myself among them we we view the the three spring festivals as alluding to events that Jesus has actually already fulfilled in his first coming the the holy days then that occur in the fall look forward to events that will happen when Jesus comes again and that's what what I'm gonna try to lay out for you in today's message again Paul writes about the meaning of Israel's holy days for Christians in today's tax Colossians chapter 2 verse 17 when he says these are a shadow of or of things to come the reality is found in Christ now let's take a look at the first of the the spring festivals it's called Passover in Hebrew pisaq it is the great feast or festival of salvation and again it takes place in the spring it continues to be celebrated - to this day Jewish families will gather in their homes or maybe in a restaurant in in groups oftentimes they'll invite friends and loved ones and even their non-jewish fans and friends to participate in a special Seder meal which is the way that this is remembered today it celebrates it's an opportunity to remember God's delivering the people of Israel from their time of slavery in Egypt you remember that this story it's found in the book of Exodus that the the people of Israel having traveled down to Egypt during the time of Joseph because of a famine that was taking place in the Holy Land they actually settle in this part of of Egypt called the land of Goshen and over time the rulers of Egypt kind of forget their history and there is one particular pharaoh who comes to power who doesn't remember anything about Joseph and and the promise that you know what Joseph had done for the people of Egypt saving them from from famine and so on and so they decide that this particular Pharaoh decides just to turn the nation of Israel into slaves and it's at that point that God raises up this leader named Moses and sends him to Pharaoh - to say let my people go and Pharaoh resists this and so God decides that he will send a series of plagues each one building on the other each one in in a sense creating even more problems for for the Egyptians until finally there is this culmination following these nine devastating plagues that that God had inflicted upon Egypt the people of Israel are told to sacrifice a lamb it to take the blood and to mark the the doors around the doors of their homes with it with its blood so that the Angel of Death would pass over their homes and spare their firstborn sons from death that was the tenth and final plague the death of the firstborn and as he read in the book of Exodus the people of Israel did that there's despair and weeping all throughout the land of Egypt because the Egyptians lose their children this is the event then that finally breaks through Pharaoh's hardened heart he allows the people of Israel to to be released although he changes his mind and you can read what happens there but that's kind of the background now the Apostle Paul connects the dots here you remember he says that all of these things these these festivals things that we read about in the Old Testament actually find their fulfillment in Jesus Paul connects the dots between the celebration of Passover and Jesus Christ by showing us reminding us how the blood of a lamb delivers people from bondage in both the old and the New Testaments just as the blood of a lamb put on the the door put around the door in ancient Egypt spared the people from the Angel of Death passed over them blood of Jesus Christ redeemed us as well from our bondage to sin and death now one of the things that's really important to understand here and some of this you know I hope you'll you'll get really excited about it is no accident that Jesus death on the cross takes place during Passover this is God's appointed time remember it takes place on the Passover and why is that well Paul just highlights this for us he really helps us understand what he writes in first Corinthians chapter 5 for Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed just as the people of Israel had their Passover land that that that delivered them from their bondage Jesus is our Passover lamb that delivers us from our bondage to the powers of sin and death and that's why what we're going to see is each one of these festivals that were in feast days that we're going to be looking at has something important to tell us about the work of Jesus Christ and why we have something to celebrate as we look at each of these ancient feast Passover helps us to see that Jesus sacrificed himself for our freedom and salvation Jesus died on the cross willingly he gave His life it wasn't taken from him John reminds us he gave his life as the Passover lamb so that we could be freed from the powers of sin and death that would otherwise hold a in bondage I could say a lot more about Passover and actually about each of these but for the sake of time I'm just going to kind of move on but I do want to remind you of this that on Good Friday which is just a couple of weeks away now the last Friday of this month we're going to have an opportunity to learn a lot more about the Passover and how it's related to Jesus Christ when we have a speaker come from Jews for Jesus he's going to talk about Christ in the Passover if you've never seen it it's a great great program and it'll be done by a different group this year so it'll be a little bit different than we've seen in the past if you've seen it before come again and be sure to bring people because it's really really fascinating and we will close the service then that day rather than celebrating a sacrament of the Lord's Supper on Monday Thursday during Holy Week we're because the speaker is coming on Friday we won't have a Maundy Thursday service we will have a Good Friday service Jews for Jesus will be here and then we'll will conclude that service by celebrating communion together I really hope you'll be able to come and do bring someone to it now that's the first of these these three spring festivals second holy day that's laid out in Leviticus chapter 23 is the feast of firstfruits there's another one in there I'm going to jump over at the feast of unleavened bread which came between these two in three days in a row we have Passover unleavened bread and then the feast of firstfruits that's the one I want to talk about right right now again it's found in Leviticus chapter 23 why is it called firstfruits as the barley fest harvest was just beginning what would happen is that time of the year that's when they would begin to harvest the barley barley the people of Israel would take the very first part of that harvest and they would present it to God they would offer to God they'd sacrifice it to to the Lord and and really that practice demonstrates a principle that we find throughout Scripture that's why that word firstfruits appears in both Testaments and so on the principle is this that we are to honor God with the first part and the best part of what we have been given that we don't give God our leftovers we give him the first part this is why we worship God on the first day of the day of resurrection we give God the first day of the week when we do a daily quiet time with God most people give God the first part of their day when we tithes we are giving God the first tenth of what we earn not the leftovers but the best in the first now the Apostle Paul saw this festival of the firstfruits as another aid in understanding who Jesus is remember this is something that points forward to Jesus in the in addition to being a festival in and of itself it helps us to see what Jesus has done for us and here it is just as Jesus is our Passover lamb listen what Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 15 Christ has indeed been raised from the dead the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in other words Jesus rose from the dead as a promise as a foretaste and as a guarantee of our own resurrection he's the first fruits and those who are in Christ will follow him it's a promise about our resurrection that we will be with God forever now amazingly and I think this really is amazing in God's perfect timing remember these are appointed times just as Jesus died during Passover guess when he rose from the dead on firstfruits that was the day he rose from the grave at that appointed time that's no accident dying as our Passover lamb raised on firstfruits as a guarantee that he was the first of many to follow to be raised from the dead but as they say in the info commercials wait there's more and I know I'm nerdy because I get really excited about the ancient feasts of Israel and and how connected all this stuff is it's great the offering of firstfruits mark the beginning of the barley harvest right the feast of weeks the next one we're going to look at signaled the end of the barley harvest and it's also recorded again commanded in Luke chapter 11 ACCA's chapter 23 it's called the feast of weeks because it took place the day after a week of weeks had passed from the first fruits offering so what's a day after a week of weeks well the math is simple little formula seven times seven forty-nine plus 150 that's why it's called Pentecost it's 50 days after firstfruits as a harvest feast remember it's a harvest we sort of like our Thanksgiving in in some ways this great in gathering it celebrates this great in gathering of all that God had provided it wasn't just the promise but it was after all of this has been gathered in just like we you know like the like the pilgrims gave thanks for God providing for them it was one of those now thank we all are God moments when people could see look at God bringing all of this in to provide for us it also happened to be a day that the Jewish people celebrated the giving of the Torah or the God's law on on Mount Sinai and that helps us understand this this feast of weeks really with that as a background helps us understand what's happening in Acts chapter 2 the important thing we need to know about Acts chapter 2 is that it took place on the day of Pentecost 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus following his death resurrection returned to heaven Luke tells us that all the disciples are gathered together in Jerusalem it why are they in Jerusalem they're celebrating the feast of weeks which was one of the the festivals that they the feasts that they were were commanded by God to be in Jerusalem to celebrate and while they and tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of other pilgrims from Jewish pilgrims from all over the ancient world were gathered together in Jerusalem Luke tells us as they are celebrating the feast of weeks the holy spirit whom Jesus had promised would come after he returned to the Father descends on them you remember the way it's described that it appeared like tongues of flame were appearing over them and so on and with all of these people present and and the disciples they begin to speak in other languages and by the way it's not gobbledygook or gibberish it's actually all of these people from all these different nations hear them speaking in their own languages so it's like what would I call this it's the opposite of Babel where all the languages are confused suddenly everybody can communicate perfectly everybody's hearing and understanding and stuff it's at that moment that Peter delivers this holy spirit god-breathed sermon and Luke tells us some 3,000 people become followers of Jesus Christ those who accepted his message were baptized about 3,000 were added to their number that day you know why that's important that is an extraordinary in gathering that is an extraordinary harvest of souls is the the launching of the Church of Jesus Christ as the disciples then begin to share the good news of God's love with people from all around the world you see how a festival of harvest and in gathering becomes a festival of harvest and in gathering then for the church right make sense and as the final festival tape that takes place in the first part of the year then it helps us to celebrate how Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and he sent the Holy Spirit for a particular time and you know what that particular time is now he sent the Holy Spirit for the time between Jesus first coming and what he returns and you know what we call that period of time the age of the church this is when we as the Church of Jesus Christ have a job to do and that is to share God's love with other people before the return of of Christ again the three spring festivals I want to be sure you get this the three spring festivals point to events that Jesus has already done things that he's accomplished the three then in the fall to events that will happen when he returns it's why there's a big gap here between them if this is a period of time for the church for us as we live in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming God's love to the world one thing by the way we also need to know this will be important a little bit later the weather these were originally agricultural festivals right and one of the things that I find fascinating and it's great to live in Southern California because we're really privileged this way we get to understand the weather patterns of ancient Israel because we kind of experience them ourselves when do we get rain it's basically the one I'll never write okay and that's pretty true for a chat Israel too but there were basically kind of a rainy season or rainy season there were this the spring rains and there were the fall rains what happens during the summertime it happens here happens is in Israel there's no rain it's just a season of drought and remember we have irrigation and sprinklers and stuff they didn't in ancient Israel so things got dry as as dust during that period of time more on which later stern to the fall festivals the first of the fall festivals was something called the Feast of Trumpets and we frankly we don't know a lot about this festival apart from the fact that it began with a loud blast from a trumpet now one things that we need to realize is when we read the word trumpet in the Bible we should not and we all do but we should not do this it's not the brass instrument that you see in marching bands and orchestras today it is a ram's horn of the shofar so far so good okay good yeah sorry that was bad but but these shofars were were blown at special time so they were blown to announce the new moon feast days they were used during times of war you remember when the people of Israel under Joshua's leadership are marching around Jericho what are they doing they're blowing on trumpets not the brass trumpets they're blowing on shofars and stuff they were used to warn people when enemies were approaching they were used to announce significant and important events which makes it really curious that in a sense there is nothing particularly significant or important that is going on during this festival other than that people blow trumpets so maybe the meaning of that particular festival wasn't found in the festival itself but it's a shadow of things to come we'll test that in a second but in later Judaism this Feast of Trumpets came to be celebrated as Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah the new year beginning of the the new year when Jewish people say Shana Tova and so on welcoming one another and the beginning of Jewish New Year is if you've ever been to one of their celebrations a blast on the the shofar you know whenever I think of these trumpet blasts and read about trumpet blast their importance in both the old and new testaments I love junior tokens Lord of the Rings there's a great scene in the book it's not in the the films but the scene where Frodo's friend Pippin who is a hobbit is standing at the gates of this city that is under siege and it looks like the city is going to fall because the the witch-king of Angmar has arrived and he's about to lay waste to this city and he has an army of these vicious orcs who are frightening and powerful and the people are outnumbered when Pippin hears off in the distance the horns of the Riders of Rohan who have come to the city's defense and one of the things as a story unfolds spoiler alert the the king of Rohan will ride to his death that day but the city will be saved from destruction now thing is talking rights that for the rest of his life Pippin could never hear a trumpet sound without bursting into tears and why was that it's because every time he heard horn off in the distance it really conducive ation and it reminded him of the king who was willing to die for him and for his people now the book of Revelation tells us that the king who died for our salvation has promised that he will return and his return is going to be signaled by what the blast of a trumpet and a voice from heaven which will say the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will rule a reign forever and ever for those of you who are familiar with the Hallelujah Chorus and and the Messiah you can hear the music as I read those those verses they're so important but it begins with the trumpet blast the Apostle Paul says there will be a trumpet blast and the dead will write that in Christ will rise and so on he says it in first Thessalonians he says it again in first Corinthians as well what the festival or the Feast of Trumpets signal's is the beginning of the ultimate event in human history it is followed by the next fall festival the most important day of the year if just one day could be singled out and it's the most important day of the year for both ancient Israel and for the Jewish people today it's called Yom Kippur or the day of atonement it is considered one of the High Holy Days and during this particular festival it is not a feast day it is a day of fasting because the people of Israel the Jewish people are focused on and recognizing the reality of sin of their own personal sin of the devastation that sin brings about and of our deep need for repentance now in ancient Israel the way they marked the day of atonement was really interesting a couple of things happened it didn't happen any other time during the year one thing was it was that one day that one person always the high priest was allowed to enter into the temple and go into the most holy place the Holy of Holies which was always forbidden for anyone to go into and the high priest was allowed to go in there and he was allowed to speak the holy name of God one time and then returned it was considered such a dangerous act in some sense to be standing in the Holy of Holies that they would actually tie a rope to the high priest before he walked in just in case something happened they would be able to pull him out without them going inside as well that's one of the things that happened on the day of atonement another thing happened was this the high priest would make an offering of two goats one of them was dedicated to the Lord the other one was dedicated to Oz Zell the one that was dedicated to the Lord was sacrificed on the altar the other goat was called the scapegoat and the scapegoat the scapegoat stood before the high priest the high priest would put his hands on the head of the scapegoat and all of the sins that had been committed by the people of Israel were attributed to this goat transferred to this goat and then it was taken led out into the wilderness never to be seen again one time in history the goat happened to wander back into a community and from that point forward when they took it out into the wilderness they would always push it backward off a cliff so it would never return now you know for a lot of us you know we read the Old Testament about all of these sacrifices and and all of these practices and so on and and we wonder how could any of that stuff make any difference whatsoever how could that make atonement for anybody's sins you never wondered that I mean why why you sacrifice and the author of Hebrews I mean if you have ever wondered that you're in good company because the author of Hebrews obviously wanted people to whom he was writing obviously wondered it wondered about it which is why he wrote to them saying these words those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins they are reminder of sins even though they're offered up some of them daily some weekly some monthly yearly it's an endless cycle in the end and again the author of Hebrews writes this it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins so why did they do that it was a reminder of sins there's also a reminder that this doesn't take away sins what would Jesus the good news is that Jesus has atoned for our sins he has and notice how it's tied in with trumpets with Rosh Hashanah when the trumpet sounds scripture tells us New Testament tells us when the trumpet sounds on the day of the Lord we will stand before God forgiven and how do we know that we will stand before God forgiven as followers of Christ John tells us in 1st John 2:2 he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world oh those those fall festivals and we'll look at the last one in just a minute but they remind us with the blast of a trumpet Christ is returning and when he returns there will be a great day of judgment before at which time we will all stand before the Lord Jesus tells us in the Gospels that the Gospel of Matthew that the Son of Man will separate the sheep from the goats and how do we know that we can stand in the day of judgement knowing that our sins have been forgiven because Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins the last of the festival days we read about in Leviticus chapter 23 is the feast of booths the Feast of Tabernacles in Hebrew it is called Sukkot and frankly it is the most fun time of the year in terms of festivals and stuff yep Orem is great I think Feast of Tabernacles is even better it's a time when it celebrates it remembers a time when the people of Israel lived in these temporary shelters when they were in the wilderness and and actually an ancient Israel the people of Israel were commanded during this time of year we God wants them to build these little booths and live in them for a week and have their meals out there and so on and people still celebrate this by the way you know Jewish people today they will build little booths and on their roof or in their yards or whatever you want to have some fun Google the words Sukkot and New York City and you'll come across some amazing pictures of people having you know little booths set up on on the roofs or outside their synagogues and all that they they have their meals together it's it's just a really really fun time but John tells us you know in terms of the idea of a booth or tabernacle it means that the tent John tells us in the opening chapter of his gospel how Jesus was the Word of God who became flash and pitched his tent with us that word that's translated there made his dwelling literally means he pitched his tent he built his tabernacle when Jesus was born God came into the world to be with us for a little while and it is Jesus who will make it possible for us to dwell with God forever he came of once to pitch his tent with us so that believing in him we would be able to dwell with God the Father Son and Holy Spirit forever and the Apostle John writes about this in in the book of Revelation chapter 21 yet to happen but John writes then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned a beautifully dressed for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying look God's dwelling place dwelling place God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them they will be his people and God Himself will be with them and be their God it's the same passage where he says there's got to be no more death you know God Himself will wipe our tears beautiful beautiful picture of what is to come well those are the three fall festivals three in the spring tell us what Jesus has done the three in the fall point to Christ's return and what we can expect when that happens I mentioned to you how you know being aware of of these feasts and festivals can can kind of open up passages in in scripture for us I want to look at a particular case study that I know has really puzzled a lot of us over the years during Feast of Tabernacles feast of booths that I just talked about one of the things that would take place you remember how I told you that it's really dry you know from from the time of Pentecost all the way to the fall festivals and so on it was bone dry and so the people of Israel would pray and they had certain ceremonies and so on that where they would actually enact prayer during the Feast of Tabernacles the high priest would take two golden pitchers and he would leave the Temple Mount and he would walk down to this place called the pool of siloam Jesus had healed a person at the pool of Siloam you may remember that story it's a guy who had been paralyzed and his friends would put him in the living water it was kind of a spring that would bubble up and so on and Jesus jesus healed him there the high priest would go down to that same pool of Siloam it had seven porticoes it's actually been discovered for centuries critics of the Bible said the Bible's not true they've never found the pool of Siloam guess what happened they discovered the pool Siloam and it's just the way the Bible describes it by the way the high priest would take two golden pitchers he would go down to the pool of siloam he would dip these golden pitchers into the living water all the people would pray for rain and after they had done so the priest would return to the temple with the pitchers full of water pour them on the altar as an enactment of the prayers of the people asking for living water for them the Gospel of John records that on the last and greatest day of the festival see that's one of those things that we would skip over ordinarily and not recognize the importance on the last and greatest day of the festival what festival booths tab Jesus stood and said in a loud voice let anyone who is thirty come to me and drink whoever believes in me as scripture has said rivers of living water will flow from within them Jesus is making in that unannounced but there he's quoting scripture and what's the point of quoting scripture he's telling them that it's through him that they will have living waters it is a way of without coming out and saying it directly using a time-honored rabbinical teaching technique he is telling the people he's the Messiah guess what some who heard believe him that he is the Messiah other people want to have him arrested now here's where it gets interesting very next day Jesus finds himself caught up in a controversy group of Pharisees come to him threatening to stone a woman to death for adultery and they try to trap Jesus by asking him what they should do because they think they put him in an untenable position if he says you should stone her which is kind of what the scripture says she's going to die if on the other hand he says they should let her go they're going to say you don't believe Scripture you're being disobedient to God what does Jesus do Jesus Stoops down and he writes something in the dirt that dry dirt and John doesn't tell us what he's writing they continued questioning him and Jesus says to them let you who are without sin cast the first stone and then he writes some more in the dust have you ever wondered what he wrote in the dust because whatever it was John tells us that they all started walking away interestingly starting with the oldest you ever wondered why he wrote I sure have again rabbi Jesus is using a time-honored rabbinical teaching technique here he assumes because these guys are teachers of the law Pharisees and teachers of the law he assumes that they have scripture dialed in just like I can assume that if I start for God so loved the world most of you would be able to say that he gave his one and only Son I don't have to say the whole passage without you know if for you to get it so assuming that these guys know the Scriptures Jesus is alluding to a passage without actually quoting it directly or completing it the passage is from the Prophet Jeremiah and given the context of this feast of booths given the context of what had happened before when Jesus stood during this festival of libation with the priests going down getting the living water and pouring the living water on the altar Jesus on the last and greatest day of the festival and saying you know whoever wants to drink come to me living water will pour from them and so on passage is from the Prophet Jeremiah and it really must have hit home because this is what it said it's Jeremiah 1713 that reads Lord you are the hope of Israel all who forsake you will be put to shame those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord the spring of living water so I give y'all chills what does it mean that he was writing in the dirt those who turn away from you will be written in the dust it's their names let you who were without sin cast the first stone and as they walked away I don't know maybe he went can't say but it I mention as a case study because it is amazing to me how beautifully Scripture fits together and how even these ancient festivals in feast days can help us better understand and better appreciate God's plan in Jesus Christ to save us from our sin and it's all there in the appointed times he sacrificed himself as our Passover lamb he rose as a promise and for as the firstfruits as a promise of our resurrection he sent His Holy Spirit for this time as we wait for his return he has promised that he will come again and that he will reign forever and ever the beginning will be marked by the sound of a trumpet he has atoned for our sin so that we don't need to offer sacrifices at a temple so on the day of judgment we can stand before God trusting that in Christ God will see him in us and that will be justified and saved and he makes it possible for us to dwell with him forever it's all there

Channel: StoneBridge Community Church

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Keywords: Church, Faith, Theology, Christianity

Id: 4cBnYKIR3WE

Length: 46min 8sec (2768 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 11 2018