SERIES: 03 Leviticus - 2012
MESSAGE: Leviticus 23
SPEAKER: Skip Heitzig
SCRIPTURE: Leviticus 23

MESSAGE SUMMARY
Charles H. Spurgeon once said, "Our happy God should be worshipped by happy people; a cheerful spirit is in keeping with His nature." In this text, we consider the festivals and feasts prescribed for the people to celebrate and publicly worship God throughout the year. The Sabbath was a weekly observance; it was a gift of rest for God's people. Passover commemorated the deliverance from Egypt; and it was prophetic of future deliverance through Jesus Christ. These feasts were special times set aside to remember God—to rejoice in His provision and His care.

STUDY GUIDE
Leviticus 24-25
PREVIEW: In Leviticus 24-25, we learn about the penalty for blasphemy from the second of two narratives contained in Leviticus, and we discover all the implications of the Year of Jubilee.

Leviticus Outline:
Care of the Tabernacle Lamps – Read Leviticus 24:1-4
The Bread of the Tabernacle – Read Leviticus 24:5-9
The Penalty for Blasphemy – Read Leviticus 24:10-23
The Sabbath of the Seventh Year – Read Leviticus 25:1-7
The Year of Jubilee – Read Leviticus 25:8-17
Provisions for the Seventh Year – Read Leviticus 25:18-22
Redemption of Property – Read Leviticus 25:23-34
Lending to the Poor – Read Leviticus 25:35-38
The Law Concerning Slavery – Read Leviticus 25:39-55


Care of the Tabernacle Lamps – Read Leviticus 24:1-4

1. Who was in charge of ensuring that the lamps burned continually (v. 3)?





2. What were the lamps constructed of, and what was the substance that burned in them (vv. 1-4)?




3. Who was responsible for providing the substance that burned in the lamps (v. 2)?

The Bread of the Tabernacle – Read Leviticus 24:5-9

4. How many loaves of bread were baked for the Tabernacle, and where and how were they placed (vv. 5-6)?


5. Who was allowed to eat the bread of the Tabernacle, and where were they restricted to eating it (v. 9)? (See also 1 Samuel 21:4-6 and Matthew 12:3-4.)

The Penalty for Blasphemy – Read Leviticus 24:10-23

6. There are only two narrative sections in Leviticus, and both of them relate acts of blasphemy that lead to death. The first narrative is about Nadab and Abihu in Chapter 10. Who is the second narrative about (v. 10)?


7. What did this person do in this narrative (vv. 10-11)?


8. What was initially done to this person and why (v. 12)? (See also Numbers 15:34.)



9. What final judgment was passed upon this person (vv. 13-14, 23)?


10. What ordinances were put into place to govern what this person did (vv. 15-16)?


11. Why is a man who kills another man to be put to death (v. 17)? (See also Genesis 9:6, Exodus 21:12, Numbers 35:30-31, and Deuteronomy 19:11-12.)


12. What is required of a man who kills an animal belonging to another (vv. 18, 21)?


13. What is required of a man who causes disfigurement to his neighbor (vv. 19-20)? (See also Exodus 21:23–25 and Deuteronomy 19:21.)

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year – Read Leviticus 25:1-7

14. Every seven years the children of Israel were to let the land rest. What were they not allowed to do during the seventh year (vv. 4-5)?




15. Although they were to let the land rest (v. 4), the food that grew of its own accord could be eaten. Who could eat it (vv. 6-7)?


16. During this seventh year, what two other things were the children of Israel required to do? (See Deuteronomy 15:1–2 and 31:9–13.)

The Year of Jubilee – Read Leviticus 25:8-17

17. How often did the Year of Jubilee occur (vv. 8, 10)?


18. What did the children of Israel do differently on the Day of Atonement during the Year of Jubilee (vv. 9-10)?


19. How was the Year of Jubilee the determining factor in the purchase price of land (vv. 14-16)?

Provisions for the Seventh Year – Read Leviticus 25:18-22

20. What was the expectation of the children of Israel in order for them to live safely in the land and for the land to yield its fruit (vv. 18-19)?




21. If the children of Israel were to ask the question, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” what would be God’s answer (v. 21)?

Redemption of Property – Read Leviticus 25:23-34

22. Why couldn’t a portion of the land of Israel be sold permanently (vv. 23-24)?


23. If a man became poor and sold his land, what three ways existed for him to rightfully get his land back (vv. 25-28)?


24. How and when could a house sold within a walled city be redeemed (vv. 29-30)?


25. How and when could the home of a Levite be redeemed (v. 33)?

Lending to the Poor – Read Leviticus 25:35-38

26. Usury is the sum paid for the use of money, or interest. From whom could the children of Israel take no usury (vv. 35-37)?



27. How were the children of Israel to help a fellow Israelite if he became poor (vv. 35-37)?

The Law Concerning Slavery – Read Leviticus 25:39-55

28. How were the children of Israel to treat a fellow Israelite if they became poor and sold themselves into slavery (vv. 39-40)?


29. The children of Israel were allowed to own slaves. Who could they own as a slave (v. 44)?


30. If a slave that was owned by one of the children of Israel had children, what became of those children (vv. 45-46)?


31. If an Israelite became poor and sold himself into slavery, how could he be redeemed out of slavery (vv. 47-49)?


32. If that Israelite wanted to obtain redemption from slavery, how would he determine the price of his release (vv. 50-52)?


33. Why were Israelites who sold themselves into slavery released in the Year of Jubilee (vv. 54-55)?

DETAILED NOTES

  1. Introduction
    1. Your conversion story
      1. Everybody has a story
      2. Hardship
      3. Trial
      4. Need for the Lord not known until that trial came
    2. Skip's conversion story
      1. Young
        1. Hadn't suffered a lot
        2. Christian band showed up at high school and shared their faith through song
        3. They were playing Skip's kind of music—a musical language that he could understand
        4. Previous church experience had been austere, solemn, and boring
        5. This was a happy celebration full of joy
      2. Joined a church
        1. Asked to be part of the worship team
        2. Loved the idea of celebratory music to speak about the Lord
    3. Festivals of the Lord
      1. God's save-the-dates, where the people were to honor and celebrate God
      2. In the New Testament, there are no save-the-dates; they were only directed to keep Communion often
      3. Males had to go to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles
    4. Of historical note
      1. Israel observed the lunar calendar; 354.3 days in a year
      2. Egyptians also had a lunar calendar
      3. Mesopotamian calendar similar
      4. All these calendars required them to make up days; every few years they added a month
  2. The Lord's Feasts
    1. Sabbath, speaks of rest
      1. Weekly observance
      2. Predates the giving of the law of Moses
      3. Israel's week builds to Sabbath
        1. Friday afternoon
        2. Dress nicer for Friday evening meal
        3. Gift given
        4. Husband buys flowers for his wife
        5. Beautiful celebration
      4. God gave the gift of the Sabbath to the people for rest
      5. Sabbath became a burden by the New Testament times; 39 activities prohibited on the Sabbath
        1. They lost the idea that it was for rest
        2. 24 chapters in the Talmud were devoted to Sabbath law
        3. Jesus Christ said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; and He claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath (see Mark 2:27 and Matthew 12:8)
      6. Sunday is not the Sabbath nor the Christian Sabbath
        1. It's the first day of the week
        2. New covenant, days don't matter (see Romans 14:5)
        3. Worship God every single day of the week
    2. Passover speaks of redemption
      1. The children of Israel delivered from bondage by the mighty hand of God
      2. Passover was the last plague in Egypt when all the Egyptian firstborn died (see Exodus 12)
        1. The Israelites killed a lamb and sprinkled its blood on the door post
        2. Roasted the lamb and sat for a Seder meal
          1. A very ordered event
          2. A family event
      3. Two roles
        1. Commemorative past deliverance
        2. Predictive of future deliverance
        3. Our Communion is tied to the Passover
          1. Jesus died on Passover
          2. "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29)
          3. Every time you take Communion you are showing the Lord's death until He comes
          4. You are looking forward to His return, His reign
          5. You die for your own sin, or the Lamb dies for your sin
    3. The feast of Unleavened Bread speaks of recuperation
      1. Left Egypt in a hurry
        1. They didn't have time to bake bread with leaven
        2. There's no need to rush anymore
      2. Passover day begins the first day of the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread
      3. Picture of spiritual recuperation
        1. Restoration
        2. Building up
        3. Wickedness removed
        4. "So let us celebrate the festival, not by eating the old bread of wickedness and evil, but by eating the new bread of purity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:8)
        5. Just as there was no gap between Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread; there is no gap between your redemption in Christ and Him sanctifying you
    4. Feast of First fruits speaks representation
      1. Beginning of the barley harvest
        1. Early spring
        2. Wave the first of the harvest before God
        3. Represented that there was more to follow; trust and belief that there would be an abundant harvest
        4. Celebration of joy; exuberant
        5. Representation of resurrection (see 1 Corinthians 15:20)
        6. His resurrection requires ours, just as first fruits require harvest
      2. Pentecost marked the end of the wheat harvest
        1. Known as shabua—feast of weeks
        2. End of spring—50 days after Passover
        3. Jewish tradition: Moses received the law on this day
          1. Today it is customary for the observant Jew to stay up the entire nights of shabua discussing the Torah
          2. Symbolizes vigilance
        4. Bread baked with leaven
        5. New Testament church was birthed on Pentecost
          1. Two loaves of bread baked with leaven
          2. Symbolic of Jew and Gentile being brought together
          3. We are all one in Christ (see Galatians 3:28)
    5. After Pentecost, there is a long gap
      1. Four months with no feasts
      2. Many conservative theologians believe this is a picture of the church age
      3. Has God forsaken Israel? (see Romans 11:1)
    6. Feast of Trumpets, reminder
      1. Seventh month; emphasis on seven
      2. Trumpet sound reminds you of something very solemn is coming
      3. Ten days of self-examination
      4. Two silver trumpets blown first day of every month (see Numbers 10)
      5. Now we have the blowing of the trumpet reminding them that the Day of Atonement is coming; get ready
      6. Next ten days called Yamim Nora'im, days of awe or days of repentance
        1. Two calendars—religious and civil
        2. Nisan is the first month and begins the religious year (see Exodus 12:2)
        3. After they come back from captivity, though it's the seventh month, the first day is called Rosh Hashanah, New Year
        4. First month of the civil year; called Tishri
      7. In Isaiah 27 he predicts re-gathering of Israel by blowing of the trumpet
      8. Ezekiel gives more information (see Ezekiel 37 and 39)
      9. Trumpet will call believers to meet the Lord in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17)
        1. 70th week of Daniel (see Daniel 9:25-27)
        2. Seven-year period
        3. God deals with the world
        4. God deals with His people, the Jewish nation, to recover them—restore them back to covenant relationship where they trust in Jesus as the Messiah
    7. Day of Atonement speaks of repentance
      1. Yom Kippur, means the day of covering
      2. Afflict your souls
        1. Deny yourself
        2. Time of fasting
      3. Solemn feast
      4. Scapegoat
        1. Fasting turned to feasting after the scapegoat is gone
        2. Singing and dancing
      5. This will be fulfilled in the tribulation—that 70th week of Daniel
        1. In the future they will re-gather in the land
        2. The people were already restored to their land in 1948
        3. Restored to the Lord
        4. They will look on Him whom they have pierced (see Zechariah 12:10 and John 19:37)
    8. Feast of Tabernacles, relocation
      1. Protected and provided for in the wilderness
      2. Sukkah, booths—temporary huts
      3. A whole week of camping out to remind them of the children of Israel were provided during their time in the desert
      4. The Jews were celebrating this feast when Jesus said, "If any man thirst" (see John 7:37)
        1. Priest raised the pitcher and poured water
        2. In unison, they quoted Isaiah 12:3, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation"
        3. On the eighth day of the feast, the priest did that twice
      5. What does this feast have to do with the future?
        1. After Jesus returns, we will celebrate in the Millennial Kingdom (see Zechariah 14)
        2. Israel will dwell securely for 1,000 years
        3. Fulfills and completes the prophetic progression to the feasts
  3. Closing
    1. Rejoice before the Lord
      1. A command to be happy
      2. We all go through hardships and heartaches
      3. Deliberately say, "Lord, You are worth me celebrating You."
      4. Some church people can be very serious
      5. 18 times in the Psalms we're commanded to "make a joyful shout to the Lord"
      6. Charles H. Spurgeon said, "Our happy God should be worshipped by happy people; a cheerful spirit is in keeping with His nature"
      7. Happy hour at church
    2. Communion
      1. Ties us to the Passover
      2. Commemorative
      3. Celebrative
      4. Predictive



Hebrew terms: שָׁבֻעֹת֙; shabua, weeks; Yamim Nora'im, days of awe; Rosh Hashanah, Jewish new year; Tishri, the first month of the civil year; י֥וֹם הַכִּפֻּרִ֣ים; Yom Kippur, day of atonement; בַּסֻּכֹּ֥ת; sukkah, booths
Figures referenced: Charles H. Spurgeon
Cross references: Exodus 12, Numbers 10,
Isaiah 12:3, Isaiah 27, Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel 39, Daniel 9:25-27, Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah  14, Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:27, John 1:29, John 7:37, John 19:37, Romans 11:1, Romans 14:5, 1 Corinthians 15:20, Galatians 3:28, 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Topic: Feasts

Keywords: Sabbath, rest, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Passover, redemption, deliverance, unleavened bread, recuperation, first fruits, represent, recognize, God, Jesus, trumpet, reminder, Atonement, repentance, Tabernacle, relocation, rejoice, celebrate, feast, remember


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