Leviticus 23 Bible Study (Feasts of the Lord/Sabbath/Passover/../Atonement) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

If you would stand with me, we are still in the book of Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 23 is where we're gonna spend most of our time tonight. And in the standing of God's word, we are going to read the first two verses. Leviticus chapter 23 beginning in verse one. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, these are the appointed feast of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations.

They are my appointed feasts. Father, thank you for the book of Leviticus, and we ask in this place tonight that you would grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know what you have to say to us as new covenant believers in light of this chapter. Lord, we boast in our weakness because we know that we receive your strength, and it is perfected in our weakness. Let it be known tonight, oh, God. Help us see Jesus Christ in light of this text.

Let him be worshiped and adored by your people. And for those in here who do not know him, may they come to full surrender in light of the grace that he offers through Calvary. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

This may or may not be our final time in the book of Leviticus. We will see where we go tonight, but this is a fascinating chapter. And this is gonna be more of a teaching thing than anything, and that's okay because this is Bible study. And really what this is gonna look like is taking different texts and connecting them and letting the Word of God speak for itself. We've come to the place now in Leviticus 23 where God wants to organize and establish and really give these feasts for his people on an annual basis, and there's a practical and a prophetic aspect to understanding what these things are.

Really, though, there are a total of seven feasts, and we see from the language of the first two verses that the Lord really values what these celebrations are all about. Look at the language again in verse two. Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, these are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations. They are my appointed feasts. There's something that he treasures here.

There's something of value. There's something of great importance to the Lord concerning these celebrations that he's about to explain and really brand on the calendar of the nation of Israel for them to be faithful for generations to come. Now here's a practical question. What are the reasons for this feast immediately? Why would God institute such things in your estimation?

Remembrance of what God has done. So there's there's a sense of remembering what God has done. And in remembering, what? Celebrate, worship, give thanks. There's even a beautiful wisdom here in which three of these seven feasts were given for the people to travel wherever they were, whatever tribes they were from, to come to one area, to come to one place, and to celebrate this feast together.

So it was it's a way also in Deuteronomy 16. You don't have to go there. Sixteen sixteen says, three times a year, all your mail shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose. At the feast of unleavened bread, which includes Passover. Remember, Passover and unleavened bread, we're gonna find out were so close that they were considered as one feast.

At the feast of weeks and at the feast of booths, they shall not appear before the Lord empty handed. So three out of the seven feasts, there would be a pilgrimage to the place where the Lord would choose. And this would, in a second consequence, really bring the people of God together. Bring these different tribes, and in these three different feasts, they would realize that they are one. And so there's beautiful practical implications that the Lord has in mind when he's given this.

Like any other celebration that we have, like any memorial weekend, like any birthday, it's it's it brings us to a place in our day to day activities and all the responsibilities we have. It reminds us of who God is. It reminds us of what he's done in light of this, and it brings us to a place of realignment to worship him and recognize that he is there. Why? Because like Israel, we too forget all the time about the goodness of God, of what he's done.

We forgot what God has done yesterday. Never mind last year. And so these these fees have major practical implications, but not just practical implications. Prophetic. Deeply prophetic.

And there is a verse that speaks of this. And if there's a verse that I would encourage you to turn to to mark, it's Colossians two sixteen and seventeen. Look what Paul says concerning many of the old testament practices. Colossians two sixteen says, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival. That's what we're talking about today.

Festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Why? These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ, including the festivals. What we are going to discover tonight is that Jesus Christ is a supreme theme of every single one of these feasts that are instituted in this chapter. And so all these things, all these details, and dare I say to some degree the dates, speak of something of the person, the ministry, the life of Jesus.

There's shadow. Christ is a substance. And so just for the sake of visualization, because I know when it comes to months and dates, we can kinda get things crazy. Here's just a simple it's not even dates. It's just the the feast lined up for us to see and to understand how they're divided.

There's seven feasts, and they're under two different categories because of the the dates on the the the Jewish calendar. You have seven feasts. You have three four of them rather called the spring feasts because they all find themselves in the very in the springtime really. You have Passover, unleavened bread, and debatable whether that's a feast or not, what it is for sure is an offering, first fruits, and Pentecost. Passover, unleavened bread, and First Fruits are all found in the month of Nisan.

They're all found in one month. Pentecost, fifty days after. Then you have this interval time, and then you have the autumn feasts. And all of these feasts are actually found in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Trumpets, atonement, tabernacles.

So we see that. Does that make sense? It's very simple when you see it in light of a visual here. Passover, unleavened bed at first, first, Pentecost, interval time, trumpets, atonement, tabernacles. We're gonna see why that is given.

And And if there is any bible study that you might have to really give your mental energy and focus to this one, because if you miss one detail, you'll miss the rest. So I would encourage you, hang tight, hold tight. I will do my best to not speak so fastly, and and we'll let the scriptures speak for themselves. We see here that in verse four and five, that the Passover is the first feast that the Lord wants to give instruction concerning. These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.

In the first month, that's what we discussed, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. Can somebody explain what Passover is in a very short, brief way? What is Passover? I guess, remembrance when the when the Jews were delivered from Egypt, and it comes with blood shed on the door, the mountain passover, and then strike the curse of the horn of their children. Absolutely.

Exodus chapter 12 is when this feast was instituted. That the people of Israel were given instruction by God to take a lamb in the prime of its life, to slaughter that lamb, to put the blood of that lamb on the doorpost and the lintel of each home, and that they were to come into their home and on and in a way be under the blood. Notice again for the sake of remembrance, there was no blood placed on the floor. Only on the doorpost and lintel. Why?

Because Hebrews tells us that we are not to trample on the blood of the son of God. So we are not to step on the blood. You're not supposed to take his blood for granted. You're not to treat it with contempt. No.

It's a covering. And they stayed in that house. And the Lord said, I will pass over when I see the blood on your doorpost. And if there was no blood, there was wrath. And what was the judgment that the firstborn would be destroyed?

And so this celebration would help them remember their deliverance of Egypt and also the wrath of God. We were saved by the wrath of God, by the provision of a lamb. And we think of Jesus and the timing of his entry into Jerusalem was the very same timing on that same calendar. So think about it. You look at Matthew.

You look at Luke's account. When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, it says that it was at the time of the feast, and that's one of the pilgrimage feast. So you have all these Jews from all these tribes coming to Jerusalem, and what are they doing? They're buying their lambs. They're getting ready to purchase a lamb to slaughter it and to give it up as an offering.

And you know what? God says, here's my lamb. And Jesus comes in in that timing. And while all these people are running around looking for the lamb, God says, here is the perfect lamb of God. And Paul says in first Corinthians five seven that Christ is what?

Our Passover lamb. And so we understand that. This is just maybe a review for the first two feasts at least because the next one is in verse six of Leviticus 23. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread. So we have the month of Nisan.

What day is Passover? Day fourteen. Day fifteen is what? Of the same month, unleavened bread. What is the feast of unleavened bread?

Can anybody explain briefly? Feast of unleavened bread. It's in the same chapter in Exodus 12. What was the practice? What was the instruction?

What was what was the way of celebrating? So they they were in haste. Right? They they need to get out of Egypt. So what did they have not time to do?

They baked bread with yeast. Baked bread with yeast. So they ate what? Unleavened bread. Unleavened bread.

As they were to do that for seven days. And not only that, they were to go into their homes and make sure that there was no hint of leaven in that home, which is a picture of what? Leaven? Sin. In the same verse in first Corinthians five seven, Paul tells us that we have to remove the leaven.

That's speaking in context of a church that has not responded well to sexual sin that's been tolerated. He says, remove the leaven from your midst. Remove the yeast that puffs up that that comes in a little bit, and it could just saturate the whole thing. Remove it quickly before it infects everyone else. And so this is a picture in in the light of the new covenant according to Paul, the theologian inspired by the Holy Spirit of the believer sanctified life, of the believer that is continually living in search, examining, and realizing when they're sent to remove it, do everything they can to get it out of their hearts and get it out of their lives.

And it's a continual process. It's a lifelong process. And we don't have time right now to go into those verses. We We talked about it even at Maranatha that identify these two feasts as one. So many times when you see in a scripture where it says that they celebrate the Passover, they also ate unleavened bread without mentioning that was a feast of unleavened bread or vice versa.

The idea is that the experience of the Passover and the experience of the feast of unleavened bread could what? You could not separate those experiences. You could not divorce those two realities, and this is what we talked about at Maranatha. In light of the new covenant, you cannot separate Jesus Christ spilling his blood for you and you receiving it and you repenting of your sin. You can't separate those two things.

If you've received Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, you cannot You cannot in the same breath say, yeah, I can live how I want. No way. If anybody preaches that gospel, it's a perverse gospel. This idea of just live however you want, and that's okay because Jesus Christ and his grace covers it all. Not according to this gospel.

Not according to this Bible. My goodness. It's even in the old covenant. You can't separate these two realities. And that's what we need to understand.

If you wanna know the experience of Passover, you better embrace the Feast of Unleavened Bread and remove every hint of sin. Let me read this in Deuteronomy sixteen three. This is in light of the the the feast of unleavened bread. You shall not you shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction.

For you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. So when they were experiencing this feast of unleavened bread, you know what they were doing in the process? Remembering when they hastily left Egypt. So So it's a celebration how we were delivered from the world. It's a celebration how we are set free from the bondage of pharaoh.

It's a celebration that we are no longer captives, and this is what they were doing while they were eating this feast of unleavened bread. We came out of the world. The blood saved us from the bondage of pharaoh, yes, but also from the wrath of God, but we are also now delivered from leaven. Now this is interesting, and this is where it gets really interesting. We come to the third feast.

Some some people would say this isn't a feast. Some people say it is. Some people say it's a it's an offering. Some people say it's a celebration. In my estimation, I would categorize this as a celebration or offering and put it under the banner of a feast.

It's known as the Feast of First Fruits. And it says here in verse nine of Leviticus 23, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest So this is something they were to anticipate because they're still in the wilderness. So when they come to the promised land, they were to observe this. When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of its fruits of the first fruits 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 waive it.

K. Just from that reading, how do you understand this feast if you're an Israelite thousands of years ago? You hear these instructions, and what's the idea behind this feast? The the title alone gives a very strong indication of what it's about. Feast of first fruits.

Don't be nervous, Marfil. Sacrifice in the offering the best and first fruits, of your harvest. Bingo. You got it. That's the idea.

That when they were to come to a place that they had received the the first of their harvest, the first fruits of whatever they have cultivated. God's mind behind this is, I'm first. You know God is a God of firsts. God wants to be first in everything. Everything.

And this is what this feast is saying. Recognize me in light of your blessings. Recognize me. Thank you. Speaking of blessings.

Thank you. Recognize me that I am your provider. Recognize that whatever you do have, it's because of my goodness in the first place. And so they were to take whatever they got, whatever they received, and they were to immediately in fact, you see later on that they were not even supposed to eat any grain, any bread. They weren't supposed to put anything in their mouth until they first came to the Lord and brought this offering.

And it wasn't just like here's a sheaf of wheat. They dropped off and said, okay. I got it out of the way. No. Let me read this to you.

You can turn there if you want. Deuteronomy twenty six ten. Look at what they were supposed to do. Deuteronomy twenty six ten, instructions for the first fruits. And behold now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, oh, Lord, have given me.

This is what a person was supposed to say when they brought the the first fruits of their crops. And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. So they they were supposed to come and say, Lord, I bring the first of the fruit of the ground which you, oh Lord, have given me. And then you worship. You worship.

So it was a time of thanksgiving. It was a time of recognizing who he is. It was a time of realizing that every blessing comes from above. But it was not just a time of reflection. It was a time of anticipation.

Why? Because this was the first fruits. And so they were coming to a place in which out of excitement and joy and thrill, there is so much more that is gonna come after this moment. And they celebrated that. That the the first blossom here is an indication.

Hey, Israelites. There is so much more coming. And that caused joy. That caused excitement. That caused comfort knowing that even if I give this first fruit, there's so much more that's going to come.

Listen, in the practical sense, remember, God is a God of firsts. If you if you make it up in your mind to to recognize the Lord and all things as first, that whatever whatever arena of life that you're walking, whatever season, whatever element, it does not matter. If you recognize God, this is yours. Whatever you wanna do with every penny, whatever you wanna do with every hint of energy, whatever you wanna do with my time, it's yours. God will bless you.

God will honor that. And so I read that. You know what I ask? God, do I give you the first of my day? Or do I put other things before you?

Do I give you the first of my energy, or do I give my energy to something else? If you and I wanna come because we're not required to honor or regard these feasts, but if you wanna come close to it, this is how you do it. Lord, here's here's everything first. I'm not gonna give you the garbage last minute. I wanna give you first.

We recognize Christ as the Passover, but have you ever thought of Christ as the first fruits? Because the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ is the first fruits. Turn your Bibles to first Corinthians. First Corinthians fifteen twenty. Look what Paul says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Where do you think Paul is getting this language from? This text. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. What do we get out of that? All the same way that the Israelites would come and rejoice in thanksgiving of the blessing that had come, but also in the same thrill, they knew that there was more, there was there was a greater harvest to be realized. They celebrated. You know what Paul is saying?

Christ is the first fruits. He is the seal. He is the expression of confidence that because he rose, there is a harvest of other resurrections that are on their way. You and me. Christ is the first of that, and there is a whole harvest of resurrection that is on its way.

And if you want to celebrate this feast, celebrate and light a new covenant. That because Jesus left that tomb empty, you and I also can with so much confidence know that we will be taken up as well. This feast speaks of the resurrection. This feast speaks about how Jesus came up before the Lord as an offering, and it was an acceptable offering. And you and I are to follow what is to come as the first fruits that he has made himself to be before God.

If you think this is a stretch, consider the date of this feast. Look at verse 11. And he shall wave the the sheep, this is in Leviticus 23, before the Lord, so that you may be accepted on the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall waive it. So let's go back to Passover. We have Passover.

First month, what day? Fourteenth. Feast of unleavened bread. First month, what day? Now we have the offering celebration of first fruits.

There is no exact date, but what is clear is of that week remember, 1415. We're talking the week now. We have seven days of unleavened bread. Of that week, wherever the Sabbath falls, the day after that Sabbath is when you celebrate the first fruits. When did Jesus raise from the grave?

Mark sixteen nine. Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath. So Jesus, as the first fruits, springs up the day after the Sabbath. Pretty precise. God is precise.

We have gospel in Leviticus 23 brothers and sisters, and this is what we have up to this point. Jesus who is what? He came in. If you look at if you look at the text in Matthew and Luke, he came in during the Passover as the Passover lamb. Jesus was buried during the feast of unleavened bread.

The calendar, he was buried during the feast of unleavened bread, and he rose on the celebration of first fruits. I don't know about you, but I was reading it up to this point saying, God, you are holy. You are wise. And I was realizing it trembling at this word. You think this is a compilation of random text?

No. This is God in his wisdom bringing us to a place of adoration. Then we have this other feast in verse 15, feast of weeks. Verse 15, You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath. So what is that speaking of?

What we just covered. The day after the Sabbath where you offer the first fruits. Here's the first fruits, Lord. Count seven weeks from that point, from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. That's what we talked about.

So you bring the sheaf. You say, Lord, this is yours. This belongs to you, God. I worship you that you've provided for me. Okay.

Seven weeks from that moment. Verse 16. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved made of two tenths of an ephah.

They shall be a fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. So what's going on here? So from that day of first fruits, seven weeks, fifty days from that place, they were to come now during this time of harvest and offer new grain. So up to this point in their season of harvest, they were to bring another offering as thanksgiving to the Lord.

And recognizing that God is the one who sustained them, God is the one who's provided all these things up to this point. And no notice the emphasis, new grain. This is not the same as what we talked about in the first fruits. This is not the the the blossoming there in the beginning. No.

This is something that's let's talk about a different kind of harvest. And they were to come, bring this before the Lord, and they were to say, again, we recognize your blessing. Now let me read this to you. You don't have to turn there. But in Exodus twenty three sixteen, because some of these feasts have different names, and some people can get confused.

But a synonymous feast named to this is in Exodus twenty three sixteen called the Feast of Harvest. The Feast of Harvest. And how fitting is that name in light of what it means prophetically? The Feast of Harvest. In the New Testament, does anybody know what this feast is called?

Pentecost. Meaning fiftieth. So fifty days, Pentecost. K. Question.

When did Jesus raise from the the dead? First fruits. The first fruits. Right? Celebration of first fruits.

When was the Holy Spirit poured out on the church? Fifty days after Jesus rose from the grave. What happened on the day of Pentecost? 3,000. 3,000 came.

Your harvest. Harvest. A harvest of souls were presented on that day. Do you see what the Lord is trying to say here? A new harvest, an in gathering, a bringing in of souls.

And someone interpret because there's something unique about this feast. Have you noticed in the reading when they were to offer the bread, it was a specific type of bread? Leavened bread. Leavened. But unleavened means without sin and you wanna bring leavened bread?

I'm still debating about this, wrestling with it, but I heard this and read this interpretation of it. That the leaven speaks of the fact that in light of the prophetic implications and interpretation that the church is still leavened to some degree, that it still has sin. But because of what Christ has done, the Holy Spirit allows us to come before the throne of grace because of the spilled blood for us. And so here's leavened bread. And this is this is that part I like.

I understand. This is the part where it's a little bit of a stretch. You have two loaves, Jew, Gentile. Still wrestling with that. But the idea there about leaven is pretty powerful that the Holy Spirit poured out on sinful men, but because of what Christ has done for us, he can seal us and empower us and bring us into a relationship with God, adopting us, crying out for us.

But the main point is the harvest. The harvest that fell on this day. That as they recognize it in the physical, in the new covenant, it's spiritual. People are coming in. People are coming in.

And this is a beautiful thing. If we can put up that line of feast up again, please. You have Passover, Jesus's death. You have unleavened bread, speaking about the believer that's cleansing himself from sin, but also the timing where Jesus was buried. You have first fruits where Jesus did raise from the grave, and you have Pentecost.

You have the feast of weeks, the feast of harvest, where fifty days later souls came into the kingdom of God in a mighty way. New grain offered before the Lord. Here's the problem. We have three feasts left. Three feasts left.

And there is nothing in the New Testament that indicates any fulfillment to these feasts. There's nothing about these feasts in which we can point to like we have. Have we can we all agree that we pointed in New Testament scriptures that concretely state that these things are fulfillment in Christ's ministry up to this point? Yes. Now we come to this point, we go, well, there's nothing I can point to that has been fulfilled unless these feasts are speaking about something yet to be fulfilled.

Let me put a disclaimer here. Let me put a disclaimer here. I am not going even to flirt with the idea of naming dates of events that are going to take place from this point on with the bible study. And if anybody does claim any dates about when Christ is gonna do this or when Christ is gonna do that, it's pretty dangerous. In fact, people have gone to the extreme where they have really proclaimed these kind of things and they got themselves in trouble.

And they have the audacity to say, oh, I I misheard that date. It's actually this date. And that is not what I'm doing here. But nevertheless, the events that are going to be seen in the rest of these feats are un there's no doubt that they have some kind of prophetic whisper in them. You can take that down.

Thank you. When you come to the end of the feast of weeks, it comes to the end of the spring feast. And then there's this interval time between the feast of weeks and the next feast. There's there's this gap. And then we come into these fall feasts, and they're all found in the same month.

And I believe that that gap between the feast of weeks and the next feast speaks about a certain age. What age do you think that is speaking of? The church age. Souls are still coming in. There is still a harvest.

People are still hearing the gospel. God is slow slow in judgment because he wants all to reach repentance. And so if you wanna know where we are in this calendar, we're right here, the church age. So what are we waiting for next? Leviticus twenty three twenty three.

And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel saying, in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord. The feast of trumpets. There isn't very much detail about what this feast was about. Some would say that it was a time in which the people were to prepare.

It was a time of awakening for the people to realize that the day of atonement is coming. It was a time of reflection. It was a time of introspection. It was a time of of affliction and remembering that they are sinners and that there needed to be a sacrifice made on their behalf. Some would also say that it would point back to the trumpets that were blasted in Exodus chapter 19, remembering that they had made a covenant with God.

And what was the sound that was booming in that place on that mountain? Trumpets. Trumpets. And I believe as we've been following the sequence of feasts, we've come to the place now that as there has been this gap, the next thing that we are awaiting are trumpet blasts as well. First Thessalonians four sixteen.

First Thessalonians four sixteen and seventeen. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. So the rapture of the church is accompanied by a trumpet blast. But not just a trumpet blast.

There are actually three sounds here that are being expressed. What do we have? We have the shout of an archangel. We have what? The cry of a command from who?

God. And we have a trumpet blast. Some would say those are three in one. I would say there are three separate things. So we have a voice, a cry of a command that's gonna come forth.

That's coming from God. Think about what that will be like. You think about John 11 when Jesus called Lazarus forth. Lazarus come forth with authority and clarity, and the power of that short sentence literally took a man who was dead four days to come up and hopping wrapped up needing people to set him free. And think about this cry of a command.

Not one person. We're talking about all the saints of all the ages. Some buried in the sand, some underwater, some some mountain somewhere, some burned up, some lost their heads. And when he shouts, in a moment, what kind of power does this god have? In a moment, every single one who is asleep will come, as first Corinthians 15 says, will be changed.

And then those who are alive will follow and will meet the Lord in the air. Then you have the voice of an archangel. Why is he shouting if God's shouting? What what's going on there? I don't know.

I would I would think that the archangel in some way is expressing some kind of joy. At the same way that when one sinner repents all of heaven, it bothers me when you hear of any testimony of of one person coming to Christ, people are like, that's awesome. You know what heaven's doing? All the angels are rejoicing when one sinner repents. And it's in my estimation that when our God is ready to call his bride to come and meet with him, All the angels will be there shouting with joy.

Here it is. This is what we've been waiting for. And then you got a trumpet blast, which is very very symbolic to the Old Testament. There are different portions in scripture in the Old Testament where a trumpet blast concerning the nation of Israel was a way of gathering the people together. So here's my question in light of this Bible study.

Is there any sense of your heart tonight, realizing what we're reading in Leviticus 23, is there any sense of you feeling the weight of where we are in history? What's coming next? The trumpet blast. Are you ready for that blast? What will happen?

I don't know the details. Will the world hear will there only be believers that hear that trumpet blast? Could it be like a Saul on road to Damascus where where Saul heard the words but those around him heard the sound and didn't know what was going on? Perhaps. But my question is in light of reading this and knowing yet, I mean, is there anything in you that feels this right now?

When is it going to happen? It's gonna happen in a moment. That's what we're anticipating next on this prophetic calendar. Jesus calling us home. And in first John two, it says that some will shrink from shame.

Believers, in light of that. And some, like Paul, like the ending of Revelation, will say, come Lord Jesus with the bride. You might be wondering when is this going to happen? And there's a wonderful verse in the book of Acts that should humble all of us because the disciples had the same question. In Acts one six, they said, Lord, is this the time when you're gonna restore the kingdom of Israel?

The Lord says in verse seven, it is not for you to know the times or seasons that are appointed by God. So the disciples had the same question. When is it gonna happen, Lord? When are you gonna restore Israel? And they were still limited in their understanding there because God wanted to restore all people.

And God says in Christ, listen, it's not for you to understand the times and seasons. So what should be the posture? What should be the mentality? What should be where we spend all our energy? Acts one eight.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you. Go and preach. Go and and tell people about who I am and what I've done. Go and tell people that I am coming back and that I will judge the living and the dead. Go.

That's what should be consuming us. And there are some people that are doing the opposite. All their time and all their energy and all their YouTube videos are about when it's going to happen and how it's going to happen, and this politician rose up, oh, and this event happened, oh, and all. And Christ is like, I sent the Holy Spirit not for you to figure this thing out. I want you to go and preach and bring people in because we're still in the church age.

And there's still a harvest. There's still a gathering. And then after this, there's another feast called the day of atonement. We are very familiar with this. Are we not?

Leviticus twenty three twenty six. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, now on the tenth day of the seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a day of atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people.

And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. Now here's here's what's interesting in light of the sequence of these feasts. Because how do we understand the day of atonement? We we talked about this last time. In Leviticus 16, God gives instructions for the day of atonement, and we understand as what?

A prophetic picture of the sacrifice of Christ. And that it is. But in light of the sequence of these feasts, that doesn't really make too much sense, does it? Why? Because Passover covers that.

First fruits, resurrection. So are we, like, now just disorganized and the Lord wants to speak about his salvation on the cross again? Notice also compare this to what we read in Leviticus 16. What's the difference about these instructions in Leviticus 16 and this right here? Did you notice the difference in the instructions?

If you want, look back at Leviticus 16 and see. Just scan through it, and you'll realize the strong difference between these instructions of the same day. Leviticus 16 is giving instructions concerning the day of atonement, but mainly focusing on the activity and the ministry of the priests. When you see these verses, there's no mention of the activity of the priest. It's speaking about the posture and the response of the people.

And out of all the feasts, there isn't much rejoicing in this one. It's a time of affliction. It's a time of reflection. It's a time of fasting. It's a time of repentance.

It's a time of mourning. It's a time of realizing their sin. So how do we make sense of this? In light of this sequence as we're following this calendar through Leviticus 23 and God's plan in history? I would argue that there is a picture of what we're seeing here that is yet to be, And it is God's plan according to scripture to do a work of salvation on a national level with the people of Israel.

It's It's gonna make sense in a moment. God has a plan for the nation of Israel because he had made covenants with them long ago, and God doesn't break promises. And so despite the ups and downs of the people of Israel even to this day, God has a purpose in redeeming them on a national scale. That is not to say that every Jew will be saved. That is to say that the nation of Israel one day will acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

You might not understand that. You may not fully comprehend it, and I know people that don't even believe in that. Well, what do you do with a text like Romans 11? Romans eleven twenty five and twenty six. Lest you be wise in your own sight