SCRIPTURE: Leviticus 23
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
1. In this chapter the Lord mentions the many festivals the people were to commemorate. Weekly, monthly, and yearly the people were to enjoy rest, to be reminded of God’s mercy, and to celebrate His goodness. The Sabbath Day, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles were occasions to assemble for worship and celebration. Please note, the Lord wants to party with us, in the best sense of the term!
2. Jesus shows that we will spend eternity celebrating with Him, at least, those who want to: I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matthew 8:11-12] Apparently not everyone will want to join in that eternal feast.
3. The Lord is not out to take away all fun. Instead He wants to help us celebrate and part in the best, most appropriate way. We were created to glorify and enjoy the Lord, not just slavishly cower before Him. Though the many laws about sacrifice and cleanness seem to be the opposite of fun and joy, they were necessary boundaries put in place for the people UNTIL Jesus came. Now He has dealt with the problem of sin, death and hell once and for all, and the eternal party is beginning.
4. The feast is both already and not yet. We are tasting the firstfruits of the eternal feast by the Spirit, in whom we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. But we have just tasted the Lord`s goodness, the best is yet to come. In addition, our joy is qualified by the many around us still wallowing in misery, famished before the spread table. Apparently not everyone will want to join in that eternal feast. And sad to say, many who miss out will be the ones who should have known better.
5. Someone once described heaven and hell this way. Two rooms with people seated around a table, with a great bowl of wonderful stew, and long spoons fastened to their hands, too long to reach their own mouths. In hell, everyone starves because everyone only thinks to feed themselves, and cannot, because the spoon can’t reach their own mouth. While in heaven, each one is well fed because they feed each other!
6. The Lord wants us to celebrate His mercy, His goodness. There are opportunities everyday to celebrate, to give thanks, to remember, to believe. Our feast includes the communion meal, a regular occasion to celebrate and give thanks. Though maybe, maybe we should increase the portions, make it more of a feast, a celebration, an occasion to remember His mercy and goodness.
PRAYER:
Lord, forgive us for being so dour and depressive. Help us to celebrate well, to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn… but to mourn with hope!
Forgive us LORD; wake us up! Ignite our hearts to worship You with the kind of passion, enthusiasm and exhuberance that is revealed in and through Your word.
1 Peter 2:9 (The Message)
9-10But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
The speaking that those whom have found the LORD in Juarez, Mexico (I have recently been on a mission trip) is overwhelming. They cannot be stopped from voicing the difference that God has made in them. They know beyond a doubt that God has truly rescued them from death. It makes me hungry for the kind of passion that exhuberantly flows from their lives as they give God all the glory for every detail, every moment of their lives. It makes me wonder if I really grasp/ know/ understand the impact that God’s saving grace has truly done for me. I realize that I may not have been born into such a life as they but am I too not saved from death! Even more so, should I not be ever so thankful to have not had such a beginning to my life!
“LORD, Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me. Grant me the voice to speak that You and You alone have saved me, that everything I have is a gift from You. Thank You LORD that You have given me a new identity, a new name, a new life in Christ. Thank You LORD that I along with each and every one that believes in You, are heirs to You, the King of all Kings, the LORD of heaven and earth. May we take our true place in Your Kingdom and live (and speak) as You have ordained us. Let us celebrate!”
The Lord instituted many remembrances for the people to serve their God. These celebrations were not for man’s glory but the Lord’s and they were to focus on Him with their sacrifices, songs of praise, prayers, devotion. Man needs to remember God’s goodness and faithfulness. Come into His presence singing Alleluia. But all too often, I don’t. Too often our acts worship/celebration puts the focus on man’s desires and not God’s. How do I use my Sondays?
Thank You Lord for the ‘memory stones’ of special Christian calendar days that I am forced to remember Your goodness and faithfulness. Help me to come into Your presence each day through His power in all I do and say so that the joy of the Lord God is my strength each day. Then I am able to celebrate LIFE I have in You. Help me this day to live for Jesus.
Come into His presence
With thanksgiving in your hearts
And give Him praise,
And give Him praise
Come into His presence
With thanksgiving in your hearts
Your voices raise,
Your voices raise
Give glory and honor and power unto Him
Jesus the name above all names