God is Not a Random God

Moses had to make everything just so with the furnishings of the tabernacle and with Aaron and his sons who would be the priests. Everything had a particular purpose, everything had a particular place. There had to be anointing and consecration of the items in the tabernacle and there had to be anointing and consecration of the priests who would serve in the tabernacle. When all was as it should be, and only then, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, a cloud by day, and a cloud burning with fire by night.

The Jesus Offering

We are all familiar with the connections to Jesus that have been made for 2000 years – a male without defect, blood is spilled, atonement is made for sin. Jesus is the sacrifice lamb, the one offered up for the sins of the people, just as animals were offered up in the days of Moses and right until Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 A.D. Jesus is the sacrifice that replaces all other sacrifices including the burnt offerings.

The Scapegoat

This passage relates all sorts of sacrificial detail in precise and unalterable terms as much of Leviticus does. What makes this set of verses unique is that the sins of the people are not laid upon the head of a blood sacrifice but upon the head of a male goat that is released to wander in the wilderness. It is by this wandering in the wilderness that the goat makes atonement for the sins of Israel.

The Commandments of Love

The law came with Moses. Grace and truth came with the Messiah. Yet Jesus himself not only brought grace and truth, he was the fulfillment of the law. He did not abolish it, he completed it.

We are not damned for our inability to keep the commandments in the Old Testament.

The Sabbath Rest

The need for the feasts God appointed in the Old Testament is gone. Jesus has taken their place. Paul tells us, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Colossians 2:16 & 17 NIV) Nevertheless the spirit in which God gave his people festivals, like the Sabbath, should not be ignored.

The Festival of the Poor and the Stranger

Christ has come and fulfilled the law – the festivals no longer need to be followed or obeyed. Yet they still speak of the importance of remembering and giving honour and saying thank you. Not only remembering and honouring God and thanking him for all he has done. But remembering the most lowly in addition to remembering the Most High – the poor – and bearing in mind the ones often most estranged and alienated, the immigrants to our country and our neighborhood.

The Cheerful God

While some of the Bible festivals are somber occasions many are full of joy. God is not only a God who delights in the praises of his people but who delights in giving his people something to praise him about. He likes a good festival where people can celebrate his goodness and the goodness of the life he offers them. One of the most cheerful is the Feast of Tabernacles.

On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees – from palms, willows and other leafy trees – and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

Read More worship, joy, Feast of Tabernacles

The Chosen Ones

God selected the tribe of Levi to serve him and the people of Israel in the tabernacle. In the same way Jesus selected twelve apostles to serve him and the early Church. When Judas needed to be replaced the apostles drew lots for his successor, trusting God to work his will through such a process.

We see these chosen ones as being special and they are.

No Exclusions

The Passover is so important God excludes no one from its celebration, not the foreigner, not the person who is unclean because of a dead body, not the man or woman who is far away on a journey. All are called to celebrate the Passover and the rules for celebrating it must be the same for both a foreigner and a native born child of Israel.

Why is it so important? We know the Lord passed over the houses of the children of Israel when they were slaves in Egypt.

A God Without Words

That we follow God’s leading to come or to go or to stay where we are is clear enough from this passage. But the idea that God does not always use verbal commands in the sense of Scripture verses or other people’s words or placing sentences in our mind should also be understood. The cloud is the sign of God’s presence and its movement or absence of movement is the command.