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.
Read More sacrifice lamb, atonementThis 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.
Read More humanity of Jesus, scapegoat, atonementThe 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.
Read More law, love, truth, graceThe 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.
Read More trust, Sabbath, restChrist 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.
Read More celebration, remembering, honouring, the poorWhile 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