Feasts and Sabbaths (Exodus 23:14-19)
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is to be a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:14-28; Numbers 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8)
These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread (That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven is to be eaten; see Exodus 12:14-20 ) to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any ordinary work. For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any ordinary work.’”
The Feast of Firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD, along with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour(Two-tenths of an ephah is approximately 4 dry quarts or 4.4 liters (probably about 5.1 pounds or 2.3 kilograms of flour) mixed with oil—an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter hin of wine.( A quarter hin is approximately 0.97 quart or 0.92 liter of wine.) You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live.
The Feast of Weeks (Acts 2:1-13)
From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you are to count seven full weeks. You shall count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. (Pentecost)
Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD. (Two-tenths of an ephah is approximately 4 dry quarts or 4.4 liters (probably about 5.1 pounds or 2.3 kilograms of flour).
Along with the bread you are to present seven unblemished male lambs a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
You shall also prepare one male goat as a sin offering and two male lambs a year old as a peace offering. The priest is to wave the lambs as a wave offering before the LORD, together with the bread of the firstfruits. The bread and the two lambs are to be sacred to the LORD for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly, and you are not to do any regular work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live for the generations to come. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident. I am the LORD your God.’”
“For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is to be a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.” God is laying out His plans for His people, and those plans include taking every seventh day as a day for worship and rest. Why are Sabbaths so important?
- God knows that without regularly designated days of worship, His people are going to wander off into idolatry.
- God has created the human body, and He knows it needs regular periods of rest.
- Worship confers enormous benefits on the participants, strengthening them, encouraging them, helping build interpersonal relationships and relationship with God, and refreshing them. This is a brief list; those who lead worship and who study it can add far more.
Having established regular Sabbaths, God moves on to institute a total of seven annual feasts. Today we are looking at four of them-Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, and the Feast of Pentecost (Weeks). “The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread (That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven is to be eaten; see Exodus 12:14-20 ) to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any ordinary work. For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any ordinary work.’” Again, God wants His people to celebrate and to rest, refraining from work to mark the holiness of the celebration.
‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD, along with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. God wants His people to offer the first results of their harvests, taking the risk that these grains might be all they will collect.
Finally, God reminds His people, “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident.” God is always concerned about the poor and the foreigners, reminding the Israelites that they were strangers and slaves in Egypt; therefore, they should have compassion on other strangers.
APPLICATION: In recent years, many of those studying chronic stress have come to realize that Sabbaths and scheduled days of rest are critically important. Until the last sixty years, most parts of America did observe Sabbaths; stores were generally closed, and only those involved in essential services such as health care were at work. On Sundays, small towns particularly basked in peace. Over the course of the last several decades, Sabbath laws have been eliminated. There are valid arguments on both sides; however, scheduled times of rest remain necessary, even if those rest days don’t necessarily occur on Sundays.
We also need regular times of worship, times when we can focus on God and not on ourselves. Worship elevates us and transforms us. While we no longer have to offer burnt offerings, we can still offer God those things most valuable to us, our time and our talents. Let us worship God in the spirit of holiness and let us truly rest.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, thank You for ordaining regular periods of rest and worship. Help us to honor You with our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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