The Seven Feasts ⅢThe Seven Feasts in Leviticus 1Leviticus 23:1-8So far, we have considered the content of Exodus chapters 23 and 34 separately, but now let’s take a look at the differences between the content of these two chapters and that of Leviticus chapter 23. It was before the tabernacle was constructed that God gave the words that make up the content of Exodus chapters 23 and 34. He revealed great depths of meaning through the three feasts, so why did he now speak of seven feasts in Leviticus 23?In Exodus chapter 40, we read about the tabernacle being erected. The tabernacle was completed in the first month of the second year, that is, almost a year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. (see verse 17) In Leviticus chapter 8, we read about the consecration of the priests, preparing them to commence their duties in the tabernacle. The many laws that follow after this include matters concerning the purification of the tabernacle and those who served in an around it.Leviticus chapter 23 talks about the times when the Israelites were to gather together for a sacred assembly (holy convocation). This was on a larger, more collective scale than the three times a year when the men were to appear before the Lord God. (see Exodus 23:17, 34:23) The feasts stipulated here are, of course, also closely related to the agricultural year, and they were held at the same the times as the three feasts. Yet, here they are set out systematically and we are provided with much more detail. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “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. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.”  Leviticus 23:1-3This chapter outlines the feasts when the Israelites were to gather in a godly manner, but first the Sabbath is emphasized. The keeping of the Sabbath Day is the fourth of the laws in the Ten Commandments.And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”  Exodus 31:12-17God told the Israelites to keep the Sabbath to commemorate the day on which the creator God rested. The Sabbath is a sign of the covenant established between God and the Israelites. Just as circumcision was the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham, God gave the Sabbath to the Israelites as a sign that he distinguished them as sanctified. Through the very fact that the Israelites have observed the Sabbath every week, they can pride themselves in being the nation that God has sanctified. This is why God commanded that anyone breaking the law of the Sabbath was to be put to death.Nevertheless, there was something of which they were unaware. God granted them the Sabbath, but actually God’s Sabbath had been interrupted the moment Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even when a young child is sleeping its parents constantly check in on it frequently. Similarly, from the day Adam sinned, God has been working out his plan for the salvation of mankind without a single day’s rest.Herein lies the reason that Jesus, who was God but came in the flesh, also performed many miracles on the Sabbath day. When Jesus worked on the Sabbath day, he was not breaking the law; from God’s viewpoint, he was working with the father. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now,

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