The Feast of Unleavened Bread. parallels our awakening into Christianity. There's two levels of sanctification. When we are justified and our sins are taken away, we're at the same time sanctified in the sense that God has put us on the side for salvation. But there's also an ongoing work of sanctification.
Of purging out the sin, of constant battle against the sin. That is sanctification, and that is the feast of unleavened bread. Get the leaven out, get the corruption out. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio. specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Leviticus chapter 23 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Leviticus chapter 23.
One of the great benefits of this 23rd chapter is that it tells us your Bible is trustworthy. The prophecies are sure. This is going. It's a very prophetic chapter. And it covers The time of from the Crucifixion of Christ to the return of Christ.
and the Millennial Kingdom. This is an unusual chapter. Because of the summary it gives us, the overview it gives us of these seven events that.
Some of them have been fulfilled. A few remain. But it is pretty interesting to find it tucked away in the book of Leviticus.
Now there are parallels also between There are actually three parallels. Israel the church, but of course Christ. He fulfills each One of these seven feasts in some way. For example, Leviticus 23 is going to talk about the Passover.
Well, Christ is our Passover. And he has the the Passover celebration was a type. of the coming crucifixion of Christ. And that is one example.
So, woven into these feast days are these parallels of History, the history of believers.
Now I want to say up front. There are f a couple of man-made holidays that the Jews Adhere to Hanukkah. which has to do, of course, with their histamacan history. That happens in November and December. It's mentioned actually in John chapter 10, verse 22.
But it's not a holiday. That Yahweh Then is Pyram, February and March is when they celebrate that one, and that comes from Mordecai and Esther. Again, not one given by God. But the ones we have here this evening are mandated by God. And so we'll get right to it.
Verse 1, and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, The feast of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feast.
Now, what is meant by the word translated feast is not a great meal. but a divinely appointed event I think the translator should have used a different word. But they did not.
So, when one of these holidays in particular has nothing to do with eating.
So We'll get that towards the end. But they are assemblies. In a sense, Three of them mandate that all the men go to Jerusalem. to celebrate three of these feast days, and I'll name them in a minute. But the others do not mandate going to the temple.
Well, they're not in Jerusalem yet when they get this law, and much of that anticipates them being in the Promised Land, many of these feasts. But it is a national recognition. Everybody was to Honor these feast days. The priests were to offer the various sacrifices called for on these feast days. The Sabbaths were attached to them, and you were to shut down routine.
Routine would come to a halt. For these days, and that's what's meant by these holy convocations.
So he says here, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. Yeah. Everybody had to participate. even when you get to the ones where they celebrated by making little tents, little huts, The strangers had to participate too. If they were visiting in the land, they had to follow that also.
But again, not all of them required going to the tabernacle. The three, Holidays that did require it. Or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which really transitioned right from Passover into the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Pentecost, which happened 50 days. later.
And then of course The big feast, the tabernacles, the men had to attend. God mandated. men be at their post.
Some of us need that.
Some men need to be told. You know, you've got to get it. It's not good enough to watch services online all the time. You've got to get. Boots on the ground.
Participate. Show up. Exodus 23, 17. Three times in the year, all your mail shall appear before the Lord Yahweh. This is another indication.
That points to the genius of Paul that God worked in that man. Imagine if all the male converts to Messiah. Had to follow the Jewish rituals and be in Jerusalem three times a year. It would never happen. This would be impossible.
And so when he preached on the ritual law being obsolete. It was very important. It would have really negatively impacted the gospel spreading across the world. These are my feasts, he says. And the Hebrew word for feasts is appointment.
Again, to repeat that, a fixed time.
So maybe I don't have to repeat that again this evening. Verse 3, the Sabbath. Six days shall work. Be done. But the seventh day is a Sabbath, a solemn rest, a holy convocation.
You shall do no work on it. It is a Sabbath. of Yahweh in all your dwellings.
Well, this is the fourth commandment, the Sabbath. We still haven't started with the prophetic days yet. This is upholding the fourth commandment. to the covenant Jew. The concept of the Sabbath goes back to the seven days of creation.
The seventh day God rested. But For the Jew is deeper than that. According to Deuteronomy 5, verse 15, God gave the Jews the Sabbath. to commemorate their emancipation from Egypt. Saying to them, You could not rest while you were slaves in Egypt.
But now that you're out of Egypt, This is a commandment. And then they get, of course, this fourth commandment while they're in the wilderness.
Well, the concept of the Sabbath existed. It was not law. And Now, of course, they have it. No one could have seen that it was going to be. The problem That it became When the gospel was given to the Gentiles, such as human nature, and God knew that you were going to work it out.
And we have worked it out. The Gentiles were never, ever put under the Sabbath.
Now, you know, many times Christians, a movie will come out, and Christians fall over. Oh, it's so great, I was so moved by it.
Well, you know, you're fine if you're inspired by these kinds of things, sometimes it's okay. But don't not as can't depend on external inspiration to function. As a Christian, it's got to be in the heart, according to the truth and the word. I think of chariots of fire. I don't like I don't care for it.
I think he was a legalist. I know some of you like, oh. He's not going to run on the Sabbath.
Well, we're not under the Sabbath. We've never been. All you did was irk a lot of unbelievers. Where he could have exercised Christian liberty and said, I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. You know, all things are lawful, not all things are edifying, but I'm going to blow everybody out in this race, I'm going to preach Christ to you.
So other ways to do it. See, I'm criticizing somebody who's been dead almost 100 years. But this way, they can't get back at you.
So anyway, I'm just wanted to point out that there are those Christians that are still very confused about their identity when it is to distinguish them from Judaism. And the Sabbath is not something we've ever been put.
However, the wisdom of the Sabbath has always been, that goes back to God saying on the seventh day he rested. When Jesus was confronted with this, he said, My Father has been working till now, and I am working. And so he is. He really did not have rest when he ministered either. Anyway, the priest also worked on the Sabbath, and Jesus called the Jews out on that when they began to challenge him.
Matthew 12, verse 5. Have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priest in the temple Profane the Sabbath. and are blameless. They get a pass. That is a privilege extended.
The priests have to offer up the daily sacrifices every day. There are sacrifices offered. And of course, these holidays are going to really Tax the priesthood. get them to work hard. Anyway, uh Such is Uh the c are the comments.
on the Sabbath Now we move to the first, to the feast days. Verse 4. These are the feasts of Yahweh, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Now I'm going to give an overview of the seven feast days and their fulfillment, then we'll go back and color in some of the detail. They are prophetic. They're prophecies built into the moment of the Jews there in the wilderness. The Passover. This was of course Fulfilled with the death of Christ.
When I see the blood, I will pass over. It's the blood of Christ that delivers us from all sin, and Israel was delivered by. The blood of the Lamb The unleavened bread would come next, which transitioned while you were having a Passover meal. From sundown to sundown, went the Jewish calendar, it would go right into this next feast, the feast of unleavened bread. And at that feast, the Jews had to get all 11 out of their house.
Well, when you come to Christ, based on the crucifixion of Christ and His resurrection, Sanctification is the outcome. You begin to get out of your life, those things that corrupt.
So you can see the parallel. The first fruits.
Well, there are two first fruit celebrations that the Jews had to honor. The first was for the barley, and that is the. Resurrection of Christ. Christ is the first fruits. But then there's one of the Pentecost 50 days later, that's the wheat.
Harvest, not the barley. That's the birth of the church. Then there are the feast of trumpets, which Typifies the rapture of the church. There is the Day of Atonement. Which is the time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation period, and then there is the tabernacle or booths, which are the dwellings, and that will.
issue in The second coming of Christ and his earthly reign. And so I'll try to fill those in. Verse 5. On the 14th day of the first month at twilight is Yahweh's Passover. March or April, that's when this one occurs.
They're on a lunar calendar. It's never the same day because of their new moon and how they. Use their calendar. As far as similar to our Fourth of July, that Passover was the birth of the nation. They were a people.
But they really weren't a nation yet. They became one when they were taken out of Egypt. This is the first month. on there Religious calendar. They have.
Two. You can say two calendars. They have a religious calendar, they have a civil calendar, which comes seven months later. But right now, this is the birth of the nation, the first month, the 14th day of their religious year. And the year commenced with the feast of the Passover.
And unleavened bread, two for one almost, although the unleavened bread stretched out a few seven days. And this was to forever remind the people of the basic truth that they were slaves in Egypt and God miraculously delivered them. Unfortunately, they seem over the years, many of the Jews have been detached from their rich history. Even in this country, There are those who hate this country but have power and influence, and they have taken out of the school systems. Rich history.
When I was in school, I wanted to hear about, you know, the birth of the nation, the r the the war with the British, the Revolutionary War. I wanted to hear these things. You know what I got? European history. needed none of it.
And it was it was just I I'm not European. Anyway. I'm saying that to say it's important to know your origin, your roots, and this is what the Passover. Was to tell the people.
Now, there's more detail to this feast. Exodus 12, we'll give you a lot. Numbers 28, Deuteronomy 16, if you want more detail, but we're giving an overview. And it's sufficient. It's sufficiently powerful to say.
It's incredible how God gave the feast to the Jews And they were prophetic. And the Jews didn't even know it at the time. But the New Testament church looks back and says, hey, wait a minute. There's an unmistakable parallel Between these events And history, just like the seven churches, they match history also. The church of Sardis, for example, is the Reformation.
You see these similarities, you cannot escape them.
So the Passover. The crucifixion Death of the Lamb and the deliverance of believers, which is what the real Passover did physically for the Jews. And spiritually the crucifixion did for sinners. Verse 6: And on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread. To Yahweh, seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
So now we have the second feast, the Passover. and that at twilight of that day of the Passover comes the day before at sundown. and it lasts until sundown the next day. But then at sundown that next day, this feast kicks in.
So they they overlap and they transition. March or April was still there. This is one that the men had to attend the temple in Jerusalem. Or even even You know, they had the tabernacle in the wilderness, they would have had to have attended it there, although there were a lot of problems with them being obedient to that in the wilderness. Anyway, They would be awake.
For each days transition as a rule. Whereas, you know, our days of basically midnight to midnight, and many of us are sleeping when at the start of the next day, well, they would be wide awake. And if you watch Fiddler on the Roof, you see all the care and emphasis they place on getting home before sundown on the Sabbath day, because Sabbath is about to begin. And that gives you a good idea of how life was for the Jew at dinner, at meal time, The Passover moved into the feast of unleavened bread. The leaven was already out of the house.
Verse 7, on the first day you shall have a holy convocation, you shall do no customary work on it. But, verse 8, you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it.
So you couldn't work the beginning at the end of some of these feast days. The first day of the feast was a day of rest. For the nation, that's the convocation part of a holy convocation. Uh This created a double Passover and possibly a triple Passover.
Well, I'm one that believes Christ was crucified on a Thursday, and you have the Passover Thursday. Then you have the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Friday. Then you have the. Typical standard Sabbath day, Saturday. That's a triple Sabbath right there.
And of course, Sunday is the first day of the following week when Christ. rose from the dead and showed himself to the disciples.
So, a lot of action going on, and you have these apostles coming along trying to, you know, not sharing too much with their own people because they know the drill. But when Luke writes, you know, he's trying to get Gentiles to be focused on the point and not be swallowed up by Jewish tradition.
So, he leaves out a lot of information, and that forces us to go back and try to color in the spaces to figure out. How is it a double Sabbath that's mentioned in John's Gospel, for example?
Well, that's how these things ended up being double and triple Sabbath, because they stacked up against each other depending on when. where the moon was. Anyway, the Feast of Unleavened Bread parallels our awakening into Christianity. There's two levels of sanctification. When we are justified and our sins are taken away, we're at the same time sanctified in the sense that God has put us on the side for salvation.
But there's also an ongoing work of sanctification. Of purging out the sin, of constant battle against the sin. That is sanctification, and that is the feast of unleavened bread. Get the leaven out, get the corruption out. No customary work.
That means there would, as mentioned earlier, not be business as usual.
Well, is that not like is that not conversion? When you come to Christ, it's not business as usual anymore. All the things you cherished in the flesh. are now being filtered out by Christ. And so there would be a great break in Israel's routine.
As when we come to Christ. Verse 9: And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, verse 10: Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of of the first fruits. of your harvest to the priest.
Well, the third holiday, the feast of first fruits, but it is the barley harvest. We're still in March, April. We're still around the Passover week. or the unleavened bread. Yeah.
And This holiday of qu of course is paused when Moses gave it. until they got into the promised land and had fields and could could do this. But it symbolized the consecration. of the early spring harvest because The wheat harvest will be the late spring. Harvest.
There are other harvests, the summer fruits of figs and dates, and then when you get into the September, October, on to December, you have olives. And so there's a lot of A lot of harvest seasons in that sense is not a single event. This bringing of a sheaf. was To thank God. for feeding them.
It was a Thanksgiving offering. They just grab a handful of the barley stalks and cut it off, and that's what they would bring. to the temple. God did not require them bring a tenth of their crop. Just a symbolic offering, and it was important.
Because they were not to eat until they brought that. to the Lord. And we'll read about that soon. When we get to Pentecost, I believe it's tucked away there. The first fruits Is the resurrection of Christ First Corinthians, now remember.
Before you look, I give you 1 Corinthians. There's two first fruits. the barley and the wheat. The barley has to do with Christ. The wheat has to do with the church.
So 1 Corinthians 15:20, but now is Christ risen from the dead and has become the first fruits. of those who have fallen asleep.
Well, Paul is not going to take the time to say, well, you know, I'm talking about the barley first fruits and give all this history. He's leaving that for them to get it in their sermons. The preachers can preach on these things, the teachers can teach on these things, which they were doing. The barley crop The Feast of Pentecost. would be fifty late fifty days later.
Barley. In early spring, Typifying The resurrection of Christ after the Passover. The wheat Pentecost that we're coming to. in late spring. typifies the birth of the church.
by the giving of the Holy Spirit. As Christ promised, I will not leave you orphans, I will give you a comforter, I will send the Holy Spirit. And he will not testify of himself. No, he testifies of the Lord Jesus. Verse 11: He shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh to be accepted on your behalf.
On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall waive it.
Now the wave offering Belongs to the peace offering. These are the two primary grains that the Jews would harvest, barley and wheat. And again, in case I've lost you, we're still talking about the wheat harvest at In early spring. And so each farmer would grow. Grab that sheaf and present it to the Lord.
Again, the mercy of the Lord. What would that have done to the temple ground if everybody had to bring a tenth of their field? This is an offering. It's been overwhelming. And God didn't He'd rather feed the poor with the corners of the field.
Bring that to the temple. Verse 12, and you shall offer on that day when you wave the sheaf a male lamb of the first year without blemish. and a burnt offering to Yahweh.
Well, there's always the blood sacrifice. Even though it's a sheep offering, there must be blood. Typifying, of course, the Lamb of God. Verse 13, its grain offering shall be two tenths of an ephoth. Pine flour mix with oil.
An offering made by fire to Yahweh, For a sweet aroma and its drink offering shall be of wine one-fourth of a hin.
Now, we've discussed these, you know, the fine flour and work involved in presenting this. But the drink offering It's largely an invisible part. of the offering. I mean the priest takes the the Whatever is the wine, and he throws it onto the altar with the fire is burning, and the sacrifices, and up in steam instantly. Paul meant, gave us that picture when he thought he would not be freed from his second.
Roman imprisonment, he wrote Timothy, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering.
So the Jews knew what that meant. The Gentiles had to learn what that meant. as we have had to learn. How many of you have picked up so much Jewish culture, you probably know more than a lot of Jews about their own culture? Culture just from the Old Testament because they're not reading their Old Testaments.
But in Paul's day, it was the other way around.
Well Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is currently going through the book of Leviticus. We're glad you joined us. We trust that you're gaining some valuable insights into God's Word as we go through this Old Testament book. Cross-reference radio comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia.
If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, you can do so by going to your favorite app store and downloading from there. For any additional information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, Crossreference Radio.com. Make sure to come back again for the upcoming edition in the book of Leviticus, as Pastor Rick has much more to share. We thank you for being with us right here on Cross Reference Radio.
