Fri.’s Devo - God’s Feasts -

Read: Leviticus 22:17-23:44; Mark 9:30-10:12; Psalm 44:1-8; Proverbs 10:19 God had laws for offerings that were acceptable to him and those not acceptable to him. It boils down to the fact that God deserves our best. He gave us his best when he gave Jesus, and he is a holy, jealous God. Our gift should give honor to him and come from our heart. We are to do unto others as we want them to do to us and it is the same with God - we respond to God like we want him to respond to us. *** God set up the Sabbath as a day of complete rest where we honor the Lord on that day. God also invited us to participate in his feasts with him. The first four feasts happened in the spring and were around the barley and wheat harvests. The first feast is Passover which begins at sundown on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan or Abib. The next day began the celebration of the Festival of Unleavened Bread which lasted seven days. During that week they were to eat no bread with yeast in it. Day one and day seven were to be days of no work and were holy to the Lord. *** Once they entered the land, they were to begin celebrating First Fruits where they brought their first fruits to the Lord - on the day after the Sabbath. The priest would lift their offering up before the Lord. On that day, a burnt, grain and liquid offering must be made. *** Seven full weeks and one day (50 days) later they were to celebrate the Festival of Weeks or Pentecost. Two loaves of bread were to be brought and lifted up and waved before the Lord as an offering. On this day burnt, grain and liquid offerings plus a sin offering and a peace offering was to be made. *** When they harvested their grain, they were to leave the part around the edges for the poor and foreigners to pick up. *** The last three feast happened in the fall and were centered around the harvests of grapes, olive oil, and figs. The first day of Tishri was their New Year’s Day on their civil calendar. It was the Feast of Trumpets. They assembled and trumpets were blown and gifts were given to the Lord. On the tenth of that month was the Day of Atonement. It was a day of fasting and bringing presents to the Lord. They were not to work and if they didn’t bring a gift to the Lord, they would be cut off from God’s people. It was the holiest day of the year and no work was done on this day. It was also a Sabbath day. *** On the fifteenth day of that same month they were to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacle for seven days. It was a celebration of joy where gifts were given to the Lord. The eighth day was another holy day where no work was to be done. The first and eighth day were days of complete rest. On the first day of this festival, they were to gather certain branches from certain plants and make temporary shelters to live in during the entire feast. This was to remind them of their journey from Egypt when they lived in temporary tents. *** All of these feasts were to represent the events on God’s calendar. They were to practice them every year and on the appointed year, God would fulfill them. These holy events institute and orchestrate God’s will on the earth. *** God fulfilled Passover by giving Jesus as the Passover lamb to die for our sins. Jesus died on Passover, was buried on Unleavened Bread. He rose on First Fruits to be the first fruit to rise from the dead. God sent his Spirit on Pentecost and birthed his Church. *** We may be witnessing the Feast of Trumpets as God sent President Trump to blast out all the things that were going on in secret that God wanted exposed. This is leading us to the Day of Atonement when the nations will see the great sins our nations have been participating in and will need to, and want to repent. When we do, we will enter into the Feast of Tabernacles where God will dwell with us and we will be his people. Jesus prayer will be answered “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” *** In Mark, Jesus told them again that he was going to be betrayed into enemy hands and killed, but three days later, he would rise from the dead. Since the disciples couldn’t get that, they argued about how they wanted to see things - their perspective. They wanted to see Jesus become a king on earth and argued about who would be the greatest in his kingdom. Jesus brought a child and told them that whoever wanted to be first, must go to the end of the line and serve. Then he brought a child in his arms and told them that whoever welcomed this little child in his name welcomed him and God. *** John reported to Jesus that he stopped this man who was using his name to cast out demons. Jesus rebuked John and told him that no one can do a miracle in his name and then speak evil of him, and anyone who is not against us, is for us. Even the smallest thing we do in his name will be rewarded. *** Jesus added a severe warning against causing an innocent believer to fall into sin. Great consequences would come to the one who did. *** Everyone will be tested with fire and trials. That is how we stay seasoned and clean. *** The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking him about divorce. Jesus asked them what Moses said and they gave him the answer. Then Jesus explained that Moses only wrote that law because they were so hard hearted. Divorce was not God’s plan from the beginning. He added, do not let anyone divide what God has joined together. That is the key…”what God has joined together.” God made a way of escape for those who married outside of God’s will. *** In their day, they were divorcing but not giving a writ of divorcement so they weren’t legally divorced. If either of them remarried, they were committing adultery because they were never legally, under God, divorced from the first wife. *** Lord, may we not get entangled with the law of your commands, but understand the Spirit of them. May we give grace for the things we do not understand but strive to live holy lives as our freewill gift to God.