Truth Magazine

By Kyle Campbell

Last time we introduced our study by examining some background concerning the Jewish calender and then examined the Sabbath and new moon observances. These were the only two observances that occurred more than once a year. We now turn our attention to the seven yearly festivals in Jewish life.

Passover Feast Of Unleavened Bread/Pesach

The Passover was the first of the three great festivals of the Jewish people. It referred to the sacrifice of a lamb in Egypt when the people of Israel were slaves. The Jews smeared the blood of the lamb on their door posts as a signal to God that he should “pass over” their houses when he destroyed all the firstborn of Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to let his people go. References to the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread include Exodus 12:1- 13:16; 23:15; 34:18-20, 25; Leviticus 23:4-14; Numbers 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8; Joshua 4:19-23; 5:10-12 and 2 Chronicles 30:2-15. Passover was observed in the spring on the 14th day of the first month, Abib or Nisan, with the service beginning in the evening. It was on the evening of this day that Israel left Egypt. The Passover meal was eaten after nightfall in a family group of at least ten persons, so individuals and small families combined for the celebration. They could not leave Jerusalem during the night of the meal. In addition to roast lamb the meal included unleavened bread and bitter herbs as a reminder of the bitterness in Egypt. It was eaten reclining, a symbol of being free persons.

Passover commemorated this hasty departure from Egypt. Unleavened bread was used in the celebration be- cause this showed that the people had no time to put leaven in their bread as they ate the final meal as slaves in Egypt. Several regulations were given concerning the observance of the Passover, including the cleansing of homes of leaven on the first day of Unleavened Bread, which was a symbol of corruption and evil (Lev. 2:11). Passover was to be observed “in the place which the Lord your God will choose” (Deut. 16:16). This implied the sanctuary of the tabernacle or the temple in Jerusalem.

In New Testament times, Passover became a pilgrim festival. Large numbers gathered in Jerusalem to observe this annual celebration. Jesus was crucified in the city during one of these Passover celebrations. He and his disciples ate a meal together on the eve of his death and of the Passover (John 13:1). Like the blood of the lamb which saved the Jewish people from destruction in Egypt, his blood, as the ultimate Passover sacrifice, redeems us from the power of sin and death.

Pentecost Feast Of Weeks/Feast Of Harvest/Shavout

References to Pentecost in the Bible include Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-21; Numbers 28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9-12 and 2 Chronicles 8:13. This feast was observed on the sixth day of the third month (Sivan) on the 50th day after the offering of the barley sheaf at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Since Pentecost fell on the

50th day after the Sabbath of the Passover, it was always on the first day of the week. Like Passover, it included a holy convocation with the usual restriction on manual labor.

Numbers 28:26-31 describes the number and nature of offerings and Deuteronomy 16:9-12 describes those who were to be invited to this feast. They include servants, sons and daughters, Levites, the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger or foreigner. Israelites were to be reminded of their bondage in Egypt on that day. Pentecost was also originally a harvest festival, celebrating the conclusion of the spring grain harvest. Grain was planted in Palestine, as in other Mediterranean countries, in the fall, allowed to grow during the winter and harvested in the spring. Pentecost is significant to Christians because it was the day in which the Holy Spirit was poured out, signifying the beginning of the Lord’s church (Acts 2:1-47).

Feast Of Trumpets/New Year’s Day/ Rosh Hashanah

This feast commemorated the beginning of the civil or commercial year for the Jews. It was celebrated on the first day of the seventh month (Tishri or Ethanim). This was the beginning of the autumn equinox and was a special day because of the symbolical meaning of the seventh or sabbatical month in which the great feasts of the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles occurred. Josephus and many other Jewish historians believe that the Jews had kept the distinction between the civil and the sacred years since the time of Moses. The festival is mentioned in Leviticus 23:24-25 and Numbers 29:1-6. The Feast of Trumpets was introduced with the blowing of trumpets in Jerusalem all day long, festive burnt offerings, and the halt of labor.

Day Of Atonement/Yom Kippur

This was the highest and holiest day of the Jewish year. It was held on the tenth day of the seventh month. The Day of Atonement was not a feast day; it was a solemn, holy fast day accompanied by elaborate ritual (Lev. 16:1-34; Heb. 10:1-10). On this day the nation of Israel sought atonement for its sins (Lev. 23:26-32; 16:29; Num. 29:7) and all men would stand cleansed of their sins before God (Lev. 16:30). This was the only fasting period required by the Law (Lev. 16:29; 23:31). The Day of Atonement was a recognition of man’s inability to make an atonement for his sins.

The high priest who officiated on this day first sanctified himself by taking a ceremonial bath and putting on white garments (Lev. 16:4). Then he had to make atonement for himself and other priests by sacrificing a bullock (Num. 29:8). God dwelt on the mercy seat in the temple, but no person could approach it except through the mediation of the high priest, who offered the blood of sacrifice.

After sacrificing a bullock, the high priest chose a goat for a sin offering and sanctified it. He then sprinkled its blood on and around the mercy seat (Lev. 16:12, 14-15). Finally the scapegoat bearing the sins of the people was sent into the wilderness (Lev. 16:20-22). This scapegoat symbolized the pardon for sin brought through the sacrifice. Jewish people today continue to observe Yom Kippur as a holy fast day.

Feast Of Tabernacles/Feast Of Booths/Feast Of Ingathering/Sukkoth

The feast of Booths or Tabernacles was the most popular festival with the people. It is referenced in Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Leviticus 23:33-36; 39-43; Numbers 29:12-40; Deuteronomy 16:13-16; Ezra 3:4 and Zechariah 14:16, 18-19. It began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and lasted for eight days. The first and eighth days included a holy convocation to the Lord and no work was done on those days.

This feast commemorated the wandering of Israel in the wilderness. The Israelites were commanded to live in booths made of palm and willow trees during the festival to commemorate their period of wilderness wandering when they lived in temporary shelters. The feast was also accompanied by extensive animal sacrifices.

The observance of Tabernacles in New Testament times was quite an event. It included a procession of the people carrying palm, willow, citron, and myrtle branches, which were waved aloft during the daily singing of the Hallel (Pss. 113-118) as an expression of joy. Each morning of the period of the feast priests brought water from the fountain of Siloam and poured it out as a libation on the altar. On the last day the priests marched around the alter seven times, praying for rain during the ensuing rainy season. Four large menorahs were set up around the temple courts and kept burning each night. Dancing and pipe-playing lasted most of the night. The Levites chanted the Psalms of Ascent (120- 134), one for each of the steps between the court of Israel and the court of women. The customs at the feast (John 7:2, 14) provide the background for Jesus’ statements, “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37) and “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). The cycle of Torah readings in the synagogue began at Tabernacles.

Feast Of Dedication/Feast Of Lights/Hanukkah

This feast is mentioned only once in the Bible in John 10:22. This feast has been the most popular of the postbiblical feasts in Judaism. It was developed in the era of the Maccabees and celebrated the cleansing and rededication of the temple after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. The feast of Dedication is observed on the 25th day of the ninth month (Chislev) and lasts for eight days. The name feast of Lights appears in Josephus (Ant. 12.7.7 [325]) and is associated with the ceremonial lighting of eight lamps, an additional one on each day of the feast. This practice is derived from the legend that only one cruse of oil was found when the Jews reoccupied the temple, but it miraculously lasted for seven days so the lamp in the temple was kept burning until a new supply of oil could be consecrated. Since this feast, commonly now known as Hanukkah, occurs so close to Christmas, it has acquired for the Jews a comparable social significance including the custom of exchanging gifts and greeting cards.

Feast Of Purim/Feast Of Lots

The feast of Purim is only mentioned in Esther 3:7; 9:24, 26, 28-29, 31-32. This feast commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from destruction by an evil schemer named Haman during the days of their captivity by the Babylonians and Persians. It took its name from the Hebrew word purim, meaning “lots” because Haman cast lots to determine when he would carry out his plan against the Jews.

The feast of Purim took place on the 14th and 15th days of the twelfth month (Adar), and during its celebration the book of Esther is read as a reminder of their deliverance. Purim, which is a very joyous ceremony, is accompanied with the giving of gifts and much celebration.

Conclusion

As was said in the beginning, the Bible student can gain a greater perspective of the events surrounding the life of Christ and the work of the apostles by studying the Jewish feasts and festivals. The Jews had a rich heritage of celebrations to God which marked the beginning or the end of the agricultural year or commemorated historic events in the Jewish nation. When we observe the solemn but joyous and thankful nature in which the Jews celebrated, perhaps we can learn principles for our own worship to God.

By Donald Townsley

Men usually think of Christ as a peacemaker and a comforter to the soul, which is certainly true, but we have not fully seen Christ if we fail to see him as a disturber of men as well. He says in Matthew 10:34-36: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”

1. Christ preached a disturbing message. He disturbed the complacent, self-satisfied religious leaders when he:

• Rebuked them for their teaching and practice of the traditions and commandments of men (Matt. 15:1-3; 16:6, 12).
• Rebuked them for their prejudiced hearts (Matt. 13:15).
• Rebuked them for their religious inconsistency (Matt. 23:1-4).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for taking “away the key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52; Matt. 23:13).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for their religious pretense (Matt. 23:14, 27-28).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for making proselytes to their opinions (Matt. 23:15).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for their leaving undone “the weightier matters of the law” (Matt. 23:23-24).
• Pronounced a “woe” upon them for their making “clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess” (Matt. 23:25, 26).

2. When Jesus preached his disturbing message, openly rebuking and denouncing their sins, the religious leaders reacted in an ugly and violent manner:

• They called him names — a “Samaritan” (John 8:48).
• They said he had a demon (John 8:48).
• They claimed he performed miracles by the power of the devil (Matt. 12:22-24).
• They challenged his authority (Matt. 21:23-27).
• They took up stones to cast at him (John 8:59).
• They accused him of blasphemy (John 10:33).
• They sought to kill him (John 7:1).
• They finally had him crucified (Matt. 26:3, 4; 27:1-2, 24-26, 34-35).

3. Christ not only preached a disturbing message, he asked disturbing questions:

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? (Matt. 5:47).

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matt. 7:3).

Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? (Matt. 16:13).

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt. 16:26).

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46).

4. Christ not only preached a disturbing message and asked disturbing questions, he set disturbing standards.

For the home — his marriage law. He taught that it was God’s will from the beginning for one man to be married to one woman — a one-flesh relationship that God has joined together and that man is not to put asunder (Matt. 19:4-6; Gen. 2:24). He intended for this to be a permanent relation- ship. He taught that there is only one reason for divorce and remarriage — fornication (Matt. 19:3-12). Only the innocent party has a right to divorce the guilty party, for this reason, and remarry.

Husband. He is to be head of his wife (Eph. 5:23), to love her as his own body (Eph. 5:25, 28-29), to provide for his family (1 Tim. 5:8), and to bring up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

Wife. She is to love her husband, to love her children, to be a keeper at home and to be obedient to her own husband (Tit. 2:3-5).

Children. They are to obey and honor their parents (Eph. 6:1-2; Col. 3:20).

For his Disciples.

• Christ and his church must come first in their lives (Matt. 6:33).
• Christ must come before the family (Matt. 10:34-37).
• They must love one another (John 13:34-35).
• They must correct their sins against one another (Matt. 5:23-24; 18:15-17).

For Worship.

Worship is to be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The Lord authorized five items of worship:

• The Lord’s supper on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).
• Giving of our means on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:1, 2).
• Singing praises to God (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).
• Prayer (Acts 2:42).
• Teaching (Acts 2:42; 20:7). Worship that is not in spirit and in truth (according to truth) is vain worship (Matt. 15:9).

You can see from this study that Christ is a disturber of men when they are in their sins. He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Men have to become disturbed about their sins before they will do anything about them, so Christ deliberately preached a disturbing message that he might turn them from their sins that they might be saved and serve him. Christ wants gospel preachers today to preach this same message so that people will be disturbed about their sins and turn from them to serve him (2 Tim. 4:2).

One of the sad things in the church today is that members no longer want to hear the disturbing message of Christ. They “will not endure sound doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:3). They want to hear “fables” (2 Tim. 4:4), or a “felt-need gospel” that builds up their ego and deals with interpersonal relationships. They want a religion of entertainment and/or a positive message which soothes them in their sins. They want the preacher to preach “Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14)! The lust in the pew for such a message has given us preachers in the pulpit who will preach the kind of message the people crave (2 Tim. 4:3), and many of God’s people “love to have it so” (Jer. 5:31)!

Brother Preacher, is your preaching patterned after the preaching of Christ, the disturber of men? Or is your preaching simply the kind that satisfies the lust in the pew (2 Tim. 4:3, 4)? Preaching that is patterned after the disturber of men will save men from hell! Preaching that satisfies the lusts of men will damn the preacher and those who hear him! Brother, could Christ preach where you worship?

Because man sins, he is separated from God (Isa. 59:1-2) and needs to be justified in the sight of God. The word justify means to be accounted righteous. This study takes a look at three things which will make one righteous before God.

The Ones God Justifies

Paul wrote the Romans, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). Please notice the order of justification:

1. Those Predestinated. Paul told the Ephesian Chris- tians, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. . . . Having predestinated us unto adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph. 1:4-5). This kind of predestination is that when God made the plan of salvation, those who choose to obey are predestinated to be saved and those who choose not to obey the gospel are predestinated to be lost. It’s that simple!

2. The Called. To be justified, one must be called. Paul says one is called by the gospel. “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14). As one reads or hears the gospel preached, he is called, of God, to obey it (Mark 16:15-16).

Three Things Which Justify

1. The Grace Of God. Paul wrote the Roman Christians, “Being justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). The favor of God, which is his grace, “. . . that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us” (Tit. 2: 11-12). We must remember that we are not justified by grace alone, but by grace.

2. Faith. The Holy Spirit stated, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). We cannot please God without faith (Heb. 11:6). We must put our trust in the Lord. Re- member Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). I would caution us that James said, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (Jas. 2:24).

3. The Blood of Christ. Again it is written, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 5:1). The Revelation letter teaches, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5).

When This Justification Takes Place

Many do not have the biblical concept of when this justification takes place. The Bible has the answer. The Roman Christians were told, “For he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:7). To be freed from sin is to be justified from sin. Now just what is this death about? A reading of Romans 6:2 will show us, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Then one is “baptized into the Christ,” thus, “baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3). Christ shed his blood in his death (John 19:34) and when one is baptized into his death, the cleansing effect of the blood is reached, “. . . being then made free from sin” (Rom 6:17-18).

The Justified Will Be Glorified

The end result of being justified is to be glorified by God. By obeying the gospel call, one, if faithful, will be “. . . obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14). The child of God who obtains “. . . an inheritance . . . should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ” (Eph. 1:11-12). Won’t it be a wonderful day, having glorified God here as a Christian (Eph. 3:21; 1 Pet. 4:16), to have him glorify us over there!

In Acts 5, we learn that two Christians, Ananias and his wife Sapphira, were intending to copy the example of Barnabas and other saints by selling a plot of land and bringing the proceeds to benefit the needy of the Jerusalem church. However, unlike Barnabas, this couple covets the notoriety of such a gift but does not want the pain of charity to afflict them so severely. Ananias and Sapphira conspire to pretend they are giving all when they are really only giving part of the proceeds. Truly, it was their option to give as they chose, but they endeavored to deceive their brethren into thinking they had done more.

The apostle Peter accuses the husband of his sin, claiming he had “not lied to men but to God” (v. 4). Maybe that was news to Ananias. Maybe he thought he could gild the lily and look like a big man and no one would ever know. Had Peter not possessed a prescient gift from the Holy Spirit, he might have gotten away with it. But honestly, God would have always known the truth anyway.

Ananias was struck dead and his unwitting wife soon joined him in eternity. They perished simply because they pretended to have piety when in fact, they were just going through the motions.

Our offering to God must be more than financial, of course. Money is only a part of the Lord’s work and what he demands and deserves from his children. The Hebrew writer tells us that he also should receive from us “the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips” (13:15). Is God listening to our songs? As surely as he beheld the sacrifice of bulls and goats in Moses’ day, he is beholding the notes and words of our songs today. Paul describes our song service as “singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Our songs are directed toward heaven and they are received there.

For our songs to be a pleasing aroma to God, they must be sincere. The most avowed atheist could sing “Amazing Grace” on stage for money, but God would not be worshiped because the grace was not in his heart. We must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24); that is, our songs must be authorized by God and sincere from the heart. If you don’t mean it, don’t sing it. If you don’t mean it, God won’t accept it.

What if God calls our songs as evidence in the great day of reckoning? Will they have reflected the thoughts and purpose of the heart and body? Or will they be evidence of hypocrisy and vain worship? We have promised God over and over that we will “Take Time To Be Holy” by speaking oft with him and feeding on his word. We must ask how regular our prayer and study habit is. Or will the Judge convict us of singing insincerely?

When we sing “This World Is Not My Home,” do the words emit from a heart secretly bowing at the altar of covetousness and the evil things of this world? Should God believe we are just a-passing through when we are busy heaping up treasure on earth and accruing nothing where we are supposedly headed for eternity (Matt. 6:19-21)?

We love to sing “Blest Be the Tie” that binds our hearts in Christian love. Do we mean it? Do we live it? Or do we not even consider one another and forsake the encouragement of the assembling together (Heb. 10:24-25)? Do we live to gossip and backbite? Do we count the tie that binds a noose around our libertine necks?

“Into Our Hands” the gospel is given, we sing. “Haste, let us carry God’s precious message, Guiding the erring back to the right.” But how can we say we mean it if we never utter the name of Jesus outside the security of the meeting house? Why should God accept that song from us if we horde the gospel like it might somehow be used up?

“Every time I sin on earth, I feel that I’m the one,” we pronounce in “I’m the One.” How can we even utter the words if we sin like we are sure of tomorrow? Unless we truly hate sin and intend to rid it from our lives, we had better not sing this song — we don’t mean it yet!

“Would you be free from your burden of sin? ‘There’s Power in The Blood.’” Why then do we lust after the premiums offered by denominations like amusements, banquet halls, and dramatic sketches? If we truly believe there is power in the blood, why flirt with anything less?

“Tell Me The Story of Jesus.” How dare we attempt to sing that in God’s presence when we never pick up a Bible to find the story in the first place? How dare we sing such words when we neglect Bible class?

We pledge allegiance to God beneath “The Banner of the Cross:” “Marching on and on! Marching on and on!” Where are we going? Are we marching into our communities, families, and workplaces like Christian soldiers or have we declared neutrality in the world war with the devil? If your faith never leaves the pew — you leave it there on Sunday afternoon and pick it up next Sunday morning — don’t sing like you plan to march under the Christian standard all week.

“Make me as ‘Clay in the Potter’s Hand.’” Singing this means you intend to truly be a disciple of Jesus, a person who is sincerely like Christ. That requires that your life be molded and shaped by the word and will of God. Will you read it? Will you apply what you read to your own life?

Then there’s the best one of all: “Are you ‘Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom’ brother?” You had better be broad- casting the seed of faith yourself before you start asking about your brother’s habits (Matt. 7:1-5).

Conclusion

Christians must start listening to their songs and learning from them. God is listening. And if we are giving him a blemished sacrifice or keeping back part in pretense, we will be held accountable for it. What part of that offering might we be withholding? Is it the spirit or the truth? Could it be both?

Could God be reacting to our songs as he did to the Hebrews in Amos’ day: “Take away from Me the noise of your songs” (5:23)?