Sometimes I just can’t get over the incredible blessings of meeting God when He says to meet Him. In Leviticus 23, he tells us the dates on the calendar that He has set aside to meet with us. How cool is that?! The Creator of the universe has set aside specific dates to meet with us and focus on His plan for our lives!
The appointments for the year begin this week. We have been counting down for months – anticipating and preparing for Passover. This is a great opportunity to share the plan of salvation with our children. After all, this is the holy day when God specifically talks about teaching your children why you do what you do. (Exodus 13:8, 14-15) The children are a central part of the Passover celebration. In order for them to ask questions, as God expects, they have to be involved in it and taught what God has done for His people.
During our service, we sacrifice a stuffed lamb (which we chose on the 10th day as they did in Exodus 12:3). Then we brush the (strawberry) blood on the doorpost. We discuss who in the room is a firstborn and how they would have been protected from the death angel because of the blood of the lamb.
We review the Passover in Exodus and how it foreshadows what Yeshua (Jesus), our Passover lamb did for us - a reminder that we are all saved by the blood of the Lamb. We also take the bread (Mark 14:22), representing Yeshua’s body, and wine (Matt 26:27-28), representing His blood. We follow his example of washing one another’s feet. (John 13:1-7) After we have reviewed the more somber remembrance of his crucifixion, we celebrate with dancing and singing in thanks the sacrifice he has made for us. And, to top it all off, we finish up with physical food – a Feast!
As if that isn’t blessing enough, the next day is a commanded assembly. So, we have the honor of meeting with family and friends for fellowship, and, of course more worship and dance. After Bible study, we stuff ourselves physically and spiritually. We share in a potluck meal and, once again, study God’s word together, late into the night. And, this particular year, the first holy day led right into the weekly Sabbath. So, we had a double Sabbath! We got to enjoy one more round of worship, Bible study and fellowship. Our cup runneth over. HalleluYah!
As instructed in Leviticus 23:15, on the day after the Sabbath, we offer the wave sheaf offering. This pictures Yeshua’s resurrection and His ascension up to our Father in Heaven. This day isn’t a Sabbath or a holy day, but the wave sheaf is a commanded offering. The Bible doesn’t give us much detail on what to do, so we do our best with the information we have.
What an awesome week we have had! For a couple of days we are back to normal life. Well, normal other than constantly baking unleavened almond bread to keep up with the demand. J Lev 23:6 commands us to eat unleavened bread. We remove the leavening, which pictures sin, and fill ourselves with unleavened bread, picturing our sinless savior. When the prescribed 7 days are finished, we get to enjoy the last Day of Unleavened Bread with friends and family, spending time in dancing, worship and study of His Word, once again. With so much meaning built into the days that God set aside to meet with us, we have no desire to worship Him with manmade celebrations. They just don’t measure up to the celebrations that He created just for us.
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