Leviticus 23 - Remembering what the Lord has done

We now get a list of festivals. The first one is the Sabbath. Note that it is called a festival, it was not intended to be a day of drudgery. Now the Sabbath causes us tremendous problems. When Jesus was on earth it was the focal point of much of the conflict between Him and the religious leaders. We seem to go to one of two extremes: (i) on the one hand we get very legalistic, as the Pharisees did, and some branches of the church today do. This always ends up as a disaster, leading to hypocrisy and disregarding people. Remember how the Pharisees objected when Jesus set people free on the Sabbath! The other extreme is to say it no longer matters at all and is purely OT stuff. This cannot be right, for the Bible places such an emphasis on it, God places such a high importance on it. Perhaps most of the church is in a confused muddle over the Sabbath. The Sabbath principle is important, for it demonstrates our dependence on and trust in God. I do not believe we should be legalistic about the Sabbath, but there is something important here and we should meditate on God's word about the matter.

Next came the Passover and the festival of unleavened bread, reminders of the rescue from Egypt.

When the people entered the land they were to give the first fruits to the Lord as a reminder that it was the Lord who gave them the land.

The Festival of Trumpets involved taking a Sabbath rest.

On the Day of Atonement they made atonement for their sins. The Festival of Tabernacles was a reminder of the journey across the wilderness.

Now we do not need to follow these festivals today, but there are valuable principles here. We are to remember the Lord continually, acknowledging our dependence and trust in Him. We are to remember that it is the Lord's work on the cross that sets us free and makes it all possible. God will grant us success and victory in various ways, we are to give the first fruits to Him, for without Him we have nothing. Sin is still a problem, and we need to remember the blood of Christ, but also that God can rescue us from all situations (including from ourselves). This may involve a journey across a wilderness, but God can take care of us in the wilderness.