The Exodus – Part 35
Laws for God's People – Part 3
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
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SERMON TIMELINE
· The Book of Genesis
· The Book of Exodus
· The First Three Miracles
· The Ten Plagues
o Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread
§ Instructions for Passover Feast
§ Instructions for Feast of Unleavened Bread
§ The Exodus Begins
o Passover Restrictions
o Consecration of Hebrew Firstborn Sons
o Cross the Red Sea
o The Complaining Begins (continues)
o Manna & Quail
o Water from the Rock
o Jethro visits Moses
o Moses and Mount Sinai
o The 10 Commands
o Idols and Altars
o Laws for God's People - Part 1
o Laws for God's People – Part 2
o Laws for God's People – Part 3
INTRODUCTION
Since Exodus 20, the Lord has given His people, through Moses, the Laws.
He began with the 10 Commands, the Law of God, and His standards of morality. The same Law that Jesus better defines in the New Testament, often correcting those who thought they kept the Law.
The first Law the Lord Gave Moses does two things. Firstly it established God's moral superiority. To be a judge or creator of the moral law, He must be morally perfect.
God's commands show His moral superiority and that He has a right to create moral standards and judge those who do not keep them.
Secondly, the 10 commands are used as the moral test, which none but God Himself can pass. Therefore, it not only establishes God as morally superior and perfect but reveals everyone else's guilt as lawbreakers and in need of saving.
We know now, through the light of the New Testament, that the 10 commands are for revealing our guilt and need for Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross and that we must make Him our Lord so that we may be His servant. Accepting the gift of the cross from Christ Jesus to be saved is essential for us to have a relationship with God the Father and spend the rest of eternity with Jesus on the New Earth.
After examining God's 10 commands in Exodus 20, we looked at the Moral laws the Lord gave to Moses in Exodus 21:2 – 23:9.
These laws were given so we would know how to live justly and righteously with our neighbors. These laws of "moral community" are something we can obey; because of this, men can stand as judges over us if we do not observe.
Moses set judges over the people in Exodus 18:25-26
"He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves."
We have already talked about the
10 Commands (GOD'S LAW) in Exodus 20
The Moral Law in Exodus 21:2 – 23:9
Today we examine the Ceremonial Law the Lord Gave Moses for His People
So there is God's moral high ground (10 commands), our moral laws for living in community with our neighbors, now the ceremonial laws and Holy Days, or "HOW" we are to worship God.
SCRIPTURE READING
Exodus 23:10-23:19 – The Ceremonial Law & Sabbath Law – How to worship God
"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 "Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.
13 "Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
"Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
15 "Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
"No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 16 "Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.
"Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.
17 "Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
18 "Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.
"The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.
19 "Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk."
TODAY'S MESSAGE
I. LAW FOR YOUR HOUSEHOLDS
a. The fields and harvest
i. Six years sow the field and harvest the crops
1. In the Seventh Year, leave it unplowed and unused
ii. If you have land, crops, and servants, you are considered wealthy. Some are not
1. God put into action a welfare system as well as a Nature Preservation System
2. The poor could get food from the fields, and the wild animals could feed on the remains of the crops
iii. Not just the farmland either, but also the vineyards and the olive groves.
iv. This is for the less fortunate who do not have land or the ability to farm.
v. They could gather, preserve, store, and take some burden off living without land.
vi. Why the seventh year? Remember, seven is the number of perfection, completeness, and fullness.
1. On the seventh day of creation, God set it apart as the holy sabbath.
2. Caring for the poor and taking care of nature are our responsibilities
b. Working and rest
i. Again, six days do work, but the seventh day, do not work.
1. SO your ox and donkey may rest (caring for the animals well being)
2. SO that the slave and foreigner living among you (servant) may be refreshed (caring for people regardless of position)
c. Do not invoke any other gods
i. [warning] Be careful to do everything I have said to you.
1. What did He say?
a. Harvest crops six years
i. Let the seventh-year care for the poor and nature
b. Work six days
i. Let the ox, donkey, slave, and servant rest on the seventh
ii. The warning is for those who have to not take advantage of the less fortunate or nature or creatures used for work.
iii. After this, He warns, do not invoke the names of other gods, even in the privacy of your own home
Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
II. LAW OF FESTIVALS
a. Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread
i. For 7 days (again perfection), eat bread without yeast
ii. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month, you came out of Egypt
b. Celebrate the Festival of the Harvest
i. No one is to appear before me empty-handed
1. We will talk about this in a moment (Prosperity preachers misuse this)
ii. Celebrate the harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field
c. Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering
i. At the end of the year – when you gather your crops from the field
ii. Three times a year, all men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord
iii. Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice with anything containing yeast
iv. The fat of my festival offering must not be kept until the morning
v. Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God
vi. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk
III. WHAT THE THREE FESTIVALS REPRESENT
a. Unleavened Bread
i. Unleavened Bread is bread without yeast
1. Exodus 12:15 instruction
2. The Bible uses leaven/yeast as s symbol for sin 1 Corinthians 5:7-12
ii. They were also given Manna in the wilderness and made bread
1. Jesus is unleavened bread from heaven John 6:32
2. The bread of life John 6:35
3. The bread is broken at communion Luke 22:19
iii. Eat it for seven days at the festival (Perfection)
iv. When is the festival?
1. In the month of Aviv when the Hebrews were "saved" from Egypt
2. Egypt and bondage
a. This represents Jesus and Salvation
b. The sinless Bread from Heaven
c. Bringing us out of the bondage of sin
d. Freeing us from the land of Egypt (the world satan rules)
b. The Harvest
i. Next is the harvest and the command, "No one is to appear before me empty-handed"
1. This is not a prosperity preaching proof-text
ii. If the previous festival is an allegory for Jesus and Salvation, then what "harvest" is this next festival an allegory for?
1. We are to sow what seed? Matthew 13 "The Word*
2. Then who are the crops?
a. Matthew 13:8 "seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear."
b. Matthew 13:18—23 "Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
c. P E O P L E
3. What is the harvest, then?
a. John 4:31-37 "Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don't you have a saying, 'It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
4. Then what does the Lord’s warning mean, “No one is to appear before me empty-handed”
5. Do not expect to stand before the Lord for your reward in heaven if you have neither sown seed “the Word” or worked the harvest “gather people to the House of the Lord.”
a. We are to share the gospel and work towards leading others to the Lord.
c. The Ingathering
i. So first, there is a celebration of unleavened bread representing Christ and Salvation
ii. THEN, there is the celebration of the harvest, which is the sowing and reaping from the Word of God, drawing others to Salvation in Christ through His word.
iii. What does that make the Celebration of the Ingathering about?
iv. It is to be celebrated at the END of the year.
1. Remember I told you the celebrations on a yearly calendar give the plan of God to people from the very first celebration (Passover, allegorically representing the cross and Salvation) all the way through to the very last, the Ingathering.
v. Revelation 20:11-13 “[11] And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. [12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [13] And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”
CONCLUSION
Three times a year, the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
No blood from a sacrifice may be offered with anything containing yeast. BECAUSE this represents Christ’s Blood which saves us that was SINLESS.
Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk BECAUSE the sacrifice represents Christ.
We know from scripture Satan tried to kill Jesus in the womb
We know Satan tried to kill Jesus as a child
Jesus (the lamb) did not die in the womb or as a child. Instead, he went to the cross willingly, offering Himself as a sacrifice.
Cooking an offering in its mother’s milk would be symbolic of death in the womb or at a young age as opposed to the perfect, spotless lamb willfully offered.
p.s. Satan also tried to kill Jesus as an adult when he tempted Him in the desert.
So these three festivals and how they were to be celebrated are all allegorically teaching about Jesus and Salvation, sharing the Gospel with everyone, and the final gathering of the harvest of God’s people.
God Teaches through the Festivals His Plan of Salvation and Redemption
NEXT WEEK
We will look at God’s angel preparing a Way for the Hebrews
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