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“…how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”

Sermon Notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – Part 3
Guest post by Michael Shover

Gathering Clouds

There is another aspect to the Feast of Booths that we need to take into consideration. The sacrifices. During the Feast of Booths, 70 bulls were sacrificed. 13 on the first day, 12 on the second, 11 on the third, 10 on the fourth, 9 on the fifth, 8 on the sixth, 7 on the seventh which equals 70. Then 1 on the last day. Why 70? What is the significance of the number 70? The 70 bulls represented the 70 nations of the world as outlined in Gen. 10. The 1 bull that was sacrificed on the eighth day represented Israel. The 70 bull sacrifices represented the ingathering and atonement for the 70 nations of the world. Salvation was accomplished by Israel for all the nations.

Correspondingly to the 70 nations of  the world, Israel had 70 elders. God had organized Israel as a small scale model of the world. So Israel then was the covenant representative of the nations. When they brought 70 bulls, they were showing the ingathering of the 70 nations flocking to Jerusalem. The feast was an acted out prophecy of the conversion of all the nations of the world to the true faith. Interestingly enough, Zechariah the prophet, when he describes the eschatological blessing that would come to all the nations of the earth, in which all of life would be sanctified, as can be seen by the horses bells having “Holy to the LORD” written on them, he says that all of the nations would come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

So the Feast of Booths was an acted out prophecy of the conversion and salvation of the whole world. 70 Bulls were sacrificed for the 70 nations. And Israel would dwell in leafy booths symbolizing a return to the Garden of Eden, and representing the glory cloud covering of God  over Israel as He brought them out of Egypt. They were to then feast in a celebration of the past redemption that God had wrought for them out of Egypt, and they were to celebrate the future salvation of the world that God would accomplish through Israel.

In other words, as I said in the beginning of this sermon, how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world. When we take celebration more seriously, more Biblically, we will see our heart for evangelism grow, and we will see the nations flock to Christ and to the Church. Our feasting before the Lord is a reflection of our belief in the promise of God to save the whole world.

The Lord’s Supper is supposed to be exactly where this is lived out. All the feasts of Israel are fulfilled in the Lord’s Supper. Just like Israel, we look back to the redemption that God wrought for us in our “exodus” in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. And like Israel, in the Lord’s Supper, we look forward to the future salvation of the world. The Lord’s Supper is not just a memorial of what Christ had done for us, but it is an acted out prophecy of what the Lord will do because of the death and resurrection of Christ for the salvation and redemption of the whole world. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation is an encapsulation and fulfillment of what all the feasts of Israel, especially the Feast of Booths were. Because of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, He is the King of the whole world. All Nations will be baptized into the Triune name, and all nations will be discipled and taught to obey all that Christ has commanded.

In John 7 Jesus is at the Feast of Booths and He gives his divine interpretation of the feast and he says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” When the Spirit came after Christ ascended to heaven, that long awaited promise became a reality. For now salvation does not just belong to one nation, but the people of God are from every nation on earth. The fact the we are here today worshipping, all of us Gentiles, and a Jew or two, is proof that the prophecy of the Feast of Booths has been and is being fulfilled.

And so, if God saw fit to instruct Israel to bring their tithe once a year for the purpose of celebrating a future return to the Garden of Eden and the salvation of the whole world, how much more should we be willing to give every Lord’s Day for the sake of celebrating the coming of the Messiah who has accomplished that which the Feast of Booths looked forward to? The tithe then for us should correspondingly be for 3 major things. 1.) For the pastor’s salary. 2.) For widows, orphans, and strangers. And 3. For Feasting.

Israel was supposed to bring along their Levites, and they got food and flocks from this feast. We no longer live in an agricultural society for the most part. We get paid every week, or every 2 weeks. So we take up a collection every week. And from that collection the pastor receives his weekly pay. Concerning the widow, the orphan and the stranger, this is essentially our local missionary work. Israel was supposed to bring in those less fortunate and they were to experience the blessings of the Lord. The stranger was a non-Israelite living in the land. He was not a member of the covenant. But he was not to be rejected. Therefore, we ought to include and invite unbelievers to our feasts. Now they are not to celebrate the Lord’s Supper proper, the taking of the Bread and the wine, for that special ceremony is reserved for God’s covenant people. But after service there should be great feasting and celebration in which non-Christians are invited to experience the blessings of God.

The Lord Jesus understood the importance of this and lived this out in his earthly life and ministry. He says of Himself that people looked at him and said, “Look, a drunkard and a glutton, and a friend of tax collectors and sinners. And yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” Jesus knew that people looked at him wrongly and got the wrong idea of what he was doing, just as I am sure some of you might be concerned about what others would think of us if we started celebrating every week with feasting, great food and wine and beer. Some people don’t think it would be good for the world to perceive us in such a way.

But in fact, it was the religious hypocrites who condemned Jesus for such behavior, not the world. If we want to be identified with Jesus and not with Pharisaical Christians, then it might do us well to begin celebrating the salvation that our Lord has accomplished on the cross the manner in which God commands us to. Spending our tithe money for whatever our heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. Also you shall not neglect the Pastor, or the stranger, the orphan and the widow who are in our town, for they shall come and eat and be satisfied. Why? Verse 29 of Deuteronomy 14 says,  “in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”

Brethren, if we want our Church blessed, if want our families blessed and all the works of our hands blessed in all that we do, then God tells us that we are supposed to do this, and we are not to be ashamed of this, or scared to do it. Feasting with great food and great wine and great beer, feasting for whatever our soul desires, with rejoicing not only brings the blessing of God upon us, but it identifies us as Christians, since one would think that being like Jesus might constitute what it means to be Christian, and it shows of what we truly think of Christ’s redemption.

I will end this sermon the same way I began it. God tells us that celebration is central to pleasing Him. It is central to pleasing Him because feasting is one of the chief ways in which God chooses to blesses His people, and to our utter disbelief, celebratory feasting is at the heart of evangelism. In other words, how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world. When we take celebration more seriously, more Biblically, we will see our heart for evangelism grow, and we will see the nations flock to Christ and to the Church. Our feasting before the Lord is a reflection of our belief in the promise of God to save the whole world.

Do we believe Him? Our celebrations and feasts will answer that for us. Amen.

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Related posts: Eat Local and Die, On The Outside Looking In, Tavernacles.