It was to be an annual, seven-day party. Everyone ceased normal activities, camped in tents, and feasted sumptuously. It was a celebration to end all celebrations, and for good reason.
"On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month." (Leviticus 23:39-41)
It was a type of Thanksgiving celebration - at the end of the harvest - but it involved much more than a huge dinner and an afternoon of football. The number "seven" hints at its significance - the celebration was held in the seventh month for seven days. Seven is the biblical number of completion and representative of Creator God. A seven-day celebration followed the completion of the harvest.
This annual celebration was a kingdom party! Feasting and celebrating represented the age of indescribable joy and fulfillment, as did a day of rest at the beginning and end (see Hebrews 4).
There is an image amidst God's details for His annual "kingdom party" that has special significance. God's people were to bring "the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook" (Leviticus 23:40). This was the very thing done for Jesus as he entered Jerusalem the week that He was crucified. They were celebrating what they thought would be the ultimate kingdom party - when messiah overthrew the powers of this age to establish the kingdom of God on earth.
It is important that we celebrate the kingdom party today. Jesus clearly saw the kingdom amidst the ordinary and let that form the basis for His primary teaching tool, the parable. The kingdom was much more to Him, than an annual celebration; it was found in the very fabric of daily living. Thus He could announce, "the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15).
In a world of chaos, upheaval, and oppression exists also the kingdom of God. It is not here in fullness, but it is silently growing in our midst. The seed has been and is being planted, and is springing to life and bearing fruit that will last. Its presence is to be nurtured and celebrated as we await the ultimate Party.
Every gathering of believers is a kingdom celebration, even as was the Feast of Booths, described in Leviticus 23. Whether few or many, may that kingdom celebration permeate every encounter between believers.
Steve
"On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month." (Leviticus 23:39-41)
It was a type of Thanksgiving celebration - at the end of the harvest - but it involved much more than a huge dinner and an afternoon of football. The number "seven" hints at its significance - the celebration was held in the seventh month for seven days. Seven is the biblical number of completion and representative of Creator God. A seven-day celebration followed the completion of the harvest.
This annual celebration was a kingdom party! Feasting and celebrating represented the age of indescribable joy and fulfillment, as did a day of rest at the beginning and end (see Hebrews 4).
There is an image amidst God's details for His annual "kingdom party" that has special significance. God's people were to bring "the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook" (Leviticus 23:40). This was the very thing done for Jesus as he entered Jerusalem the week that He was crucified. They were celebrating what they thought would be the ultimate kingdom party - when messiah overthrew the powers of this age to establish the kingdom of God on earth.
It is important that we celebrate the kingdom party today. Jesus clearly saw the kingdom amidst the ordinary and let that form the basis for His primary teaching tool, the parable. The kingdom was much more to Him, than an annual celebration; it was found in the very fabric of daily living. Thus He could announce, "the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15).
In a world of chaos, upheaval, and oppression exists also the kingdom of God. It is not here in fullness, but it is silently growing in our midst. The seed has been and is being planted, and is springing to life and bearing fruit that will last. Its presence is to be nurtured and celebrated as we await the ultimate Party.
Every gathering of believers is a kingdom celebration, even as was the Feast of Booths, described in Leviticus 23. Whether few or many, may that kingdom celebration permeate every encounter between believers.
Steve
posted by steve @ 4:20 PM
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