Published: April 23, 2026 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Leviticus - The Parable of Leviticus 3 - Part 9 | Scripture: Leviticus 23:1-44
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where we have laid out for us the uh the Jewish calendar Jewish calendar the holy convocations. The term The term holy convocations is also a a marker in
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the in the chapter, although it's fairly easy to follow this chapter because you start with the Sabbath and you go to Passover and you work through the calendar year. And I'm going to kind of
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the Jews actually have four calendars. uh two of them are are biblical, two of them are rabbitic. Um and even within
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the biblical ones really only one of them is biblical and the other one has been adopted um and was adopted apparently very very early not not in
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the time of the rabbis but much earlier than that. So, so we have the idea of a Jewish calendar.
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The one that is actually uh attested in scripture is what is called the religious calendar which begins at the first of Nissan.
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We've already read in Leviticus um that the Lord said, "This will be the first of months for you, Nissan." That's the that's the first of the of the year. That's the first month of the year according to scripture. No other month
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is attested in the scripture as being the first month. Um and so Nissan is the month of Passover and so it is generally associated
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spring. In fact, Nissan corresponds roughly to our March, April according to the Gregorian calendar.
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And the spring is the barley harvest. Um it kind of reminds me of uh up in Pennsylvania farmers would plant winterw wheat um just to keep the ground growing and then have something to feed the
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cattle in the spring or to put into silage. So there'd be something growing in the spring. But in in the Middle East, this this would be the barley
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And like all of Israel's neighbors, their calendar was associated with agriculture. Calendar was associated with seed time and harvest and their festivals very much uh aligned with the the festivals
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of of either the early harvest or the later harvest. So this is going to give us the the um the three spring festivals or holy convocations.
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followed immediately by unleavened bread and then uh first fruits
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because it was the 50th day. Now I want to interject something here.
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Christians are so sure when things happen in the Jewish calendar which is something the Jews themselves lack. They argue about it all the time. Fact
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in the time of Christ and even earlier than that it was the job of the Sanhedrin to determine each year and they still do it today. They publish I don't know who it is today, the great rabbis of New York or whatever or South
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Florida or wherever they are. They pronounce what the calendar is this year as far as the day because you can't get it from the text
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because no one knows when to start counting. And the reason is because a holy convocation is essentially a Sabbath. The the high Sabbath of the holy con
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convocations was a no work day. It wasn't a day of rest. We we kind of added that what what the Sabbath is is a no work day. You do not work. It's not a
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day where you can rest if you want to. It's not even really a day that's all about rest. It's it's all about not working, which I guess you could say is the same thing. But that's not the way it's it's presented. You don't work.
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Your servants don't work. Your your cattle don't work. Nobody works. Uh I've often wondered, what do your milk cows do? because they're not going to hold
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it. Okay, having uh worked on my father-in-law's dairy farm, I can tell you that they don't hold it long when it's milking time. They they'll start to bellow. Uh so, I guess some things still
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got done. You got your ox out of a ditch and you got the milk out of the cows. The point on each of these is that these these holy convocations themselves
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involve Sabbaths involve Sabbaths and most of them will go over a weekly Sabbath. So you have a Sabbath and then you have
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another Sabbath and they don't know and then from this Sabbath you count seven Sabbaths and then the day after. But the Jews argue back have argued for
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generations as to which where do you start counting start counting and and so they're not confident of their own calendar. They have to determine it somewhat like we had to determine that Easter is the first
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Sunday after the first full moon after the spring e uh the uh equinox that was determined and that's what we've been doing for the last 1700 years. But in
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this case, we have the holy convocations and and yet the the math, if you look at the various passages, like I said, the the Jews don't necessarily agree. So,
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it's it's not so much the day that matters. I mean, it's the 10th of Nissan, but even even their calendar is not quite right like ours. We have to
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have a leap year, right? Well, they did, too. they had to have a leap month because all of their months were 30 days. So, it didn't it didn't add up. They were losing more time a year than
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we do, right? Um with with our varied lengths of months. So, my point is that these dates, as you'll see on a Gregorian calendar hanging up in your
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laundry room or wherever, when you look at Passover, it's like Easter. It's not the same day every year. So, it's not the day that matters. It's the feast that matters. And these were critical um
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markers in time. I call them a cadence. They were a cadence by which the camp of Israel lived and by which the nation of Israel in the land was supposed to march
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through time according to this cadence. So you have the spring feasts that start with Passover and then followed immediately by unleven bread, the last day of which is a high Sabbath. Um, now
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this factors in, and we're not going to get into the details. It would be a rabbit trail. Um, but this factors in to
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actual layout of what we call passion week. Because when we read the accounts in the Gospels, the word in the same way in the Old Testament, the word for a day is simply
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called Sabbath. called Sabbath. it it's not necessarily called the high Sabbath or the Sabbath of the festival. It's called the Sabbath. You could easily have two Sabbaths
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backtoback. You have the last day of the feast might fall on a Thursday, Friday, and then you would have the weekly Sabbath, Friday, Saturday. That that happened. It just
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the way it was. So the dating of what happens um on Jesus's final week has been for a very long time simply assumed but it's
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assumed on a basis of the Sabbath the preparation day being the preparation of the weekly Sabbath but there was a Sabbath at the beginning
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this is a high Sabbath and then the last day was a high Sabbath. So you have you had the potential of three Sabbaths. The weekly Sabbath, the Passover Sabbath, and the last day of
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unleavened bread. And they move. Does that make does that make sense?
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Yes. Well, no. You can't do the month. 30 days doesn't add up to a full um orbital year. I it's it first of all yes it's more like like 28 point something days it's
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not new moon to new moon is not 30 days secondly 12 periods of 30 is 300 is not the right number of days for a year okay
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it the the the don't they don't line up the the lunar month and the the um solar year are not divisible so every calendar in
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history has had correct itself. The Jewish calendar actually threw in a month. I think it was Adar, but I'm not positive. They threw in a month. Um, some people say
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that they threw it in uh at the year of Jubilee, but I think later they did it differently. They did it more often than that. Understand what you're saying? What is
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where you point to say they called this, but it was actually Oh, no. No. I it it's it's not that there's any place that says but it was the fifth day of the week. What I'm saying is
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the Sabbath the weekly Sabbath was always the seventh day of the week. It was Friday, Saturday. That didn't change. Although you had to add a month every now and then, okay? Which means Nissan
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was moving and it got reset. Okay? So like on our calendars each year, it wasn't rigid. It wasn't the 25th of December. Okay. It moved.
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But your point is that a high Sabbath could have been and it was only called a Sabbath. Right. That's my point. Where do we where do we glean that? Oh, from Leviticus 23 uh in Exodus as well. Um it's just simply a Sabbath.
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It's not some places it's called a a Sabaton, a high Sabbath, but most of the time it is simply the Sabbath. My point being is that that's how it was referred to in the in the in the vernacular. So
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that when we read a preparation day in the P passion week accounts, we assume that that means Friday, Saturday, no, it could very well mean Thursday,
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Friday would be or or even Wednesday, Thursday could be preparation because the next day might not be the weekly Sabbath, but it might be the festival
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Sabbath. So you have one thing that doesn't move and that's the weekly Sabbath. Although in terms of the solar year, it does move. Okay, because it's set to the 30
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month 30-day month, the new moon to new moon. All right, but then it gets reset. But in terms of the festivals, it's always Friday, Saturday. No festival changes that. But the
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festival seven or eight days, okay? Comes around every year. And it might come like that or it might come like that. In other words, the weekly Sabbath
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could be anywhere in the middle. We could say the festival might go over the weekend. You have fewer days off. Okay. But, you know, does that make sense? It's it it's moving. Okay. The the 10th
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of Nissan, the 14th may may be a different All right. And it's possible that in any given festival, you might have three Sabbaths.
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two associated with the festival and the third being the weekly Sabbath. Okay? So it means it means that pinning down exact timing of events
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is is not the point. That's not what we all should be about doing because the text is not explicit enough to actually tell us. And then the the the calendar
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and the celest lunar months and the celestial years we know they move because they have to be adjusted and they've been adjusted for thousands of years. People have been doing this. Um
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the 7-day week we talked about this I think I can't remember exactly when which which class but the 7-day week is an aberration. an aberration. it it is not it is not associated with
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any celestial any celestial uh mooring or foundation that we have a solar year we have a lunar month we have a we have a rotational day and even those we know are not exact and we have
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to adjust but the 7-day week doesn't correspond to to anything okay so we have these festivals and I only say that because I personally think the way we
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celebrate Passion week is wrong and I've said that before and we'll probably get to that some other case. But so we have these um uh the spring festivals and
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then we have the civil calendar
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which begins the first of tish. Now it's not called that in scripture but at some point in time and I wasn't able to determine when I tried to look at some Jewish resources. been it's been viewed as the first of
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the year the year for so long that I don't know where it came about there. I did read some rabbis who admitted that this was not original
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but then didn't go on to say where it came from. One reason that it comes out is because it begins the first of tish is the feast of trumpets. It's the day
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of blasting. It's rashashana which is called which is Hebrew for the head of the year. Rashashana. Okay. So
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Rashashana is the Jewish new year today. That's they view that as also it's it's viewed as the beginning of the year because it is tish in which we have the
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day of atonement Yam Kapor. And that seems to make sense, right? you do a house cleaning and then and for it's a it's an annual cleaning. It's
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almost like companies that you you have a calendar year and then you have a like a government although that's kind of a silly example. They have a fiscal year and they have you know of course the
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calendar year. Um and so the it's not unusual for countries nations either modern or or ancient to have multiple calendars. One might start, for example,
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with the day of that a king ascended. And so that year would actually change every time you got a new king because they didn't always die or ascend on the
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same day. Okay? So um or it might the year might end um on his or start on the day of his coronation which even today is not always the same
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as the day of his ascension because it takes a long time and a lot of money to arrange these coronations. So ancient, this is nothing new. This is nothing earthshattering that the Jews had two
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calendars. But from the perspective of Leviticus 23, Leviticus 23, there's only one calendar and that is the religious calendar that begins in Nissan and begins with the Passover.
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Okay? And that orients it to um the Exodus, Passover, Exodus, Passover, the feast of trumpets. Okay? So here we
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have um this this is September October and usually assed associated with a wheat harvest.
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um this is how the ancient world told time because that that was almost every nation. There were no merkanteal, no capitalist nations. Every nation was
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agriculturally based and and even the nations that were um livestock oriented uh there was still the the time that you
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took them up the mountains for grazing and there were times when you took them down out of the mountains. So it was still tied to your livelihood which was tied to the ground and the pro produce
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of the ground was tied to the seasons. And so the festivals are naturally this is not again evidence that the Jews borrowed from the the nations
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surrounding them. It's just that the ancient nations had harvest festivals because that that was their livelihood. And so here you have um as I said this
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is this is the fall. I should have put that a little bit lower. And and you have trumpets.
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Um it's it's actually the day of blasting literally the day of blasting. Trumpets and then Yam Kapore, the day of atonement, and then
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and then boos or tabernacles. Passover was a day as was first fruits.
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Trumpets was just a day. It was a high It was a Sabbath. It was a high con holy convocation. Yom Kapor was just a day. But then it began somewhat like Passover
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begins unleaven bread. Yam kapor begins I should put it this way. What follows the day of atonement is the feast of of tabernacles where everybody
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was to live in a tabernacle.
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It is the seventh month of the year. Yes. Tish
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only. Uh it just divides. It's it's six months and six months. You have the first month, the seventh month. So it's it's really um it's associated again spring and fall. Barley, wheat,
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Well, again, it it it's just half the year. It's it's if you have a 12-month year, then 1 + 6 is seven, you know, that other than that, I don't know of any there's nothing in the scriptures
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that says why he picked except that it um it's the month that corresponds with the wheat harvest.
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And for us, it corresponds with the fall, September, October. So the the the beginning corresponded with the barley harvest which you would plant in the fall and harvest in the
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spring and then you in the spring you planted the wheat and harvest in the fall. And and I think there's I may be wrong. I I I I don't I have no def
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definitive uh defense of what I'm saying, but these festivals were generally oriented to the economic life of the nation which was tied to the
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soil. Now, I think it's interesting that these are instituted in the wilderness in the desert. Now, there wasn't a barley harvest or a wheat harvest in the desert. They ate
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mana. They weren't they weren't growing crops in the desert. So this was all prospective when you enter the land and you now sew your fields and you now you
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know enter into that life and this is not a life that these people would have known because the the climate and agriculture of Egypt is is not based on the seasons right what's it based on the
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Nile River the flooding of the Nile not anymore thanks to Nasser but um you know the Oswan Dam but for the for millennia up before that it was when the Nile
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flooded. So this is not something that these people were uh this generation going into the land were they were not a generation of farmers. They were going to be taking over and we we're going to
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read that um a little bit later I think next week that when they when they enter the land they're going to be they're going to be harvesting that what they didn't they'll be harvesting vineyards
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they did not plant. Okay. they they will be uh harvesting wheat that they did not plant. This is this is something the Canaanites did. And now the Israelites entering in the land would have to adapt
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to the calendar of an agricultural society. That's what they're going to be. Okay. Uh but this is all the reason I think it's important to um to pick the
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first month correctly the way scripture does is that what this does is it unites their economic calendar with their religious calendar. religious calendar. It becomes a as I said a cadence
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whereby they they are on a regularly a regular basis first of all every week then at these festivals spring and fall
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then we'll we'll see in chapter 24 the the sabbatical year or 25 and the year of jubilee. So, not only do they have a
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cadence through the year, they have a cadence through the years. And every one of them reorients them to Exodus, to the deliverance, but also to God as
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the one who gives them the power to make wealth numbers. Um, it it is God who provides the early and latter reigns. It is he he is the one who at Mount Ibal
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and Mount Gerazim promised either blessing meaning crops if they obeyed or cursing meaning crop failures if they disobeyed. So these have a a dis these
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have a they they're not just imitations of the pagan religion. They are they are much too strongly attached like for example Passover and Yom Kapor. Okay. This this
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is the day of atonement. This has nothing to do with farming. This has to do with holiness and defilement. Okay. What is the feast of booze? It's a reminder that you spent 40 years in the
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wilderness living in tents. Now that you lived in your wall now you live in your walled cities or your villages in your homes. But every year you'll spend a week living in a tent. So this is unlike
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any of the harvest festivals of the ancient world because it was a constant orientation on what God had done. Had done.
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Had done. Not many of them are prospective. We only get the the prophetic nature of these festivals festivals when they are fulfilled. So for example, we don't
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really see first fruits in the Old Testament as the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or the first fruits from the dead, the regenerate church.
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regenerate church. That's part of the mystery that Paul says has been kept re unrevealed for so many centuries and is now revealed in Christ. So I I think it's a a poor
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to read back into these what we now know about them from the New Testament. Um and I and I also think that sometimes these things are often subjected to allegorism. Okay? And that you have to be careful
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there. Especially this one. I think this one is the feast of boos um is is often uh allegorized as to refer to our human bodies and and it is true that both Paul
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and Peter refer to their bodies as tabernacles and Peter literally says I know that the putting off of my tabernacle is at hand. Okay. So maybe
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they were thinking in this term that you know but I don't think I don't think there's a very strong connection in scripture that links this forward to
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what God has done in Christ as much as it does backward to what God had done in the Exodus. the Exodus. Now, I think you could probably read
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Paul when he talks about putting off the old man and putting on the new, but I I'm sure he would also say that we don't observe a week of the old
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man every year. Okay? We, you know, so it's like we don't just take a week and live like the old man in in our old booths. So there's the any type of
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connection between the feast of boos and the Christian life for example falls apart somewhere. Um others will say well you know this is this is where you enter
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the promised land which is when you die and go to be go go go to be in heaven. Well heaven isn't actually the promised land. The new earth is and there that that whole philosophy is fraught with
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difficulties biblically. Well, I think when we look at these, I think the important thing is not so much to look at I already said not don't look at the exact date because there was no exact date and even today there's no exact
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date. Uh you can look up Jewish calendar 2026. I mean and it's not just the Jewish year, it's it's actually the festivals when they will be this year. Okay?
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Because they they weren't the same day last year and they won't be the same day next year. Okay? So first of all, we don't look at fixing a date. Secondly, we like the sacrifices,
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we need to be careful not to try to assign too much meaning than they're capable of bearing. Again, that's a that's a common tendency in Christian exesus ever since origin in
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the second century. And I think we have to guard against um uh fanciful exugesus that that reads into the tabernacle or the booth a bit more than was ever
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intended. It was it was a feast of remembrance and the remembrance was the Exodus and their time in the wilderness. These these harvest festivals are then
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what what we're seeing here is they're being sacralized. being sacralized. Okay, it is the wheat harvest. The wheat harvest is mentioned. The sheath offering is mentioned. These things are part of the festival bringing in a tenth
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of the first fruits, for example. that would be on par with all the nations around Israel. What makes them different is that each of these is
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oriented to God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt, from Egypt, thereby taking these otherwise common seed time and harvest festivals and
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sanctifying them and making them a part of the nation's religious year. And so that is how the church
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has interpreted these and incorporated them into the Christian calendar. It's been a long time since western
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civilization was predominantly agricultural. Several hundred years at least. The industrial revolution pretty much blew that whole epic out of the water. And
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now there are very few people that you would meet on a on an average day or week and you say, "What do you do?" Well, I'm a farmer. Okay. When's the last time you just met
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a farmer? a farmer? Not at the farmers market. Okay. But just you met a farmer. No, we we don't meet farmers because
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there aren't that many left. the big conglomerates are now I'm not even sure the people who work those huge farms call themselves farmers. I think they might call themselves machine operators
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because that's basically what they do. Um so the the idea of an agricultural society is a cultural millu in which the text is based
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and it provides a hermeneutical challenge because we don't live in that same millu. same millu. Does that make sense? So it's just like I've used this example many times. It's
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just like when we read about the kingdom. One of the first things we have to do is somehow establish in our mind a paradigm of what
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a kingdom is because it's been a long time since we've been a part of a kingdom and even that kingdom was was a constitutional monarchy. So um the idea
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of an absolute sovereign is foreign to us. The the idea of an agriculturally based calendar is somewhat foreign to us. Okay. Um now I
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do remember growing up my my dad would get the far farmer's almanac. I don't know who publishes that. Um, he was basically looking at when to plant his
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vegetable garden because he did he wasn't a farmer. He was an insurance agent. And I had a hard time reading insurance agent in Leviticus 23. Um, but
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you know, he we had a farm and he had a big huge um garden. It would tell him when to plant things. Okay. Anyhow, when the last frost was and whatnot. So
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it's the understanding that these harvest festivals harvest festivals have been sanctified and and oriented toward the cult of Yavism, the the
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religion of of Israel. That is what has translated and transferred into the Christian church into the the the branch of Christianity
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that is known as high church. Okay. So, we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about try. There it is. Um,
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now I don't really like the terminology because very few low churches call themselves low churches. That's actually a denomination given to us by the high churches. It's a little pjorative. All right. Um,
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but and I'm probably not going to say this evening what you might expect me to say. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and start with the punchline. All right? And that punchline is from Romans 14.
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And I'll I'll read it from the text. Well, I have it here. Verse 5, Romans 14. One person esteems one day above
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another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. Okay, I'm not high church
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and I'm fully convinced in my mind that I shouldn't be high church. But I cannot biblically condemn somebody just because they're high church and view certain days as holy days, as
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different than other days. Okay? Because Paul says you can't. I can't. I would if I could, but Paul says I can't, so I don't. All right? Um, I don't think and I I hope if if you are convinced in your
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own mind, then just stay convinced. But if you're not convinced in your own mind, maybe I can convince you of what I think. But that's all I'm going to try to do tonight. I'm not going to condemn
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or praise one view or the other because again, Romans 14:5 says that's that's not in our purview to do. And and I think what I want to show is that I
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think I understand the mentality the the I should say the sincere mentality behind highurch calendars.
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I think both high church and low church have both sincerity and insincerity. Neither have a monopoly on sincerity or integrity. There are members of the high church
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denominations who I think are great and valuable evangelicals valuable evangelicals and they are convinced in their mind that this is the way God desires to be
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worshiped and they do so with a clear conscience. And I think there are members of low church who are also men of integrity and of of um great biblical
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knowledge who are convinced in their own mind that no day is different from another. I'm going to explain why I am in that camp and not the other. Uh I could say
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that um you know I did grow up Catholic, but that's not exactly true. By the time I came along, number five out of six, uh my parents had joined the Church of
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American Hedenism that met in suburbia at the country club at the bridge tournaments and the golf matches. Okay. So I never got through catechism because
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I did not get along with the nuns. They have no sense of humor and I was in trouble all the time. I was already in purgatory. So I was never confirmed. Okay. So I got a long time waiting for
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me. All right. Um in fact I won't even get there according to that that doctrine. So I I can't say that I I have one thing I can say is that I I have no inherent prejudice
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inherent prejudice against highurch liturgy. because I do like a degree of formalism. Okay, I wear suit coats. Okay, I I do
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like a degree of stability and order. I really I really do. It it has to do with my interpretation of the purpose of the holy convocations.
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holy convocations. And like many other things that we read in the Old Testament that once that purpose has been realized in Christ then maybe those days become adapor
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but they absolutely do not become necessary. You you may circumcise that is not a sin. But if you circumcise because you believe that that somehow makes you more
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acceptable to God that's a sin. And if you encourage or even require others to do so, that's even worse than a sin. That's an offense.
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So yes, let every man be convinced in his own mind, but be convinced by scripture. Not by feeling, not by reputation, not by tradition, but by scripture.
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And you may end up still high church. Okay? But at least you'll be able to say this is why from scripture I am high church. Um anti-right is an Anglican
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bishop. You don't get much higher in Protestant denominations than an Anglican bishop. Okay. And so, yes, he's very high church and he talks a lot about the the the calendar and and I
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hope to be able to explain why I think that that appeals to to evangelicals, especially in a world that is um almost hopelessly frenetic and disordered.
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People are looking for some semblance of order and as I said, cadence. I think that's the word. It's not original to me. I read it in I think it's um uh the
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the book on worship in reverence and all. I think th those two authors are the first place that I heard the Sabbath referred to as cadence. Now you all know what cadence is. It's the marching beat,
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right? Or the rowing beat if it's you know if you're watching Ben her um ramming speed. Uh that would be one of these festivals ramming speed. Otherwise
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you just had the Sabbath. Um, so the cadence and I think there's a incredible value to the concept of cadence. I think as human beings we we're intended to
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have a a pattern of life. We already have it biologically and we still have it um what is it? Seasonally climatically you know we
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still have that cadence um and and I think that's an important factor of our life. We have the we have the cadence of of childhood and we call it now adolescence and then young adulthood,
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adulthood and then elderly. You know, we have a cadence. Um and I and I think that's what we see in especially the weekly Sabbath. The weekly Sabbath is
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that beat by which the nation lived and by which the nation marched. Okay. So if I'm I'm going to kind of give away a part of the punchline for the whole
38:16
class, but in a sense, Israel was keeping in step with the spirit by observing the cadence of the holy
38:28
convocations. Okay? And those holy convocations were regular. It wasn't when them when the spirit came over them or when the mood hit them, they were required to attend
38:39
these three annual feasts. they were required to observe the weekly Sabbath. Okay. So, so these were these were uh not just civic requirements.
38:50
These were cultic requirements and and so again it's the cadence of their life. So talk about high church.
39:09
characteristics um that that are generally agreed to be um markers of of a high church. Uh let me see if I can find one one good um
39:21
here it is. Um the high church practices and Whoops. High church practices and
39:31
doctrines include especially formal liturgy, clerical hierarchy, especially the belief in apostolic succession and sacramentalism.
39:45
Other traditional elements of highurch worship include clerical vestments, a church calendar, creeds, incense, and specific rigorous clerical training. In
39:58
some we may define the high church doctrines and practices as those that were solidified in LA late antiquity and which can according to Lutherans and
40:08
highurch Anglicans be consistent with scripture or even grounded in it. So highurch representative or advocates
40:19
often especially on evangelical side often try to maintain that from scripture. Um, and where they typically go is Leviticus 23.
40:33
I think that's problematic. Um, because they're going to uh an old covenant paradigm covenant paradigm that stands along all of the other old
40:44
covenant paradigms, including the sacrifices and the dietary laws and circumcision. things that we we know have been
40:54
fulfilled and even highurch advocates do not maintain. not maintain. Okay. So in a sense they have selected one part of the tabernacle system or the
41:07
temple system and have rejected all the others. So I I think that that's problematic. Okay. Well, liturgy now
41:19
that's a slippery word. Okay. Every church except a charismatic church has a lit liturgy and the charismatic church has a Greek word chaos.
41:38
yeah um like brother you need liturgy and lay lay hands on them and give them liturgy. Um liturgy is just order of service. We have a liturgy here. Okay. We we we have an invocation. We sing two hymns. We have a corporate reading of
41:50
scripture and then we usually sing a psalm and then a song or a hymn and then we have corporate prayer and then we have one last hymn and then we have a sermon. That's a liturgy.
42:02
So um most churches high and low have a liturgy. It's just what they do week after week. So I I think that word is rather sli slippery but then again I
42:13
think we kind of understand what's meant by it in the terms of the highurch liturgy is there's a there's an element of formalism
42:24
of formalism and u an element of of um sensory experience sensory experience that is lacking in the low church. So I
42:34
I want to define this term. It it's it's formal and sensory.
42:47
Okay, that make sense? All right. Um this is often justified as being reverent being reverent and solemn in the presence of God. Okay.
42:59
When I hear that, I think of the of the narrative of of David when he was bringing the ark into the city wearing only an effort. Whichever part that covers, I don't know. I'm not into
43:10
Jewish fashion. Jewish fashion. But apparently, it wasn't much. Okay. And what was he doing? He was dancing. Now, I'm certainly not saying that that
43:21
was normative and that we should all enter the church wearing ephids and dancing, but I'm saying that that was acceptable worship and God rendered his
43:33
impromaturur by rendering David's wife Mkhal impotent or or uh sterile because she made fun of David and she ridiculed David and he said, "I will be I'll be
43:45
twice the fool before my lord." So I I think there's a there's a presupposition presuppositional error and that presuppositional error is that God our
43:56
father wants us to enter into his presence quietly and solemnly like Gayorg von trap. Okay. I don't think there's any biblical foundation for that
44:06
to begin with. Okay. So that that's to say that the formalism is actually I would rather they just admit I prefer it. Okay. Okay. I prefer it and frankly
44:18
I do prefer personally some degree of formalism. I find that much more uh for mentally
44:30
orienting than chaos than mayhem than mayhem than than than constant chatter and and noise. And and I don't do well with
44:41
noise. I'll I'll admit that. So, I can admit personally I I I like that. But it's a personal thing and I I think that's what it comes down to is that we we probably need to stop trying to
44:53
biblically justify some of these things because we have no ground to stand on. The ground falls out from under our feet when we look at scripture. When you look at the Psalms and we're told, you know,
45:04
you're to enter his courts with thanksgiving and into his presence with joy and and you're supposed to use the the symbol and the liar, you know, and the trumpet and and all manner of
45:16
musical instruments. This is this is almost cacophinous, but it's it's not solemn. Okay. It's not formal. And and so it's I would wish that people would
45:27
just admit that's what I prefer. Okay, fine. I don't think there's anything necessarily condemning it. I think what is to be condemned is when we sanctify our own hol holy convocations and that's
45:40
where we're heading. These were ordained by God. by God. And that which is ordained by God was to be obeyed. And if not obeyed, the people were cut off from among the people. For
45:51
man to sanctify and to ordain any such day and make it mandatory is a will worship and it has the appearance of godliness
46:02
but it denies its power and it is powerless against the sins of the flesh. So I think for one thing whether you're high church or low church you you need probably to leave out any attempt at
46:14
exoggetical justification for your position and just admit I I really prefer seeing the preacher in a robe. You know I prefer clerical vestments which is another feature. Um,
46:27
clerical hierarchy is is definitely
46:38
and also vestments, clothing, special clothing. We talked about that in the first half of Leviticus when we talked about the priestly garments. And they did indeed have vestments and the high priest, but they were not allowed
46:49
to wear those vestments outside the tabernacle. And again from that the church has embied vestments where the the minister is dressed
47:00
differently from everyone else. Okay, but again we need to think about that. What was the priest doing? He was the mediator of the blood between
47:12
Israel and their God. Is that what the preacher is today? No. And so he has no business wearing the
47:24
clothing of a mediator.
47:35
Sure. Absolutely. It gives me chance to drink my tea while it's still warm.
47:52
Is that the same the same sacrifice they would say? would say? No, they call it bloodless. Yes. Yeah, I know. It's a bloodless sacrifice of Christ. Now, at this point, you're particularly Roman Catholic, not Anglican or Lutheran.
48:02
Yeah. Okay. Um so, at this point, you're talking from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church. Um and they need to to uh to study um the word that means once for all.
48:14
Okay? Again, they have no scriptural basis to repeat the sacrifice that was once given for all. They bas they need to spend a lot of time in Hebrews. Okay.
48:40
They see it as a sacrifice but not well that would be the Anglicans and the Lutherans. Yes. Lutherans. Yes. Or the Orthodox. Um yeah, I'm not Yeah, I True. Very true. Good point. I I often I'm sorry. I often leave out the Orthodox. I do. I I
48:51
I'm sorry. They're there. I know they're out there, but they I I do leave them out because they they they have very they have very little contributo
49:02
um impact on Western Christianity. Um but you're absolutely right. They they're there. They have the same now that that gets into the doctrine of what
49:13
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is. Uh there are also points of agreement. I happen to think that the Lord's supper and the Lord's day are the only two
49:24
places where the the word curios which is the possessive of curios. It's the only two places in the New Testament where they're used. The Lord's supper and the Lord's day. Frankly, I think
49:35
that's the Christian calendar right there. Okay. Now in terms of uh of the mediation, I I I think the burden of proof is on
49:50
the sacrificial the defendant of the sacrificial view of communion because I think you first you begin with Jesus on the cross saying it is
50:01
finished. You you then go to uh you can go to Hebrews where Christ entered once for all. He he he gave up his life once for all. He entered into the to the
50:12
tabernacle not made with hands. Okay. Um and that has cle the cleansed the conscience. So um to to offer up Christ again is to
50:24
trample his blood under your feet. Uh Hebrews 6. Okay. Uh you don't keep doing what's now done. That would be my argument. I have a whole lot longer one.
50:36
But the the um the argument in terms of vestments is that whatever you call the ministers in your denomination, they are not mediators.
50:48
not mediators. There is one mediator between God and man, Jesus the righteous. Okay? Right? So we now have direct access through the veil to come before the throne of mercy
50:58
and grace as children. So there's no room in Christianity for a mediator and therefore there's no room for anyone to dress like one or to dress
51:11
in a manner that separates them. That was the whole idea of vestments. They were only they did not walk down the boulevard in their priestly robes. Okay.
51:21
Now and so um that may be one of the reasons why Jesus condemned the Pharisees with their tassels and their robes. These were these were um vestments that set them apart as
51:33
mediators between Israel and God. And they stood their ground in the tabernacle between the people and the people's God. That whole layer was
51:46
fulfilled, subsumed, fulfilled, and glorified in the one mediator, Jesus Christ. So I don't see any I in fact I think it's offensive because it's
51:58
assuming a role that has been completed a role that belongs eternally now to Jesus Christ and I'm not a little Christ when I get up to preach. You know I'm
52:10
not a mediator. Okay? So I don't think there's any uh any reason for this because you have to look at where these things came from biblically. Just like the dietary laws, just like the
52:21
sacrifices, you have to look at what was their purpose their purpose in the old covenant in the tabernacle. And you I think you can only continue them if they have not been subsumed and
52:35
completed in Christ. In my opinion, these have all been subsumed and completed in Christ and therefore they they have no bearing. But even further
52:46
than that and and we and we actually in the reformed tradition share this with many modern Jews and that is the regulative principle.
52:57
regulative principle. There are there are Jews today who will not celebrate Purim or Hanukkah because they're not in scripture. Okay. They they have a regulative principle too.
53:08
It's not prescribed. Therefore it is prescribed. Okay. So, if we're going to be celebrating any holy convocations, we only have two given to us as far as
53:19
we can tell. They're not set out as holy convocations in so many words in the New Testament, but we have the Lord's supper. Whenever you do this, do this in remembrance of me. So, it's it's like in
53:31
a sense the Passover. I think it's more like uh the peace offering, but it looks back to what Christ has done, and it even looks forward to his return. We proclaim the Lord's death until he
53:42
comes. And then the Lord's day when in the tradition of scripture, believers gathered together to hear the apostles teaching. And we know that they also offered up prayers and praises and um
53:55
alms and they took care of one another. And so this was a cadence of their life with as far as we can tell in the first couple centuries of the church, nothing
54:07
else was added. What we have now was added much later and has been added much later. So these are not holy convocations that passed
54:19
the muster of the regulative principle. Only the high priest had no all the priests. Yeah. What the high priest had was he had the breastplate and the linen effid
54:31
and the yurim and tumim. But all the ironic priests had vestments. Yeah. Leviticus. No. No, no. All All of the ironic priests had vestment. They had specific
54:44
clothing, linen, linen clothing that they were to wear in the tabernacle. Okay? Not the le not the Levites. Okay? They they wore their Levvis, you
54:54
know, the Levites just they they wore their jeans, okay? But the priests did have but the high priest was set apart even more with the breastplate and the turban holy to the
55:05
Lord and the the yurim and thumim that was his uh get up. But the others also had their specific um clothing and and whenever someone was
55:17
charged with taking something out of the tabernacle to dispose of, they were to take off their clothes before they left the tabernacle and put on basically their street clothes.
55:27
the argument
55:39
of respect for Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was Calvin's argument when u who was it in England? Uh he didn't want to he was getting in trouble with the queen because um he
55:51
didn't want to wear vestments. Um do you remember Tim? No, it wasn't Cranmer. No, I think it was a Steven something. Um, yeah. Uh, H uh Hooper. Hooper. It was
56:04
Hooper. And Calvin wrote to him and said, "Just wear them, buddy. Wear them." You know, and and yes, it like you made it this far. Don't throw the you know um
56:16
but it doesn't seem like there's any real way of getting that priest. Oh no. Oh no. No no no they they they wore robes
56:27
because of their duty because of their position not because of a terms of respect. Um they in fact were supposed to show respect for Yahweh. There's actually nothing said about the people
56:38
showing respect for the priests except that they were to kept them keep them fed, you know, and bring the, you know, it wasn't that they were to disrespect the priests. Um, the idea that that the that the minister is to be respected,
56:49
that's where we get titles like reverend. Uh, that's not that's not biblical. Okay. Uh, Peter calls himself a fellow elder and and Paul Paul rarely
57:00
uh pulled punches about his apostilhip only when he had to defend it. Okay. But um he he you know I think it's very very dangerous ground when a a class of
57:11
Christians are demanding a certain level of respect. That respect comes from their teaching and from their lives. But that's the same for all believers. You know our mutual respect for one another
57:22
is based on our our progressive maturity in the word and in the Holy Spirit. So absolutely I've I've heard that argument especially since um I I was trained um
57:32
in in two Presbyterian institutions and when we talk about high church low church there's a cusp okay and that cusp are Presbyterians high church wannabes
57:44
okay um and you got if you got the Presbyterian church you got vestments you've got clerical hierarchy right what you don't usually have is a calendar a lurggical calendar for a calendar
57:58
of holy days. church. Um, which really is is kind of just the
58:10
opposite of this, but and we've already mentioned uh you know these high church certainly Roman Catholic,
58:27
or the American flavor Episcopalian um Lutheran
58:43
Okay. Right. They don't need me. Um I'm Italian, not Greek. Okay. All right. Uh Lutheran
58:54
and that's really in kind of descending order. And I I think the sasserodalism is what's descending and that is generally oriented around the Lord's supper and their their meaning of it.
59:05
The mass or the eukarist um you okay low
59:17
uh is essentially in all things the opposite. Uh it is much more informal. It is less rigid. There is less clerical hierarchy
59:29
though that actually is a spectrum. Um I I mentioned the Presbyterians
59:44
they they kind of you know move toward high church and different Presbyterians churches will be you you'll go in and and you'll feel the difference. Some are much more informal like um Evangelical Presbyterian
59:56
churches, the EPC. The seminary I attended thought the EPC were like just flatout charismatics. flatout charismatics. Okay. They're as charismatic as an accountant. Okay.
1:00:09
accountant. Okay. No, but compared to, you know, the PCA, these are flaming hair. I mean, they're speaking in tongues or something. That's the way it sounded to me. I had to look it up. What what are the EPC? And then,
1:00:20
no, they're they're not. They're just not as high church. And and I think that the the the greatest charismatic thing they do, the wildest thing they do is that their preacher wears a suit and tie
1:00:31
and not a robe. Okay. But then it goes to Baptists. But of course, um Baptists are all over the place,
1:00:42
right? And and then you've got the Antipaptist derivatives like the like the Hutterites or the Menanites or the United Brethren. Um and and so uh
1:00:55
all the way down at that end, you you'll have congregations that do not believe in anyone preparing a sermon and do not have a stated ministry.
1:01:05
the men of the congregation as they feel led will give a homaly on any given Sunday. Okay? So that's kind of the the spectrum of of on the one hand you have
1:01:17
the acolytes and the incense and everything is ordered and and on the other hand it's just whoever stands up. So the the Christianity spans the the whole spectrum in terms of of things
1:01:29
like liturgy and formality, clerical hierarchy. Some churches don't even have clergy at all. Um, and then of course in the Anabaptists, you you're not you have
1:01:40
no calendar. All days are the same. And and even and even popular Christian holidays like Christmas are considered
1:01:51
uh anathema. So and and that's come and gone in in different eras of the church. So you have the high church, you have the low church and and again I think
1:02:02
what Paul says, you know, let every man be convinced in his own mind. All right. So what what I want to talk about then as we as we kind of bring this to a
1:02:13
close is the idea again of sacred time.
1:02:30
right? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And it's like you can No, no, he's not condemning the man who's holding the day as special. And he's not condemning the man who eats or doesn't eat or drinks or doesn't drink.
1:02:41
I think that's that's a very key principle in Romans 14 that there's no condemnation. However, it does seem that by association
1:02:53
those who are he is making a distinction between the weak and the strong and by implication
1:03:03
he's encouraging strength not weakness.
1:03:16
building. Oh, well, you know, how can two Yeah, get your own building. Yeah, I mean
1:03:31
Well, I I think there is the the passage, how can two walk together lest they be agreed? I think that's a proverb. Uh, and I I would think it would be rather odd if um, you know, if Mark got up in a clerical robe, you
1:03:41
know, and I got up in my bathrobe, you know, uh, know, uh, I I think there there has to be and there always has been there there has to
1:03:51
be general agreement in in your own mind. Um, mind. Um, I would just like my mind and I don't
1:04:06
in my mind it's like okay know you are that in my mind when I see a church that has different worship services.
1:04:18
Yeah. Different groups that operate together in the same building that distinct church being next door. Yeah. I think you have basically three churches in one building then. Yeah. Is that what you mean about getting your
1:04:29
own building? Yeah. Yeah. Get your own building. you you know that's not um the idea and normally that the multiple services have to do with the style of music
1:04:39
u not although um I do know that at a church my sister and brother-in-law attended the associate pastor was was very he he was was Presbyterian but he was very high church and um he actually
1:04:53
they ended up planting a church so that he could go be high church you go be high church over there and and so he was happily high church And you know, so um
1:05:04
I I I do think there's some there's some degree of truth, especially since liturgy and vestments and calendars
1:05:15
are they are they are matters indifferent, but they're not matters insignificant. And I if they continue in the same
1:05:27
congregation, I can't see how they won't cause friction. earlier about
1:05:50
I it it can't yeah it it can be I don't think it necessarily leads to that. I think where it where it comes to the point of get your own building is when it does um
1:06:04
impact the leadership of the church. So over the years and and maybe even now you know we we've had people who just absolutely feel like observing Christmas
1:06:16
is anathema. is anathema. That's fine. Um, generally our relationship was you you are free to not celebrate Christmas and I'm free to celebrate it. It wasn't um
1:06:28
and and and it it didn't come down and and if you weren't you know if you weren't willing to accept believers who did then normally they left. Okay. So I
1:06:38
think within the congregation you know you might some might prefer that that Mark and I wear clerical robes. Others might wish we didn't even
1:06:49
wear a suit coat. You know, there are some people who would rather we wore shorts and a flip-flops which no one has ever seen me in. And if you have, I will find the photos and burn them.
1:07:01
Okay. Um but we, you know, we have, as I said earlier, we have that which makes us most comfortable, but we sacrifice that for the harmony of the fellowship.
1:07:12
And and there's that's a lot of Romans 14. But I think if it gets into the leadership then yeah you need to plant a church and go be high church over there. I I think that there are points that's
1:07:22
where that's where the passage how can two walk together lest they be agreed is when when it's in the eldership when when there's a different um uh
1:07:34
many years ago uh Fellowship Bible Church came um alongside a church that was meeting down at the the Mills Mills Mill um and they had three elders and um
1:07:48
one of them was a Presbyterian, one of them was a Baptist And one of them was a black Tony Campolo who was like I don't know if you remember who Tony Campolo was but he was a hyper social activist
1:07:58
Christian. Okay. In other words and the analogy I used after I first met with them and we got went back with our elders and we were talking. I said it's a rowboat with three rowers.
1:08:09
One going this way, one going this way and one in the back going this way. That didn't work. Okay. It wasn't long until the whole thing disbanded. So I do
1:08:22
think you have to have unity of purpose and and of practice within the leadership. And then when you when you're attending a church that has that
1:08:32
in place, then you you have to decide whether you know the things with which you disagree are such that you can lay that aside and still worship. Okay. So
1:08:43
that's a very good point. Um, and we really don't, you know, when we're in a when we're in a low church environment, that's pretty much the type of people that we attract. We don't we don't see u
1:08:54
Anglicans flocking to our door, you know. Um, and and and I think really in our day and age, movement is in the other direction other direction because um this is this is a a feature
1:09:09
of life of life that that we've lost in our culture. the atomizing of the family through the u middle of the 20th century
1:09:22
where the children went off to college and then they they left the the nuclear home and and went off to some other city and started their own family and um and
1:09:33
then we had the automobile so we could travel to visit. But the the idea of the village was pretty much blown away. It was gone. was gone. With that came the cadence of village
1:09:45
life. Now this started even earlier on the process of urbanization. With the industrial revolution came the big cities and the factories and
1:09:56
immigration and people migrating from the farms to the city. And the cities don't really have an environment in which you can set up a a cadence of
1:10:08
life. It's it's even more frenetic than uh than average life is in the 21st century. One of the reasons why Catholicism, orthodoxy, especially those
1:10:19
two, one of the reasons why they are attracting many evangelical Protestants is because they're looking for that cadence. They're they're looking for that order
1:10:29
in life that is no longer fulfilled, for example, by the evening meal in the home. Okay. Many families don't sit down at
1:10:40
the same table at the same time to eat their meals because everybody's on a different schedule. Okay. So, we've we've lost something that I think from the very beginning, even before the
1:10:50
fall, was integrated into our hard wiring and that is the cadence of the
1:11:21
But I think what he really meant was he he likes the orderliness of a rigid institutional church. That makes him feel comfortable. Um it's it's it's something that is lacking in almost
1:11:33
everybody's lives. everybody's lives. And if it's lacking in your religious life, then it it's felt very deeply. Okay? If you have some form of cadence
1:11:44
in your life before God, then you're better able to handle the stress of the frenetic world in which you live. I I think that's why the Lord's day and the
1:11:55
Lord's supper are so vitally important is because they provide us with that u with that cadence. And there's a a quote um and I believe the author. Yeah, it's
1:12:05
um Eleazar Schvide. So it's Jewish um very Jewish. Let's see. But I really liked what he said about the the the
1:12:16
weekly Sabbath. weekly Sabbath. He said,
1:12:28
see if I can write down the right page. 147.
1:12:39
I'm sorry. Here it is. Before the impact of one Sabbath waines, the impression of the next Sabbath rises. I really like that.
1:12:49
You know, it it was soon enough that the the memory of the past Sabbath would did not fade before the thought of the next one came, was rising. I think
1:13:02
that's how we should look at the Lord's day. I really do. I I think that, you know, that the the first half of the week is is is taking with you the the
1:13:12
the food, the nourishment, and the fellowship of the Lord's day. And then the last half of the week is anticipation of the next. And I I firmly believe that that that um
1:13:25
sat that that that cadence has impacted my life for the last 40 years in a way that uh without it uh I think the
1:13:37
stresses would have been much more difficult to overcome uh and and would have been more lasting and more damaging. So I do think it's it's very important to have this and this is why I can I can understand
1:13:50
why people want to go with the high church liturgy and especially the calendar is because it it does provide um a cadence to the year that I think we
1:14:02
are in God's image again before the fall God gave us the example of resting on the seventh day. know he didn't command it but because the emitatio dei is the
1:14:14
fundamental form of true worship the imitation of God I have no doubt that he intended without even having to say it that Adam would follow the pattern he
1:14:25
didn't have to establish it because man had not yet corrupted himself in sin and rebellion with his people however you know if you look at the fourth commandment it
1:14:36
doesn't really fit the others It's not of the same genre as of the first ones that have to do with the dignity of God himself or of the last
1:14:46
five which have to do with the interpersonal relationships among the people. It just kind of stands out there. You shall honor the Sabbath because I think that fundamentally that's what ties the two together, the
1:14:59
vertical and the horizontal is that cadence of the Sabbath. Okay? Now, we're going to learn in the next chapter that the land had its own cadence and it was to be observed as well. But
1:15:11
what we're talking about with the holy convocations is is you've got this beat. Okay? And and I I was being facitious. How many of you have seen Ben her, you
1:15:22
know, when when the when they're practicing, you know, speed and it's the drummer, you know, ramming speed. Okay. I I think there's some truth to that. There are times in our our yearly life
1:15:34
and this is on a yearly cycle. There are times when we pick up the pace and that time may be you know for the Scottish Presbyterians that time was communion season. Okay, that was ramming
1:15:47
speed for two weeks. Um for us it might be uh the Lord's supper and the fellowship lunchon once a month. You know it's it's a it's like a high
1:15:57
Sabbath. Okay. But it underlying all that is the and I just think that is so incredibly important to to humanity to have that
1:16:10
regular cadence of the Lord's day. The Lord's day. The Lord's day. But for those who who need um for th for those who need
1:16:27
more, I don't begrudge them that. I just don't think they should sanctify it. I don't sanctify Christmas, but Christmas is absolutely part of my annual cadence. It begins the day after
1:16:42
Thanksgiving when I get the Dickens Village out. Okay. I mean, it's a very special time in my life, but I don't believe for a moment Jesus was born on the 25th of December, and I know full well where it
1:16:54
came from. It was an incorporation of Saturnelia. But frankly, I don't mind celebrating the winter solstice and the longer days that follow. I mean, that's like that's God's creation. Okay? It
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doesn't make me a pagan to be excited that the days are getting longer again. Okay? I understand that. But um but what what what what I can't do is somehow say that this is a a necessary religious
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festival and I don't think we should sacriize July 4th for example. You know it's a national holiday just like the the
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Israeli uh remembrance of of the Holocaust or of their independence day is a national holiday but so is Purim and so is Hanukkah. Those are national
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holidays. are not biblical ones. So I am enough of an adherent to the regulative principle. Not so much to say if the God has said is not said to do it then don't do it. I would say no rather
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do it but don't do it in his name. Don't do it as if he's commanded you to do it. And don't do it as if the church is supposed to do it. Do it because you want to do it. And whatever it means to
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you before God, then give thanks to God for it. That's Romans 14. Okay. And and there's no condemnation there if you're convinced in your mind that it is you
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are doing it with thanksgiving to God.
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We celebrate Thanksgiving on the same national holiday.
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Yeah, we have I mean we have Mother's Day and we have Father's Day and um we have we actually have grandparents day folks. I mean I think it's in September. I don't have it marked on my calendar, but um
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but um I I I I see the rationale of holy holy days, holidays, and I think it's part of human nature
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to have those days. I don't I think to say you can't like the Puritans did in uh 17th century England to say that these things are against the law or in colonial New England, these things are
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against the law. I think that's that's silly. there. Romans 14 says they're not against the law. Okay? But if they become part of your cult, of your
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religious worship, and they have not been prescribed by God or they're they're an attempt as as is done by some to resurrect these old covenant
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tabernacle oriented harvest festivals, no, that's going too far. that's going beyond what is written and it's placing upon other people's conscience a burden
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that even these folks couldn't bear. So I I don't think you draw the line between yes or no. I think it is a matter of personal conviction. But I think the conviction needs to come from
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a thorough understanding first of all of what these things meant. Secondly that they were ordained by God. They were not simply harvest festivals. They were
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elevated to the level of remembrance and prophetic hope because of what Yahweh had done for Israel. So they were given a completely different um aspect than
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what they would have had in the pag in the pagan nations. But I don't think there was anything condemning about what the pagans were were celebrating. And I don't think the the Jews were condemned
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if they if they had any other festivals that weren't prescribed as holy convocations. However, and close with this, a warning.
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We have in the prophets, especially Isaiah 1, Isaiah 1, a a list of what the Jews were doing on a regular basis that were not holy
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convocations like the new moon festival. They were basically celebrating the new moon every month. Every month they had a party. That's not a holy convocation, but they were doing it for Yahweh. And
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Yahweh said, "I'm sick of it. I I your your new moon festivals and your Sabbaths, they I abhore them. They make me want to throw up in my mouth." That's the Hebrew.
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the Hebrew. Okay. He he condemns them not only for for those things that were not commanded but even for the way they were doing the things that were because they were wicked and disobedient
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and their hands were covered in blood. So the the point being is that if you're disobedient then it doesn't matter. You can't hide that with your vestments. Okay? Or with your informality.
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you know, your chummy daddy god stuff, you know, is not fooling God if your if your heart is full of dead men's bones. So neither neither high church nor low
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church will sanctify wickedness and disobedience. But for those who with prayer and thanksgiving celebrate a day or they don't celebrate a day, it is acceptable
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before God. So again, you can't condemn it. You can't say, "Oh, don't do it." And there are those who are fully convinced that it is the right thing to do and those who are fully convinced
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it's the wrong thing to do. The question comes down to each one of us and that is have we searched the scriptures? By what is our conscience convinced?
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And I think we all have to admit that our conscience can be convinced by arguments that are subbiblical by traditions and even just by feeling
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and comfort level. We also ask
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of sacrifice. A lot of those things are mixed up with the notion that there is something there isn't anything.
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In fact, many of those things seem to relieve the the congregant of responsibility to discern
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to discern less than less than the work it takes to sus these things out. But the nature of our sacrifice to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice and if our sacrifice
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that's got to inform how we treat I I I think it does I'm going to use the example of Lent.
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Now I understand what the reasoning behind Lent although it is very much oriented towards works but there's something wrong when Ash
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Wednesday has to be preceded by Marty Does that not bother anybody that Ash Wednesday has to be pre preceded by Fat
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Tuesday? that that your solemn observance of self-denial is preceded by want and bakanalianism. Okay, you ain't in the right place.
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Okay, the whole thing is wrong the way you're doing it. That is not to say that there haven't been those who have done it and given thanks to God. All right?
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And you and you'll read of them in some of the more devotional and pyotistic mid mid um medieval writers. Um you know this this this self-denial was one of of appreciation and thanksgiving. But not
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today. Not the whole thing is just nothing but empty ritual in most cases in most and and maybe that's what kind of turns me away. I would say between
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the two of them, between the high church and the low church, without a shadow of doubt in my mind that the hypocrite can hide a whole lot
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better in plain sight in the high church than he can in the low. So, I'll leave it at that. Let's close in prayer. Father, we do thank you for your word
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and thank you that you have given us the the holy convocations, but even more so that that you have helped us to understand what they what they mean, what they meant, and and most of all
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that we're able to see that in Jesus Christ, the the fullness of Israel. He is the fullness of the feasts. He's the fullness of the sacrifice in the tabernacle itself.
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tabernacle itself. He is our priest. He is our mediator. and he is our only way to you. So we give you thanks and praise for sending
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your beloved son our lord and for his sacrifice and his blood by which we may now cry out aba father and come into your presence each and every one of us
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through Jesus Christ in whose name we