A
FEAST UNTO THE LORD
(All Bible verses are
from NIV, if not otherwise mentioned.)
Exodus 5:1-3
1 Afterward
Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.
2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I
should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will
not let Israel go.”
3 Then
they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day
journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices
to the Lord our God, or
he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
Exodus 7:16
– Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of
the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now
you have not listened.
Exodus 10:8,9
8 Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to
Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me
who will be going.”
9 Moses answered, “We will go with our young
and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds,
because we are to celebrate a festival
to the Lord.”
Worship
Is Festival
God uses the words
‘festival’ and ‘worship’ interchangeably not to confuse or bluff Pharaoh.
For God, real worship
is always a festival.
In ancient times, and even in
these times, there were many notable occasions for conducting a festival.
Many ancient civilizations have
disappeared because of three plausible reasons.
1. Famine
2. Infectious
disease
3. War
So they conducted festival to
their gods to give thanks to:
1. Victorious
harvest
2. Victory
from infectious diseases.
3. Victory
over enemies
1.
Victorious harvest
It is celebrated before or after a good harvest.
Man may work hard and
long for a good harvest.
But a good harvest
needs good climate also
Good harvest needs
proper rain and sunshine.
Man cannot manipulate
nature.
So it considered to
be god’s part to give a good harvest.
Without a good
harvest, people could not survive for another year.
Many civilizations
have disappeared because of famine.
Festival for a good
harvest is a festival of victory.
2.
Victory over infectious
diseases.
It is where once
again man fails and cries for divine intervention.
3.
Victory over enemies
Kings ruled by the
support of gods
Kings were appointed
representatives of gods
Each country had its
own patron god.
Wars were fought
between gods of two or more nations.
Victory is the
victory of gods of the nation.
So special festivals
were held.
Worship is always a celebration of Joy
All
festivals were held to worship the victorious god.
Israelites were called
to worship their true and living victorious God.
Hence worship is
festival.
Exodus
32:17
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people
shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
18 Moses replied: “It is not the sound of
victory, it is not the sound of
defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
Psalms
118:15, 16
15 Shouts
of joy and victory resound in the tents of
the righteous: “The Lord’s right
hand has done mighty things!
16 The Lord’s right
hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right
hand has done mighty things!”
The worship of Israelites just after they crossed the
Red Sea was a shout of victory and Joy
Exodus
15:1- 4
1 Then
Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will
sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and
driver he has hurled into the sea.
2 “The Lord is my
strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my
father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.
4
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
Exodus
15:21
21 Miriam
sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and
driver he has hurled into the sea.”
2
Corinthians 2:14 - But thanks
be to God, who always leads us as captives in
Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of
the knowledge of him everywhere. (NIV)
2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks
be to God, who always leads us in triumph in
Christ, and through us spreads and makes evident
everywhere the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him. (Amplified Bible
-AMP)
2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (KJV)
Why
should they conduct a festival?
Because they are
victors.
Their God has
delivered them from Pharaoh and his gods.
They could not
deliver themselves from the shackles of slavery.
So their God
intervened for them and delivered them from the slavery.
The victory of the
king is the victory of the nation.
The victory of the
king is the victory of the citizens.
Colossians 2:13-15
13 When
you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
14 having
canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and
condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
15 And having disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the
cross. (NIV)
Who
should celebrate a festival?
Only
those are victorious.
We are delivered from
the kingdom of Satan.
In Colossians
1:13, Paul teaches that redemption amounts to an exchange of rulers over our lives, stating that
God has delivered us believers
Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from
the dominion of darkness and
brought us into the kingdom of the Son he
loves, (NIV)
Why
in the Desert
Separation from Egypt
1.
No Worship in Egypt
2.
Worshiping Jehovah is different
from the idol worship of Egyptians
3.
Israelites should not take any
religious ceremony from Egypt
4.
So God wanted them to be separate
from Egypt
5.
Worship started only after
Israelites crossed the sea – only in the desert
Exodus
8:25-27
25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said,
“Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”
26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The
sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to
the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes,
will they not stone us?
27 We must take a
three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the
Lord our God, as
he commands us.”
Joshua
24:14-16
14 “Now fear the Lord and serve
him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods
your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt,
and serve the Lord.
15 But if serving the Lord seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your ancestors served beyond
the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to
forsake the Lord to serve
other gods!
Worship
is meeting God
Mount Sinai is the place of Personal meeting with God
Exodus
3:12 And God said, “I will be
with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When
you have brought the people out of Egypt, you
will worship God on this mountain.”
On the fiftieth from the celebration of the Passover,
the glory of God appeared on the mount; in commemoration of which the Jews
celebrate the feast of Pentecost.
Exodus
19:3-8
3 Then Moses went up to God,
and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to
say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to
Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my
covenant, then out of all nations you will be
my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
6 you
will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are
the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of
the people and set before them all the words the Lord had
commanded him to speak.
8 The people all responded together, “We will
do everything the Lord has said.”
So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
Exodus
19:13 They are
to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person
or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long
blast may they approach the mountain.”
Exodus
19:9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so
that the people will hear me speaking with you
and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
Holy spirit can take you to Mount Sinai – the meeting
place of God
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