All right, you can turn to Deuteronomy chapter 16 as we return to the plains of Moab. Deuteronomy chapter 16, the book as a whole, the fifth book of the Pentateuch written by Moses under inspiration of the Holy Spirit is basically a series of exhortations given by Moses to the children of Israel to prepare them to enter into the promised land. He starts with a historical review, where they had been and what God had done for them in chapters 1 to 4. And then the longest section or the longest exhortation is that which we find ourselves in, the pursuit of covenantal loyalty vis-a-vis obedience.

That's chapters 5 to the end of chapter 28. There's a summary and conclusion that follows in chapters 29 and 30. And then it's followed by the succession of Joshua and ultimately the death of Moses. Chapter 16 is connected to two previous chapters that has gone before.

Chapter 15 stresses the communal life of Old Covenant Israel, and Chapter 16 carries that theme along with reference to the annual feasts of Israel. But as well, Chapter 12 emphasized the necessity of a central sanctuary and the necessity of obedience to God with reference to prescribed worship. And so you see that emphasis in each of the three feasts that are mentioned here in chapter 16. They are supposed to go where the Lord God had chosen.

We know ultimately that will be tabernacle, that will be temple, that will be the city of Jerusalem. So I'll read chapter 16 verses 1 to 17. Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God. For in the month of Abib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

Therefore, you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd in the place where the Lord chooses to put his name. you shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction. For you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrificed the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.

You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make his name abide. There you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.

Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it. You shall count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of the freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.

You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make his name abide. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.

Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the works of your hands so that you surely rejoice. Three times a year, all your mails shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses, at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given you. Amen.

Introduction to the Three Feasts

So as I said, the emphasis here is on those three feasts, those annual feasts that the children of Israel in the old covenant were called upon to obey. And they are calculated to promote memory, to promote a reminder of what God did in terms of the children of Israel. God not only delivered and redeemed them, but He also sustained them and provided for them. And each of these particular feasts indicates an aspect of that.

So

Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread

when we come first to the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread in verses 1 to 8, We notice the emphasis is on Passover, but the connection is both Passover and Unleavened Bread. So the two feasts are included. As used in these verses, Klein says the term Passover comprehends both the Passover and the following seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread. In fact, later in verse 16, it's referred to as the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So terms used synonymously referring to that one particular feast which commemorates in a very special way God's redemption of Israel out of the land of bondage. And the time frame is Abib, it's called Nisan, after the exile, corresponds to March and April on the modern calendar. In fact, if you look at these three feasts, you've got spring, summer, and fall feasts. So again, God shows by way of the calendar that he is to be in their thoughts all the time.

Remember when we went through the book of Leviticus, we saw various emphases upon dietary regulations and food laws. Everything that Israel put their hand to was to remind them of God, whether it be what they ate, whether it be what they observed, whether it be how they conducted themselves during the year. Now, there is parallel legislation to this. In other words, there are other passages that speak concerning the Passover and unleavened bread, primarily Exodus chapter 12, which we'll look at in just a moment.

But in terms of explanation, after the commandment in verse one, observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, he goes on then to explain the significance. From the month of Abib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Therefore, you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd in the place where the Lord chooses to put his name. You shall eat no leavened bread with it.

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. So note first, in terms of explanation, that sacrifice is for the Lord. It is to honor, to commemorate, to be a reminder of what God had done in redeeming them from that bondage they found themselves in the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God.

The sacrifice secondly recalls redemption. Notice in verse 1b. The Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. In fact, that's a recurring theme throughout the chapter, throughout the section.

Notice again in verse 3, two times, for you came out of the land of Egypt, you came out of the land of Egypt. Verse 6, you came out of Egypt. Verse 12, you are a slave in Egypt. So the emphasis is upon God's great power.

And where you learn of that is in the books previous to the book of Deuteronomy. We saw it in the book of Numbers. God miraculously delivers his people when they're in the wilderness. We saw it in the book of Exodus.

God miraculously delivers his people when they're in bondage in Egypt. So these feasts are calculated to promote the thought of God amongst the people of God. So that when we turn to the pages of the New Testament, it shouldn't surprise us that we find baptism in the Lord's Supper. Those particular things are calculated to promote in the people of God a reminder and a remembrance of God.

In fact, in terms of the supper, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Do this in remembrance of me. So God gives his physical creatures physical emblems or signs such to help them to remember the great works that he had done for them at the level of spirit, but as well at the level, in this case, of body. He redeemed them.

He brought them out. He sustained them. He provided for them. He kept them by his power and for his glory.

So the sacrifice is for the Lord. The sacrifice recalls redemption. And then just straying a little bit from this into Exodus chapter 12, you can turn there, the sacrifice was substitutionary in nature.

Substitutionary Nature of the Passover

The sacrifice was substitutionary in nature. If you're familiar with Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he speaks of Christ as our Passover. Certainly, the Passover functioned typically, it prefigured and foreshadowed what would come when the Lamb of God came, who gave Himself for our sins. Notice in Exodus 12 at verse 12, For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.

I am the Lord. Now notice then in verse 21 where the specific details are given in terms of the blood. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel in the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.

And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.

It will come to pass when you come to the land, which the Lord will give you, just as he promised that you shall keep this service. And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? That you shall say, it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. So the people bowed their heads in worship.

Then the children of Israel went away and did so, just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. So notice substitutionary atonement, kill this particular lamb and take the blood and splash it on the doorposts. When the angel of the Lord, that destroying angel comes around, he will see that blood and he will pass over that particular house. And it's very important for us to understand, with reference to this, the efficacy of the sacrifice was not connected to the moral worthiness of the one who offered the sacrifice.

In other words, let's say for a moment, using an illustration from D.A. Carson, that you had two men that lived in side-by-side houses at the time of the Passover. Let's call one John and one Bill. John believes every jot and tittle that comes from the mouth of God and says, I'm going to take this blood and I'm going to splash it upon the doorpost.

Bill believes, but he struggles. Bill has seen at times that what appears to be some incongruencies with reference to the way that Yahweh works, but nevertheless, he takes that blood and he splashes it upon the doorpost. What's the emphasis in the text? When the destroying angel sees that blood, he passes over.

You say, well, that's not fair to John. John had faith. Well, Bill had it, but it wasn't as strong as John. The efficacy of the sacrifice was not in the faith or faithfulness of John or Bill.

The efficacy of the sacrifice was in the provision of God Almighty in substitutionary atonement, which particular passage points forward to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When you look at the New Testament, it's not just that connection in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7, or John 1, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You've got 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19. But also you have the specific prohibition against breaking the legs of the animal in chapter 12 of Exodus in verse 46.

Same with Jesus. His legs were not broken when he was hung, which was customary at that particular time. As well, you were to eat this meal and remember specifically the fact of redemption by God's power and grace on that night of Passover. Well, the Lord's Supper, again, Luke chapter 22, Jesus inaugurates the Lord's Supper so that we can remember the glorious act of substitutionary atonement.

There are a multitude of connections between Exodus chapter 12 and the New Covenant, specifically the work of Jesus Christ as both priest and victim, as both offerer and the offered, as the one in whom alone there is forgiveness and cleansing from his precious blood. So the Passover sacrifice shows us, or the Passover act shows us, it's not the strength of the faithfulness of John or Bill, it's the strength and faithfulness of God Most High to save His people from their sins. Now I don't say that so that we can reject all faith, I say that so that we appreciate that in the Christian gospel it's not our hold ultimately on Christ, it's Christ's hold on us that is what matters. It is Christ who is the great high priest.

It is Christ who ever lives to make intercession for us. It is Christ we remember when we take that bread and when we take that cup and we eat and drink to remember what he has done on our behalf. He is our Passover sacrifice. Paul identifies in that ever so clearly in 1 Corinthians chapter five.

So

Central Sanctuary and Preventive Theology

back to Deuteronomy chapter 16, the sacrifice was substitutionary in nature, and then finally the sacrifice was offered at the central sanctuary. Verse 2b says, in the place where the Lord chooses to put his name. That same emphasis comes up in verses 6, 7, 11, 15, and 16. What's the point?

Preventative maintenance. What's the point? Preventative theology. What's the point?

Make sure that the people of God exercise fidelity with reference to the commandment of God relative to where they meet and how they meet, Deuteronomy 12, 32, do exactly what he says and it will hopefully keep them from going, a whoring from God and visiting the deity surrounding them. Preventative maintenance is seen in the central sanctuary and that's emphasized here in Deuteronomy 16. You're supposed to come to that sanctuary to observe the Feast of Passover, to observe the Feast of Weeks and to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. That was a good bit to hopefully prevent them from going after Canaanite deities and Canaanite religion when they would go into the Promised Land.

Now in terms of the manner, notice there's a prohibition against leaven. Now brethren, leaven isn't necessarily evil. In fact, in Leviticus chapter 7 and Leviticus chapter 23, in a context of sacrificial items offered up to God, leaven is called for. The emphasis in the text seems to be on haste.

Notice in verse three, you shall eat no leavened bread with it, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. When called upon to splash blood and make bread, they didn't have time to wait for the dough to rise. They had to make the bread, unleavened as it were, and eat it. And this would help them to recall and to be reminded again of that great day of Passover when the destroying angel passed over their habitations and destroyed the firstborn out of Egypt.

So you shall eat no unleavened bread with it. And then the duration, the seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread with it. Again, the leavening process took time. They were on a clock.

They had to move. And this subsequently, when they're observing it here on the plains of Moab or in the Promised Land, it would remind them. It would remind them peculiarly of that particular night when their forefathers didn't have a lot of time and they had to act in obedience to God and move. Notice in verse 4, no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrificed the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.

The emphasis again on the central sanctuary in verses 5 and 6, you may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you. Initially, that's precisely how they did it. It was a home bound ordinance. If the home was too small, then you joined with a neighbor.

But for the most part, you celebrated in your habitation. But again, a lot of this legislation connected to Deuteronomy chapter 12 is calculated to promote fidelity and unity and solidarity before the Most High. So this emphasis on central sanctuary is very important and carried all throughout this chapter with reference to the annual feasts. So the original Passover was celebrated by the family in the home.

The present application is regulated by chapter 12. In fact, look back to chapter 12 for just a moment. So after giving detailed legislation concerning that centralized worship, the chapter ends with what we today call the regulated principle of worship. Whatever I command you, verse 32, be careful to observe it.

You shall not add to it nor take away from it. In other words, the Israelites, the New Covenant Israelites, are not supposed to be creators. We're not supposed to be innovators. We're supposed to be obedient to God who has spoken to us through his word and prescribed for us what true worship looks like.

We come to God the way that God specifies. We come to God the way that God commands. And then the emphasis on timing. Notice in verses 6b and following.

But at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight at the going down of the sun at the time you came out of Egypt. And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. Six days you shall eat unleavened bread.

And on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it. So the first of the annual feasts in March-April would be this feast of Passover and unleavened bread.

Feast of Weeks

The second one is in verses 9-12. It's called the Feast of Weeks, but it's also referred to as the Feast of Harvest in Exodus 23 at verse 16. It's called the Day of Firstfruits in Numbers 28-26 and the Day of Pentecost on the Septuagint's reading of Leviticus 23, 15-26. The Day of Pentecost, remember that? in Acts chapter 2 is the day of Pentecost and all the nations were gathered together.

Peter rose up as the first among equals and he preached Christ and him crucified and resurrected the Jerusalem sinners on that day of Pentecost. So you shall count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a free will offering from your hand which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.

So again, Leviticus indicates that the festival took place seven weeks after the day following the presentation of the first sheaf at the Passover. So this would be the month of Sivan or corresponding to the modern calendar, May or June, May, June. Harman says the interval between Passover and harvest festivals was to allow the pilgrims to return home, complete harvest, and then come back to the central sanctuary again. And I think the emphasis of the text is pretty obvious.

Notice at the end of verse 10, or at verse 10, It's the idea.

Tribute, Joy, and Communal Participation

God's blessed you. You bring tribute to the God who has blessed you. God's provided for you. You part with some of that in a sacrificially giving way and present it unto the Lord.

The chapter before, in terms of tithes and offerings and things like that, yes, portions went to God. Portions went to the poor. Portions went to the Levi. And so the old covenant Israelite, based on God's redemption of him from bondage in Egypt, and his sustaining of him all throughout the wilderness, was to result reflexively in a cheerful giving spirit.

He was to have an attitude of reciprocity. God has blessed me, I will bless him. I will return to him a portion of what he has prospered me with. Notice as well, it's not just cheerful giving that's involved, but it's joy.

I think when we read sections of legislation like this, we say, you know, this is so far removed and so disconnected from anything that we're familiar with, it seems a bit of a religious drudgery. I'm sure it was a bit of a religious drudgery to the unsaved Israelite. It was a religious drudgery for those who had no faith in the living and true God, but for the remnant, for the blood bought, for the actual children of God, This is a time of joy, a time of feasting, a time of rejoicing. I mean, notice that Israel's calendar is punctuated not with, you know, days of mourning and fasting, though mourning and fasting are mentioned.

It's not the case that they're not. But when we look at these three annual feasts, the emphasis is upon joy. It's upon happiness, it's upon, you know, thanks be to God most high who has delivered us, who has provided for us, who has sustained us, who has protected us. This wasn't religious drudgery for the blood-bought.

They were enjoyers of this blessed reality. Verse 11, you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make his name abide. and you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes." So a necessity for tribute, the necessity of joy, the necessity of communal participation. Again, verse 11, very specifically, everybody in the covenant community, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, If you look specifically at verse 16, it says, three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses. That's not a prohibition against a woman's participation.

It's assumed that woman as covenant member is participating in the annual feasts, but there is an obligation placed upon the males that they must comply and they must be obedient and they must represent their families at these three annual feasts. So it's not an exclusion of women according to verse 16, but rather it's an emphasis on males obeying God and doing as the law commands. So women participated and then this was also a time again to remember. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

So as you're looking at your bounty, as you're looking at your freedom, as you're looking at the land that the Lord has given, He promised it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's come to fruition under Joshua in the conquest. As you're musing on these things, don't forget God. As you're gathering in that grain, as you're setting apart a portion for tribute, remember what God had done in terms of redemption from Egypt, sustaining in the wilderness and bringing you to this land of promise.

You're supposed to remember, you're supposed to reflect, and you're supposed to respond in worship that is filled with joy, thanksgiving, gratitude, and a cheerful heart in terms of what you do give back to the Lord Most High.

Feast of Tabernacles

And then the final feast is the Feast of Tabernacles in verses 13 to 15. This is also referred to as the Feast of Booths and the Feast of In-Gathering. And basically, as Klein says, the name Tabernacles reflects the custom of dwelling in booths during the festival, which served as a memorial of life in the wilderness. Makes perfect sense.

Life in the wilderness was not their stationary home that they will have ultimately in the land of promise. And so this Feast of Tabernacles, this Feast of Booths, was a time to commemorate, a time to remember how God did in fact sustain them in the wilderness. If the accent in Passover reflects God's deliverance at the time of Egypt, the accent in the Feast of Tabernacles reflects God's blessing and provision and sustenance during their time of wilderness wandering. Again, those of us who went through the book of Numbers, it may not have always looked like a peachy-keen situation to the children of Israel.

In fact, they whined and grumbled every step of the way. You can turn to Numbers 11 for just one quick specimen of that. Numbers chapter 11. And as I mentioned back then, I'll mention it now.

God promised them a land flowing with milk and honey. God didn't promise that the wilderness on the way to the land would be filled with milk and honey. In other words, there's going to be some hardship. There's going to be some travail.

There's going to be some trial. When you take that amount of people, God liberates them powerfully out of Egypt. Moses must then lead them through the wilderness to the promised land. Of course, you're not going to go over to the faucet, flip it on and get water or honey.

You're not going to have milk in abundance. You're going to have God's provision. And so this feast of tabernacles is calculated to promote remembrance of this time. But

Israel's Wilderness Grumbling

just a glimpse as to how they dealt in the wilderness. Notice in 11.1. Now, in 11.1, they hadn't gone that far. They set off in 10.

I mean, I'm not saying the connection is between 10 and 11, but it hadn't been more than probably a week. Right? I mean, look, you got to get from point A to point B, and there's a whole lot of you. And, you know, God's going to provide.

It may not be steak and lobster, it may not be milk and honey, but you're not going to die. You're not going to starve. Okay? So early off, out of the gate as it were, verse 1.

Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord heard it and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Tabara, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

Now the mixed multitude who are among them, the mixed multitude refers to non-Israelites that were captives in Egypt, Exodus 12, 29, that jumped on the bandwagon with the Israelites and fled the land as well. We're not to suppose that Egypt was solitarily about enslaving Jews. They wouldn't enslave anybody that had two arms, two legs, and could, you know, buckle under a whip. So this mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving.

So the children of Israel also wept again and said. You see, the mixed multitude, we can expect that from the pagans and the heathens. But when the children of Israel who had been given promise, after promise, after promise, after promise, after promise, concerning God's gift to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be realized now under Moses, and then ultimately under the successor, Joshua, this is an affront. And then notice the emphasis in their complaint.

Who will give us meat to eat? It's a question of allegiance. It suggests idolatry. We're gonna go after whoever it is that feeds us.

We're gonna serve whoever it is that opens the heavens and drops food into our laps. Well, didn't God just do that? Well, we don't like the food that he dropped into our laps. We want other food.

It's similar to John chapter six, right? Jesus feeds the multitudes. And then Jesus starts to preach doctrine that they're not in tune with. They just don't get him.

And so what happens? They fall away. Insofar as he continues to feed their belly, he's great. But when he says things like, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up.

When he starts speaking like that, in terms of God's absolute sovereignty, those who professed him, or those who followed at least from a time outwardly, said, forget it. These are hard sayings. I don't want anything to do with this particular man. So this is not just a who in the search of somebody else that happens to have a bag of food that's going to provide for all of us.

It's a question of allegiance. Who will give us meat to eat? And then note the irony here in verse five. We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt.

Huh? You ate it freely? You were slaves. absolute slaves, subject to Pharaoh, subject to mistreatment, subject to maltreatment, to oppression, to every form of persecution. How quick they forget.

We remember the fish which we freely ate in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic, but now our whole being is dried up. There's nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. So God had provided, they just didn't like the provision. Now, parenthetically, verses seven to nine, it's not a menu.

Well, here's all the wonderful uses you can do with manna, but it is. kind of a menu. Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it, grounded on millstones, or beat it in a mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.

And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. It's a very utilitarian product. There's a whole host of things you can do. You can bake it, you can fry it, you can, you know, whatever.

But that wasn't enough for them. They wanted what they had as slaves. And the observation jumps out on the pages of scripture, specifically in Numbers, the book of Numbers, is that men would rather be fed slaves than free men who have to go find food. Independence upon God.

The Spies and the Failure of Faith

Another example is in Deuteronomy 13. Notice in 13.1, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. That's not the first time that appears in the Pentateuch. It's not the first time God rehearses the fact that he's giving the land, giving it to you.

You don't have to pay for it. You don't have to finance it. No down payment, monthly payments, whatever percentage rate. I'm giving it to you.

That's the basis upon which God delivers them from bondage based on the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So notice, to the children of Israel, from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them. So, of course, Moses does that. He dutifully appoints 12 men, leaders, tribal leaders in their various tribes, and he sends them out.

Now notice the report after they surveyed the land in verse 26. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran. At Kadesh they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him and said, We went to the land where you sent us.

It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. You see what they say?

It's a great land. It's just like God promised. Look at the fruit. Man, there's these pesky giants in the land.

Again, just amazing based on what they had seen, what they had heard, and what they had experienced. You don't think the God of heaven and earth who smashed Pharaoh and his army who drown them in the river, in the sea. You don't think that God can deal with a few of the Anakim? He can't crush the giants in the land?

Verse 30, then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it. Praise God for Joshua's and Caleb's. Caleb says, let's go up at once. God's promised it's ours.

Let's go. What are we waiting for? Get your guns and get your, you know, ammo and let's load up. Let's lock and load and let's go.

Notice then the revision of the report by the unbelieving man, verse 31. But the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak came from the giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. No more, hey, it's a good land, tough people. Now it's just bad, tough people and a bad land. I mean, the land itself actually devours its inhabitants.

I think that if you were here in the time that we looked at numbers or you've ever read numbers, you'll notice in chapter 14 who the congregation sides with. They don't say, yes, Caleb, let's go up at once. No, they side with the whiners. And as a result, God, based on this particular section, kills that first generation.

That's why we're on the plains of Moab with the second generation. And so the exhortations given by Moses on the plains of Moab are calculated to produce the kind of behavior that is in contrast to what their forefathers had demonstrated. They swear fidelity to Yahweh at the base of Sinai in Exodus chapter 24 and already in Exodus chapter 32 they're dancing around a golden calf and ascribing to it the power of having brought them out of the land of Egypt. So the exhortations function in such a way as to tell the second generation, when you go into the land, don't duplicate or replicate the sins of your fathers.

Be faithful. And these annual feasts are a wonderful means or a help to promote that faithfulness in you. when you reflect upon the Passover and God's deliverance from bondage in Egypt, when you reflect, or rather the Feast of Weeks, when you reflect upon God's provision, the fact that the land grows food, the fact that you have now filled barns, the fact that you now have constant provision from Yahweh, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All you need to do is remember how in spite of them, God nevertheless sustained them and brought them through that wilderness wandering. And so the command, verse 13, you shall observe the feast of tabernacles seven days when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your wine press.

And again, the communal aspect is in verse 14. You shall rejoice in your feast, joy, communal aspect, similar emphases that we see in the other feasts. you and your son and your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levi, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates. Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you shall surely rejoice. There's just, you know, a backward emphasis and a forward emphasis.

That's what we have in the supper. We have a backward emphasis. It points us to the cross, but we have the forward emphasis. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till what?

Till he comes. We look back to the cross. We look forward to his second coming in glory to consummate his bride and bring us into that new Jerusalem. And so we see connection between the feasts of the Old Covenant and the sacraments that we have in the New Covenant.

And it's a blessed reality. So joy, community participation, and the necessity to keep this sacred feast, again, in the place which the Lord chooses. And then

Summary: Three Annual Appearances

verses 16 and 17 function as a summary. Basically, it highlights for us these three times, three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses, at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Don't be a deadbeat.

It's not because God has a need. Well, you know, God's... He's like the commies in Cuba. He can't keep the lights on and He can't keep gas in the pumps and, you know, He can't keep the water flowing.

So, you know, He needs your love gift and that's not it at all. Rather, it reflects the heart of those who've been blessed by God richly, responding in kind. This is what Paul picks up in 1 Corinthians. God loves a cheerful giver, not a grudging, begrudging, bemoaning sort of an approach to parting with our stuff.

And specifically, it mentions that they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Look back at 1512. If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, has sold you and served you six years, then in the seventh year, you shall let him go free from you. And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed.

You shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. In other words, when that slave goes free, don't say, I hope you make it. Good luck.

Here's a penny. Here's half a coat. No, no. Bless him.

God's blessed you liberally. Are you going to be stingy? Are you going to be hard-hearted? You're not going to reciprocate the good gifts that the Lord has given?

That's the emphasis here in verse 16. Verse 17, every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given you. So

Application: Purpose of the Feasts

just a couple of thoughts before we close. First, again, the regulation of the calendar. You've got the regulation of the menu in Leviticus. You've got the regulation of the calendar, you know, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

It's the point. God owns you. It's the point. You are his subjects.

What's the point? If you are not attentive to him, you will be tempted to run off and go after the gods around you. Remember, they're going into Canaan. Under Joshua, the conquest is generally positive.

They go in, they dispossess the land of the Canaanites, but not completely. It's that not completely part that ends up biting them. Because at the time of the judges, what do we have? A very negative assessment of the conquest.

What happens in judges? There was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. There was degradation widespread all throughout the book of judges.

God raised up judges, not like, you know, circuit court judges or criminal court judges or civil court judges, more like saviors or deliverers. They functioned sort of kingly. They protected the people. They governed the particular people.

They watched over the people. They were, in essence, types of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were deliverers, similar to what Jesus does. In fact, the language applied to the birth of Samson sounds exactly like the language applied to our Lord in Matthew 1 at verse 21.

So they were Christ-like types that were showing forth the power and deliverance of God in the midst of oppression. But nevertheless, it's a negative thing. And what happens in the negativity is that they engage in idolatry. They turn away from Yahweh and they go a-whoring after the gods of the Canaanites.

Now, remember, they went into a land filled with pagan deities. They went into a land filled with pagans who went to worship and who probably boasted to their gods, hey, I prayed to Baal yesterday and it rained today. Well, the gullible Israelite would think, well, I'll pray to Baal today and hopefully it'll rain tomorrow. Baal is a form god, you see, so you pray to Baal and you populate in front of Baal in order to get Baal to perform his deed and water your land.

It was a pesky, horrible, nasty religion that unfortunately continued on even after Elijah on Mount Carmel. So they go surrounded by these people and they are pragmatists, they're unbelieving, they're easily led astray from the living and true God. So the calendar, the menu, all of these proscriptions would help them hopefully keep God in the forefront of their minds. Now in terms of the purpose of the feast, we've kind of seen that to remind the covenant community of their history.

Specifically, the great acts of God in redemption from Egypt, in provision at the Feast of Weeks, and in protection and continued provision in the Feast of Tabernacles. They were calculated to promote joy in the covenant community. I know it seems odd, but God wanted his people to be happy. We have that in the New Testament, don't we?

Philippians chapter 4, rejoice always, I say. Again, I say rejoice. What do you want from us, God? I want you to rejoice.

This idea that, you know, Christianity is this, you know, miserable. Now there's misery, Psalms 42 and 43. There's hardships and woes and afflictions and all that. But the core and the sum and substance of Christianity is joy.

Joy in the Lord. We've been saved. We've been redeemed. We've been provided for.

We've been blessed. We've been protected. We've been given a promise that we're going to end up ultimately in heaven with our blessed God. So yeah, joy is pretty important.

As well, to encourage community participation in the covenant community. Specifically, the focus is on the laity. Priests and others are dealt with in other portions of Scripture, but the emphasis here falls primarily on families, individuals, people that made up the body politic. Come, have fun, enjoy yourself and rejoice in the good gifts that God has given. as well to protect the covenant community from idolatry.

These are feasts of the Lord. Craigie says, the Passover was a celebration of freedom, but at the same time it was a reminder that freedom from Egypt and worldly dominion had been exchanged almost immediately for a new commitment. The new commitment was made evident in that the celebration was made by the Israelites as the covenant people of God. So God delivers them or liberates them for what?

To be His subjects. to be His people, to be His possession, to be His treasure. And then as well, it was to prefigure the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Passover, God redeems. Weeks, God provides.

Tabernacles, God sustains, God gives, God protects, all of that prefigures the work of our Lord Jesus. And then

Central Sanctuary and the New Covenant Church

the final point is the connection to the central sanctuary in Deuteronomy chapter 12. Turn with me for one final passage to Joshua 22. Joshua chapter 22, I won't read the whole thing, basically just a quick outline. So the Eastern tribes had done what they were supposed to do.

Remember the Eastern tribes got a portion on the East side of Jordan. Moses said, you can have it, but when we go into the conquest, you got to join the Western tribes and help your brethren. Well, they do that. They carry out their task.

The conquest is over. And so the Eastern tribes returned to the East. Well, then the Eastern tribes build an altar. Western tribes hear about that and they want to destroy that.

They want to kill that immediately. Why? Deuteronomy 12. God didn't choose to put his place on the east side of the River Jordan.

You guys aren't authorized to do that. So the first thought was let's kill them. The second thought was let's engage in diplomacy. Probably a lesson there.

We should probably talk to people before we kill them. That's just a good aside. Just make sure that we're killing the right people for the right reason. Not just, OK, let's kill them.

Diplomacy helps. So the Eastern tribes basically said, look, we're not offering sacrifices on this. We're not worshiping. We're not doing what was prescribed in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Rather, what we're doing is it's an altar of remembrance for us to see that and remember the great works of our God. Well, that satisfied the delegates from the West. They're like, OK, as long as you don't engage in unauthorized worship, as long as you don't engage in unauthorized sacrifice, as long as it really is just a memorial, that's fine. So I wanna just give a bit of an extended comment by a fellow named Ralph Davis.

Davis commenting on Joshua 22 says, look at Deuteronomy 12 answers this. Again, the central sanctuary. There Israel is commanded to offer their only sacrifices only at the place that Yahweh your God will choose out of all Israel's tribes. This place stands opposed to all the places where the Canaanites had customarily conducted their orgies.

The restriction of sacrifice to one's sanctuary was preventive theology, intended to preserve the purity of worship. To oversimplify, it meant one altar, one faith, and one people. But allow such worship wherever folks hankered to experience God, And it would soon take on a Canaanite color, soak up Canaanite belief, sport Canaanite practices, adore Canaanite gods. In short, it would at one blow kill both fidelity to Yahweh and the unity of Israel.

So the Western tribes, wind of another, or so to the Western tribes, wind of another altar suggested man-chosen worship and sacrifice and reeked of the first step toward apostasy. Now, obviously, in the New Covenant, there's not a central sanctuary. There kind of is. We call it the church.

And a church is that which preaches the word, administers the sacraments, and exercises discipline. How do we know what a true church is? It does those three things. So maybe a lesson from the emphasis on the central sanctuary in Deuteronomy 16, owing to Deuteronomy chapter 12, is that it is good to be a part of a church that is faithfully exercising those things that God has commanded.

It is good to not stray far afield or even a little bit from the means that the Lord has ordained. It is good for us to remember the imperative in Deuteronomy 12, 32. You're not supposed to add and you're not supposed to take away. You're simply supposed to obey.

Those things were made such that the children of Israel in the old covenant would be hopefully hedged in so they wouldn't go astray. They wouldn't leave and they wouldn't end up worshiping Canaanite deities. I think there's a lot of relevance there in terms of the emphasis or the necessity of good churches. and the necessity of good worship that is consistent with God's word.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and we thank you for these feasts and for what they represent in terms of your power and your glory and your deliverance of old covenant Israel. We thank you for what we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, that one who does redeem, that one who does provide that one who does protect us and watch over us. And we have that sure promise that one day we will enter into that new heavens and new earth.

And Lord, I pray that as we consider these things, our hearts would rejoice, that we would live in light of what you have done in the past, and that we would live in light of what you have promised to do in the future, so that we may be faithful here in the present. And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Questions and Answers

Any comments? I'm not sure I can answer any questions, but any comments? He, I explained that when I went through John's gospel, and I don't remember what I said, so that would be where I would direct you. There's a way to harmonize it.

Again, I don't remember the specifics, but I know that harmony is possible or achievable with that. I told you I couldn't answer the question. Go ahead. Probably.

I told you. Comments only. Comments only. All right.

So next week, God willing, Deuteronomy 17. All right. All right. Good to be back.

Scripture References

• Exodus 12; 12:29; 12:46; 23:16; 24; 32
• Leviticus 7; 23:15-26
• Numbers 11; 13:1; 13:26; 13:30-31; 14; 28:26
• Deuteronomy 1-4; 5-28; 12; 12:32; 13; 15; 15:12; 16:1-17; 29-30
• Psalms 42-43
• Joshua 22
• Matthew 1:21
• Luke 22; 22:19
• John 1:29; 6; 6:44
• Acts 2
• 1 Corinthians 5:7; 11:26
• 2 Corinthians 9:7
• Philippians 4:4
• 1 Peter 1:18-19