Bible

April 29, 2022May 9, 2022

DAY OF ATONEMENT

The Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur, was an annual festival where an animal would be slain for the complete forgiveness of the Israelites and was the day the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies. This was held on the tenth day of Tishri each year and can be found in Leviticus 16:1-34.

The first thing Aaron would do was to take a bull for his own sin offering and then two goats, he would cast lots to decide which goat would live and which would die. The goat that was to die would be sacrificed and then the other goat was the scapegoat who would live but would be sent off into the wilderness as a sign that he was carrying away the sins of Israel.

He was to put incense to burn on the altar of incense so that the incense would conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant of the law and then Aaron or his descendent could go in and sprinkle the blood of the bull and of the goat on the atonement cover. He was also to take blood and put it on the horns of the altar seven times.

April 27, 2022April 24, 2022

THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

Today we look at the Feast of Trumpets which was the start of the Festival of Tabernacles season held in the month of Tishri at the end of the harvest season. The prophetic significance of these festivals lies in the future, in Christ’s second coming. The first set of festivals represented Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit, and then there was a few months where there were no festivals which relate to the current church period, but then came the feasts around the Festival of Tabernacles which represent Jesus’ second coming, sometime in the future.

The Feast of Trumpets is described in Numbers 29:1-6:

“On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs, a year old, all without defect. With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. There are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma.”

April 20, 2022April 24, 2022

THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD

On Monday we looked at the festival of the Passover, one day later, on the 15^th of Nissan, began the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days (from the 15^th Nissan to the 21^st Nissan) the Israelites were to have no leaven in their homes. When the Israelites were leaving Egypt at the first Passover they had no time to leaven their bread as they were in such a hurry but this feast has come to mean much more than simply hurrying out of Egypt.

April 11, 2022April 24, 2022

THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD

The next item of furniture we get to in the Holy Place opposite the candlestick is the table of shewbread or the bread of the presence. This table is described in Exodus 25:23-30:

“Make a table of acacia wood – two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim. Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are. The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them. And make its plates and dishes of pure gold, as well as its putchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings. Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.”

April 6, 2022April 24, 2022

THE BRAZEN LAVER

The brazen laver was like a wash basin at which the priests used to wash before entering the tabernacle or presenting a sacrifice. It can be found in Exodus 30:18-21:

“Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”

And in Exodus 38:8:

“They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.”