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Passover: First of Seven Annual Festivals (Leviticus 23:4-5) · Verse by Verse

• 0:00
  Jeremy Lallier: Back in school, I had a handful of friends who were curious about why I consistently disappeared for a while every spring and fall. Sometimes they'd ask me about it. I still remember telling a friend in high school that I'd be gone the next day to celebrate something called the Feast of Trumpets. He gave me a weird look, and then I assumed he forgot about it. But he didn't because the day I got back he asked me hey how was your what was it the breakfast of trombones?
• 0:27
  I remember laughing because, yeah, if you don't know anything about it, those two things sound pretty similar. Feast of trumpets, breakfast of trombones. Where's Jeremy today? I don't know, but he said something about eating musical instruments. I've grown up celebrating the feast of trumpets, and quite a few other yearly feasts too it confuses a lot of people I talk to when they find out I'm a Christian because usually if they've heard of these feast days at all they know them as Jewish holidays and what's a Christian doing celebrating something from Judaism Here's the thing.
• 1:01
  In Leviticus chapter 23, way back in the old testament, God commanded his people to celebrate 7 annual festivals or feasts. And to clarify, the Jews were only part of God's people. They were just one of 12 tribes that made up the nation of Israel. But when God commands these yearly festivals in the Old Testament, he doesn't call them Jewish or even Israelite celebrations. He retains ownership of them.
• 1:27
  Here's what he says in Leviticus 23 in verse 4. These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. They are the feasts of the lord, god's feasts. They don't belong to any people or nation. They belong to the Lord.
• 1:49
  He was even more emphatic back in verse 2 of the same chapter. The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts. So even though many people associate these feasts with the Jewish religion, they're not actually Jewish observances. They belong to God. In verse 5, God says, on the 14th day of the 1st month at twilight is the Lord's Passover.
• 2:18
  This is where God's feasts begin. On the Hebrew calendar, the 1st month falls in the spring of the year, and Passover starts the whole cycle of 7 feasts in motion. After Passover comes the days of unleavened bread where we put yeast and other leavening agents out of our homes for 7 days. You think I got weird looks over the breakfast of trombones. Just imagine what my friends thought at lunchtime when they saw me eating peanut butter and jelly on a matzo.
• 2:45
  After unleavened bread comes Pentecost, then trumpets, followed by atonement, tabernacles, and an unnamed festival we've traditionally called the last great day. Do you think it's odd for a Christian to be celebrating these feasts of the Lord? If you do, here's my challenge to you. Take a closer look at the days God commanded his people to observe. Take a closer look at what days the New Testament church observed after the death of Jesus Christ.
• 3:12
  What you're going to find is that God never told us to stop celebrating these festivals. And what's more, you're going to find that these feasts aren't arbitrary. Quite the opposite, they tell a story. Every year, these annual feasts tell us the story of what God has been doing, what he is doing, and what he will be doing to rescue the entire human race from the sins that have been destroying us from the inside out for 1000 of years. It's a story of hope and of a future beautiful beyond our capacity for understanding.
• 3:47
  To others, it might sound like we're snacking on the brass section of an orchestra. But the feasts of the Lord are about something truly incredible. If you want to know more, check out the free download in the show notes.
• 4:01
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