In this reflection, we continue our big-picture journey through Leviticus by exploring chapters 23–25. These chapters describe the appointed festivals, the practices of worship, the Sabbath year, and the Year of Jubilee. From Passover and the Festival of Weeks to the Festival of Booths, these celebrations remind God’s people of deliverance, provision, and faithfulness. The Sabbath year and Jubilee take that message even further, teaching the people to rest, trust God, and seek restoration for their communities. The repeated theme is one we need to hear today: our worth and our relationship with God are not determined by our productivity. We are saved by grace. We are called to be faithful, to love God and neighbor, and to learn to rest in the goodness of God.
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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Tuesday morning. I hope you’ve had a great week. Hopefully, things are rocking and rolling for you. We’re doing well here and looking forward to a good day. We’ve got some good things happening at the church, and I’m excited about the side of things that comes with being a historic First Church here in the Starkville area.
If you’re looking for a good church to be a part of, we’d love to have you join our community.
Today we’re going to keep going where we left off yesterday.
We’ve been talking about how the first half of Leviticus builds toward Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Everything is moving toward that question of how we are forgiven, how we are made right with God, and how we are restored. Chapter 16 is the center of that movement. That’s where we see the Day of Atonement.
Then, in chapters 17 through 22, we turned the corner and asked: Now that we’ve been redeemed, now that we’ve been made right with God, what does our life look like moving forward? What does the life of a redeemed community look like?
Yesterday we looked at those questions in terms of our individual and communal lives. Today we’re going to take another step. What about our worship? What about the festivals and the rhythms that shape the religious life of the people?
Remember the larger picture. The first part of Leviticus deals with how we approach God, how the priests serve, and how the people are made right with God. Now that we’ve moved through the Day of Atonement, we’re looking at what life looks like on the other side of that restoration.
Today we’re going to look at chapters 23 through 25.
Chapter 23 is about the appointed festivals. Chapter 24 is about how Israel worships and honors God’s name. And chapter 25 is about the land, rest, the Sabbath year, and the Year of Jubilee.
Let’s begin with chapter 23.
This chapter is important because it lays out the appointed festivals that the people are to observe. These are the celebrations that become part of the foundation of Jewish life. They mark the calendar, shape the community, and remind the people of who God is and what God has done.
These are the occasions that matter. They’re the times when people gather, remember, worship, and celebrate.
The first observance listed is the weekly Sabbath. Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday and continues until sundown on Saturday.
The Sabbath is a foundational rhythm of Jewish life. Every week, the people are called to stop, worship, and rest. Their relationship with God isn’t something they simply think about once in a while. It’s built into the regular rhythm of their lives.
And I think that’s an important reminder for us, too. I’ve often said that weekly worship should be a foundational rhythm for what our lives look like.
But notice that Sabbath is about more than worship. It’s also about rest. It’s about stopping. It’s about recognizing that everything doesn’t depend on us.
We work hard, don’t we? We stay busy. We fill our calendars. Sometimes we act as though the whole world is going to fall apart if we stop working for a little while.
The Sabbath reminds us that it isn’t all up to us.
Alongside the weekly Sabbath, Leviticus 23 lays out the annual appointed festivals.
The first is Passover, closely connected with the Festival of Unleavened Bread. These celebrations remember the Exodus, when God delivered the people from slavery in Egypt. Passover recalls the night when the angel of death passed over the homes of the Israelites, and the unleavened bread reminds them of their hurried departure from Egypt.
These celebrations are about remembering. The people are reminded that they are a people delivered by God. Their identity is rooted in what God has done for them.
Next comes the offering of the first fruits. This is connected to the harvest and the gift of the land. The people bring the first portion of what they receive and offer it to God.
The idea is that everything comes from God. By giving God the first fruits, the people acknowledge that what they have is ultimately a gift. It is a reminder that God comes first and that we are stewards of what God has entrusted to us.
There’s an important connection here to our own understanding of giving. We give not simply out of whatever happens to be left over, but as a way of recognizing that everything we have comes from God.
Then comes the Festival of Weeks, also known as Shavuot. This is another harvest celebration, particularly connected with the wheat harvest. It eventually became associated in Jewish tradition with the giving of the Torah.
In the Christian tradition, this festival is connected with Pentecost. That’s the day described in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples. It’s a fascinating connection: a Jewish harvest festival becomes the setting for the Christian celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
There is also the Festival of Trumpets. It takes place on the first day of the seventh month and is marked by the sounding of trumpets, a time of rest and solemn assembly.
Then we come to the Day of Atonement, which we’ve already discussed in chapter 16. It’s included here as one of the appointed times in the life of the people.
And finally, there’s the Festival of Booths, or Sukkot. This festival looks back to the wilderness journey. The people build temporary shelters and remember how God led their ancestors through the wilderness and provided for them along the way.
It’s a reminder that the people didn’t get where they were by themselves. God led them. God provided for them. God remained faithful.
We even see Jesus attending the Festival of Booths in John 7. So these festivals aren’t simply something we read about in the Old Testament. They continue to shape the world in which Jesus lived and ministered.
Each of these festivals has a purpose. They remind the people of God’s deliverance, God’s provision, God’s faithfulness, and God’s presence.
And there’s something else I want you to notice. So much of this calendar is built around stopping and resting. Worship and rest are woven into the life of the people.
Chapter 24 moves us from the calendar of festivals to the practices of worship and the importance of honoring God’s name. We see instructions concerning the lampstand and the bread set before the Lord, as well as a serious reminder about treating God’s name with reverence.
The larger point is that worship matters. The way the people approach God matters. God’s holiness is not something to be treated casually.
Then we get to chapter 25, and I think this is one of the most fascinating parts of this section.
Chapter 25 introduces two important ideas: the Sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee.
The Sabbath year comes every seventh year. The land itself is given a Sabbath. The people are not supposed to work the fields in the usual way. They are to let the land rest.
Think about that. It’s not just the people who need rest. The land needs rest, too.
This is a reminder that everything belongs to God. The people are stewards, not owners in the ultimate sense. They are not supposed to squeeze every possible bit of productivity out of the land. They are called to trust that God will provide.
Then there’s the Year of Jubilee. After seven cycles of seven years, the fiftieth year is set apart as a year of release and restoration.
Property that has been transferred is returned to its ancestral family. Those who have fallen into debt and servitude are given an opportunity for freedom. It’s a kind of economic reset, a way of restoring families and communities and preventing people from being permanently trapped by their circumstances.
And once again, we see a concern for the poor woven into the life of God’s people.
I find it fascinating how many of these festivals and celebrations have this idea of rest and restoration built into them.
We don’t rest very well, do we? I know I don’t rest as much as I ought to.
But think about what this means for us as Christians. If we are saved by grace through faith, then our salvation isn’t dependent on our effort or our productivity. Our relationship with God isn’t something we earn by working hard enough.
We are saved by grace. God saves us.
And that means we can rest.
Now, that doesn’t mean we stop being faithful. It doesn’t mean we stop loving God or loving our neighbors. It doesn’t mean that our lives don’t change. We’ve been talking about holiness and what the redeemed life looks like.
But our faithfulness isn’t an attempt to earn God’s love. It’s a response to the love God has already shown us.
So be faithful. Love God. Love your neighbor. Live the life God has called you to live.
But remember, it’s not all up to you. You don’t have to save yourself. You don’t have to be good enough to earn God’s grace.
You can rest in him.
And when we rest in God’s grace, we discover that our worth isn’t determined by our work, our accomplishments, or our productivity. Our worth is grounded in the love of God.
I’d encourage you to take some time to read through Leviticus 23. It’s an interesting chapter, especially when you begin to see how these festivals connect with the story of Scripture and with our own Christian traditions.
But as you read these chapters, pay attention to how often we’re reminded to stop, to rest, to remember, and to trust God.
I hope you can find a little rest today. Be faithful. Love God. Love your neighbor. And remember that it is well because of God’s grace.
Thanks for being with us. Have a great day!