Hidden treasures in unexpected places - part 4

Now we come to one of my favourite bits of Leviticus – the festivals! Each festival is a foreshadow of something yet to come. Check these out…             

Leviticus chapter 16 and 23

The day of Atonement (at-one-ment) - God and man as one. On the day of atonement you weren’t allowed to do any work. This shows us that being at one with God is not something we work for – Jesus has done the work for us. On this day a sin offering was given in the form of two goats. One goat is to act out the part of God and the other acts as the scapegoat. One goat dies as a sacrifice and the other goes free.

Leviticus 24

The year of Jubilee– an end to all debt and slavery and working the land. Even the land gets rest!  This shows us about God’s promised rest when Jesus returns and all that we have to look forward to. During the festival the priest (representing Jesus) goes into the Most Holy Place (representing heaven) and takes blood with him to cleanse even heaven itself. Heaven and earth are not separate dimensions – they are linked and part of the same creation.

Leviticus 23

Passover (now Good Friday) – a reminder of how we are redeemed through trusting in Jesus sacrifice. The unleavened bread was a sign of urgency in wanting to leave Egypt and escape judgement instead of wanting to remain in sin.

First fruits (now Easter) – to be celebrated in the Promised Land. It was a celebration of being brought into the promised land and also of the promised harvest to come. It was celebrated on the Sunday after Passover – that’s resurrection day! Harvest is all about a dead seed in the ground producing new life. Jesus died, was raised again and gives us new life if we put our trust in Him.

Festival of weeks – celebrated 50 days after Easter. Now we have Pentecost.

Festival of trumpets – see Exodus 19:13-20 God invites the people to meet with Him. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us a trumpet will announce Jesus return.

Festival of tabernacles – everyone went camping as a reminder of their journey through the wilderness and testimony to the fact that we’re still on a journey and not yet in our permanent home. This earth is just temporary and Jesus eternal Kingdom is still to come.

Time for a revolution?

Been doing a lot of reading and thinking recently and thought I'd share some of it with you over the next few weeks. I'm gonna start with looking at the topic of 'Babylon'.

In a lot of religions, Babylon is used in a symbolic way. What does it symbolise? Check out http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2018;&version=51; and see what you think it symbolises. I would suggest that it's symbolic of western society/materialism/capitalism. Revelation makes for interesting reading in light of the current financial situation don't you think? Could it be that God's had enough of our greed and corruption and 'Babylon' is about to fall?

One line that stood out for me was...
"come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins..."

So, how do we do that? How can we seperate ourselves from this crazy money hungry, unjust, materialistic system that the western world seems to be caught up in?

Buy fair trade and local produce?
Grow our own food?
Refuse to be employed by large capitalist companies?

How do we avoid being brainwashed by media and advertising? How do we escape a financial system that seems set up to make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Is there a way we can avoid using money and go back to swapping goods and services?

I hate the money grabbing culture we have and the ethos of companies trying to make the highest profit instead of trying to do the best for their customers! I'm tired of seeing prices go up and quality go down. I love the idea of doing whatever I can to stick two fingers up at companies like Tesco! I'm tired of advertising trying to tell me that I can't live without a certain product or that I have to buy from a certain large store instead of going to local producers.

Ever seen 'A bugs life'? The grasshoppers bully the ants into getting food for them. But at the end the ants begin to realise they have more power than they thought. One of them turns around to the grasshoppers and says "we don't need you - it's you who needs us!!" If only we would realise that it's not us who needs big companies - they need us!!

We live in a culture that's motivated by greed, selfishness and materialism. But God tells us we should be motivated by love for our fellow man.

Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

AMEN!

The true Jubilee!!!

When I saw this story I was totally blown away and inspired - what a great way to make a point about poverty and inequality...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ETBMhEzYKU