“These you shall offer to the LORD at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.”
So Moses told the people of Israel everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Chapters 28-29 of Numbers summarize the various feasts and offerings the nation of Israel was to observe. There were a total of seven festivals the nation was mandated to practice:
- Passover — Leviticus 23:4-8. ...
- Unleavened Bread — Leviticus 23:6. ...
- First Fruits — Leviticus 23:10. ...
- Feast of Weeks or Pentecost — Leviticus 23:16. ...
- Feast of Trumpets — Leviticus 23:24. ...
- Day of Atonement — Leviticus 16, 23:26-32. ...
- Feast of Tabernacles or Booths — Leviticus 23:34.
However, as we can read in the above two verses there were also other offerings they could observe. Vows in particular will be outlined in chapter 30. It should be noted that Moses is outlining for the nation how God wants them to approach Him. These are to be the very structure and order of their lives. God intends for them to incorporate these practices into their daily lives and living. As we move into the New Testament the worship practices change and/or take on new meaning. The Lord’s Table becomes a key component of the life for the faith-based believer. Sunday worship as the Body of Christ becomes the new form of collective gathering. When Christ returns there will be more outlined worship and it will take on an even newer and more robust form of worship, as the Lamb of Christ sits on the throne in Jerusalem. The key thought here is that God, throughout the history of man, has provided and outlined a way for us to worship Him. All forms are to be by faith in His Word and in His person. But an order and designed practice of worship none-the-less. God intends us to have the worship of Him as the key component of our lives. He wants and desires our worship. He goes to great lengths to tell us how to approach Him. He provided His Son, out of love, to make a way for our worship. Let us not take these forms of worship for granted. Yes, we no longer have to take a lamb, goat, bull or bird to the temple to offer to God. But instead we take ourselves and lay down in worship to Him. The Old Testament worshipper might have had these festivals to observe but it was their heart God wanted. So, too, with us today. It is our heart for worship, through the Son, that glorifies God.
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
A Living Sacrifice
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
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