Title: Daily and Yearly Preparation for Heaven
Topic: Salvation
Summary: The daily sacrifices, weekly sabbaths, and three annual feasts prescribed in the Old Testament are a picture of how to prepare for heaven.
Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.
References:
2 Peter 2:22, 10
Numbers 28:1
Exodus 23:14, 17
Leviticus 23:1, 5, 10, 33
Deuteronomy 16:1, 9, 13-14
Luke 6:1
Acts of the Apostles 2:1; 20:16
Nehemiah 8:13-14
Ezekiel 45:21, 25
Zechariah 14:16
John 7:2, 37
261 - Daily and Yearly Preparation for Heaven
By Jonathan S. Rose
Spirit and Life Bible Study broadcast from 5/4/2016. The complete series is available at: www.spiritandlifebiblestudy.com
Leviticus 23
1
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
3
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
4
These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.
6
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7
In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8
But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
9
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11
And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12
And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
13
And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
14
And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16
Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
17
Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
18
And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
19
Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20
And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
21
And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
23
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
25
Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
26
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
27
Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
28
And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
29
For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
30
And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
31
Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32
It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
33
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
34
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
35
On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
36
Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
37
These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:
38
Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.
39
Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
40
And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
41
And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42
Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
43
That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
44
And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.
Arcana Coelestia #2838
2838. 'As it is said today' means that which is perpetual. This is clear from the meaning of 'today' in the Word, dealt with below. One frequently reads in the Word the phrase 'even to this day (or today)', as in what has gone before,
He is the father of Moab even to this day, and the father of Ammon even to this day. Genesis 19:37-38; and in what appears later on,
The name of the city is Beersheba even to this day. Genesis 26:33; also,
The children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh, even to this day. Genesis 32:32; as well as,
This is the pillar of Rachel's grave even to [this] day. Genesis 35:20.
Joseph made it a statute even to this day. Genesis 47:26.
In the historical sense 'to this day' and 'today' refer to the time when Moses was alive, but in the internal sense these expressions mean perpetuity and eternity of state. 'Day' means state, see 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, and so therefore does 'today', which is the present time. That which in the world is temporal is in heaven eternal. To give the meaning of that which is eternal, the expression today or else to this day has been added, though to those who are aware only of the historical sense it does not appear to embody anything further. Similar usages of these expressions occur elsewhere in the Word, such as Joshua 4:9; 6:25; 7:26; Judges 1:21, 26; and in other places.
[2] That 'today' means that which is perpetual and eternal may be seen in David,
I will tell of the statute: Jehovah has said to me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You. Psalms 2:7.
Here 'today' plainly stands for that which is eternal. In the same author,
For ever, O Jehovah, Your Word is fixed in the heavens, Your truth to generation after generation. You have established the earth and it stands. As for Your judgements they stand [even] today. Psalms 119:89-91.
Here also 'today' plainly stands for that which is eternal. In Jeremiah,
Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. I have set you this day (today) over nations and over kingdoms; and I have made you today into a fortified city, and into a pillar of iron, and into walls of bronze. Jeremiah 1:5, 10, 18.
This refers in the sense of the letter to Jeremiah, but in the internal sense the Lord is meant. 'I have set you this day (or today) over nations and over kingdoms, and I have made you today into a fortified city' means from eternity. In regard to the Lord one can only speak of that which is eternal.
[3] In Moses,
You are standing today, all of you, before Jehovah your God, so that you may enter into the covenant of Jehovah your God, and into His oath, which Jehovah your God is making with you today, that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He will be God to you. Not indeed with you alone [do I make it], but with those who stand with us here today before Jehovah our God, and with those who are not with us today. Deuteronomy 29:10, 12-15.
Here in the sense of the letter 'today' means that present time when
Moses addressed the people. Yet it is clear that it nevertheless implies subsequent times and what is perpetual; for making a covenant with anyone, and with those who were there and with those who were not, implies that which is perpetual. Perpetuity itself is what is meant in the internal sense.
[4] That 'daily' and 'today' mean that which is perpetual is clear also from the sacrifice that was offered each day. This sacrifice, because of what is meant by day, daily, and today, was called the continual, or perpetual, sacrifice, Numbers 28:3, 23; Daniel 8:13; 11:31; 12:11. This may be even more plainly evident from the manna which rained from heaven, spoken of in Moses as follows,
Behold, I am causing bread to rain from heaven, and the people shall go out and gather a portion day by day. And they shall not leave any of it until the morning. That which they did leave until the morning bred worms and went rotten, except that gathered on the day before the Sabbath. Exodus 16:4, 19-20, 23.
This happened because 'the manna' meant the Lord's Divine Human, John 6:31-32, 49-50, 58, and because the Lord's Divine Human meant heavenly food, which is nothing other than love and charity, together with the goods and truths of faith. In heaven the Lord imparts this food to angels moment by moment, thus perpetually and eternally, see 2193. This is also what is meant in the Lord's Prayer by the petition, Give us today our daily bread, Matthew 6:11; Luke 11:3, that is, in every moment for evermore.
