Week 15: God Invented the Party
When I was a teenager, I often heard what not to do, especially…“don’t go to parties”. Even the church I grew up in was firm about it. To my teenage self, that was disappointing, especially because many of my friends (who also went to church!) were going anyway. What no one ever told me, though, is that tucked into Leviticus 23, God actually teaches His people how to party. Crazy, right? But, so very true.
Marty Solomon says it this way on the Bema Podcast:
“What I was never taught in the church is that God was the one who ordained the party, the proper party. The party that’s not about self-indulgence, but the party that’s set aside to remind myself that Creation’s good, that I’m loved… a party that reminds myself to trust the story.”
Often the conversation around Leviticus 23 centers on controversy: Do these festivals apply today? How do we observe them now? But maybe we’re missing something. Maybe the real question is: What does it mean that God commanded His people to celebrate?
Leviticus 23 isn’t just about ritual, it’s truly about remembering what God has done for you and CELEBRATING IT. God wove celebration into the calendar of His people because He knew how much they needed to pause, gather, eat, drink (in moderation), laugh, sing, dance, and remember Him together (as do we!). Please hear that the festivals were never about self-indulgence. They were about worship…living reminders that God provides, forgives, redeems, and dwells with His people. It was a time for the community of believers to CELEBRATE together all that has been done for them.
Marty Solomon of Bema Podcast also says:
“If you don’t know how to pull out the stops, have good food, the limit of drink, how to have a wonderful time, how to turn the music up, how to celebrate together, well, then you’re not tapping into the love and the acceptance and the grace of God.”
That’s uncomfortable for some of us. For years I thought partying was bad. But the truth is it depends on what you’re celebrating, and how. Parties fueled by self-indulgence lead to emptiness. Parties fueled by the Spirit lead to joy, unity, and worship.
God Himself said these gatherings were to be “sacred assemblies… at their appointed times” (Leviticus 23:4). He gave clear instructions for each festival to remind Israel, and us, that He is the Lord, and celebration belongs to Him.
So what were these festivals? What did each mean in its time? And how does every single one point us forward to Jesus, the true fulfillment of God’s story?
Let’s step into the parties of Leviticus 23 and discover how they still call us to worship today.
The Sabbath
Before any yearly feast, God gave His people the gift of the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:3). Every seventh day was to be set apart as holy, a day of complete rest from ordinary work. The Sabbath reminded Israel that their worth and provision did not come from endless labor, but from God Himself.
The Sabbath pointed back to creation—God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2-3), and it pointed forward to the true rest found in Christ. Jesus declared, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). In Him, we rest from striving, because He has finished the work of salvation on the cross (Hebrews 4:9-10).
The Passover
This feast remembers the last plague in Egypt, when the angel of death “passed over” the people of Israel who were instructed to apply the blood of a lamb to their doors. To do so, they took a bundle of hyssop and dipped it into the blood in the basin at the threshold.
Going up, they put it up on the lintel, then touched the two sides of the frame (Exodus 12). Can you see the imagery? Bottom to top, side to side: the motion formed a cross. Then, they were saved by the blood of a lamb. Now? We are saved by the blood of THE Lamb that was shed at the cross as the final sacrifice, once and for all- and for every single person.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
The Feast of Unleavened Bread began the very day after Passover (Exodus 12:15-17). When God delivered Israel from Egypt, they left in such a hurry that there was no time for their dough to rise. They ate bread without leaven as they stepped into freedom. For generations, God commanded His people to keep this feast as a reminder: He is the One who redeems and rescues, even in the rush of life.
But this feast and celebration was not only about bread. In Scripture, leaven often symbolizes sin because it only takes a little to spread through the whole lump of dough (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). In the same way, sin—left unchecked—works its way through our hearts and lives. By removing leaven from their homes, Israel pictured the call to holiness: to be set apart for God, cleansed from sin, and wholly His. How cool that God instructed them to CELEBRATE this!
Yet there is a deeper layer. Israel’s sacrifices of lambs and goats could only cover sin for a time. Only the Messiah—perfect, sinless, without “leaven”—could remove sin forever (Hebrews 10:10). The unleavened bread points to Jesus Himself, the Bread without corruption, the spotless One who became our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Offering of First Fruits
The Feast of First fruits was one of Israel’s three harvest feasts, a time to thank and honor God for His provision (Leviticus 23:9–14). At the very start of the barley harvest, the people brought the first sheaf to the priest, who would wave it before the Lord as a sign of gratitude and trust. (A sheaf is a bundle of stalks of grain (like barley or wheat) that has been cut from the field and tied together). By giving God the first, Israel declared that the whole harvest belonged to Him.
This feast also carried a mystery they didn’t yet see. The priests sacrificed the Passover lamb on the 14th of Nisan. Nisan is the first month of the biblical calendar that God gave to Israel in Exodus (Exodus 12:1–2).It usually falls in March–April on our modern calendar (springtime).
Three major feasts happen in Nisan:
Passover (14th day of Nisan).
Feast of Unleavened Bread (15th–21st).
Feast of First fruits (the Sunday after Passover).
The Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the 15th. Then, “on the day after the Sabbath” following Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits was celebrated (Leviticus 23:11). That day fell on the third day after Passover, the very day Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew 28:1-6)!! EASTER SUNDAY!
Paul makes this connection clear: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Just as the first sheaf offered to God was a promise of the full harvest to come, Jesus’ resurrection is the guarantee of ours. His empty tomb is God’s assurance that all who belong to Him will rise to eternal life (John 14:19).
Through His blood of the new covenant (Luke 22:20), you are part of that promised harvest. His resurrection is not just history, it’s your hope!
The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)
The Feast of Weeks was Israel’s second harvest feast, celebrated seven weeks after Firstfruits—fifty days later (Leviticus 23:16). That’s why it’s called Pentecost, meaning “fifty.” (Pentecost is derived from the Greek word pentekostos, referring to the fact that it is celebrated 50 days after Easter).
At this feast, God’s people brought Him the first of their wheat harvest, including something unusual: two loaves of bread baked with leaven. Unlike the unleavened bread of Passover, these loaves contained yeast, pointing ahead to God’s bigger plan.
Jesus revealed that plan. He told His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). Then He instructed them to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). On Pentecost, the Spirit came in power, the Church was born, and 3,000 souls were gathered into God’s kingdom in one day (Acts 2:41).
Those two loaves of leavened bread pictured this very moment: the gospel would not be for Jews alone, but also for Gentiles. Though both groups were “leavened” with sin yet God’s Spirit made them one body in Christ (Ephesians 2:14-16). Pentecost was the start of a worldwide harvest that continues even now.
Today, every time the gospel is shared—through preaching, through conversation, through Scripture translated into new languages—the harvest grows. You are part of that story. The same Spirit who filled believers at Pentecost lives in you, empowering you to carry the good news into the world.
The Feast of Trumpets
God commanded His people: “On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts” (Leviticus 23:24). No work was to be done; instead, Israel gathered, rested, and offered sacrifices to the Lord. The trumpet blast was both a call to worship and a wake-up call for the soul—reminding God’s people to prepare their hearts for the holy days ahead.
In Scripture, trumpets often announce God’s presence, warn of coming judgment, or proclaim victory. The Feast of Trumpets carried all of that meaning, pointing to something greater still. Paul wrote, “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). One day, the trumpet will announce Christ’s return for His bride.
And what follows that trumpet? Celebration. Revelation 19:9 declares: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” The Feast of Trumpets not only called Israel to pause and prepare; it calls us to live expectantly, with ears tuned for the day when Christ gathers His people for the greatest feast of all.
The Day of Atonement
To atone means to make things right, to cover what is wrong. The Day of Atonement (remember from Leviticus 16??) was the most solemn day of Israel’s calendar…a day of humility, repentance, and confession before God. I suppose we could say that this day wasn’t as celebratory as the other feasts, yet extremely important for their time.
On this day, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies in the Tent of Meeting. Now, remember, no one was allowed beyond the curtain guardian this room, except for the high priest on teh day of atonement which occurred one a year. The high priest was to come with the blood of sacrificed animals, offering it for the sins of the people. Yet this act was only temporary, a yearly payment that pointed to something greater (Hebrews 9:7, 9:12).
Two goats were central to this observance. One was sacrificed, and its blood brought into the Most Holy Place. The other—the scapegoat—was symbolically burdened with all Israel’s sins and then led into the wilderness, carrying those sins away (Leviticus 16:10, 21-22). Together, they painted a picture of cleansing and removal.
Jesus is the fulfillment of both. Condemned and rejected, He was led outside the city, burdened with the sins of the world, and crucified (Hebrews 13:12; John 19:17). As John wrote, “He Himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Unlike the high priest’s yearly sacrifices, Jesus’ death was once for all. The debt of sin is fully paid for every single person who accepts this gift!
The Day of Atonement reminds us of the weight of sin, but also of the wonder of grace. What Israel longed for in shadows, we have in Christ: complete forgiveness and reconciliation with God.
The Feast of Tabernacles
After the solemn Day of Atonement came a week of joy, another celebration, the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34). For seven days, the Israelites lived in temporary shelters, remembering how their ancestors dwelled in tents during forty years of wilderness wandering. This feast was a celebration of God’s provision, protection, and faithful presence with His people.
At the heart of the feast was the reminder that God Himself “tabernacled” with Israel. His glory filled the Tent of Meeting (the Tabernacle) right in the middle of their camp (Exodus 40:34-38). It was a visible promise: I am with you.
And the Jesus whisper? The New Testament shows the ultimate fulfillment. I know I keep saying that, but truly, each celebration feast pointed ahead to it! John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt [literally, ‘tabernacled’] among us” (John 1:14). Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, took on a temporary dwelling, a human body, to live among us and give His life for the world (Matthew 1:23).
One day, God will dwell with His people forever. There will be no more hunger, no more tears, no more pain (Revelation 21:3-4). Ultimately, the Feast of Tabernacles points to that final, eternal celebration.
PHEW! That’s a lot of info!! But here’s my final thoughts…
Leviticus 23 isn’t just about rituals... it’s about celebrating God’s goodness. He actually commanded His people to pause, gather, feast, sing, and dance as a way to worship Him. These feasts point forward to Jesus and remind us that celebration is holy. And, friends, what an incredible day that will be!!!!!! Yet the truth of it is, we can CELEBRATE NOW! So, dance a little this week. Sing! For the Lord our God is good, and we GET TO celebrate His gift to us. How incredible is that?!
*Bema Podcast episode transcript.
Reflection:
How can I “celebrate” the truths of what God has done for me in my own life today through rest, worship, community, or obedience?
Prayer
Lord, thank You for weaving celebration into the story of Your people. Teach me to pause, remember, and rejoice in what You’ve done through Jesus. Let my life become a living festival of worship, where Your presence is honored and Your joy is made known. Amen.