The Feast of Second Chances

Numbers 9:4-11

King James Version Chapter 9

4 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover. 5 And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.

6 And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: 7 And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel? 8 And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.

9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD. 11 The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

INTRODUCTION – PASSOVER

Some 3300 years ago, God miraculously delivered the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt. God called an 80 year old man by the name of Moses who was watching sheep in the desert and told him to go preach a message to Pharaoh in Egypt. You know the story, Moses stood before Pharaoh’s throne and proclaimed, “Let my people go!” Due to Pharaoh’s hard heart and refusal to free the Hebrew slaves, God sent a series of ten plagues upon Egypt.

1. Water into blood

2. Frogs

3. Lice

4. Wild Animals

5. Diseased livestock

6. Boils

7. Hail and fire

8. Locusts

9. Darkness

10. Death of the firstborn

It was as they were preparing for the tenth and final plague that God gave the Israelites very specific instructions on how to be saved. That night, God was going to send an angel of death throughout the land of Egypt to kill the firstborn child of every family and even of the livestock. There was a great difference between this plague and the other nine. In the previous nine plagues, the Israelites were kept safe from the horrors of the plagues by virtue of their being Jewish. When it was pitch black throughout Egypt, the Bible says, “there was light in Goshen”, the neighborhood that the Jews dwelt in. There was no hail or sickness in Goshen. There was an invisible barrier that kept the lice and frogs out of the area where the Jews lived. But when it came to the tenth plague, not even the Jews were exempt from the Angel of Death. The only way to be saved from the last and greatest judgment of God was by the sacrifice of a lamb and applying the blood of the lamb to their homes.

THE FORESHADOWING OF CHRIST

In possibly the greatest foreshadowing of Jesus Christ in all of the Old Testament, only by the death of the lamb could anyone be saved. They were not saved because of their nationality. They were not saved because of who their parents were. They were only saved because of the blood of the lamb. It is the clearest picture in the Old Testament that today salvation only comes through the death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! His blood is applied to our lives through what the Bible calls “the New Birth” – being born again of water and of Spirit (John 3:5). When 3000 Jews asked Peter how they could be saved, he replied:

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,” Acts 2:38.

When we are born again, the blood of Jesus is applied and we are protected from the coming judgments of God. The Bible says that we are reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” I Peter 1:18-19.

We are not redeemed by silver and gold. We are not redeemed by our vain lifestyles or by the traditions of our fathers. It is not the gentile’s silver and golden idols that have saved us. It is not the vain Jewish traditions set forth by Rabbis that saved us. We are redeemed only by the precious blood of Jesus Christ! Outside of His blood, outside of being born again, there is no salvation. Money cannot save you. Traditions cannot save you. Family heritage cannot save you. From the greatest to the least, the richest to the poorest, male or female, Jew or Gentile, the only way to be saved is through the blood of Jesus Christ!

THE FIRST AND SECOND PASSOVER

And so, in Exodus when Israel was brought out of Egypt, the LORD instituted a feast that was to commemorate their salvation from Egypt. It is one of the holiest feasts of the Jews (John 6:4) because it commemorates God’s great salvation. It not only saved them from Egypt but also pointed to a greater salvation that was to come – when Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would die upon a cross for our sins.

To this day, the Passover celebration is of the utmost importance to Jews throughout the world. They begin cleaning their kitchens weeks ahead of time to remove any leaven from their homes. They clean between the cracks of the counters and tables. They move out the stove and clean behind and underneath to remove any old bread that may have fallen there. In the Bible and today, many will make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

I say all of this because this weekend was the weekend of Passover. From Friday at 6:00pm through Saturday at 6:00pm, people all over the world celebrated the Passover feast. If you did not celebrate Passover this weekend, you are too late. It’s over for this year. You will have to wait until April 10, 2017.

PASSOVER LIGHT

In our scripture text we find the story of some men who missed celebrating the Passover. Though celebrating the actual Passover feast is not a requirement for Christians, it was an absolute requirement for Jews in the Old Testament. To miss celebrating Passover could mean being cut off from God’s people.

These men had touched a dead body. The Bible says that they were “defiled”. To touch a dead body was to become ceremonially unclean and they were unable to partake in the Passover Feast. While everyone else enjoyed their families, these men remained separate from the festivities. They were like outsiders looking in and seeing all the joy and celebration but they were not allowed to participate.

When they realized the significance of their uncleanness, they ran to Moses to seek his guidance. Like circumcision, practicing Passover was part of their covenant.

They did not know at that time but it foreshadowed Jesus’ dying on a cross. God required the Jews to participate in Passover in the same way that He requires us today to come to the cross of Calvary.

· Passover was the prophecy; Calvary is the fulfillment

· Passover was the shadow; Calvary is the light

· Passover was the schoolmaster; Calvary is the topic

· Passover was the physical feast; Calvary is the spiritual reality

· Passover brought them out of Egypt; Calvary brings us out of a life of sin

· Passover delivered them from Egyptian bondage; Calvary delivers us out of the bondage of sin

· Passover required the death of a flawless lamb; Calvary required the death of a sinless Savior

For a Jew to miss Passover was like a Christian missing the cross. Though it was only the second Passover feast, these men understood how important it was for them to participate. When they reached Moses and explained their circumstance, Moses did not hastily give them an answer. He said, “Let me enquire of the LORD.” It was a big problem and Moses did not have an immediate answer.

Moses went to God, and God provided the following answer to these men:

Numbers 9:10-11, “If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD. The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”

In response to these men’s missing the Passover the first time around, the LORD ordained something brand new: a second feast for those that could not make it to the first one. It was a new feast that Jews today call Pesach Sheni, literally the Second Passover. It is more commonly known as “Passover Light”.

While the first and main Passover takes place during the first month of the Jewish year; the second Passover takes place during the second month, exactly one month later. It is the second chance given to those who missed the first Passover. It is “The Feast of Second Chances.”

THE FEAST OF SECOND CHANCES

It is a powerful truth about the LORD that He is the God of the second chance. These men came to Him with a problem that they could not solve. How easy it would have been to simply say, “You missed it. It’s gone. The time has passed.” But that is not what God did. Just because of a couple men who were unclean during the Passover, God created a brand new holiday just for them; just so they would not be left out of the blessing of the Lamb and the covering of the blood.

Just so nobody mistakes the point and thinks this is about a Jewish feast – it’s not. It’s about the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. In creating a holiday for a few latecomers, God shows the lengths that He will go to in order for someone to be covered by the blood of that Passover Lamb. A couple of men were not ready for Passover. They were unclean and unprepared. For them, God simply ordained a new Holiday – a Feast of Second Chances – where those that missed it the first time could still take part in the blessing of the Lamb!

BIBLICAL SECOND CHANCES

Over and over in the Bible, we see God allowing people a second chance after they made a mistake.

Adam and Eve should have been killed when they ate of the forbidden fruit, but God gave them a second chance outside of the Garden.

The Patriarch Jacob’s name literally meant “deceiver” and he lived up to his name. But God gave him a second chance and changed his name to Israel.

Jonah fled God’s commandment to preach at Nineveh but God turned him around and gave him a second chance.

Jesus taught us about the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the 1.

Saul of Tarsus persecuted Christians, cast them into prison, and even killed them. But God got a hold of him on the Road to Damascus and changed his life. Then Paul became the greatest missionary the church has ever known.

The prodigal left home, wasted his inheritance, and returned home broke, hopeless, and saying it would be better for me if my father no longer called me son, but rather allowed me to be a servant in his household.

Instead when he arrived home, what did he find waiting on him?

His Daddy was watching for the day he would come home!

His Daddy knew things hadn’t gone the way they should have. He knew life had taught some hard lessons. He didn’t hesitate to wrap him up in a hug when he still smelled of the pig pen.

His Daddy said its time for a feast - get this boy a bath, some fresh robes, put my ring on his finger and lets celebrate!

From Genesis to Revelation, God is continually offering second chances. What began in the Garden of Eden continued to the churches in Revelation, the LORD is offering forgiveness for their mistakes – a second chance for those willing to take it. Like the Second Passover Feast, the Bible is a veritable Feast of Second Chances.

If God will give a second chance to all of those men and women in the Bible, we can know assuredly that God will give another chance to us as well. If the LORD would create a brand new holiday, a holiday that would be observed for thousands of years, just because a couple of men needed a second chance – imagine what He would do for us.