Schoolmaster to Christ
LEVITICUS CHAPTER 23
Schoolmaster to Christ
LEVITICUS CHAPTER 23
Scripture Reading: Leviticus 23 (KJV)
One of the most profound and comprehensive chapters in the inspired volume now lies open before us, claiming our prayerful study. It contains the record of the seven great feasts or periodical solemnities into which Israel's year was divided. In other words, it furnishes us with a view of God's dealings with Israel, during the entire period of their most eventful history.
Looking at the feasts separately, we have the Sabbath, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the first-fruits, Pentecost, the feast of trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of tabernacles. Altogether, this would make eight; but it is obvious that the Sabbath occupies a unique and independent place. It is first presented and its proper characteristics and attendant circumstances fully set forth – then we read, "These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons" (v 4). Strictly speaking, Israel's first great feast was the Passover, and their seventh was the feast of tabernacles. The paschal lamb typified the death of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7); and the feast of tabernacles typified "the times of the restitution of all things, of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began" (Acts 3:21).
Such was the opening and closing feast of the Jewish year. Atonement is the foundation, glory the top-stone. Between these two points we have the resurrection of Christ (vv. 10-14); the gathering of the Church (vs 15-21); and in verse 22 we have provision made for the Gentiles to come in at the close of the harvest, and glean in Israel's fields. All this renders the picture divinely perfect, evoking intense admiration from the heart of every lover of Scripture. What could be more complete? The blood of the Lamb and practical holiness; the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and His ascension into heaven; the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to form the Church; the manifestation of glory; the rest and blessedness of the kingdom. Such are the contents of this wonderful chapter.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 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."
The place given to the Sabbath is interesting. The Lord is about to furnish a type of all His dealings in grace with His people; but, before He does so, He sets forth the Sabbath as the significant expression of that rest which remained for the people of God. It was an actual solemnity to be observed by Israel; but it was also a type of what is yet to be, when all that great and glorious work this chapter foreshadows shall have been accomplished. It is God's rest into which all who truly believe can enter now in spirit; but which remains to be accomplished in its completeness (Heb. 4). We work now, but by and by we will rest. In one sense, the true believer enters into rest; in another sense, he labors to enter into it. He has found his rest in Christ; he labors to enter into his rest in glory. He has found his full mental repose in what Christ has done for him, and his eye rests on that everlasting Sabbath on which he will enter when all his toils and conflicts are over. He cannot rest in the midst of a scene of sin and wretchedness. "He rests in Christ, the Son of God, who took the servant's form."
And, while resting in this way, he is called to labor as a worker together with God, in the full assurance that when all his toil is over he will enjoy unbroken, eternal repose in those mansions of unfading light and unalloyed blessedness where labor and sorrow can never enter. What a blessed prospect; brightening more and more each hour in the vision of faith. May we labor more earnestly and faithfully, being sure of eternal rest at the end. True, there are foretastes of the eternal Sabbath; but these foretastes only cause us to long more ardently for the reality – that Sabbath which shall never be broken – that "holy convocation" which shall never be dissolved.
As already mentioned, the Sabbath occupies a unique and independent place in this chapter. This is evident from the wording of the fourth verse, where the Lord seems to begin afresh with the expression, "These are the feasts of the Lord," as if to leave the Sabbath distinct from the seven feasts that follow, though in reality it is the type of that rest to which these feasts so blessedly introduce the soul.
"These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover" (vv. 4, 5). Here we have the first of the seven periodical solemnities – the offering of that paschal lamb whose blood screened the Israel of God from the sword of the destroying angel on that terrible night when Egypt's firstborn were laid low. This is the acknowledged type of the death of Christ. Its place in this chapter is divinely appropriate, because it forms the foundation of all. We can know nothing of rest, nothing of holiness, nothing of fellowship, except on the ground of the death of Christ. It is peculiarly striking, significant, and beautiful to observe that the next thing mentioned following God's rest, is the blood of the paschal lamb. As much as to say, "There is the rest, but here is your title." No doubt, labor will capacitate us, but it is the blood that entitles us to enjoy the rest.
"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened breed. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 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" (vv. 6-8).
The people are here assembled round Jehovah, in that practical holiness that is founded on accomplished redemption. While assembled, the fragrant odor of the sacrifice ascends from the altar of Israel to the throne of Israel's God. This gives us a fine view of that holiness God looks for in the life of His redeemed. It is based on the sacrifice, and ascends in immediate connection with the acceptable fragrance of the Person of Christ. "Ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire." What a contrast – the servile work of man's hands and the sweet savor of Christ's sacrifice. The practical holiness of God's people is not servile labor. It is the living unfolding of Christ through them, by the power of the Holy Spirit. "To me to live is Christ." This is the true idea. Christ is our life; and in the divine judgment every exhibition of that life is redolent with the fragrance of Christ. It may be a trifling matter in man's judgment; but, because it is the outflow of Christ our life, it is unspeakably precious to God. It ascends to Him and can never be forgotten. "The fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ" are produced in the life of the true believer, and no power of earth or hell can prevent their fragrance ascending to the throne of God.
We need to deeply ponder the contrast between "servile work," and outflow of the life of Christ. The type is very vivid. There was a total cessation of manual labor throughout the whole assembly; but the sweet savor of the burnt offering ascended to God. These were to be the two grand characteristics of the feast of unleavened bread. Man's labor ceased, and the odor of the sacrifice ascended – the type of a believer's life of practical holiness. What a triumphant answer for the legalist on one side, and the antinomian on the other. The former is silenced by the words, "no servile work;" and the latter is confounded by the words, "Ye shall offer an offering made by fire." The most elaborate works of man's hands are "servile; "but the smallest cluster of "the fruits of righteousness" is to the glory and praise of God. Throughout the entire period of the believer's life, there must be no servile work; nothing of the hateful and degrading element of legality. There should be only the continual presentation of the life of Christ, brought out and exhibited by the power of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the "seven days" of Israel's second great periodical solemnity, there was to be "no leaven;" but, instead, the sweet savor of "an offering made by fire" was to be presented to the Lord. May we fully enter into the practical teaching of this striking and instructive type.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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 first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest; and ye shall wave the sheaf Before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf, an the lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord. 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. 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" (vv. 9-14).
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Cor. 15:20). The beautiful ordinance of the presentation of the sheaf of first fruits typify the resurrection of Christ, who, "at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week," rose triumphant from the tomb, having accomplished the glorious work of redemption. His was a "resurrection from among the dead;" and, in it we have the earnest and type of the resurrection of His people. "Christ the first fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming." When Christ comes, His people will be raised from among the dead;" that is those that sleep in Jesus. Immediately after the transfiguration, our blessed Lord spoke of His rising "from among the dead," and the disciples questioned among themselves what that could mean (See Mark 9). Every orthodox Jew believed in the "resurrection of the dead." But the idea of a "resurrection from among the dead," was what the disciples were unable to grasp and, no doubt, many disciples since then have felt considerable difficulty regarding a mystery so profound.
However, prayerfully studying and comparing 1 Corinthians 15 with 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, we gain precious instruction on this interesting and practical truth. We also need to look at Romans 8:11. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." From all these passages it will be seen that the resurrection of the Church will be on precisely the same principle as the resurrection of Christ. Both the Head and the body are shown to be raised "from among the dead." The first sheaf and all the sheaves that follow after are morally connected.
We pray that all may through the eye of faith, see the blood of the paschal Lamb shed to screen all who truly believe from what will be to many the terrible hour of His second coming. The great question is: "Have we seen the precious sheaf of first fruits reaped and gathered into the heavenly garner, as the earnest of our being gathered in due time? " A deeply solemn question indeed – one that should not be put aside. Let us make sure that we are under the cover of the blood of Jesus. Remember, we cannot glean a single ear in the fields of redemption until we have seen the true sheaf waved before the Lord. "Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the self-same day that ye have brought an offering unto your God." The harvest could not be touched until the sheaf of first fruits had been presented, and, with the sheaf, a burnt offering and a meat offering.
"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: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. 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" (vv. 15-17).
This is the feast of Pentecost – the type of God's people gathered by the Holy Spirit and presented before Him in connection with all the preciousness of Christ. In the Passover, we have the death of Christ; in the sheaf of first fruits, we have the resurrection of Christ; and in the feast of Pentecost, we have the descent of the Holy Spirit to form the Church. All this is divinely perfect. The death and resurrection of Christ had to be accomplished before the Church could be formed. The sheaf was offered and then the loaves were baked.
Observe, "They shall be baken with leaven." Why? Because they were intended to foreshadow those who, though filled with the Holy Spirit and adorned with His gifts and graces, nevertheless, had evil dwelling in them. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), many in the assembly obeyed the Gospel and were baptized for the remission of their sins – contacting the blood of Christ, and were given the gift of the Holy Spirit; but there was leaven there also. No power of the Spirit could do away with the fact that there was evil dwelling in the people of God. It might be suppressed and kept out of view; but it was there. This fact is foreshadowed in type by the leaven in the two loaves; and it is set forth in the actual history of the Church. Although God the Holy Spirit was present in the assembly, the flesh was also there to lie to Him. Flesh is flesh; and it can never be made anything other than flesh. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did not come down to improve nature or do away with its incurable evil, but to baptize believers into one body, and connect them with their living Head in heaven.
In the chapter on the peace offering, we alluded to the fact that leaven was permitted. It was the divine recognition of evil in the worshipper. Thus it is also in the ordinance of the "two wave loaves;" they were to be "baken with leaven," because of the evil in the antitype.
But, blessed be God, the evil that was divinely recognized was divinely provided for. This gives rest and comfort to the heart. It is a comfort to be assured that God knows the worst of us; and, further, that He has made provision according to His knowledge – not merely according to ours.
"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 a sweet savour unto the Lord" (v 18).
Here, in immediate connection with the leavened loaves, we have the presentation of an unblemished sacrifice, typifying the great and all-important truth that it is Christ's perfectness and not our sinfulness that is always before the view of God. Particularly observe the words, "ye shall offer with the bread, seven lambs without blemish." What a deeply precious truth – though clothed in typical dress. May we be able to enter into it, to make it our own, to keep our conscience on it, to feed and refresh our heart with it, to delight our whole soul in it – Not I, but Christ.
However, one may offer objection that the fact of Christ being a spotless lamb is not sufficient to roll the burden of guilt from a sin-stained conscience – a sweet-savor offering would not of itself avail for a guilty sinner. This objection might be offered; but our type fully meets and entirely removes it. It is certainly true that a burnt offering would not have been sufficient where "leaven" was in question; and hence we read, "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" (v 19). The "sin offering" was the answer to the "leaven" in the loaves – "peace" was established, so that communion could be enjoyed, and all went up to the Lord in immediate connection with the "sweet savour" of the "burnt offering."
Thus, on the Day of Pentecost, the church was presented through the power of the Holy Spirit in all the value and excellence of Christ. Though having in itself the leaven of the old nature, that leaven was not reckoned, because the divine Sin Offering had perfectly answered for it. The power of the Holy Spirit did not remove the leaven, but the blood of the Lamb had atoned for it. This is an interesting and important distinction. The work of the Spirit in the believer does not remove indwelling evil. It enables us to detect, judge, and subdue the evil; but no amount of spiritual power can do away with the fact that evil is there – though, blessed be God, the conscience is at perfect ease, because the blood of our Sin Offering has eternally settled the whole question. Therefore, instead of our evil being under the eye of God, it has been put out of sight forever, and we are accepted in all the acceptableness of Christ who offered Himself to God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice, so that He might perfectly glorify Him in all things, and be the food of His people forever.
We have already noticed "the poor and stranger" from its moral aspect. Now, we notice it from a dispensational point of view. "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" (v 22). Provision is here made for the stranger to glean in Israel's fields. The Gentile is to be brought in to participate in the overflowing goodness of God.
However, we are not to suppose that the spiritual blessings endowed by the Church in the heavenlies with Christ are set forth under the figure of a stranger gleaning in Israel's fields. These blessings are as new to the seed of Abraham as they are to the Gentile. They are not the gleanings of Canaan, but the glories of heaven – the glories of Christ. The Church is not merely blessed by Christ, but with and in Christ. The bride of Christ will not be sent forth as a stranger to gather up, the sheaves and clusters in the corners of Israel's fields, and from the branches of Israel's vines. No; she tastes of higher blessings, richer joys, nobler dignities, than Israel ever knew. She is not to glean as a stranger on earth, but to enjoy her own wealthy and happy home in heaven, to which she belongs. This is the "better thing" which, in His manifold wisdom and grace, God has "reserved" for her. No doubt, it will be a gracious privilege for "the stranger" to be permitted to glean after spiritual Israel's harvest is reaped; but the church's portion is incomparably higher, even to be the bride of Israel's king, the partner of His throne, the sharer of His joys, His dignities, and His glories; to be like Him, and with Him, forever. The eternal mansions of the Father's house on high, and not the ungleaned corners of Israel's fields below, are to be the church's portion. May we ever bear this in mind, and live, in some small degree, worthy of such a holy and elevated destination.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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. Ye shall do no servile work; but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord" (vv. 23-25)
A new subject is here introduced by the words, "the Lord spake unto Moses," which affords an interesting help in classifying the subjects of the entire chapter. Thus, the Sabbath, the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, are given under the first communication. The wave sheaf, the wave loaves, and the ungleaned corners, are given under the second; after which we have a long unnoticed interval, and then comes the soul-stirring feast of trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month. This ordinance leads us on to the time, now fast approaching, when the angel shall "blow up the trumpet" announcing the glory and power of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The feast of trumpets is intimately connected with another great solemnity, namely, "the day of atonement."
"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. 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 . . . 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" (vv. 27-32).
Thus, after the blowing of the trumpets an interval of eight days elapses, and then we have the Day of Atonement, with which the following are connected: affliction of soul, atonement for sin, and rest from labor.
We shall close this part of our study with a view of the feast of tabernacles – the last solemnity of the Jewish year.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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 . . . 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 shall be a sabbath. 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. 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. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days: all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; 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" (vv. 33-43).
This feast forms a lovely and appropriate close to the whole series of feasts. The harvest was gathered in, all was done, the storehouses were amply furnished, and Jehovah would have His people give expression to their festive joy. But, they seem to have had little heart to enter into the divine thought in reference to this delightful ordinance. They lost sight of the fact that they had been strangers and pilgrims, and hence their long neglect of this feast. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, the feast of tabernacles had not once been celebrated. It was reserved for the feeble remnant that returned from the Babylonish captivity to do what had not been done even in the bright days of Solomon. "And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness" (Neh. 8:17). How refreshing it must have been, for those who had hung their harps on the willows of Babylon, to find themselves beneath the shade of the willows of Canaan. It will be a happy moment, when the heavenly and the earthly shall meet, as intimated in "the first day" and "the eighth day" of the feast of tabernacles. "The heavens shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel."
At the close of this chapter we read, "And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord." This was their true character, their original title; but in the Gospel of John, they are called "feasts of the Jews." They had long ceased to be Jehovah's feasts. He was shut out. They did not want Him; and, hence, in John 7, when Jesus was asked to go up to "the Jews' feast of tabernacles," He answered, "My time is not yet come;" and when He did go up it was "privately," to take His place outside of the whole thing, and to call on every thirsty soul to come to Him and drink. There is a solemn lesson in this. Divine institutions are speedily marred in the hands of man; but, how deeply blessed to know that the thirsty soul that feels the barrenness and drought connected with a scene of empty religious formality, has only to flee to Jesus and drink freely of His exhaustless springs, and so become a channel of blessing to others.
