Schoolmaster to Christ
DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 16
Schoolmaster to Christ
DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 16
Introduction
We now approach a profound and comprehensive section of the Book of Deuteronomy, in which the inspired writer presents what we may call the three great cardinal feasts of the Jewish year: the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles; or redemption, the Holy Spirit, and the glory. Here we have a more condensed view than that given in Leviticus 23 where, if we count the Sabbath, we have eight feasts; but if we view the Sabbath as distinct, having its own special place as the type of God's own eternal rest, then there are seven feasts: the Passover; the feast of unleavened bread; the feast first-fruits; Pentecost; trumpets; the day of atonement; and tabernacles.
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 16 (KJV)
"Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste; that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven days; neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee" – as if it were a matter of no importance where, provided the feast were kept – "but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there" – and nowhere else "thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work therein" (vv. 1-8).
A fuller consideration of the principles of this foundation feast has already been considered in our study of Exodus. However, we will give special attention to certain features peculiar to Deuteronomy. In the first place, we notice the remarkable emphasis laid on "the place" where the feast was to be kept. The people were not to choose for themselves. Based on human thinking, it might appear a small matter how or where the feast was kept provided it was kept at all. But, human thinking had nothing whatsoever to do in the matter; it was God's thinking and authority altogether. God had a right to prescribe and definitively settle where He would meet His people; and this He does in the most distinct and emphatic manner in the above passage, where three times He inserts the weighty clause, "In the place which the Lord thy God shall choose."
Is this vain repetition? Let no one dare to think, much less assert. It is necessary emphasis; why necessary? Because of our ignorance, indifference, and willfulness. In His infinite goodness, God takes special pains to impress on the heart, conscience and understanding of His people, that He would have one particular place where the memorable and significant feast of Passover was to be kept.
Only in Deuteronomy is the place of celebration insisted on. We have nothing about it in Exodus, because there it was kept in Egypt. We have nothing about it in Numbers, because there it was kept in the wilderness. But, in Deuteronomy it is authoritatively and definitively settled, because there we have the instructions for the land. Here is another striking proof that Deuteronomy is far from being a barren repetition of preceding books.
Regarding "the place," so prominently and peremptorily insisted on in the three great solemnities recorded in this 16th chapter, the all-important point is that God would gather His beloved people around Himself that they might together feast in His presence; that He might rejoice in them, and they in Him and in one another. All this could only be in the one special place of divine appointment. All who desired to meet Jehovah and His people, all who desired worship and communion according to God would thankfully go to the divinely appointed center. Self-will might say, "Can we not keep the feast in the bosom of our families? What need is there for a long journey? Surely if heart is right, it cannot matter all that much as to place." But the clearest and best proof of the heart being right is found in the simple, earnest desire to do the will of God. For everyone who loved and feared God it was sufficient that He had appointed a place where He would meet His people – they would be found there and nowhere else. It was His presence alone that imparted joy, comfort, strength and blessing to all their great national reunions. It was not the mere fact of a large number of people gathering together three times a year to feast and rejoice together; this might minister to human pride, self-complacency and excitement. But flocking together to meet Jehovah, assembling in His blessed presence, respecting the place where He had recorded His Name, would be the deep joy of every truly loyal heart throughout the twelve tribes of Israel. For anyone to willfully abide at home or to go anywhere else than to the one divinely appointed place, would not only be neglecting and insulting Jehovah, but it would be rebelling against His supreme authority.
Having briefly spoken of the place, we now glance at the mode of celebration. As we might expect, this is also characteristic of Deuteronomy. The leading feature here is "the unleavened bread." Let us specially note the interesting fact that this bread is "the bread of affliction." What is the meaning of this? Most understand that unleavened bread is the type of that holiness of heart and life so essential to the enjoyment of true communion with God. We are not saved by personal holiness but we are saved to it. In other words, it is not the ground of salvation; but it is an essential element in communion. Allowed leaven is the deathblow to communion and worship.
We must never lose sight of this principle in that life of personal holiness and practical godliness to which we are called, bound and privileged to live. To speak of communion and worship while living in known sin is proof that we know nothing of either. In order to enjoy communion with God or His people, and in order to worship God in spirit and in truth, we must be living a life of personal holiness, a life of separation from all known evil. To take our place in the assembly of God's people, pretending or appearing to take part in fellowship and worship while living in secret sin is to defile the assembly, grieve the Holy Spirit, sin against Christ, and bring down on us the judgment of God, Who is now judging His house and chastening His children in order that they may not be ultimately condemned with the world.
All this is solemn and calls for the earnest attention of all who really desire to walk with God and serve Him with reverence and godly fear. It is one thing to understand the doctrine of the type and another thing altogether to have its moral lesson engraved on the heart and worked out in life. May all who profess to have the blood of the Lamb sprinkled on their conscience seek to keep the feast of unleavened bread.
"Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:6-8).
But what are we to understand by "the bread of affliction"? Would we not rather look for joy, praise and triumph, in connection with a feast in memory of deliverance from Egyptian bondage and misery? No doubt, there is deep and real joy, thankfulness and praise in realizing the truth of full deliverance from our former condition, with all its accompaniments and consequences. But it is plain that these were not the prominent features of the paschal feast; indeed, they are not even named. We have "the bread of affliction," but not a word about joy, praise or triumph.
Why is this? What great moral lesson is conveyed to our hearts by the bread of affliction? We believe it expresses those deep exercises of heart that the Holy Spirit produces by powerfully revealing what it cost our adorable Lord and Savior to deliver us from sin and from the judgment those sins deserved. The "bitter herbs" of Exodus 12 also typify those exercises, and they are illustrated again and again in the history of God's people of old who, under the powerful action of the Word and Spirit of God, were led to chasten themselves and "afflict their souls" in God's presence.
And be it remembered that there is not a tinge of the legal element or unbelief in these holy exercises; far from it. When an Israelite partook of the bread of affliction with the roasted flesh of the Passover, did it express a doubt or fear as to his full deliverance? How could it? He was in the land; he was gathered to God's center, to His presence. How could he doubt his full and final deliverance from the land of Egypt? The thought is simply absurd.
Even though he had no doubts or fears as to his deliverance, yet he had to eat the bread of affliction; it was an essential element in his paschal feast, "For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life."
This was deep and real work. They were never to forget the Exodus out of Egypt. In the Promised Land they were to keep up the remembrance of it throughout all generations. They were to commemorate their deliverance by a feast emblematic of those holy exercises that characterize true, practical Christian piety.
We earnestly commend to the serious student's attention the whole line of truth indicated by "that bread of affliction." We believe those who profess familiarity with what are called the doctrines of grace need it. While seeking to avoid legality and bondage, there is a danger, especially for younger Christians, of running into a snare of the opposite extreme – levity. Aged and experienced Christians are not as liable to fall into this evil; it is the young among us who need to be solemnly warned against it. They probably hear a great deal about salvation by grace, justification by faith, deliverance from the law, and privileges of the Christian position.
Without a doubt, these are of importance; and it would be impossible for anyone to hear too much about them. Would they were more spoken about, written about, and preached about. Through ignorance of those great foundation truths many of the Lord's beloved people spend their days in darkness, doubt and legal bondage.
But, on the other hand, judging from habits and manners, style and deportment, too many who have a merely intellectual familiarity with the principles of grace know little of the sanctifying power of those great principles – their power in the heart and in life.
To speak according to the teaching of the paschal feast, it would not have been according to the mind of God for anyone to attempt to keep that feast without the unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction. Such a thing would not have been tolerated in Israel of old. It was an essential ingredient. Likewise, it is an integral part of that feast which as Christians we are exhorted to keep to cultivate personal holiness and that condition of soul that is aptly expressed by the "bitter herbs" of Exodus 12 or the Deuteronomic ingredient, "the bread of affliction" – the latter would seem to be the permanent figure for the land.
We believe there is an urgent need in this age of those spiritual feelings and affections, those profound exercises of soul that the Holy Spirit would produce by unfolding to our hearts the sufferings of Christ; what it cost Him to put away our sins – what He endured for us when passing under the billows and waves of God's righteous wrath against our sins. This present age is sadly lacking in that deep contrition of heart that flows from spiritual occupation with the sufferings and death of our precious Savior. It is one thing to have the blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience, and another to have the death of Christ brought home to the heart in a spiritual way, and the cross of Christ applied to our whole course and character in a practical way.
How is it that we can so lightly commit sin in thought, word and deed? How is it that there is so much levity, unsubduedness, self-indulgence, and carnal ease – so much that is merely frothy and superficial? Is it because that ingredient typified by "the bread of affliction" is lacking in our feast? We fear there is presently a deplorable lack of depth and seriousness in Christianity. There is too much flippant discussion of the profound mysteries of the Christian faith, too much show; too much head knowledge without the inward power.
All this demands serious attention. It is difficult for us to shake off the impression that not a little of this melancholy condition of things is justly traceable to a certain style of preaching the Gospel, no doubt adopted with best intentions, but none the less pernicious in its moral effect. It is certainly all right to preach a simple Gospel. Actually, it cannot be put more simply than God the Holy Spirit has given it in Scripture.
While this is admitted, still, we are persuaded there is a serious defect in much 21st century preaching. There is a lack of spiritual depth, of holy seriousness. In an effort to counteract legality, there is a tendency to levity. While legality is a great evil, levity is greater. We must guard against both. We believe grace is the remedy for the former, truth for the latter; but spiritual wisdom is needed to enable us to rightly adjust and apply these two. If we find a soul deeply exercised under the powerful action of truth, thoroughly ploughed up by the Holy Spirit's mighty ministry, we should pour in a deep consolation of the pure and precious grace of God as set forth in the sacrifice of Christ. This is God's remedy for a broken heart, a contrite spirit, and a convicted conscience. When a deep furrow has been made by the spiritual ploughshare, we need only cast in the incorruptible seed of the Gospel of God, in the assurance that it will take root and bring forth fruit in due season.
On the other hand, if we find a person going on in a light, airy, unbroken condition, using high-flown language about grace, talking loudly against legality, and in a merely human way seeking to set forth an easy way of being saved, then we have a case calling for solemn application of truth to the heart and conscience.
We fear there is a too much of this last named element in the Lord's church today. To speak according to the language of our type, there is a tendency to separate the Passover from the feast of unleavened bread; to rest in the fact of being delivered from judgment, while forgetting the roasted lamb, the bread of holiness, and the bread of affliction. In reality, they can never be separated, because God has bound them together. Hence, how can any soul really be in the enjoyment of the precious truth that "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us," who is not seeking to "keep the feast"? When the Holy Spirit unfolds to our hearts something of the blessedness, preciousness, and efficacy of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, He leads us to meditate on the soul-subduing mystery of His sufferings, to ponder in our hearts all that He passed through for us, all that it cost Him to save us from the eternal consequences of that which we so often lightly commit.
This is deep and holy work, leading the soul into exercises corresponding with "the bread of affliction" in the feast of unleavened bread. There is a wide difference between the feelings produced by dwelling on our sins and those flowing from dwelling on the sufferings of Christ to put those sins away.
True, we can never forget our sins; never forget the pit from whence we were dug. But it is one thing to dwell on the pit, and another to dwell on the grace that dug us out of it, and what it cost our precious Savior to do it. It is the latter we need to continually remember and keep in the thoughts of our hearts. We are so terribly volatile, so ready to forget.
We need to earnestly look to God to enable us to more deeply and practically enter into the sufferings of Christ, and into the application of the cross to all in us that is contrary to Him. This will impart depth of tone, tenderness of spirit, an intense breathing after holiness of heart and life, practical separation from every phase of the world, a holy subduedness, jealous watchfulness over self – our thoughts, words, ways; our whole deportment in daily life. In other words, it would lead to a totally different type of Christianity from what we see around us, and what we exhibit in our own personal history. May the Spirit of God graciously unfold to our hearts more and more of what is meant by "the roasted lamb," the "unleavened bread," and "the bread of affliction."1 We will now briefly consider the feast of Pentecost; next in order to the Passover.
"Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee; begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee; and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt; and thou shalt observe and do these statutes" (vv. 9-12).
Here we have the day of Pentecost, well-known and beautiful type. The Passover sets forth the death of Christ. The sheaf of first-fruits is the striking figure of a risen Christ. In the feast of weeks, we have prefigured before us the descent of the Holy Spirit, fifty days after the resurrection.
Of course, we speak of what these feasts convey to us, irrespective of the question of Israel's apprehension of their meaning. It is our privilege to look at all these typical institutions in the light of the New Testament; and when we view them we are filled with wonder and delight at God's perfectness, beauty and order of all those marvelous types.
Also, we can see how the New Testament Scriptures dovetail into those of the Old; we see the lovely unity of God's Volume, and how there is one Spirit that breathes through the whole from beginning to end. In this way we are inwardly strengthened in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and our hearts are fortified against all the blasphemous attacks of infidel writers. Our souls are conducted to the top of the mountain where the moral glories of God's Book shine on us in their heavenly luster. From there we can look down and see the clouds and chilling mists of infidel thought rolling beneath us. These clouds and mists cannot affect us, because they are far away below the level on which we stand through infinite grace. Infidel writers know absolutely nothing of the moral glories of Scripture; but one thing is certain: one moment in eternity will completely revolutionize the thoughts of all infidels and atheists who have raved and/or written against the Bible and its Author.
In looking at the feast of weeks or Pentecost, we are at once struck with the difference between it and the feast of unleavened bread. In the first place, we read of "a freewill offering." Here we have a figure of the church, formed by the Holy Spirit and presented to God as "a kind of first-fruits of his creatures."
We have briefly dwelt with this feature of the type in our study of Leviticus2 , and will therefore not consider it here, but here confine ourselves to what is purely Deuteronomic. The people were to present a tribute of a freewill offering of their hand, according as the Lord their God had blessed them. There was nothing like this at the Passover, because that sets forth Christ offering Himself for us as a sacrifice, and not our offering anything. We remember our deliverance from sin and Satan, and what that deliverance cost. We meditate on the deep and varied sufferings of our precious Savior as prefigured by the roasted lamb. We remember that it was our sins that were laid on Him. He was bruised for our iniquities, judged in our stead, and this leads to deep and hearty contrition, or, what we may call true Christian repentance. For we must never forget that repentance is not a mere transient emotion of a sinner when his eyes are first opened, but an abiding moral condition of the Christian in view of the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. If this were better understood and more fully entered into it would impart a depth and solidity to the Christian life and character in which the many of us are lamentably deficient.
But, revealed in the feast of Pentecost is the power of the Holy Spirit and the varied effects of His blessed presence in us and with us. He enables us to present our bodies and all that we have as a freewill offering to God, according as He has blessed us. We need hardly say, this can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit; and hence its striking type is presented, not in the Passover, that prefigures the death of Christ; not in the feast of unleavened bread, that sets forth the moral effect of that death on us, in repentance, self-judgment or practical holiness; but in Pentecost, which is the acknowledged type of the precious gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit who enables us to enter into the claims of God on us – claims that are to be measured only by the extent of God's blessing. He reveals to our understanding that all we are and have belong to Him. He teaches us to delight in consecrating spirit, soul and body, to God. It is truly "a freewill offering." It is not by constraint, but willingly. There is not an atom of bondage, for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.
In short we have here the lovely spirit and moral character of the Christian life and service. A soul under law cannot understand the force and beauty of this. Souls under the law never received the Spirit. The two things are incompatible. Thus the apostle says to the poor misguided assemblies of Galatia, "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by works of law, or by the hearing of faith? . . . He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by works of law, or by the hearing of faith?"
The gift of the Spirit is consequent on the death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and consequently can have nothing whatsoever to do with "works of law" in any shape or form. The presence of the Holy Spirit on earth, His dwelling with and in all true believers is a characteristic truth of Christianity. It was not and could not be known in Old Testament times. It was not even known by the disciples in our Lord's lifetime. On the eve of His departure He said to them, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient [or profitable] for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7; emphasis added).
In the most conclusive manner, this proves that even the very men who enjoyed the high and precious privilege of personal companionship with the Lord Himself, were to be put in an advanced position by His going away and the coming of the Comforter. Again, we read, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you."
However, we cannot attempt to go elaborately into this immense subject here. We must confine ourselves to one or two points suggested by the feast of weeks, as presented in this 16th chapter.
We have referred to the interesting fact that the Spirit of God is the living spring and power of the life of personal devotedness and consecration beautifully prefigured by "the tribute of a freewill offering." The sacrifice of Christ is the ground, the presence of the Holy Spirit is the power of the Christian's dedication of spirit, soul and body, to God – "beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom. 12:1).
But there is another point of interest presented in verse 11 of this 16th chapter, "And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God." We have no such word in the paschal feast, or in the feast of unleavened bread. It would not be in moral keeping with either of these solemnities. True, the Passover lies at the foundation of all the joy we can or ever will realize here or hereafter; but, we must always think of the death of Christ – His sufferings, His sorrows; all that He passed through when the waves and billows of God's righteous wrath passed His soul. It is on these profound mysteries that our hearts are or should be mainly fixed when we surround the Lord's table and keep that feast by which we show the Lord's death until He come.
Now, it is plain to the spiritual, thoughtful and serious student of Holy Scripture that the proper feelings to such a holy and solemn institution are not of a jubilant character. Certainly, we can and do rejoice that the sorrows and sufferings of our blessed Lord are forever over; that those terrible hours are passed never to return. But what we recall in the feast is not simply that they are over, but they have been gone through for us. "Ye do show the Lord's death," and we know that no matter what may accrue to us from that precious death, yet when we meditate on it our joy is chastened by those profound exercises of soul the Holy Spirit produces by unfolding to us the sorrows, sufferings, cross and passion of our blessed Savior. Our Lord's Words are, "This do in remembrance of me" but what we especially remember in the Supper is Christ suffering and dying for us. What we show is His death; and with these solemn realities before our souls, in the power of the Holy Spirit, there will, there must be holy subduedness and seriousness.
Of course, we speak of what becomes the immediate occasion of the celebration of the Supper – the suited feelings and affections of such a moment. But the powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit must produce these. It can be of no possible use for us to attempt working up to a suitable state of mind by pious efforts of our own. This would be ascending by steps to the altar, something most offensive to God. It is only by the Holy Spirit's ministry that we can worthily celebrate the holy Supper of the Lord. He alone can enable us to put away all levity, all formality, all mere routine, all wandering thoughts, and to discern the body and blood of the Lord in those memorials, which, by His own appointment are laid on His table.
But, in the feast of Pentecost, rejoicing was a prominent feature. On this occasion, we hear nothing of "bitter herbs" or "bread of affliction," because it is the type of the coming of the other Comforter, the descent of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and sent down by the risen ascended and glorified Head in the heavens, to fill the hearts of His people with praise, thanksgiving and triumphant joy – to lead them into full fellowship with their glorified Head in His triumph over sin, death, hell, Satan and all the powers of darkness. The Spirit's presence is connected with liberty, light, power and joy. Thus we read, "The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." Doubts, fears, and legal bondage flee away before the precious ministry of the Holy Spirit.
We must distinguish between His work and indwelling – His quickening and sealing. The first dawn of conviction in the soul is the fruit of the Spirit's work. It is His blessed operation that leads to true repentance, and this is not joyful work; it is good, needful, and absolutely essential; but it is not joy, no, it is deep sorrow. But when, through grace, we are enabled to believe in a risen and glorified Savior, then the Holy Spirit comes and takes up His abode in us as the seal of our acceptance; the earnest of our inheritance.
This fills us with unspeakable joy and glory; and being thus filled, we become channels of blessing to others. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet; because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
The Spirit is the spring of power and joy in the heart of the true believer. He fits, fills and uses us as His vessels in ministering to poor, thirsty, needy souls. In the glory He links us with the Man, maintains us in living communion with Him, and in our feeble measure enables us to be the expression of what He is. Every movement of the Christian should be redolent with the fragrance of Christ. For a professing Christian to exhibit unholy tempers, selfish ways, a grasping, covetous, worldly spirit, envy and jealousy, pride and ambition, is to belie his profession, dishonor the holy Name of Christ, and bring reproach on that glorious Christianity he professes and of which we have the lovely type in the feast of weeks – a feast pre-eminently characterized by a joy that had its source in the goodness of God, and which flowed out far and wide, embracing every object of need in its hallowed circle: "Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you."
How lovely and beautiful – Oh, that its antitype was more faithfully exhibited among us. Where are those streams of refreshing that should flow from the Lord's church? Where those unblotted epistles of Christ known and read by all men? Where can we see a practical exhibition of Christ in the ways of His people; to which we could point and say, "There is true Christianity"? May the Spirit of God stir up our hearts to a more intense desire toward conformity to the image of Christ in all things. May the Spirit clothe with His own mighty power the Word of God that we have in our hands and homes; that it may speak to our hearts and consciences. May it lead us to judge our ways and associations by its heavenly light so that there may be a thoroughly devoted band of witnesses gathered out to His Name, waiting for His appearing. Please join us in asking for this.
We now refer the student to verses 13-17 – the lovely institution of the feast of tabernacles. These verses give remarkable completeness to the range of truth presented in this 16th chapter, and though we will not here go further, we strongly suggest additional personal study of this subject by the serious Bible student.
"Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose; because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee" (vv. 13-17).
Before drawing this section to a close, the student is reminded that we are called to exhibit in our daily life the blessed influence of all those great truths presented to us in the three interesting types on which we have been meditating. Christianity is characterized by those three great formative facts: redemption, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the hope of glory – the Christian is redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and is looking for the Savior.
Yes, these are solid facts, divine realities, and great formative truths. They are not mere principles or opinions, but are designed to be a power in our souls and to shine in our lives. Notice how thoroughly practical were these solemnities on which we have been dwelling; note what a tide of praise, thanksgiving, joy, blessing and active benevolence flowed from the assembly of Israel when gathered round Jehovah in the place He had chosen. Praise and thanksgiving ascended to God; and the blessed streams of a large-hearted benevolence flowed forth to every object of need. "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God . . . And they shall not appear before the Lord empty; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath, given thee."
Lovely words that were not to come empty into the Lord's presence; they were to come with a heart full of praise; with hands full of the fruits of God's goodness to gladden the hearts of the Lord's workmen, and the Lord's poor. All this was beautiful. Jehovah would gather His people round Himself, to fill them to overflowing with joy and praise, making them channels of blessing to others. They were not to remain under their vine and fig tree, congratulating themselves on the rich and varied mercies surrounding them. In its place, this might be right and good; but it would not have met the mind and heart of God. No; three times in the year they had to arise and go to God's appointed meeting place, and there raise their hallelujahs to the Lord their God, and to minister liberally of that which He had bestowed on them. God would confer on His people the rich privilege of rejoicing the heart of the Levite, the stranger, widow and the fatherless. This is the work in which He delights, and He would share His delight with His people. He would have it known, seen and felt, that the place where He met His people was a sphere of joy and praise – a center from whence streams of blessing were to flow in all directions.
Does this not have a voice and lesson for the Lord's church? Does it not speak to each of us? May we listen; may it touch our hearts; may the marvelous grace of God so act on us that our hearts may be full of praise to Him and our hands full of good works. If the mere types and shadows of our blessings were connected with thanksgiving and active benevolence, how much more powerful would be the effect of the blessings themselves.
But the question is, "Are we realizing the blessings? Are we making use of them? Are we grasping them in the power of an artless faith?" Here lies the secret of the whole matter. Where do we find professing Christians in the full and settled enjoyment of what the Passover prefigured – full deliverance from judgment and this present evil world? Where do we find such Christians who are in the full and settled enjoyment of their Pentecost? Who are in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the seal, the earnest, the unction and the witness? Ask the vast majority of professing Christians the plain question, "Have you received the Holy Spirit?" and pay close attention to the answer. What answer can the render give? Can he say, "Yes, thank God, I know I am washed in the precious blood of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Spirit"? It is greatly to be feared that comparatively few professing Christians know little or nothing about those precious things that are chartered privileges of the simplest member of the body of Christ.
How is it that so many professing Christians never seem to be able to enter on proper Christian ground? They spend their days in doubt and fear, darkness and uncertainty. Instead of their worship exercises and services being the outcome of life possessed and enjoyed, they are more a matter of legal duty than a moral preparation for life to come. Many pious souls are kept in this state all their days. "The blessed hope" that grace has set before us to cheer our hearts and detach us from present things, is never entered into it nor understood. It is looked on as a mere speculation indulged in by a few visionary enthusiasts here and there. They are looking forward to the Day of Judgment, instead of looking out for "the bright and morning star." They are praying for the forgiveness of their sins and asking God to give them His Holy Spirit, when they should be rejoicing in the assured possession of eternal life, God's righteousness, and the Spirit of adoption.
All this is directly opposed to the simplest and clearest teaching of the New Testament; it is foreign to the genius of Christianity, subversive of the Christian's peace and liberty, and destructive of true and intelligent Christian worship, service and testimony. We cannot appear before the Lord with hearts full of praise for privileges that we do not enjoy, or with hands full of blessings we have never realized.
We pray for the earnest attention of all the Lord's people to this weighty subject. We entreat them to search the Scriptures and see if they offer any warrant for keeping souls in darkness, doubt and bondage all their days. It is certainly true that there are solemn warnings, searching appeals, weighty admonitions; we need them and should diligently apply our hearts to them. But let us distinctly understand that it is the sweet privilege of even the babes in Christ to know that their sins are totally forgiven, that they are accepted in a risen Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit and heirs of eternal glory. Through infinite and sovereign grace, such are their clearly established and assured blessings; blessings to which the love of God makes them welcome, for which the blood of Christ makes them fit, and which the testimony of the Holy Spirit makes them sure.
By the teaching of His Holy Spirit, may the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls lead all His beloved people, the lambs and sheep of His blood-bought flock, to know the things that are freely given to them by God. And may those who do know them, know them more fully, and exhibit their precious fruits in a life of genuine devotedness to Christ and His service.
It is greatly to be feared that many of us who profess to be acquainted with the highest truths of the Christian faith are not answering to that profession; we are not acting up to the principle set forth in verse 17 of this sixteenth chapter, "Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee." We seem to forget that although we have nothing to give for salvation, we have much that we can give to His workmen and to His poor. There is great danger of pushing the do-nothing and give-nothing principle too far. We must never rest in the mere intellectual perception and verbal profession of these great and glorious truths, while the heart and conscience never feel their sacred action, nor the conduct and character never brought under their powerful and holy influence.
In a spirit of appreciation, concern and love we offer these practical suggestions for the prayerful consideration of serious students of God's Word. We would not knowingly wound, offend, or discourage the feeblest lamb in the flock of Christ. Further, it is not our intention to cast a stone at anyone, but simply to write with a feeling of God's presence, sounding a note of warning in the ears of the church regarding what we consider to be our common danger. We believe there is an urgent call for all of us to consider our ways, to humble ourselves before the Lord because of manifold failures, shortcomings and inconsistencies, and to seek grace from Him to be more real, more thoroughly devoted, more pronounced in our testimony for Him in this dark and evil day.
