Pressing Past Pentecost: One (excerpt of The Feasts of the Lord)

PRESSING PAST PENTECOST: ONE (EXCERPT OF THE FEASTS OF THE LORD)

Preface
Preliminary
Two Guidelines for Interpreting Scripture Types
Enumeration of the Seven Levitical Feasts
Four Areas of Interpretation of the Feasts of the Lord
The Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ
The Redemption of the Believer
The Perfecting of the Church
The Setting up of the Kingdom of God

Preface

The Levitical feasts are one of the four major types of the Christian salvation. The Feasts of the Lord explains the plan of redemption, how we move with the Holy Spirit to the rest of God, to the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, to the fullness of the salvation that is in Christ.

Preliminary

The feasts of the Lord are listed in the twenty-third chapter of the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament and in other passages as well. There were seven observances. We may refer to them as the “Levitical feasts,” or “convocations,” or as the “feasts of the Lord.” However, they were not all feasts as we think of the term feast.

However, all of them were convocations that is, observances in which the people of Israel were called together by the Lord.

Two Guidelines for Interpreting Scripture Types

Before we go further let us mention two rules for interpreting Scripture symbols, or “types” as they are called. Types, such as the seven feasts of Israel, help us understand the Lord Jesus and His plan of salvation.

The first rule of interpretation is this: study the symbol and then ask the Holy Spirit to cause the main truth to rise to the surface. Do not attempt to carry every aspect of the symbol through to its logical conclusion—logical after the reasoning of the human mind.

The Holy Spirit always interprets His own statements and illustrations.

We see through a glass darkly, as Paul mentions in I Corinthians, Chapter 13. The Holy Spirit must be the One who throws light on the passage of Scripture we are studying. Usually a type presents one truth or line of truth, and the Spirit will give us the understanding.

For example: Christ is the “Lamb” of God. The truth rising to the surface is that Christ was led away as an offering for our sins, and we eat His body and drink His blood as our Passover.

We cannot pursue the symbol further and claim Christ today is led around helplessly and is a prey for every wolf that appears.

Again: in one setting leaven is a type of sin. In another context leaven is a type of the Kingdom of Heaven. There is a flexibility of application showing that we must not create a rigid system of interpretation of the Scriptures based on types. If we do, we will miss the point of what the Holy Spirit is revealing to us.

Still another example is this: the Christian Church is referred to in the New Testament as the Bride of the Lamb. The symbol of marriage indicates we are to enter spiritual union with Christ, becoming one with Him. We cannot infer from this that Christians are feminine because they are termed the “Bride,” and that the Bride is a different group from the sons of God who are male because they are “sons.”

Every aspect and detail of a Scripture type or parable does not reveal spiritual truth.

The second guideline for interpreting Scripture symbols is this: the interpretation of symbols must be taught in the New Testament.

For example, repentance from our sinful ways is portrayed by the removal of leaven during the feast of Unleavened Bread. The New Testament teaches us to put away sin (II Corinthians 7:1). Our adamic personality is to be brought down to death by entering the death of Christ on the cross. Our new sin-free personality is now qualified to rise from the dead and enter the resurrection of Christ. This death and resurrection is represented as we are baptized in water.

Also, we have the provision of confessing and receiving cleansing from the sins we practice as Christians, as taught in I John 1:7-9.

If we claim the putting away of leaven during the feast of Unleavened Bread portrays the putting away of sin from the Christian, we must be able to turn to the New Testament and find written there that God indeed has provided grace through the Lord Jesus Christ by which we are enabled to put away sin from our life, and that we are commanded to do so.

Christ has made it possible for us, and has commanded us, to put away the old leaven of the world, of Satan, of our bodily lusts, and of our self-will and self-love.

If we are to make a success of interpreting Scripture types we must look to the Holy Spirit for the main idea and not attempt to force an interpretation that does not fit. We are not to press a meaning into each detail.

Also, there must be New Testament teaching for applications we make.

The purpose of types is not to teach doctrine, it is to provide a depth of understanding that does not always come to us when we read the bare statement of doctrine in the New Testament. A richness of perception comes to us when we read of Noah and his family being saved in the ark and employ this story as a picture of the Christian salvation.

Enumeration of the Seven Levitical Feasts

1. Passover—“In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover” (Leviticus 23:5).

2. Unleavened Bread—“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord: seven days you must eat unleavened bread” (Leviticus 23:6).

3. Firstfruits—“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you be come into the land that I give to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest” (Leviticus 23:10).

4. Pentecost—“And you shall count to you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even to the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meat offering to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:15,16).

The King James translation of the Scriptures uses the term “feast of weeks” or “feast of harvest” for what we would call the feast of Pentecost.

“Pentecost” is derived from a Greek word signifying the number fifty. The feast of Weeks, of Pentecost, is celebrated fifty days from the feast of Firstfruits.

5. Trumpets—“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24).

6. Day of Atonement—“Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:27).

7. Tabernacles—“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:34).

Four Areas of Interpretation of the Feasts of the Lord

There are at least four areas of interpretation of the seven feasts of Israel:

The Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The redemption of the believer.
The perfecting of the Church, the Body of Christ.
The setting up of the Kingdom of God on the earth.

Although there are many points in common among these four areas of interpretation it may be helpful to look at them separately.

The Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ

It will require the next several thousand years in order for us to begin to understand a fraction of the grandeur, the authority, the power, the love, the holiness, the beauty, the wisdom, the knowledge, the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus—the living Word of the Father from eternity.

All the types of the Scripture add to our understanding of the greatness of Christ, of His love, of His work of atonement and redemption on the cross, of the unlimited authority and power of His endless and indestructible resurrection life.

Truly, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, and he who has seen Christ has seen the Father. The Father has given of Himself without measure to the Son.

The Redemption of the Believer

The fact that there were seven feasts reveals to us an important aspect of the plan of salvation. It shows that the redemption in and through the Lord Jesus Christ is a perfect work. Salvation has a specific beginning, a specific process and program, and a specific fulfillment, maturing, completion.

No part of the Divine redemption has been left to chance or to our own ideas or creativity. Redemption is of God through Christ from start to finish. Christ is the “Alpha” and the “Omega.” Christ finishes what He starts. Christ is the Author and the Finisher of our faith.

Salvation commences with our Passover experience, when we accept the blood of the Lamb of God. By faith we sprinkle that blood on our own life and on our household as the protection against the judgments of the Lord God. The blood of the Passover is our covering when the Lord “passes over” and strikes the gods of the present evil world.

Salvation is brought to completion as we enter the fullness of the indwelling of the Father and the Son through the fullness of the Holy Spirit, as Paul prayed (Ephesians 3:19).

The beginning of our salvation is of God, the completion is of God, and all the experiences and workings are of God. Salvation is the Divine plan of redemption through Christ.

When we state the fullness of salvation is portrayed by the feast of Tabernacles we are not claiming we cannot grow in Christ after that. It seems we shall grow in the image of Christ for eternity as we stand before the Throne of God Almighty, behold His glorious face, and serve Him throughout His creation.

By teaching that the Christian salvation has a specific beginning and ending we mean the Divine plan of redemption takes us where we are, in chaos of spirit, soul, and body and brings us all the way to the fullness of the image of God, and to reconciliation and union with the Father through Christ.

If we follow on to know the Lord the point will be reached where we are reconciled perfectly to God in spirit, in soul, and in body.

The Perfecting of the Church

The third area of interpretation of the seven feasts of the Lord is that of the growth to maturity of the Body of Christ.

The Christian Church commences as relatively loose groups of believers in Christ. It comes to maturity as the new Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb.

The seven feasts portray in symbolic form the development of the Body of Christ from undisciplined groups of believers into the army of the Lord. The army of the Lord will be revealed with Christ at His appearing, bringing judgment and deliverance to the nations of the earth.

The Setting Up of the Kingdom of God

The fourth way in which we can interpret the seven feasts concerns the setting up of the Kingdom of God on the earth.

The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary was the great kingdom-wide act of God in which the legal basis for the Kingdom was established. At the cross the price of redemption was paid for all people, although some reject God’s salvation and are lost to God’s purposes as a result.

The authority of judgment and the ownership of the earth and its peoples were given to Christ, being purchased by His blood. The mortgage was paid for every person, for every man, woman, boy, and girl on the earth. Whoever will choose to do so can now pass from the authority of Satan to the authority of Christ by receiving the blood of the cross by faith.

The seven feasts speak of the Lord Jesus, of the growth of the Christian disciples, of the perfecting of the Church, and of the setting up of the Kingdom of God on the earth.

The Lord Jesus began His work of redemption as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When God is finished, Christ will be seated on His throne in Jerusalem.

The Christian begins on the cross with Christ. When God is finished, the Christian will be one in the Father and the Son, being filled with the love and the Glory of God.

The Church comes into being as Christ is born in the hearts of the believers. When God Almighty has completed His work, the Church will be the holy city, the Bride of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem.

The Kingdom of God was preached by Christ for three years but actually began when Christ rose from the dead. When God proclaims “It is done” there will be a new heaven and a new earth and sin no longer will keep the saved people in bondage.

Christ in His Church shall rule, under God, to the ages of ages, world without end.

(“Pressing Past Pentecost: One”, 4046-1)