The second feast of the Lord is Unleavened Bread. The second furnishing of the Tabernacle was the Laver. The second day of creation was the dividing of the waters by means of the firmament of heaven. The second stage of Israel's journey was the crossing of the Red Sea.

When we accept Christ we must put away the leaven of malice and wickedness in which we lived while part of the world spirit. Another figure is that of circumcision. For us to be part of God's Israel we must be willing for God to cut away the fleshly impulses of our heart. We must experience a circumcision of the heart if we are to enter God's covenant.

The Laver speaks of our death and resurrection in water baptism and also of the washing of our personality by the Word of God. When we go down into the water of baptism we are entering the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

As we read the Scriptures the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. Then we are to confess our sin so that God may forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is a continuing program by which we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb.

The dividing of the waters portrays what happens to us when we receive Christ. Heaven in the form of Jesus Christ enters our personality. Heaven divides between our spiritual life and the carnal, animal life of our soul and flesh. The unsaved person is one chaotic mass in terms of the Divine redemption. The individual who receives Christ enters the separating of the carnal and the spiritual, thus making him or her, for a season, a divided personality.

This is why Christian people often act in foolish ways when compared with a disciplined worldly person. We sometimes find more competence in professional people who are unconverted than we do in Christian professionals.

When you tear down a machine in order to rebuild it you lose the use of the machine for a season. So it is that we Christians are being taken apart that we may be reassembled in time to come. And so we often behave in a silly, undisciplined manner.

Christians are usually decent people but we must remember that a division has taken place in our personality. We must be careful we do not fall into a gap of lawlessness in which we are under neither the Law of Moses nor the law of the Spirit of Life.

A baptism of fire is near for us Christians. When it happens to you, hold on. God is ready to bring you to a higher position in the program of redemption.

The new Christian must go through the Red Sea, so to speak. Jesus Christ is holding back the waters of death so you may pass through safely. When the water closes, Satan, who is trying to follow you, will drown so to speak. What comes up on the other side is the beginning of a new personality.

To be continued.