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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The First Four Feasts, #23
Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. (Matthew 13:33)
A little leaven will work in a loaf of bread until the whole has been affected and rises into the shape and texture the baker desires. When we first come to Christ a Piece of Him is placed in our nature (Luke 8:15). As we move along in our discipleship we come into situations where it seems we are surrounded by never-ending problems and getting nowhere. Yet, though we are not always aware of it, the Substance of Christ is working as leaven in us and governing the "shape and texture" of the new creation being formed in us.
Some scholars teach that the leaven in the waves loaves of the feast of Weeks typifies the fact that there still is sin in Christians even though we have been filled with the Spirit of God. This is true and is, we believe, a proper application of the type. The sin which is in us is not purged from us until we pass through the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, which comes after the feast of Pentecost.
There are two leavens at work in the Spirit-filled Christian. The leaven of sin still is present and the leaven of Christ is present. It is the responsibility of the believer to make sure that the leaven of Christ is nurtured and that the leaven of sin is put to death by the Spirit of God. Our eternal destiny depends on our diligence in supporting the leaven of Christ and, through His Spirit, destroying the leaven of sin.
The two wave loaves of the feast of Pentecost represent the Church of Christ, which is a firstfruits to God of the harvest of the earth. The loaves are two in number because the Church will receive a double portion of His power and glory before the Lord returns, as symbolized by the two golden lampstands of the Book of Revelation (Joel 2:23-32; Revelation 11:3).
The resurrected Christ is the first of the firstfruits. Then follows the Church, which is His Body. The Body of Christ is leavened with Himself. Next will come the "nations of them that are saved" (Revelation 21:24). This pattern is revealed in the three areas of the Tabernacle of the Congregation: the Most Holy Place, the Holy Place, and the Courtyard.
There also is a "firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb," a "Tabernacle of David," that is being born through the travail of the Church in the present hour (Acts 15:16; Revelation 12:5 and 14:4). The holy remnant is associated with the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle, according to our understanding.
To be continued.