Read Deut. 16:1-181Observe 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. 2Thou 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. 3Thou 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. 4And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. 5Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee: 6But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. 7And 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. 8Six 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. 9Seven 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. 10And 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: 11And 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. 12And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. 13Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: 14And 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. 15Seven 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. 16Three 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: 17Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee. 18Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. (Deuteronomy 16:1‑18).
The great purpose of God is to gather a people around Himself for blessing.
These feasts are the witness of this. They had all to go up to a certain place three times in the year, but the object was that, as God’s people, they might be around Himself for blessing. God is, so to speak, sufficient for Himself. He needs nothing else to make Him happy but he wishes to make others taste of His happiness and blessedness. At the tabernacle or temple this was the thing declared.
By turning to Exod. 19:45, 46, we see the reason why He made them set up the tabernacle— “That I may dwell among them.” They were saved when the Egyptians were slain; they were emancipated from Egypt when Pharaoh and his army perished. But what consummated their happiness was, that they had God to dwell amongst them, and be their God. This the Church will fully enjoy in the coming glory. Now we know it in spirit and by faith. God’s children are redeemed that they may gather around Him, and that He may make them happy in connection with Himself.
These three feasts here mentioned have each a different character which applies to the varied experience of our souls. They mark the three great paths in our journey.
They are, 1st, The Passover; 2dly, The Feast of first-fruits; and 3rdly, Tabernacles.
The feast of tabernacles has never yet had any anti-type. The other two have. Christ slain on the cross for us answers to the passover. The resurrection of Christ, the first of first-fruits, and day of Pentecost answer to the feast of first-fruits. Israel was to keep the feast of tabernacles in the land, but to find their rest it will have its great celebration in the coming age. The Church will keep it in glory, and the Holy Ghost now gives our souls the savor and joy of that day of Sabbatic rest and eternal glory. In all these feasts the one great circumstance was, they had to go to God; and so is it now with us, for whether it be the redemption of Christ, or the Holy Ghost, or glory, all must take our souls to God. We now turn to look at the specific character of each feast.
1st, THE PASSOVER. —The first thought is what we are brought from, not what we are brought to. So long as we look at Christ’s death as merely saving us from destruction, it will be only like Lot escaping for his life, It is no doubt a great thing to see ourselves snatched from hell and destruction, and in the sense of this, though with awakened confidence in God’s love, we must first come, but this is not the great end of God in saving us. We are to pass on to know His love, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this leads the soul into communion. We can never lose sight of the value of the blood. This is impossible; but I may look at the blood either with the eyes of God, as it were, or with the eyes of man. When it is the latter, I view it with the sense of mere need; then this need being satisfied, I may just rest in what I have got, without much communion with God about its value. Mere need was the first thing with the Jew in Egypt. In the darkness and dead of night the angel was doing his awful work of destruction, and the sprinkled blood pleaded for him.
In this state he was led out of Egypt. “The Lord brought thee out by night.” The light of day had not yet broken upon him, but still he was safe. Man’s need being the character of this feast, it is not characterized by communion, the Jew who kept the passover turned in the morning and went to his tent.
But this feast was also to be kept “with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” As cleansed by the blood, they were to put away all uncleanness from their dwellings. To be holy, we must mortify the flesh and deny its cravings, and holiness has the character of an obligation, a necessity; and so it is. As a mere necessity it is not pleasant.
Another thing in this feast is that they knew God only in the character of a Judge. Of course His own love had directed them to the blood, but still the character in which He is seen is that of a Judge. The blood then stands between them and God. They are sheltered by it; He passes over them.
So is it when we first look at the cross. We see God as a Judge executing the sentence on the head of Christ. This surely teaches us that we are not to be destroyed. This is a great thing, but it is not the full joy of the Christian. To keep God out is not our full blessing. The first thing that brings the soul to Christ is its need. We may know very little about Him, but we know none but Christ can save us. At first we cannot look at Him as a precious object to discover and delight in its properties, but as a starving man would look at food which his hunger forces him to eat.
2. FIRST-FRUITS FEAST. —This feast is the consequence of the former. The resurrection of Jesus follows on, and in one sense results from, His death on the Cross. By this the soul gets into its true place—it gets into liberty, This is intimately connected with the presence of the Holy Ghost. By this the soul is set at liberty (see 2 Cor. 3:1717Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17); Gal. 4:1-71Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:1‑7); Eph. 1:13,1413In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13‑14)).
Here, too, for we enjoy this by the Holy Ghost, the soul is led out into thanksgiving and praise, and beyond its own wants to think of and minister to the wants of those around. The soul now walks in a large place; they are here in the presence of God. No question now about sin. They are out from Pharaoh and in with God.
They keep the feast with a tribute of a free-will offering. Love constrains: the fatherless, the widow, and all have their portion here. They were all made happy by the outgoings of this full joy, which God had diffused around Himself and His people.
This has its antitype in the Church, and is displayed in Acts 2:42-4742And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:42‑47): “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them daily such as should be saved.” Along with “gladness and singleness of heart, praising God,” the tribute of a freewill offering, “they had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all as every man had need.” “The love of Christ constraineth us,” is the great motive for Christian liberality and devotedness. This is based upon redemption, but effected by the Holy Ghost. But in the height of all this joy they would never forget that they had been in Egypt (see ver. 12.) If we can minister to others we must do it in the remembrance that we had been in Egypt, and that God has brought us out of it.
The next thing is watchfulness. Joy in the saint often leads to weakness—it should always lead to worship. But diligent obedience is the fruit of 4 the presence and operation of the Holy Ghost, as well as praise, and love to others. Here joy was according as they were blessed.
3rd. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. —This takes us on beyond the Holy Ghost’s presence in the Church to the day of glory. Then there is no watchfulness, no doing—God has blessed them in all the works of their hands; therefore, they were to rejoice in this feast; this is the moment the Church looks for, it cannot rest short of this It has joy and peace as its present portion, but it looks for more, and all its expectations shall be satisfied, for at last we shall find ourselves in glory. God will reap his harvest, and when He gathers in all His corn and wine, then there will be full and eternal joy. But we know the things that are freely granted us of God now. We may note these three things:
1st, The soul is redeemed; 2nd, It has full liberty; 3rd, It looks out for that full rest in glory that is coming.
The more I know of God, the more joy I’ll find in Him, and the less I’ll be able to find in the world. We see this in our blessed Master, and we will be like Him. God will bring in a rest and a glory worthy of the blesser. It is Himself He has to satisfy, and in the end everything will fully answer to His own boundless desires. In conclusion, I would ask, beloved friends, where are our hearts now? Can I say not only that I am brought out of Egypt, but have also passed into the joy of the feast of firstfruits, and in what measure; and, besides, that I am now daily looking out for all that glory that is fast approaching!
What God looks forward to is to have us around Himself, not merely saved, but in His own house; just like the prodigal’s father—he makes a feast, and says, “Let us be merry,” when he gets his poor lost son home. There is an hour coming when there will be nothing but festal joy in our Father’s house. May we all long more for it. Then will be the true feast of tabernacles for us while the world itself will have rest in that day.
—M.S. Notes of a Lecture.