Read Deut. 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. 3:17; Gal. 4:1-7; Eph. 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 2:42-47: “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.