IF you will refer to Leviticus 23. you will there find a beautiful and instructive type of what is given us in Acts 2 The seven Feasts of the Lord there given are the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Wave Sheaf, and the Two Wave Loaves: the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The first four teach lessons every Christian should learn, and must enter into if he is to be intelligent. The last three relate only to future Jewish history—the Feast of Trumpets typifying Israel being waked up to seek the Lord; the Day of Atonement their individual repentance before God (see Zech. 12:10-1410And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zechariah 12:10‑14)); and the Feast of Tabernacles their future national glory. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread go together, and are full of instruction for us. The first is the type of the death of Christ—the blood being put upon the lintel and the door-posts—that shelters the soul from the righteous judgment of God. The unleavened bread is the holy separate walk that should characterize those who are sheltered by the blood of Christ. The wave sheaf and the two wave loaves go also together, one indicating Christ, and the other the Church.
What then is the Wave Sheaf? Christ, risen and accepted before God for us—it could not be anything else. We read: “When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Lev. 23:10, 1110Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:10‑11)). The full harvest was coming on, but God gets the first-fruits of it. God gets a great deal more out of the death and resurrection of Christ than we. We get a great deal, but God has infinitely more. “And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (vs. 14).
If we clearly see what God has found in Christ, then we understand much better what we ourselves find in Him, for the greater includes the less. If all the claims of God in righteousness are divinely met and He infinitely glorified in Christ’s death, how much more easily are all the needs of my conscience and heart met? The reason why many believers today are in uncertainty as to forgiveness, salvation, and acceptance, is because they do not see what the death of Christ has effected for God. Following our type, observe what occurred, on “the morrow after the Sabbath,” in which Christ lay in the grave. The priest brought the Wave Sheaf to be accepted for Israel, but when the priest was waving the sheaf, what had taken place? “At the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” the blessed Lord rose triumphant from the tomb, having accomplished the glorious work of redemption. His was “resurrection from among the dead,” the pattern and type of His people’s resurrection. That very morning the true Wave Sheaf had risen from among the dead, “become the first-fruits of them that sleep” (1 Cor. 15:2020But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20)), and had said to Mary Magdalene, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:1717Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17)). That Wave Sheaf was accepted for us who believe, hence we read: “He hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)). What is the acceptance of a Christian? It is the acceptance before God which now is Christ’s—no less, and it could not be more.
What a wonderful thing that the believer stands before God in association with the Man that is alive from the dead. Just before His death, He said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)). He was the unique, solitary corn of wheat, the only sinless Man that ever lived in this world. He went into death, met all God’s claims, and annulled Satan’s power, hence, regarding His Assembly, could say to Peter, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Satan was vanquished. He who was the Son of the living God, by undergoing death, abolished it. But Christ is risen from the dead, death is annulled, He is now the risen victorious Man at God’s right hand, and we are accepted in Him. That is the teaching of the Wave Sheaf.
With the Wave Sheaf there were certain offerings to be presented, viz., the Burnt Offering, which prefigured the devotedness of Jesus, Godward, even to death; and the Meat Offering, which denotes the devotedness of His life in all its perfection for God. He appreciated all the beauty of the life of Jesus, and all the devotedness of His heart, even unto death: they were sweet savor offerings that all went up to God. Note carefully that there was no Sin Offering and no Peace Offering—which is the basis of communion—offered with the Wave Sheaf, because it represents Christ personally, who “did no sin,” and never was out of communion with God.
Now look at the Wave Loaves: “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord” (Lev. 23:15, 1615And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15‑16)). There we reach the day of Pentecost, which is the fiftieth day after the waving of the sheaf of first-fruits. Then we read: “Ye shall bring out of your habitation two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord” (vs. 17). Here we have in type the day of Pentecost, and what originated then. There was a new meat offering of two wave loaves baken with leaven. In Acts 2 we have the antitype—God’s people gathered together by the Holy Ghost, and presented before Him in connection with all the preciousness of Christ in life, death, and resurrection. The Passover is His death; the wave sheaf His resurrection; the two wave loaves bakers on the fiftieth day—the Holy Ghost forming the Church of God.
But why two loaves? There are not two Churches of God on earth—the Jewish and the Gentile. The very fact of there being two loaves—not one—is remarkable. The mystery of the Church was hidden, and this type does not reveal the secret, which could not come out till Christ had died, risen, and gone on high. Then the “one loaf” is plain enough. Hence I judge it does not typify Jew and Gentile Churches, as some have thought. When God demands witness, His regular way is “two” witnesses. Christ was risen—the wave sheaf. Christians—the two wave loaves—are competent witnesses of the power of His resurrection. We must not forget that the truth of the Church was “kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets (of the New Testament), according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25, 2625Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: (Romans 16:25‑26)). Again, we read of “the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:99And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:9)). Further, Paul tells us of “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:26, 2726Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:26‑27)). Hence we do not find the full truth of the mystery in our type—it was hidden.
The thought of the “two loaves” then, I judge, is competent testimony—God would have a real, true testimony to what Christ was and had accomplished. The two loaves were a testimony that there had been a harvest, and God had already got the first-fruits, for on the day of Pentecost “Christ, risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:2020But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20)), was before Him in heavenly glory. These two loaves are then presented before the Lord. They are composed of very different elements—fine flour baken with leaven. The “fine flour” is the figure or the blessed holy humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the even expression of all perfections in a sinless Man. The “leaven” expresses what we are by nature, corrupt and corrupting. “They shall be baken with leaven; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord,” is a wonderful statement. The Wave Sheaf—Christ—was first-fruits, and now it is the two loaves that are first-fruits. The figure of the “fine flour” brings all that is connected with the holiness of Christ as a Man before the eye, and both the Christian individually and the Church collectively stand before God in all the value and acceptability of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why, then, was there leaven in this new meat-offering? Elsewhere we read, “No meat-offering, which ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven; for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire” (Lev. 2:1111No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire. (Leviticus 2:11)). Leaven symbolizes the evil of nature, and honey the sweetness of nature. Neither will do for God. There is nothing in you and me that will do for God. It is only Christ that will do for God. Why then do we find the leaven here? Because, though you may be born of the Spirit, washed from your sins by the blood of the Son of God, and sealed by the Holy Ghost, there is still the evil of the flesh in you. You have a new nature as born of God, but you still have the old nature in you; hence the opposition of the two which every one born anew is conscious of (see Rom. 7:14-2514For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:14‑25)). Two natures are in the Christian; one craving evil and the indulgence of self; the other loving Christ and delighting in the will of God. But is the flesh always to work? No; for we have received the Spirit that we might not do the things that we would (Gal. 5:1717For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17); see also vers. 24, 25).
Leaven, in Scripture, be it observed, is always a figure of evil. I know people have tried to make out that it means good; but that is twisting Scripture. It is only and always evil. In the parable in Matthew 13 the woman hides leaven in three measures of meal. That is not the gospel converting the world, as many teach, but the solemn fact that professing Christianity which God set up pure has been all corrupted, for leaven implies what is evil there, as elsewhere in Scripture.
Evil is in every believer but knowing that Christ has been judged for his sin, he judges it in himself and refuses it. Sin is recognized by God as in me, but it is not supposed to work. The existence of sin in the Christian does not give a bad conscience; that comes if we allow it to work. The good conscience is gotten by the cleansing power of the blood of Christ; and that is hinted at in our type, as we read: “Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings” (vs. 19). Where you have, in figure, the Church presented before God in all the perfections of Christ, though in the believer the existence of evil is recognized, you have the one goat for a sin offering. God recognizes the fact that evil is in the believer; but it is supposed not to work, and its presence is met by the blood of the sin offering. There is no imputation of sin whatever; but you are before God in all the value of the work of Christ. The two lambs of the peace offering provide the basis of communion and worship. You cannot make too much of Christ, and what He is. Consequently we are told: “The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest” (vs. 20).
Having learned the meaning of the type, let us now see its blessed fulfillment in the antitype as given in Acts 1 and 2. There Christ is risen from the dead, gone into heaven, God accepts Him for His people, and the Holy Ghost conies down and falls on the one hundred and twenty gathered believers, and then adds to them three thousand new-born souls, and thus that day for the first time was constituted the Assembly of God. The start of the Church is intensely interesting, as showing how the saints were drawn together. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:11And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (Acts 2:1)). The nucleus of the Church was small indeed, but from that day a deeper and larger work was to go on, in which Christ is to see of the travail of His soul His Assembly by the descent of the Spirit of God was formed; and therefore, again, I say assuredly that the day of Pentecost was the birthday of the Church of God, because it had never existed before. From Abel downwards individual saints and servants of God had existed, but they were not in the Church. John the Baptist, and the thief on the cross, died before the Lord Jesus was risen to be the Head of it, or any one could be united to Him. It was due to Christ, who had so glorified God in death, that there should be an adequate answer to His sorrows and sufferings; and He finds that answer in the Assembly, which is His body, as she is also His Bride, the New Jerusalem.
It is a wonderful thing to be part of Christ’s Assembly. The unconverted are not. If you are a mere professor or confessor of Christ, and possibly a so-called “Church member,” but yet in your sins, you arc outside all this. But if you are a Christian, born of the Spirit, redeemed and cleansed by the blood of Christ, and indwelt of the Spirit, you are in Christ before God, and a member of His body on earth. What a lift to the soul it is, and what a sense of favor it obtains when it can truly say, I am accepted in Him—God sees me in Him—I am part of His Bride so dear to His heart.
Scripture is full of types of this blessed truth of the Bride. Eve was the helpmeet of Adam; think of the Assembly as Christ’s helpmeet. Rebecca was in figure the object of the Father’s choice; the subject of the Holy Ghost’s care, as the nameless servant carried her across the desert; and the object of Isaac’s love—for “she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (Gen. 24:6767And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. (Genesis 24:67)). What a wonderful thing to see the Church as the helpmeet and comfort of Christ, and may I not say what wondrous favor that you and I should be part of the Church?
In Acts 2 we get the kernel of Christianity; the Holy Ghost came down from an ascended Christ in glory to unite to Him and to one another all that believe in Him. They are also living stones in the building which Christ builds. God made the presence of His spirit very manifest in both its corporate and individual aspects, when “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house’ where they were sitting... and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (vers. 2-4). Christianity consists in the individual possession, and the corporate indwelling of the ever abiding blessed Spirit of Truth.
W. T. P. W.