The Feasts of Jehovah

… Those of you who come regularly to Mount Pleasant Hall use the best hymn book I've ever come across and that's the book we're going to use tonight. There are so many hymns appropriate to what I feel I should say this week that it was difficult to select a few to use. Many of them convey the very words that I feel I should use in explaining some of the things we are going to consider. And our first hymn certainly ranks among that list, hymn number 46. Lord, we treasure with affection all thy path of sorrow here, and those closing scenes of anguish to our hearts thyself endear. Deep thy sorrow then, Lord Jesus, deeper far than thought can reach, grief intense and sufferings holy, far beyond all tongues to teach. None could follow there, blessed Savior, when thou didst for sins atone, for those sufferings deep unfathomed were, Lord Jesus, thine alone. Thou didst measure then sin's distance, darkness, wrath, and curse were thine, man betrayed by God forsaken, thus we learn thy love divine. Number 46. Would you turn please to the first epistle of Peter in chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And then in the Old Testament, Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus 23 verse 1, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation. Ye shall do no work therein, it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. And lastly, Psalm 22, Psalm 22 and verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. And in the night season, and I'm not silent, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were delivered. They trusted in thee and were not confounded. But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All they that see me, lot me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him, let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have come past me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have come past me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord, for my strength hast thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth. The major burden of the week is to get a better understanding of what we are intended to learn from the feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23. And the first thing that strikes the mind as we read Leviticus 23 is that before the detail of the feasts is entered into, we get a reference to the Sabbath of rest, to which the scriptures look on, to which God himself is working towards. God has made it plain that he has worked, as the Lord Jesus said, the Father worketh hitherto, and I work, the Lord said, of his own activities, with the view that there shall be a day and a time when God shall be at rest from the work that he has done, and he shall consider the works of his hands, and he will be satisfied. He will be content. That end to which he is working will have been arrived at. And if we are to get the gain of the feasts unto the Lord, we will do well if we consider just a little of the end to which God is working and the means that he uses to achieve that end. We have read that verse from 1 Peter 1, that global statement that tells us that salvation in the fullest sense of the term involves the consideration and all that's involved in the sufferings of the Christ and the glory that should follow. And before we go into the details of the seven feasts, I thought it would do well if we read Psalm 22, which will condition our minds and will let us see whether or not the conclusions that we arrive at by the exercise of a little spiritual judgment are valid according to Scripture. So my initial proposition is that in Psalm 22 we have a declaration of the end to which God is working and the means and the basis upon which all that will rest. And so we turn to Psalm 22. I have read the first twenty and a half verses, which plainly, from the text as read, give us the detail, the harrowing detail, of the sufferings of Christ at Calvary. And let us be clear straight away, everything that God is aiming to do, all the blessing that God is aiming to bring in, all the justice that God will eventually apply is on the basis of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The hymn writer summed up the situation for most of us when we trusted the Saviour, trembling we had hoped for mercy, some lone place within the door. Happy would we have been if that was all there was to it. But as the Lord has led us on, whether for two months or eighty years, increasingly day by day we learn from the Scriptures in the power of the Spirit, there was far more to God's master plan, the purpose of God, than my blessing. The glory of his name, the glory of Christ, bringing into blessing, in many spheres of different companies, as we shall hope to see, all resting upon the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, tonight and other nights, we will be hoping to cover the scope of the Scriptures as read, with the intention that we can go away in the privacy of the Lord's presence and fill in the framework, fill in the detail, on the basis of the framework suggested. As we do that, we may well come to the conclusion that when we think about the sufferings of Christ, they fall into two main streams. Sufferings at the hand of men, sufferings at the hand of God. We do well to distinguish between them. When we read the Scriptures, we will assuredly find that the outcome of the Lord Jesus' suffering at the hands of men will ultimately lead to God acting in justice to the condemnation of man. But when we consider the sufferings of Christ at the hand of God, we shall find that the result is a display of the riches of the mercy of God, which shall end in the blessing of man. We shall further see that suffering at the hands of man, the Lord Jesus endured for righteousness. When he suffered at the hands of God, he suffered on account of sin. We do well in looking at the feasts unto the Lord, in seeing the wonderful sphere and scope of the blessing, to bear in mind that there could be no blessing unless Jesus had first suffered for sin at the hand of God. Now that is the presentation of truth in Psalm 22. We shall look at the scope of this, and then we shall pass on to the second half of the psalm. Psalm 22, then, and if you are wanting to equate this with the book of Leviticus, you may well want to consider that this is the psalm of the sin offering. This describes what it felt like for the Lord Jesus to suffer on account of sin at the hands of God. Deep suffering, indeed. And verses one to six, as we have them in our text, go into this very matter. What it felt like to the Lord Jesus to be alone, as we sing, alone, he bear the cross, alone, its grief sustained. But as we read the first six verses, we cannot escape this conclusion, that the one who is depicted here, the Lord Jesus himself, suffering at the hands of God on account of sin, is alone, uniquely alone, but submissive to his God, because this was the purpose for which he had come into the world, for which he had come into manhood. And after the cry of abandonment, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Here we are introduced into the holy cloister of the presence of the blessed God. When the perfect man in the days of his flesh, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, for the first time that we have on record, as the perfect, submissive, dependent man, he says, my God, my God, tremendous appellation. And then, why hast thou forsaken me, goes into the details of the extent of the suffering, which will bear further meditation, but in verse three he gives the answer. The reason is, thou art holy, thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. One of the most significant features of the suffering of the Lord Jesus is that he knew full well what it would involve for him. It is a mercy of God that we don't know what lies ahead for us. The Lord Jesus knew full well what lay ahead for him, which is why in the garden of Gethsemane, in anticipation of the starkness of the suffering, he said, as we know, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, notwithstanding, not my will, but thine be done. Consider, when you can, the first six verses, and you will see the utter submissiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tomorrow, if the Lord will, we shall look at the Passover. Why is it that a lamb is taken so often in the scriptures to depict the attitude of the Lord Jesus in allowing himself to be taken and crucified and slain? It is the submissiveness of the lamb that is most significant, and here in these first six verses, we have an account of that submissiveness. Now, briefly, verses 7 to 11, take account of the way that those who were round about him mocked him, scorned him, jeered at him, but how, nevertheless, he was completely unmoved, unswerving in his utter devotion to complete the task that had been given to him. Verse 7 down to 11, then, he's mocked for his devotion, but verses 9 and to 11 tell us that, notwithstanding all the mocking and the jeering, his confidence in his God was undisturbed. Now, verse 21, we get the detail of what it felt like for the Lord Jesus to be utterly surrounded by every kind of enemy. Notice, in this psalm, which tells us of the feelings of Christ, the sufferings of Christ at the hand of God, it nevertheless takes account of his response in his spirit to all the enemies round about, man and demon. If we look at verse 12, Bulls have compassed me. Verse 13, as a ravening and roaring lion. Verse 16, dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. Verse 20, my save, deliver my darling from the power of the dog. 21, save me from the lion's mouth. The thing I see in verse 12 is this. Bulls, ferocious, powerful, surrounding him, encircling him. I remember visiting a Christian farmer who breeds bulls, and he took me along with him into the pens where these young bulls were, and one of the staff had said, I think you'd better come and look at something here, something he wasn't sure about. And the foreman and the farmer went over the fence into where the bull was. And I had had it explained to me, but I observed and I noticed that they walked towards the bull and they engaged the bull by the eye. They looked into the eyes of the bull and they faced the bull all the time. They walked towards it, they got close to it to inspect it, and then when they saw what they needed to see and they came out of the pen, they retreated slowly, no sudden movements, again looking at the bull in the eye, and then climbed backwards over the fence. When they came out, they said, you will notice you never turn your back on a bull. It will immediately pounce on you and gore you. You can't do that if you're surrounded by bulls. It certainly seems to me that the bulls of Bergen encircling the Lord Jesus emphasizes that for him there was no escape, there was no way out. The suffering must needs be endured. But while the enemies round about thought that they were applying the pressure, thought that they were applying their judicial system, the mockery though it was, the real suffering, the real pressure, the real judgment, the real condemnation came from the mighty God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Every possible kind of enemy. There were the dogs of the Gentiles, there was the assembly of the wicked rulers of the Jews, there was the lion Satan himself trying to bring to an end the one who had come into the world for the glory of God and the blessing of man. We read that man in general is all his lifetime subject to bondage because of the fear of death. But that the Lord Jesus came into the world to annul the power of him who uses death to induce fear in man. The Lord Jesus with all enemies surrounding doesn't plead for deliverance from all these bulls and dogs and the assembly of the wicked or the lion in that particular sense. He was confronted by a greater one and he calls for deliverance from the very jaws of death. Now, in case there is any doubt as to what is intended from verses 13 down to 17, there is the most graphic description of death by crucifixion that there could ever be. Written a thousand years before it was the common mode of death for the lowest social order of criminal, for the most vile of crimes in the Roman Empire. The Spirit of God directed David in considering some of the enemies in his day when he was in difficulty to speak of things well beyond the compass of his own experience. Things that could only be true of the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice that while verses 13 to 17 tell us as to circumstances of what men did to him, the significant word is in verse 15, Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Man, in his wickedness of heart, took Jesus and nailed him to the tree. But God took that occasion to work a mightier work. The Lord Jesus had come into the world for the purpose that the claims of the holy God as to sin might be fully met. That he must needs plumb the depths before there could be any blessing at all. And the climax of that blessing, the climax of that suffering, is given in the last clause that I read. Save me from the lion's mouth. If there'd been time, which there isn't, I would have suggested that we sign at this stage hymn number 41. Perhaps if you look at it, pick your hymn books up, see the change in the mood. Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Saviour. Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord. That fits very well with the verses we've read. But we are going to look now at the rest of the psalm, which takes its character from the change of mood. Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph for his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose, he arose, hallelujah, Christ arose. The doctrine of the verse and chorus aren't entirely parallel with what we are considering, but the change of mood between verse and chorus is a very happy one. So in verse 15, men did it to him, but he accepted it in its greater significance at the hands of God. Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Verse 21, save me from the lion's mouth. There shouldn't really be the conjunction for there, it really reads, save me from the lion's mouth, thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. Death gave place to resurrection. God raised him from the dead and gave him glory. There are lovely verses which tell us that there was an answer now. And we can ask ourselves, why is it that in the earlier part of the psalm there was no answer? Why has thou forsaken me? The fathers previously, the patriarchs, had cried to God and been delivered. Why was the most devoted, godly man that ever lived on earth not delivered at the time of his deepest, darkest distress? It was because there was a work to be done, a transaction to be completed. Why then the answer, thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn? Because the work was done. The cry of the Lord Jesus in the gospels, it is finished. Again, in the original tongue, finished. It's done. As soon as the depths had been fully plumbed, as soon as the work was complete in answering to God on account of sin, God immediately raised him from the dead. We know he died according to the scriptures. He was buried. He lay in the grave and in answer to type, illustration, prophecy in the Old Testament, the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. Consider those verses in the gospels, John in particular, John 12, John 13. He had glorified God in the work that he did and God straightway glorified him. God was in a hurry. He was anxious when the work was completed, he was anxious to give his answer to the work that Christ had done in enduring not only the contradiction of sinners against himself, but suffering for sin at the hand of God. Now, let us turn again to the scriptures to verse 22. We shall be looking at some of the parallel effects as we go through the feasts, but we can take account of the scope of these verses. Verse 22, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. The term congregation, assembly, church is used occasionally in Old Testament, even the New, to tell us about things connected with the nation of Israel. May it just be I wouldn't quibble if you conclude that there are some respects in which David, if he had anything in mind at all in echoing these words, was thinking of the blessing and the praise of God and praise for God arising for blessing within the nation. But we know from the New Testament that as always the application goes further than the immediate circumstance of the psalm. We know from John 20 and from Hebrews 2 that the church of the living God, the church brought into being on the day of Pentecost, to which souls will be added until the moment of the rapture. That church is the body of Christ. That church which is designed and destined to be his bride, that building which is an habitation of God by the Spirit, the church of the living God, is at least alluded to here. The first and nearest and dearest circle of blessing arising from the sufferings of Christ, his death and resurrection, the first display of the glory that shall follow is in the sphere of the church. Encompassed in this little verse, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and he did, to Mary, on the first day of the week in resurrection. John 20 verse 17. Bear in mind there, when we think of the wonderful privilege of being built into this wonderful structure, the assembly of the living God, the church, bear in mind what the Lord Jesus said to Mary, Go and tell my brethren that I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Always rejoice that God is your Father, but never forget that your Father is God. The one who is the Holy One of Israel is ever the same, and enjoyment of the privilege of drawing near into the holiest carries with it the realization of the holiness of the one with whom we have to do. Certainly, the second part of the verse, in the midst of the assembly, I will sing praises unto thee, quoted from here in Hebrews chapter 2. Again, a tribute to the effectiveness of the result of the Lord Jesus in manhood, suffering unto death, and that the death of the cross in Hebrews chapter 2. Well, we'll leave that for the moment. Verses 23 to 26. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him, all ye the seed of Jacob. Verse 25, my praise shall be of thee in the great congregation, not the assembly, the church here. In these verses, 23 and 26, another concentric circle. Christ personally at the center, because he died and rose again, a circle on that center, the church nearest and dearest to him, concentric with that, a slightly wider sphere, the nation of Israel, ultimately to be brought into blessing again. Because Jesus died and rose again, as we shall see in the feasts. Verse 27, down to the end. The blessing on earth that shall be the portion of the nation of Israel, when they are in the good of the death and resurrection of Christ, made good to them in the grace of God. The blessing shall be experienced universally throughout the length and breadth of every land. The knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Israel administering the blessing on earth on behalf of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Reaching out to the saved among the nations. This is one of the scriptures which affirms that the church is distinct from Israel, is distinct from nations ultimately brought into blessing. This one little verse expanded from verse 22 into the New Testament epistles, filling out that which concerns Christ and the church. Christ, the King of Israel, verses 23 to 26. Worldwide, not only as son of God, as to the church, son of David, as to Israel, son of man, as to the ends of the world. We shall see, if the Lord will, that everything will be in proper balance, supply and demand. Peace, plenty, prosperity throughout the earth because God's man is in control. All brought into blessing. Church, Israel, the Gentile nations. All intelligently in the realization that they owe their blessing, they owe their position to that which Christ has done. What a happy end to the psalm. They shall come, yes, they'll come to Jerusalem. Every nation will send its ambassador, its representatives, to the nation of Israel, to the city of Jerusalem. Where they will be trained in order that when they go back to their home countries, they can administrate in accordance with that which is defined by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And all, having come, shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born. This condition will last for a thousand years, the world to come, the millennium. Throughout that millennial age, all the blessing shall be enjoyed in the realization that it's all owed to the one who must needs cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Again, as on the cross, the Lord Jesus said, it is finished. So here, tribute is given to the worthiness of the one who has done the work in order that blessing might result. As we look into the feasts unto Jehovah, we shall see that we must need commence with a sober meditation on the death of Christ and the consequent upon his personal resurrection. There are those who are brought into wonderful blessing and so feel it in their hearts that they offer to him and through him to the blessed God that adequate response for all that the mighty God has done. That there shall eventually be that Sabbath of rest for the God, the spring and source of every blessing, our part to enjoy in foretaste and intelligently by the Spirit the significance of that which God is going to do. We're going to sing one last hymn now, which will put some of these things together. Hymn number 39. It takes account of the present position of the Lord Jesus. On his Father's throne is seated Christ the Lord, the living one. All his toil on earth completed, all his work for sinners done. In the glory see him, God's eternal son. Every knee shall bow before him. Son of man, in new creation, leader of a chosen race. Well may glory crown him in the ordered place. Number 39. In the glory see him, God's eternal son. Every knee shall bow before him. Every tongue confess his name. Ransomed, myriads shall adore him, who endured the sin of shame. From the glory, from the glory, from death now neverthrown. …

… I propose to read them straight away and then work through some of them during the course of the meeting. The first one is Exodus chapter 12 and verse 1. Exodus chapter 12 beginning at verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man, according to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleaven bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Now there are several verses following, detailing the implementation of seven days eating unleavened bread. And then we come to verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, Draw out, and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover. He then outlined the instructions as given him by God. And then verse 28, And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Verse 40, Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing them out from the land of Egypt, this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. Would you turn, please, to the next book, the book of Leviticus, and chapter 23. Verse 4, These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month, at even, is the Lord's Passover, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord. Seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. In the seventh day is an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein. Next book, the book of Numbers, chapter 9. This one, And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year, after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season, according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it. Next book, Deuteronomy, chapter 16. This one, Observe 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. Thou 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. And then verses 3 to 8, instructions repeated for the celebration of the feast of unleavened bread. The next book, the book of Joshua, chapter 5. Verse 10, And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, at even, in the plains of Jericho. The book of Ezra, chapter 6, and verse 19. The children of the captivity kept the Passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. And lastly, in the New Testament, first Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 7, purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Thank you for your patience, listening to those scriptures. There is really no substitute to allowing the word of God to saturate our mind and heart preparatory to meditating upon it. Each evening we shall consider a subject which in itself is self-contained, but obviously it is helpful if each of us can be present on as many occasions during the week as circumstances permit. We began last night by considering the motive in view in the feasts of the Lord, in that God is working towards a grand end, when he can have such a situation as he is satisfied dwelling amongst his people, and that all the blessing that shall be enjoyed, all the glory to his name, shall accrue because of the death and resurrection of Christ. We took account of the first three verses of Leviticus 23, and we looked at the scope and a little of the detail of Psalm 22. Tonight we turn to the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. It is no mere accident of circumstance that with a certain number of topics to consider and a certain number of evenings available, that we have to put some together. We have better reasons than that for grouping the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread together. In short, the Passover, instituted at the time of the deliverance of the earthly people of God, Israel, from the hand of their Egyptian oppressor, Pharaoh, to tell the people that the only way in which they could be delivered from that actual national bondage and slavery was to be redeemed by blood, the blood of the Passover lamb, God saw fit to demonstrate at the same time that that which began as a feast to celebrate redemption by blood, that this should go on to, it should blend with and become part of, as well as setting off in the remembrance, the memorial of that grand redemption by blood, that the people should be reminded that that which had brought them into initial blessing, initial deliverance from the hand of the oppressor, that that should blend into and become part of something that affected their lives all the time. This is why a one-day feast, the Passover, merges into, blends with, and initiates a seven-day feast, the feast of unleavened bread, no gap in between. As we've read, the Passover was on the fourteenth day of a month called Abed, one day, a specific feast, the Passover. The fourteenth day ends at sunset on the fourteenth day of the month, the fifteenth day commences with sunset on the fourteenth day, and from that point, another seven days run on continuously from the end of the fourteenth day, and so there was no gap in between. Let us straightaway make this an application to ourselves. It is not God's intention that trusting Jesus as our Saviour, knowing the forgiveness of sins, should be kept separately, apart from the rest of our lives. Just the reverse. Our faith in Christ, being cleansed by the blood of Christ, should mark and characterize the whole of our lives in every department of them. Now, we shall look at this as we go along, and first of all, we look at it in its own setting. The people had been under this bondage for four hundred and thirty years, under a hard taskmaster. There had been spasmodic attempts to liberate themselves, and they'd all failed. They knew that if they were to be delivered, something miraculous must occur. God's instruction comes to Moses, the time has arrived. These are the instructions. At the time that God had decided, the due time, the fourteenth, the tenth day of the first month, a lamb of the flock or a kid of the goats had to be taken on the tenth day of the month. Let us pause there. We tend to forget, or I tend to forget, that the animal that was taken for the sacrifice was a male of the first year, strong, fresh, vigorous, as often happens in the sacrifices and the offerings, a male is taken, not only as a picture of virility, but in order that the consistent picture presented in scripture might be followed through, that altogether apart from our needs, God's claims must be met, God's claims as to the sins of his people. And we are told either a kid of the goats or a lamb of the flock. I've often asked myself and others why it is that so often, almost exclusively after this, we read of the Passover lamb and not of the Passover goat. Why is it that so many of the prophets took up the figure of the lamb and so rarely took up the figure of the goat? Why was it that John Baptist, on that grand occasion, recorded in John's Gospel, chapter 1, about verse 29, said, Behold the Lamb of God, the bearer away of the sin of the world. Why didn't he say, Behold the goat of God that taketh away the sin of the world? It would have been equally valid. I have a lot of sympathy for the prophets who felt themselves led to take up the figure of the submissive lamb on so many occasions. Or a picture of the mighty God manifested in flesh, taking the lowly place, taking our place, in order that our sins might be dealt with before God once and for all. If there is a distinction that could be readily drawn between the lamb and the goat, perhaps we can say that the nimble goat is a picture of agility or ability, and the lamb is a picture of submissiveness. Brings to us the ready picture, presented in Scripture, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the antitypical Passover lamb or Passover goat, was not only able to save, but willing to save. And perhaps these two elements come out in the goat and in the lamb. It's something perhaps you might like to take away and think about. At all events, whether the goat or the lamb, taken on the tenth day of the month, subjected to the most intense scrutiny, is there any flaw? Is there any imperfection? Is the little animal lame? Is it blind in one eye? Is there a blemish in the flesh or the skin? Is there any medical condition that means it's less than perfect? If there were, the lamb or the kid had to be immediately discarded as unsuitable to represent the fact that only that which meets God's critical eye and scrutiny, as being completely flawless, would do as a picture of the sacrifice that God required to deal with sin. And then that four-day scrutiny, not only at the beginning of the period, but under critical eye for the four days, and then only when it was seen to be demonstrably perfect in every detail by the fourteenth day, it was fit to be taken as a picture of God's requirement as to sin. Taken, slain, the blood applied to the doorposts and the lintel so that those who were in the house could be seen to be sheltering under the power of that blood. How graphic the picture is. The people warned that God's messenger, God's angel of death, would pass over that evening and that if there was no blood sprinkled or applied to the doorposts and the lintel of the house, the firstborn would surely be slain. And we read that in every household in Israel, in the nation, they did exactly what Moses conveyed to them of the message of their God. And they were delivered. And every household in the land of Egypt, the Egyptians, the firstborn was slain. The judgment of God was applied where those within the household were not sheltering underneath the blood. As it was with the families of human beings, so it was with the families of the cattle. Well, the well-known picture which we pick up. But perhaps having read for brevity the first fourteen verses, and again I must leave to your meditation these beautiful ancillary details that the lamb being taken, the flesh was roast with fire, unleavened bread, bitter herbs with it, they had to do it in the remembrance of the bitter bondage that they had suffered as a nation for so long. It was done in proper balance, not raw, not sodden, but roast with fire, and so on. Verse eleven, your loins girded, ready for the journey, your shoes on your feet. Something to take away as to our mental, moral, spiritual alertness. I fear very much that we believers on the Lord Jesus Christ in this and other countries have the sharp edge of our spirituality blunted by the relative affluence in which we live. They had their loins girded, shoes on their feet, staff in their hand, ready for the journey, eating in haste, it is the Lord's Passover. Read this chapter through, and the others, and see how often it is said, it is the Lord's Passover, with this grand statement, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Well, even here, they were told that in the memorial of it, in the remembrance of it, year by year, they had to follow the Passover feast by seven days' feast of unleavened bread. The leaven had to be put away out of the houses, they had to examine all the houses, every room, make sure that leaven was excluded, they had to make sure that the bread that they baked had no leaven in that, and they had to make sure that having baked the unleavened bread, that that had to be their stable food for a week. We shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. And lastly, in Exodus 12, it is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt, this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. Now, it has been said in the notices that we shall be taking some account of the dispensational significance of these events. Now, that happened within the national confines of Israel. They actually were delivered from the oppressor Pharaoh in Egypt. They were delivered out of Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness. After 40 years, they were taken across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. So they had, as to their circumstances, they knew what it was to be in Egypt, they were going to know what it would be like in the wilderness, and apart from two of them, Caleb and Joshua, their descendants were going to know what it was like in the land of Canaan. Caleb and Joshua, as scripture tells us, are the only two who actually went into the Promised Land of those who left Egypt. Now, it's significant, even within the national confine of Israel, and we read the scriptures for it, we read in Exodus that they celebrated, first of all, the Passover in Egypt. We learned from Numbers chapter 9 that they celebrated the Passover in the wilderness. The instruction given in Deuteronomy, we call it, as having happened historically in the book of Joshua, they celebrated the memorial of the Lord's Passover in Canaan. Egypt, wilderness, and Canaan. Every phase of their actual geographical journey was marked by the remembrance of the Lord's Passover. It is a picture that there is a time coming on earth when the nation of Israel, who, because of their flagrant disobedience to God, instead of being at the head of the nations, are now at the tail, kicked about from pillar to post, that they will ultimately be in peace in the Promised Land, the land of Palestine. Now, many of them are there now, certainly not at peace, certainly not there as a result of dependence upon God or faith in him, but scripture affirms that there will be a time when the nation of Israel will be recovered, reinstated, and restored to the land of Palestine in dependence on God as a result of a great personal deliverance, God's intervention in person, in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. At a time in history which will be the most difficult, the most tragic, and the most painful and sorrowful for the nation of Israel, called indeed in scripture a day of Jacob's trouble, when it just seems that everything's on top of them, they're about to be annihilated, God will intervene in the person of Jesus, the Son of God, he will personally deliver them as Moses, typical of Christ, was enabled to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh, and they will be in the land, restored, reinstated, enjoying the blessing. That picture of the Passover lamb, slain, consumed in Egypt, and the blood applied to the doorposts and the lintel, scripture tells us, was looking forward to the time when Jesus, the Son of God, would come into the world and take upon himself the burden of the sins of the nation of Israel, and he would give due answer to the righteous requirements of God as to the sins of the nation of Israel, and then and only then would there be true national deliverance. Scripture says, Romans chapter 3, God was right in remitting the sins of the past, because all the time God was looking on and had in mind that when Christ came into the world he would die at Calvary and answer fully to God for every sin that the nation has dealt with. Because of the disobedience of the nation of Israel, coming to a climax in the rejection of the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came in his public ministry, when he was under that constant scrutiny from God and man for almost four years, maybe that's why the Passover lamb had to be scrutinized for four days, as a picture of the fact that the Lord Jesus was under public, under divine, under demoniacal scrutiny for almost four years and demonstrably sinless. Not a flaw in him could be found. As a result of his rejection by the nation of Israel, Jesus was crucified. He died. God raised him from the dead. God took him to heaven. God sent down the Holy Spirit, and on the day of Pentecost, as we shall see later in the week, the Church was formed. Those who at the present time, whatever their nationality, Jew or Gentile, those who trust Jesus as their Savior, are sheltering under the same blood that shall one day shelter the nation of Israel as such. Now, we've said the memorial of this was celebrated in the wilderness and in the land. We read in Ezra the account of a partial restoration when there was a small remnant of the nation responded to the permissive decree of Cyrus the Persian and went back to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. We read in Ezra 6, they celebrated the Passover, and we read that the Passover, having been celebrated, went on to the remembrance and the celebration of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. Whenever you get a proper remembrance, a proper celebration, a proper memorial of the Passover in Scripture, there is always linked with it, as flowing out of the celebration of the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. A reminder that while the Passover occupied one day per year, the full cycle of time had to be occupied with the reflection of what the Feast of Unleavened Bread speaks of. Now, let us turn to 1 Corinthians 5. We are on good ground in any type or figure in the Old Testament and applying it to Christianity when we see that the New Testament gives us the authority to do that. Corinth was in a bad way morally, and there is much that Paul the Apostle, in writing to them, has to criticize. And he starts with this statement in verse 6, which we didn't read, Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven. Consider this, the Apostle says, when you trusted Jesus as your Saviour, you are accepting that your old life isn't good enough for God. If your sins were to be dealt with once and for all, it could only be by believing that Jesus took your place, died for your sins, and that your old life, marked by sin and sinning, has come to an end as before God. God says, because Christ has died and you've trusted him as your Saviour, you are saying you're finished with the old life. Now, Paul says to the Corinthians, he says, purge out the old leaven. He says, be done with the old life. You accept that when Christ died for your sins, he died to bring to an end your old way of living as far as you were concerned. And he goes on to say, the life you live now, as a Christian, hasn't got to be marked by the kind of conduct or behavior or attitudes that used to mark you before you became a Christian. He says, you've got a new life within you. You've got new appetites, new food. And he said, have nothing to do with all the evil things that used to be true of you. It's a salutary lesson that the only contribution we made to the scheme of salvation was to commit the sins that made it necessary for Jesus to go to Calvary to die for our sins. And if we accept there's nothing we can do to merit God's favor, if we are to be saved, it's as a result of the grace of God, not as a result of our works. We are accepting, in fact, that our old life is only fit for condemnation, and before God, it came to an end when Christ died for our sins. We are subscribing to that in trusting Jesus as our Savior. Leaven, as always, a picture of evil. He says, purge out, therefore, the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. He says, the old life is finished, a new life has commenced, and he says, now think about that Passover lamb. He lifts it out of Exodus 12 and those other scriptures, and he says, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Well, there we have it, the authority to say, as well as showing us the basis on which Israel as a nation will ultimately be brought into blessing when the church dispensation is finished, it's a picture also of the fact that when Jesus died for us, he was dying in the same way as a substitute for you and me when he died at Calvary. Christ, our Passover, we've seen the similarity, taken, scrutinized, examined, proven to be without flaw. As the little hymn says, he only was good enough to pay the price of sin. He only was sinless. But then he comes on to this practical matter. Let us, therefore, keep the feast. That's the feast of unleavened bread. Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of mollusk and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now, it can be quickly said, it will take all our lives to prove it. Yes, he says, purge out the old leaven. Yes, he says, have nothing to do with evil. Galatians says, have nothing to do with evil doctrine. Corinthians here says, have nothing to do with evil behavior. It would be sad if we were Christians who became numb for what we don't do, or what we don't believe, or what we don't go along with. Yes, we should avoid all evil and every appearance of evil, that's true. But really that's the lesser side. We need to be marked by positive Christian virtues. Now, there are certain types or figures used in the Bible to tell us that apart from separating ourselves, dissociating ourselves from evil things and evil people, that we need, in a positive way, to be filling our minds, our souls, our hearts, our lives with good, positive things. People are more food conscious now than they've ever been. It's true, you know, what we eat forms us. Unless we have a balanced diet and the right kind of regular exercise, we won't be healthy people, naturally speaking. The Bible says it's even more important to have a balanced spiritual diet and the right kind of spiritual activity and exercise if we are to be healthy in our souls. Now, there are various figures taken up. There is the manna, there is the showbread, and there is the unleavened bread. Notice, it was important that they didn't eat unleavened bread. It was even more important that they did eat unleavened bread. Now, what does Scripture say about this? Scripture's consistent message is it's not a flight of fancy, it's not an academic mental exercise to say that the food which will do us most good in our souls is to feed on Christ, personally, who he is, the value of his work, the many offices that he fills, the various aspects of the work that he did at Calvary, that he's doing now, and that he will do in the future. And it is the Scriptures that tell us about Christ. It is not merely a harsh, rigorous discipline to say we should read something from the Scriptures every day, whether we are fit or unfit, whether we are busy or have a leisure day. There's no excuse for not taking in spiritual food every day. And the way we do it is to read all the Scriptures. That happy Scripture in Luke 24 tells us that in order for the Lord Jesus to tell the two on the road to Emmaus about himself in a comprehensive way, he had to draw from all the Scriptures. We need all the Scriptures regularly, in an unhurried way. How many times as children we've been told, don't bolt your food, take your time, chew it over, digest it properly, and then it will do you good. Well, the Scripture says, and I must leave this for your meditation now, Scripture says we mustn't be one-day Christians. If one day a week, for most of us, we can give up the whole of the day to one aspect of the Lord's work or another on the first day of the week, we should be doing something every day of the week to fit ourselves for whatever aspect of service comes along, but even better than that, in order that we can function as believers, our hearts being uplifted in praise and in worship of the blessed God. The only way in which we are fitted to function as a holy priesthood Godward and a royal priesthood manward is if our souls are filled with Christ. Now that will only be so if we spend time reading the Scriptures about him and the many offices that he fills. If we read about the Christian Church, if we read about how the blessing for the nation of Israel is distinct and different from the blessing of the Church, how that there will be a time when Gentile nations, as Gentile nations, are also brought into blessing. And to be able to distinguish, as the Bible does, between the Church, the Israel of God, nationally speaking, and the saved among the nations, will take a long time and much meditation, much prayer. And Scripture says, and we can only affirm, if we are to function right towards God in praise and in worship, if we are to live truly righteous lives to the pleasure of God, it can only be as those who day by day, every day of the week, feed our souls upon Christ in a positive way and fashion our lives according to him. Only then can it be said that things like sincerity and, in truth, features of the spiritual feast of unleavened bread might mark us day by day. Now, let us sing our closing hymn, 466, which will give us further cause for meditation on this matter of feeding upon Christ, feasting our souls upon him, and the way in which this will give us the wherewithal to be found well, pleasing to him. 466, O Lord of thee, we ne'er would tire. The new and living food can satisfy our heart's desire, and life is in thy blood. For this we are pressing onward still, and in this hope would be more subject to the Father's will, e'en now much more like thee. …

… I think I'll tell you my proposed plan of action for tonight, if action is the word. We are looking at the significance of the Feasts of the Lord detailed in Leviticus 23 this week. We've already considered the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We have considered that the Passover is the picture in the Old Testament of the fact that unless we believe that Jesus died for us, we haven't made a spiritual start and we don't have a spiritual life. We learned from the Feast of Unleavened Bread that if we have trusted Jesus as our Savior, if we do confess him as our Lord, it should not only be a matter of believing something that makes us go to church or a meeting one day a week, but it should affect the whole of our lives every day of every week. Not only in the sense of keeping clear of evil, but so filling our minds and our lives and our souls and our hearts with the Lord Jesus personally and the significance of all that he has done and is doing, and that in a positive way, in the spiritual sense, we have to feed upon him day by day. Now tonight we turn to two more feasts, the Feasts of Firstfruits and the Feast of Pentecost. Now what I propose to do is read a few scriptures, directly or indirectly, related to the Feast of Firstfruits, and then speak about them until about 7.30, and then read a few scriptures about the Feast of Pentecost, and then speak about them until it's time for the meeting to be closed, without closing hymn and prayer. So would you turn, please, to Leviticus chapter 23. The third book in the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, chapter 23. And verse 9, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye become 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, 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, and ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, and heal him without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meat offering thereof shall be two-tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour. And the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hen, and ye shall eat neither bread, nor porched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God. It shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27. As we read these New Testament scriptures, it's with the intention of translating into Christian terms the lessons that were given in that typical picture form in Leviticus 23 and other Old Testament scriptures. Matthew 27, verse 50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. The last chapter of Mark, chapter 16. Mark 16, verse 1. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him, and very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun, and they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen, he is not here, behold the place where they laid him. John's Gospel, chapter 12. I'm glad some of you are writing the scriptures down. None of us, or few of us, will have the mind that can take away all the things that are read. It would be good to follow them up later on. John 12, and verse 23. Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, 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. And lastly, 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. And verse 20. Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Verse 45. It is written, The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last, Adam, was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is natural is spiritual. The first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. I'm going to take the liberty, first of all, of assuming that we are all in the good of what we've gone into previously. In other words, we believe, as the New Testament scripture we read last night says, that Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. In other words, we believe that Christ died for our sins. And that we've realized that it is important to devote time regularly to seeing what the Bible says about the way we should live. And that we are looking for every opportunity of, as the scripture says, growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So I won't go back to that. I will also take the liberty, since I've read the various related scriptures, of not backtracking all the time to prove what I have to say. I will be making certain statements because the scriptures I've read give me the confidence, as before God, to say, this is the summary of what the Bible teaches about these things. Now, if I hurry too much, if it's not plain, if you don't quite agree with me, there's all the time in the world after the meeting ends, and we can discuss these things in conversation. But to make best use of the time available, I will summarize my conclusions. One of the reasons for saying last night that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are closely related, and the second one flows out of and takes character from the first, is in fact the structure of the text. Every now and again in the chapter there's a kind of punctuation which splits the chapter into major sections, and then in between that there are other ways of punctuating what is said in a subsidiary or a minor way. Now, there is a major beginning at the beginning of the Passover, and there is another major beginning in verse 9 which introduces the Feast of Firstfruits. There's a minor division between the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread that reinforces again that belief on Jesus as the one who's died for our sins is intended by God to bring about a real change in our lives. Likewise, when we come to tonight's two feasts, verse 9 is a major break. The Lord spake unto Moses saying, verse 23, starting the next major section, which we look at, if the Lord will, tomorrow night, and the Lord spake unto Moses. Now, where I finish reading for the first half of the meeting, end of verse 14, it doesn't make a major break like that. It gives a minor break, and what follows then is as closely related to the Feast of Firstfruits as the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to the Passover. So number one, the Passover leads into and becomes the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Number three, the Feast of Firstfruits leads into and merges with and becomes the Feast of Pentecost, number four, which takes its character from number three. So we have two pairs, and we are looking at the second pair tonight. Now, from the scriptures that have been read, it's very plain indeed that the major lesson in the Feast of Firstfruits is this. Jesus, who went to Calvary to die for our sins, didn't stay in the grave. He was there by the way the Hebrews calculate days, three days and three nights. He went to Calvary and was crucified and went into the grave on the day before the Sabbath. There was the whole of the Sabbath day, and then early in the morning of the day after the Sabbath, which is the first day of the week, Jesus rose from among the dead. Now, I will just give you a little snippet, the kind of thing you will want to follow up, verse 11 if you look at it, on the morrow after the Sabbath. Now in Mark 16, we read almost identical words, that that handful of devoted women, disciples of the Lord Jesus, on the morning after the Sabbath, or as John's Gospel says, on the first day of the week, very early, we learn it was that the disciples went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried, and at first they were perplexed, eventually they were overjoyed, because Jesus was declared by the angel to be risen from among the dead. The Feast of Firstfruits has this major message. Jesus, the one who was the true Passover lamb, who has delivered us, those who believe on him as Saviour, by the shedding of his precious blood, he didn't stay in the grave, he's alive from among the dead. Now, the Scriptures we read in the New Testament not only affirm that Jesus was raised from among the dead on the first day of the week, the morning after the Sabbath, the Scriptures also tell us that it is right to speak of him as the firstfruits, the firstfruits of them that slept. And so it is that we have the authority of New Testament Scriptures for looking back into the Feast of Firstfruits and seeing there a little picture of the fact that the blessing that God is going to bring in eventually all over the earth, but initially on a more restricted scale, that depends not only on the death of the Passover lamb, but on the fact that Christ, who died for us as our Passover lamb, that he was raised from among the dead. How many times in the New Testament we get the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ put together. He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. Indeed, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is implied, at least in that other verse that says, He died for all that they which live might not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. Well, we could peruse the Scriptures and see many examples, but that will have to suffice. We look just at a few of these details in Leviticus 23, verses 9 to 14, and then move on to the Feast of Pentecost. Verse 10, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, first of all, words addressed initially to the nation of Israel, things which will eventually be true of the nation of Israel. The promises to Israel at that time were conditional upon their obedience and faithfulness to God. They were disobedient. They were flagrantly unfaithful. And God had to say, you have proved openly what I've always known, that you are not good enough in yourselves to come into the favor and blessing of God. He said, as a nation, you will be put to one side, and a greater mystery, a greater wonder, a greater blessing will be unfolded. And we shall look at that, if the Lord will, tomorrow and Saturday. Whether it is eventually the nation of Israel, whether it is Christian blessing now, all blessing depends upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is right that something that was said to Moses as the basis of their blessing when the right time came, but had to be deferred because of their national disobedience, which still continues. It is quite easy for us to see, in the light of the teaching of the New Testament, that the basis for their blessing in the future is the same basis for our blessing as individual believers now, and for the church as a whole, as we can see. But in verse 10 he says, when ye come into the land, these are matters that can only be rightly understood by those who are in the benefit, those who have been helped to understand the significance of what has happened. Even though we cannot explain it, it's only when we believe that Jesus died for us and rose again that we can see why it is that all blessing depends upon the personal death and resurrection of Jesus. And I suppose we have the counterpart to being brought into the land of blessing in that we know now that our sins have been dealt with, we are right for heaven, our sins have been forgiven, and we have no fear about the day of judgment. As the scripture says, we have boldness in respect of the day of judgment, it holds no fear for us because Jesus died and rose again. Now, he says here, when ye come into the land, he says you'll bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest. If you examine all the statements made about the feast of firstfruits, you will find that there was the Passover which became a week's feast, excluding leaven, but feasting upon unleavened bread. And during that week, if you put all the scriptures together, you'll find that this feast of firstfruits had to be celebrated on the first day of the week in the feast of unleavened bread. One of the things that is an immediate outcome of feasting upon Christ for the good of your soul is the realization that everything hangs on this, he's the one who was alive from among the dead. And the realization of that makes it possible for those who appreciate that to come to the Lord, to come to God, and to offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving in the good of the personal resurrection of Christ. Now, I must leave you to follow up the detail of these offerings. Think about the fact that the burnt offering is referred to, the meal offering is referred to, a drink offering is referred to. There's no reference to a peace offering. There's no reference to a sin offering. We'll see that there is a reference to each of them when we come to the feast of Pentecost, and perhaps it'll be best to leave a comment till then and to link the two together. But I will say now that in the feast of firstfruits, there is that which is immediately possible by way of praise and worship to God because Jesus died and rose again. Altogether, apart from any blessing that you and I might enjoy as Christians, there is that which God is pleased about and has his heart filled with satisfaction about because Jesus died and rose again. And if you look into the detail of these offerings, you'll find that the Lord Jesus personally, who he is, his faithfulness in going into death, the failure of the grave to hold him, his glory in resurrection, all these things are due cause for praise, thanksgiving, and worship to God, altogether apart from anything that you and I might enjoy. You will look at verse 14, at details like the bread, the parched corn, and the green ears. You will meditate upon that, and you will most likely come to the conclusion, and if you do, I will agree with you, there are things in the Gospels about the life of Jesus that you cannot understand until you believe that he died and rose again. Unless you believe in his death and resurrection, you are not equipped to understand anything about the perfection of his life on earth. This may be one reason why it is common for us as believers, we get an interest in the New Testament letters and learn Christian truth, and when we've learned the major significance about the value of his death and resurrection, we are given a renewed interest in going back into the Gospels and learning some of the sweet things about the things that happened in his life that we couldn't understand before. Now, that kind of thing is implied in verse 14. The significance of his life, things that happened during it, the true significance and value of his death, what it means to the Christian to have Christ personally as spiritual food for the soul, are things we can only enter into when we believe that he died for our sins and was raised by God the Father. Now, for the moment, that's all we'll say about the Feast of Firstfruits, the personal resurrection of Christ attested to at the end of the Gospels as we read and taught in the New Testament epistle. So would you turn back again, please, to Leviticus 23, verses 15 to 22. He 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, and ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be bacon with leaven. They are the firstfruits unto the Lord. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young bullock and two rams. They shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire of sweet savour unto the Lord. 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. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest, and ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day that it may be an holy convocation unto you. Ye shall do no servile work therein. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Verse 22, I will leave and link with verse 23 tomorrow evening, if the Lord will, because it's transitional between numbers four and five. Now, to save time, those of you who are writing the scriptures down, I've listed the scriptures, and if you'd make a note of them and follow them through later, Luke's gospel, chapter 24, verses 44 to 53, that's the account of the Lord's conversation with the two on the way to Emmaus, Acts 2, verses 1 to 4, which is that amazing happening on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached the gospel, 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, Ephesians 2, verses 14 to 18, and the epistle of James, chapter 1, verse 18. Now, as with the feast of firstfruits, those scriptures are our authority for going on from the feast of firstfruits, speaking of the personal resurrection of Christ, and learning this, in the feast of firstfruits, a sheaf, the first of the harvest, as soon as it was ready, a sheaf was taken, and thanks was given to God because this sheaf, the first one, was accepted by the harvester as God's pledge that the whole harvest would follow. And then, seven weeks and a day later, 50 days, hence the word Pentecost, which merely means 50, 50 days after the feast of firstfruits, there was another feast, the feast of Pentecost, sometimes called the feast of Pentecost, because it's 50 days, sometimes called the feast of weeks, because it's seven weeks, and you include the first Sabbath, the first day after the Sabbath, and the following one, so that gives you your 50 days, and for something that comes into the text that we'll look at in a minute, sometimes called the new meal offering. Now, it's a matter of fact that in the land of Palestine, the early harvest is the barley harvest, and then that's followed seven weeks later by the wheat harvest, and this is something that can easily be checked. God, having kept his faithful promise as a good and faithful creator, and bringing in the barley harvest in the month Abib, was accepted as God's pledge that he would add the later harvest too. When we read in Leviticus, in the Gospels, we see a very interesting and significant item, and it's this. When it was the firstfruits feast, which tells us about the personal resurrection of Christ, as those other listed scriptures support, it is the barley harvest that is mentioned. When we come to the feast of weeks, and we have the harvest gathered in there, the sheaf of the offering, when the sheaves are brought in there, you find that they are of the wheat harvest. Now, it's interesting there that when the Lord Jesus, in the Gospel by John, talks about the harvest of souls that should be brought in because he was going to die and be raised from among the dead, and go back to heaven, and send the Holy Spirit into the world, the figure that he uses is a corn of wheat, not a corn of barley. And other scriptures there are that tell us this. The feast of firstfruits tells us that Jesus could not be held in the grave. He rose from among the dead. But the feast of Pentecost tells us that the resurrection of Christ, personally, is the guarantee that a wonderful company, a wonderful group of people were going to be brought into blessing as a result of the death and resurrection of Christ. But that it couldn't actually come into being until Jesus, who died and rose again, went to heaven and sent down his Holy Spirit. Now, there are points within the text which confirm that. And I've listed for you scriptures like Act 2, which tell us of the coming down into this world of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, on the very day when the national feast of Pentecost was to be celebrated and then actually fulfilled. In that, the Holy Spirit came, empowered the disciples to preach the gospel that Jesus had died and risen again, and that all who believed on him would be built into what became known as the Christian church. The personal assurance of Christians, the guarantee that the church as such will be taken to heaven by Jesus when he comes again, is guaranteed to us by the resurrection of Jesus from among the dead. The feast of Pentecost in Leviticus 23, the things the Lord said to the disciples on the way to Emmaus Luke 24, the way he said to them, to the disciples in the end of the gospel and the beginning of Acts, stay where you are at Jerusalem and you'll be given power from on high, fulfilled in the outpouring and downcoming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. To indwell each individual believer again as the earnest, the pledge, the guarantee that the final full redemption, spirit, soul, and body, would take place at God's appointed time. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, tells us that the real meaning of the term of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that, as an historical fact, the church, the Christian church, was inaugurated 50 days after Jesus rose again from the dead on the day of Pentecost. Have you ever wondered why, under the old holiday system, that Whitsunday was always seven weeks after Easter Sunday? Easter Sunday, the first day of the week when Jesus rose from among the dead, the feast of first fruits. Seven weeks later, what became known as Whitsunday, the feast of Pentecost, seven weeks and a day after Jesus rose from among the dead. Now, if the personal resurrection of Jesus is God's guarantee that the church would be brought into being on the day of Pentecost and that the church, as such, would receive the power of the Holy Ghost to glorify Christ, to instruct and empower every believer, and to regulate things in every local church, we also need to see two things. First of all, when you get the first fruits of a harvest, you look at its quality. You look at it and that tells you what the main harvest is going to be like. The true character and texture of the Christian church is Christ. Not Christ's personally, but as we might say, Christ's characteristically. It's God's intention that the character of Christ should come out, be demonstrated, be displayed in the Christian church. Jesus has gone back to heaven. He rose from the dead. He kept company with his disciples for 40 days. He went to heaven. Ten days later, 40 plus 10, the Holy Spirit came down. And any Christian who makes an open display of a Christ-like life is only able to do so, and it's God's intention that we do so, because of the power of the Holy Spirit. But there's another thing. If Christ and Christ-like features are reproduced in the lives of believers, it is also true that we have to safeguard that realization by accepting that the Lord Jesus is absolutely perfect, and we, as long as we are here upon earth, will always be less than perfect. Now, in the feast of firstfruits, we are given a little picture of this. You remember, in the feast of unleavened bread, there was no leaven permitted at all. Evil to be excluded, consciously so. When we come to the feast of firstfruits, it gives rise, the truth of the resurrection of Christ, following on from the death of Christ, following on from the death of Christ, gives rise to praise and worship to God for all the perfection that there is in Christ personally. But when you check it out, you'll find that there's no reference in the feast of firstfruits to any of the offerings which include a reference to us as coming into blessing. We can see why. Those offerings which include us include a component of leaven, and therefore couldn't be used as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, in his earthly life, was absolutely sinless. He died on account of sin, but when he was raised from among the dead, he's completely untainted by sin. He's dealt with sin once and for all. It has left no mark upon him. He dealt with it fully and completely. He's alive from among the dead. He's in heaven, sinless, perfect in every way. When we come to the feast of Pentecost, this feast that tells us that there is upon earth the church of God, composed of all those who believe that Jesus died and rose again, we find that there is a reference, for instance, to the peace offering. Now, the great thing about the peace offering is that there was something for everybody. You see, look at the detail of the feasts, and you'll find that certain people were allowed to feast upon the flesh of the offering, other than the burnt offering, which was all for God. But in the peace offering, yes, God got his portion, the priest got his portion to eat, the offerer got his portion, and there was that element of sharing, having fellowship. There was something for everybody. Now, we get this little reminder, and it comes out also in this reference to the new meal offering. It's in the text there. Leaven was permitted. In fact, the instruction was given that they had to be baked with leaven. It confirms that when we come to the feast of Pentecost, we are coming to a feast which includes us being brought into blessing as a result of the death and resurrection of Christ, he personally absolutely sinless. But we believers, as long as we are here upon earth, we are told there is that root of sin, striving to be active, which we have to count as dead as before God, and not let it dominate us in our lives. But as long as we are here, there is always that potential for the root of sin to become the fruit of individual sins, and we need to be on our guard against it. However godly, however devoted we are privileged to be, we will never arrive at a point of sinless perfection while we are here living responsible lives upon earth. Now I think really I cannot go into more detail on this particular occasion other than refer to verse 19. Yes, verse 16 says ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the Lord. Verse 19 says ye shall offer a sin offering. Yes, Jesus died and rose again. He died to fulfill the will of God. He died that fellowship with God might be enjoyed. But if there was to be a company brought into being, the church, or even an individual, to enjoy the blessing of God, as well as fulfilling the will of God, as well as giving due cause for God to delight in his perfection, it was necessary also if we were also if we were to be brought into blessing that Jesus died on account of sin. And so we have here in this feast of Pentecost this reference to the sin offering as well as all the others. You see that the climax of the offering, the feast, is that again there is praise to God, there is sacrifice to God, there is worship in the presence of God, because the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, went into death, dealt with sin, came out of it victoriously in resurrection, he's gone to heaven, he has sent the Spirit, the church was formed on the day of Pentecost, and individual souls will continue to be gathered in until the Lord Jesus Christ comes for his own to take us to be with himself as he promised, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. The one who died personally to deal with our sins, the one who was raised by the glory of the Father in glorious tribute to the completeness and perfection of his sacrifice at Calvary, is coming again to receive unto himself those who've trusted him as Savior. And in the meantime, every soul that believes that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin, is built into this wonderful church, this wonderful spiritual vessel which was brought into being on the day of Pentecost. Let us sing a closing hymn, hymn number 112, tells us about the fact there can only be blessing now or in any day in association with the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again. This is why the verses start speaking of different aspects of our being associated with him, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, living with Christ, and growing in Christ. Let us sing the hymn 112. …

… Leviticus 23 and verse 23 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, and holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Also, on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest. And ye shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month, and even from even unto even shall ye celebrate your sabbath. We've looked so far at the first four feasts unto the Lord in Leviticus 23. We've seen that the four are a major group together, showing us the basis of Christian blessing, and all blessing, eventually. And within this major group of four, which need to be considered together, we've seen within that major grouping two pairs. The first two, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, telling us that Christ has died as our Passover. Christ, the Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. That everything depends upon the death of Christ. Without that, no righteous basis for blessing. Linked with that, and flowing from that, from that one death, it has been made plain that those who trust Jesus as Saviour, that they recognize that if that's what he has done for us, the least we can do is turn our back completely on our old sinful life, and live a life which is centered on Christ, and which is empowered by feasting upon Christ as our spiritual food. That will give us the spiritual power to turn away from evil, to keep away from evil, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly before the Lord. That was the first pair. Last night, we looked at the second pair of the first four, the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Pentecost. We saw in the Feast of Firstfruits that Christ is risen from among the dead, the firstfruits of them that slept, and that God has demonstrated that the personal resurrection of Christ, the third day after he suffered, was, among other things, God's pledge that others would be brought into blessing. And when we turn to the Feast of Pentecost, which occurred fifty days to the day after the Feast of Firstfruits, counting the Feast of Firstfruits as the first day, we saw that, as the New Testament affirms, the Christian Church was brought into being on the day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Christ rose from among the dead. And this is the basis of all our blessing, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the first one merged in two and gave character to the second. The third came in two and gave character to the fourth. And that is a major group, the basis for all blessing, particularly the inauguration of the Christian Church. Now, that is the present position. Christian blessing, Christian privilege, Christian responsibility, is based upon the death and resurrection of Christ, and those who believe that Christ died for their sins and was raised again for their justification have been built into this wonderful spiritual structure, the Church of the Living God. Now, those four feasts began to be celebrated in the middle of the first month, calendar month, of the calendar of the nation of Israel, as adapted by God. They had related their months different previously, but God said, when the Passover was celebrated, when it was instituted, God said, this is your new beginning. Everything takes character from this. And so that became the first month. And the first four feasts filled out the time from the middle of the first month to the end of the second month. And where we've read tonight, the feast of trumpets, and indeed the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles, all take place in the seventh month. So there was a gap of four months, where the first four had come to an end, and the last three hadn't begun, hadn't happened. Now, it is clear that we are intended to learn that the first four had a certain character, and the last three have a different character, and in order to make that plain, there's this quite extended gap between the two. Now, we are going to look tonight, and if the Lord will, tomorrow night, at these last three feasts. Now, to make it simple and plain, if the first four that we've looked at give us the bringing into being, and the basis in which the being began, it is all related to the Christian church. The death and resurrection of Christ is also the basis for all blessing, but the first four tell us about the bringing into being of the Christian church. The last four, in a particular way, all refer to the nation of Israel, and as the first four were prophetic of the inauguration of the Christian church, and the way that would be done, so the last three tell us about the way in which Israel, as a nation, will eventually be blessed. But there is a gap, a large gap there, for us to think about, between the first four and the last three. To use a long word, whenever the way God works with men on earth changes from one way to another way, when one dispensation gives way to another, there is often, well, there is always a period of transition, a change from one way of working to another way of working, and as we know from our human experience, transitional periods are difficult to experience, and often difficult to understand. The transition from boyhood to manhood, girlhood to womanhood, not easy. You're not quite sure whether you're one or the other. Sometimes you feel like one, but you realize you're acting in the way of the other. It is because you are in that transitional period between childhood and adulthood. When you leave school, and you're just about to get a job, or maybe go on to a different kind of education, it's not easy. You feel betwixt and between. You're neither one thing nor the other. You're in a period of transition. When you change your job, when you change where you live, your home, all these are transitions, and transitions are rarely smooth. Usually there's problems arise, and there's difficulty in identifying which one you're at at the moment, the one you've just left, or the one you are just about to enter. Now, when we look at the Bible, we find it's very similar. When one dispensation gives way to another, things are often very difficult to understand. Instead of being black or white, you seem to detect various shades of gray. This is one reason why the book of Acts is so difficult to understand. You may have heard the term. If not, you're going to hear it now. The book of Acts is a transitional book. We'll come back to that in a few moments. When there are changes, God's method of approach to mankind changing from one way to another, and we know that's happened because Hebrews 1 verse 1 tells us that God, at different times, at different periods, God has used different means, diverse methods to speak to mankind. But whenever there's a change, God has ensured that there will be a witness to himself, to God, as the God of absolute standards of holiness and righteousness, but the God who nevertheless desires to bless. If you think of the end of that dispensation when Noah was upon the earth, there was that long transitional period when Noah was saying he was testifying by his life, by building the ark for a period of about 120 years. The old way is unsatisfactory, unacceptable to God. God demands righteousness, and he's going to sweep away the existing world in judgment. Noah was there as a witness to God's standards, and that the only way to be brought into blessing and escape the judgment was to obey what God said. One transitional period. We've looked at the Passover. The nation of Israel, 430 years in Egypt, suddenly, miraculously, delivered from the hard yoke of Pharaoh, and they were ultimately to go into the land. They were delivered out of the power of Egypt and its Pharaoh on their way to the land, but there was that 40 difficult years, that transitional period from being in bondage in Egypt and being in liberty in the land. And as we know, the period of transition in the wilderness was very difficult for them indeed. When we come to the end of the Old Testament, again the end of a dispensation, very difficult to see the spiritual position of those at the end of the Old Testament and in the Gospels. See, Christianity didn't begin, as we've learned in the first four feasts, until the day of Pentecost. Now, the Old Dispensation had run its course, was coming to an end, the Old Dispensation had run its course, was coming to an end, and really in the Gospels, some of the things that are said are very difficult to understand. Now, in the days of Noah, there was Noah and his witness that he gave. In the wilderness, there were those like Joshua and Caleb who were maintained in witness to the righteousness of God and his desire to bless. At the end of the Old Testament, we read in the book of the prophet Malachi of that little handful who fought upon the name of their God and opened their hearts to him and sought to be true to him. When we come to the beginning of the Gospels, we read of those like Anna and Simeon, a little remnant, a little handful, a little fragment of the nation of Israel who bore a witness to the value of trusting in the living God. But again, some of the puzzling things in the Gospels make sense only when we consider it in that way. Now, when we come to the book of Acts, again, the transition from either Judaism to Christianity for those who'd previously been Jews, or the transition from paganism or Gentile culture of one sort or another to Christianity, was something that they found difficult to understand and put into practice. And that tells us why there are so many difficulties in the book of Acts, if we regard it as an entirely Christian book. But there were those, individuals, groups here and there who were true to their God. Now, at the end of the Christian dispensation, when the last believer on the Lord Jesus Christ as the savior of sinners has been ingathered, you remember on the day of Pentecost, we read that those that were being saved daily were added to the church. The Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved. That was the beginning of the Christian period or dispensation. We are assured that until the end of the dispensation, there will be those who believe on the name of Jesus. The last one, when the last one turns to Christ in the faith of his soul, then the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Thessalonians 4, will descend from heaven with a shout, and the dead Christians will be raised, the living Christians will be changed, and so they'll be taken to be with the Lord in the end. Now, one way of remembering the limits of the Christian period, the Christian dispensation, is that they both begin and end with a descent. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and inaugurated the church. The Christian, that's act two, 1 Thessalonians 4, the church age or dispensation will come to an end by another descent, the descent of the Lord Jesus Christ, in what scripture speaks of as the catching away, the rapture, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. There is no scriptural reason for delay other than God giving the word. There is no prophecy that needs to be fulfilled to bring this present dispensation to a close. It can happen in a moment, at any time, and certainly it could well happen at any moment tonight. Now, that will bring to an end the church period inaugurated on the day of Pentecost. Now, as indicated by this four-month gap in the calendar of the feasts, there will then be a gap. There will be a period, elapses, before the inauguration on earth of the state of Israel as the center of blessing. Yes, they are a political state now, but God says they are going to be the hub of the activities for the whole of the earth. Center of trade, center of learning, center of administration. Read the prophets, you'll find that the scriptures certainly support that. Now, after that time, after a time has elapsed, which scripture suggests most strongly, is a period of probably a little over seven years after Jesus comes for his own. And then, what we read of in the last three feasts will occur. But between the end of the church period and the beginning of the thousand years reign over the earth of the Lord Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, again there's a very difficult transitional period. If you like to use prophetic words, Daniel's 70th week. Transitional, Christianity has ended, Israel as the center of blessing hasn't yet started. Now, there are scriptures which talk about the fact that after the Holy Spirit has been withdrawn from the earth, second Thessalonians chapter two, coincident with the church going to be with Christ, it will be necessary for power to be available for those who in that difficult transitional period will be witnessing to God as the one who is all holy, all righteous, who demands obedience who demands sorrow for sin. And there are certain scriptures which I've listed, I think I'd better just read them out and then pass on, which confirm this matter of the transitional period. For instance, the word, the verse I didn't read last night in Leviticus 23, verse 22, there is provision for those who weren't brought into the blessing indicated by the day of Pentecost. If you look at Malachi 4 and verse 5, if you look at the witness of John the Baptist in the opening chapters of the gospels, if you look in Revelation chapter 11, you will find that in each of those cases there's a difficult in-between period where the old dispensation has been brought to an end, the new hasn't quite begun, but God causes witnesses, adequate witness, to bear testimony to the need for repentance, for repentance from sin and self and obedience to God's testimony of the day. Now those sections deal with that matter of things. Now we'll have to say a little bit about the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. It was a big help to me when it was pointed out many years ago now that in the epistle to the Romans, the first eight chapters, great detail about the way in which God has brought us has brought us Christians into blessing, the mercies of God. Chapter 12 to chapter 16, the answer in our lives. If that's what God has done for us in his wonderful mercy, this is the way our lives should be lived as those who appreciate the mercy of God. But in between, there are three chapters which take up the case which puzzles many clever minds. What about the nation of Israel? Did God make a mistake in picking them out? Have they missed the blessing? Are God's promises to the nation of Israel without avail? Now the splitting of the chapters is not a matter of inspiration. It was a matter of spiritual judgment by men hundreds of years ago. But in many cases, their spiritual judgment seems to have been very good, and so in the split of Romans 9, 10, and 11. Well, like most things, we learn from others, and then we have the opportunity to make it our own. It was helpful to me to have it suggested that chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Romans, in that order, if we look at the text, are very good illustrations of the distinction between the Feast of Trumpets, the Great Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. In other words, if you want to learn something about the Feast of Trumpets, have a look at Romans 9. If you want to learn something about the features of the Day of Atonement, chapter 10. And if you want to learn something about the Feast of Tabernacles, chapter 11. Same order as in Leviticus 23. Now, perhaps there may be just an opportunity to say something about that later on. But first of all, and perhaps as an example of that, let's look at Romans 11, where that, again, that transition from Christian teaching and blessing to Christian duty and practice, uh, comes in. Look at chapter 11 of Romans. Romans 11, 25. Romans 11, 25. I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant. Now, there's a good tip for you. There are six occasions that I found in the New Testament where either Peter or Paul say, now look, this is important. I don't want you to be ignorant about it. If either Peter or Paul say, don't be ignorant about this, learn it, it's something important. And this is one of them. I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. We'll leave it there for the moment. Why the gap between the fourth feast and the fifth? God, in his long-suffering, has allowed a gap so that you and I, and many others might be brought into Christian blessing. Unless the long-suffering of God had lasted almost 2,000 years, none of us would have been built into the Christian Church. God delayed the ushering in of the fifth, sixth, and seventh feasts by way of fulfillment so that we and others might be blessed. There it is. Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness, until the full complement of the Gentiles until the full complement is made, until the last Christian believer is gathered in, until the harvest, to talk in terms of the feasts, until the harvest is safely home. Now, after that, and only after verse 25, we read, and so all Israel shall be saved, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and so on. This is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins as concerning the gospel. They are enemies for your sakes as touching the election. They are beloved for the Father's sakes, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God hasn't changed his mind. One of the beauties and the joys of studying the feasts is to see there's, God has a cause, God has a reason for everything that he does. The rejection of the promised Messiah by the nation of Israel at Calvary opened the door for Christian blessing to be brought in, part of God's master plan, and that position continues until the church is complete and gathered in to the Lord Jesus Christ personally. Only after that, not immediately, but certainly not before then, will the trumpet clarion call go out, calling the nation of Israel into the blessing. Now, have a look at Romans 9, and you'll see that there is scope there for seeing that when the Christian church has been called home, there is the trumpet call going out, answering to the feast of trumpets. Now, it is there by suggestion. Now, I think I'd better list for you other scriptures to look at. The greater gain of a session like this is when all of us, old or young, go home and in the Lord's present present, mull over these scriptures and establish, berean-wise, that these things are so. Now, if you link Leviticus 23, verses 23 to 25, Isaiah 18, verses 1 to 7, Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37, and Matthew chapter 24, verses 27 to 31, and there's a parallel portion in Luke 21, if you look at them, you will find that after the church period ends, about three and a half years after the church period ends, there will be ushered in a most difficult, trying, trebulous time for the nation of Israel. Those, and he with whom they had aligned themselves, made a bond, they find themselves betrayed, and they commence the last, most difficult period called the great tribulation, and at a time about seven years after the Lord Jesus has taken the Christian church to be with himself, the Jews that are obedient and faithful to God will be in Jerusalem, and we are merging on to the day of atonement, and that's not bad, that's not a bad thing. There will be a gathering from all four corners of the earth, scripture says, and God's national people will be drawn towards Jerusalem, and unbeknown to them, perhaps even, the trumpet sound of God is calling them to where they belong, the land of Palestine, the city of Jerusalem. Now, those scriptures that I read tell us that that will occur when God begins to work in the hearts of many of his earthly people, Israel. Now, follow that through in that feast of trumpets, and you'll see that that is the indication of what God will do. Now, that cannot begin to happen until after the church period has ended. In other words, that long gap indicated by that four-month period between the fourth feast and the fifth feast will have come to an end, and God says, now, I'm going to start again with the nation of Israel. They don't deserve the blessing. I will bring them into blessing because I love them, and I want them to be blessed. I will bring in a new covenant, a new bargain, a new contract. The old bargain was on the basis, you do what I say, and I will bless you, I will reward you according to what you deserve, which is what the nation of Israel said to God, tell us what to do, we will do it, that is the way to bless them. They proved they were incapable of earning the blessing as God knew they would, but God says in the details in Jeremiah 31, God says, the only way is to bless you on the line of grace because I love you, and I want you for myself, but again, it can only be as sin is dealt so the trumpet sound will go out, there will be those in that difficult transitional period who will witness to the faithfulness of God amidst unfaithful and disobedient people, and that period indicated by the feast of trumpets will come to a climax in the great day of atonement. Now, again, I have time to read you a list of scriptures, which I think will be well worth your studies as to the day of atonement. There isn't time to read them all, but they all have similar features. If you find you don't get all of the scriptures down, ask me afterwards, I'll fill in the gaps. Genesis 45 verses 1 to 4, Leviticus 16 verses 1 to 34, that gives all the detail about the day of atonement, what happened. Leviticus 23 verses 26 to 32, I will read those in a moment. Chapter 25 verses 9 and 10, Isaiah 53 verses 3 to 6, Zechariah 12 verses 1 to 14, Hebrews 9 verses 1 to 14, and Hebrews 10 verses 17 to 22. Now, all those scriptures add up to this. God is still determined to bless the nation of Israel. In order that they might be brought into the blessing, it will be necessary for God himself to deliver the nation, and he'll do it in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of the great tribulation, there'll be enemies in every direction. Those who are of the nation of Israel seeking to be true to their God will be hemmed in, besieged in the city of Jerusalem. There'll be the sea to the west, there'll be enemies to the north, the east, and the south. They will be on the brink of defeat, just about to be exterminated, annihilated as a nation. And, as we would say, when they're on their last legs, when they've given up all hope, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will intervene miraculously, and he will deliver them. He alone has the power to do it, and yet how gracious he is. They couldn't do it without him, but if you turn to the book of the Prophet Zechariah, you will learn that while it is the personal intervention of the Son of God, Messiah, who comes to liberate, deliver his people when they are about to go down for the last time, for the last time, we'll read that he graciously allows some of the faithful of the nation to be involved with him in defeating the enemies. He could destroy all the enemies by the word of his power, and certainly, largely speaking, the leading elements, the leading antagonist will be dealt with personally by the Lord. But we learn in Zechariah and other places that the Lord Jesus allows with him those who've been faithful to him at that time. Now, that personal deliverance that could only be achieved by the intervention of Messiah, the Prince, brings about a tremendous change in the attitude of the faithful in Israel. It produces national repentance. Sometimes, you know, we get into the mood of thinking that people must repent before they can have any idea of the blessing of God. Certainly, there are scriptural exhortations to repentance. Romans, it is that tells us, it is the goodness of God which bringeth repentance. It is when the soul realizes what God has done in working a mighty deliverance and in making blessing available that repentance comes. The 16th book, the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus outlines the day of atonement. Now, in Leviticus 23, there are two major—well, there are more than two, but I'll point out two major marks. Verse 29—no, verse 27, That is a reference to the repentance which comes about as a realization of the delivering power of the mighty God. The other thing that's mentioned, verse 31, when you are celebrating the day of atonement, you don't do any work that day. There had to be no doubt in any of their minds, no suspicion in their minds, that anything they were doing was contributing in any way to the great deliverance of the mighty God. It's all of grace, not because they deserved it. There are other features, but they are good to take away. Now, I mentioned Genesis 45 as an example of repentance, as Scripture gives it. Joseph provides for his brethren. He delivers them from their need. He lets them see himself. He lets them realize who he is, and they are stricken when they realize that it's the one that they'd treated so badly. Now, that's a person—Joseph and his brethren of his own family. I listed Isaiah 53— wonderful Scriptures that tell us how the nation of Israel will feel when they are delivered, and as they look at the one who delivers them, and they say, it's him, the one that was despised, the one that we thought was crucified because he deserved to be crucified, because he was an imposter. We never knew it would be him that was going to deliver us. It is at the point of deliverance that they are afflicted in their souls, they are stricken, and they repent. Now, if you want to read that, if you want a good picture of repentance in Scripture, and the thoroughness of it, and the comprehensiveness of it, read Zechariah 12. Put that together with the verses I suggested, verses 3 to 6 in Isaiah 53, and you'll know what repentance is about. Having done with sins, having done with self, coming to the conclusion that what God has been telling us about ourselves from the outset is absolutely true, and being determined to turn our back upon the old life, the old attitudes, and sin. Mourning on account of sin. Now, when we get to Hebrews 9 and Hebrews 10, we find that if the blessings to be enjoyed, if deliverance is to come, not only for Christians now, but the nation of Israel when it occurs at that time, it will be on the basis, and only on the basis, of the shedding of the blood of Christ. Hebrews 9 and 10 tell us, not only does the blood ensure the shedding of the blood of Christ, not only does it ensure that every sin has been dealt with, but that the whole tainted sphere where sin has been committed will be seen to have been cleansed by the in virtue of that same precious blood. And that the blood which delivered us from the claims of which delivered us from the claims of God as to sin is the very blood that encourages us and gives us liberty to draw near into the very presence of God. No accident, you know, in Genesis 45, the words Joseph uses are, draw near to me, my brethren. Everything was settled, no reason why they shouldn't enjoy communion with him and draw near. Now that's true of Christians now. It's going to be true for the nation of Israel, and I'm sure that's why that when we examine the day of atonement, the fifth feast, the first of the last set of three, we see a comparison but a contrast with the first feast of the first four, the Passover, and it's the way in which the blood is applied. In the Passover, which tells us not only that Christ died for individual sinners now, but that he died that Israel too might have every claim of God upon them, dealt with righteously and fully. But when the Passover was celebrated, when it was instituted the first time, we find that the blood was applied to the outside on the doorposts and the lintel. When we come to the great day of atonement, we find that the blood is applied on in the inside place. We find that on that one day in the year to satisfy the claims of God as to the whole of the nation for the whole of the previous year, we'll find that on that day of atonement, of atonement, the high priest went into the holiest and that the blood was applied on and before the mercy seat. Now, the capacity, the privilege of the nation of Israel drawing near to God will be on the same basis that we draw near now. That which is true of Christians now, Hebrews 10 verse 19, let us therefore draw near. Having therefore boldness, holy boldness by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near. True of Christians now as individuals, true of Christians now collectively when we come together in the name of the Lord, it will be true nationally for the nation of Israel. And when Israel in the wilderness had the privilege on their way to the land and before they got there, they had as part of God's provision for them the opportunity every year of calling to mind, of giving a memorial, of having this ceremonial to celebrate the fact they'd been delivered, yes, by blood. Their sins had been dealt with in virtue of the blood, speaking, looking forward to the blood of Christ. And the privilege of entering into the holiest, in their case representatively in the person of the high priest, that he might function. Another feature was that there was blood, the claims of God were met, but there was also incense arising to God, worship to the very God who brought them into blessing, opening the way for the feast of tabernacles that we hope to look at tomorrow evening. But now let us sing our closing hymn number 43. Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away its stain, but Christ the heavenly lamb took all our guilt away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they. …

… Good evening and welcome to our last session of this series. Our opening hymn is number 375. Lord, we do not ask the question, where abidest thou? Well, we know where thou art dwelling. Well, we know it now. Thou abidest in the bosom of the Father's love, in that love forever living, love all thought above. Hold our hearts, O Lord, we pray thee by and in thy love, till we dwell with thee in glory evermore above. 375. Would you turn, please, to the book of Exodus, chapter 23. Exodus 23, verse 14. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee in the time appointed of the month Abib. For in it thou camest out from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Leviticus 23. And verse 33. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you. And ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein. These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day, beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days, and ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. Ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days. All that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. Deuteronomy chapter 16. Verse 13. Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days. After that, thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine. And 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. Seven 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. There are many other relevant scriptures we should read, but let us lastly for the moment look at Peter's second epistle. Chapter 1, verse 16. We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. Chapter 3, verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. In looking at the feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23, we have noticed that the first four could be grouped together. They were prophetic at the time that they were uttered, but they are historical to us. The Lord was giving Moses directions as to future events, which would be anticipated by the typical element in the feasts. And in the order in which they come, we have been able to see from Scripture that the first one, the Passover, is intended by God to remind us that Christ, our Passover, died for us. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is intended by God to teach us that we who believe that Jesus died and rose again should be happy and find it imperative to separate ourselves from all evil and live to God in the good of all that there is in Christ as food to the soul. In the third, we looked at the Feast of Firstfruits, Christ risen from among the dead. We were able to see, and this is why modern theologians attack the personal resurrection of Christ so much. All that we have finds its origin and basis and riches in the personal resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in the fourth feast, again prophetic at the time it was uttered, historical fact now, on the day of Pentecost, the church was brought into being. And since then, those who have been saved have been built into that wonderful divine spiritual structure, the church, the assembly of the living God. Now, having looked at those four, and these things have all happened now, we then looked last night at a second group of three, which were prophetic in the future at the time they were written and are still future. They have not yet happened. And we looked at some of the scriptures that tell us that after the church has gone, after we've been translated, ruptured into the presence of the Lord, dead believers raised, living believers changed, that there will be before very long those raised up of God in witnessing to him, that there will be a movement by of the Holy Spirit resulting in the ingathering and the drawing towards Palestine and Jerusalem, of all the tribes of Israel, indicated in the Feast of Trumpets, that at a time when Jews, particularly being withdrawn into Jerusalem as a citadel, when they are surrounded by their enemies and on the point of being annihilated, God intervenes in the person of his beloved Son. And the Lord Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, makes a mighty deliverance. And then, when that deliverance is in course, and when those who are being delivered of the house of Israel realize who it is that is delivering them, they are stricken with mourning for sin, mourning for themselves, stricken in repentance, and they are aghast that their mighty deliverer is none other than the despised Nazarene, Jesus of Nazareth. Now, that's where we got to last night, and we turn tonight to the last one, the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles can be readily appreciated, provided you are conversant, as we've read, with the substance of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Ezra, Zechariah, the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 2 Peter, and the book of Revelation, to name a few. So, as you'll see, the task is an easy one. Familiar verses from familiar books. Now, again, we shan't have time tonight to read all the Scriptures, but some have requested, and it's a good idea. I will list and send back to you lists of relevant Scriptures, and there's no better way of seeing what God teaches in the Scriptures relative to certain important epochs than to see, to read through and study the Scriptures that refer to them, and that's why we read from Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Now, we looked, by way of introduction, at the first few verses of the chapter on Tuesday, was it, to see that God has had, from the outset, in mind to dwell amongst his people, that they should respond to him, that they should offer due praise and worship on the basis of the knowledge of himself that they receive by way of revelation. And when we come to the seventh feast, we are coming to the culmination of the effect of the first six feasts being developed progressively, building brick upon brick, and by the time we get to the seventh feast, it is assumed that we are in the good and have some understanding of the other six. And in the seventh, we see that God indeed will arrive at the end that he has in view, that he shall dwell among his people. You will remember that when we looked last Saturday at Psalm 22, we found that God revealed himself even there as the one who is holy and the one who had the desire to dwell amongst the praises of his people. The thought of dwelling, contentment, abiding, came through even in those early stages. When we come to the fullest revelation of God in John's Gospel, and this is why we read that opening hymn, you'll remember that in chapter one, we find that the word became flesh and dwelt among us, literally tabernacled among us. And those who were privileged to be there on the spot could say, and we beheld his glory. Now, it's not very far after that that we find in verse 29 that the Lord Jesus is introduced as the Lamb of God, the bearer away of the sin of the world. As in Psalm 22, it was necessary that the one who was taking the place of the sin offering should be forsaken of God and answer to God as to sin if God was going to be able to dwell among the praises of his people. It is significant, and the hymn writer I'm sure had it in mind, that his disciples came to him and they took up this matter of dwelling, abiding. Where abidest thou? And, of course, he said, come and see. And the Gospel by John develops this matter of dwelling. As you know, the words which are used characteristically in the Gospel by John, abide, remain, continue, dwell, all with the same force, that because of the incoming into the world of God the Son, the word become flesh. It was going to be possible for God to dwell amongst his people. Now, in each of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the synoptic Gospels, we get a reference to the Transfiguration, the Mount of Transfiguration, where the Lord Jesus was transfigured before them. And there we have, and we read the words from Peter that confirm it, the Mount of Transfiguration was a preview of circumstances and conditions which will apply in the kingdom, the world to come, the thousand years reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Consequent upon and subsequent to his appearing in power and great glory, the Lord Jesus will be in sole command, as we have considered from time to time, Acts 17, verse 31, God has appointed a day in which he will judge or rule the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained, whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead. Again, depending upon the personal resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the Transfiguration scene is a picture, the kingdom in embryo, a very small miniature representation that there is going to come a time on earth when Christ will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, when there will be a heavenly company in association with himself, perhaps that's why, in the Transfiguration scene, the disciples with their feet upon earth could look up towards heaven and see Moses, who died and was buried, and Elijah, who was translated without dying and being buried. So we have perhaps a picture even there, that the heavenly company will include those who have died in Christ and been raised, and those who are living in Christ have been translated, the heavenly side of the kingdom. Peter, James, and John representing the remnant in Israel, those who are true to God, taking their place eventually as the earthly part of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here we have then, in the Gospels, a picture of how things will be in the kingdom. Confirmed there, in Peter, as he says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty when we saw him on the holy mount. Now, that having been said, we must go back now to Leviticus 23 and see some of the early indications that the things that the Gospels and the epistles teach us clearly in words were suggested typically even in these feasts. Now, if we look up the text of Leviticus 23, verses 33 to 44, we'll see that in verse 34, the feast of tabernacles covered a full cycle of time, a seven days period. Or, as Luke suggests in the account of the transfiguration in Luke 9, an eight days period. Very often, these periods in the Old Testament began and finished on the same day of the week, and that's why they cover eight days in total. But, put here, verse 34, seven days, verse 36, seven days, and six or so times in the course of the text, we get the reference to seven days. Here is a full cycle of time sufficient in itself to be a fair declaration of the ways of God in demonstrating certain features. And the features in particular that we get in the text, and we can look for them in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, they came through very clearly. First, the feature of dwelling, where we got that in verses 42 and 43, three references to dwelling, and the other references to joy and rejoicing. Now, here is a cycle of time, a full period indicated by the seven or eight day period, which is characterized by dwelling, resting, and by joy. Now, when we turn to the myriad of prophetic scriptures, take, for instance, large chapters, large slices of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and we read of the joy, the celebration, the rejoicing, which will come in, because God says so, for a whole period, in prophetic terms, of a thousand years. If you wonder where that term comes from, when the time is defined as to duration six times over in Revelation 20 and thereabouts, we get a reference to the thousand years. The thousand years. The period of a thousand years when peace, plenty, prosperity, joy is there and enjoyed because God is dwelling amongst his people. Now, we get this full cycle of time. Now, when will this occur? And if you're looking for the joy, you can see it in verse 40, ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. Now, if you look at verse 39, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, now that's expanded in Deuteronomy, as we read, when ye have gathered in the corn and the wine. Now, there are two phrases in the study of prophecy which are keys to much that we need to learn. One is the term harvest, the other is the term vintage. Look for them when you read expository writings, listen for the terms when you hear expositors outlining these things. The harvest tells us that God is going to gather in to himself that which is acceptable to him and accepted by him on the basis of the work of Christ, introduced into the blessing because of the resurrection of Christ. After the good have been gathered in, these are the words of the parables as well as the prophecies, there will be necessary judgment executed upon earth. This is in advance even of the great white throne, the final judgment of all. We have said in reference to the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement, that the godly in Israel will be penned in, they will be besieged in the nation, in the city of Jerusalem. Their enemies coming against them will be destroyed. The term vintage includes the judgment meted out against those who come against God's earthly people at the city of Jerusalem. Revelation 14 gives us some of the details. And the scripture says that the feast of tabernacles will come in after the corn has been gathered in, after the vintage, in other words, after the church has been gathered home to Christ at the rapture. After a succession of judgments listed in the book of Revelation, and only after that, will the feast of tabernacles be ushered in. A feature, a major feature of the time upon earth, a thousand years, where there will be joy celebrated universally because the right man is in control, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is more than a catalogue of events. This is the fulfillment of the ways of God on earth. God has ever had in mind that his purpose for the earth will be worked out for a full cycle of time. Within the period of the annual calendar of ecclesiastical activities in the nation of Israel, seven days was a full cycle of time. In God's prophetic calendar, a thousand years is a full cycle of time. And we read here, putting one with the other, that this full cycle of blessing enjoyed upon earth under the administration of the Son of Man, this will last, and the joy will last, and the blessing will last. There will be balance between supply and demand in every aspect of need being met that will go on for a full cycle of time, a thousand years. Now this feast of tabernacles, in the first place, looks on to that. And, as we saw last night, these last three feasts are grouped together after a long gap between the first four and the last three. And so, as the prophetic scriptures tell us, the answer to the feast of trumpets, the ingathering of the nation of Israel, God's summary judgment upon those who gather themselves against God, his Christ, and his earthly people, and the personal intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ will usher in that which is depicted by the feast of tabernacles here. Again, there is the reference, verse 36, he shall do no servile work therein. All of grace. Israel will say, in substance, in the millennium, as we can say now, all to grace, how great a debtor daily we are constrained to be. It will be the language of the nation of Israel, it will be the language of those saved amongst the nations, who, in subordination to the nations of Israel, will also enjoy the celebration of the feast of tabernacles. Now, verse 39, on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath, beginning and ending with God at rest amongst his people, the great end to which God is moving. Suggested in the opening verses. Call to mind here that this vast period marked by rejoicing and the blessing of God dwelling amongst his people begins and ends taking account of the Sabbath of rest that God has ever had in mind. He says, if the first day shall be a Sabbath, so shall be the eighth. Now, even if you are not a convicted numerologist, you will have noticed that very often in scripture, the number eight is introduced. Of course, since God so arranged creation that a whole week is a period of seven days, and each day having its cycle, when you come to an eighth day, you are beginning another cycle of time. Now, that's fairly plain. But wherever, certainly usually, whenever the number eight comes in, something new is being introduced which hadn't been brought in before. If we are thinking of the breaking of bread, scripture is very clear that it has to be celebrated on the first day of the week. It doesn't say of next week, every week, each week. The first day of the week. God only encourages us to look at the week on which we are embarking on the first day of the week. Not a question of expecting to do it for the next fifty years. The first day of the week. Something which is new. New from the hand of God brought in for our blessing. Now, it's not without significance that because resurrection is bringing someone or something into new life, that very often the number eight is included. As you are aware, apart from the personal resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and apart from that very strange occurrence recorded in Matthew 27, where we read that the body of the saints, of many of the saints, were raised to confirm and support the personal resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, apart from the Lord personally and those special ones in Matthew 27, there were eight persons in the scriptures that are recorded as being raised from among the dead. Happy confirmation in the text of scripture that when God has something new to bring in, he puts the stamp of his approval upon it by somewhere in the background including a reference to the numeral eight. Now, that being so, and it can be confirmed from many other scriptures, why is it that in verse 36, on the eighth day, shall be, and holy consecration, verse 39, on the eighth day, shall be a Sabbath? When we looked at the Passover, we found that the Passover, a one-day feast, merged into and blended with a seven-day feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When we come to the end, we find a seven-day feast, the Feast of Tabernacles merges with and blends into something which has a declared beginning, which has no declared end. In other words, the suggestion is that something eternal has been brought in to which there shall never be an end. Now, we shouldn't be surprised that that is so, because we find that a major characteristic of eternity, when time has ceased to be, will be that God is pleased to dwell eternally with his people. The dwelling of God is an eternal characteristic. If you want to compare in your minds the tabernacle and the temple, it's a bit of a paradox. In human terms, the temple, a temple, and the materials from which it is used, a temple appears to the human mind to be a permanent structure. And yet, it depicts the display of the glory of God, particularly in a precise, defined period of a thousand years. Yes, the glory of God will be displayed throughout that thousand-year term, which is also covered by the Feast of Tabernacles. When we come to the tabernacle, the tabernacle in the wilderness, and when we examine the significance of that, we find that God is teaching us that he will not only be displaying his glory in the thousand-year period of the millennium, the world to come, but that he has in mind that he should be known, his presence should be enjoyed, his worship shall be an exercise not only for a thousand years, but for eternity. And the paradox is this. To human eyes or minds, a permanent structure, the temple, signifies conditions for a thousand years. But the tabernacle, to our minds, a temporary structure, depicts the conditions in eternity. Now, what confirmation have we of that? Well, John 1, 14, the word became flesh, and tabernacled dwelt among us. Now, that's one certain scripture. And we read from 2 Peter, chapter 3, of one of the few scriptures which tell us eternity. If you want to read detail about eternity, when time has ceased to be, after the world to come, after the world to come, where Satan is released and the human heart is seen to be no better than it ever was, after the summary judgment upon Satan and all his hosts, after the Son delivers up the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all, and eternity resumes, if that's the term, we have only four scriptures which tell us anything about conditions in eternity proper. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 24 to 28. Ephesians 3, verse 21, the last verse in the chapter. 2 Peter 3, about verses 10 to 13 or 14, and then the opening seven or eight verses in Revelation 21. God is sparing about what he says about eternity. But what comes through consistently in those scriptures is that that towards which God has ever been working will then be current, it will be extant, it will happen, it will be in being. And that is God dwelling among his people. Remember, 2 Peter 3, we read the word, the day of God wherein dwelleth righteousness. Righteousness will dwell because God will be dwelling among his people. Ephesians 3 tells us that there will only be one distinct company in eternity. God, personally, yes. The one distinct company will be the Church, that Church which was ushered in on the day of Pentecost, of which the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Pentecost, tells us. Now let us read in confirmation of God's end to this wonderful feature in Revelation 21. Revelation 21 and verse 1. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth and the first heaven were passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Well, that agrees with Ephesians 3. New Jerusalem, a picture of the heavenly city, the Church translated to be with Christ, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Eternal affection in mind in the bride. In the bride. Verse 3. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. Well, there we have it. Distinctions among the nations gone forever. No Israel now, no Gentiles. There is the Church of God in heaven. There is the God dwelling amongst men on the new earth, and it is spoken of as the tabernacle of God with men. God himself shall be with them and be their God. Many other features that we might like to look at in other scriptures that might be brought forward. I am assured that when we consider the whole of Leviticus 23, considering that the Feast of Tabernacles, the last one, says now this has to be done in the remembrance that it was the God who brought you out of Egypt, delivered you with a mighty hand, that is dwelling amongst you, and who is zealous for your praise and your worship. The details of the sacrifices given in the text. And when that worship is celebrated, when the praise and thanksgiving are offered, it is in the light of what we've learned in the earlier feasts, that if we were to be included and involved in this wonderful scheme, it could only be if our sins have been dealt with, the blood of Christ cleansing from all sin, associated with him, linked with him in virtue of his glorious personal resurrection, built into the church, to be translated to be with him, to be in the heavenly component, the heavenly part, in that wonderful period of a thousand years, when God shall be pleased to dwell amongst his people, because Christ, the Messiah, who is personally God, will be directing things amongst the nation of Israel and the nations of the world. Further details of conditions then, we'll have to look at the last few chapters of the book of Zechariah, and I trust we'll all feel free to do that. But when time has ceased to be, when time has run its course, when every enemy has been put down for the last time, there shall be. Our words are so feeble, we are inclined to say time, but there's no time scale. We're inclined to say period, but there is no cessation, there is no limit to the period. But in eternity, God shall receive a full, unlimited, unrestricted answer to that which has ever been in his heart and his mind, that dwelling amongst his people, there shall be that return, that response to him which is ever due. Perhaps we can remind ourselves of this as we sing our last hymn, number 48. Necessarily, in this book of Christian praise, it concentrates on the Christian element. High in the Father's house, above, our mansion is prepared, there is the home, the rest we love, and there our bright reward. With him we love in spotless white, in glory we shall shine, his blissful presence our delight, in love and joy divine. All taint of sin shall be removed, all evil done away, and we shall dwell with God's beloved through God's eternal day. Number 48. High in the Father's house, above, our mansion is prepared, there is the home, the rest we love. And there our bright reward. With him we love in spotless white, in glory we shall shine, his blissful presence our delight, in love and joy divine. All taint of sin shall be removed, all evil done away, and we shall dwell with God's beloved through God's eternal day. O God, our Father, how easy it is to take such sublime words upon our lips. We feel humbled by the realization that they are blessedly true. But we thank thee that we can owe and own it all to the fact that thou hast wrought from thyself and for thyself. That in the person of thy beloved Son thou hast been pleased to work a work which shall be the righteous basis for all these wonderful things. We remember when we first trusted him as saviour how wonderful everything was, how little we knew, how little we imagined. And yet we loved him because he has died to save us. And if it is pleased thee to show us from thy word some of the tremendous ramifications, some of the wide issues involved, some view of the vast panorama of blessing, we must cry with one of old what has God wrought. We thank thee for revealing these things to us by the Spirit. We know now that our present enjoyment, our present knowledge, power in the kingdom, joy in the kingdom, can only be known and appreciated in the power of that selfsame Spirit. We thank thee for implanting him within us to dwell on us now, to give the pledge and the guarantee of that onto which we are going, and giving us now some of the present joy in anticipation of that wonderful day. We commit ourselves to thee as we separate, and if it please thee to bring us together on the morrow the first day of the week, we pray that there might be that due return in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ and through him to thee that shall be for the satisfaction of thy loving heart. We give thee thanks. We seek thy blessing. In his most precious name. Amen. …