NUMBERS 29
The feast of unleavened bread, and the “new oblation to Jehovah” (chapter 28:16 - 31), stand in relation to the beginning of the year. But “the seventh month” has the end of the year in view; (see Exodus 23:16) it refers typically to movements of God amongst His people as the end of His ways draws nigh. It is said of the first day of the seventh month, “a day of blowing the trumpets shall it be unto you”. This suggests a time of special testimony as the end approaches, and while it applies directly to God’s ways with Israel in a coming day, I have no doubt the Spirit had also in mind an application to God’s present ways. (The reader is referred to “An Outline of Leviticus”, chapter 23,
[p. 341] for further remarks as to this). There has been in recent times a remarkable revival of the truth as to Christ and the assembly, and God looks for offerings from His people that will correspond with the special favour which He has shown to them. What is supposed to be divine service in Christendom has very largely fallen into a formal order in which there is very little that is in accord with the present mind of God, and therefore it fails to minister to His satisfaction. But He has not been content to leave matters in that state; He has given, particularly within the Last hundred years, a great “day of blowing the trumpets”. I suppose every one who reads these lines has heard something of the sound of those trumpets! But Numbers 29 raises an exercise as to whether there has been a yield for God which corresponds suitably with the wonderful testimony which He has given.
God’s revived testimony, and the gracious help which has enabled many to commit themselves to it in faith, has made possible and practicable many things which have been unknown almost since the days of the apostles. It has been found possible for saints to walk together locally in assembly order according to 1 Corinthians, and as functioning normally by the one Spirit to know something experimentally of what it is to be “Christ’s body, and members in particular”. It is still possible to hold Christ as Head, and to know the wealth of spiritual supply and direction which comes from Him. It is still possible to profit by the gifts of the ascended Christ, and by those gifts set by God in the assembly, and to find that these divine furnishings are vastly superior, in a spiritual sense, to anything that is the product of human training. But all this divine favour, this liberation from a formal order which has become Babylonish in character, is intended to give opportunity for offerings to God “for a sweet odour”.
[p. 342] Christ as known and cherished in holy affections is typified in the “one young bullock, one ram, seven yearling lambs without blemish”, and their accompanying oblation and sin-offering. The great revival of which the “seventh month” speaks is a revival of Christ in the affections of God’s people, and as He is revived there is material for “sweet odour” offerings to God. It is essential that they should be offered for God’s satisfaction. The clerical system is displeasing to God because it greatly checks offering; it checks the contributions which may come from any member of the holy priesthood. However gifted one man may be he is only one member of the body, and he cannot function as the other members can. Divine order would secure the utmost liberty for offering, so that it is not desirable for meetings of the saints to be so large as to practically restrict their liberty.
The offerings of the first day of the seventh month and of the tenth day-the day of atonement — are the same, which would suggest that the two days have some relation to each other. It is a matter of spiritual observation that the more fully the mind of God has come out in testimony in these last days the more enlarged has been the apprehension of the import and value of the death of Christ. Indeed, if there is one thing more than another which has characterised the revival of God’s work amongst His people it is the restoration of the Lord’s supper to its proper place as the divine rallying point. And every lover of Christ knows how the loaf and the cup speak of the love in which the Lord Jesus has been into death. There are depths in this as known to the assembly, and a sweetness, which transcend all types. But, not to go beyond what is directly suggested by the type we are considering, it is clear that on the tenth day of the seventh month the blood of the sin-offering of atonement was sprinkled upon the front of [p. 343] the mercy-seat, and seven times before the mercy-seat (Leviticus 16:14), and this became the ground on which the holy priesthood could carry on the service of God, and “the whole congregation” could be “clean before Jehovah” so as to be acceptable to Him. It is wonderful that we can now know God, and worship Him, as glorified in the Son of man. His righteousness and holiness are known through the death of Christ in the whole moral universe, while the glory of His love shines transcendent. The day of atonement brings all this into view for us, but we must not overlook that in the type it stands in relation to a time of failure and restoration. The day of atonement was instituted after “strange fire” had been offered by two sons of Aaron, and they had died before Jehovah (Leviticus 10:1,2). It came in after dreadful failure on the part of the priesthood (Leviticus 16:1,2), so that it speaks of how the death of Christ is known and valued after the priestly service has broken down, so that it stands in relation to a divine revival of things amongst the people of God. This explains why it has its place after the blowing of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month, and why it precedes the feast of ingathering which is said to take place “at the end of the year”, or “at the turn of the year”. It is an intimation to us that God has all the value of the death of Christ in His mind when reviving His work in the souls of His saints, and in connection with the bringing about of that “end” which He has before Him. He would have us to see clearly that we only serve His pleasure as we understand how the death of Christ has glorified Him about that which has caused all the failure and breakdown, so that we may be on altogether new ground before Him.
We, as saints of the assembly, have humbling exercises in the last days as we think of how the assembly has failed, and of how we have failed, but God would use [p. 344] these very exercises to deepen our appreciation of how Christ has fully maintained His glory at infinite cost to Himself. On this ground the holy priesthood can still carry on the service of God, notwithstanding all that has taken place, and that service largely consists in speaking to Him of what His beloved Son has accomplished, and of all that His love has brought to pass, and will bring to pass, on the ground of the death of Christ.
But as we engage our hearts with how God has provided for His own glory, and for our full blessing, through the death of His Son, let us not forget to present His offering, His bread. It is much to Him that we should bring what answers to the “one bullock, one ram, seven yearling lambs”, and their oblation. When Christ loved us, and delivered Himself up for us, it was “to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Ephesians 5:2). As we remember the Lord, and praise Him, let us not forget God’s portion. All that the loaf and the cup speak of is for us, but what a portion God has in it — His will established, His love expressed, and both in such a way that men are brought into the divine value of these great realities! God delights that we should understand what it is to Him to have this brought to pass so that our souls are set in relation to Him by it, and we are rich in ability to bring His offering, His bread. Let us ever bear in mind that the Lord’s supper has its place in the assembly of God where He dwells, and where He receives what is due to Him. If we wish to give pleasure to the Lord Jesus we cannot do it better than by offering to God. He suffered that He might bring us to God in a priestly way.
The “feast to Jehovah seven days” (verse 12), called elsewhere the feast of tabernacles, is clearly the crown of the festive year. It typifies the time when God’s thoughts of blessing for a restored earthly people will be brought to fruition. Joy is a very marked feature [p. 345] of this feast as presented in Leviticus and Deuteronomy but here we only read of the offerings which accompany it. What God secures from His people for His own satisfaction is here the prominent thing. It will be noticed that the number of rams and lambs is the same on each of the seven days. They represent what is unchanging — the value of Christ in death as the ground on which the redeemed are with God now and evermore (see 1 Peter 1:18,19; Revelation 5:9). This can neither be increased nor diminished; it cannot be more for one than another. God would assure the hearts of His people that at all times, and under all circumstances, they are with Him in the unalterable preciousness of that wonderful redemption which Christ has effected.
But the bullocks, as seen here, represent an offering of Christ to God in a way that may diminish, for there is one less each day of the feast. Decrease in relation to Christ cannot refer to what He is in Himself; it must indicate diminishing ability on the part of the saints to offer Him to God, and this must surely be the result of some falling off in the affectionate appreciation or apprehension of Him. The bullock is the largest sacrificial type of Christ, and it has been remarked that “the top shoot goes first”. That which is greatest and best requires the most spiritual power to maintain, and therefore it is the first to suffer when spiritual vigour declines.
But the “young bullocks” do not rise above “thirteen” at the most. The bullock being the largest sacrificial animal seems to set forth the largest possible apprehension of Christ that men can have while remaining in natural bodies, and “thirteen” of them would be very nearly two sevens. So that there is not quite a testimony here to perfect apprehension. This seems to suggest that restored Israel as brought into blessing in the millennial earth will not come up to absolute perfection in their apprehension of Christ, or in ability [p. 346] to offer Him. The greatness and wealth in Christ will go beyond what can be taken up or offered by men. Jehovah spoke through Malachi of pouring out a blessing “till there be no place for it” or, as the margin reads, “a blessing to superabundance” (Malachi 3:10), indicating that in the day when all nations shall call Israel blessed, and they shall be “a delightsome land”, they will not be equal to taking up all that God has given. Indeed, the diminishing number of bullocks as the seven days of the feast run their course intimates that the same wealth of apprehension or of offering will not be maintained throughout, but will decrease. If this will be so in Israel in the day of their great blessing what a salutary admonition does it convey to us! Reminding us that there is ever on our side the tendency to decline, even when there is no actual departure! A multitude of offerings may be still presented, and accepted, while in relation to the greatest and most precious divine thoughts there is steady and progressive decline. This hah a warning voice, especially for those who may have had an extra-ordinary measure of favour from God such as is typified in the seven days “feast to Jehovah”. It is called “the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year” (Exodus 23:16); it is a time when what God has given in His bounty is known in its richest profusion. As seen in Numbers 29 it is the climax of His ways in revival and recovery, and yet God’s portion not only falls short of perfection in regard to what is greatest and most valuable, but it is plainly seen to decrease from day to day. Shall not this move us to great concern lest a similar decline should manifest itself in our case! Shall we not take it to heart that the service of each day may be fulfilled, but with diminishing spiritual value? Much may be made of Christ, and He may be brought to God in a variety of ways which are [p. 347] acceptable, and yet there may be decrease! God will surely accept all that there is, and set full value upon it, but He knows well when His portion is diminishing. The number of bullocks beginning with “thirteen” intimates that the seven days of this feast typify a time when “that which is perfect” has not yet come. When the assembly is viewed as in 1 Corinthians “that which is perfect” has not yet come (see 1 Corinthians 13:8 - 12). So long as things are “in part” there will always be the possibility and the tendency to decline. The thought of this should greatly impress upon us the need for watchfulness and prayer. I believe God permits this exercise to give us an intensified appreciation of “the eighth day”, which refers typically to “that which is perfect”. When that which is perfect is come we shall be in unchanging and eternal conditions, in which no decline will be possible. All will subsist in the stability and permanence of resurrection and incorruptibility; the saints will have spiritual and glorified bodies; they will be in every way conformed to the image of God’s Son. But the characteristic glory of Christianity is that it brings in “the eighth day” in a spiritual way even now.
No suggestion of imperfection or decline is introduced on the “eighth day”; it is simply “one bullock, one ram, seven yearling lambs”. It is Christ in His own perfection; no varying measures of apprehension now, but the saints as the subject of divine workmanship are identified with Christ according to the full measure of God’s eternal purpose and grace. This is what it will be eternally. That which is perfect will come; there will be no disparity at all between Christ and His brethren; they will be “all of one” manifestly and gloriously and eternally. But this is already true in the purely spiritual associations of “the eighth day”, for the saints as having their part by God’s election,
[p. 348] and by His work, in that eternal day are holy and without blame in love; they are in sonship for God’s delight, taken into favour in the Beloved; they are blessed according to eternal purpose. This lies altogether outside the “seven days” during which that which is perfect has not come; it belongs to “the eighth day”, when things are no more “in part”, or through a dim window obscurely, but “face to face”.