THE FEASTS OF THE LORD
THE FEASTS OF THE LORD
JT These feasts indicate, I suppose, how God reaches His thought. He sets down at the beginning the end He has before Him, namely, the sabbath; and then He proceeds to show how that is reached.
AFM He puts the end first.
JT Yes, I think so. The rest remains; but we have to learn how it is entered into, how it is reached. So we read, “Concerning the set feasts of Jehovah ... these are my set feasts. Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; no manner of work shall ye do: it is the sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings”. Then the passover is mentioned, “These are the set feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons: In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the two evenings, is the passover to Jehovah”.
BTF What is the meaning of feasts of Jehovah?
JT I think they mean seasons in which His people drew near to Him, seasons in which He had His part.
BTF Would you say it was something Jehovah valued?
JT Yes. He fixed these periods for His people to draw near. In Deuteronomy three times in a year are mentioned. Whereas here we have seven times. Here it is a question of the means by which He reaches His purpose.
FL Does a feast suggest that there is that which God appreciates, that which is responsive to Him, that Jehovah gets a portion in?
AFM The number seven gives the thought in its completeness; three, as in Deuteronomy, would be what is adequate for [p. 211] God.
JT In Deuteronomy it is presented as an occasion by which they would show their love for Jehovah; while here it is rather how He accomplishes His designs. In Deuteronomy the thought was to give the people an opportunity of showing their love for Jehovah. Three times in a year was adequate, complete testimony to their love. Here in Leviticus, where we have seven, it is a question of spiritual history rather than testimony to the love of the people. But spiritual history, not in regard of the assembly, but in regard of Israel on the earth; it is what takes place on the earth.
FL In Deuteronomy the significant point is, that it was to be in a place which Jehovah chose. Here the question as to where the passover was to be kept is not raised but in Deuteronomy there had to be movement which would bring them together. It is to be “At the place that Jehovah thy God will choose”, Deuteronomy 16:6.
JT In this chapter time is more in view than place. So the sabbath would be, I suppose, what God set forth in the Lord Jesus as here. He sets forth in testimony what He intends to reach in all. He found rest in Christ, and He intends to find rest in all.
FL Is there not, therefore, a suggestion here that God reverts to the original thought in Genesis? That is, He rested on the seventh day. His intention as seen in the opening of this chapter is that He takes it up at that point and shows how it spiritually will come to pass in the world to come.
JT It is a confirmation of what we have already dwelt upon, that God relinquishes no thought to which He gives expression. He shows here how His original thought, as seen in Genesis, is reached. It is reached through a spiritual, not a natural process, so the beginning of the spiritual history is in the passover.
[p. 212] Ques Would you mind saying what you mean by Israel’s history being portrayed in this chapter?
JT I think all the feasts refer to God’s ways on the earth. The heavenly side of the truth is not indicated here, unless we may introduce it at Pentecost. We know that Pentecost refers to the assembly period; but here it is the assembly in relation to Israel. It does not go beyond that. We may be introduced as a parenthesis, but the feasts go right on from Pentecost to the blowing of trumpets. Some may say the blowing of trumpets is the gospel going out to the nations, but, strictly, the awakening of Israel is in view. It suffices to see how God reaches His rest. It is an earthly thought. We see how He reaches it, but it is on spiritual lines rather than natural lines.
WLP In Hebrews it is said, “there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God”, Hebrews 4:9.
JT The fact that it is said, ‘there remains‘ shows it was not reached by Israel. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God”. “Therefore” refers to the fact that David in the Psalms had spoken of another rest, so the rest is still future “there remaineth”. But then He says, “we which have believed do enter into rest”, Hebrews 4:3. It is not a question of the time we enter, but the fact, and the character of it. It is connected with God’s ways on the earth.
FL I suppose the thought of rest is quite broad. We enter as faith lays hold of Christ, and the system of which He is the Centre.
JT “We which have believed do enter into rest”, Hebrews 4:3. The point is not when; but that we do enter, it is the character of the believer in contrast to those who do not enter through unbelief.
CAM In that sense we enter into the meaning of all this. Looking at it historically I can see the history of the children of Israel in it; but in our own soul’s history we enter into it as a complete thought, do we not?
JT Yes. As He says, “We which have believed do enter into rest”, Hebrews 4:3. It is the character. When or where is not the point; but rather to show that things were still future and were true to faith. They had not taken place on the line of natural history in Israel. It was a spiritual idea.
FL So it was to be morally apprehended. One sees it at the end of Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”. Then He goes through the corn field on the sabbath day and “his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears, and to eat”, Matthew 12:1. All this goes to show that He is greater than the sabbath. Therefore, in reaching Him we reach all the blessings that are set forth in Him. All that we get here is really reached for us, in moral character, when we reach Christ.
ANW You do not give over this chapter to Israel altogether, do you?
JT Strictly it refers to Israel. Pentecost is a feast of Jehovah. It does not go beyond Israel. “For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who [are] afar off, as many as [the] Lord our God may call”, Acts 2:39. That is not Paul’s gospel. That is not the gospel strictly that characterises our dispensation. Peter says, ‘This is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel’, Acts 2:16. As far as the testimony went, it did not go beyond what was promised in regard of God’s earthly people.
CAM Are not these feasts entered into by us in a spiritual way? Does not Paul’s line of truth embrace all these feasts?
JT We may use them. They are all for us. But as to their primary application they refer to God’s ways on earth, because the feast of tabernacles is the millennium. That we may enter into these [p. 214] things in a spiritual way is true; but that would be a question of application to ourselves after we apprehend the primary bearing of the chapter.
FL “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in [the] Holy Spirit”, Romans 14:17. We really get elements of the feast of tabernacles in righteousness, and peace, and joy.
JT Yes. It is rest for our souls. Whereas God in the sabbath meant rest from labours.
CAM Why is there this blowing of the trumpets if, at the day of Pentecost, the remnant of Israel were brought in There is a space of time between the day of Pentecost and the blowing of the trumpets.
JT We might introduce Christianity between verses 21 and 22. “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not in thy harvest entirely reap the corners of thy field, and the gleaning of thy harvest shall thou not gather: thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger: I am Jehovah your God”. The “poor and the stranger” is not Christianity, because Christianity is not a tail-end of what was presented to Judaism. In a way it is greater than Pentecost. Christianity is in the light of Paul’s doctrine. Whereas, “Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee” (Isaiah 60:1) is what is for Israel. I understand that Pentecost, as recorded in the Acts, meant that Israel’s light had come. The gift of the Spirit was that which had been spoken of by Joel, and Peter explains it to them, “This is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel”, Acts 2:16. His address really, while being an explanation, is the blowing of the trumpets. It is an announcement. It is the bringing to bear on the consciences of the people what had taken place. It is said, “And having heard it they were pricked in heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles, What shall we do, brethren?”, Acts 2:37. That was, in principle,
the day of atonement. They ‘afflicted their souls’ and all the nations could have come into that. It was available for them. “For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who [are] afar off”, Acts 2:39. All the nations could have come into that; but, instead of that we read the Lord “added [to the assembly] daily, those that were to be saved” (Acts 2:47) namely, the spared remnant. This is, at least, the outward aspect of the testimony to Israel at Pentecost. Of course it is quite clear that the assembly was in view from the outset. From that point we may date the assembly, but this chapter goes on from that to the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles, without making any reference to a new thing having come in from heaven, such as Christianity, properly speaking, is.
FL I think, as to its full application, we get help if we see that the blowing of trumpets is introductory to the feast of tabernacles. In a sense the trumpets were blown through the proclamation of Cyrus, and the effect was that the remnant heard, and responded, and they came back into the land. We read in Ezra 3:1, “And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem”. It is interesting to see, in that light, that they came back in the day of the blowing of the trumpets. “In the seventh month, on the first of the month”, So they were there, prepared to afflict their souls, prepared for the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles. I think it is of interest to see that point in Ezra.
CAM Do you think the blowing of the trumpets will begin again? You were saying they were blown by Peter on the day of Pentecost; but there seems to be an interval here between the day of Pentecost and the blowing of trumpets. When the assembly is gone will not this be [p. 216] fulfilled?
JT There is no doubt that an interval of several months, which elapsed between Pentecost and the blowing of trumpets is intimated here in the reaping of the harvest of the land; but, at the same time, it is not developed. The chapter simply goes on to the awakening of the nation.
FL In Ezra it is said, “from the first day of the seventh month they began to offer up burnt-offerings to Jehovah”, Ezra 3:6. Then the feast of tabernacles brought in on the fifteenth day a continuation. “And they held the feast of tabernacles, as it is written”, Ezra 3:4. One sees here the way in which the remnant of Acts 2, and again the remnant after we are gone, is provided for. After the assembly is gone the blowing of trumpets will be taken up through prepared instruments from amongst the Jews, and thus the remnant is secured.
CAM Do you mean that this blowing of trumpets took place in Cyrus’ day?
FL In effect it was the blowing of trumpets then. In Ezra 3:6 we read, “from the first day of the seventh month they began to offer up burnt-offerings to Jehovah”. Then in verse 4, ‘They held the feast of tabernacles, as it is written‘ That is how it is worded.
CAM If the blowing of trumpets in Acts 2 was first to secure a remnant, then, after the assembly is gone, will there be a remnant secured, and the stranger go and glean in the field?
JT Yes. There is provision made for the stranger before the blowing of trumpets.
BTF When was the direct introduction of Christianity?
JT I think Christianity is strictly Paul’s light. The message of the twelve was primarily to Israel, although they had been directed to go elsewhere:
“Go [therefore] and make disciples of all the nations”, Matthew 28:19. But the ministry of Paul set forth a Man in heaven,
[p. 217] a place in heaven, sonship, and all that, while what we are concerned with here is the development of God’s ways on earth, and how He reaches His end on the earth. Of course, we enter into rest now in a spiritual way, and in heaven too; but the sabbath, or rest of God, is what He has in view for a scene which had been marked by labour.
CAM Where do you locate the first feast?
JT You will notice it is divided. In verses 1 and 2 we read, “And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations — these are my set feasts”. Then in verse 3, “Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; no manner of work shall ye do: it is the sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings”. Then again in verse 4, “These are the set feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons: In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month; between the two evenings, is the passover to Jehovah”. So, I think, strictly speaking, the beginning of the feasts is the passover. Whereas what God has in His mind is set forth first, which is the sabbath, the rest of God. But in order to reach God’s rest the passover, the sacrifice of Christ, is necessary, so He begins the feasts with the passover, and repeats in verse 4, “These are the set feasts of Jehovah”, and goes on to give instruction as to the passover.
CAM These feasts are yearly. They are set year by year; but the sabbath was weekly.
JT The weekly sabbath was not to be interfered with by these feasts, showing that it was the one which Jehovah had in His mind. It occurred weekly; but the fact that these feasts are to be held yearly, in order to reach it, shows He had not yet reached it. The seventh day refers to [p. 218] the millennium.
ANW And all the feasts, though kept yearly, circle around the sabbath, they stand in relation to the sabbath.
CAM They are finished in seven days.
JT I suppose it is a spiritual year. As these feasts were celebrated this chapter would be referred to, and so the importance of the sabbath would be pressed upon the people. Numerically, seven is the key to this chapter.
FL The feast of tabernacles is completed on the eighth day, verse 39. I think the number eight is very largely connected with the restoration of Israel, and the feast of tabernacles takes it in. It begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.
AAT The passover being the beginning of the feasts, I suppose it refers to the cross?
JT Yes. In the incarnation there was that in which God could rest. As a testimony the Spirit came down and abode upon Christ, showing there was nothing there to disturb the blessed God in that Man. But that was in the way of testimony. He will bring all the creation into harmony with that, and in order that He should reach such a purpose we have in verse 5 that which speaks of His death, “In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the two evenings, is the passover to Jehovah”. He has to begin with the passover in order to reach His purpose. The passover, we know, is the death of the Lord Jesus. “our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed”; 1 Corinthians 5:7.
AP Were these feasts to be celebrated in the land?
JT One can understand that from the time this law was given, from the very outset, after they came out of Egypt, they were to keep the sabbath. In fact, all these instructions were given in the wilderness; but the passover was in Egypt. But it says in verse 10, “When ye come into the land that I give unto you”, That means, spiritually speaking, that Christ is risen.
ARS As I understand it, while these feasts were given in the wilderness, they were never held until they got into the land.
JT According to Deuteronomy all these feasts were held in the land. Of course, the purpose of God was that the people should be in the land. The wilderness was incidental, so these yearly feasts contemplated a people in the land. But verse 10 is striking: “And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye come into the land that I give unto you, and ye reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest”. That is Christ risen. “The land” implies to us that Christ is risen.
ARS Is not the idea of the sabbath on earth?
JT I understand that the Scripture treats it as reached on the earth.
ARS In the garden of Eden Adam and Eve had perfect rest, and they lost it through sin, so the death of Christ is the ground on which God would bring in His rest.
JT Christ’s death is the first step to it. In Hebrews it is said, “There remains then a rest to the people of God”, Hebrews 4:9. Judaism did not bring them into that rest.
AAT Strictly speaking, the people did the eating in the feast of the passover. Yet Jehovah calls the feasts His feasts, “The set feasts of Jehovah”.
JT These were offerings which indicated what God finds in Christ. It was prescribed that they were to “present to Jehovah an offering by fire seven days”; verse 8. And then in verse 12, the feast of first-fruits, it is said, “And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, a he-lamb without blemish, a yearling, for a burnt-offering to Jehovah;
[p. 220] and the oblation thereof: two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering by fire to Jehovah for a sweet odour; and the drink-offering thereof, of wine, a fourth part of a hin”. Thus God had His portion. The burnt-offering was for Him, so the oblation, and so the meat-offering. There was food in that for Jehovah. He had His part. “Two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering by fire to Jehovah”. The sweet odour was for Jehovah. Then the drink-offering, of wine, the fourth part of a hin, that too would be for God. That is what Jacob poured out on the pillar; it was in type God’s satisfaction and pleasure in Christ. So God has His pleasure in these feasts.
FL It is interesting to see the part Jehovah had in these feasts. Were it a burnt-offering, or meat-offering, or the drink-offering, He had His portion.
JT Then we have the offering of first-fruits. That was for Jehovah primarily. In verse 14 it is said that they were not to eat anything “until the same day that ye have brought the offering of your God”. You see they had something for God first. So the resurrection of Christ was for God primarily. He had the joy and glory of it first. The saints did not come into the joy of the resurrection of Christ first, for God knew it before they did. The end of each of the gospels shows how the saints came into it; but God had it first. The sheaf was waved, so to speak, before Jehovah first.
Ques Did Israel come into the good of the resurrection then?
JT Historically the whole nation did not come into it. They have not as yet come into it; but the disciples who followed the Lord did. Luke 24 shows us how Mary Magdalene and the other disciples were all gradually brought in to rejoice in the fact that Christ had risen. “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”, Luke 24:34. When they came together in Jerusalem what joy each one had in telling his part in the glorious event, how he had seen the Lord, risen.
Rem Do you think that will be repeated again in the future in their history?
FL While we have had the remnant of Israel, of which we have been speaking, merged in the church, and in the future Israel will come into blessing — the whole nation will — I doubt if they will ever have this peculiar enjoyment the disciples had. Israel was there in principle; but we know the nation was not there. The disciples were the remnant given to Christ, and what they enjoyed is undoubtedly what is spoken of here. They had companied with Christ, they loved Him, and they had what the nation will never have in the way of enjoyment. That must be so. The disciples had the joy of the resurrection of Christ in a character that can never be repeated.
JT I have no doubt that the antitype to this is in the latter part of Luke, to which I have already referred. For instance, the two on their way to Emmaus when their eyes were opened and they knew Him. “rising up the same hour, they returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven, and those with them gathered together, saying, The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”, Luke 24:33 - 34. They were exulting in that. Then it is said, “And they related what had happened on the way, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread”. That was another element in the feast. Then we find, “And as they were saying these things, He himself stood in their midst, and says unto them, Peace be unto you. But they, being confounded and being frightened, supposed they beheld a spirit”.
FL That really brings in the peace-offering.
JT Quite so.
CAM [p. 222] Do you still regard them as an earthly company?
JT They do not go beyond the Jewish position. They came into the light of the resurrection of Christ. There followed “a holy convocation”, for they were found together. As thus gathered the Lord came into their midst. They “rejoiced” when they saw the Lord, and He had joy with them.
Ques What is your thought of the wave sheaf?
JT The thought is Christ risen, as before God. What occupies the close of the gospels is just that Christ is out of death and before God. When you come to the day of Pentecost the saints “were all together in one place”, Acts 2:1. They are now qualified to receive the Spirit, so you have in the feast of Pentecost among other wonderful things, “And ye shall sacrifice one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs, yearlings, for a sacrifice of peace-offering. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits as a wave-offering before Jehovah, with the two he-lambs; they shall be holy to Jehovah, for the priest”, Leviticus 23:19 - 20.
AW Verse 16 speaks of “a new oblation”.
JT I think the prominent feature of the first day after the sabbath is that Christ is risen; but the prominent feature in connection with Pentecost is that the saints are brought in. They are not before God in Luke 24, because they are not really fitted for the presence of God. They were “confounded and ... . frightened”. The point there is not the saints, but Christ risen. But when we come to Acts 2 the point is not only that Christ is risen, but that the Spirit is given to the saints, and they are before God accordingly. They are now seen as after the order of Christ.
Ques What about the two wave loaves, baken with leaven?
JT As an offering of the saints there had [p. 223] to be leaven. The baking refers, I think, to the exercise the saints went through, leading them to answer to Christ in character. They are typified in the loaves as having taken account of all that had transpired from the death of Christ up to that time, judging themselves in it. All these things had been gone through in the exercise of their souls, and God owns them publicly by the gift of the Spirit.
FL Those must have been ten days of tremendous exercise after the Lord left them at the end of the forty days. That is what is indicated here, the ten days before the Holy Spirit came. Christ has gone; they cling together and pray and are governed by the Scriptures. Then they appear according to what is set forth here typically.
JT You will observe if you compare Acts 1 with Luke 24 that the former scripture shows you the disciples governed by right principles, although the Lord was not there. Whereas in Luke 24 they were not governed by right principles. The main part of the chapter, as regards them, is occupied in telling of their unbelief and slowness of heart. In Acts 2 the gift of the Spirit consequent on the resurrection of Christ is not so much a question of the earnest, but of God recognising the saints publicly. It is as if He said, ‘These are the people who are for Me, these are the first-fruits’ . Honour is put upon them.
ANW Answering to the recognition which the Lord Himself received when He came up out of Jordan.
JT Yes. Only the Spirit carefully tells us that the wave loaves here were baken with leaven, showing that the saints as in flesh and blood condition are in view.
CAM “And there appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them”, Acts 2:3.
JT There is always a fear in speaking of the Lord’s people in this way. It is much better to speak of Christ; but still the Spirit of God in presenting the saints to us in this way, in type, is pleased to use the very same term as is used in regard of Christ; that is, first-fruits.
Rem It is called “a new oblation”. And it also says they are the “first-fruits to Jehovah”.
FL It is most carefully guarded. While it is said, “ye shall present a new oblation to Jehovah”, and “as first-fruits to Jehovah”, nevertheless, ‘with leaven shall they be baken’; and, “ye shall sacrifice one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs, yearlings, for a sacrifice of peace-offering”. There was fully recognised those two things which did not come in in connection with the type of Christ. The difference, therefore, between Christ and those who believe on Him is most carefully guarded.
ANW Why was it with the wave sheaf one he-lamb, but seven he-lambs with the two wave loaves?
JT I suppose we have in view the complete appreciation that the saints had of Christ. The numbers, I think, of the offerings in regard of Pentecost refer to the increase of affection; in fact, the complete answer to God in the saints to whom the Spirit came. Things were perfect under the eye of God in the way of appreciation of Christ in the hundred and twenty at Pentecost. Whereas, in regard of the sheaf, it is more what is intrinsic than in quantity. The intrinsic value of the offering is there in view.
FL In the first instance, there was the one lamb representing more what was in Christ personally. The seven is the perfection of the company that was clothed with all the value of what Christ is.
JT There was perfection of full spiritual appreciation of Christ amongst them in a collective [p. 225] way.
FL One feature of the teaching of the two wave loaves is unity.
JT They had taken note of all that had come out from the time Christ was apprehended until His ascension into heaven, and what they brought out of their dwellings refers to what they were themselves. Leaven was recognised as there, but it had ceased to act. It had come under the action of the fire. They had judged it, and in the light of the death of the Lord Jesus. Sin was never judged in man fully before the death of the Lord Jesus. There may have been a sense of sin; but only in the light of the cross is sin really judged.
FL I think we get an illustration of it in Exodus 12, in the passover. And then after the passover they come out of their dwellings with their unleavened bread. They come out with it.
JT Yes, they did. But here the wave loaves refer to a new order of man in them. It is not simply that they have judged themselves; they were formed after Christ. The product of their exercise is that they correspond with Christ, so that they can be waved before Jehovah. They are pleasing to God.
BTF Is that the same thought as Hebrews 2:
“for both he that sanctifies and those sanctified [are] all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”, Hebrews 2:11.
JT I think this hardly goes as far as that. I do not think our position as “brethren” and as “of him” admits of sin. There we are viewed strictly as altogether of Christ. But in the assembly, viewed historically, that is, as we are recognised on earth among men, you are recognised to be a man after Christ, like Christ. It is what the saints are here in the world under the eye of man. These people who were together in Jerusalem, the one hundred and twenty, may have been known, and were known [p. 226] personally by some in Jerusalem, but now, though the leaven is there, it is no longer active in them; they are like Christ. The coming of the Spirit was public, and it was a great triumph for God that He had brought about a people that could be seen to be like Christ. And, although sin was admitted to be there, it was not active.
ANW The product of the corn of wheat.
AP Would the baking process speak of fasting rather than feasting?
JT It refers to the fact that they had come under the action of the fire. You cannot get bread without the action of the fire. It is not dough. Two loaves, brought out of their dwellings, baked. They have come under the action of the fire, so that sin is not active. John 12:24 goes further than this passage, I believe. “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit”. The “much fruit” is the saints viewed as wholly of Christ; they are the fruit of His death. We should know very little about the fire if we had not leaven in us. There will be no need of the action of the fire in heaven. It is in view of sin in us that fire is necessary.
AFM There is a counting. “Even unto the morning after the seventh sabbath shall ye count fifty days; and ye shall present a new oblation to Jehovah”. And then it is said, “out of your dwellings shall ye bring two wave loaves, of two tenths of fine flour; with leaven shall they be baken; as first-fruits to Jehovah. And ye shall present with the bread seven he-lambs without blemish, yearlings”.
JT Pentecost did not present an infantile state amongst the saints. It was manhood. Then it goes on to say, “And one young bullock, and two rams”; rams usually denote maturity. “They shall be a burnt-offering to Jehovah with their oblation, and their drink-offerings, an offering by [p. 227] fire of a sweet odour to Jehovah”. All was presented to Jehovah. Pentecost was a wonderful day for Him. Then we have the sin-offering: “And ye shall sacrifice one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs, yearlings, for a sacrifice of peace-offering. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits as a wave-offering before Jehovah, with the two he-lambs; they shall be holy to Jehovah, for the priest”. What a wonderful scene that is!
AFM If the saints were in the good of verse 18, what liberty amongst us, what joy there would be! God would get His portion, and the saints having their portion, joying in Christ.
JT I am sure the cause of much weakness amongst the saints of God is that things do not go on in secret with God. ‘Out of your dwellings shall ye bring’ means there had been secret exercises with God, feeding on and assimilating Christ. The word of God brings the mind of God to us in Christ. Then prayer; “enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee”. I believe the reward applies to when we are together. The secret of spiritual power is to be with God in secret.
BTF Do you think the disciples went through great exercises in those ten days?
JT They did. They took account of what had been witnessed in Christ and took it home to themselves. We may be sure there were many serious and earnest conversations between these men and women, and much individual self-judgment before God as to all that had passed. There had passed much to their shame.
FL In connection with what you were saying, we might read a verse in Acts where they were getting ready to bring the wave loaves out of their houses, so to speak: “And when they were come into [the city], they went up to the upper chamber, where were staying both Peter, and John, and James ... . These gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer”, Acts 1:13 - 14. The Lord had left them and they come together in an upper chamber and they are there with one accord in prayer and supplication. Then Peter turns to the scripture. There are all the elements. And, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, God endorses it by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
Pages 229 - 343 — “Privilege and Responsibility” Indianapolis, January, 1917 (Volume 37).