DEUTERONOMY 16
The passover now comes before us as another thing to be observed in the place which Jehovah would choose to cause His Name to dwell there. The keeping of this service was the first thing enjoined to be done when they came into the land (Exodus 12: 25), and it was to be “an ordinance for ever”. It has its place at the present time, for we read, “Our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5: 7), and it will be observed in the millennium (Ezekiel 45:21); it is of abiding importance for the people of God.
When the passover was kept in Egypt they were just about to come out as a redeemed people, and ever afterwards it was a memorial of how they came out; they were never to forget how, or by what means, they came out of Egypt. As in the land we are never to forget the value or the blessedness of the way in which God brought us out of the world; it is an essential part of the communion of the assembly that this should be maintained. If God has taken us up in love as His “firstborn”, as we have seen in connection with the [p. 202] firstlings, it is requisite that He should deliver us from “the present evil world”, and that we should be in moral separation from the flesh which is corrupt and corrupting. Therefore the passover and the feast of unleavened bread are to perpetually characterise the fellowship of His people. The one speaks of the death of Christ, and the other of those moral exercises which are needful to preserve consistency with it.
It is helpful to note the connection of the passover with what is brought before us typically in the agricultural year, for this is the setting of the feasts in Deuteronomy 16. The passover characterises the month Abib; then the feast of weeks is reckoned from the beginning of harvest; and the feast of tabernacles is when the harvest and vintage are gathered in. This chapter begins, “Keep the month of Abib, and celebrate the passover to Jehovah thy God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night”. The connection of the passover with the month Abib is repeated again and again in Scripture. The word Abib is translated in Leviticus 2: 14. “And if thou present an oblation of thy first-fruits to Jehovah, thou shalt present as the oblation of thy first-fruits green ears of corn”. That is the word Abib; it is explained in the following words as “corn beaten out of full ears”.
The month Abib was when the barley harvest came to maturity. The passover being characteristic of that month teaches us that the maturing of God’s thoughts of blessing for men must ever be connected with the death of Christ. Through that death God delivers His firstborn, and takes them out of the world which is under judgment. He secures the beginning of His harvest in that way. “Ye come out today, in the month Abib. And it shall be when Jehovah hath brought thee into the land ... which he swore to thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that [p. 203] thou shalt keep this service in this month” (Exodus 13: 4, 5). The bringing out and the bringing in are in the value of the death of Christ. Christ as risen is the First-fruits, but the harvest includes all that are His. The death of Christ secures all that is secured for God or for men. The month of Abib speaks of the beginning of a divine harvest every part of which is secured in the redemption value of the death of Christ. So that the passover has its place for ever — for the assembly, for the remnant, for millennial Israel. It is “an ordinance for ever”. In the light of this, one can understand the Lord speaking of the passover as being “fulfilled in the kingdom of God”.
God works out all the designs of His love by bringing in Christ as the slain Lamb. “Our Lord Jesus Christ .. gave himself for our sins, so that he should deliver us out of the present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1: 4). The present evil world is the world of religious flesh, and it is the place of bondage. By Christ and His death God takes His firstborn out of the place of bondage to serve Him in liberty. If we are in bondage we are not out of Egypt; we have not apprehended Christ and His death as the way by which God would bring us completely out, of every kind of bondage. It would be an impossibility for one to remain in Egypt who had known the sign of the blood, and eaten the Lamb roast with fire.
It is noticeable that in the mind of God, as given to us in Deuteronomy 16, the great thought connected with the passover is being brought forth out of Egypt. This is mentioned four times; see verses 1, 3, 6. Indeed this is what God proposed from the outset. (See Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:10; Exodus 3:12; Exodus 3:17; Exodus 6:6-8; Exodus 6:13; Exodus 6:26,27; Exodus 7:4,5.) And it is repeatedly dwelt upon in the scriptures which refer to the passover. (See Exodus 12:17,42; Exodus 13:3,4; Exodus 13:8,9; Exodus 13:14; Exodus 13:16; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18) In many minds the thought [p. 204] of being sheltered from judgment is the principal thing connected with the passover. But if our thoughts are limited to this we shall miss the great import of this precious institution. Such a thought as being sheltered by blood, but remaining in Egypt, is foreign to Scripture. Wherever the blood was on the doorposts and lintel, those within were feeding on the lamb with girded loins, feet shod, and staff in hand, and they were eating in haste. They were going out immediately as redeemed to God. Redemption is greater than shelter, for it secures a people delivered out of the world for the pleasure of God. The uniform testimony of Scripture is that by the passover God was acting in love for the redemption of His people, having regard to His covenant and His wondrous thoughts of favour towards them. See Deuteronomy 7: 8; Isaiah 43: 1, 4; Isaiah 63: 9; Hosea 11: 1.
The blood of the lamb on the door-posts and lintel was “a sign on the houses in which ye are”. It was a sign that God’s firstborn was there, and that he was there as a redeemed one. The old hymn puts it, “The blood was the sign that marked them as Thine”. In the passover lamb God disclosed in a typical way what had been in His mind “before the foundation of the world”. His book of life was the book “of the slain Lamb” (Revelation 13: 8). No doubt Peter is referring directly to the passover when he says, “Knowing that ye have been redeemed ... by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but who has been manifested at the end of times for your sakes, who by him do believe on God, who has raised him from among the dead and given him glory, that your faith and hope should be in God” (1 Peter 1: 18 - 21).
We know God as a Deliverer and Redeemer, for He has brought in Christ as the Lamb for our sakes.
[p. 205] He attaches great value to us, and would have us redeemed out of bondage and from vain conversation so as to be for His pleasure. Great and wondrous are the thoughts of God concerning His people, but they could only be brought to pass through redemption — through the precious blood of Christ. This was typified in Israel’s deliverance, but the Lamb was not really manifested until “the end of times”; we have to look at it as typifying what is known now. God has brought in Christ as the Lamb for our appreciation and appropriation, and His precious blood is the sign of redemption. By the spotless Lamb and the precious blood God Himself becomes the Object of faith and hope. He covers His people with His protecting wing, and does not suffer the destroyer to touch them. He passes over, not merely in the sense of leaving them alone, but as Himself becoming their Shelter in virtue of that precious redemption of which the blood was the sign.
“And thou shalt sacrifice the passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah will choose to cause his name to dwell there” (verse 2). God has moved in love to bring a people forth from sin, the world and Satan, from all that marks man as in the flesh. In doing this He had before Him His purpose to have His firstborn, and to place him in the inheritance which His love would bestow in “a good and spacious land”. The death of Christ is very precious to God as that by which He gives effect to the great designs of His love. Hence He speaks of the passover as “my sacrifice” and “my feast” (Exodus 23: 18; Exodus 34: 25), and He would have it to be celebrated to Him in the place which He chooses to cause His name to dwell there.
The death of Christ in passover aspect is very great before God, and He has ordained that it shall be perpetually the subject of assembly communion. It is not a matter for “one of thy gates”, but for “the place” chosen by God. It is an exercise which involves the communion of saints; it is an apprehension of Christ which can only be taken up assembly-wise. It is too great, if one may so say, for the individual, for it has in view the whole result which the passover contemplated in the mind of God. Eating the passover is to mark God’s assembly as gathered together at a common and divinely appointed meeting place. Our coming together as in the land must be in accord with such conditions as are suitable to God’s Name and dwelling. Only under such conditions can there be anything that has divine sanction as a gathering centre for His people, or that has the true character and communion of God’s assembly. When king Hezekiah celebrated the passover he was careful to keep in mind its assembly character (2 Chronicles 30); it was for all Israel even if they did not come. That is how we have to take it up now; a great many may not take up the privilege, or respect the conditions which make it possible, but it is there for all saints.
The place which Jehovah chooses sets forth the divinely appointed conditions by which God would unify His people in their fellowship, and in their approach to Him. Such conditions must be according to His own choice; He will not admit of anything else. Man’s choice as to how God should be served has brought in every kind of disorder and confusion. But God’s choice if truly acknowledged, would eliminate these things, and unity would mark His people, founded upon complete separation from the world, and the purging out of all leaven.
There is a tendency with us to regard divine things almost exclusively from an individual standpoint, but we have to learn to look at them in their bearing on God’s people as a whole. In the chapter now before us the Passover, the feast of weeks, and the feast of [p. 207] tabernacles had all to be observed in the place where Jehovah would cause His Name to dwell. They set forth things which have assembly character, and which are to be taken up assembly-wise. We shall not otherwise see them in their proper setting.
Paul was writing “to the assembly of God which is in Corinth” when he said, “For also our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed”. He introduced it, not as an individual matter, but in its bearing on the unleavened character and communion of the assembly. The first element in assembly conditions is that the assembly is not of the world; it has been taken out from the world for the pleasure of God in all the value of the death of Christ. God has “visited to take out of the nations a people for his name” (Acts 15: 14). Then God’s assembly must be unleavened; its fellowship necessitates the purging out of everything which would puff up the flesh.
This is a serious, as well as a blessed, exercise. “Thou shalt eat no leavened bread along with it”. We must distinguish between the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover. They are identified in Luke 22, and this shews that the feast of unleavened bread is not to be separated from the passover; they are indissolubly connected together. But the feast of unleavened bread lasts seven days; it is to be kept not only when the saints are together, but it is to characterise them personally and in their associations at all times. It not only may but must be kept in our “gates”. If the death of Christ is the holy subject of our communion there can be no allowance of anything that would appeal to the flesh, or give the flesh any place or importance.
The assembly is an unleavened company (1 Corinthians 5: 7), and is under obligation to be so practically. To preserve an unleavened character is essential for all who eat [p. 208] the Passover, whether in the wilderness or in the land, and this extends beyond the meetings. “And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days”. This must be maintained at home and everywhere. Our personal associations and character, as well as our assembly associations, must be unleavened. The unleavened bread is called here — here only, I believe — “bread of affliction”. This seems to indicate the severity of the exercise which is called for to maintain an unleavened character as in the land. The higher the ground which we occupy through grace, the more intense are the exercises involved in maintaining consistency with it. This is illustrated in Paul’s experience after he had been caught up to the third heaven. The afflictive character of his discipline was strongly marked, but it was needful to keep leaven from working even in Paul! Not the smallest bit of what would inflate the flesh is to be allowed. “Do ye not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump”? A little bit of what is carnal or legal, if not judged, will work actively to leaven all that with which it comes in contact. We have only to look at the religious world to see how leaven, which was small when first introduced, has permeated the mass with corrupting influence. The life of the flesh is under judgment with God, and has been brought to an end in the death of Christ, who bore its judgment in love. That is the Passover, and it involves the purging out of leaven.
The eating of the passover is always to be in fresh exercise on each occasion when it recurs; none of the flesh is to be “left overnight until the morning”. We cannot reserve the communion which may have been the product of spiritual exercise on one occasion so as to be able to take it up again without a renewal of the exercise. If there has been a particularly sweet time of communion, whether as to the precious death of [p. 209] Christ, or anything else which is a subject of assembly communion, there may sometimes be an attempt or desire to have it again without the fresh and living apprehensions of Christ which produced it, being renewed. But the spiritual communion which pertains to the assembly of God cannot be carried over in this way. It would soon become a form without freshness or power. The communion of the saints before God is dependent on the sustained vigour of their affections, preserving vitality and freshness in their apprehensions and appreciations of Christ. What is “left over night” has no longer this character, and it is no longer in keeping with the spiritual and living character of the communion of saints as together in assembly.
“Thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the time that thou camest forth out of Egypt” (verse 6). The death of Christ is really the end of Egypt’s day; it is the end before God of all that belongs to the life of man as in the flesh. The sense of this has to be maintained in the land; it is to characterise the fellowship of the children of God. It was a sad feature in Israel’s history that from the time of Samuel they did not celebrate the Passover with the honour that was due to it (2 Chronicles 35: 18). Probably that lay at the root of much of their departure and idolatry, as it is surely the secret of the worldliness, carnality and legality which have come into the Christian profession. The death of Christ has not been fed upon as that by which we are freed from the system in which the flesh has its life.
It is deeply touching to see how the Lord felt about this feast. He sent Peter and John to prepare it; He ordered that there should be a suitable place reserved for it — “My guest-chamber” (Mark 14: 14) — and He said, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, that I [p. 210] will not eat any more at all of it until it, be fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22: 15, 16). He looked on to the fulfilment of it, to the harvest of God being matured in the kingdom through His own precious death. Then all the happy subjects of the favour of God will eat the passover together, as understanding that the death of Christ has been God’s way by which to bring them out from bondage, and into all the blessing of the kingdom. At the moment Christ and His little company were the true assembly of Israel, and He delighted to eat the passover in communion with them. He saw in them the beginning of those great results which were to be brought about for God through His death — an unleavened company in the communion of His death.
Before the Lord instituted His supper He gave the passover its full character. We may safely say that it had never before been eaten with full intelligence of all that it meant as in the mind of God. And as eaten by the Lord an element was added which does not appear in the Old Testament; that is, “the cup”. It may have become a custom among the Jews to have one or more cups, but the Lord taking it up gave it divine sanction and import; it completed the divine thought. It has been God’s way in Scripture to introduce a thought, and then from time to time to add to it until He has completed what was before Him in connection with that thought. It was so with reference to the house of God, and other subjects, and it is so as to the passover. As instituted in Egypt the blood is prominent; as spoken of in the wilderness the fat is mentioned; as celebrated in the land it was to be eaten in the place where Jehovah caused His Name to dwell — it was to be taken up assembly-wise. Finally, as eaten by the Lord with His disciples, the cup is added, speaking of the joy of the kingdom as known under the new covenant, and linking it all with His death in passover aspect.
[p. 211] The difference between the passover in its spiritual import and the Lord’s supper is a matter which we do well to consider. Luke 22 shews how intimately they are linked together, but at the same time they are distinguished. The passover will, I believe, be carried on by the remnant in the light of the New Testament after the assembly has been translated. But the Lord’s supper is, I believe, a remembrance which is peculiarly the privilege of saints who are of the assembly which is His body.
The Passover, as we take it up spiritually now, is the celebration of what God has done for us through the death of Christ, as effecting our complete deliverance from the world system in view of all that He has before Him for us as having inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. The Lord’s supper is the remembrance of One who, as having come in Manhood, is cherished in the affections of those who have the place of His wife and His children. It recalls how He devoted Himself in love — the true Hebrew Servant who has said, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free”. It is more personal and intimate, as suited to those who form His body. It is the remembrance suited in the thought of His love to those who are in the place of His intimate associates who cherish His memory — those who are in the favoured place of being His loved household.
But neither of these precious and holy institutions is to obscure the other. They are both divine and spiritual, and both have their place in the assembly of God. Spiritual intelligence and affections would know how to give each its suited place.
The “feast of weeks” refers to a period counted “from the beginning of putting the sickle into the corn”. The wave-sheaf is not mentioned here, but we know that it was the first-fruits of the harvest. Christ Risen was the Sheaf of first-fruits waved “on the next day after the sabbath” (Leviticus 23: 11), and as risen He becomes the starting point of new exercises. The passover was to be sacrificed “at even, at the going down of the sun”; the death of Christ was the end of Egypt’s day — of all connected with sin and the flesh — and in that aspect it is to form the substance of our assembly communion. But the “feast of weeks” is reached by counting from Christ as risen; it is connected with the dawn of a new and eternal day in the resurrection of Christ.
It is of the utmost importance that, as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, we should learn to count from His resurrection. No man in Christendom can write a letter, or an invoice, or read a newspaper, without being reminded that so many years ago the Lord came into the world. The very date preaches the gospel, and speaks of the grace of God to men. But Christendom counts from the coming of Christ into this world, and it connects Christ with the world as it is, and this lies at the root of many mistaken thoughts and actions. How many think that Christ came to improve the world, and spend their lives in trying to further this! It is a great mistake.
We have to learn as the people of God to count spiritually from the resurrection of Christ. He has entered a new sphere altogether outside the life of this world. The sickle has been put into God’s harvest, and the first stroke of that sickle has secured Christ as risen. The Sheaf has been waved “to be accepted for you” (Leviticus 23: 11). A risen Christ has been accepted for us, and therefore our acceptance is entirely outside the course of things here. The death of Christ is the going down of the sun in regard to this world, and in regard to all hopes and expectations from man as in the flesh. A new day has begun in the resurrection of Christ, and we have to count from that new starting-point.
In Luke 24 we read that the women who went to [p. 213] the empty tomb saw two men in shining raiment; Luke does not say angels, but men. “Shining raiment” is not for this world, or for mortal men. No one was ever seen here in shining garments save the Lord Himself on the holy mount. Shining raiment speaks of suitability to the resurrection world. Men could not be risen with Christ other than as in shining raiment; such men belong to the region of things above; they are suitable in their attire for association with the risen and living One. Two men in shining raiment standing by the women might well convey to their souls that they had had old garments — thoughts connected with this world, and with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel according to the flesh, but that now as the associates of the risen One they would have to wear raiment that was not of this world at all. As risen He was accepted for them in view of the resurrection world.
We have now to count from Christ. If He has died we have died with Him; if He is risen we are risen with Him. Every believer expects to be in shining raiment when God’s harvest is actually gathered up in resurrection according to 1 Corinthians 15. But that harvest is now being gathered in a spiritual sense consequent upon the resurrection of Christ. The risen One has been accepted for us, and all that are Christ’s are bound up with Him in the bundle of the living; they live out of death as bound up with the risen One.
The disciples in Acts 1 were suitable to the risen One through what He had effected for them by going into death, and through His being accepted for them in resurrection, He could shew Himself to them, and speak to them, and assemble with them, and let them handle Him; He could have them to eat and drink with Him. If Christ as risen is accepted for us we are attired in suitability to Him; we are in “shining raiment”. Let us never forget it!
[p. 214] The counting of Deuteronomy 16: 9 suggests that the resurrection of Christ is not to be viewed merely as a fact, but as involving the taking up, and working out to completion, of certain exercises on the part of His saints. The counting of seven weeks would be a definite and progressive process from day to day, and from week to week. The result in view is not brought to completion until the “weeks” are accomplished. The Lord intimated this when He said, “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but do ye remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24: 49). And again in Acts 1: 5, “Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit after now not many days”.
In Deuteronomy 16 the weeks are to be counted; the feast gets its name therefrom. The week is not a period determined by the course of nature like days, months, or years. There is nothing in nature to indicate the duration of a week; it is a divine period marked by the working of God. It was so originally in creation (Genesis 1); it was a period of divine working which secured a definite result. Here we have that thought intensified, for there is a counting of “seven weeks”, which conveys a very full thought of spiritual completeness. In Leviticus 23: 15 it is expressly said, “they shall be complete”. It is typically the period which began with the resurrection of Christ, and ended with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. But during that time a wonderful counting was going on in the souls of the disciples. They were passing through entirely new exercises of which they had previously no idea. They had to learn to count, not only from Christ as incarnate, or as the One who had died, but from Him as risen; and their exercises were brought to completion by the outpouring of the Spirit upon them. His being accepted for them gave them suitability to take up this new exercise connected with an out of the world condition. Speaking spiritually, they were in shining raiment.
The “feast of weeks” directs our attention to the period covered by the first chapter of the Acts. Jesus was not taken up immediately after His resurrection, nor was the Spirit given at once after His ascension. There was a period of forty days during which He was seen by the apostles before He was taken up, and a further period of ten days between His taking up and the pouring out of the Spirit. It was necessary that time should be given for things to take form in the souls of the brethren as standing in relation to One who was raised from among the dead. This gave a new aspect to everything; it put everything on a new platform. A risen Man could not be connected with the course of things in this world at all, but He was to be the subject of testimony (Acts 1: 8, 22). And in view of this “He presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs; being seen by them during forty days”. They had time to become familiarised with Him in His new condition as living beyond death. He was living in an out of the world condition, but He was presented to men so as to be fully verified to them. It was not only that they saw Him, but they heard Him. How wonderful must that speaking have been from the lips of a risen Man “of the things which concern the kingdom of God”! Indicating that the kingdom of God stood in relation to Himself as risen; it formed no part of the course of this world. It was a sphere where the Holy Spirit would be the power (see Acts 1: 2,8), and which would be characterised by saints coming together (verses 4, 6; 2: 1). The disciples would be qualified for that new sphere by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and in the power thus come upon them they would be witnesses of the risen One “to the end of the earth”.
But there was more! Having fully verified Himself to them as risen, they beheld Him taken up and going into heaven. He was coming again, but for the present they [p. 216] knew Him as having gone into heaven. They returned to “the upper chamber”. It is well that we should mark the character of what was there. Jerusalem was a wonderful city; it is called, even after the death of Christ, “the holy city”. It had its magnificent temple with continual services going on. But there was only one spot in that city which was in the light of a risen Man who had gone into heaven, and that spot was “the upper chamber”. It answered, for the moment, to the place which God chose to cause His Name to dwell. The one hundred and twenty were unified in the apprehension of a risen and heavenly Christ, and in the apprehension, too, that they were His associates. We may be sure that their prayers related to Him as in heaven, and to His testimony here. And Peter, guided by the Scriptures, indicated that there must be one to take the place of Judas in the complete testimony of the twelve to Jesus’ resurrection.
The Spirit has thus traced for us how the “seven weeks” were counted before the first “feast of weeks” was celebrated. Every time they saw the risen Lord, and every time He spoke to them, a spiritual process was being carried on in definite and progressive exercise. To use the typical language of Deuteronomy 16, they were counting the seven weeks. When that exercise was completed the Holy Spirit came out of heaven, and sat upon each one of them. We have all to do this counting in a spiritual sense. Probably we all believe it to be a fact that Christ is risen, but have we really begun in our souls to count from His resurrection? If so a definite exercise has begun with us which stands related to One who is completely outside the course of this world. The counting implies that it is an exercise which takes time to come to maturity.
The Lord takes great pains with us to verify Himself to us as the risen, living One. What He did for Mary [p. 217] of Magdala, for Peter, for the two going to Emmaus, He would do by the Spirit for each one of us. He would cause it to be borne in upon our souls that He is living, but outside the life of this world, and that He has a company who also live outside the life of the world as bound up with Him. He would have us to reckon in a definite way in our souls from His resurrection; we shall not keep the “feast of weeks” unless we do. But as we count, God works in our souls to complete His own pleasure in regard to us, so that we come before Him as the “first-fruits of wheat harvest” (Exodus 34: 22) — a company of persons in this world definitely identified in mind and affection, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, with the risen and heavenly Christ.
The feasts, as viewed in Deuteronomy, do not typify things as being reached once for all, but as taken up recurrently as the subject of assembly communion. They speak of what is renewed periodically as a matter of fellowship amongst the saints. As holding the feast of weeks the resurrection of Christ, and what it involves for us as taken up in exercise of heart, and the gift of the Spirit in relation to the completion of that exercise, are kept before us in a fresh and living way as the substance of our communion and joy. The pleasure of God is bound up with this being so. It gives us a precious and elevated thought of the living character of the communion which pertains to the assembly viewed as in the land.
What marks the feast of weeks is “a tribute of a voluntary-offering of thy hand, which thou shalt give, according as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee; and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is in thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are in [p. 218] thy midst in the place that, Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there” (verse 10, 11). This is beautifully illustrated in Acts 2: 42 - 47. The company of saved ones there constituted the place where God caused His Name to dwell. And the tribute of a voluntary-offering was there, both spiritually and materially. There was a fulness of blessing from God which was made available for all. Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, all heard in their own tongues “the great things of God”. The apostles taught; a risen Christ was the Substance of their teaching, and it formed a fellow-ship marked by voluntary offering. The saints were so enjoying together what was wholly outside the course of the world that they were delivered from all natural selfishness. The spiritual communion of the assembly, and its normal effects, are seen there in a very striking way. The fellowship of the apostles was the fellowship of men who had counted from Christ’s resurrection, and in whom things had come to completion by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It was, as we have said, the first-fruits of wheat harvest. The feast of weeks was held there in spiritual reality.
This is another aspect of the communion of the assembly viewed as in the land. It is the assembly viewed as having learned to count from the resurrection of Christ, and to complete the counting so that a spiritual result is reached that the Holy Spirit can identify Himself with. There is then ability to render what is spiritual in character. There is voluntary offering, and rejoicing, and a spirit of grace that brings everybody in to share the joy. And this is essential to the pleasure and service of God. It is the communion which is brought about as the result of divine working in relation to Christ risen. The liberty and joy of it is contrasted in verse 12 with the bondage which had been known in Egypt.
[p. 219] Joy is not mentioned in connection with the Passover. “Bread of affliction” and “a solemn assembly” have their place there. But in the feast of weeks there is joy in which all participate. It is not here, as in Leviticus 23, two wave loaves brought out as first-fruits, with testimony in view, but a spiritual result in voluntary offering for assembly enjoyment, and for the pleasure of God, because the spiritual joy of the saints gives joy to God. The joy typified here is joy in the Holy Spirit; it is not that unworthy imitation in which human and natural elements are utilised to attract and give pleasure. The assembly of God is characterised by spiritual joy, and this joy can only be brought in or enjoyed in a spiritual way. “If one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12: 26). If one member is glorified by being enabled to bring in what is spiritual it is for common assembly joy, and in result there is something for the pleasure of God.
The Old Testament gives us “a shadow of the coming good things”, but it is ours to have the substance of them.
The “feast of weeks” has to do with the time of first-fruits, whether of barley harvest as typical of Christ risen, or of wheat harvest as setting forth what was secured at Pentecost in the saints. First-fruits suggests the beginning of a crop, of which the greater part will be gathered later. But the feast of tabernacles is when the whole harvest and vintage have been gathered in. It conveys the fullest thought of blessing and joy which the typical year presents. The feast of tabernacles is the crown of the festive year — the time when that beautiful verse in Psalm 65 is realised; “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness”. God would not have us to stop short of the crown of [p. 220] His year; He would have us to come to the full measure of His thought, and the purpose of His love. Many of His people are content to have very little, but this is not honouring to the Giver of all good.
What marks this feast is unmixed joy. “And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast ... and thou shalt be wholly joyful” (verses 14, 15). The time for being “wholly joyful” has not come publicly yet. No doubt the feast of tabernacles speaks of a coming time when all evil will be set aside and all good will be brought in for the joy of God’s people in millennial conditions. But that is anticipated in the assembly, and it is possible for us to know fulness of joy even though outward circumstances are not yet changed. This is surely an attractive goal set before us, even if we have to admit that we have not yet reached it in soul-experience. There are not only first-fruits but the full harvest, and then the vintage. The remembrance of the wilderness is not brought in here, though that is prominent in Leviticus. It is here the “wholly joyful” character that is the result of God’s blessing. The thought of dwelling in booths is only retained in the name of the feast; its character here is fulness of blessing and joy, the communion of which extends to all who are in our gates.
These things, as we have said before, are the word of God to us; the primary application of them is to saints who are of the assembly; we are the first to understand them, and to come into the value of them. That is true of the passover and of the feast of weeks, and it is also true of the feast of tabernacles.
The Deuteronomic aspect of this feast is limited to seven days; there is no “eighth day” as in Leviticus 23. It contemplates fulness of joy as brought in at the present time, not as in eternal conditions (which the eighth day would typify), but as in reference to household [p. 221] conditions, and also conditions marked by lack and sorrow. We should not connect the thought of strangers, or fatherless, or widows with the “eighth day”; such may be found in the “seven days”, which is a period answering to the present time. For Israel the seven days would answer to the millennium, while the “eighth day” looks on to what is eternal. But the “seven days” in Deuteronomy 16 have typical reference to the present time. God proposes to give us such a fulness of blessing that we can have a “wholly joyful” communion in the place which He chooses. We may say reverently that God has given us all that He has to give; He has given His greatest and His best. What is brought out here is the completeness of God’s blessing, and the fulness of joy which it affords, as constituting the substance of the communion of saints as in the land.
It is to be noticed that it is said, “when thou hast gathered in the produce of thy floor and of thy wine-press”, not of thy fields and vineyards. That is, the full wealth of the land has been gathered, and made available for food and joy; it has all been threshed out in the floor, or made into wine. There has been an application of spiritual diligence so as to make it available for common enjoyment. Typically it regards the assembly as in the full wealth and blessedness of the inheritance, so that the end of all God’s ways in grace is reached; there is nothing to be added.
Practically our joy is in proportion to our spiritual formation and growth. John divides the family of God into little children, young men, and fathers, which clearly indicates increasing spiritual development. As we thus grow we are more and more able to gather in the rich harvest and vintage of all that is found in Him who is from the beginning. John could say of the fathers, “ye have known him that is from the beginning”; they had gathered in of the produce of the floor and [p. 222] the winepress; it is persons formed in the divine nature who can do that. The little children are able to “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ”; they know the Father in the blessedness of His grace. But there is growth after that. It will be noticed that there is a long interval between the feast of weeks and the feast of tabernacles, a period of constantly added fruitfulness until the whole harvest and vintage is gathered. For us it suggests that from the reception of the Spirit there is continual increase in our apprehension as we move on towards “the fulness of the blessing of Christ”.
As we follow the line suggested to us by the passover and the feast of weeks we shall come to the feast of tabernacles. Complete deliverance from the world, and the purging out of all leaven, sets us free for what is spiritual, and on that line we can reach fulness of joy, not only individually but as characterising our assembly communion.
In Leviticus 23 rejoicing before Jehovah is a prominent feature of this feast, but the communion in that joy is what is marked in Deuteronomy. “And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in thy gates” (verse 14). The communion of it is emphasised. The fuller our present enjoyment the more will there be to share in grace with those less favoured. It is an immense favour from God to be enabled to secure some of the wealth of the land in such a way that it increases the joy in communion of the people of God as gathered together. But there is also great encouragement to those of us who feel unable to gather in much of the floor or of the winepress for ourselves, or for others. We may have the joy of it as sharing with those who are spiritually wealthy and [p. 223] diligent. Such is the blessed grace of God that we can participate with those who have much greater wealth and diligence than we have. One great gain of being set together in assembly relations is that we are privileged to enjoy the wealth of the inheritance together.
We have to remember, and I often remind my heart of it, that through marvellous divine favour we are living in the time of God’s best. God never gave, and never will give, such wealth to His people as He is giving at the present time. It is a grief to the heart, of God if we do not value the greatness of His giving. We all know that if we give a gift we like it to be appreciated, and the choicer the gift in our estimation the more we feel any lack of appreciation. God would encourage every one of us to appreciate the fulness of His blessing in Christ. This is not a matter only for old saints, or persons of great spiritual maturity, but it is for us all — the youngest babe in Christ, the feeblest believer — to recognise that the communion of the assembly of God is a communion of profound joy, because the substance of it is nothing less than God’s best. It is good that we live at such a time.
In the assembly of God all are not alike wealthy, but such is the constitution of that assembly, and the nature of its communion, that the spiritual wealth of the richest is shared by the poorest, or is available to be shared. So that in this happy sense “the rich and poor meet together” (Proverbs 22: 2). It is not that the spiritually wealthy have to come down to the level of the spiritually poor, but all are to be elevated to the joy that is in the heart of the richest! What a precious thought this is! What a gracious and elevating thing is the communion of saints! Everything that the most spiritual person has of Christ, and of the knowledge of God, and of the joy of divine beneficence is available for my enjoyment. That is the character of the communion of saints [p. 224] as in the land. Even the stranger, the fatherless and the widow may participate in it! Do we know any rich man in Israel who has gathered in abundantly of the floor and of the winepress! We are privileged to share with him; and, indeed, in a very true sense this is how we come to participate in the joy of the inheritance, if we have done so at all. I suppose we have all known some wealthy persons in the land? I know some, and I have noticed about them a great readiness to invite all their poorer brethren to share the joy of what they have, of the floor or of the winepress!
John was one of those wealthy persons, and Paul was another. The apostles were men who had come into the wealth and blessedness of the land; they knew what it was to cultivate it, and to gather in its produce. They threshed out its corn in the floor, and they trod out its grapes in the winepress; they knew the “wholly joyful” character which its fulness affords. But they have let us know that it was their great desire that we should participate with them, and that their wealth should be the substance of communion for the whole assembly of God. “That which we have seen and heard we report to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we to you that your joy may be full” (1 John 1: 3, 4). I think that answers to the feast of tabernacles.
John was enjoying the full wealth of the inheritance, and he would have the whole company of saints in the communion and joy of it. He brings out the character of the blessedness which we can enjoy together. “If what ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise which he has promised us, life eternal” (1 John 2: 24, 25). It is remarkable that he should write thus to “little children” — the babes in the [p. 225] family of God. He would have them to abide in the Father in His measureless thoughts of grace, and in the Son as the One in whom all those thoughts have been substantiated. Then the brethren are loved as those begotten of God and called to enjoy together in family affections the children’s portion, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3: 14). They are our joint-heirs, and our happiness lies in sharing with them. The more we appreciate the wealth of our common portion the more we shall covet to furnish what will minister to the joy in communion of the brethren. It is in that way that the feast of tabernacles is held at the present time.
Then, Paul too, gathered in abundantly, and he has shewn his willingness to share with others, with all saints. See Ephesians 3. In the ministry of the apostles we see the gathering in of the floor and of the winepress. We see the fulness of “the unsearchable riches of the Christ”. There is nothing beyond; it is the end and climax of all that God has to give. But it is brought in in the way of infinite grace, for all to share in the joy of it. The highest and most precious and holy thoughts of God are made known so as to be the blessed subject of the assembly communion of His saints. This would surely suffice to make us “wholly joyful”!
The things spoken of in the epistle to the Ephesians are the crown of our spiritual year; that epistle answers for us to the feast of tabernacles; it gives us the highest and fullest conception of blessing in Christ. And it is evident that it is intended to give character to the joy and communion of all saints. We must encourage our hearts to think of these precious things as realities which are to be known and enjoyed, and which are divinely intended to be the subject of assembly communion. The state of God’s people is often such that He cannot [p. 226] bring His great and holy things before them. It was so at Corinth; Paul would not have written the epistle to the Ephesians to them, for they were in a carnal state. But God’s great thoughts remain, and they are held in reserve even for those who are not able, for the time, to appreciate them. So Paul says to the Corinthians, “But we speak wisdom among the perfect ... that hidden wisdom which God had pre-determined before the ages for our glory ... . Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2: 6 - 10). He brought the wealth of the inheritance before them in all its attractiveness, and let them know that he held it in his affections for them. It was an incitement to wake up out of their carnal state, and go in for what would make them “wholly joyful”. God revealed the blessed things of the land to the apostles by the Spirit, and they have communicated those things in a spiritual way, and if we are spiritual we shall appreciate and discern them. Surely none of us want to be carnal persons, unable to appreciate God’s best! The enjoyment of those blessed things is the normal communion of the assembly, and it is available for all who appreciate it.
Paul told the saints at Rome that when he came to them he would “come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ” (Romans 15: 29). He would come prepared to open out to them the precious things spoken of in Colossians and Ephesians; “fulness” is characteristic of both these epistles. We have obtained an inheritance in Christ; God has given it to us in love according to His eternal purpose; He would enlighten our hearts as to it. Ephesians 3 tells us how Paul came to have the knowledge of the great thoughts of God “that they who are of the [p. 227] nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus”. Paul was illuminated, and he wrote in order to illuminate us. “To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ”. That is the wealth of the inheritance. These are the things which form the substance of the communion of saints as in the land; they are things to make us “wholly joyful”.
And the more we enter into these things, and enjoy them, the more there is to share with others. Instead of a spiritually wealthy brother complaining of the impoverished state of his brethren he looks upon it as a privilege to share what he has with them. We are to look at every saint as a joint heir and a joint partaker. The communion of the joy is a marked feature in Deuteronomy. If our fellow saints could see that we were in the joy of a communion to which they were as much entitled as we are, and that we were going out to them in affectionate desire that they should participate in it, I feel sure it would make an impression on those who love God.
It is striking that from the “first of the fruits of the land” (Deuteronomy 26) to the gathering in the complete produce of the year there is always to be the recognition of the place which Jehovah chooses to cause His Name to dwell there. We are never to be isolated from our brethren, and we are never to lose sight of the fact that God’s Name — that is, God known in the light of revelation — is the great rallying point for His people. If we approach God it must be in the light of the revelation He has made of Himself, and it must be in moral suitability to Him, and it must be according to the truth and principles of His assembly and the fellowship pertaining to it, and all these things are universal. We have [p. 228] to take up our local relations with our brethren in the light of what is universal. Any local action, even of a disciplinary nature, must be governed by principles which are universal. It must be taken in the light of what is suitable to the assembly of God everywhere.
We have been told that in decline “the top shoot goes first”; the highest, or brightest and best, that God gives will be the first to be given up. The feast of tabernacles was the first feast to be given up, for it was not held from the time of Joshua until revived in Nehemiah’s day (Nehemiah 8: 17). It is doubtful whether during many long centuries after the days of the apostles there was anything really answering to the feast of tabernacles in the assembly. The true spiritual wealth and joy of the inheritance was departed from, and the communion of saints before God in assembly character as in the land was practically unknown. But there has been a reviving, a day of recovery, and God is graciously recalling the hearts of His people to that which was from the beginning. His thoughts of love are unchanged and undiminished, and He is working by His Spirit to bring us back to them, so that the joy of them may characterise the communion of His saints.
The three feasts — the Passover, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles — are obligatory upon “all thy males”, and “they shall not appear before Jehovah empty”. To be “empty” would deny that we were “full of the blessing of Jehovah”; it would be the sad evidence of hearts unmoved in response to Him.
The principle of “just judgment” amongst, the people of God comes before us in verses 18 - 20. It is of God that there should be amongst His people “in all thy gates ... throughout thy tribes” those who can “judge ... with just judgment”. This intimates to [p. 229] us that matters are sure to arise which call for the action of judicial discernment, and it is an exercise that ability for this should be found amongst us. To be without right judgment in relation to matters which need adjustment is unsuitable to God who is “the judge of all”. We learn from Matthew 18 that in all such matters the assembly is the final court of appeal This will come before us in Deuteronomy 17. But chapter 16: 18 - 20 would shew the Lord’s intent that there shall be provision for the settling of many differences without carrying them to the supreme court. “If then ye have judgments as to things of this life, set those to judge who are little esteemed in the assembly. I speak to you to put you to shame. Thus there is not a wise person among you, not even one, who shall be able to decide between his brethren”! (1 Corinthians 6: 4, 5). Probably the “judges and officers” were there, but they were being disregarded.
Paul does not hesitate to say that it was “altogether a fault” to have suits of this kind before unbelievers; the brethren ought rather to suffer wrong, and to submit, to be defrauded. Indeed those who were doing it were all wrong themselves; he says, “But ye do wrong, and defraud, and this your brethren”. It is almost invariably true that the one who complains of his brother is wrong himself. It is pretty sure that if I see a mote in my brother’s eye there is a beam in my own, and I had better deal with it first. The principle on which we go on together is “with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4: 2). “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3: 13) This implies that many things will be treated with forbearance, and quietly passed over, or left with the Lord. It is not supposed in Christianity that every little thing will be [p. 230] brought up for judgment. There are a thousand things which the least bit of grace in our own hearts would enable us to overlook or ignore.
If we bring things to the “judges and officers” we must be prepared to be searched ourselves. Judgment amongst the people of God is, in principle, the judgment of Christ Himself. If saints are going to judge the world and angels they will do it, as having part with Christ, and being able to view things as He views them. And this is the true character of any judicial function which is exercised amongst the saints now. It is taken up in view of the administration of a coming day; the saints as in the land anticipate the conditions of the world to come in this regard. The offices which are spoken of in this chapter and the next are really offices of Christ; He is the true Judge and Priest and King. But the glory of these offices is reflected in His saints, so that, in measure, they shine in the same glory. Any right judgment is according to the mind of Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire, penetrating to the inmost recesses of the moral being.
I believe that in every case where the Lord was appealed to for a judgment He dealt searchingly with the conscience of the person who brought the case before Him. He did not adjudicate on the case, but He did on the state of soul of those who brought the charge. We see an instance of this when one came and said, “Teacher, speak to my brother to divide the inheritance with me”. That was an appeal to the Judge of Israel. What was the answer ? “Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness”. It was as much as to say, If your brother is covetous to take the inheritance, you are covetous in wanting your share of it. The Lord disclaimed the public position of “a judge or a divider”, but He judged morally the motives at work in each of them. (Luke 3: 13 - 15).
[p. 231] Another conspicuous instance is in John 8. They appealed to the Judge of Israel as to what should be done with a woman taken in adultery. But He replied, “Let him that is without sin among you first cast the stone at her”. If I come to the Lord for judgment against my brother He will search my soul, and lay bare what is wrong in me. If I appeal to Him for vindication I must be prepared to have my own motives searched. One who really knows grace, and himself too, does not object to be searched. He knows that all that is contrary to God in him has been judged in the death of Christ, and he is conscious that God has searched him and known him, and he desires that God may still search him, because he has found how wholesome and purifying it is to be searched. See Psalm 139.
The judgment which God sets up amongst His people could not be different, in principle, from His own. What moral elevation, what true lowliness, is required to be able to judge of things and persons as Christ does, and not in a merely human way! It was written of Him, “He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove (or maintain the right of) with equity the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11: 3, 4). There was with the Lord a principle of judgment altogether different from the sight of His eyes, or the hearing of His ears. It was in quite a different sense that He said, “As I hear, I judge” (John 5: 30). “As I hear” referred to what He heard from His Father; He judged of everything, and discerned everything, according to what His Father told Him, He said, again, in John 8: 10 “And if also I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who has sent me”. He judged everything in communion with the Father.
[p. 232] Judgment is not to be wrested, nor are persons to be respected, nor a bribe taken to blind the eyes or pervert the words. Things are to be adjusted according to God that everything may be removed that would interfere with the true life of saints, and their possession and enjoyment of the land. A mere legal settlement would not suffice for this; it involves the rectification of soul-condition, and this is the real question at issue in almost every case that calls for judgment amongst the saints.