THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From Moses to Samuel
Message Four—Leviticus (2)
Scripture Reading: Lev. 23:1-44
I. The seasons appointed by Jehovah as holy convocations signify the gathering of God’s redeemed people to have a festival with God for His oy and enjoyment that the redeemed may participate in it with Him and with one another; a festival, therefore, was for nothing except rest and enjoyment; this rest and enjoyment were not individual but corporate—Lev. 23:2. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
II. The seven festivals in Leviticus 23 are in two groups, with four in the first group and three in the second; the four festivals in the first group all took place in the first month of the year; the three festivals in the second group took place in the seventh month of the year; according to their dispensational fulfillment, the first four have taken place already, and the last three will take place in the future—Lev. 23:1-14: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
A. The Passover is in the first month of the year—Lev. 23:4-5: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
1. The feast of the Passover signifies Christ as our redemption to begin our enjoyment of God’s salvation with God. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
2. The Passover is in the denotation of a passing over; this signifies that the judging God has passed over us, the sinners who are in our sins, so that we may enjoy Him as our feast—1 Cor. 5:7b. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
B. The feast of unleavened bread, the second feast, begins immediately after the first feast, the Passover—Lev. 23:6-8: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
1. The feast of unleavened bread signifies the Christ who is without sin for our enjoyment as a feast in a life apart from sin. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
2. In that feast of unleavened bread lasts for seven days, it typifies, or signifies, the entire course of our Christian life; the course of our entire Christian life is a feast of unleavened bread, a feast without sin. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
3. We have been redeemed from sin, and now the Redeemer, who is without sin, is our east for our entire Christian life—2 Cor. 5:21. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
C. The third annual east is the feast of the firstfruits—Lev. 23:9-14: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
1. This feast signifies the resurrected Christ for our enjoyment as a feast in His resurrection. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
2. This feast took place less than three days after the Passover feast; Christ was crucified at the time of the Passover feast, and then on the third day He was resurrected; the day of His resurrection was the feast of the first fruits—1 Cor. 15:20. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 52)
D. The fourth feast, the feast of Pentecost, or the feast of weeks—Lev. 23:15-16a: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 53)
1. The feast of Pentecost was the feast of the fiftieth day, counting from the day after the sabbath, the day on which the sheaf of the wave offering was brought to God, to the day after the seventh sabbath. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 53)
2. This signifies the resurrection of Christ in its sevenfold fullness reaching the realm of the complete fullness, bearing the full responsibility (signified by the number fifty, which is ten times five, the number of responsibility) for the testimony of resurrection. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 53)
E. Historically, the first four festivals are all related to Christ—Lev. 23:1-22: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 53)
1. He is the fulfillment and reality of the Passover, the unleavened bread, and the firstfruit; in a spiritual form, as the consummation of the processed Triune God, Christ is also the fulfillment and reality of Pentecost. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 53)
2. All these historical instances have become our experience; we have participated in the Passover, in the unleavened bread, and in the firstfruit, and we have become a part of Pentecost. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 53)
F. The feast of the blowing of trumpets was on the first day of the seventh month, the beginning of the second half of the year—Lev. 23:23-25: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
1. This signifies the second half of God’s redemption, which is to be accomplished on Israel. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
2. The first half having been accomplished on the church; this feast signifies God’s calling together of His scattered people (the dispersed Israelites) and His reminding them that He will issue such a call to them—Matt. 24:31, See Isa. 27:13, Psa. 81:3. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
G. The sixth feast is the feast of propitiation—Lev. 23:26-32: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
1. The day of propitiation closely following Israel’s repentance unto God; this signifies that the day of man’s redemption follows our trumpeting of the gospel and man’s repentance as a reaction to it. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
2. The feast of propitiation has a double application; Spiritually this feast has been applied to us, and literally it will be applied in the future to the Jews. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
H. On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tabernacles—Lev. 23:34-43: (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
1. This feast signifies the coming millennium as a dispensational, joyful blessing for God’s redeemed people to enjoy with God for a full period of time in God’s old creation. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
2. This will take place not in the new heaven and new earth but on the restored earth. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)
III. The feast of the Passover was fulfilled on the day of Christ’s death; the feast of unleavened bread is being fulfilled in the church age; the feast of the firstfruits was fulfilled on the day of Christ’s resurrection; the feast of Pentecost was fulfilled fifty days after Christ’s resurrection, on the day of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit; the feast of the blowing of trumpets will be fulfilled at Christ’s second coming; the feast of propitiation will be fulfilled on the day of Israel’s return to God, after they have been gathered back to their father’s land; the feast of tabernacles will be fulfilled in the coming millennium for a thousand years as a conclusion of all the ages of God’s old creation, for the coming of the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as their center—1 Cor. 5:7-8; 15:20; Acts 2:1-4; Matt. 24:31; Rom. 11:26-27; Rev. 20:4-6; 21:1-2. (Life-Study of Leviticus, msg. 54)