June 1931
257
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to us this day as to its place and purpose in the Christian calendar. (3) The sheaf of the former feast, signifying believers risen in Christ, now becomes the loaf, formed into the unified body. Such was the work of Pentecost, when believers were baptized into the body of Christ. (4) There were two loaves, denoting the Jewish and Gentile constituents that went into the forming of His body (see Acts 2 and 10), just as the human body has two arms. (5) Again, in this feast there is leaven (v. 17), in con tradistinction from the explicit exclusion of it in the passover. There the Sinless One alone provided the feast; here sinful human nature is drawn into communion and fellowship with God, an essential part of the feast. (6) Yet they also are wave-loaves, similar to the wave-sheaf. The truth is th is: As our risen Lord was accepted of the Father, so are we just as completely accepted in Him. (7) Direction is given concerning “the corners of thy field,” forbidding a thorough clean-up of the field out of regard for the gleaners. This is a most suggestive pro phetic picture of the Jewish remnant during this pente- costal or church age, scattered over “the field,” which in Jesus’ parabolic usage is “the world.” A considerable number have been “gleaned” by the power of the gospel during this age, while the greater portion await their gathering in the feasts that follow. (Note the diagram.) T h e ir P resent C ontinuance While we speak of these feasts as past, because his torically enacted, they are as truly a present-day reality. Every believer lives in the daily enjoyment of this three fold feast. His acceptance with God and his very ability to live and to serve as a child of God are by virtue of this continuing and continuous feast. (1) The Passover continues not only in the present efficacy of the blood to cover and to cleanse all who trust therein, but also in the memorial feast of the Lord’s Table, where we feed upon Him and His love through the
elements divinely designated to represent for our spiritual nourishment His broken body and His shed blood. Like wise, it continues in the transformed living that follows such feasting: “Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for u s : therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sin cerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). (2) Firstfruits continues in our risen, glorified Lord, in that He has entered “into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Let us feed upon these words: “now”—all during this age; “for us”—His con tinuous, age-long, high-priestly work on our behalf, “see ing he ever liveth to make intercession for us.” And so, “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” How we should feast upon the fact and its implications for u s : “Because I live, ye shall live also” ! (3) Pentecost is the continuous feast of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church, in and among His peo ple, sharing and sustaining their life, teaching and train ing them, guiding and counseling them. What a presence! What a ministry! While Pentecost can never be repeated, the giving of the Spirit being a once-for-all fulfillment as was the death of Christ, yet this feast is perpetuated today in the making up of the body of Christ and in every ex perience that renders Him real to His followers. Whenever we preach the gospel and persuade men to believe, we are causing them to sit down to this threefold feast: Their soul-hunger is satisfied in feeding upon Him who (1) was delivered up for our oifences (Passover) ; (2) raised for our justification (Firstfruits) ; (3) now dwells in our hearts by His Spirit (Pentecost). What joy! The “meeting by appointment” is complete and un restrained.
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