We now approach one of the most profound and comprehensive sections of
the book of Deuteronomy, in which the inspired writer presents to our
view what we may call the three great cardinal feasts of the Jewish
year, namely, the passover, Pentecost, and tabernacles; or,
redemption, the Holy Ghost, and the glory. We have here a more
condensed view of those lovely institutions than that given in
Leviticus xxiii, where we have, if we count the Sabbath, eight feasts;
but if we view the Sabbath as distinct, and having its own special
place as the type of God's own eternal rest, then there are seven
feasts, namely, the passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the feast
of first-fruits, Pentecost, trumpets, the day of atonement, and
tabernacles.
Such is the order of feasts in the book of Leviticus, which, as we
have ventured to remark in our studies on that most marvelous book,
may be called "_The priest's_ guide-book." But in Deuteronomy, which
is pre-eminently _the people's_ book, we have less of ceremonial
detail, and the lawgiver confines himself to those great moral and
national landmarks which, in the very simplest manner, as adapted to
the people, present the past, the present, and the future.
"Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy
God; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out
of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto
the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, _in the place which the
Lord shall choose to place His name there_. Thou shalt eat no leavened
bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith,
even _the bread of affliction_; for thou camest forth out of the land
of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest
forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. And there
shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven
days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou
sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the
morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy
gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee"--as if it were a matter of
no importance where, provided the feast were kept--"_but at the place
which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name in, there_ [and
no where else,] thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the
going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of
Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it _in the place which the Lord
thy God shall choose_; and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto
thy tents. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the
seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God; thou shalt
do no work therein." (Ver. 1-8.)
Having, in our "Notes on Exodus," gone somewhat fully into the great
leading principles of this foundation-feast, we must refer the reader
to that volume if he desires to study the subject. But there are
certain features peculiar to Deuteronomy to which we feel it our duty
to call his special attention; and, in the first place, we have to
notice the remarkable emphasis laid upon "the place" where the feast
was to be kept. This is full of interest and practical moment. The
people were not to choose for themselves. It might, according to human
thinking, appear a very small matter how or where the feast was kept,
provided it was kept at all. But, be it carefully noted and deeply
pondered by the reader, human thinking had nothing whatever to do in
the matter; it was divine thinking and divine authority altogether.
God had a right to prescribe and definitively settle where He would
meet His people; and this He does in the most distinct and emphatic
manner, in the above passage, where, three times over, He inserts the
weighty clause, "In the place which the Lord thy God shall choose."
Is this vain repetition? Let no one dare to think, much less to assert
it. It is most necessary emphasis. Why most necessary? Because of our
ignorance, our indifference, and our willfulness. God, in His infinite
goodness, takes special pains to impress upon the heart, the
conscience, and the understanding of His people that He would have one
place in particular where the memorable and most significant feast of
the passover was to be kept.
And be it remarked that it is only in Deuteronomy that the _place_ of
celebration is insisted upon. We have nothing about it in Exodus,
because there it was kept _in Egypt_; we have nothing about it in
Numbers, because there it was kept _in the wilderness_; but in
Deuteronomy it is authoritatively and definitively settled, because
there we have the instructions for _the land_. Another striking proof
that Deuteronomy is very far indeed from being a barren repetition of
its predecessors.
The all-important point in reference to "the place," so prominently
and so peremptorily insisted upon in all the three great solemnities
recorded in our chapter, is this: God would gather His beloved people
around Himself, that they might feast together in His presence, that
He might rejoice in them and they in Him and in one another. All this
could only be in the one special place of divine appointment. All who
desired to meet Jehovah and to meet His people--all who desired
worship and communion according to God, would thankfully betake
themselves to the divinely appointed centre. Self-will might say, Can
we not keep the feast in the bosom of our families? What need is there
of a long journey? Surely if the heart is right, it cannot matter much
as to the place. To all this we reply that the clearest, finest, and
best proof of the heart being right would be found in the simple,
earnest desire to do the will of God. It was quite sufficient for
every one who loved and feared God that He had appointed a place where
He would meet His people; there they would be found, and no where
else. His presence it was that could alone impart joy, comfort,
strength, and blessing to all their great national reunions. It was
not the mere fact of a large number of people gathering together,
three times a year, to feast and rejoice together; this might minister
to human pride, self-complacency, and excitement. But to flock
together to meet Jehovah, to assemble in His blessed presence, to own
the place where He had recorded His Name, this would be the deep joy
of every truly loyal heart throughout the twelve tribes of Israel. For
any one _willfully_ to abide at home, or to go any where else than to
the one divinely appointed place, would not only be to neglect and
insult Jehovah, but actually to rebel against His supreme authority.
And now, having briefly spoken of the _place_, we may, for a moment,
glance at the _mode_ of celebration. This, too, is, as we might
expect, quite characteristic of our book. The leading feature here is
"the unleavened bread." But the reader will specially note the
interesting fact that this bread is styled "_The bread of
affliction_." Now, what is the meaning of this? We all understand that
unleavened bread is the type of that holiness of heart and life so
absolutely essential to the enjoyment of true communion with God. We
are not saved _by_ personal holiness, but, thank God, we are saved
_to_ it. It is not the ground of our salvation, but it is an essential
element in our communion. _Allowed leaven is the death-blow to
communion and worship._
We must never, for one moment, lose sight of this great cardinal
principle in that life of personal holiness and practical godliness
which, as redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, we are called, bound, and
privileged to live from day to day, in the midst of the scenes and
circumstances through which we are journeying home to our eternal rest
in the heavens. To speak of communion and worship while living in
known sin is the melancholy proof that we know nothing of either the
one or the other. In order to enjoy communion with God or the
communion of saints, and in order to worship God in spirit and in
truth, we must be living a life of personal holiness, a life of
separation from all known evil. To take our place in the assembly of
God's people, and appear to take part in the holy fellowship and
worship pertaining thereto, while living in secret sin, or allowing
evil in others, is to defile the assembly, grieve the Holy Ghost, sin
against Christ, and bring down upon us the judgment of God, who is
_now_ judging His house and chastening His children in order that they
may not ultimately be condemned with the world.
All this is most solemn, and calls for the earnest attention of all
who really desire to walk with God and serve Him with reverence and
godly fear. It is one thing to have the doctrine of the type in the
region of our understanding, and another thing altogether to have its
great moral lesson engraved on the heart and worked out in the life.
May all who profess to have the blood of the Lamb sprinkled on their
conscience seek to keep the feast of unleavened bread. "Know ye not
that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore
the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For
even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep
the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1
Cor. v. 6-8.)
But what are we to understand by "the bread of affliction"? Should we
not rather look for joy, praise, and triumph in connection with a
feast in memory of deliverance from Egyptian bondage and misery? No
doubt there is very deep and real joy, thankfulness, and praise in
realizing the blessed truth of our full deliverance from our former
condition, with all its accompaniments and all its consequences; but
it is very plain that these were not the prominent features of the
paschal feast--indeed, they are not even named. We have "the bread of
affliction," but not a word about joy, praise, or triumph.
Now, why is this? what great moral lesson is conveyed to our hearts by
the bread of affliction? We believe it sets before us those deep
exercises of heart which the Holy Ghost produces by bringing
powerfully before us what it cost our adorable Lord and Saviour to
deliver us from our sins and from the judgment which those sins
deserved. Those exercises are also typified by the "bitter herbs" of
Exodus xii, and they are illustrated again and again in the history of
God's people of old, who were led, under the powerful action of the
Word and Spirit of God, to chasten themselves and "afflict their
souls" in the divine presence.
And be it remembered that there is not a tinge of the legal element or
of unbelief in these holy exercises--far from it. When an Israelite
partook of the bread of affliction, with the roasted flesh of the
passover, did it express a doubt or a fear as to his full deliverance?
Impossible! How could it? He was in the land; he was gathered to God's
own centre--His own very presence. How could he, then, doubt his full
and final deliverance from the land of Egypt? The thought is simply
absurd.
But although he had no doubts or fears as to his deliverance, yet had
he to eat the bread of affliction; it was an essential element in his
paschal feast, "For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt _in
haste_, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out
of the land of Egypt _all the days of thy life_."
This was very deep and real work. They were never to forget their
exodus out of Egypt, but to keep up the remembrance of it, in the
promised land, throughout all generations. They were to commemorate
their deliverance by a feast emblematical of those holy exercises
which ever characterize true, practical, Christian piety.
We would very earnestly commend to the serious attention of the
Christian reader the whole line of truth indicated by "the bread of
affliction." We believe it is much needed by those who profess great
familiarity with what are called the doctrines of grace. There is
very great danger, especially to young professors, while seeking to
avoid legality and bondage, of running into the opposite extreme of
levity--a most terrible snare. Aged and experienced Christians are not
so liable to fall into this sad evil; it is the young amongst us who
so need to be most solemnly warned against it. They hear, it may be, a
great deal about salvation by grace, justification by faith,
deliverance from the law, and all the peculiar privileges of the
Christian position.
Now, we need hardly say that all these are of cardinal importance; and
it would be utterly impossible for any one to hear too much about
them. Would they were more spoken about, written about, and preached
about! Thousands of the Lord's beloved people spend all their days in
darkness, doubt, and legal bondage, through ignorance of those great
foundation-truths.
But while all this is perfectly true, there are, on the other hand,
many--alas! too many--who have a merely intellectual familiarity with
the principles of grace, but (if we are to judge from their habits and
manners, their style and deportment--the only way we have of judging)
who know but little of the sanctifying power of those great
principles--their power in the heart and in the life.
Now, to speak according to the teaching of the paschal feast, it would
not have been according to the mind of God for any one to attempt to
keep that feast without the unleavened bread, even the bread of
affliction. Such a thing would not have been tolerated in Israel of
old. It was an absolutely essential ingredient. And so, we may rest
assured, it is an integral part of that feast which we, as Christians,
are exhorted to keep, to cultivate personal holiness and that
condition of soul which is so aptly expressed by the "bitter herbs" of
Exodus xii. or the Deuteronomic ingredient--"the bread of affliction,"
which latter would seem to be the permanent figure for the land.
In a word, then, we believe there is a deep and urgent need amongst us
of those spiritual feelings and affections, those profound exercises
of soul, which the Holy Ghost would produce by unfolding to our hearts
the sufferings of Christ--what it cost Him to put our sins away--what
He endured for us when passing under the billows and waves of God's
righteous wrath against our sins. We are sadly lacking--if one may be
permitted to speak for others--in that deep contrition of heart which
flows from spiritual occupation with the sufferings and death of our
precious Saviour. It is one thing to have the blood of Christ
sprinkled on the conscience, and another thing to have the death of
Christ brought home, in a spiritual way, to the heart, and the cross
of Christ applied, in a practical way, to our whole course and
character.
How is it that we can so lightly commit sin, in thought, word, and
deed? how is it that there is so much levity, so much unsubduedness,
so much self-indulgence, so much carnal ease, so much that is merely
frothy and superficial? Is it not because that ingredient typified by
"the bread of affliction" is lacking in our feast? We cannot doubt it.
We fear there is a very deplorable lack of depth and seriousness in
our Christianity. There is too much flippant discussion of the
profound mysteries of the Christian faith, too much head-knowledge
without the inward power.
All this demands the serious attention of the reader. We cannot shake
off the impression that not a little of this melancholy condition of
things is but too justly traceable to a certain style of preaching the
gospel, adopted, no doubt, with the very best intentions, but none the
less pernicious in its moral effects. It is all right to preach a
simple gospel. It cannot, by any possibility, be put more simply than
God the Holy Ghost has given it to us in Scripture.
All this is fully admitted; but, at the same time, we are persuaded
there is a very serious defect in the preaching of which we speak.
There is a want of spiritual depth, a lack of holy seriousness. In the
effort to counteract legality, there is that which tends to levity.
Now, while legality is a great evil, levity is much greater. We must
guard against both. We believe grace is the remedy for the former,
truth for the latter; but spiritual wisdom is needed to enable us
rightly to adjust and apply these two. If we find a soul deeply
exercised under the powerful action of truth, thoroughly plowed up by
the mighty ministry of the Holy Ghost, we should pour in the deep
consolation of the pure and precious grace of God, as set forth in
the divinely efficacious sacrifice of Christ. This is the divine
remedy for a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a convicted conscience.
When the deep furrow has been made by the spiritual plowshare, we have
only to cast in the incorruptible seed of the gospel of God, in the
assurance that it will take root, and bring forth fruit in due season.
But, on the other hand, if we find a person going on in a light, airy,
unbroken condition, using very high-flown language about grace,
talking loudly against legality, and seeking, in a merely human way,
to set forth an easy way of being saved, we consider this to be a case
calling for a very solemn application of _truth_ to the heart and
conscience.
Now, we greatly fear there is a vast amount of this last named element
abroad in the professing church. To speak according to the language of
our type, there is a tendency to separate the passover from the feast
of unleavened bread--to rest in the fact of being delivered from
judgment and forget the _roasted_ lamb, the bread of _holiness_, and
the bread of _affliction_. In reality, they never can be separated,
inasmuch as God has bound them together; and hence we do not believe
that any soul can be really in the enjoyment of the precious truth
that "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," who is not seeking to
"keep the feast." When the Holy Spirit unfolds to our hearts something
of the deep blessedness, preciousness, and efficacy of the death of
our Lord Jesus Christ, He leads us to meditate upon the soul-subduing
mystery of His sufferings--to ponder in our hearts all that He passed
through for us, all that it cost Him to save us from the eternal
consequences of that which we, alas! so often lightly commit.
Now, this is very deep and holy work, and leads the soul into those
exercises which correspond with "the bread of affliction" in the feast
of unleavened bread. There is a wide difference between the feelings
produced by dwelling upon our sins and those which flow from dwelling
upon the sufferings of Christ to put those sins away.
True, we can never forget our sins, never forget the hole of the pit
from whence we were digged; but it is one thing to dwell upon the pit,
and another and a deeper thing altogether to dwell upon the grace that
digged us out of it, and what it cost our precious Saviour to do it.
It is this latter we so much need to keep continually in the
remembrance of the thoughts of our hearts. We are so terribly
volatile, so ready to forget.
We need to look very earnestly to God to enable us to enter more
deeply and practically into the sufferings of Christ, and into the
application of the cross to all that in us which is contrary to Him.
This will impart depth of tone, tenderness of spirit, an intense
breathing after holiness of heart and life, practical separation from
the world, in its every phase, a holy subduedness, jealous
watchfulness over ourselves, our thoughts, our words, our ways, our
whole deportment in daily life. In a word, it would lead to a totally
different type of Christianity from what we see around us, and what,
alas! we exhibit in our own personal history. May the Spirit of God
graciously unfold to our hearts, by His own direct and powerful
ministry, more and more of what is meant by "the _roasted_ lamb," the
"_unleavened_ bread," and "the bread of _affliction_."[15]
[15] For further remarks on the passover and the feast of unleavened
bread, the reader is referred to Exodus xii. and Numbers ix. Specially
in the latter--the connection between the passover and the Lord's
supper. This is a point of deepest interest and immense practical
importance. The passover looked forward to the death of Christ; the
Lord's supper looks back to it. What the former was to a faithful
Israelite, the latter is to the Church. If this were more fully seen,
it would greatly tend to meet the prevailing laxity, indifference, and
error as to the table and supper of the Lord.
To any one who lives habitually in the holy atmosphere of Scripture,
it must seem strange indeed to mark the confusion of thought and the
diversity of practice in reference to a subject so very important, and
one so simply and clearly presented in the Word of God.
It can hardly be called in question, by any one who bows to Scripture,
that the apostles and the early Church assembled on the first day of
the week to break bread. There is not a shadow of warrant in the New
Testament for confining that most precious ordinance to once a month,
once a quarter, or once in six months. This can only be viewed as a
human interference with a divine institution. We are aware that much
is sought to be made of the words, "As oft as ye do it;" but we do not
see how any argument based on this clause can stand for a moment in
the face of apostolic precedent in Acts xx. 7. The first day of the
week is unquestionably the day for the Church to celebrate the Lord's
supper.
Does the Christian reader admit this? If so, does he act upon it? It
is a serious thing to neglect a special ordinance of Christ, and one
appointed by Him the same night in which He was betrayed, under
circumstances so deeply affecting. Surely, all who love the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity would desire to remember Him in this special way,
according to His own word--"This do in remembrance of Me." Can we
understand any true lover of Christ living in the habitual neglect of
this precious memorial? If an Israelite of old neglected the passover,
he would have been "cut off." But this was law, and we are under
grace. True; but is that a reason for neglecting our Lord's
commandment?
We would commend this subject to the reader's careful attention. There
is much more involved in it than most of us are aware. We believe the
entire history of the Lord's supper for the last eighteen centuries is
full of interest and instruction. We may see in the way in which the
Lord's table has been treated a striking moral index of the Church's
real condition. In proportion as the Church departed from Christ and
His Word did she neglect and pervert the precious institution of the
Lord's supper; and on the other hand, just as the Spirit of God
wrought, at any time, with special power in the Church, the Lord's
supper has found its true place in the hearts of His people.
But we cannot pursue this subject further in a foot-note; we have
ventured to suggest it to the reader, and we trust he may be led to
follow it up for himself. We believe he will find it a most profitable
and suggestive study.
We shall now briefly consider the feast of Pentecost, which stands
next in order to the passover. "Seven weeks shalt thou number unto
thee; begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest
to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks
unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a free-will offering of thine
hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the
Lord thy God hath blessed thee; and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord
thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and
thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the
stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, _in
the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place His name there_.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt; and thou
shalt observe and do these statutes." (Ver. 9-12.)
Here we have the well-known and beautiful type of the day of
Pentecost. The passover sets forth the death of Christ; the sheaf of
first-fruits is the striking figure of a risen Christ; and in the
feast of weeks, we have prefigured before us the descent of the Holy
Ghost, fifty days after the resurrection.
We speak, of course, of what these feasts convey to us, according to
the mind of God, irrespective altogether of the question of Israel's
apprehension of their meaning. It is our privilege to look at all
these typical institutions in the light of the New Testament; and when
we so view them, we are filled with wonder and delight at the divine
perfectness, beauty, and order of all those marvelous types.
And not only so, but--what is of immense value to us--we see how the
scriptures of the New Testament dovetail, as it were, into those of
the Old; we see the lovely unity of the divine Volume, and how
manifestly it is one Spirit that breathes through the whole, from
beginning to end. In this way we are inwardly strengthened in our
apprehension of the precious truth of the divine inspiration of the
holy Scriptures, and our hearts are fortified against all the
blasphemous attacks of infidel writers. Our souls are conducted to the
top of the mountain where the moral glories of the Volume shine upon
us in all their heavenly lustre, and from whence we can look down and
see the clouds and chilling mists of infidel thought rolling beneath
us. These clouds and mists cannot affect us, inasmuch as they are far
away below the level on which, through infinite grace, we stand.
Infidel writers know absolutely nothing of the moral glories of
Scripture; but one thing is awfully certain, namely, that one moment
in eternity will completely revolutionize the thoughts of all the
infidels and atheists that have ever raved or written against the
Bible and its Author.
Now, in looking at the deeply interesting feast of weeks, or
Pentecost, we are at once struck with the difference between it and
the feast of unleavened bread. In the first place, we read of "a
free-will offering." Here we have a figure of the Church, formed by
the Holy Ghost and presented to God as "a kind of first-fruits of His
creatures."
We have dwelt upon this feature of the type in the "Notes on
Leviticus," chapter xxiii, and shall not therefore enter upon it here,
but confine ourselves to what is purely Deuteronomic. The people were
to present a tribute of a free-will offering of their hand, according
as the Lord their God had blessed them. There was nothing like this at
the passover, because that sets forth Christ offering Himself for us,
as a sacrifice, and not our offering any thing. We remember our
deliverance from sin and Satan, and what that deliverance cost; we
meditate upon the deep and varied sufferings of our precious Saviour
as prefigured by the roasted lamb; we remember that it was our sins
that were laid upon Him. He was bruised for our iniquities--judged in
our stead, and this leads to deep and hearty contrition, or, what we
may call true Christian repentance. For we must never forget that
repentance is not a mere transient emotion of a sinner when his eyes
are first opened, but an abiding moral condition of the Christian, in
view of the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. If this were
better understood and more fully entered into, it would impart a depth
and solidity to the Christian life and character in which the great
majority of us are lamentably deficient.
But in the feast of Pentecost, we have before us the power of the Holy
Ghost, and the varied effects of His blessed presence in us and with
us. He enables us to present our bodies and all that we have as a
free-will offering unto our God, according as He hath blessed us.
This, we need hardly say, can only be done by the power of the Holy
Ghost; and hence the striking type of it is presented, not in the
passover, which prefigures the death of Christ; not in the feast of
unleavened bread, which sets forth the moral effect of that death upon
us, in repentance, self-judgment, and practical holiness; but in
Pentecost, which is the acknowledged type of the precious gift of the
Holy Ghost.
Now, it is the Spirit who enables us to enter into the claims of God
upon us--claims which are to be measured only by the extent of the
divine blessing. He gives us to see and understand that all we are and
all we have belong to God. He gives us to delight in consecrating
ourselves--spirit, soul, and body--to God. It is truly "a free-will
offering." It is not of constraint, but willingly. There is not an
atom of bondage, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty."
In short, we have here the lovely spirit and moral character of the
entire Christian life and service. A soul under law cannot understand
the force and beauty of this. Souls under the law never received the
Spirit. The two things are wholly incompatible. Thus the apostle says
to the poor misguided assemblies of Galatia, "This only would I learn
of you, Received ye the Spirit by works of law, or by the hearing of
faith?... He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh
miracles among you, doeth He it by works of law, or by the hearing of
faith?" The precious gift of the Spirit is consequent upon the death,
resurrection, ascension, and glorification of our adorable Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, and consequently can have nothing whatever to do
with "works of law" in any shape or form. The presence of the Holy
Ghost on earth, His dwelling with and in all true believers, is a
grand characteristic truth of Christianity. It was not, and could not
be, known in Old-Testament times. It was not even known by the
disciples in our Lord's lifetime. He Himself said to them, on the eve
of His departure, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient
[or profitable--συμφέρει] for you that I go away; for if I
go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I
will send Him unto you." (John xvi. 7.)
This proves, in the most conclusive manner, that even the very men who
enjoyed the high and precious privilege of personal companionship with
the Lord Himself were to be put in an advanced position by His going
away and the coming of the Comforter. Again, we read, "If ye love Me,
keep My commandments; and I will pray the Father, and He shall give
you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the
Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him
not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you
and shall be in you."
We cannot, however, attempt to go elaborately into this immense
subject here; our space does not admit of it, much as we should
delight in it. We must confine ourselves to one or two points
suggested by the feast of weeks, as presented in our chapter.
We have referred to the very interesting fact that the Spirit of God
is the living spring and power of the life of personal devotedness and
consecration beautifully prefigured by "the tribute of a free-will
offering." The sacrifice of Christ is the ground, the presence of the
Holy Ghost is the power, of the Christian's dedication of
himself--spirit, soul, and body--to God. "I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." (Rom. xii. 1.)
But there is another point of deepest interest presented in verse 11
of our chapter,--"And thou shalt _rejoice_ before the Lord thy God."
We have no such word in the paschal feast, or in the feast of
unleavened bread. It would not be in moral keeping with either of
these solemnities. True it is, the passover lies at the very
foundation of all the joy we can or ever shall realize here or
hereafter; but we must ever think of the death of Christ, His
sufferings, His sorrows--all that He passed through when the waves and
billows of God's righteous wrath passed over His soul. It is upon
these profound mysteries that our hearts are, or ought to be, mainly
fixed when we surround the Lord's table and keep that feast by which
we show the Lord's death until He come.
Now, it is plain to the spiritual and thoughtful reader that the
feelings proper to such a holy and solemn institution are not of a
jubilant character. We certainly can and do rejoice that the sorrows
and sufferings of our blessed Lord are over, and over forever--that
those terrible hours are passed, never to return; but what we recall
in the feast is not simply their being over, but their being gone
through, and that for us. "Ye do show the Lord's death;" and we know
that whatever may accrue to us from that precious death, yet when we
are called to meditate upon it, our joy is chastened by those profound
exercises of soul which the Holy Spirit produces by unfolding to us
the sorrows, the sufferings, the cross, and passion of our blessed
Saviour. Our Lord's words are, "This do in remembrance of _Me_;" but
what we especially _remember_ in the supper is, Christ suffering and
dying for us; what we _show_, is His death; and with these solemn
realities before our souls, in the power of the Holy Ghost, there
will, there must be, holy subduedness and seriousness.
We speak, of course, of what becomes the immediate occasion of the
celebration of the supper--the suited feelings and affections of such
a moment. But these must be produced by the powerful ministry of the
Holy Ghost. It can be of no possible use to seek, by any pious efforts
of our own, to work ourselves up to a suitable state of mind. This
would be ascending by steps to the altar, a thing most offensive to
God. It is only by the Holy Spirit's ministry that we can worthily
celebrate the holy supper of the Lord. He alone can enable us to put
away all levity, all formality, all mere routine, all wandering
thoughts, and to discern the body and blood of the Lord in those
memorials which, by His own appointment, are laid on His table.
But in the feast of Pentecost, rejoicing was a prominent feature. We
hear nothing of "bitter herbs" or "bread of affliction" on this
occasion, because it is the type of the coming of the other
Comforter--the descent of the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father,
and sent down by the risen, ascended, and glorified Head in the
heavens, to fill the hearts of His people with praise, thanksgiving,
and triumphant joy--yea, to lead them into full and blessed fellowship
with their glorified Head, in His triumph over sin, death, hell,
Satan, and all the powers of darkness. The Spirit's presence is
connected with liberty, light, power, and joy. Thus we read, "The
disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." Doubts,
fears, and legal bondage flee away before the precious ministry of the
Holy Ghost.
But we must distinguish between His work and His indwelling--His
quickening and His sealing. The very first dawn of conviction in the
soul is the fruit of the Spirit's work. It is His blessed operation
that leads to all true repentance, and this is not joyful work. It is
very good, very needful, absolutely essential; but it is not joy--nay,
it is deep sorrow. But when, through grace, we are enabled to believe
in a risen and glorified Saviour, then the Holy Ghost comes and takes
up His abode in us, as the seal of our acceptance and the earnest of
our inheritance.
Now, this fills us with joy unspeakable and full of glory; and being
thus filled ourselves, we become channels of blessing to others. "He
that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit,
which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was
not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." The Spirit is the
spring of power and joy in the heart of the believer. He fits, fills,
and uses us as His vessels in ministering to poor thirsty, needy souls
around us. He links us with the Man in the glory, maintains us in
living communion with Him, and enables us to be, in our feeble
measure, the expression of what He is. Every movement of the Christian
should be redolent with the fragrance of Christ. For one who professes
to be a Christian to exhibit unholy tempers, selfish ways, a grasping,
covetous, worldly spirit, envy and jealousy, pride and ambition, is to
belie his profession, dishonor the holy name of Christ, and bring
reproach upon that glorious Christianity which he professes, and of
which we have the lovely type in the feast of weeks--a feast
pre-eminently characterized by a joy which had its source in the
goodness of God, and which flowed out far and wide, and embraced in
its hallowed circle every object of need. "Thou shalt rejoice before
the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy
man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and _the Levite_ that is within thy
gates, and _the stranger_, and _the fatherless_, and _the widow_, that
are among you."
How lovely! how perfectly beautiful! Oh that its antitype were more
faithfully exhibited amongst us! Where are those streams of refreshing
which ought to flow from the Church of God? where those unblotted
epistles of Christ known and read of all men? where can we see a
practical exhibition of Christ in the ways of His people--something to
which we could point and say, There is true Christianity? Oh, may the
Spirit of God stir up our hearts to a more intense desire after
conformity to the image of Christ, in all things! May He clothe with
His own mighty power the Word of God, which we have in our hands and
in our homes, that it may speak to our hearts and consciences, and
lead us to judge ourselves, our ways, and our associations by its
heavenly light, so that there may be a thoroughly devoted band of
witnesses gathered out to His name, to wait for His appearing. Will
the reader join us in asking for this?
We shall now turn for a moment to the lovely institution of the feast
of tabernacles, which gives such remarkable completeness to the range
of truth presented in our chapter.
"Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that
thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and thou shalt rejoice in
thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant,
and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the
fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt
thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God _in the place which the
Lord_ shall choose; because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all
thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou
shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear
before the Lord thy God _in the place which He shall choose_; in the
feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast
of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; every
man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord
thy God which He hath given thee." (Ver. 13-17.)
Here, then, we have the striking and beautiful type of Israel's
future. The feast of tabernacles has not yet had its antitype. The
passover and Pentecost have had their fulfillment in the precious
death of Christ and the descent of the Holy Ghost, but the third great
solemnity points forward to the times of the restitution of all
things, which God has spoken of by the mouth of all His holy prophets
which have been since the world began.
And let the reader note particularly the time of the celebration of
this feast. It was to be "after thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy
wine;" in other words, it was after the harvest and the vintage. Now,
there is a very marked distinction between these two things. The one
speaks of grace, the other of judgment. At the end of the age, God
will gather His wheat into His garner, and then will come the treading
of the wine-press, in awful judgment.
We have in the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation a very
solemn passage bearing upon the subject now before us. "And I looked,
and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son
of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp
sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud
voice to him that sat on the cloud, 'Thrust in thy sickle, and reap;
for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is
ripe.' And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth,
and the earth was reaped."
Here we have the harvest; and then "another angel came out of the
temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another
angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire"--the emblem
of judgment--"and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp
sickle, saying, 'Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters
of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.' And the
angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of
the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God.
And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of
the wine-press, even unto the horse-bridles, by the space of a
thousand and six hundred furlongs"--equal to the whole length of the
land of Palestine!
Now, these apocalyptic figures set before us, in their own
characteristic way, scenes which must be enacted previous to the
celebration of the feast of tabernacles. Christ will gather His wheat
into His heavenly garner, and after that He will come in crushing
judgment upon christendom. Thus, every section of the volume of
inspiration--Moses, the Psalms, the Prophets, the Gospels (or the acts
of Christ), the Acts of the Holy Ghost, the Epistles, and
Apocalypse--all go to establish, unanswerably, the fact that the world
will not be converted by the gospel, that things are not improving,
and will not improve, but grow worse and worse. That glorious time
prefigured by the feast of tabernacles _must_ be preceeded by the
vintage, the treading of the wine-press of the wrath of almighty God.
Why, then, we may well ask, in the face of such an overwhelming body
of divine evidence, furnished by every section of the inspired canon,
will men persist in cherishing the delusive hope of a world converted
by the gospel? What mean "gathered wheat and a trodden wine-press"?
Assuredly, they do not and cannot mean a converted world.
We shall perhaps be told that we cannot build any thing upon Mosaic
types and apocalyptic symbols. Perhaps not, if we had but types and
symbols; but when the accumulated rays of Inspiration's heavenly lamp
converge upon these types and symbols and unfold their deep meaning to
our souls, we find them in perfect harmony with the voices of prophets
and apostles, and the living teachings of our Lord Himself. In a word,
all speak the same language, all teach the same lesson, all bear the
same unequivocal testimony to the solemn truth that at the end of this
age, instead of a converted world, prepared for a spiritual
millennium, there will be a vine covered and borne down with terrible
clusters, fully ripe for the wine-press of the wrath of almighty God.
Oh, may the men and women of christendom, and the teachers thereof,
apply their hearts to these solemn realities! May these things sink
down into their ears, and into the very depths of their souls, so that
they may fling to the winds their fondly cherished delusion, and
accept instead the plainly revealed and clearly established truth of
God!
But we must draw this section to a close; and ere doing so, we would
remind the Christian reader that we are called to exhibit in our daily
life the blessed influence of all those great truths presented to us
in the three interesting types on which we have been meditating.
Christianity is characterized by those three great formative
facts--redemption, the presence of the Holy Ghost, and the hope of
glory. The Christian is redeemed by the precious blood of Christ,
sealed by the Holy Ghost, and he is looking for the Saviour.
Yes, beloved reader, these are solid facts, divine realities, great
formative truths. They are not mere principles or opinions, but they
are designed to be a living power in our souls, and to shine in our
lives. See how thoroughly practical were these solemnities on which we
have been dwelling; mark what a tide of praise and thanksgiving and
joy and blessing and active benevolence flowed from the assembly of
Israel when gathered around Jehovah in the place which He had chosen.
Praise and thanksgiving ascended to God, and the blessed streams of a
large-hearted benevolence flowed forth to every object of need. "Three
times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God....
_And they shall not appear before the Lord empty; every man shall give
as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He
hath given thee._"
Lovely words! They were not to come empty into the Lord's presence;
they were to come with the heart full of praise, and the hands full of
the fruits of divine goodness to gladden the hearts of the Lord's
workmen and the Lord's poor. All this was perfectly beautiful. Jehovah
would gather His people around Himself, to fill them to overflowing
with joy and praise, and to make them His channels of blessing to
others. They were not to remain under their vine and under their
fig-tree, and there congratulate themselves upon the rich and varied
mercies which surrounded them. This might be all right and good in
its place, but it would not have fully met the mind and heart of God.
No; three times in the year they had to arise and betake themselves to
the divinely appointed meeting-place, and there raise their
halleluiahs to the Lord their God, and there, too, to minister
liberally of that which He had bestowed upon them to every form of
human need. God would confer upon His people the rich privilege of
rejoicing the heart of the Levite, the stranger, the widow, and the
fatherless. This is the work in which He Himself delights--blessed
forever be His name--and He would share His delight with His people.
He would have it to be known, seen, and felt that the place where He
met His people was a sphere of joy and praise, and a centre from
whence streams of blessing were to flow forth in all directions.
Has not all this a voice and a lesson for the Church of God? Does it
not speak home to the writer and the reader of these lines? Assuredly
it does. May we listen to it; may it tell upon our hearts. May the
marvelous grace of God so act upon us that our hearts may be full of
praise to Him, and our hands full of good works. If the mere types and
shadows of our blessings were connected with so much thanksgiving and
active benevolence, how much more powerful should be the effect of the
blessings themselves!
But ah! the question is, Are we realizing the blessings? are we making
our own of them? are we grasping them in the power of an artless
faith? Here lies the secret of the whole matter. Where do we find
professing Christians in the full and settled enjoyment of what the
passover prefigured, namely, full deliverance from judgment and this
present evil world? Where do we find them in the full and settled
enjoyment of their Pentecost, even the indwelling of the Holy
Ghost--the seal, the earnest, the unction, and the witness? Ask the
vast majority of professors the plain question, "Have you received the
Holy Ghost?" and see what answer you will get. What answer can the
reader give? Can he say, Yes, thank God, _I know_ I am washed in the
precious blood of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Ghost? It is
greatly to be feared that comparatively few of the vast multitudes of
professors around us know any thing of these precious things, which
nevertheless are the chartered privileges of the very simplest member
of the body of Christ.
So also as to the feast of tabernacles, how few understand its
meaning! True, it has not yet been fulfilled; but the Christian is
called to live in the present power of that which it sets forth.
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen." Our life is to be governed and our character formed by the
combined influence of the "grace" in which we stand and the "glory"
for which we wait.
But if souls are not established in grace--if they do not even know
that their sins are forgiven--if they are taught that it is
presumption to be sure of salvation, and that it is humility and piety
to live in perpetual doubt and fear, and that no one can be sure of
their salvation until they stand before the judgment-seat of Christ,
how can they possibly take Christian ground, manifest the fruits of
Christian life, or cherish proper Christian hope? If an Israelite of
old was in doubt as to whether he was a child of Abraham, a member of
the congregation of the Lord, and in the land, how could he keep the
feast of unleavened bread, Pentecost, or tabernacles? There would have
been no sense, meaning, or value in such a thing; indeed, we may
safely affirm that no Israelite would have thought for a moment of any
thing so utterly absurd.
How is it, then, that professing Christians--many of them, we cannot
doubt, real children of God--never seem to be able to enter upon
proper Christian ground? They spend their days in doubt and fear,
darkness and uncertainty. Their religious exercises and services,
instead of being the outcome of life possessed and enjoyed, are
entered upon and gone through more as a matter of legal duty, and as a
moral preparation for the life to come. Many truly pious souls are
kept in this state all their days; and as to "the blessed hope" which
grace has set before us, to cheer our hearts and detach us from
present things, they do not enter into it or understand it. It is
looked upon as a mere speculation, indulged in by a few visionary
enthusiasts here and there. They are looking forward to the day of
judgment, instead of looking out for "the bright and morning Star;"
they are praying for the forgiveness of their sins, and asking God to
give them His Holy Spirit, when they ought to be rejoicing in the
assured possession of eternal life, divine righteousness, and the
Spirit of adoption.
All this is directly opposed to the simplest and clearest teaching of
the New Testament; it is utterly foreign to the very genius of
Christianity, subversive of the Christian's peace and liberty, and
destructive of all true and intelligent Christian worship, service,
and testimony. It is plainly impossible that people can appear before
the Lord with their hearts full of praise for privileges which they do
not enjoy, or their hands full of the blessing which they have never
realized.
We call the earnest attention of all the Lord's people, throughout the
length and breadth of the professing church, to this weighty subject.
We entreat them to search the Scriptures, and see if they afford any
warrant for keeping souls in darkness, doubt, and bondage all their
days. That there are solemn warnings, searching appeals, weighty
admonitions, is most true, and we bless God for them,--we need them,
and should diligently apply our hearts to them; but let the reader
distinctly understand that it is the sweet privilege of the very babes
in Christ to know that their sins are all forgiven, that they are
accepted in a risen Christ, sealed by the Holy Ghost, and heirs of
eternal glory. Such, through infinite and sovereign grace, are their
clearly established and assured blessings--blessings to which the love
of God makes them welcome, for which the blood of Christ makes them
fit, and as to which the testimony of the Holy Ghost makes them sure.
May the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls lead all His beloved
people--the lambs and sheep of His blood-bought flock--to know, by the
teaching of His Holy Spirit, the things that are freely given to them
of God; and may those who do know them, in measure, know them more
fully, and exhibit the precious fruits of them in a life of genuine
devotedness to Christ and His service.
It is greatly to be feared that many of us who profess to be
acquainted with the very highest truths of the Christian faith are not
answering to our profession; we are not acting up to the principle set
forth in verse 17 of our beautiful chapter,--"_Every man_ shall give
_as he is able_, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which
He hath given thee." We seem to forget that although we have nothing
to do and nothing to give for salvation, we have much that we can do
for the Saviour, and much that we can give to His workmen and to His
poor. There is very great danger of pushing the do-nothing and
give-nothing principle too far. If in the days of our ignorance and
legal bondage we worked and gave upon a false principle and with a
false object, we surely ought not to do less and give less now that we
profess to know that we are not only saved, but blessed with all
spiritual blessings in a risen and glorified Christ. We have need to
take care that we are not resting in the mere intellectual perception
and verbal profession of these great and glorious truths, while the
heart and conscience have never felt their sacred action, nor the
conduct and character been brought under their powerful and holy
influence.
We venture, in all tenderness and love, just to offer these practical
suggestions to the reader for his prayerful consideration. We would
not wound, offend, or discourage the very feeblest lamb in all the
flock of Christ; and further, we can assure the reader that we are not
casting a stone at any one, but simply writing as in the immediate
presence of God, and sounding in the ears of the Church a note of
warning as to that which we deeply feel to be our common danger. We
believe there is an urgent call, on all sides, to consider our ways,
to humble ourselves before the Lord on account of our manifold
failures, shortcomings, and inconsistencies, and to seek grace from
Him to be more real, more thoroughly devoted, more pronounced in our
testimony for Him, in this dark and evil day.