LEVITICUS 23
The feasts of the Lord  Part 1

Source of the details of the feasts
The feasts are mentioned in six different places; in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, as follows:

1.  Exodus 12:1-28
Details about the keeping of the passover. These are not given again.

2. Exodus 23:14-17
In connection with the making of the covenant at Sinai. As the covenant people, they are bound to keep the feasts. Only three feasts are given here, the three seasons when the Israelites were to assemble before God.

3. Exodus 34:18,22.
After the details of the structure of the tabernacle have been given, (the place to which the offerings would be brought), have been given in chapters 25-31. Again only the three seasons are mentioned.

4. Leviticus 23:1-44.
All the seven feasts, and also the weekly sabbath, after the tabernacle had been reared up, Exodus 40:17; Leviticus 1:1.

5. Numbers 28, 29.
During the last year of wandering, preparing them for entry into the land. Emphasis on offerings to accompany the feasts, but no mention of the feast of the wave sheaf.

6. Deuteronomy 16:1-17.
Emphasis on “the place which the Lord thy God shall choose”, as they prepare to enter the land. Again, the wave-sheaf is not mentioned.

We may see from these listings certain principles, as follows:

(a)  The feasts were to be kept by a delivered people, in covenant relationship with God.

(b)  They were to be kept in connection with the tabernacle, for that is where the offerings were to be brought.

(c)  They were to be kept in the place of God’s choosing, which was Jerusalem.

The apostle Paul makes clear that the holydays of Israel are but shadows, and Christ is the one who casts the shadow, Colossians 2:16. We may look back, therefore, and see in the feasts features of Christ.

Survey of the chapter
The nation of Israel was brought into covenant relationship with God so that they would be “a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation”, Exodus 19:6. Sadly, they failed in this high calling, for while their leader Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai receiving commandments for them to keep, they were at the bottom of that same mountain worshipping a golden calf, with Aaron, their prospective high priest, officiating. Despite this national failure, the people were still required to keep God’s commandments, so as to be preserved as His special people. Part of those commandments had to do with the festivals that He appointed for them to keep throughout the year.

These festivals were at three times of the year, (leaving aside for the moment the weekly festival of the sabbath). The first three were at the beginning of the religious calendar, consisting of the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month; the feast of unleavened bread on the next day, the fifteenth, until the twenty first day of the month, and in between, the first feast of firstfruits, on the morrow after the sabbath during the feast of unleavened bread. This was when they began to “put the sickle to the corn”, Deuteronomy 16:9.

The second season was at the end of the barley and wheat harvests, when there was the second feast of the firstfruits, this time consisting of loaves, offered to the Lord. The third season was at the end of the agricultural year, when the people had “gathered in the fruit of the land”, Leviticus 23:39.

So there were three seasons of feasts, and God commanded that “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.” Deuteronomy 16:16. Two New Testament instructions are relevant here. The first is, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”, Hebrews 10:25, and the second, “upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him”, 1 Corinthians 16:2.

It might be helpful if we had a general idea of the meaning of the feasts, not only in relation to the nation of Israel, but also ourselves:

Significance of the feasts in relation to Israel

The passover	The beginning of their history as a nation Redemption from bondage by the blood of the lamb
Unleavened bread	A seven-day cycle of the absence of leaven Reminder of the need to maintain holiness in life
Wave sheaf	The firstfruit of the barley harvest The sign of the intention to put God first
Wave loaves	The completion of the wheat harvest The token of God’s faithful provision
Trumpets	First day of the month- a new beginning A call to prepare for the day of atonement
Atonement	Atoning blood enables God to continue among them “They shall look upon him whom they pierced”
Tabernacles	Dwelling in temporary shelters Remembrance of wilderness and rest in the land

Significance of the feasts in relation to the church

The passover	“Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” “Redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ”
Unleavened bread	“let us keep the feast…unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”
Wave sheaf	“Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming”
Wave loaves	“He took bread…This is my body” “For we being many are one bread, and one body”
Trumpets	“the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised”
Atonement	“reconcile all things unto himself…and you…hath he reconciled”
Tabernacles	“Come unto me, and I will give you rest” “For we which have believed have entered into rest”

Structure of the chapter

(a)	Verses 1,2	General introduction
(b)	Verse 3	The weekly sabbath
(c)	Verses 4,5	The passover
(d)	Verses 6-8	The feast of unleavened bread
(e)	Verses 9-14	The wave sheaf
(f)	Verses 15-21	The wave loaves
(g)	Verse 22	Instruction to remember the poor and the stranger
(h)	Verses 23-25	The feast of trumpets
(i)	Verses 26-32	The day of atonement
(j)	Verses 33-36	The feast of tabernacles (i)
(k)	Verses 37,38	General summary
(l)	Verses 39-44	The feast of tabernacles (ii)

Spiritual significance of the chapter
As far as the nation of Israel was concerned, they were to have constant reminders of the goodness of their God, as they brought to Him tokens of His provision for them. They were an agricultural people, once they had arrived in the land of promise, (and even before that, as they travelled through the wilderness with their flocks and herds, for in the days of Moses the Sinai desert had more vegetation than it has now). It was appropriate therefore that God should expect them to show their gratitude to Him for His goodness in the crops they were able to grow and the animals they were able to rear.

The more spiritual amongst them would realise that bringing crops and animals was not enough, for God is a spirit, and their offerings were material. As the prophet Samuel said, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams”, 1 Samuel 15:22. Or as David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise”, Psalm 51:17. So it was that, before they contributed to the collection for the saints at Jerusalem, the believers “first gave their own selves to the Lord”, 2 Corinthians 8:5, and by so doing they associated themselves with the One who said as He came into the world, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me…Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will O God”, Hebrews 10:5,7.

This encourages us to think of the way the Lord Jesus fulfilled the commands about the feasts of the Lord. Not just in the sense that He observed them, (for He was “made under the law”, Galatians 4:4, and He magnified the law and made it honourable, Isaiah 42:21), but in the fact that He fulfilled them. He told His disciples that He had not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it, Matthew 5:17. This means at least two things. First, that He filled out the meaning of the law by His teaching, so that, for instance, instead of being confident that they had not killed, they must also be confident that they had never shown any degree of the anger that may lead to murder.

Second, He was the perfect example of law-keeping, even though He was accused of breaking the law of the sabbath. The word from heaven came at the end of His private years, “well pleased”. And the same word came at the end of His public ministry. If the God who gave the law had seen Him breaking the law during either of those periods, that word would not have come. And on the second occasion the words of His Father, “Hear ye him”, would not have come either, entrusting Him with the task of continuing to teach. His word has authority because it is supported by perfect obedience to His Father. He said of the scribes and Pharisees who sat to teach in Moses’ seat in the synagogue, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not”, Matthew 23:2,3. This could not be said of Him.

We are prepared by these things to expect that the Lord Jesus in some way expressed what God was indicating in the feasts of the Lord. And so He did, for the apostle Paul directly related the first three feasts to Him, for he wrote, “For even Christ our passover was 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 Corinthians 6:7,8. And in that same epistle, speaking of resurrection, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept…Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:20,23. Furthermore, when speaking of the unity of the church, the apostle uses the loaf of the Lord’s Supper as an illustration, as we shall see later on.

Taking these things together we can say that the first four feasts give a preview of God’s dealings with the church, whereas the remaining feasts emphasise His ways in the future with Israel, always remembering, of course, that Israel is dependent on Christ as the Lamb that died and the “sheaf” that rose from the dead.

Another thing to notice is that five of the feasts did not centre around the shedding of blood. (The passover and the day of atonement did, of course). The feast of unleavened bread speaks for itself, then the wave sheaf, the wave loaves, the trumpets, the tabernacles, or booths. For this reason there needed to be blood sacrifices added, for God would ever emphasise to us the importance of the shedding of blood.

(a) Verses 1,2
General introduction

23:1
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying- this phrase occurs five times in the chapter, and introduces the following things:

Verses 1-8	The subject of the feasts, and the sabbath, passover and unleavened bread
Verses 9-22	The wave sheaf, the wave loaves and the directions about the poor and the stranger
Verses 23-25	The feast of the blowing of trumpets
Verses 26-32	The day of atonement
Verses 33-44	The feast of tabernacles

We should notice the word “also” in verses 27 and 39. In the first case the word links two feasts, the blowing of trumpets and the day of atonement, and in the second case it links two aspects of the same feast of tabernacles. Given that the other feasts are linked together as well, (for the passover is connected with the feast of unleavened bread, and the time of the wave loaves festival is counted from the waving of the sheaf), we see that there were in fact four pairs of feasts.

23:2
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them- this reminds us that Moses was the mediator between God and the people, bringing His word to them, amongst other things. Aaron the high priest, on the other hand, brought the people to God, representatively. In contrast, the Lord Jesus is both the Mediator for God’s people, Hebrews 8:6, and their Great High Priest, verse 1; He combines both offices in His person. Whereas Moses brought God’s word to the people as their mediator, the Lord Jesus speaks to believers directly. As the Epistle to the Hebrews says at the beginning, “God…hath in these lasts days spoken unto us by his Son”, 1:2.

Concerning the feasts of the Lord- by feast is meant a festival, not a banquet. (In fact, the day of atonement became known as “the fast”, Acts 27:9). The word translated feast means “an appointment”, or “appointed meeting”, a fixed time or season for a congregation to gather together. A similar word is used in verses 6,34,39,41.

Note that these are feasts of the Lord, not of the Israelites. They were for His pleasure, and to give opportunity to the people to recognise His rights over them, and to worship Him. Sadly, these feasts had to be called the feasts of the Jews by the apostle John, for by the time the Lord Jesus came to the nation they had degenerated into lifeless rituals. He came to bring the reality of which the feasts, even in their original form, were a shadow.

Which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts- a convocation is a calling together, indicating that the Israelites were to join together in their worship of God, and not be isolated units. God longs to commune with man, as we see at the beginning when the Lord God walked in the garden, (as He no doubt had done before), to commune with Adam and He is here making that a possibility for the children of Israel, His chosen people.

(b) Verse 3
The weekly sabbath

23:3
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

Six days shall work be done- this verse speaks of the sabbath twice over. The first time in connection with this command to work. Then in connection with the command to rest. So the sabbath has links with both ideas. It is the rest after work, but it is rest for its own sake too, for it gives opportunity for things other than everyday working. Honest labour is good for man, and God ordains it here. Work allows a man to provide for himself, and any dependants he may have. It also results in him having something to give to God, as we see in this very chapter, for the festivals are all based on the agricultural year. It is not good for man to be idle. We learn about the sin of the city of Sodom when Ezekiel writes, “Behold, this was the sin of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness”, Ezekiel 16:49. The city of Sodom was in the plain of Jordan, which was “well watered everywhere…even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar”, Genesis 13:10. Things came easily to the men of Sodom, and we are not surprised to find they sank into gross sin. When Adam fell God judged him, but the judgment was tempered with mercy, for the ground was cursed “for thy sake”, Genesis 3:17. He was to work hard for his bread, and so have less time to think about sinning, so the curse was in one sense a blessing in disguise.

The believers at Thessalonica needed to be exhorted to work for a different reason. It seems they were so taken up with the truth that the Lord Jesus was returning to take them to heaven, that some of them had stopped working, being convinced that the Lord’s return would happen within hours, and they would not need food for tomorrow. The apostle Paul writes to them, having reminded them that he and his associates had not expected others to provide for them, but had “wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you”, 2 Thessalonians 3:8. He goes on, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread”, verses 10-12. Clearly, throughout the passage he is talking of everyday work, not working for the Lord. So whether in the Old Testament or the New, whether in regard to believers or unbelievers, working to earn one’s living is the expected norm.

But the seventh day is the sabbath of rest- as the Moral Governor of the men He has created, God has established a seven-day cycle by which they should regulate their activities, in their own best interests. Neither the orbit of the moon round the earth, nor the orbit of the earth round the sun, is divisible in days by seven. The origin of the seven-day week is God Himself, who worked for six days at the beginning of time, and then rested the seventh day. This was not a rest of tiredness, far less of exhaustion, but of complacency, as He enjoyed the work of His hands. As Exodus 31:17 puts it, “and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed”. Moses’ summary of creation week is as follows: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made”, Genesis 2:1-3. Note that it is what God “created and made”, so this means that what took place as described by Genesis 1:1 was during the first week, so was not billions of years ago, as some would suggest.

The keeping of the seventh day is confirmed at the giving of the Law to Israel, for the fourth commandment to them was, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger which is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11.

Note the word “remember”, for although the sabbath had not been mentioned since the account of creation until the giving of the manna in Exodus 16:23, that did not mean it had not been kept. The fact that it could be mentioned there without explanation shows that the Israelites knew about it; they are simply given a reminder about it. It also shows that there had been accurate time-keeping throughout all those centuries, so that they knew what day it was. Noah was able to give details of the year of the flood down to the very day, even though he must have been in the dark, not seeing sun, moon, or stars for that year.

Note that the sabbath is a holy convocation, so it is not just a day for passively not working, but rather, for actively responding to God. How the day was to be kept is summed up in the command in the law, “keep it holy”, that is, set apart for sacred uses. This is why it stands at the head of the feasts of the Lord in this chapter, being a weekly opportunity to render God His due. If the Israelites had taken note of this, they would not have criticised the Lord Jesus when He did works on the sabbath, for they were spiritual works, such as God did when He provided sunshine and rain for man even on the sabbath day.

Another feature of the sabbath was that it became a distinguishing mark of the nation of Israel. God said to them, “Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you”, Exodus 31:13. So the nation is set apart to God by the keeping of the sabbath. Like circumcision, which began before Israel became a nation, so the sabbath becomes a sign for the nation. It is no surprise then to find that in the New Testament epistles, just as circumcision is not required, nor is the keeping of the sabbath. In fact, the apostle shows in the epistle to the Colossians that sabbaths are obsolete, being but shadows, for he warns the believers, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:16.

The idea is that the Old Testament requirements were the shadow cast by the already-existing Christ, for He is the one, (“the body”), who casts the shadows. So He is the reality of which such things as the sabbath, or circumcision, or the feasts, or the tabernacle were a preview. It is folly, then, to prefer shadows when you can have the substance. It is true wisdom to see in the Lord Jesus the filling up of the meaning of the law. The Christian therefore does not get circumcised, for the “circumcision of Christ” is spiritual, as Colossians 2:11-12 shows. He does not keep the passover, for “even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us”, 1 Corinthians 5:7. The same goes for the feast of unleavened bread, for the whole life of the Christian should entail the purging out of evil. And when it comes to the sabbath, those who have heeded the Lord’s invitation to come to Him for rest, will have rest in their souls as they take His yoke upon themselves, Matthew 11:28-30. We see the same combination of rest and work there as we see in Leviticus 23:3, for no sooner have we come to Christ for rest, we take His yoke, the very symbol of work! And in that work we find further rest, for it is work for God.

An holy convocation- a convocation is a calling together of people, and in this context means to call together to serve God’s interests. So it is that the synagogue was the place where the Israelites would normally gather on the sabbath day, but on the festival days they would be required to attend the temple. The word was, “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.” Deuteronomy 16:16,17.

Ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings- so the word “convocation”, and the word “dwellings”, establishes a link between synagogue and temple, and the homes of the Israelites. The nation was to be for God in all its affairs. So whether it was the males going up to the temple, or the females staying at home, their zeal for the Lord was to be the same. Having said that, both Hannah and Mary went up to the temple regularly for a feast, showing their extraordinary zeal for the things of God.

Special note on the Lord Jesus and the sabbath
One of the main reasons why the Jews were hostile to Christ was that He seemed to loose the binding force of the sabbath commandment. The gospel writers record Him healing on the sabbath day seven times, and also the incident when He walked through the cornfields and His disciples plucked the ears of corn on the sabbath.

The following is Matthew’s account:

Matthew 12:1
At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.

At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn- by “at that time” Matthew is linking back to 11:35, where he writes, “at that time Jesus answered”. Then follows His response to the unbelief of the cities of Galilee. So we may say Matthew is following up this response with a practical example. The Lord had offered rest from both the law of Moses and the laws of the scribes, and now there is an illustration of that liberty in action. The words “lawful”, and “law” occur five times in verses 1-12. Ruth found grace in Boaz’s cornfield, Ruth 2:2,10, whereas the law of Moses would have banished her as a Moabitess, Deuteronomy 23:3.
If Matthew gives us the time morally, Luke gives it to us chronologically, for he tells us it was “the second sabbath after the first”, Luke 6:1. This is a puzzling statement, but we should remember that at this time of the year the Jews were counting. They had waved a sheaf of first-fruits on the morrow after the sabbath in passover week, and now were instructed to “count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath…seven sabbaths shall be complete”, Leviticus 23:17. Once they had counted the seventh sabbath they were to offer a new meal offering on the “feast of weeks”, or Pentecost as it came to be known, (the word meaning “fifty days”). So Luke is telling us that it is a moment of transition, and this agrees with Matthew’s approach. The feast of Pentecost is forever associated with the coming of the Spirit to baptise believers into one body, the church, and it is towards that point that the Lord is working, having denounced the unbelief of Israel.
Both Luke and Mark set this incident in connection with the Lord’s words about the new wine in old bottles, Mark 2:22,23; Luke 5:37-6:1. So in Mark and Luke the old is set aside, but in Matthew the new is offered.
Not only is the time of year indicated to us, but also the day of the week, the sabbath. This was a sensitive day for the Pharisees, and was the subject of much discussion amongst them. So zealous were they for its observance that they had hedged it about by a multitude of petty regulations of their own. We shall soon see how the Lord dealt with these.
No doubt by telling us that the Lord and His disciples were going “through the corn”, we are to understand that they made their way along a pathway that was established as a right-of-way through a man’s cornfield. In the parable of the sower, the farmer walked across his field sowing seed, and some “fell by the wayside”, meaning the path. The disciples are not trampling the corn down, for the Lord would not allow them to harm their neighbour in this way.
And his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat- the law of God was clear, “When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn”, Deuteronomy 23:25. The disciples were therefore well within their rights under the law of Moses.

Matthew 12:2
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.

But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him- clearly the Pharisees are following His steps, no doubt because they saw in His words about rest a reference to the works of the law. They seem to have misunderstood Him to mean that if men came to Him He would release them from their obligations to God, and give them licence to do as they please. They were alert to find fault with Him at all times, and they think they have cause for complaint now. In Luke the Pharisees confront the disciples, but Matthew bypasses that to gain the word of authority from Christ directly.
Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day- they draw His attention to the matter as if to suggest He did not know what was happening. Note the decided way they speak of this matter, as if it were settled that the disciples were working. They do not merely question the action, but state it to be unlawful. It was only by their definition that this was so. According to their perverted reasoning, the plucking was reaping and the rubbing of the ears of corn in their hands, Luke 6:1, was threshing and winnowing!

Matthew 12:3
But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;

But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him- the Lord bases His answer on an incident in the life of David. He does not embark on a theological discussion. The event in question is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1-9. David, the anointed king, was being hunted by Saul, and came, with his followers, to Nob, where the tabernacle was pitched at that time. Being hungry, he asked the priest for bread, and was told the only bread was the shewbread that had been changed that day, (telling us it was the sabbath day, Leviticus 24:5-10). So it was that David, of the tribe of Judah, ate bread that was reserved for the priests of the tribe of Levi. It is from this truth that the Lord draws out a principle.

Matthew 12:4
How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

How he entered into the house of God- this is the first unusual thing, for David normally had no right to enter the tabernacle. But God will have “mercy and not sacrifice”, and the priest shews him mercy.
And did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Note the Lord deliberately uses the Pharisees’ word “lawful”, but whereas they meant “lawful according to our regulations”, He meant “lawful according to the requirements of God’s ceremonial law”. Now this happened with the approval of the priest, to meet a need that was urgent and could not be met any other way, seeing the record says it was the only bread available. There is a principle here that even under the law, the genuine need of a man must be met, even if it is the sabbath day. The Lord Himself will point this out in the next incident, and the Pharisees could do nothing else than agree, for even their regulations allowed it.
David wrote Psalm 34 after he had eaten of the shew-bread, (see the title of that psalm), and in it he exhorts men to “taste and see that the Lord is good”, Psalm 34:8. When the apostle Peter quoted these words, he wrote, “if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious”, 1 Peter 2:3. So the goodness David knew was the goodness of the grace of God.

Matthew 12:5
Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? To reinforce the lesson, the Lord points out what they may have never noticed, that the priests themselves “broke” the sabbath law three times over in connection with the changing of the shewbread loaves. First, they baked the loaves, (we know this because the scripture speaks of hot bread that had been put on the table that day, 1 Samuel 21:6), secondly, they removed the previous week’s loaves, and thirdly, they replenished the table with the hot bread. So it was that there was in-built into the law of the sabbath the authority for “breaking” it! And yet the One who had instituted this law was now being criticised for apparently allowing the sabbath to be broken! The verdict of the Lord is, that the priests were blameless, David and his men were blameless, and so were the disciples. By “blameless” is meant free from any charge of law-breaking. A strong word is used for “profane”, as if to highlight the mildness of the disciples’ action as compared to the priests.

Matthew 12:6
But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.

But I say unto you- it is as if He is anticipating the objections that are forming in their minds, hence the “but”.
That in this place is one greater than the temple- because of the greatness of His person, (which they denied), He transforms wherever He is. He makes the ordinary special, and in this instance, turns a corn-field into a temple far more spiritual than the one in Jerusalem. The ears of corn have become shewbread, and the disciples have become priests. All this is because He is to be High Priest after the order of Melchizedec, and is not bound by the sabbath-rules of the Levitical order. He is bound even less than David was to the tabernacle order of things, for it is not that He is breaking the sabbath, but showing higher principles in action. He did not break the law of gravity by walking on the waters of Galilee, but showed a stronger law in action, even the power of His own Divine ability.

Matthew 12:7
But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice- even if they did not understand about the cornfield being a temple, they should have noted the language and the emphasis of the prophet in Hosea 6:6. He was not condemning the bringing of sacrifices, but was pointing out that if the choice was between being merciful, and bringing a sacrifice without being merciful, then being merciful was the preferred way, for it was the way of the God of mercy.
Ye would not have condemned the guiltless- if the priests were blameless even though they profaned the sabbath by “breaking” God’s sabbath laws, then so were the disciples guiltless also, for they had only broken man’s sabbath rules. That being the case, the Pharisees should not have mentally demanded that they bring a sin-offering, but rather shewed them mercy in the circumstances.

Matthew 12:8
For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day- far from being a slave to the law, Christ was free, and so were His disciples. They had rest from the law and from the traditions of the elders. The apostle Paul warned believers, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ”, Colossians 2:16,17. The word “therefore” shows that the apostle is about to apply the truths he has just set out, in particular, that Christ has “blotted out the handwriting of ordinances”. He lists various features of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple system, which were ordinances from God for Israel. The meat would be the flesh of animal sacrifices, some of which the offerer and the priest could eat. The drinks would either be the drink offerings, which were all poured out, but nonetheless were binding on the Israelite to bring, or the prohibition of wine as far as the Nazarites were concerned. The idea is of material things that the Law demanded, but which the apostle will show are out of date. The Colossian heretics were apparently teaching that these things were binding on believers. The apostle warns them not to allow these false teachers to judge or criticise them for not participating in Jewish rituals.
He then speaks of the prescribed days in Israel’s religious calendar by which their religion was regulated. A holy day was a day during the set feasts; the new moon was the starting point for the month, and determined when the feast began; the sabbath days were the weekly ordinance in Israel, in which all unnecessary work ceased, so that the day could be set apart for sacred purposes. There was also a sabbath at the end of the feast of tabernacles, on the eighth day, Leviticus 23:39.
The apostle classes all these things as shadow, but there cannot be a shadow unless there is an object to cast a shadow when the light is shone upon it. That object is Christ; the Old Testament ordinances were but shadows. The things of which they spoke were “to come”, in those days, but now they are come. We may study them to see how they spoke of Christ, but now He is come, there is no need for them.
The sacrifice of Christ has rendered animal sacrifices obsolete, Hebrews 10:8,9. He brings real joy, not the figurative joy of the drink offering, 1 John 1:4. In Him the festivals of Israel either have or will have been fulfilled, 1 Corinthians 5:7; 15:23; every day may be held holy to the Lord, Romans 14:6; the passing of time, as measured by the moon’s phases, is irrelevant, for the believer is in touch with eternal realities, Hebrews 9:12,15:13:20; and as far as the believer is concerned, true rest has been found in Christ, Matthew 11:29. No legalistic celebration of a day can replace or improve on that.
The fact that He is the body which casts the shadow is testimony to His pre-existence. It is also a testimony to the fact that He has always been the centre of God’s purpose, even in the days of the tabernacle rituals.
The Lordship of Christ over the sabbath day is also shown by His setting of it aside during this present age. The commandment to remember the sabbath day was the only one of the ten commandments to be ceremonial. But Christ has set aside the ceremonial law, and so has set aside the sabbath also. But just as ceremonial laws will be obeyed in the kingdom, as we see from Ezekiel 46, but only as a commemorative thing, so the sabbath day shall be observed. Indeed, this will even be the case with the godly remnant of Israel during the tribulation, Matthew 24:20. In the future, the sabbath will be a constant reminder of God’s work as Creator, (for the seventh day was set apart to remind men that God had worked for six days and then had rested in satisfaction, Genesis 2:1-3), and will also emphasise that the rest for the earth He purposed to bring in through Christ has been achieved, see Hebrews 3:11; 4:4-10.
We should beware of transferring sabbath-concepts over into the first day of the week. The resurrection of Christ on that day signalled a new beginning, and was the start of God’s heavenly work with His people. The sabbath is not relevant in heaven. Of course it is good to “Keep Sunday Special”, but we should keep the rest of the week special also, since to the spiritual believer, every day of the week may be lived to the Lord. See Romans 14:5,6.
Mark tells us that the Lord also said, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”, Mark 2:27. Far from being a slave-master, forcing man to comply with its demands, (as the Pharisees had made it), the sabbath was man’s servant, enabling him to have time for God, and to recover from the six days of working, and to start afresh.

The gospel records tell us of seven occasions when the Lord Jesus worked a miracle on the sabbath day. They are as follows, with the principles behind what He did:

1. Man with unclean spirit delivered, Mark 1:21-28
Christ’s authority over the powers of evil was total. He was not limited in His actions by the fact it was the sabbath day. The people said, “with authority commandeth he the evil spirits, and they do obey him”, verse 27. No doubt the synagogue rulers were relieved that the Lord had dealt with this man, because he may have been a nuisance, and they were at a loss to handle the situation. Hence there is no criticism, even though it was done on the sabbath day.

2. Healing of Peter’s wife’s mother, Mark 1:29-31
Spiritual exercises must be foremost. The afflicted woman was not able to sanctify the sabbath day to holy uses if she was sick of a fever, and could not go to the synagogue as others in the family had. Again there is no criticism from the authorities, this being a domestic setting, and perhaps they did not even know it had happened. It is interesting to observe that the people brought their sick ones to the Lord at even, when the sun was setting, Luke 4:40. They do not realise that the Lord does not need to wait for the sabbath to finish at sunset for Him to work.

3. Man with withered hand healed, Mark 3:1-6
The Lord healed on the sabbath day as an example of His compassion. Even Pharisees would rescue a sheep that had fallen into a pit on the sabbath day. The Jewish regulations made allowance for such acts of mercy, so the Pharisees, if they do not allow this, are going against their own rules. To lay hold is a strong verb, (the English word “creator” is derived from it), and contrasts with the man with the withered hand. By their petty regulations, the Pharisees were trying to wither the hand of a man who would show mercy to his animal. A man with a withered hand is as helpless as a sheep in a pit. But a sheep is but a beast, and a man is in the image of God, so that is the measure of how much a man is better than sheep. As Pharisees, they would surely agree with that concept. Therefore, by the application of simple logic, if a sheep should be rescued, how much more a man. So without recourse to the human sabbath regulations, but by the simple fact that a man is superior to a sheep, the Lord proves His point, and justifies what He is about to do. From Luke’s account we know that these men would be “filled with madness” afterwards, so the Lord, seeing this was so, made His argument before He healed the man. His hour had not yet come, and the rage of the people must be controlled. It is a moral imperative to do good, and to save life. On this basis the Lord was at liberty to deliver this man, and to do him good.

4. The impotent man at Bethesda is healed, John 5:1-9
The Son and the Father are equal, and work regardless of the day. God is not bound by the regulations of the sabbath. Since He is equal with God, the Son is not bound by them either. The Lord Jesus makes an eight-fold claim to equality with God the Father in this passage, as follows:

First claim:
Equality of action
He said, “The Son can do nothing of himself”, John 5:19. God is one, and the persons of the Godhead do not, and indeed cannot, act independently of one another. The act of one can be said to be the act of the other.

Second claim:
Equality of affection
“The Father loveth the Son”, verse 20. God is love, 1 John 4:8, but love must have an object. The Son has been the object of His Father’s love for all eternity.

Third claim:
Equality of perception
The Father “sheweth him all things that himself doeth”, verse 20. The Son of God has the ability to comprehend all the things that God the Father does.

Fourth claim:
Equality in resurrection
“For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will”, verse 21. Since when a man dies his spirit returns to God, then the one who retrieves that spirit and gives it back to the dead man must Himself be God. Of course, prophets in the Old Testament and apostles in the New Testament raised the dead, but only with delegated authority. That Christ’s authority is not delegated is seen in the phrase “even so”, meaning He acted in exactly the same way as His Father. And also in the phrase “whom he will”, for His will is to raise from the dead, in harmony with the Father. This is why Christ’s works were “works none other man did”, John 15:24.

Fifth claim:
Equality in jurisdiction
“The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son…and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man”, verses 22 and 27. Abraham described God as the judge of all the earth, Genesis 18:25, so if the Son of man judges all the earth He must be God.

Sixth claim:
Equality of recognition
He has been given judgment over all men “That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him”, verse 23. One day every knee shall bow to Christ, and confess that He is Lord, Philippians 2:10,11. But God has said that He is the one to whom every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear, Isaiah 45:23, so Christ must be equal with God.

Seventh claim:
Equality in communication
He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life”, verse 24. To hear the word of the Son is to hear the word of the Father. To believe the Son is to believe the Father.

Eighth claim:
Equality in administration
The Father has “given to the Son to have life in himself”, verse 26. He has also “given him authority to execute judgement also”, verse 27. As God’s Firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus has been given things to do. First, He has been given life for others, those who believe. Of course He has life in Himself, as the verse says, but He has been given the task of holding it for others. He also has been given the task of judging. Given these strong claims, it is only logical that if the Father works on the sabbath day, such as by sending the rain or causing the sun to shine on the sabbath day, so also His co-equal Son is perfectly entitles to work on that day also.

5. The blind man has his sight restored, John 9:1-41
As the Lord said at the end of the incident, “For judgement I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind”, verse 39. The blind man went from blindness to sight physically, but also spiritually. The Pharisees, claiming to see spiritually, are shewn to be blind spiritually, for they did not recognise and honour the one who could give sight to the blind. This is especially troubling because the rabbis said that one of the things the Messiah would be uniquely able to do was to open the eyes of a man born blind. This the Lord did in this incident. This is one reason perhaps why the Pharisees do not directly confront the Lord about healing on the sabbath day. They preferred to class Him as a sinner, for they believed He had broken God’s law, and sin is lawlessness.

6. The woman with the spirit of infirmity loosed, Luke 13:11-17
If a man looses his ox so as to lead him to drink, should not a woman be loosed from her tie, even if it is the sabbath day, especially if it is Satan that has bound her? To water the ox is an imperative, even on a sabbath day, for God takes care of oxen, 1 Corinthians 9:9. To loose this woman is an imperative for the Lord Jesus, even on the sabbath day, for God takes care of women.

7. The man with dropsy, Luke 14:1-6
A man pulls a sheep out of a pit, even if it is a sabbath day, because he is required by the law of Moses to do so, Deuteronomy 22:4. The question the Lord asked settles the matter, “How much then is a man better than a sheep?” The sheep is but a beast, whereas the man is in the image of God, so that is the measure of how much a man is better than a sheep. By the application of simple logic, the Lord rebukes the wickedness of the ruler of the synagogue.

So to summarise the reasons the Lord gives for healing on the sabbath day:

1. God works on the sabbath, and He is equal with God

2. The law had requirements within it which involved seeming to break the sabbath-law, showing that grace always triumphs over law, and also showing that mercy triumphs over bringing sacrifices in a wrong spirit.

3. Care for animals was enshrined in the law, and their needs must be met on the sabbath as much as any other time. Men and women are better than animals.

4. The law of the sabbath was, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”, meaning to set it apart for holy purposes. It is noticeable, then, that several of the examples of work by the Lord Jesus on the sabbath have some connection with the synagogue or the temple. The man of Point 1 above is liable to disturb the synagogue worship, but he is calmed by the Lord Jesus, so that they all could sanctify the day to sacred uses. Peter’s wife’s mother was unable to be at the synagogue at all that day, so the Lord remedies that, to enable her to resume her attendance. The man of Point 3 was in the synagogue, but was used by the Pharisees to try to incriminate the Lord. Their use of the sabbath was contrary to the law, but His was in harmony with it. The impotent man of Point 4 was laying at the poolside, unable to enter the temple. Through the Lord’s action he was able to be found in the temple, no doubt praising God for His intervention on his behalf. The blind man of Point 5 was put out of the synagogue, but he was introduced to a new way of worship, as he finds out that Jesus is the Son of God, and is therefore worthy of worship. The woman of Point 6 was actually in the synagogue, but bound by Satan.

We can see now why the sabbath is given as a holy convocation before the other feasts are mentioned. Only those who have rest of heart through coming to the Lord Jesus at His invitation, can participate in the spiritual exercises represented by the various feasts. Those who are disturbed by the evil influences of the world need to rest, in order to worship the Lord without distraction. Those who are agitated, as if with a fever, need His calm. Those who are impotent, unable to walk before the Lord and men in a proper way, need His restoring grace. Those who are blind to His glories need the enlightenment He brings. Those who are bowed down, and unable to see Him in highest glory, need to be straitened by His touch. And those who lack balance and stability, need Him to intervene. And those who are in bondage to the precepts of men, need release to serve the Lord according to His mind. Once we have known His working in these ways, we shall be in a state suitable for worship.

With these things in mind, we return to Leviticus 23:

(c)   Verses 4,5
The passover

23:4
These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

These are the feasts of the Lord- so the feasts were for the Lord’s pleasure, giving opportunity to the nation of Israel to give Him His due throughout the year. He did not ask them to bring anything exotic, but the simple products of a farming community that was thankful to Him for His goodness to them. Sadly, when the apostle John came to record the life of Christ, he had, in all honesty, to call the feasts “feasts of the Jews”, John 5:1; 6:4; 7:2. Man had become prominent, if not central, and the purpose of the convocations was in danger of being lost. Hence we find the Lord Jesus going up to the feasts to represent the God they were side-lining. The assembly at Corinth was in danger of failing in the same way, so that the apostle Paul had to rebuke them for coming together, not to eat the Lord’s Supper, but their own, 1 Corinthians 11:20,21.

Even holy convocations- they were holy because of the character of the One they came together to honour; because they were separated off from the normal days, and because they were set aside to enable the people to engage in holy exercises. They were seasons when the nation could be bonded together in the common vocation of recognising their God and offering to Him. The feasts would also discipline the people to go up to only one centre, and not be tempted to stray into idol worship in other places. All these results of observing holy convocations have their equivalent today, as believers gather together for collective worship.

Which ye shall proclaim in their seasons- it was not left to the Israelites to decide when or how they should come together, for there was to be a proclamation; the directions came from God. He was not unreasonable in His demands, however, for the feasts were clustered around the time when the barley harvest was about to start, when the wheat harvest had finished, fifty days later, and when the harvest of the other crops had been gathered in. The means of arranging these feasts was first of all the directions of this chapter, and also the blowing of two silver trumpets by the priests, Numbers 10:10, where “your solemn days” is a reference to the feasts throughout the year.

23:5
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover- this is the only notice that is given of the passover in this chapter, and the same is true of Numbers 28, where the feasts are again listed. But in Deuteronomy 16:1-8 there is more detail, so we shall turn to that passage. Notice the constant reference in that chapter to “the place which the Lord thy God shall choose”, verses 2,5,6,11,15,16.

Deuteronomy 16:1
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.

The Jews spoke of two sorts of passover, the Egyptian passover and the Palestinian passover, a reference to the fact that the original passover in Egypt was a once-for-all event, whereas all subsequent passovers were memorials of that first event, as the Lord stated in Exodus 12:14. The word memorial has the idea of a remembrance, and reminds us of the Lord Jesus in the Upper Room on the eve of His death. He instituted the Lord’s Supper and said, “This do, in remembrance of me”, Luke 22:19-20. In this way we too recall with gratitude a once-for-all sacrifice, by which we have been delivered from a worse place even than Egypt, for our Lord Jesus Christ “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory for ever and ever”, Galatians 1:4.

Deuteronomy 16:2
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.

Whilst there is mention of herds in this verse, this must be in connection with the feast of unleavened bread which followed straight after the passover day. (The two feasts are given the one name in Luke 22:1, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the passover”). The Lord required that on each of the days of that seven-day feast they were to offer two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs. But on the passover day they offered a solitary lamb for a household. There is emphasis placed upon the place where this was to be done, for they were no longer in Egypt, but journeying to Canaan, and the Book of Deuteronomy prepares them for their arrival there. Eventually it would be Jerusalem where God’s name was found. Sadly, when the Lord Jesus came, God’s name was dishonoured in Jerusalem, so in John’s gospel He is found there several times, to restore the honour of that name. He was fully qualified to do this, being equal with God, and so sharing the attributes His name highlights.

Deuteronomy 16:3
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.

It takes time for leaven to work in the bread-dough, and when the Israelites came out of Egypt it was in haste. We are told, “And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders,” Exodus 12:34. This became a symbol of the fact that God had delivered them from that land, and did not expect them to bring with them the “leaven” (that is, the evil), that pertained to Egypt. The unleavened bread was not only a reminder that evil should not be carried over into the new life, but also, since it is called “the bread of affliction”, a reminder of the cruel treatment that the Israelites received at the hands of the Egyptians. Sadly, towards the end of the wilderness journey, some of the people seemed to long for this Egyptian bread, and to hate the bread which God gave them from heaven. They said, “there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread”, Numbers 21:5. Whilst longing for the former bread, they forgot the affliction of Egypt. It is easy for the believer to see in the world that which makes the flesh happy, and to forget that the world is also a hostile place, and afflicts the soul of the spiritual believer.

Deuteronomy 16:4
And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.

So what was true on the first day was to be true on the seventh, namely, that no leavened bread was to be seen. But neither was there to be seen the remains of the passover lamb, for what could not be eaten of the carcase, the bones and the sinews for instance, was to be burnt with fire, Exodus 12:10. The eating of the flesh and the shedding of the blood must be kept together, for the one depends on the other.

Deuteronomy 16:5
Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee:

This highlights one of the differences between the original passover and the subsequent ones. The Book of Deuteronomy is the account of how Moses prepared the people to enter the Promised Land, and eventually Jerusalem would be settled on as God’s centre. The people are forewarned here to not be tempted to set up a rival to Jerusalem in any of their cities, (“within any of thy gates”). Jerusalem was the place where God would place His name, and any competitor to Jerusalem was a slight upon Him, and an indication that the hearts of the people were wandering away from Him, and were in danger of going after idols. Sadly, this happened, and Jereboam set up centres of the worship of a golden calf at either end of the land of Israel, at Dan and Bethel, to allow the people to conveniently worship there, instead of going to Jerusalem. See the account of this in 1 Kings 12:25-33.

We learn about worship from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself, as He spoke to the woman of Samaria at Sychar’s well. He had shown that He knew about her sinful life-style, and she had turned from it. Now one of the marks of a true conversion is that the newly saved person will long to worship their God. This the woman seeks to do, as she begins a discussion on the subject of worship, as follows:

John 4:19
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet- she has claimed a connection with Jacob in verse 12, and he, of all the patriarchs, did the most prophesying. See Genesis 49, for instance, where he foretells what will happen to the tribes of Israel in the last days. She realises that this man has the ability to speak for God. He has already done it in regard to her own sin, and now there is growing in her heart a desire to know the God He represents. As yet, she does not know the relationship between this stranger and God, but she acts on the light she has. She thinks Him to be a prophet because He has shown insight into the secrets of her heart and life. She finds He is also able to tell her the secrets of the Father’s heart.

John 4:20
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain- note she is appealing to the force of tradition. She feels that what has been going on for a long time is correct. There are many still who make this mistake. Yet she realises there are differences of opinion on the subject, as she goes on to imply. That she begins a conversation about worship would indicate that deep down she has a longing after the knowledge of the true God. She reasons that if the man who is speaking with her is a prophet of God and knows her heart, then He must know the heart of God also. She reasons correctly.

The desire to worship God is one of the signs of genuine conversion. We see this indicated by the conversion of Naaman. After having washed in the Jordan and been cleansed of his leprosy, he returns to Elisha the man of God, (itself a sign of a spiritual change, for he seeks the company of those who are in fellowship with God), and declares, “Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel”, 2 Kings 5:15. Elisha refuses his gifts, (for God’s grace is free), so then we read, “And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? For they servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord”, verse 17.

Having learnt that the God of Israel is a giving God, he responds by taking steps to give something back to God in the form of worship, in gratitude for the cleansing of his leprosy. (See Luke 17:11-19 for a similar incident). He is going to construct an altar, but not an elaborate altar such as Ahaz the king of Judah would see in Damascus a few years later, and have a copy made, 2 Kings 16:10-16. He will construct an altar of earth, as was allowed by God, Exodus 20:24, and what better earth than the soil of the land of Israel? He is now a worshipper of the True God. So also the woman of Samaria, for as soon as she has repented and believed, she begins to think of worship, and the right way to do it.

And ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship- she believes that He is a Jew, and therefore puts the emphasis on the word “ye”, meaning, “ye Jews”. She is about to discover that whilst He will defend the Old Testament worship of Israel, for it was ordained of God, He will introduce her to something far better. There is no reason to suggest that she was using the question of where to worship as a means of evading the question of sin, for she has repented by this time. She shows signs of seeking after further truth, an indication that she has truly believed.

John 4:21
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me- having disclosed the secrets of the woman’s heart, He does indeed proceed to unfold the secrets of His Father’s heart in regard to worship. In the Old Testament Joseph was given the title “Revealer of secrets”, because he could interpret dreams, Genesis 41:39,40,45. The incident we are looking at took place near Joseph’s inheritance, verse 5, and a greater than Joseph is now revealing secrets. With these words the Lord Jesus emphasises two things. First, that worship will be open to women on the same basis as it will be to men. The Lord does not point her to the fact that only males were priests in the tabernacle days. Things are going to be different. Second, those who worship God in the future will not rely on natural and seen things to help them, they will worship because they believe Christ, and because they move in faith.

Those who subsequently believed in Israel were greatly concerned by the fact that they had no visible temple and altar. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews encourages them with the truth that entrance into the presence of God is in the full assurance of faith, so they need have no misgivings about leaving the visible, earthly temple behind, see Hebrews 10:22. Hence the Lord says “Believe me”, for true worship is by faith.

The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father- first of all, there is information for her as a Samaritan worshipper. The Lord announces with authority that there is a time coming when she will not worship on the top of Mount Gerizim. But that does not mean she will transfer to Jerusalem. Something far more radical than that awaits. The hour referred to is this present age, whose beginning was marked by two things. First, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, by which He set aside the things of the first covenant, Hebrews 10:1-14. Second, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, that He might indwell God’s people.

Note the way in which God is described here. When Abraham was at Sichem, (which became known as Shechem later), he built an altar to the Lord, or Jehovah, who had appeared to him, Genesis 12:6,7. When Jacob was there, he built an altar to El-Elohe-Israel, or God, the God of Israel, Genesis 33:18-20. Now the Lord Jesus is near Shechem, and speaks of the worship of the Father. It is the same God who is spoken of in each instance, but revealed in a different way. The highest revelation of God that there ever could be is through His own Son, for He has declared Him, John 1:18. Hence He is to be worshipped in His character as Father. How profound are the truths being revealed here, not to a Pharisee, but a Samaritan. The name Joseph means “He will add”, and here the True Joseph is adding truth to that which was known in the Old Testament.

If in this verse we learn where to worship. In verse 22 we learn who to worship. In verse 23 where learn when, and how, to worship, and the reason why.

John 4:22
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Ye worship ye know not what- what was lacking in the Samaritan worship was a personal knowledge of God, and this stemmed from its beginnings. When the Assyrian king transported people from Assyria to the land of Israel, they brought their gods with them. In superstitious fear of the God of Israel, however, they worshipped Him too! See 2 Kings 17:24-33. So it was that they were confused and in ignorance as to the nature of the True God; for He cannot be worshipped as if He is one of many gods. The Samaritans did not realise that to worship an idol, as their ancestors did, was to worship devils, for they lurk behind the heathen idols. The apostle Paul wrote, alluding to the words of Moses, “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God”, 1 Corinthians 10:20, and see also Deuteronomy 32:17. So when the ancient Samaritans worshipped idols, they did not know they were worshipping Satan’s hosts, hence the Lord’s words, “ye worship ye know not what”.

We know what we worship- the Lord Jesus defends the Old Testament system of worship as being one where God revealed Himself to His worshippers, and clearly set out His requirements if they were going to know Him and honour Him. This the Samaritans had rejected by building a rival temple, even though they accepted the books of Moses as Scripture.

For salvation is of the Jews- the Jews had been protected from idolatry by God, and as such, ideally, were an example of that salvation from false worship from which the other nations of the earth should have learnt. And inasmuch as He was a Jew, and was enlightening her as to the future mode of worship, salvation from future errors in relation to worship was of the Jews in this way also. This is one way in which God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled, for He had said “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”, Genesis 22:18, and it was a great blessing for the nations to have a people in their midst who worshipped the true God. It is surely not without significance that those words were spoken to Abraham when he was standing beside an altar on Moriah, having said to his young men that he was going there to worship.

John 4:23
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

But the hour cometh- the “but” prepares for the change that is to be brought in at a season soon to begin.

And now is- now we know what the Lord Jesus was doing as He “sat thus on the well” before the woman arrived. Without adopting any special posture, or putting on special clothes, and with no temple or altar, He, wearied by His journey, worshipped His God in the energy of the Spirit of God. As such, He becomes the example of a present-day true worshipper, who needs no earthly means to enable him to worship.

When the true worshippers- so this new mode of worship will render all others outmoded. Only Christian worship is “true”, that is, corresponds to reality. Hebrews 8:2 says that the Lord Jesus is now the minister of the true tabernacle, and in spirit those who worship God are able to come into that sanctuary.

Shall worship the Father in spirit- they will be enabled to enter into the very presence of God in heaven, by the power of the Spirit of God acting upon their spirits. They will not need the things of time and sense to help them, (things which the natural man appreciates, such as splendid buildings, ornate rituals, costly vestments, fragrant incense, moving music, and beautiful choir-singing), but their faith will lay hold on spiritual realities.

And in truth- the idea of the word is that of full development, and full conformity to things as they really are. Now that the Lord Jesus has made God manifest, the ideal situation has arrived. The Lord Jesus accused those of His day of drawing near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him, Matthew 15:8, but the true worshippers will come to God in sincerity and reality. They will also come near to God in submission to the truth which He has revealed about Himself, and not be influenced by error. When Joshua was at Shechem, he appealed to the people to worship God “in sincerity and in truth”, and this they resolved to do, Joshua 24:1,14,21.

For the Father seeketh such to worship him- how affecting to the hearts of God’s people that they are in a position to satisfy this strong desire on the part of their Father. He had made man so that he might glorify Him, but Adam and his race seek their own glory. There has been a blessed Man down here, however, who could honestly say that He sought the glory of Him who had sent Him, John 7:18; 8:49,50. Those who believe in Him are enabled to do this, too, in their measure.

The book of Leviticus, which was God’s instruction book for the priests, begins with Him calling from within the sanctuary to Israel, that they might come and worship Him, Leviticus 1:1,2. Sadly, those under the law in large part failed to satisfy the desire of His heart. Those under grace are in a better position.

John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

God is a Spirit- this expression should not be read “God is Spirit”, as if He is abstract and undefined. God is the Supreme Spirit Being, those who worship Him must be enabled by the Spirit so to do, for they cannot worship God by natural means. Although the Scriptures speak of God as if He has arms, eyes, and so on, this is simply to enable us to appreciate His spiritual features using earthly language. It is called the language of accommodation.

And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth- not only does the Father seek this sort of worshipper, as verse 23 indicates, but now we learn that these are the only ones that can worship Him aright; they must worship like this if they are to worship at all. It follows that those who do claim to worship God, but who cling to the mixture of Old Testament and pagan rituals that makes up the worship of Christendom, are mistaken if they think they glorify God by such means.

We could say the following things about worship in spirit:

It is not an occupation for natural men, for they have no capacity to worship God as they do not possess the Spirit.

It is not the exercise of a natural gift, such as the ability to sing, or play a musical instrument. Choirs and singers belong to a former age, and they worshipped God on behalf of others. Believers of this age do not need that sort of help. In fact, it is a hindrance. An awareness of this would do away with a very large part of what Christendom calls worship.

Not a sensual thing, where the senses are appealed to. Those who have an appreciation of Christ will not need incense to enable them to worship. Those who enter in spirit into the holiest of all in heaven can completely disregard their earthly surroundings.

Not an earthly occupation, for the believer’s place of worship is in heaven. There are no places of worship on earth at the present time, despite what men say. The believer may worship God at any time and in any place, although that does not mean he may ignore the gatherings of believers and be an isolated unit.

Not ritualistic, with settled words to say, set hymns to sing, particular positions to adopt. A meeting for true worship will not be prearranged, but governed by the Spirit of God. True worship is the outcome when we are constrained to worship God because truth governs our spirits.

We could say the following things about worship in truth:

It is not according to Old Testament rituals, for they have been done away by Christ, who “taketh away the first, that he may establish the second”, Hebrews 10:9. Christendom, being a mixture of Levitical ceremonies and pagan rituals, has no right to say that it worships in truth.

It is not according to the false religion of the Samaritans, or any other cult.

It is not carried out in hypocrisy, with lips claiming to praise God, but hearts far from Him, Matthew 15:8.

It is not carried out in accordance with the doctrines of men, but by the truth of God. The ideas of men have no place in the worship of God, for as the Lord said to the scribes and Pharisees, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9.

John 4:25
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

The woman saith to him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things- this statement shows that she was intelligent as to the hopes of Israel, even though the Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Bible, and the first mention of Messiah is in 1 Samuel 2:10, which is outside those books. In some way or other the truth about a coming Messiah had filtered through to her and her people, despite not having any dealings with the Jews formally. She is clearly interested in spiritual things, despite the fact that her life-style might suggest otherwise. She believes that if He can tell what is in her heart, He can tell what is in the heart of God, and she was right in her thinking. Does she half-wonder whether He is the Christ?

John 4:26
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he- at last the one has arrived who, being God’s only begotten Son, is able to fully tell out God so that we may intelligently worship Him. One, moreover, who is God’s firstborn Son also. Firstborn sons had a threefold task in the eastern family. They were like a king, ensuring the father’s will was carried out; like a prophet, unfolding the father’s mind to the family; like a priest, introducing the family into the father’s presence. The Lord is acting in these three ways in this chapter. He acts as a king, not only by “claiming” Samaria as part of His realm, but also by decreeing what shall happen in Gerizim and Jerusalem. He acts as a prophet by not only telling the woman of her sinful lifestyle, but also giving her insight into the mind of the Father about worship. He acts as a priest to enable His people to enter into the heavenly sanctuary, so that they may enjoy the privilege of worshipping Him in spirit and in truth.

Special note on worship

Definition of worship. In the Old Testament the word used for worship means to bow down, suggesting self-effacement and holy fear, whilst the word used in the New Testament is “to kiss towards”, suggesting love, (kiss), acknowledgement, (towards), and reverence.

Display of worship. Worship is closely connected with sacrifice. In Hebrews 10:1,2 those who come to the altar with their sacrifices are called worshippers. The Christian worshipper comes, not with an animal, but with the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips which confess the name of Christ, Hebrews 13:15.

They may also come with other sacrifices that please God, even acts of kindness, and material help, for the next verse says, “But to do good and communicate, forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” Hebrews 13:16. A miserly spirit is not a worshipping spirit, however grand the words uttered in the hearing of men may be.

Furthermore, there is required of the Christian the sacrifice of his body, for it is to be a living sacrifice, Romans 12:1. Formerly that body was the headquarters of the sin-principle, Romans 6:6, and self’s desires and ambitions were advanced through it. Now the body has been set free from the tyranny of sin through association with the crucifixion of Christ, and can be used in the service, not of self and sin, but of God.

Service also is worship. Sometimes a distinction is made between these two things, but the fact is that service is a priestly activity, and should be conducted with dignity and reverence. The apostle Paul refers to the service of the Philippian believers as “the sacrifice and service of your faith”, Philippians 2:17. Paul spoke of preaching the gospel as a worshipful service, for such is the precise meaning of the word for serve that he used in Romans 1:9.

We see then that worship is not to be confined to an hour or two on Sunday, but is to be the constant attitude and activity of the believer. Even the necessary duties of daily life should be sanctified to God as rendered unto Him. The apostle Paul reminds the believing slaves at Colosse that they served the Lord Christ as they toiled for their earthly masters, Colossians 3:24.

Preparation for worship. As we have noticed, (but we repeat it here for the sake of completeness), John chapter 4 indicates to us four necessities before genuine worship can be engaged in.

First, the worshipper must have the indwelling Spirit of God. It is only those who have the Spirit of God within them who can truly worship God. To be a true worshipper means to worship in a manner that corresponds to the reality of the demands that God makes on us. The Holy Spirit is said in John 4:14 to spring up into everlasting life, or, in other words, energetically lead the believer’s heart into the things connected with everlasting life, which are the things of God. True worship is not sensual and self-satisfying, but gratifies the heart of God.

Such worship is boring and tedious to the unbeliever, so the religions of men have to accommodate the desires of the natural man in some way. To some, contemporary music is the answer, and noises indistinguishable from a modern rock concert are passed off as being the worship of God. Of course, nothing can be further from the truth. To others, chanting and dreary droning fulfils their need, as if worship is a miserable occupation. This too is false. Only occupation with the glories of God and His Son, as prompted by the Spirit of God, can be called true worship. The Spirit of God energises the believer to approach God the Father and give to Him His due. This alone may be described as the worship of God in the Spirit, Philippians 3:3. All other is worship in accordance with the doctrines and thoughts of men, and as such is vain and pointless, Matthew 15:9.

Second, the true worshipper has known inward cleansing. This principle is set out in the dealings of the Lord Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. The Holy Spirit is not given to those who have not repented of their sins. Nor can He do His work of prompting and energising worship if the believer harbours unconfessed sin in his heart. The psalmist said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Psalm 66:18.

Third, the true worshipper has insight into the person of Christ. This was indicated when the Lord said to the woman, “If thou knewest…who it is that saith to thee give me to drink”, John 4:10. The Spirit of God delights to take of the things of Christ and reveal them unto the believer, that he may have material with which to express the glories of the Son of God in His Father’s presence. The Father is the seeker of worship, the Son is the subject of worship, and the Spirit is the sustainer of that worship.

Fourth, the true worshipper has intelligence as to the way worship is to be offered. This is seen in the two-fold description of worship as being in spirit and in truth.

True worship is in spirit because God is a Spirit, and we must worship Him in a way that is compatible with His nature and character. Worship is not sensual, but spiritual, being the moving of the believer’s spirit towards God is acknowledgement and reverence for Him, and in adoration for the manifestation of Himself that He has given in His Son.

So the believer of this present age does not make his way to any earthly centre to worship God there. He does the better thing, and in spirit, and by the guidance of the Spirit of God, he is able to “enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus”, Hebrews 10:19. He may do this in a building, (which is just a convenient shelter), or he may do it in the open air, as the Lord Jesus did as He sat by the well-side at Sychar.

One of the ways in which Christendom has gone astray is to build earthly temples. Whatever name they may give to those buildings, the fact is that by designating a building a place of worship they are setting aside the teaching of the New Testament on the subject of worship.

Deuteronomy 16:6
But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

So the place is specified, the time is specified, and the season is specified. All is under Divine direction, so that those who desire to worship God aright may do so. The going down of the sun does not mean when the sun disappears below the horizon, for the thousands of lambs that needed to be slain in the temple could not be dealt with in a few short minutes. The even is a period of time from when the sun started to go down, until three stars were visible in the sky, at 6 pm. The Jewish day was always twelve hours long, so that in summer there were more minutes in the hour, and in winter, less.

Deuteronomy 16:7
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.

So it is that Peter and John, having asked the Lord where he intended to eat the passover, Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7-13, then went to the temple, purchased a suitable lamb, saw it killed and its blood shed, and then brought it back to prepare, cook and eat it in the upper room, somewhere in Jerusalem. These features are of course somewhat different to the original passover, for in Egypt all was done in a man’s house, and the blood was sprinkled on the two side posts and lintel of the houses “wherein they shall eat it”, Exodus 12:7, emphasising that they were at home. Once Israel had reached the land, the situation was different, and the passover became a memorial of the original one. There was no need to eat it with a staff in their hand, for they were not embarking on a physical journey as Israel were originally.

We return now to Leviticus 23 and its account of the feast of unleavened bread:

(d)   Verses 6-8
Feast of unleavened bread

Leviticus 23:6
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord- so the fact that the Israelites had no time to leaven their bread on passover night, (for they were to leave Egypt just after midnight), becomes a sign of the haste with which those who worship God should leave behind all that pertains to Egypt. This is insisted on by God for a full week, telling us that once we come into the good of the sacrifice of Christ as our passover, we should “keep the feast” for a full cycle of time; all our lives in fact. This is explained by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5, as follows:

1 Corinthians 5:6
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Your glorying is not good- the apostle now deals with the attitude that led to the sad state of affairs at Corinth, where immorality was allowed. They need to remember certain things so that it does not occur again. They also need to change their outlook, so that instead of priding themselves on being a liberal assembly, they begin to glory in the Lord and not themselves, as the apostle has already exhorted them to do in 1:31.

Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? It is one of the leading features of leaven that it spreads throughout the whole of the lump of dough. So would immorality spread if left unchecked. There is one thing that halts the spread of leaven in dough, and that is salt. So the application of the word of God to the situation will result in the situation being remedied. This is always the answer to problems in an assembly; there is no situation that may arise that cannot be solved by the application of the principles of the Scriptures. There is one thing that hastens the spread of leaven in dough, and that is sugar. Mere sentimentality will not have the resolve to deal decisively with the serious matter in view here. Only the purpose of heart that has God’s glory in view will do that.

1 Corinthians 5:7
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:

Purge out therefore the old leaven- the Israelitish housewife would keep back a small lump of dough when she was making the day‘s bread for her household. The next day, she would incorporate it into the new batch of dough she was preparing. In this way the dough would be leavened more quickly. This may be suitable in a literal sense, but it is certainly not in the spiritual. The Corinthians were carrying over from their unsaved days the evils that had been characteristic of them then. They had forgotten that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new“, 2 Corinthians 5:17. Even though that verse had not yet been written, nevertheless the apostle would have instructed them in the truth of it, for it is part of the gospel. We are specifically told that when the Israelites came out of Egypt “the people took the dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders“, Exodus 12:34. Then we are told, “And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual“, verse 39. So the Israelites were totally free of leaven as they came forth from their bondage. Unhappily, however, they hankered after the things of Egypt afterwards. So the principle of separation from evil was in force, in that they brought no leaven with them. But in practice it was not so. It was like this with the Corinthians, for they had been delivered by God from the evils of the world in principle, but in practice it was far different. They needed to apply the teaching of Romans 6:11, and reckon themselves dead unto sin and alive unto God.

That ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened- a new lump is dough that has no leaven from the previous day incorporated into it. This is how the Corinthians should be. In fact, it is how God looked at them ideally, but the actual state of the assembly was far different to God‘s ideal. When Balaam looked down of the tents of Israel, he said of God, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel“, Numbers 23:21. But if Balaam had gone into some of those tents that day, he would certainly have seen iniquity. But Balaam was giving God‘s sovereign view of His people, and not describing how they were in practice.

For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us- this should have been the supreme incentive to the Corinthians to put right what was wrong. In response to the great price that Christ paid for their redemption from sin and the world, they should have purged the evil out that cast a shadow on Christ‘s honour. The passover lamb was a sacrifice, indicating at the very least that it had the character of a peace offering, the offering that emphasised fellowship and harmony. But the presence of sin in the assembly meant that fellowship was disrupted and harmony was disturbed. The passover lamb was to be roast with fire, not eaten raw, Exodus 12:9. The Corinthians needed to remember the cost to Christ that they might be His, for He endured the fire of Divine wrath- are they so insensitive as to ignore His great suffering? The lamb was not to be sodden in water, because the fire and the flesh are to be in contact, with nothing in between to lessen the heat. So with Christ at Calvary, for He endured without mitigation the fire of God‘s wrath against the sin that kept us in bondage. It is the height of ingratitude not to respond to such love and devotion on His part. He has been sacrificed- what shall we do in return?

1 Corinthians 5:8
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.

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven- the feast of passover, a one-day festival, was followed immediately by the feast of unleavened bread, a seven-day festival. (In fact, so closely are they linked that we read, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the passover“, Luke 22:1). We are not here exhorted to keep Jewish festivals; the apostle is saying “Let us keep festival“; in other words, fulfil the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament feasts. Just as Christ is our passover in a spiritual sense, so we are to keep the feast of unleavened bread in a spiritual sense. We are to live out assembly life in pure conditions. How we are to do it is next told us, in both a negative way and a positive. The passover separated Israel from the Egyptians in a remarkable and unmistakable way, and Christ has separated His people from the world in like manner.

Not with old leaven- the piece of leavened dough from yesterday is not to be put in the unleavened dough of today. The evil that marked our unconverted days is not to be carried over into our present Christian experience, and so contaminate the assembly. We are to have done with the old ways of the old man.

Neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness- when the Corinthians deal with the offending man in the assembly, they are not to do so with malice or vindictiveness. They should have a single eye for the glory of Christ, the integrity of the assembly, and the best interests of the person concerned. The ideal result of the excommunication of a believer is his restoration, after repentance has become evident.

Nor should those who, perhaps, side with the man in his sin, act in malice towards those who are seeking to deal with the matter in a spiritual way. The assembly should be united in its response to the sin, and not allow Satan to use the situation to cause division.

The apostle seems to distinguish between the old leaven, and the leaven of wickedness. The old leaven is the sum total of the badness that characterises the sin principle within. Wickedness is one element of that badness, being evil that causes others to sorrow. It is in that sense linked to malice, but the latter tells of the attitude, whereas wickedness tells of the painful effect. Dealing with the sin can leave an assembly scarred, unless a determined effort is made by all involved to deal with the matter righteously, unitedly, and without rancour.

But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth– having spoken of the negative attitudes and actions that can made themselves felt in the situation envisaged here, the apostle now deals with the positive attitudes and actions. No doubt the unleavened bread is a reference to Christ, for did He not say, “and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”. There is no evil in Him, but all is sincere and in harmony with the truth. So when the believers come together to deal with evil amongst them, all should be done with sincerity, which is freedom from any mixture. Our thoughts and actions must not be mixed with wrong motives or faulty actions. We shall avoid this if those thoughts and actions are governed by the truth of God, and by a desire to uphold truth in its principle. Any one-sidedness or prejudice will prevent this.

The apostle Paul also spoke of leaven when he wrote to the assemblies in the province of Galatia. These companies had been infiltrated by those who taught that Christians should put themselves under the law of Moses. In response, the apostle writes, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, Galatians 5:9. This time the leaven is evil doctrine, and if allowed to continue, will permeate the whole of Galatia, hindering the believers in their spiritual progress.

The Lord Jesus warned his disciples about leaven. He spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. The leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy, as directly stated by the Lord in Luke 12:1. They appeared outwardly to be very scrupulous about the commands of the law, but their hearts were far from God, Matthew 15:7-9. The leaven of the Sadducees was rationalism, the rejection of anything they could not see. Hence they denied there were angels, or spirits, or the resurrection of the dead, Acts 23:8. The Pharisees, however, confess these things. So even though these two parties were opposed to one another, they were united in teaching the leaven of error, and hence opposed to Christ. The disciples must beware of them, and so must we, for they have their modern-day counterparts. Once He had rid them of leaven, He goes on in Matthew 16 to commend Peter for confessing Him to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Matthew 16:16. This is the pure fine flour of the doctrine concerning Himself.

We return to Leviticus 23, with its details about the feast of unleavened bread:

It is interesting to notice that the feast of unleavened bread links the passover with the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits. As we have seen from 1 Corinthians 5:7, Christ is the believer’s passover lamb. But He is also the firstfruits, for as the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” So the eating of unleavened bread was a reminder that, even though the Lord Jesus was in death, (and “the wages of sin is death”, Romans 6:23), nevertheless, He was totally unleavened. It was God’s Holy One that lay in the tomb during the feast of unleavened bread, Acts 2:27.

The apostle John assures us that “he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin”, 1 John 3:5. Notice that he does not write “in him was no sin”, although that is true, but “in him is no sin”. He is not referring simply to the past. Rather, he is saying that at whatever moment we look at Him, past, present, or future, the only conclusion we can come to is that in Him is no sin. John is probing His nature and character, and telling us that there is no sin of any sort there.

Notice how John links the Person, “in him is no sin”, with the work, “to take away our sins”. Peter does the same when he writes, “Who did no sin”, and then writes “who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Peter 2:22,24. And Paul also, who wrote, “He hath made him to be sin for us”, and then “who knew no sin”, 2 Corinthians 5:21. We could compare the three sacrifices that are linked together as being most holy, (that is, they meet the approval of a thrice holy God), in Leviticus 6:17. They are, the meal offering, telling of His nature, (John’s view); the sin offering, telling of His being made sin, (Paul’s view), and the trespass offering, speaking of the way He took account of the faults of others, (Peter’s view). No wonder God commanded that leaven be excluded from the bread, for no suggestion of sin must spoil our thoughts of Christ and His work.

23:7
In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation- whilst the feasts in general are called holy convocations, verse 2, there are particular days that are marked out as such. They are: the sabbath day; the first and last days of unleavened bread; the day of the blowing of trumpets; the day of atonement; the first and last days of the feast of tabernacles, making seven days in all.

Ye shall do no servile work therein- there are two sorts of work in this chapter. There is servile work, mentioned in connection with the first and last days of unleavened bread, the day of the wave loaves, the day of trumpets, and the first and last days of the feast of tabernacles,. Servile work is the work of servants, work to earn a living. When there is to be no work at all, then even the preparation of food was prohibited, and this was the case with the day of atonement and the sabbath. There is no mention of work on the wave-sheaf day, for an interesting reason, as hopefully we shall see.

23:8
But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days- that the offering is made by fire means that it is a burnt offering or a meat offering, (see Leviticus 1:9; 2:2). The point about an offering made by fire is that the fire makes the aroma that ascends to God for His pleasure. In the case of the sin offering, however, the fire could be said to un-make the offering, consuming it out of the way as an offence to God. (There was a single goat for a sin offering on each of the feast days except the passover day and the wave-sheaf day).

What that offering made by fire consisted of is told us in Numbers 28:17-25: “And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein: But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the Lord; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you without blemish: And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: three tenth deals shall ye offer for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram; A several tenth deal shalt thou offer for every lamb, throughout the seven lambs: And one goat for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you. Ye shall offer these beside the burnt offering in the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering. After this manner ye shall offer daily, throughout the seven days, the meat of the sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord: it shall be offered beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering. And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.” We can see now why there is the mention of the herd in Deuteronomy 16:2, for the name passover was given to the whole of the eight days of passover and unleavened bread together.

What strikes us initially is the number of animals sacrificed that day. It was twelve, if we include the single goat for a sin offering, and the morning and evening lambs of the continual burnt offering,. This contrasts with the single lamb of passover day, with its morning and evening lamb. There is the reminder, therefore, during the days of this feast, of the immensity of the work of Christ, and the amount of pleasure that God derived from His sacrifice, for the offerings made by fire ascended to Him as a sweet savour.

We should remember that the Lord Jesus died on the first day of unleavened bread. There are those who disagree with this, and would cite the words of John 19:14, “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!” The word passover was used for the fourteenth day of the first month, but it was also used for the whole of the seven days of the feast of passover and of unleavened bread. Luke writes, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the passover”, Luke 22:1.

This is not preparation for the passover, for the passover lamb had been slain the previous day, and the passover meal eaten in that night. The disciples had asked, “where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?” Matthew 26:17. By this they meant the passover meal at night, after the lamb had been slain in between 3pm and sunset, (which is what is meant by “between the two evenings”, Exodus 12:6 margin; the word evening is dual in number there). Edersheim says, “the evening of the fourteenth to the fifteenth is never called in Jewish writings ‘the preparation for’, but ‘the eve of’ the Passover'”. Mark defines “the preparation” for us, “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath”, 15:42. Mark also speaks of the passing of the sabbath to give way to the first day of the week, in 16:1,2, so he seems to be referring to the normal sabbath.

The sequence of events at the passover was as follows:

1. The passover lamb is selected on the tenth day of the first month, Exodus 12:3.

2. The lamb is kept up until the fourteenth day of the month, verse 6, thus giving time to make sure it is without blemish, verse 5.

3. On the fourteenth day of the month, the lamb is killed in the evening, verse 6. At this point it is important to remember that the Hebrew day had two evenings. The first began at 3pm, when the sun started to decline, (hence the expression “at the going down of the sun”, in Deuteronomy 16:6, in connection with the sacrificing of the passover at even). The second was when three stars were visible in the sky, at 6pm. It was at some point during this period that the lamb was to be slain.

4. The fifteenth day of the month was the first day of the seven-day feast of unleavened bread, Leviticus 23:6, and was a holy convocation during which they were to do no servile work.

The idea of preparation comes from God’s word about the manna. He provided them with bread from heaven, but this did not fall on the sabbath, so they had to collect a double portion on the day before. His words were, “And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily”, Exodus 16:5. This principle was carried over to the passover week, so that the day before the sabbath they prepared their food so that they did not work on the sabbath.

Now the passover day could come on any day of the week in theory, since the days of the year are not divisible by seven without a remainder. God so ordained it that in the year in which Christ died, the passover was on a Thursday. This means that the Lord kept it with His disciples on the correct day, and was crucified the next day, which was Friday. So He was crucified on the day of preparation, meaning the preparation for the sabbath. It also means that since He rose from the dead the third day, He rose “the morrow after the sabbath” of passover week, when the wave-sheaf was presented in the temple, Leviticus 23:11.

It is important to know the day on which the Lord Jesus died. He had foretold that He would be crucified, and would “rise again the third day”, Matthew 20:19. If He did not do this, then He is a false prophet, and is not trustworthy. We know that He rose again on the first day of the week, for Mark writes, “when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene”, Mark 16:9. The other gospels imply this, but only Mark states it categorically.

When He was asked by the Pharisees for a sign, the Lord said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”, Matthew 12:39,40. So this is a clear statement of the period of time during which He would be in death.

But how can three days and three nights be fitted in to the period between the afternoon of Friday, and the early morning of Sunday? The answer lies in the way the Jews reckoned time, and in particular, what they understood by “three days and three nights”. There was a rabbinical saying, attributed to Rabbi Eliezer Ben Azariah, which said, “A day and a night make an Onah, and a part of an Onah is as the whole”. So if a baby boy was born just a few minutes before 6pm, that day was counted as the first day of the eight that must elapse before he was circumcised. So a part of a day, however short, was reckoned, not just as a whole day, but a day and a night. So to say something will last for three days and three nights is the same as saying it will last for three days, as far as Jewish thinking is concerned, for a day is a day and a night, or, to put it another way, an evening and a morning.

So if the Lord Jesus died just before 6pm on a Friday, then because the Jewish day ended at 6pm, the whole of Friday, including the previous night, would have been classed as the first day. This is the first day and night. Saturday would be the second day and night. The third day and night would be the Sunday, (as we call it), the first day of the week, even though the Lord may not have been in death for more than a few hours, (or even minutes), of the day and night that made up that day, having risen from the dead before sunrise.

An example of this way of reckoning in the Old Testament is when Esther commanded the Jews to fast for her, “and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day”, before she went in to the king, Esther 4:16. But she went into the king “on the third day”, Esther 5:1. So if, for the sake of argument, she issued the command on a Friday, and the Jews began immediately to fast, then that would have been counted as a night and a day’s fasting. Likewise, the day when she went into the king, even though the day was not ended, would be counted as a night and a day of fasting. So if we call the day she went in to the king a Sunday, she went in on the third day, but after three days and nights as well. But it is interesting that she said “night or day”, in line with Genesis 1.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the third day of a period of time is reckoned to be after three days. So it is that Rehoboam commanded the people to “Come again to me after three days”, 2 Chronicles 10:5. But they came back “on the third day”, verse 12. And lest we think they came back early, we read, “the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come again to me on the third day”. So to come again after three days was the same as to come again on the third day. So it is that the Lord Jesus said He would “be killed, and rise again the third day”, Matthew 16:21. But the parallel account in Mark says, “be killed, and after three days rise again”, Mark 8:31. To rise on the third day is the same as to rise after three days. So He was killed on a Friday, but rose again “after three days”, on Sunday. This is why, on a Sunday, the two on the road to Emmaus said, “today is the third day since these things were done”, Luke 24:21, for they were reckoning Friday as the first day.

This spoils things for those who believe the Lord died on passover day, for they reason that, since He is the Christian’s passover lamb, He must die on the passover day. But He is also the propitiation for our sins, so why did He not die on the day of atonement? We could look at things from another viewpoint. What if God waited for Israel to sacrifice their lamb, and then produced His Lamb on the next day, to shew that it was by the grace of God He tasted death, and not by the law of God? What if He also allowed His Son to die on the first day of unleavened bread, so that when the darkness came in the sixth hour, just as the many animals we have read of were to be slaughtered, the whole proceedings were stopped, for they could not inspect the animals, nor could they safely and humanely kill them. And just at the point when the darkness ended, and they prepared to resume their sacrificing, a cry rang out, “It is finished”, for by His sacrifice He had “taken away the first, that he might establish the second”, Hebrews 10:9.

But there is a further reason why the first day of unleavened bread is appropriate as the day Christ died, and it is this. When the children of Israel left Egypt at the Exodus, it was the anniversary of the covenant that God had made with Abraham as to him having a son, and having rights to the land of Canaan, Genesis 15:4,18. Moses takes special care to inform us of this in Exodus 12:40,41, and significantly, in the previous verse he draws attention to the fact that they had to bake unleavened bread, such was their haste to leave Egypt; they had no time to wait for the leaven to cause the bread to rise, verse 39. Now the Ultimate Seed of Abraham is Christ, (see Galatians 3:16,17), and it entirely appropriate that He should die on the anniversary of the promise made to Him through Abraham.

It is also appropriate for another reason, namely that when He was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah, they “spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem”, Luke 9:31, and the word for decease is “exodos”, and is only used elsewhere in the New Testament in a reference to the apostle Peter’s death, 2 Peter 1:15, and the children of Israel “departing” out of Egypt, Hebrews 11:22.

Moses wrote, “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt…and it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies”, Exodus 12:41,51. So the bringing out of the land of Egypt was not the crossing of the Red Sea, but the movement out during the night after they had eaten the passover lamb.

It is interesting to note that when Joseph spoke of the departing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, he used the word to ascend. We may link that with the fact that Luke writes about the Lord Jesus, “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem”, Luke 9:51. So His death was part of His ascent up to the Father. This perhaps explains why the passover is a term which sometimes covers the feast of unleavened bread as well, for instance in Luke 22:1.

But what shall we say of the animals that were sacrificed each day of this festival? The bullocks were young, full of vigour, and they were also sons, (such is the meaning of the Hebrew word), in the sense that they shared the nature of genuine bullocks, they were not freaks or anomalies. This reminds us that the Lord Jesus was truly man, even though He did not share the sinful tendencies or nature that we possess, for sinners are freaks and anomalies. This was great reassurance when the Lord Jesus died, for it tells us that He was not dying because of His own sins. The fact that there were two “sons” may also remind us of the fact that the Lord Jesus is not only God’s only begotten Son, but is also His firstborn Son as well. As only begotten, He is at the centre of God’s affection; as firstborn, He is at the centre of God’s administration.

Now one of the charges against the Lord Jesus at His trial was that “he made himself the Son of God”, John 19:7. When He was on the cross, the chief priests mocked Him with the words, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” Matthew 27:43. So if there is no Divine intervention, and He is not rescued from the cross, what does that say about His claim to be Son of God? Every hour that passed would confirm men in their disbelief in Him. But when He rose from the dead, all was made clear, for He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”, Romans 1:4. No wonder the apostle Thomas, when confronted with the fact that a man with nail prints in His hands and feet, and with wounded side, stood alive before him, exclaimed, “My Lord and my God”, John 20:28. As a devout Jew, Thomas believed the testimony of Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord”. And he had heard the Lord Jesus recite the words, Mark 12:29, and thereby confirm them. So Thomas believed that there was but one Lord, even the One God of Israel. Yet he has learned that there is a plurality of Persons in the Godhead, something which is allowed for in the word “one”, which is a compound unity. Thomas believes Christ is God, for He knows all things, and He is Lord, for He has defeated all His foes and has emerged in resurrection triumph. As the apostle Paul wrote, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living”, Romans 14:9.

The inclusion of rams when there are lambs as well tells us that the work of Christ was going to be productive. “Who shall declare his generation”, asked the prophet, for “he was “cut off out of the land of the living”, Isaiah 53:8, and men thought He was finished, with none to succeed Him. But the prophet goes on to say, “he shall see his seed”, so he would have children, not natural ones, but spiritual. It is interesting to note that the Lord addressed His disciples as children after His resurrection, John 21:5. There was but one ram, reminding us of the uniqueness of Christ.

There were also to be seven lambs slain on each of the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread. It almost seems as if God is saying that many lambs have to be offered under the law-system to represent in some small way the acceptableness of His Son as the Lamb of God. Yet the number seven, telling as it does of fullness and perfection, (the Hebrew word for seven means “to be complete”), indicates that God was showing that He demanded fulness and perfection, and He found this in the One who died as the Lamb of God on the first day of unleavened bread.

In the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein- so they were to come together in remembrance of the fact that they had come out of Egypt in haste, not having any time to leaven their bread-dough, and also abstain from work, to remind themselves that it was entirely a work of God that they had been brought out of Egypt and its slavery.

(e)   Verses 9-14
Feast of wave-sheaf

23:9
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying- this phrase occurs five times in the chapter, in verses 1,9,23,26,33. So it divides the instructions about the feasts into groups, the first group being sabbath, passover and unleavened bread; the second group being the wave-sheaf, the wave-loaves, and directions about the corners of the field; the third the blowing of trumpets; the fourth the day of atonement, and the fifth the feast of tabernacles. So the last three feasts are individually introduced by these words, and the first three are linked together by these words. It is easy to see why the middle feasts are linked, for the day of the wave-loaves was counted from the day of the wave-sheaf.

23:10
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof- so this feast is reserved for when the nation was able to grow their crops in the land that God would give them. The passover and unleavened bread feasts are a reminder of deliverance from Egypt, whereas this feast is a promise that the land will be reached and crops harvested. As Moses said, “he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers”, Deuteronomy 6:23. God was not content with simply delivering them from slavery. He desired to give them the land of Canaan so that they might be free to worship Him, and have the necessary means of doing so. This explains why the feasts are all over by the end of the seventh month, (apart from the sabbath, of course), for this marked the harvesting period. The wave sheaf signalled the beginning of barley harvest, the wave loaves the wheat harvest, and the seventh-month feasts the end of all the harvests, fruits included.

Then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest- after due ceremony, a sheaf of barley was harvested, and presented to the Lord. This was the sign of a full harvest to come, and signified that Israel as a nation was intent on putting God first, even to the extent of giving to Him the first sheaf they harvested. The Lord Jesus exhorted His followers, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. By “all these things” is meant necessary food and clothing, the basic things of life. Sometimes these things are provided as we earn our own living, but some believers are in situations where they are not able to do this, whether through sickness or persecution. At such times, the Lord exercises the hearts of those of His people who have more than they need of the necessities of life, to “give to him that needeth”, Ephesians 4:28.

On another level, the wave sheaf is a figure of Christ in resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept”, 1 Corinthians 15:20. He is projecting his mind forwards to the time of the Lord’s coming, and describing all those believers who had died up to that point as “they that slept”. And again, “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming”, verse 23. Now he is looking forwards from the time when he is writing to when the Lord shall come; He is raised from the dead already, but He is the firstfruits of many more. Despite the fact that most of them have died, nevertheless they are still Christ’s, for His hold over them has not relaxed, and they are safe, for He is the Lord of the dead as well as the living, Romans 14:9. So this is a clear indication that the apostle Paul saw in the sheaf a figure of Christ’s resurrection, representing, as it did, a full harvest ready to follow.

23:11
And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you- the sheaf was handed to the priest, (signifying that the offerer surrendered it to God), and was waved to and from horizontally. This is in contrast to heave offerings, which were lifted heavenwards. The idea of the waving it that every aspect of the sheaf was presented to view. This is a reminder that after the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead, “He shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days”, Acts 1:3. Again, the apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians of the gospel he preached to them, “For I delivered unto you that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-6. The expression “that he was seen” indicates that He made Himself available for His disciples to see Him, whether to individuals like Mary Magdalene and Peter, or to groups like the other women that came with Mary, or the disciples when they were gathered together, or even to five hundred brethren at once. They had ample opportunity to see Him from every angle as He “waved Himself” before them. He also made Himself known in different ways. So, having appeared to Mary Magdalene in the guise of a Gardener, John 20:15, He then appeared in the form of a Pilgrim and a Stranger to the two on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24:15,18. Then to the disciples in Galilee as a Fisherman and a Shepherd, John 21:6,15.

But the sheaf was waved “before the Lord”, and how gratifying it was for His Father to raise Him from the dead and look down to see a man that deserved to be raised, and who had been raised by His own glory, Romans 6:4. On the day of resurrection He Himself looked on to the moment when, in ascended glory, He would present Himself to His Father, just as He had presented Himself to His own, John 20:17.

On the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it- whilst it is not directly stated, the sabbath in question was the one that fell during the feast of unleavened bread. Because a year is not divisible by seven without remainder, this might be any day of the week. In the ordering of God, the sabbath of the passover week following the Lord death on the fifteenth day of the month, with the normal sabbath following, meant that when He rose again from the dead on the first day of the week, it was the same day as the waving of the sheaf in the temple. And since the sabbath intervened between His death and His resurrection, it meant that the party that went to put the sickle into the corn to cut the wave-sheaf did so, (for they could not work to cut corn on the sabbath), at about the same time as Joseph and Nicodemus were carrying the Lord’s body to bury it,. So the symbol of His resurrection was in view before ever He was buried, so certain was it that He would rise from the dead. It is ironic also that it was a priestly party that went to gather the sheaf, and it was a priestly party that would seal the tomb to prevent his body from being stolen to make it look as if He had risen.

23:12
And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord- it is very striking that this is the only requirement of the Lord on the day of the wave-sheaf. Of course, as it fell during the seven days of unleavened bread, the sacrifices to be offered on those days would have been offered that day. But still, as far as Leviticus 23 goes, no offerings apart from the sheaf, the lamb, and its accompanying meal offering and drink offering were required by God. Moreover, this day is not called a holy convocation, because it is not so much, as far as the fulfilment goes, the people being called together, but the Lord pre-eminent in resurrection power in their midst.

So the day of the wave sheaf and the day of the passover are distinct, in that a single lamb was demanded. So the passover lamb that spoke of Christ’s death, and the sheaf that spoke of His resurrection are marked out in this interesting way. As the apostle Paul wrote, “it is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again”, Romans 8:34. Or as the Lord Jesus said to His own on the day of His resurrection, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself”, Luke 24:39. The disciples were familiar with His hands and feet as they were seen beyond His robe, and now they saw them with nail piercings, proving beyond doubt that the same Jesus they had known before was risen from the dead. The unique passover lamb is also the unique man in resurrection.

The passover lamb was more of a peace offering in character, but the second lamb was a burnt offering, wholly for God, taking things to a higher spiritual level. It is good to have peace in our hearts, knowing that the threat from the destroying angel is passed, but it is even better to have the acceptance the other side of death that a lamb as a burnt offering brings. The resurrection day was the day of acceptance for Christ, according to Isaiah 49:8, where we read that God says to the Messiah, “In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee”. Yet these words are quoted in connection with believers in 2 Corinthians 6:2, assuring us of acceptance in a risen Christ.

Another distinctive feature of this feast is the absence of the mention of the goat for a sin offering that is found in all the other feasts. Even on the day of atonement this goat was required, despite the fact that the goat was a prominent offering on that day. Scripture is careful to distinguish between the two, for we read, “One kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement”, Numbers 29:11. How reassuring it is to know that since Christ is risen from the dead, the question of our sin is not brought up against us, although we shall always remember that He died for our sins. The apostle Paul puts it like this, “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God”, Romans 6:10.

Furthermore, another feature of this feast is that there is no mention of not working. In that connection, what was it that the apostle Paul wrote after having described the Lord Jesus in resurrection as the firstfruits, 1 Corinthians 15:20,23? In the last verse of the chapter he writes, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know your labour is not in vain in the Lord”, verse 58. The lesson is clear. Because of the resurrection of Christ, all that is done for Him will pass over into eternity to His praise.

23:13
And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour- the meat offering symbolises the perfect nature and life of Christ as a man when He was here on earth. Yet this same one has risen from the dead, and all that He was in His sinless manhood could be taken over into resurrection conditions without adjustment. It is not so with ourselves. At conversion, believers are reckoned to have been associated with Christ in His crucifixion, so that all that they were as sinners in Adam might be done away. As the apostle Paul puts it, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me”, Galatians 2:20. So Paul was still living in the flesh, with the same body he had before he was converted, but he was not the same person as he was before, for he, the former sinful person, had been crucified, and now it is Christ that lives in him, working out His life in Paul’s life.

Note that there are two tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering to accompany the lamb, rather than the normal one tenth deal, Numbers 15:4,5. The tenth refers to the fact that an omer is the tenth part of an ephah, and the omer was the measure that regulated the amount of manna that a man was to collect, so if he and his wife had three children, he would collect five omers. The omer was also the amount of manna that was laid up before the Lord in a golden pot, Exodus 16:33; Hebrews 9:4. Perhaps there is the suggestion here that not only is it “this same Jesus” that was raised from the dead, but also that the one who was raised from the death has a glorified body, He is in a golden pot, so to speak.

The flour is mingled with oil, the oil speaking of the Holy Spirit, reminding us that the Holy Spirit is pleased to associate Himself still with the Man upon whom He came at His baptism. The fact that He was made sin on the cross has not affected His person or integrity. The apostle Peter said on the day of Pentecost, “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2:36. So there is a fresh dimension to His Christhood, (“Christ” meaning “anointed one”), now that He has returned to heaven, and this is suggested to us by the flour, (“this same Jesus”), being mingled with the oil, the emblem of the Spirit.

An offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour- God smelled a sweet savour from Noah’s offering after the Flood, but that was to compensate for the stench of sin that prevailed before. Here the sweet smell is a continuation of that which ever arose to God from the life of Christ. The expression “to smell a pleasing odour” came to mean “to delight in”, and these are the words of the Father that came to His Son at His baptism and also at His transfiguration. We are encouraged to learn from this that just as the Father was pleased with His Son’s life, and pleased at the prospect of His future reign, (previewed on the mount of Transfiguration), so He is pleased with His present state in heaven, a Risen, Glorified Man.

And the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin- the drink offering speaks of joy, for it “wine, which cheereth God and man”, Judges 9:13. It was indeed gratifying to God that there was a Man standing in resurrection, the foretaste of the fulfilment of all His promises. But the sight cheered man as well, or at least the disciples, for we read that when the Lord Jesus appeared to them on the resurrection day, “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.” John 20:20. It is typical of the situation under the law that the wine had to be measured, and was limited to a fourth part of a hin. In contrast, the joy of the Lord in resurrection, (for “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”, Psalm 30:5), is unlimited, for the words of Psalm 16:11 have come to pass, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” See also Acts 2:28.

23:14
And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God- so the Lord was to be first. The sheaf of a new harvest must be offered to Him before they ate any of their normal bread, to signify that they recognised His goodness in providing another harvest. They must also offer the lamb for a burnt offering, of which they could not eat. And they certainly must not eat parched corn as a delicacy, or eat green ears as a luxury before they acknowledged God’s claim over them. They were denying themselves, and promoting God’s interests before their own. It was not that they must never eat parched corn or green ears, (considered to be special foods), for “He giveth us richly all things to enjoy”, 1 Timothy 6:17, and Boaz reached Ruth parched corn, Ruth 2:14.

We should remember the words of the apostle Paul, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14,15. Since He died for us when we were dead, we owe everything to Him who died and rose again. That being the case, we should live unto Him, with His interests paramount in our lives, and deny self.