Exodus 23:14 says, “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.” These three annual feasts were the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of harvest, and the feast of ingathering (vv. 15-16). Keeping feasts unto God three times a year typifies the full enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ.
There is definite ground in Scripture to say that these three feasts typify the enjoyment of the Triune God. Keeping the feast of unleavened bread typifies enjoying Christ as the sinless life supply (1 Cor. 5:7-8). This feast was a continuation of the feast of Passover. Actually the feast of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread are one. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 and 8 we see clearly that the feast of unleavened bread points to Christ.
The second feast was the feast of harvest. Keeping the feast of harvest, the second feast, typifies the enjoyment of the firstfruit of the Spirit of the resurrected Christ (Acts 2:1-4, 17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:23). The feast of harvest is also known as Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out upon the church. However, in the Old Testament the feast of harvest is related not to oil, a type of the Spirit, but to the firstfruit, which typifies Christ. The resurrected Christ is the firstfruit (1 Cor. 15:20). Actually, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45, the resurrected Christ is the life-giving Spirit. In the Old Testament type we see Christ as the firstfruit, but in the fulfillment of this type on the day of Pentecost in the New Testament, we have the Spirit. How can we reconcile the type and its fulfillment? The way is found in Paul’s word, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Christ, the last Adam, resurrected as the firstfruit, became the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, in its fulfillment the second feast is a feast with the Spirit.
Today virtually all believers, even those who have no heart for the Lord, know that Pentecost is related to the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, the New Testament fulfillment of the feast of harvest, the Holy Spirit came. However, with the Old Testament feast of harvest, which was related to the firstfruit of the harvest, there does not seem to be anything which signifies the Spirit. Pentecost means fifty days. After the firstfruit was offered to God on the eighth day, the people counted seven weeks. Then on the fiftieth day there was the feast of harvest. According to the type, Pentecost involved the offering of the firstfruit to God. But according to the fulfillment, Pentecost is related to the coming of the Spirit. Apparently, the firstfruit has nothing to do with the Spirit. However, if we compare the Old Testament type with its fulfillment in the New Testament, we shall see a strong indication that Christ, the resurrected One, the firstfruit, is the Spirit. What is the firstfruit in typology becomes the Spirit in fulfillment.
Romans 8:23 speaks of the firstfruit of the Spirit. The firstfruit here must refer to the Spirit Himself as the firstfruit for our enjoyment and satisfaction. However, we know from 1 Corinthians 15:23 that Christ is the firstfruit. Then verse 45 says that this Christ became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. Hence, the firstfruit of the Spirit is actually Christ. The type in the Old Testament of the feast of harvest indicates that the resurrected Christ is the Spirit in the fulfillment of this feast. The Spirit who came down on the day of Pentecost was the very Christ as the firstfruit offered to God. Without the firstfruit in the Old Testament, there would have been no feast of harvest. Without the Spirit in the New Testament, there would have been no Pentecost. The Spirit who came on the day of Pentecost is the fulfillment of the firstfruit offered to God in the Old Testament. The firstfruit typifies Christ in resurrection, and this resurrected Christ is the Spirit.
The third feast is the feast of ingathering. Keeping the feast of ingathering typifies the enjoyment of the fullness of the Father in Christ (Col. 2:9; Eph. 3:19). The ultimate issue, or consummation, of the enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ is the enjoyment of the fullness of the Father, the fullness of the Godhead, for eternity. The feast of ingathering is also called the feast of tabernacles. This feast signifies the enjoyment of the fullness of the Triune God for eternity in the new heaven and the new earth. For eternity, we who believe in Christ shall enjoy the fullness of the Godhead.
We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that these three feasts signify the full enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ. We may say that with the first feast Christ is sown as a seed. With the second feast we have a harvest, the reaping of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. The enjoyment of this feast began on the day of Pentecost and will continue until the third feast, the feast of ingathering, and will consummate with it. As the consummation of the harvest, the ingathering is the enjoyment of the fullness of the Godhead, the fullness of the Father in Christ, for eternity.
We have seen from the ordinances in Exodus 21 through 23 that first we need to live in Christ and then bring others into the enjoyment of Christ as rest, refreshment, and food. Eventually we shall enter into the full enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ. First, we shall have the enjoyment of Christ the Son; second, the enjoyment of God the Spirit; and, consummately, the enjoyment of God the Father. Praise the Lord that today we are enjoying the Triune God typified by the three feasts!