In the foregoing message we considered a number of points related to how to live in Christ. We saw that we need to offer the fullness of our harvest of Christ and the outflow of our experience of the cross; that as those redeemed through Christ as our Substitute, we should be separated unto God; that we should be saturated with Christ as our holiness to become holy men unto God; and that we should not eat anything of death, but take only Christ as our life supply. Furthermore, we saw that we need to care for others and supply them with food by taking Christ as our rest. Finally, we saw that keeping feasts unto God three times a year typifies the full enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ. Now we must go on to cover some supplementary matters related to the keeping of the three feasts.
Exodus 23:18 and 19 give us four supplementary ordinances for the keeping of the feasts. First, verse 18 says, “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.” This is a warning not to mix Christ’s redemption with our sinful life. When the people came to the feast, they were not allowed to mix the blood of the sacrifice with leavened bread. This indicates that we should not mix Christ’s redemption with our sinful life. The blood of the sacrifice signifies the redemption of Christ, and leavened bread signifies our sinful life. These two things must never be put together. In order to enjoy Christ’s redemption, we must be separated from our sinful life.
Exodus 23:18 also says, “Neither shall the fat of my feast remain until the morning” (lit.). According to this verse, the fat of God’s feast (Christ) should not remain until morning. This signifies that the riches of Christ should be for our enjoyment with God today, not tomorrow. As Christians we should enjoy Christ today and not put off this enjoyment until tomorrow.
Exodus 23:19 says, “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of Jehovah thy God” (lit.). According to this verse, the first of the firstfruits were to be brought into the house of God. This typifies Christ as the firstfruit (1 Cor. 15:20, 23) being brought to God’s dwelling place for His satisfaction. This verse does not speak merely of the firstfruits; it speaks of “the first of the firstfruits.” For example, there may be firstfruits of both peaches and almonds. The almonds, however, may ripen first. This would make the almonds the first of the firstfruits, which should be brought to the temple, God’s house, for His satisfaction. This indicates that in our experience and enjoyment of Christ we should have not only the top experience, but even the topmost of the top experiences of Christ. This aspect of our experience of Christ should be brought directly to God. No one else should be allowed to enjoy it. Sometimes if we share certain experiences of Christ with others before presenting these experiences to God, we cause our experiences to become common. At other times, we may think that a certain experience of Christ is a topmost experience when it is actually quite ordinary and common. Any experience of Christ that is truly a topmost experience should be kept in secret and then brought to God’s temple and offered directly to God for His satisfaction.