A third condition of feasting with the Lord and resting with Him is found in the second part of verse 25: “Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover remain until the morning.” What is the significance of not allowing the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover to remain until the morning? This signifies that we should enjoy the riches of Christ in this age and not leave them until the next age. We need to enjoy Christ today. We need to enjoy Him in full in this age. We cannot exhaust the enjoyment of Christ. We can enjoy to the utmost our particular portion of Him. Whatever portion we receive of Christ should be enjoyed today. We should not leave anything for the next “morning”; that is, we should not postpone the enjoyment of Christ until the coming age. Enjoy Christ now. Do not wait for the future to enjoy Him.
Some saints may have the thought of waiting for a period of time before they enjoy Christ. Certain young people may say to themselves, “I am still young. Let me enjoy the worldly things for a time. Later I’ll come back to the enjoyment of Christ.” Do not make this mistake. If you put off the enjoyment of Christ until the future, you will not fulfill the third condition of feasting with the Lord—the requirement that we not hold the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover until the morning. Do not wait to enjoy the riches of Christ.
Exodus 34:26a says, “You shall bring the first of the firstfruits of your ground to the house of Jehovah your God.” Here we see another condition: bringing the first of the firstfruits to the house of God. This signifies bringing the topmost experience of Christ to the church meetings for God’s satisfaction.
Many saints are very poor in the experience of Christ. As a result, they do not have any fruit. Some may have fruit, but most of this fruit is not firstfruit. We all need to have some of the topmost experiences of Christ. We should not share these experiences of Christ with anyone until we bring them to the church meetings for God’s satisfaction. Those who have adequate experience know what it means to bring the topmost experience of Christ to the church meetings for God’s satisfaction.
Now we come to the last condition, a condition that may seem very strange: “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (v. 26b). You may be surprised at the significance of the requirement not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk. This requirement indicates or typifies that we should not seethe young believers with the milk of the word; that is, we should not “boil” them with the word of life that is for nourishment (1 Pet. 2:2).
In ancient times some people probably did have the practice of boiling a kid in its mother’s milk. This may have been regarded as a delicious dish. As we have indicated, we should not use the milk of the word to seethe young believers. This is to use the milk of the word, which is for life-nourishment, to kill the young ones. The point here is that the milk of the Word of God is for nourishment. However, today many Christians use the Word to kill young believers. Be careful never to use the Word to kill the young ones. The Word is for the nourishment of the believers. It is possible to use the Word either to nourish the saints or to seethe them, to kill them. In the past many of us have used the Word of God to seethe the saints.
It took a good deal of time and effort for me to learn why in such a crucial chapter as Exodus 34, a chapter concerned with the recovery of the broken covenant, these five seemingly small points are mentioned. Why did God not replace these points with the last five of the Ten Commandments? To us, these commandments are much greater in significance than the five conditions covered in these verses. However, it is important for us to see that it was not God’s intention for His people to keep His commandments. God’s intention was for the children of Israel to enjoy the produce of the good land. Today God’s intention is that we enjoy Christ. He does not want us to try to be good, ethical, or moral. This certainly does not mean that we should be unethical or immoral. If we enjoy Christ daily and rest with Him hourly, we shall live Christ, and Christ’s life surpasses the highest standard of morality. The important point is that God’s concern is whether or not His people enjoy Christ.
Chapter thirty-four is a chapter of repetition. It contains many things that have already been spoken. The aim of this chapter of repetition is to recover the broken covenant. This is related to the enjoyment of Christ typified by the three feasts mentioned here—the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of ingathering—and the resting with the Lord as typified by the keeping of the Sabbath. Feasting with the Lord and resting with Him requires the keeping of five conditions. First, we need to have our “donkey life,” our natural life, replaced with Christ. Do not have any trust in your “donkey nature.” No matter how good it seems to be, it still needs to be replaced. Second, you need to clear all the leaven out of your life. Then you need to enjoy Christ today as your portion and have the firstfruit of the experience of Christ to offer to God in the meetings for His satisfaction. Finally, you must be careful not to use the Word of God to kill the young ones, but rather feed them and nourish them with the milk of the Word. If we have the proper spiritual experience, we shall realize that these five conditions are crucial to our daily enjoyment of Christ.