Certain types in the Old Testament show how God saves man from the issue of the fall. The first of these types is the feast of the Passover.
When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they were in bondage. They had no rest, no satisfaction, and no enjoyment. But God came in to rescue them, to save them from their fallen situation. God saved His people by the Passover.
In the Bible the Passover is called a feast. The feast of the Passover was the first of the seven annual feasts observed by the children of Israel (Lev. 23). The word “feast” implies a holiday, a time of rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. A holiday is a day without labor, a day of enjoyment. In all nations, when a holiday comes, people cease from work and have a time of rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. The feast of Passover was such a time for the children of Israel. It was a time for God’s chosen people to rest from their labor and to enjoy God as their satisfaction.
God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness. During the years in the wilderness, the people did not have any industry or employment. What, then, did they do for forty years? We may say that they had a very long holiday. For forty years, they did not labor; instead, they rested with God. They did not sow or reap but simply gathered the manna. Furthermore, what they gathered was not the result of their labor but was something of God’s gift. Therefore, the children of Israel rested with God and enjoyed His gift. It is unique in history that a people numbering more than two million spent forty years without industry or farming. During these forty years, the children of Israel rested with God day by day.
As we consider the history of the children of Israel in the wilderness, we see that actually they did not know how to rest with God or enjoy His gifts. They still tried to labor, that is, to do something for themselves. This labor was offensive to God. After coming into the wilderness, the children of Israel should have done nothing except praise the Lord, enjoy Him, and rest with Him. However, they still struggled to do something for themselves. Whenever they labored in this way, they caused problems.
After the forty-year holiday in the wilderness, the children of Israel were brought into the good land. God gave a portion of the land to each family, and the people rested on their portion of the land. They lived on that portion, enjoyed it, and received satisfaction from it.
The good land is a type of God as our portion. Concerning God being our portion, Psalm 16:5 says, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup.” Therefore, the real portion of the land on which we rest, which we enjoy, and with which we are satisfied is God Himself. God is the real land flowing with milk and honey. Of course, eventually this God is Jesus Christ and ultimately, the life-giving Spirit. The very God who is Jesus Christ and the life-giving Spirit is our good land flowing with milk and honey. I can testify that my Christ is flowing with milk and honey. Christ is our portion; He is our rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment.
However, many of the children of Israel did not live on the land in the way of rest and enjoyment. On the contrary, they lived in such a way that they became poor. First they sold their land; eventually they sold themselves. Once again they experienced the two results of man’s fall: the loss of enjoyment, and bondage. This made it necessary for God to set up the year of jubilee, according to the type in Leviticus 25.
Actually the jubilee was a repetition of the Passover. By the Passover the children of Israel were delivered from bondage into rest and enjoyment. But some, after entering into the enjoyment of God, became poor again and lost everything. Hence, there was the need for the jubilee as the repetition of the Passover.
In the year of jubilee there was the proclamation of liberty: “And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family” (Lev. 25:10). This liberty was a release; it denoted freedom, liberation from bondage.
According to Leviticus 25:10, in the year of jubilee a person could be returned to his own possession and to his own family. What does this signify? This signifies a return to rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment, a return to the condition and the state into which the people had been brought by the Passover. The Passover had brought them into a condition and state where they could possess God as their good land for their rest and enjoyment. But they lost this possession and fell into bondage again. Their condition became like that of the children of Israel in Egypt. Therefore, there was the need of the jubilee as the repetition of the Passover to proclaim liberty to all those who had lost their possession and who were in bondage. In the year of jubilee the people could be returned to their possession and to their family in order to have rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. This is the picture portrayed in the type in Leviticus 25.
As we shall see more fully in the following message, this type is a picture of what the Christian life should be. The Christian life is a life of liberty, freedom, and release, a life full of rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment.