At this point, I would like to say a further word concerning the first four of the seven yearly feasts, from the Passover to the feast of weeks, which is the feast of Pentecost. The Passover signifies the beginning of our Christian life. Christ became the Lamb of God who took away our sin and our sins so that God, in His righteousness, might pass over us. As a result, we have been saved, justified, and regenerated. This is the beginning of our Christian life.

Immediately after we were saved, we have to keep the feast of unleavened bread. To be unleavened is to be without sin. The feast of unleavened bread indicates that after we have been saved and regenerated, we should live a life without sin.

In 1 Corinthians 5:7b and 8 Paul refers both to the Passover and to the feast of unleavened bread. "Indeed our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and evil, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." In this Passover Christ is not only the Lamb but the entire Passover. To be our Passover, He was sacrificed on the cross for our redemption and reconciliation to God. The feast of unleavened bread lasted for seven days, a period of completion, signifying the entire period of our Christian life, from the day of our conversion to the day of our rapture. This is a long feast, which we must keep, not with the sin of our old nature, the old leaven, but with the unleavened bread, which is the Christ of our new nature as our nourishment and enjoyment. Only He is the life supply of sincerity and truth, absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality.

The Christian life results in the church life. This result involves a number of matters. In particular, it involves Christ's resurrection. After the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, there was the feast of the first fruits. The day of the first fruits was the day on which Christ was resurrected, becoming the first fruit to be offered to God. According to the New Testament, through Christ's resurrection we, the believers in Christ, have been produced to be the living members for the constitution of the Body of Christ. The members of the church have been produced by, with, and in Christ's resurrection.

Although the producing of the church began with Christ's resurrection, the formation of the church did not take place until Pentecost, fifty days after the Lord's resurrection. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit as the all-inclusive Spirit of the processed and dispensing Triune God was poured out for the formation of the church. The Spirit is the realization of the resurrected Christ, Christ in another form; for in resurrection Christ has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit, who is actually Christ Himself, was poured out upon the members of Christ, who were produced through His resurrection. In this way the church was formed.

The formation of the church was of two parts or two sections—the Jewish part and the Gentile part. These two parts of the church, which are represented by the saints in Jerusalem (Acts 2) and by those in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10), are typified by the new meal offering of two loaves of bread baked with leaven offered to God at the feast of Pentecost (Lev. 23:16-17). The fact that these two loaves were baked with leaven indicates that those who form the two sections of the church still have sin (e.g., the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 and the murmuring concerning food in Acts 6). Nevertheless, these two loaves formed the new meal offering, which signifies the church as the enlargement of Christ.

Let us now summarize the significance of these four feasts. The feast of the Passover was fulfilled on the day of Christ's death (Matt. 26:2, 17-19, 26-28). In the Passover we were saved, justified, and regenerated. Following this, the feast of unleavened bread is for us to live a life without sin. This means that the feast of unleavened bread is being fulfilled in the church age. The feast of the first fruits was fulfilled on the day of Christ's resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20). The feast of Pentecost was fulfilled fifty days after Christ's resurrection, on the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4; cf. 1:3). In Christ's resurrection on the day of the first fruits, the members of Christ were produced for the formation of the church. Then on the day of Pentecost the resurrected and ascended Christ poured out Himself upon His members in the form of the consummated, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit to form the church. This is the significance of the festivals from the Passover to Pentecost.

In each of these festivals there is food for God. When we were saved, we became God's food in Christ. As we grow in life, we produce more food for God's satisfaction. In every step of the Christian life, there is something for God's satisfaction, for we are the factors of His satisfaction. Eventually, on the day of Pentecost, there are two loaves, signifying the two parts of the church, for God's satisfaction.