Concerning the Old Testament, the types in Genesis may be considered as a series, from Christ as light and life to the producing of a complete person redeemed, called, and transformed by the Triune God to become a prince of God; the types in Exodus and Leviticus may be considered as another series, from the keeping of the passover and the exodus from Egypt by the people of God to their enjoyment of rest and keeping of the holy festivals with God and for the full mutual enjoyment of the jubilee foreordained by God for His people.
The Sabbath as the weekly season or feast signifies rest for God’s redeemed people to enjoy with God and with one another (Lev. 23:3). Every seven days there was a day for rest and enjoyment.
The principal denotation of all the annual seasons (feasts) is for God’s people to enjoy rest with God and with one another. Rest is thus the denotation of each of the seven annual seasons. Every annual feast, like the weekly rest, was a rest. The weekly rest lays the foundation for God’s people to keep the holy feasts with God annually.
The weekly Sabbath was a complete, solemn rest. It was not something light or common but something quite holy, sacred, and important for God’s enjoyment and His people’s enjoyment. This complete rest signifies a genuine and thorough rest of God and with God for God’s redeemed people to enjoy with Him and with one another.
Whenever a festival took place, it was a holy convocation. A holy convocation signifies a corporate enjoyment of rest, not by individual believers separately but by the church corporately. In such a gathering we have the enjoyment of God before God, with God, and with one another.
On the Sabbath no one was allowed to do any work. This signifies that man needs to enjoy rest, not to labor.
The Sabbath was “to Jehovah.” This signifies a rest for God’s enjoyment, participated in by His redeemed people. In all the convocations, in all the festivals, we are resting before God and with God and one another.
The seasons (feasts) appointed by God as holy convocations signify the gathering of God’s redeemed people to have a festival with God for His joy and enjoyment so that the redeemed may participate in it with Him and with one another. According to Leviticus 23, there were seven annual feasts. Seven is the number of fullness. The seven annual feasts were in the fullness of God’s riches. These seven feasts are in two groups. The first group consists of four festivals, which took place in the first half of the year; the second group consists of three festivals, which took place in the second half of the year. According to their dispensational fulfillment, the first four have taken place already, and the last three will take place in the future.
The Feast of the Passover is in the first month of the year (vv. 4-5), that is, the beginning of a course. This signifies Christ (1 Cor. 5:7b) as our redemption to begin our enjoyment of God’s salvation with God. The passover has the denotation of a passing over. It signifies that the judging God has passed over us, sinners who are in our sins, so that we may enjoy Him as our feast for rest and for joy.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread signifies Christ, who is without sin, for our enjoyment as a feast in a life apart from sin (Lev. 23:6-8; 2 Cor. 5:21). It closely followed the day of the Feast of the Passover. Hence, these two feasts—the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread—should be considered together. The first feast is the beginning, and the second is the continuation. Whereas the first feast lasted for only one day, the fourteenth day of the first month, the second feast lasted for seven days, from the fifteenth day through the twenty-first day.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasting for seven days signifies the entire course of our Christian life. The course of our Christian life is a feast of unleavened bread, a feast without sin. We have been redeemed from sin, and now the Redeemer, who is without sin, is the feast for our entire life. We should be enjoying rest, enjoying God, and enjoying our Redeemer, apart from sin, for our entire life.
The main thing we enjoy in the Passover feast is Christ as our Lamb. In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the main thing we enjoy is Christ as the unleavened bread, as our life supply without sin. For our whole Christian life we live on this bread which is without sin.