Scripture Reading: Lev. 23:1-8; Gen. 1:26—2:3; Luke 22:7-20; 1 Cor. 5:7-8

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 20　DAY 1　»

　　Lev. 23:2-3 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, As to the appointed feasts of Jehovah, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, these are My appointed feasts. Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work; it is a Sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwelling places.

　　According to the sequence of Leviticus, by the end of chapter 22 we have been brought from our uncleanness to the priesthood with its enjoyment. The next item is the festivals, which are for rest and enjoyment, both of which are types of Christ as our rest and enjoyment. This indicates that in Leviticus, a book of God's priesthood for God's service in the fellowship of God, our service results, issues, in Christ as the rest and enjoyment we have with God and with one another. In other words, the issue of this service is the festivals.

　　These festivals did not take place occasionally at certain times. On the contrary, they were appointed by God, ordained by Him. God ordained the festivals that His people might rest with Him and be joyful with Him, that they might enjoy all that He has provided for His redeemed people. They were to enjoy all these things with God and with one another. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 465)

　　The word convocation [in Leviticus 23:2] denotes something larger and more serious than a meeting. A convocation is a special assembly called for a special and particular purpose. The seasons appointed by Jehovah as holy convocations signify the gathering of God's redeemed people to have a festival with God for His joy and enjoyment that the redeemed may participate in it with Him and with one another. A festival, therefore, was for nothing except rest and enjoyment. This rest and enjoyment were not individual but corporate. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 465-466)

　　The feasts...signify the gathering of the believers as the church (see footnote 4 on Eph. 1:22) to have a corporate rest and enjoyment of Christ before God, with God, and with one another. (Lev. 23:2, footnote 2)

　　The weekly season—the Sabbath—signifies rest for God's redeemed people to enjoy with God and with one another. Every seven days [cf. Lev. 23:3] there was to be a day for rest and enjoyment. On that day there was to be an assembly, a holy convocation. This indicates that on the Sabbath God's redeemed people were to gather together. If they did not come together, they would have been able to enjoy rest with God, but they could not have enjoyed rest with God and with one another in a corporate way. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 466)

　　The principle of the Sabbath is not a matter of the day on which it is observed. The principle of the Sabbath is that working with the Lord requires that we learn how to rest with Him.

　　Some may think that the significance of the Sabbath is merely to cease from work. This is not the real meaning of the Sabbath in the Bible. The Bible emphasizes the fact that God rested on the seventh day. Genesis 2:2 says, "And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done."

　　According to the book of Genesis, to God the Sabbath is the seventh day, but to man it is the first day. In six days God created the heavens, the earth, and everything necessary for man to exist for the fulfillment of God's purpose. After all things were made, man was created on the sixth day. This means that as soon as man came forth from the creating hand of God, his first day, which was God's seventh day, was about to begin. Thus, what was the seventh day to God was the first day to man. The significance of this is that to God the Sabbath was rest after work, but to man it was rest first and then work. God first worked for six days and then He rested on the seventh day. But man rested on his first day and then began to work. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1822)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 52; Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172

«　WEEK 20　DAY 2　»

　　1 Cor. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me.

　　2 Cor. 6:1 And working together with Him, we also entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

　　When God saw the man created by Him, He could rest and be refreshed. Man was like a refreshing drink to quench God's thirst and satisfy Him. When God ended His work and began to rest, He had man as His companion. To God, the seventh day was a day of rest and refreshment. However, to man, God's companion, the day of rest and refreshment was the first day. Man's first day was a day of enjoyment. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1824)

　　It is a divine principle that God does not ask us to work until we have had enjoyment. God first supplies us with enjoyment. Then after a full enjoyment with Him and of Him, we may work together with Him. If we do not know how to have enjoyment with God and how to enjoy God Himself, we shall not know how to work with Him. We shall not know how to be one with God in His divine work.

　　Yes, we should work with God and even by God. But according to what the Bible reveals, it is not even sufficient merely to work with God. We need to be one with God in His work. This requires that we enjoy Him. If we do not know how to enjoy God and be filled with God, we shall not know how to work with Him, how to be one with Him in His work. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1824-1825)

　　Man's obligation to God is not to work but to enjoy. The obligation of the work has been borne by God already. God's portion is to work and enjoy, but man's portion is simply to enjoy.

　　However, after the enjoyment there is a further work. After Adam had been created by God, he entered into the Sabbath, the first day to him, to rest and to enjoy. But after that day he began to work, to till the ground (Gen. 2:15). With God, work is first and enjoyment is second. With man, enjoyment is first and work is second. This is the vision of the principle of grace. God did the work and then enjoyed. We enjoy what God has done; then we work.

　　Not only with creation but also with redemption it is the same. The Lord has accomplished everything for redemption. After the completion of His redemption the Lord enjoyed the result. The Lord worked first and enjoyed later. We, however, enjoy first and work later. Concerning redemption and grace, we have nothing to do. Everything is finished. We simply enter into the Lord's accomplishment and have our rest. To receive the gospel is to enter into the work that the Lord has finished. Take it as the Sabbath, as your rest, and enjoy it with the Lord. But after you enjoy it, you have to bear some obligation to work. After our enjoyment we should offer ourselves to the Lord to do His work. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, "Spiritual Applications of the Tabernacle," p. 72)

　　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.

　　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" [Lev. 23:3]. 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. (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, pp. 81-82)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, "Spiritual Applications of the Tabernacle," ch. 1

«　WEEK 20　DAY 3　»

　　Lev. 23:4-5 These are the appointed feasts of Jehovah, even the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed time: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is Jehovah's Passover.

　　Seven is the number of fullness. The seven annual feasts were in the fullness of God's riches.

　　In the Bible the number seven is composed two ways: four plus three and one plus six. The seven festivals in Leviticus 23 are in two groups, with four in the first group and three in the second. The four festivals in the first group all took place in the first month of the year. The three festivals in the second group took place in the seventh month 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. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 467)

　　Feasts are yearly, new moons monthly, Sabbaths weekly, and eating and drinking daily. Daily we eat and drink Christ, weekly we have completion and rest in Him, monthly we experience a new beginning in Him, and throughout the year He is our joy and enjoyment. Therefore, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly Christ is to us the reality of every positive thing, implying the universal extensiveness of the all-inclusive Christ. (Col. 2:16, footnote 4)

　　[Leviticus 23:4-5 says], "These are the appointed feasts of Jehovah, even the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed time: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is Jehovah's Passover." The Feast of the Passover signifies Christ (1 Cor. 5:7b) as our redemption to begin our enjoyment of God's salvation with God.

　　The Passover is in the first month of the year. This signifies the beginning of a course. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 467-468)

　　In His perfect redemption through His death judicially and in His complete salvation by His life organically for the carrying out of God's eternal economy, Christ is the Feast of the Passover (John 6:4; 1 Cor. 5:7-8). First Corinthians 5:7 says that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Christ is not only the Passover lamb but also the entire Passover. Then verse 8 says that today we are keeping the reality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as the continuation of the Passover (Exo. 12:15-20). The feast is a time for the enjoyment of the banquet. The entire Christian life should be such a feast, such an enjoyment of Christ as our banquet, the rich supply of life. The feast is a table for eating. The Lord's table is a feast.

　　Leviticus 23 says that God ordained seven annual feasts for His elect. The first one was the Passover (v. 5), and the last one was the Feast of Tabernacles (v. 34). The Passover is the initiation, and the Feast of Tabernacles is the consummation of our enjoyment of Christ. The Passover, the first feast of all the feasts ordained by God for His people, typifies that Christ is the beginning of our enjoyment of Him that originates our spiritual life. The entire Christian life should be a feast. At other times we have said that the Christian life is a suffering life, but we suffer so that we can feast more. Our suffering helps us to enjoy the Lord....Psalm 23:5 says that the Lord has prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Enemies indicates fighting and suffering, but the Lord makes our fighting a feasting and our suffering a table.

　　In this feast the main enjoyments are the passover lamb with its blood for redeeming and its flesh for fighting and walking, and the unleavened bread, signifying a sinless living (Exo. 12:5-8). The flesh of the lamb was organic and the blood was judicial. The blood redeemed the children of Israel judicially and the flesh of the lamb was for God's elect to eat so that they could be nourished and strengthened to walk out of Egypt organically. Christ today is the Lamb with His blood for redemption and with Himself for strengthening and nourishing us so that we can walk on God's way out of Egypt. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, "Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John," pp. 387-388)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, "Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John," ch. 6

«　WEEK 20　DAY 4　»

　　1 Cor. 5:7-8 Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened; for our Passover, Christ, also has been sacrificed. So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

　　The Passover is in the denotation of a passing over. This signifies that the judging God has passed over us, the sinners who are in our sins, so that we may enjoy Him as our feast. Today we have a feast, which is the redeeming God Himself, and we are enjoying Him for rest and for joy. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 468)

　　As our Passover, Christ is the reality of the lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs. Christ as the Feast of the Passover has saved us from God's death-judgment. We have been saved from God's judgment by enjoying Christ as such a feast.

　　The passover portrayed in Exodus 12 is an all-inclusive type of Christ as our redemption to begin our experience of God's salvation. The entire Passover is a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). Christ is not only the Passover lamb (John 1:29) but also every aspect of the Passover. In order to be our Passover, He was sacrificed on the cross that we might be redeemed and reconciled to God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3142-3143)

　　To say [in 1 Corinthians 5:7] that Christ is our Passover indicates that the apostle considers the believers God's chosen people, who have had their Passover, as typified by the one in Exodus 12. In this Passover Christ is not only the Lamb, but also the entire Passover....Thus, we may enjoy Him as a feast before God. In this feast no leaven is allowed to be present. Sin and the redeeming Christ cannot go together. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, p. 322)

　　In Luke 22:16 the Lord said, "For I tell you that I shall by no means eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." The pronoun "it" refers to the Passover in verse 15, which will be fully fulfilled in the coming kingdom of God, when the Savior will feast with the overcoming saints (v. 30; 13:28-29).

　　God has a complete plan to redeem His people into His jubilee. The Feast of the Passover is a sign of God's full redemption, and this full redemption is the bringing of God's chosen people into the full enjoyment of Himself. This enjoyment is a matter of the jubilee covered in the Gospel of Luke as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah and the type in Leviticus 25. The jubilee is actually the enjoyment of God through His redemption. The feast signifying the jubilee was first the Feast of the Passover in the Old Testament and then the Lord's table in the New Testament.

　　The Feast of the Passover was not completely fulfilled in the Old Testament. The Lord's table, which also is a feast, replaces and continues the Feast of the Passover. But not even this New Testament feast has been completely fulfilled; it will be fulfilled completely in the coming kingdom.

　　If we read the Bible carefully, we shall see that a feast is spoken of both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. This feast began in Exodus 12, and it continued for more than fifteen centuries until the night in which the Lord Jesus replaced it with His table. Today in the church life God's people are attending this New Testament feast. However, this feast will not be fulfilled completely until the feast in the coming kingdom. This means that the feast in the kingdom will be the fulfillment of both the Feast of the Passover and the feast of the Lord's table.

　　Seemingly there are three feasts: the Feast of the Passover, the feast of the Lord's table, and the feast in the kingdom. Actually, these are not three feasts. On the contrary, this is one feast in three stages. God has established one feast through His redemption for our full enjoyment of the jubilee in three stages, and these stages are the Old Testament stage, the New Testament stage, and the kingdom stage. (Life-study of Luke, pp. 424-425)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Luke, msg. 49

«　WEEK 20　DAY 5　»

　　Lev. 23:6-8 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Jehovah; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no work of labor. But you shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah seven days. On the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no work of labor.

　　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.

　　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. (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, pp. 82-83)

　　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. (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, p. 83)

　　Keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Deut. 16:1-8) typifies the purging away of all sinful things through the enjoyment of Christ as the sinless life supply. (Exo. 23:15, footnote 1)

　　This is a long feast, which we must keep not with the sin of our old nature, the old leaven, but with 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 feast is a time for the enjoyment of the banquet. The entire Christian life should be such a feast, such an enjoyment of Christ as our banquet, the rich supply of life.

　　According to Exodus 12, during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, no leaven was to be found in the houses (v. 19), and no leaven was to be seen among the people of Israel (13:7). This signifies that, although it is impossible for us to be completely without sin, we must eliminate any sin that is seen; that is, we must forsake the sin of which we are conscious (cf. Heb. 12:1). To deal with manifested sin is to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (1 Cor. 5:7-8). If we tolerate sin once it is exposed, we will lose the enjoyment of the fellowship of God's people (Exo. 12:19; 1 Cor. 5:13). The only way to eliminate sin is to daily eat Christ as the crucified, resurrected, and sinless life, signified by the unleavened bread.

　　In ourselves we cannot possibly have this kind of living. However, in Christ it is possible to live a sinless life. We have been put into Christ, and now we must learn to live in Christ and by Christ. Then He will become our unleavened life supply. He will become the source, the fountain, of a sinless life and living. Because we have such a source and supply, it is possible for us to live a sinless life.

　　As the unleavened bread, Christ is the spiritual and divine food that makes us unleavened. The unleavened bread signifies the sinless Christ who is to be dispensed into us, His believers, as the unleavened (sinless) element. Just as the children of Israel ate the passover lamb with the unleavened bread, we should eat Christ not only as the Lamb but also as the unleavened bread. When we take Christ as our life, this life purifies us. This life is an unleavened life, a purifying life. The more we call on the name of the Lord Jesus and take Him into us, the more we are purified from within. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3146-3147)

　　Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, pp. 79-83; The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 443-448

«　WEEK 20　DAY 6　»

　　2 Cor. 5:21 Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

　　John 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

　　From the time of our regeneration, we began to have a new constitution. Christ as the unleavened bread became our unleavened food to reconstitute us so that we may become a new lump, the church....Now we have become a new lump because we are becoming unleavened. As the unleavened bread He causes us to be unleavened constitutionally, making us a new lump, a lump without leaven. This means that we become a new creation without sin (2 Cor. 5:17). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3147)

　　The history of the children of Israel is a full type of our Christian life in the church life. The children of Israel did not live individualistically; on the contrary, they lived, camped, traveled, and fought battles together. Their corporate life typifies our life in the church. After experiencing the passover, they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This indicates that we also should keep this feast. The church life is a feast of unleavened bread. For this reason, any leaven must be purged out of the church.

　　In order to live a life without sin, we must daily eat Christ as unleavened bread. Since we are what we eat, if we eat unleavened bread, we will eventually become constituted with unleavened bread. Then we will live an unleavened life.

　　First Corinthians 5:8 reveals that Christ is the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. As the unleavened bread, Christ is for us to live a pure church life. In the church there should be no leaven, which in the Bible signifies all the negative things such as wrong doctrines and practices, evil deeds, and sinful things.

　　Although in Christ we are unleavened, according to our natural being we are full of leaven. The crucial question is whether we eat unleavened bread or leavened bread. In other words, do we live Christ or do we live ourselves? If we live Christ, we eat unleavened bread, but if we live ourselves, we eat leavened bread.

　　In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul charges us to purge out the old leaven that we may be a new lump, even as we are unleavened. We need to be a new lump, which refers to the church, composed of the believers in their new nature. We are unleavened in Christ and should live according to Him, not according to ourselves. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3147, 3145)

　　Our Redeemer, who is without sin, is the feast for our entire life as believers. We should enjoy rest, enjoy God, and enjoy our Redeemer, apart from sin, for our entire life. (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, p. 94)

　　On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the people were to have a holy convocation and not do any work of labor (Lev. 23:7). This signifies that from the very beginning of the course of our Christian life we enjoy Christ corporately as our feast, without our human labor.

　　For seven days the people were to present an offering by fire to God (v. 8a). This signifies that we offer Christ as food to God continually through the full course of our Christian life. Christ is our food. After we enjoy Him as food, He becomes our offering to God to be food for God. At the Lord's table we make a display to the entire universe that during the week we take Christ as our unleavened food, as our life supply apart from sin, and that we come to the table with Him. Then we offer to God for His satisfaction the One we have been enjoying as our food. In so doing, we experience Him as our enjoyment.

　　On the seventh day also the people were to have a holy convocation and not do any work of labor (v. 8b). This signifies that we continue to enjoy Christ corporately, without our human labor, until the last day of the course of our Christian life. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 470)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 309