Scripture Reading: Lev. 23:9-22, 33-44

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 21　DAY 1　»

　　Lev. 23:10 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I am giving you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.

　　1 Cor. 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

　　The third annual feast is the Feast of Firstfruits (Lev. 23:9-14). This feast signifies the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 15:20) for our enjoyment as a feast in His resurrection.

　　This feast took place less than three days after the Feast of the Passover. Christ was crucified at the time of the Feast of the Passover, and then on the third day He was resurrected. The day of His resurrection was the Feast of Firstfruits. This is Christ in His resurrection as the firstfruits. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 471)

　　The Passover was on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish year. On this day Jesus Christ was slain as our Pass- over....[Christ] is the reality of the Passover, the fulfillment in history of the type of the Passover. The Feast of the Passover was followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Firstfruits. Christ's resurrection was the fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits and is the reality of this feast. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 475)

　　First Corinthians 15 presents Christ as the firstfruits (vv. 20, 23), the second man (v. 47), and the last Adam (v. 45). It is significant that these three aspects of Christ are mentioned in one chapter. When we put together these three aspects of Christ, we see that Christ is the first, the second, and the last; as such, Christ is everything.

　　Christ is the firstfruits of resurrection to be the beginning of God's new creation and to be the Head of the Body, the church.

　　Christ was the first One raised from the dead, becoming the firstfruits of resurrection. This was typified by the firstfruits (a sheaf of the firstfruits, including Christ with some of the dead Old Testament saints, was raised at the Lord's resurrection—Matt. 27:52-53) in Leviticus 23:10-11, which were offered to God on the day after the Sabbath, the day of resurrection (Matt. 28:1). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3179)

　　The opening of the tombs [in Matthew 27:52 and 53] signifies that the power of death and Hades has been conquered and subdued, and the raising of the bodies of the saints signifies the releasing power of the death of Christ. Verse 53 says that they came out of the tombs after His rising, entered into the holy city, and appeared to many. In typology, the firstfruits of the harvest were not a single stalk of wheat, but a sheaf of wheat, typifying not only the resurrected Christ, but also the saints who were raised from the dead after His resurrection. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 813)

　　Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection is the Firstborn from the dead that He might be the Head of the Body (Eph. 1:20-23). Hence, Colossians 1:18a tells us that Christ is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead. Since He, the Head of the Body, has been resurrected, we, the Body, also will be resurrected. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3180)

　　"And you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places" (Lev. 23:14). This signifies that the resurrected Christ ascended to the heavens and was offered to God with all the fruit in His resurrection as God's food for God's satisfaction first. Then He became man's supply for man's satisfaction.

　　The resurrected Christ, the fresh Christ in His resurrection, was first to be enjoyed by God. This is the firstfruits, and the firstfruits are for God's enjoyment. Then the resurrected Christ becomes our enjoyment with God and with one another. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 473-474)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 53; The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 785-789

«　WEEK 21　DAY 2　»

　　Lev. 23:14 And you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that same day, until you have brought the offering of your God...

　　John 20:17 Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

　　On the day of His resurrection the Lord ascended to the Father. This was a secret ascension, the ultimate fulfillment of the going predicted in John 16:7. It occurred forty days prior to His public ascension, which took place before the eyes of the disciples (Acts 1:9-11). On the day of resurrection, early in the morning He ascended to satisfy the Father, and late in the evening He returned to the disciples (John 20:19). The freshness of His resurrection must be first for the Father's enjoyment, as in the type the firstfruits of the harvest were brought first to God. (John 20:17, footnote 1)

　　The waving of the sheaf of firstfruits before Jehovah for acceptance signifies that Christ was resurrected that we might be justified before God and accepted by God. (Lev. 23:11, footnote 1)

　　In Romans 4:25 we see that Christ is the factor of our justification: "Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification."...Christ was delivered up to die on the cross because of our offenses. This means that...Christ was delivered on the cross for us in order to satisfy God's righteous requirements. Since the death of Christ has fulfilled and fully satisfied God's righteous requirements, we are justified by God through His death (3:24).

　　Romans 4:25 goes on to say that God raised Him from the dead for our justification. If God had not been satisfied with Christ's offering for us, how could God have raised Him from the dead? God's raising Christ is a strong proof that God was satisfied with Christ's dying for us and that we are justified by God because of Christ's death. Now God can accept us through Christ.

　　Suppose that Christ died for us and for our sins and was buried in the tomb but was not resurrected by God. If this were the situation, we could not believe that His death was accepted by God and that it satisfied God's requirements and fulfilled His desires. How- ever, Christ is not in the tomb. God raised Him up from the dead, and He came back in resurrection. This is a strong proof that God has accepted His death for us, that His death satisfied God's requirements and fulfilled whatever God wanted Him to do for us. Therefore, the resurrection of Christ is the proof of our justification by God. In Christ, the resurrected One, we are justified.

　　This resurrected Christ is not only in the heavens but also within us to impart life that we may have a life of justification. By believing in Him, we have received Christ as our objective righteousness and are objectively justified before God. We have also received Christ as resurrection life that we can live by this life to have Christ lived out of us as our subjective righteousness; hence, we can be subjectively justified by God....This resurrected Christ is living in us to be our life that we may live out a life of righteousness (Col. 1:27b; 3:4a). This is the subjective justification which we obtain through Christ's life. This subjective justification is our living by the resurrected Christ.

　　The death of Christ gave us a positional justification, and the resurrected Christ in the heavens is a proof of this. Now the resurrected Christ also lives inside us, living out a life of dispositional justification....We have not only an objective justification but a subjective justification as well. We may now live such a subjective, dispositional justification. Thus, as the factor of our justification, Christ was delivered on the cross because of our offenses in order to satisfy God's righteous requirements. He then was raised because of our justification as a proof of God's satisfaction for God to accept us; He was raised also as the resurrected life for us to live a life that can be justified by God and is always acceptable to God. Today Christ in resurrection is our justification. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3031-3033)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of John, msg. 44

«　WEEK 21　DAY 3　»

　　John 14:19 Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.

　　Rom. 8:11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

　　The firstfruits of the Feast of Firstfruits, after being offered to God for His enjoyment, were to be eaten by the people of Israel [Lev. 23:14]. This signifies that the resurrected Christ, after being presented to God in His freshness (John 20:16-17), is to be dispensed, with all the riches of His resurrection, into us for our enjoyment....According to the record of Leviticus 23, the offering of only one of the seven feasts, the Feast of Firstfruits, was to be eaten. As we have seen, the firstfruits refer to Christ in His resurrection. The firstfruits were not to be eaten immediately after being reaped. This signifies that after the reaping we must first offer Christ to God in His freshness. This is unveiled in John 20. On the morning of the resurrection Mary saw the Lord Jesus. When she tried to touch Him, the Lord said, "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father..." (v. 17). Christ became our portion only after His freshness in resurrection had first been offered to the Father. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation," pp. 535-536)

　　The word fruit implies eating, indicating enjoyment. Fresh fruits...are all for eating. In resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit for us to drink and the firstfruits for us to eat. Christ today is not merely a teacher; He is the firstfruits for us to partake of. Believers have read 1 Corinthians 15:20 for centuries, but very few have seen that the firstfruits are for eating. Most believers have considered that the word firstfruits in this verse refers only to Christ as the first One raised from the dead. Although Christ is the first in resurrection, the word firstfruits also indicates that the resurrected Christ is to be eaten by us for our enjoyment. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, "The Enjoyment of Christ for the Body in 1 Corinthians," p. 177)

　　Whatever Christ is as our portion to be eaten is related to His resurrection. The blood of the passover lamb signifies the crucified Christ, but the meat of the lamb signifies the resurrected Christ. The blood was from the crucified Christ, but the meat refers to the Christ who is in resurrection. If Christ were not the Spirit in resurrection, we could not take Him in. The crucified Christ alone is not our life supply; only Christ in resurrection can be our life supply. The unleavened bread of the passover was made of grain that had been ground and blended to be one loaf, signifying death and resurrection. Therefore, both the meat of the lamb and the unleavened bread signify Christ as the Spirit in His resurrection. It is Christ in His resurrection who dispenses Himself into us as many items. This is why the offering of only one of the seven feasts, the Feast of Firstfruits, was to be eaten.

　　According to the type of the feasts, what we enjoy and what is being dispensed into us is the resurrected Christ. The resurrected Christ is the consummated Triune God. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation," p. 536)

　　"You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath; from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. You shall count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath" (Lev. 23:15-16a). The Feast of Pentecost was the feast of the fiftieth day, counting from the day after the Sabbath, the day on which the sheaf of the wave offering was brought to God, to the day after the seventh Sabbath. This signifies the resurrection of Christ in its sevenfold fullness reaching the realm of the complete fullness, bearing the full responsibility (signified by the number fifty, which is ten times five, the number of responsibility) for the testimony of resurrection.

　　In the sight of God we all are a part of the testimony of Christ's resurrection. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 478-479)

　　Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, lsn. 28

«　WEEK 21　DAY 4　»

　　Gal. 3:14 In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

　　1 Cor. 12:13 For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

　　After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples over a period of forty days (Acts 1:3). Although He would appear and then disappear, He never left the disciples. On the day of His resurrection, He appeared to them and breathed Himself as the life-giving Spirit into them (John 20:22), and from that time onward He was living not only among the disciples but also within them.

　　After those forty days, the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens, leaving the disciples on earth. For the next ten days they prayed continually in one accord. Then on the fiftieth day a great event took place—the consummation of the Triune God was poured out. This consummation is the all-inclusive, life- giving, compound Spirit of the processed Triune God. Such a One—the totality of the Triune God—was poured out upon the one hundred twenty disciples, who represented the Body of Christ. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 476-477)

　　The Feast of Pentecost signifies the New Testament believers' enjoyment of the outpoured Spirit as the aggregate of the rich produce of the resurrected Christ....The Feast of Pentecost came fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, indicating that the outpoured Spirit is the aggregate of the rich produce of the resurrected Christ. The rich produce of Christ's resurrection includes the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:6), the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), the many sons of God (Rom. 8:29), and the new creation of God (2 Cor. 5:17). Christ was not the firstborn Son of God until He was resurrected. In resurrection He became the firstborn Son of God. Likewise, before the resurrection the life-giving Spirit was not yet (John 7:39); Christ produced the life-giving Spirit through His resurrection. Before the resurrection God did not have any sons besides His only begotten Son, but through Christ's resurrection we were all begotten of God to be His many sons (1 Pet. 1:3). These many sons became the many grains (John 12:24), who are the members of Christ, the brothers of Christ to constitute His Body (1 Cor. 10:17). All these items are in the aggregate of the rich produce of the resurrected Christ. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation," p. 534)

　　Now Christ has a Body, and this Body is His increase, His enlargement, His extension, even His expansion. Today we are a part of Christ's extension. Every local church is a small part of the universal extension of Christ, which came into being on the day of Pentecost.

　　The first four festivals form a group that bears a great significance. This significance includes the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ, and the outpouring of the consummated Spirit of the processed Triune God to produce the Body of Christ as the enlargement, the increase, the extension, the expansion, of the unlimited, individual Christ into a universal, corporate Christ.

　　This expansion as the enlargement, the increase, of Christ is actually the mingling of the processed Triune God with His chosen and redeemed people. There is such a mingling in the universe, a mingling that is the achievement of God's eternal economy and the fulfillment of God's eternal desire. We may not have much realization of this today, but we shall have the full realization of it in the New Jerusalem....The New Jerusalem is the real increase, enlargement, expansion, and extension of the all-inclusive, immeasurable, untraceable Christ, who fills all in all. Praise the Lord that we all are parts of the enlargement of Christ produced on the day of Pentecost! (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 477-478)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation," ch. 20; Life-study of Acts, msg. 6

«　WEEK 21　DAY 5　»

　　Acts 2:32-33 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we all are witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.

　　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....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. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 294)

　　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 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 Firstfruits 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 firstfruits, 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. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 295)

　　The Feast of Tabernacles signifies Israel's full enjoyment of the restored old creation in the millennium (Lev. 23:33-43; Zech. 14:16-21). This feast will usher in the new heavens and the new earth. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, "The Central Line of the Divine Revelation," p. 535)

　　This feast signifies the coming millennium as a dispensational, joyful blessing for God's redeemed people to enjoy with God for a full period of time in God's old creation. This will take place not in the new heaven and new earth but on the restored earth.

　　"Speak to the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to Jehovah" (Lev. 23:34). These seven days signify that the Feast of Tabernacles is not for one day only but for a complete course of days. This complete course will be a thousand years.

　　"On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no work of labor" (v. 35). This signifies that from the first day it is not a festival for individuals but for a congregation to enjoy rest without the need of any human labor.

　　"Seven days you shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah" (v. 36a). This signifies the offering of Christ day after day as food to God for the satisfaction of both God and man. According to this type, in the millennium every day an offering will be presented to God to signify that Christ is God's food in our experiences offered to God for His satisfaction so that we and God may enjoy mutual rest. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 488)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msg. 40; The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2879-2882

«　WEEK 21　DAY 6　»

　　Eph. 3:8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.

　　Phil. 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

　　"On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days" (Lev. 23:39a). This signifies that the millennium will come after the harvest of what God desires to obtain on earth.

　　After the creation of the earth, God will go through four main dispensations. The first is the dispensation of the fathers, also called the dispensation before law or without law, from Adam to Moses. The second is the dispensation of law, from Moses to Christ's first coming. The third is the dispensation of the church, from Pentecost to Christ's second coming. The fourth is the dispensation of the millennium, the kingdom of the thousand years. In these four dispensations, God has been doing much for His new creation. In His old creation God created the universe. The center of this old creation is the man created by God. In His eternal plan God has a purpose with man, and this purpose is to produce a people for His expression, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 489-490)

　　During the four dispensations, God is working with man in the old creation. God is dispensing Himself into man to make him a new creation. Eventually, after the four dispensations, this new creation will consummate in the New Jerusalem, which will be the totality of the result of God's work of the new creation among the old creation. Today, we are in the third dispensation, the dispensation of the church. In the coming age we shall be in the fourth dispensation, the dispensation of the kingdom, either as the overcomers or as those being disciplined.

　　The millennial kingdom will be a full harvest of what God has been doing in the last three dispensations. Hence, the millennial kingdom will be a feast both to God and to His re- deemed....In the millennium God's redeemed will include two peoples—the church and the kingdom of Israel. Both peoples will enjoy this feast. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 490)

　　The last of the feasts in Exodus 34 is the Feast of Ingathering, which is also the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was the time when the full harvest was brought in. This feast signifies the rich, full, and ultimate enjoyment of all that Christ is. We begin the enjoyment of Christ from the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we continue by enjoying the riches of the resurrected Christ, and eventually we come to the ultimate enjoyment of Christ as the Feast of Tabernacles. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1928)

　　After the full harvest of their crops, the Jewish people observed the Feast of Tabernacles to worship God and enjoy what they had reaped (Deut. 16:13-15). The Feast of Tabernacles, therefore, was held at the time of the reaping of the harvest of the good land given by God. For us today, the reality of this good land is the Spirit (Gal. 3:14; Phil. 1:19). The physical aspect of the blessing that God promised to Abraham was the good land (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3-4), which was a type of the all-inclusive Christ. Since Christ is eventually realized as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17), the blessing of the promised Spirit corresponds to the blessing of the land promised to Abraham. Actually, the Spirit as the realization of Christ in our experience is the good land as the source of God's bountiful supply for us to enjoy.

　　As the last feast of all the feasts ordained by God for His people (Lev. 23:34, 39-43), the Feast of Tabernacles is for their enjoyment of the rich produce of the good land at its harvest time for their satisfaction. Christ as the reality of the Feast of Tabernacles is such a feast for our experience and enjoyment today. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2880)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 54