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Scripture Reading: Num. 29:1-40
In this message we will consider further the statutes concerning the offerings in Numbers 28 and 29.
The first four feasts, which are in the first half of the year, have already been fulfilled, but the last three feasts, which are in the second half of the year, will be fulfilled in the future. The first four feasts have been fulfilled through Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension. The last three feasts are related to the Lord's second coming and will be fulfilled at the time of the Lord's coming back.
Numbers 29:1-6 speaks of the burnt offering for the day of the blowing of trumpets. This day was the first day of the seventh month, the beginning of the second half of the year. On this day a holy convocation was to be held with no laborious work. There was no need of human labor because everything had been done by God Himself. The offering for this feast was the same as that offered at the beginning of the month, with the exception that one young bull was offered instead of two.
There was also to be a burnt offering for the day of propitiation (vv. 7-11). On the cross, Christ accomplished propitiation. To propitiate is to appease. Propitiation is not a matter of propitiating God but of propitiating the situation between us and God. We should not think that God was angry with us and needed to be appeased. No, God loves the world, and propitiation is needed because of our fallen situation, not because God is angry. Our situation was full of problems, full of sins, and needed to be propitiated. Through His death on the cross, Christ dealt with our sins, and in so doing He propitiated our situation with God so that we could be redeemed, forgiven, and justified. When we repented, believed in Christ, and received Him as our Savior, we experienced this feast.
The feast of propitiation has a double application. Spiritually this feast has been applied to us, and literally it will be applied in the future to the Jews. After the Lord Jesus has descended from the air to the earth, the Jews will repent, mourn, and return to God, receiving Christ as their Savior. This will be the literal fulfillment of the feast of propitiation.
The feast of propitiation was on the tenth day of the seventh month. A holy convocation was held with no work. On this day, the people afflicted themselves, that is, they repented, mourned, and felt sorrowful for their sin. The offering on this day was the same as that offered at the beginning of the month, with the exception that one young bull was offered instead of two.
In Numbers 29:12-38 we have the burnt offering for the feast of tabernacles. This feast lasted seven days, beginning from the fifteenth day of the seventh month. A holy convocation was held on the first day with no laborious work. The offerings, which typify different aspects of Christ, consisted of two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish and thirteen young bulls on the first day, reduced by one bull on each of the six succeeding days, with their meal offering and drink offerings, as a burnt offering. In addition, a male goat was offered as a sin offering. On the eighth day, which signifies resurrection, a solemn assembly was held. The offering on this day was the same as that offered at the beginning of the month, with the exception that one bull was offered instead of two young bulls.
The feasts of the blowing of trumpets, propitiation, and tabernacles all took place within a brief period of time in the seventh month. The fulfillment of these feasts will take place nearly at the same time. The feast of the blowing of trumpets will be fulfilled at Christ's coming back (Matt. 24:31), when God will call the Jews together from their dispersion back to the land of their fathers. The feast of propitiation will be fulfilled on the day of Israel's return to God, after they have been gathered back to their fathers' land (Rom. 11:26-27; Zech. 12:10-14). The Jews will afflict themselves by praying, fasting, and repenting. Then God will forgive them, and the feast of propitiation will be applied to them. Finally, the feast of tabernacles will be fulfilled in the coming millennium for a thousand years as a conclusion of all the ages of God's old creation. The fulfillment of this feast will be a dispensational, joyful blessing for God's redeemed people to enjoy with God for a full period of time in God's old creation.
All the offerings for every day, for every Sabbath, for the beginning of every month, and for all the yearly feasts were offered for the people's burnt offerings, meal offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings, in addition to their vows and their freewill offerings (Num. 29:39-40). The people offered certain offerings as a fulfillment of their duty or responsibility. Those offerings were a fulfillment of their vows. They could also present offerings of their own free will. However, all the offerings described in chapters twenty-eight and twenty-nine were in addition to their vows and freewill offerings.
We need to see that, according to these chapters, God's food is related to three things. First, God's food is related to the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly life of His people. Second, God's food is related to the spiritual life of the believers from the Passover through the feast of Pentecost, including the feast of unleavened bread and the feast of the first fruits. Each of these four feasts involves life. This means that in the Christian life there is a particular kind of food for God. Third, God's food is related to His people Israel. Christ will come back to blow the trumpet to gather the people of Israel back to their fathers' land. Then there will be a day for their propitiation. On that day, they will afflict themselves and repent, and Christ will be their propitiation. This propitiation will lead to the feast of tabernacles. At the time of this feast, Israel will be at peace with God and enter into God's enjoyment. The feast of tabernacles will be not only the last feast but also the conclusion of God's work in the old creation.
In God's old creation there are four ages: the age before the law, from Adam to Moses; the age of the law, from Moses to Christ's first coming; the age of grace, from Christ's first coming to His second coming; and the age of the millennium, the kingdom of the thousand years. These four ages are crucial steps of God's work in the old creation for the new creation. In each of these four ages, God uses the old creation as the material for the producing of a new creation. The consummation of God's new creation will be the New Jerusalem. Those believers who are overcomers in the age of grace will enjoy the New Jerusalem during the millennium. Eventually, after the millennium, all of God's people will be fully perfected and consummated to be the New Jerusalem.
In the present age, the age of grace, we are enjoying Christ as our Passover, as our unleavened bread, and as the firstfruit offered to God in resurrection. Eventually, we offer Christ to God as our Pentecost, which is the consummation of God's work for His new creation. The food offered to God by the believers who experience Christ as the reality of all the feasts from Passover to Pentecost has nothing to do with the old creation but is altogether in the new creation. Eventually, the church in this age of grace will consummate God's will in His new creation. The church will be matured and will be raptured to be one with Christ in His joyous wedding. Then the church will come down with Christ to the earth, at which time He will blow the trumpet to gather the Israelites back to the land of their fathers. Christ will then be their propitiation, and the feast of tabernacles will begin.
At this juncture, I would like to ask a question: What is God's food? What is God's food in our daily life, in the Christian life, and in the life of Israel? To be sure, we all would say that God's food is Christ. But this raises another question: In what way is Christ God's food? Christ is God's food in the way of His fulfilling God's eternal economy. God desires to have His economy fulfilled by Christ, with Christ, and in Christ. This is the way Christ is God's food.
The more we enjoy Christ and experience Christ, the more we fulfill God's economy, and the more we participate in the fulfillment of God's economy, the more we will be able to offer Christ to God as food. Our being resurrected with Christ in His resurrection and our being saved are parts of the fulfillment of God's economy. The exercise of our New Testament priesthood to preach the gospel by visiting people, helping them to believe in the Lord Jesus, and baptizing them is also a part of the fulfillment of God's economy. Likewise, living a life in Christ without sin after we have been saved is a part of the fulfillment of God's economy with Christ, by Christ, and in Christ. In all these matters Christ is food for God.
Both the church and Israel are great parts of the fulfillment of God's economy. When the church was formed on the day of Pentecost and so many were baptized into one Body, God enjoyed a wonderful feast. Israel's being gathered, their repenting, and their being propitiated at the time of the Lord's coming back will be further parts of the fulfillment of God's economy. Once again, Christ will be enjoyed by God's people and also by God Himself. In these matters related to Israel, Christ will be God's food. Furthermore, in the millennium and for eternity in the New Jerusalem, Christ will be God's food.
In Numbers 28 and 29 there are three sections — the sections pertaining to daily life, to the Christian life, and to the future of Israel. Each section is for the fulfillment of God's eternal economy in which Christ is the centrality and the universality. Because Christ is everything for the fulfillment of God's economy, He is God's food, God's satisfaction. For eternity Christ will be God's satisfaction, and for eternity we will enjoy the Christ who satisfies God. Hallelujah for the Christ who is God's food and also our food!
