sn't it
interesting that God should appoint feasts (something having to do with eating) as
occasions for Israel's worship, as representations of His finished work in Christ, and as
representations of the divine relationship we have "in Him."
The Passover Lamb, typifying the death of Jesus Christ who was the Lamb
of God without spot or wrinkle, was to be completely eaten by the children of Israel in
their dwelling on the night before their departure from Egypt. Any of the flesh (meat)
that was not eaten was to be consumed by fire. Either way, the sacrifice had to be
completely consumed. (Ex. 12:5, 10).
Later on in ancient Israel, God ordained that the Levitical priests
were to eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and declared that this was their
inheritance among their brethren (Josh. 13:14).
God intended from the beginning that the whole nation of Israel was to
be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto Him (Ex. 19:6). In their failure to obey
God, He later appointed the tribe of Levites to minister as priests unto the Lord (Deut.
10:8).
In Christ, all believers have fulfilled God's desire to have for
Himself a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation..." (1
Peter 2:9). In Christ, God abolished the need for only a few to serve Him as priests and
established the priesthood of every believer.
Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, has become our inheritance as priests.
We are to consume Him. In John 6:58, Jesus identified Himself with "that bread
which came down from heaven." He told His disciples to eat His flesh and drink
His blood (John 6:53-56). This was a hard saying, and the scriptures say from that day
forward many returned from following after Him (John 6:60-66).
It is one thing to partake of the Lord's supper which commemorates his
death, but quite another thing to partake of Him and to participate in His death through
our own laid-down life.
As we look at the progression of these feasts as they relate to the
three courts of the Tabernacle with particular regard to these crucified ones, we find
that four things are to happen to complete the sanctification (separation) process.
Consuming Christ
First, we are to utterly consume Christ. We symbolically represent this
in the observance of the Lord's Supper. Matthew 26:26-29 reads, "And as they were
eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to
them, saying, 'Drink you all of it; for this is My blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.'" (See also Mark 14:22-24;
Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:24-25.)
The King James Version of the Bible reads, "Drink ye all of
it" with regard to the cup. The more recent translations read "Drink of
it, all of you." The Greek syntax leaves this passage somewhat uncertain, "Drink
ye of it all." I suggest that the King James Version is in keeping with the
Passover when they were instructed to eat all of the lamb, and what was not eaten was to
be consumed by fire by the next morning. In both of these ceremonies, the emphasis is upon
total consumption. We are to utterly consume Jesus.
To partake of the symbol only is useless ritual unless the participant
has first received Jesus, the bread of Life, unto himself. Jesus is received when one is
born again (from above) (John 3:3-8).
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to so consume Christ Jesus as
Lord that your very nature is changed. You have become a new creature. "Therefore
if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17).
To be baptized in water is a symbol of this baptism into His death,
burial, and resurrection. "Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by
baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4-5). "[You
are] buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of
the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead" (Col. 2:12). "For
you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3).
Water baptism covers the ground of our spiritual experience in Christ
from death to ascension. "And [God has] made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). All of these spiritual experiences precede
Pentecost.
Indeed, we are to take all of Him which is the beginning of our
heavenly walk with Him.
Consumed by Christ
Secondly, as we utterly consume Him, we find that we are then consumed
by Him. It's a mystery to the carnal mind how we can be in Christ and He in us just as He
is in the Father. "At that day" (after the Comforter, the Holy Spirit,
is given on Pentecost) "you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and
I in you" (John 14:20).
This unity with the Godhead is still within the realm of Passover where
we are redeemed, justified, given eternal life, and ascendancy. To gain Him is to gain
eternal life; that is, to be all wrapped up in Him--to be consumed by Him.
To consume Him is to take Him in. To be consumed by Him is to be taken
over by Him--to be made one with Him. We take all of Him. He takes all of us.
Consumed with Christ
But there's more that needs to happen. We consume Him in order to be
consumed by Him that we might be consumed with Him. This is where Pentecost comes down
upon us.
John told those coming out to be baptized in water that one was coming "whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire"
(Matt. 3:11).
Pentecost was the fulfillment of this promise. "And, being
assembled together with them, [Jesus] commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, you have heard of Me.
For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence" ( Acts 1:4-5).
On the day of Pentecost, Peter explained that this was that which Joel
had prophesied would come to pass in the last days. "I will pour out My Spirit
upon all flesh..." (Acts 2:17).
In Passover we get Jesus. Jesus means Savior. In Pentecost we get
Christ. Christ means "the anointed one." Christ is the Greek translation for the
Hebrew word, Messiah.
The Holy Spirit is the anointing power of Christ's ministry in and
through His disciples. We are given the Holy Spirit mainly to give us the power of His
lordship. Without the Holy Spirit we are unable to do the work of God.
To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be utterly consumed with God in
Christ--to be soaked, saturated, infiltrated, immersed with the great and glorious Holy
Spirit of God Almighty. Those who are so baptized have Him as the abundance of their
hearts. They hunger and thirst for more and more of Him. He is their preoccupation. They
eat, drink, sleep, think Jesus. Consumed with Him!
Further, they are given over to that fire of the Holy Spirit which is
separating them from sin, the world, the flesh, and all the domain of Satan. They are
submitted to His refiner's fire in order to gain that "holiness [sanctification]
without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).
The Holy Spirit is given that we might be led of Him, be taught of Him,
minister to Him in the high praises of God for which He is worthy--that we might worship
Him in Spirit and truth, that we might have the power of His Lordship, that we might bear
the fruit of the Spirit, that we might be witnesses unto Him in the uttermost parts of the
earth, that we might be to the praise of His glory, and, ultimately, that we might be
conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
In Pentecost, then, we are sanctified but not yet satisfied. For the
goal of Passover and Pentecost is the fulfillment of Tabernacles. The whole creation is
still groaning for the revealing of the sons of God. "For the earnest expectation
of the creation waits for the manifestation [revealing] of the sons of God"
(Rom. 8:19-23).
A Consuming Fire for Christ
We are to consume Him and be consumed by Him that we might be consumed
with Him that, finally, we might be a consuming fire for Him.
"Our God is a consuming fire"
(Heb. 12:29), and that
is what all true believers have been called to be as well: a consuming fire. Whoever
becomes a consuming fire, by the very nature of their laid-down lives, will become an
offense to the world, the flesh, and Satan.
They will become the target of persecution. Did Jesus not Himself warn,
"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you
were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but
I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you... The servant is not
greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you..."
(John 15:18-20).
We read in the Bible that the glory of the Lord filled the house of the
Lord only three times: The Tabernacle of Moses (Ex. 40:34), Solomon's temple (1 Kings
8:11), and Ezekiel's temple (Ezek. 10:4; 43:4-5; 44:4).
I believe Ezekiel's temple represents this end-time army of believers
coming forth in this latter day. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). It
will be this house of many sons that the glory of the Lord will once again fill.
The glory never returned to Zerubbabel's or Herod's temple. It has been
reserved for this final period before the coming of the Lord when many sons will be
brought to glory. "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings" (Heb. 2:10).
In Passover we are redeemed and justified; in Pentecost we are being
sanctified; in Tabernacles we will be glorified. That will be completed when Jesus comes.
But as I say, there is a foretaste of that coming now, and forerunners are coming forth in
the spirit of Elijah, preparing the way of the Lord's second coming (Mal. 4:5).
It is said of dieting that you are what you eat. So it is with
spiritual things.
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to partake of His righteousness
and thereby become the righteousness of God.
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to partake of His holiness and
thereby become the holiness of God.
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to partake of His glory and
thereby become the glory of God.
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to partake of His divine nature
and thereby become the nature of the divine.
To eat His flesh and drink His blood is to become "broken bread
and poured out wine" (to borrow from Oswald Chambers).