Partaking of Christ as the Reality of Leviticus

Our wonderful God, in His word, reveals the way to experience the fulness of His Person. It’s an amazing thing that He has given us the Old Testament to show us pictures of the reality of experiencing Christ today. I don’t know about you, but when I read anything, I appreciate a good picture or diagram to help me grasp the concept. Last week in our campus Christian meeting, one student remarked how that she decided last year to do something crazy and study the book of Leviticus. In other words, the thought is that there is really no point in spending time in these obscure books of the Bible. Actually, these strange books give us intimate pictures that reveal how wonderful and approachable our God is.

In Leviticus 23, God commanded Israel, His people, to celebrate eight feasts during the year. Each one displays the glorious person and marvelous work of Jesus Christ, and they describe details of how to experience Him. In the next eight lessons I will expound on these, but for now, let me give you a bird’s eye view.

1) The Sabbath: The first feast is to enjoy Christ as our rest. This speaks of our enjoyment of the complete and finished work of Christ and our salvation by grace. The Christian life does not start by YOU working, but by you RESTING in the finished work of Christ!

2) The Passover: This speaks of the DEATH OF CHRIST on the cross, which is our way out of the bondage of our spiritual Egypt through His blood.

3) The Feast of Unleavened Bread: This shows us the RESURRECTED CHRIST as our spiritual nourishment, every day.

4) The Feast of Firstfruits: This is the ASCENDED CHRIST, when the Father God enjoys His glorified Son, and we are led to glory as His many sons in Him.

5) The Feast of Pentecost: This is the experience of the SPIRIT of CHRIST poured out on His people so that they may become the living testimony of Him on this earth.

6) The Feast of Trumpets: This is the SECOND COMING of CHRIST, in His glory, and our gathering together with Him, for His kingdom. Hallelujah!

7) The Day of Atonement: When Christ returns, we all will be gathered to Him at the JUDGMENT SEAT of CHRIST, to reward His overcoming believers.

8) The Feast of Tabernacles: The KINGDOM of CHRIST, when we reign with Him on the earth, is the consummate enjoyment of our wonderful savior!

Notice these are the eight "feasts" of the Lord. What is your concept of God? The Bible reveals that our every experience of Him is likened to a feast, a special day, set apart from the common, when we come together with others to eat and drink and rejoice. Christ is the real feast, that we can, with His Body on the earth, learn to enjoy to the uttermost! For years I recited a creed about who God is and what He has done. That creed was true and good, but no one ever revealed to me that the Christ that was crucified, raised, and was coming again, was a feast to us. What a joyful shock it was to me to find out, when I was 18, that Jesus Christ can be known, experienced, and enjoyed by us as a feast every day. He is excellent! As the attached hymn states, “Day by day I share Thy riches, Thou art everything to me.”