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To save space we will, without comment or detail, briefly indicate this
close association of seven with Israel's typical history:
Seven
Days -- `The seventh day is the sabbath of rest' (Lev. 23:3).
Seven
Weeks -- `Seven sabbaths shall be complete' (Lev. 23:15).
Seven
Months -- `In the seventh month' (Lev. 23:24).
Seven
Years -- `The seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest'
(Lev. 25:4).
Seven times seven Years -- `It shall be a jubilee unto you'
(Lev. 25:8 -10).
Seventy times seven Years -- `Seventy weeks are determined'
(Dan. 9:24).
At once we realize that Pentecost cannot be understood if it be taken
out of its place in this series of typical periods. To attempt to fit
Pentecost into the `Church' of the Mystery destroys both the typical
character of the feast, and the distinctive character of that `Church'.
The feasts of the Lord, then, in Leviticus 23 are as follows:
A
redemption by blood
a
5.
passover.
b
6 -8.
unleavened bread.
Seven days. Egypt.
B
reaping
c
9 -14. firstfruits.
anticipatory.
d
15 -21.
Pentecost.
c
22.
harvest.
final.
d
22 -25.
trumpets.
A
Atonement by blood
a
27 -32.
day
of
Atonement.
b
34 -44.
tabernacles.
Seven days. Egypt.
The Lord knew that Israel would not repent and be gathered the first
time, and that the purpose of the ages would reach out to the trumpets of the
Apocalypse and the harvest at the end of the age. Nevertheless the feast of
Pentecost was an anticipation of harvest, just as firstfruits was, and the
gathering of Israel to Jerusalem at this period was an anticipation of that
great gathering at the time of the end.
A peculiar feature of Pentecost is that a new meal offering was
commanded:
`Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth
deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven;
they are the firstfruits unto the Lord' (Lev. 23:17).
It had already been commanded that `no meal offering, which ye shall
bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven; for ye shall burn no leaven,
nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire' (Lev. 2:11). The
two leavened loaves of Pentecost cannot therefore typify Christ: they are a
firstfruits, and typify His people. The reason why two loaves were specified
appears to be that the Lord knew that the kingdom would be divided, and that