Posted by Steven Benjamin on April 11, 2009, 6:19 pm, in reply to "Re: Shepherds Rod: TRACT No. 3 (pt 14)"
When one is "cut off from among his people" on account of sin, then his name must also be "blotted out of the book of the living. " Ps. 69:28. Consequently, the day of atonement was a day of judgment, as it is still commonly called by the Jews, and by that token it was founded as the type of the great antitypical day of atonement (the investigative judgment) -- the day in which the Lord will blot from His book the names of all sinners, and "cut off" from the congregation of His people all whose names are not in the book.
Concerning the typical day of atonement, the Lord's command through Moses was: "On that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. . . . and he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the con- gregation, and for the altar. " Lev. 16:30, 33.
Being the day of atonement in type for both the dead and the living, this service of the earthly tabernacle therefore projects the day of atonement in its antitype the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven from unworthy names in the books, and the cleansing of the church on earth from its unconverted and unstable members, -- thus bringing the time of clean books, clean church, and clean people.
Looking forward to this day of purification, Zechariah prophesies: "In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts:. . . and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. " Zech. 14:20, 21.
Envisioning the same scene, the prophet Isaiah declares: "And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken;. . . thou shalt be called Hephzibah. . . The holy people. " Isa. 62:2-4, 12.
"But ye. . . that forsake the Lord, that forget My holy mountain,. . . ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call His servants by another name. " Isa. 65:11, 15.
"The people that doth not understand shall fall. " Hos. 4:14. "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. " Dan. 12:10.
Those whose vision is clear on the truth of the harvest as taught in the testimonies of the prophets and in the parables will have a still clearer vision as we study the significance of
The Wave-Sheaf, Wave-Loaves, And The Feast Of Tabernacles.
Illustrating our salvation in completeness, the harvest rites of the ceremonial system must therefore corroborate both the testimonies of the prophets and the parables concerning the harvest, for all are inextricably bound up together. The ceremonies of the first and the second fruits of grain must accordingly unfold the truth concerning the first and second fruits of humanity. In the Levitical law we read:
"Ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. . . . And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God:. . . and ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. 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 first fruits unto the Lord. . . . Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. " Lev. 23:10,11, 14-17, 39.
Here we see commanded the observance of three harvest rites: (1) the ceremony of the wave-sheaf, at the beginning of the first harvest; (2) the ceremony of the wave-loaves, at the close of the first harvest; and (3) the feast of tabernacles at the close of the second harvest. Being typical, these two grain harvests with their three literal sacraments, accordingly foreshadow two soul harvests with three spiritual rites, the first of which is the
First Fruits With Wave-Sheaf And Wave-Loaves.
Being of cut stalks of grain, the wave-sheaf signified fruits to be harvested. And as the sheaf was to be offered before the sickle was put to the grain and gathered into sheaves, it obviously pointed forward to a spiritual harvest of first fruits to be gathered.
On Pentecost fifty days after the typical sheaf was offered, all Israel were to offer "a new meat offering unto the Lord. . . [two wave-loaves "baken with leaven"] the firstfruits unto the Lord. " Lev. 23:16, 17.
(CONTD)
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