The Daily Word of Righteousness

Three Platforms of Grace, #3

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16)

The memorial of blowing of Trumpets signifies the coming of the King, the resurrection from the dead, spiritual warfare, and the forming of the saints into the army of the Lord.

The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets is the blowing of the seven trumpets of the Book of Revelation, which conclude with the first resurrection from the dead of the victorious saints and the coming to the earth of the Kingdom of God. At the sounding of the last (seventh) trumpet, the Lord will come at the head of His army to take possession of the kingdoms of the world.

However, in this article we are not speaking of the kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feasts of the Lord but of the personal spiritual fulfillment in the life of the believer in Christ. We are addressing the spiritual resurrection that takes place in the saint as he chooses each day to die to his fleshly impulses and walk in the Spirit of God.

After we are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit the spiritual warfare begins. The further we go in discipleship the more intense the battle becomes.

The unsaved human being is a cavern of spiritual darkness. Whether or not the lusts and self-seeking are evident, they are present. The "cavern" of the human personality is filled with bats and creeping things, so to speak. In addition there is a powerful "leviathan" residing in the cavern and guarding it against invasion. The leviathan's name is King Self.

After we receive Christ and are baptized in the Spirit of God, the Light of God begins to enter our cavern. The bats and creeping things are exposed and driven out, although not all at once. King Self retreats as the Light advances. He may even give his approval to the cleaning out of his cave. He may become religious.

God has His means of dealing with King Self. God employs our sharing in the sufferings of Christ as the means for bringing King Self down to death. Our personal cross is the mechanism of destruction that attacks and destroys King Self.

The blowing of Trumpets signifies the coming of Christ to us in the Spirit, the resurrection from the dead of our spiritual nature, and warfare against the sin that dwells in our flesh and against our self-will, self-centeredness, and self-love. It is at this point that we learn to be a part of the army of the Lord or we are rejected. We are rejected if we refuse the discipline under which the Lord is seeking to bring us.

The Day of Atonement (Day of Reconciliation), the second of the subfeasts of the convocation of Tabernacles, speaks of our reconciliation to God. Our reconciliation to God begins with the sprinkling of the blood of Christ on us, continues with the removal from us of sin and self-will, and attains perfection and completion through our ever-increasing union with Christ. The Day of Atonement results in the marriage of the saint to the Lamb.

To be continued.