VI. FOR SEASONS—APPOINTED BY THE MOON,
MAINLY FOR GROWING
The signs are for moving and the seasons are for growing. The words of the Lord Jesus regarding the harvest show that the seasons are for growth (John 4:35). Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that there is a time to sow and a time to pluck up the harvest. These are seasons. Seasons are for growing. If you are a farmer, you must know the seasons. Would you sow the seed in the winter time or rest in the summer time? The seasons tell us when to plow, when to sow, when to reap, and when to rest. Revelation 22:2 says that the tree of life bears fruit every month. The seasons are appointed by the months, and the months are decided by the moon.
We need to read several verses in Leviticus in this regard (Lev. 23:2, 5, 6, 24, 27, 34, 39, 41). These verses tell us that every year in the first month the people had a feast. A feast is also related to the seasons. The feast in the first month was the feast of Passover. Following that came the feast of unleavened bread, then the feast of the firstfruits and, following that, the feast of the seven weeks, called the feast of Pentecost. These four feasts came during the first half of the year. On the first day of the seventh month, there was the feast of the blowing of the trumpet, and on the tenth day of the seventh month was the feast of atonement. Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month was the feast of tabernacles. All of these seven feasts were held according to the months.
Without a time for growing, you could never have a feast. If there is no growth, what are you going to feast on? At the time of the feast, the people of Israel brought their riches—cows, lambs, grapes, all the produce which came from the growth. The feast of tabernacles, especially, was a feast for the enjoyment of the harvest. The Lord said that we must come together in His presence and enjoy the harvest—that is a feast. The feast is the result of growing, and this growing is very much related to the moon, the church. If we don’t have the church, we lack the element of the feast. Very few Christians have the feast because they don’t have the moon. They don’t have the full enjoyment of Christ as a feast because they don’t have the church. We need the church to appoint the seasons for growing and feasting.
Numbers 28:11 speaks regarding the new moon, and Numbers 29:6 says something about the month. These verses are for the months.
Jeremiah 8:7 tells of the stork which knows its appointed flying time. It also speaks of the turtledove, the crane, and the swallow which all know their time, their season. The Lord said of His people that they have no season. This is the situation today. Christians don’t have summer time or spring time; they don’t have the first moon, the last moon, or any moon. They have no seasons: no spring, no fall, no summer, and no winter. In a sense, every day is the same. Therefore, they have no way to grow and they don’t have a feast—all because they are short of the fourth-day lights.
However, once we are in the proper church life, the church will appoint the months, the months will bring in the seasons, and the seasons will give us the feasts. We will have all the feasts.
(Life-Study of Genesis, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
