A friend of mine blogged about the Root and Foundation on his blog:
http://thewordwasgod.blogspot.com/
I recommend clicking on the link and giving it a read. I have included the post below. My thanks to Teague for his thoughtful post.
The Root and Foundation
An excerpt from my notes on the feasts of Israel
***
Sacrifice, of some kind, was required with the observance of
every feast under the old covenant. The
types and amounts of animals varied from feast to feast but generally there was
a burnt offering and a sin offering. The
main purpose of a burnt offering was to be “an aroma pleasing to the LORD”
(Lev. 1:9, 13, 17). For this offering,
the entire animal was burned on the altar.
The sin offering was made to make atonement for the people (Lev. 4:20,
26, 31, 35). These offerings had to be
made during every feast because of Israel’s continuing sinfulness. They could not relate to God or participate
in His feasts unless sin was dealt with and God was satisfied.
Jesus’s one
sacrifice was sufficient for all time and beyond. On the cross He fulfilled every burnt
offering and sin offering pictured in the Old Testament. In Him, there is no
need for repeated sacrifice. Why then
is the cross pictured at every feast through the offerings that were
commanded? It is because our
participation in any aspect of Christ depends on the cross. We can only be united to His resurrection if
we are united to His death (Rom. 6:5).
Sharing His anointing depends on His atonement. And God couldn’t tabernacle or dwell in us
unless His temple was destroyed and raised in three days (John 2:19-22).
It isn’t
just that the cross is a first step that we have to start with. We cannot move on from the cross any more
that a tree can move from its root or a building from its foundation. This is why, even in the type, the Lord
keeps the cross continually before us.
It is as if He is saying, “If I hadn’t died you would have no part in
me” (cf. John 13:8).
Since
the cross is the bedrock of all God has done, we must keep our feet on the
ground of it, especially as we know Jesus in the more exalted aspects of His
life. Christ, our risen, anointed King
still has His wounds. The Holy Spirit
must mark us with the cross in such a way that we never leave the wounds of
Christ, even as we experience the freedom of His resurrection, the power of His
anointing, the authority of His crown.
In fact, we must see His wounds as the source of everything else that we
experience in Him and learn to value them as the headwaters of spiritual
life. If the cross is not ever before
us and hasn’t indelibly marked our hearts, we will have a false sense of where
God’s life, power, authority, and blessing come from. We will think these divine things come because we are spiritual,
and because God is rewarding us for “doing it right.” But if we experience any spiritual life and power, it is only
because we are in Christ who died on the cross to make our participation
possible.
