LEVITICUS PT 1a

THE OFFERINGS IN RELATION TO THE TABERNACLE

The books of Exodus and Leviticus are closely related. Exodus ends with the setting up of the tabernacle, and Leviticus begins with the offerings. Both the tabernacle and the offerings are types of Christ. The fact that Exodus ends with the tabernacle and Leviticus begins with the offerings indicates a direct continuation.

In Exodus the tabernacle was built and set up. The tabernacle was set up not only for God to dwell in but also for us to dwell in. In Leviticus the offerings (chs. 1—7) with the priesthood (chs. 8—10) are ordained.

Because our Christ is wonderful and all-inclusive, plain words are not adequate to reveal Him and describe Him. Types, which are actually pictures, are also necessary. Both the tabernacle and the offerings are types of Christ. Christ as the tabernacle brings God to man, and Christ as the offerings brings man to God. This indicates that there is a two-way traffic, a traffic coming and going. Christ comes to us as the tabernacle and He goes to God as the offerings.

The tabernacle is a sign, a figure, a type, of Christ. It was through incarnation that Christ came as the tabernacle. The Word, which was God, became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:1, 14). Christ is the very God incarnated to be a man; hence, He is the God-man, and this God-man is the tabernacle. As the tabernacle, Christ brought God to man. Christ’s being on earth was a matter of God embodied in a tabernacle. Here we have one aspect of the two-way traffic— God coming to us in Christ through incarnation.

John 1:29 tells us that the Christ who is the tabernacle is also the Lamb of God: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Christ as the Lamb of God is the totality, the aggregate, of all the offerings.

On the one hand, Christ is the tabernacle; on the other hand, He is the offerings. As the tabernacle, He has brought God to us. As the offerings, He is now bringing us all to God. Christ’s being the tabernacle is a matter of incarnation. Christ’s being the offerings is a matter of crucifixion and resurrection. Christ came in incarnation and He went through crucifixion and resurrection. This is the two-way traffic that brings God to us and brings us to God, making God one with us and us one with God.

LEVITICUS PT 1B

The tabernacle is good for us to experience, to join to, God, and the offerings are good for us to enjoy and mingle with God. To experience, to join to, God is to enter into the tabernacle. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, people contacted Him. Eventually, the disciples were brought into Him, into the incarnated God. Thus, the tabernacle brings God to us that we may experience, enter into, join to, God.

Both the tabernacle and the offerings signify Christ. The tabernacle signifies that God is in Christ for us to contact, to touch, to experience, to enter into, to join to, God. The offerings are God in Christ for our enjoyment. By enjoying Christ as the offerings we are mingled with God. God in Christ is the tabernacle, the dwelling place, for us to approach, contact, enter, possess, and experience. God in Christ is also all the offerings for us to enjoy Him, to take Him in, and even to eat, digest, and assimilate Him that He may become our constituent. After enjoying the offerings and eating them, we enter into the tabernacle, and there we enjoy all the contents of what God is in Christ.

Christ as the offerings is for our enjoyment because these offerings are edible. They can be eaten not only by God but also by us. We can enjoy and eat Christ with God. Through Christ’s redemption and by His Spirit, Christ’s divine element becomes our food. After we eat this food, it is digested and assimilated to become our fibers and cells. Surely this is a matter of mingling.

The Bible reveals that the creating God became a man, the God-man, and that this man has become the offerings— the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the wave offering, and the heave offering. These offerings have become food to us. This means that God in Christ is edible. God became edible by becoming the offerings. Through our eating of these offerings, the divine element is mingled with humanity. Thus, Christ is not only our dwelling place; He is also our food to enjoy God and be mingled with Him.

Daily we may enjoy not only God’s presence but also His element, His essence, even His edible substance. Paul’s Epistles indicate that Christ is edible, but they do not give us the details concerning the eating of Christ. For the details, we need to come to the book of Leviticus. The Christ revealed in Leviticus is a Christ who is good for eating. Leviticus gives us not only the “groceries” but also the “recipe” for “cooking” Christ.

Leviticus 1c

The offerings are not sacrifices but presents to God by the appreciators of Christ. Leviticus 1:2 says, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When anyone of you brings an offering to Jehovah, you shall bring your offering from the cattle, of the herd or of the flock.” The verb “brings” may also be translated “presents” or “offers.” The Hebrew word translated “offering” is corban and means a present, a gift. The Hebrew words for “presents” and “present” here are both from the same root. The offerings, therefore, are presents to God. The children of Israel were to labor on the good land and then offer to God as presents the produce of the good land which they enjoyed and appreciated.

The five main offerings are for us to fellowship with God. Chapters one through seven of Leviticus speak about the fellowship God’s children have with God. For this fellowship there is the need of presents.

When we come to the church meetings, we should come not with sacrifices but with presents to offer to God. Sacrifices are for redemption, for propitiation, whereas presents are gifts for intimate fellowship between us and God. The presents we bring for this fellowship should be the very Christ we have experienced. With much appreciation of this Christ, we should offer Him as a present to God. Even the sin offering and the trespass offering may be presents that we bring to God.

To bring a sacrifice for sin is a matter of seriousness. To bring a present to an intimate friend is a matter not of seriousness but of sweetness. Every time we come to a meeting we should sense the sweetness of coming to present dear and precious presents to God for us to enjoy with Him. We should offer Christ to God not merely as the sacrifices for our problems but also as presents to God for His enjoyment and for our enjoyment with Him.

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The ordinances of the offerings are a recipe of the divine cooking. Christ is the groceries, we are the cooks, and God and we are the co-eaters enjoying Christ as the satisfaction. This is the highlight of the book of Leviticus. Spiritually speaking, nothing can be higher than our enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ.

Have you ever realized that the church meeting is a cooking meeting, an eating meeting? We come to the meetings to eat. However, we may never have had the thought that we need the cooking. The groceries are here, and the eaters are also here, but who are the cooks? I have the assurance to say that God and the Spirit are not the cooks but that we are the cooks. Therefore, we all must learn to cook.

From the types in Leviticus, we can see that God surely desires to enjoy Christ. He wants to enjoy Christ through our appreciation of Christ and through our presentation of Christ. However, even up to now, we are still too, old, traditional, superficial, and religious. May we all see that our God desires to enjoy Christ. Christ should not only be our food but also God’s food through appreciation and presentation, that is, through our cooking. We all need to cook Christ that we may feed God with Christ.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Mar 19 2013, 09:08 AM

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Leviticus 2a

Now, we come to the first offering, the burnt offering, which is Christ for God’s satisfaction.

The burnt offering signifies Christ not mainly for redeeming man’s sin but for living for God and for God’s satisfaction. As the sin offering Christ is for redeeming man’s sin, but as the burnt offering He is absolutely for living a life which can satisfy God in full. Throughout His life on earth, the Lord Jesus always lived a life that satisfied God to the uttermost. In the four Gospels He is presented as the One who is absolutely one with God. His divine attributes were expressed in His human virtues, and sometimes His human virtues were expressed in and with His divine attributes. When He was confronted, examined, and questioned by the evil, subtle opposers—the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians—during His last days on earth, at certain times His human virtues were expressed through His divine attributes, and at other times His divine attributes were expressed in His human virtues.

In the life of the Lord Jesus there was no blemish, defect, or imperfection. He was perfect, and He lived a life which was perfect and absolutely for God. He was fully qualified to be the burnt offering. Having, through His incarnation, a body prepared for Him by God to be the real burnt offering (Heb. 10:5-6), He did God’s will (vv. 7-9) and was obedient unto death (Phil. 2:8). On the cross, He offered His body to God once for all (Heb. 10:10).

WITH A YOUNG BULL OF THE HERD, A SHEEP OR A GOAT OF THE FLOCK, OR A TURTLEDOVE OR A YOUNG PIGEON OF THE BIRDS

Leviticus 1 speaks of different categories of burnt offerings: a young bull of the herd (v. 3), a sheep or a goat of the flock (v. 10), or a turtledove or young pigeon of the birds (v. 14). The offerings in these three categories are of different sizes, with the young bulls being the largest and turtledoves and young pigeons being the smallest.

A. According to the Offerer’s Appreciation and Ability to Offer

The size of the burnt offering depends on and is according to the offerer’s appreciation and ability to offer. We may have a great deal of appreciation, but we may not have the ability to prepare a large offering, a bull, but only a small one, a turtledove or a young pigeon. This, of course, does not mean that as the burnt offering Christ Himself is of different sizes. In Himself, Christ is always the same. There is not a large Christ, a small Christ, and a medium-sized Christ. Nevertheless, in our experiences Christ may differ. In our experiences Christ may be a small or a medium-sized burnt offering, but in Paul’s experience Christ was a large burnt offering, a bull of the herd, because his experience of Christ was far greater than ours, and his appreciation and ability to offer Christ to God were great. Therefore, in Himself Christ is the same, but according to our experiences He is different.

B. Lives Able to Move and Act in Their Will

All the burnt offerings in Leviticus 1 were of lives that are able to move and act in their will. This indicates that a burnt offering must be something living. A dead person cannot be obedient to God; only a living person can do this. However, in order to obey God, a living person needs to subdue His will to God’s will. If Christ was to be a burnt offering for God, He had to be such a living one, one with a strong will but with His will subdued to God’s will.

The best way to be protected is to have our will subdued to the will of another. This is especially true of young people. The best way for a young person to be protected is for him to have his will subdued. Because the Lord’s will was subdued to God’s will, the Lord was preserved and protected in His perfection, in His being without blemish. A life that is able to move and act in its will is a life that can become blemished. As the Lord Jesus lived and moved on earth, He never became blemished because His will was subdued to God’s will.

C. Lives Good for Shedding of Blood

Although the burnt offering is not for redemption, it nevertheless makes propitiation for us (Lev. 1:4). For this reason, the burnt offering must be a life that is good for the shedding of blood. Anything of the herd, of the flock, or of the birds has blood for shedding. The blood is necessary for forgiveness. “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

D. Strong and Young

The burnt offering was to be strong and young. This means that it was to be full of strength and freshness, with no weakness and no oldness. In Leviticus 1 a male signifies strength, and a young one signifies freshness. Spiritually speaking, Christ was a male, full of strength, and He was young, full of freshness. He was strong, and He was fresh. Although Christ is ancient, He is never old. He is always fresh and strong. With Him there is no weakness or oldness.

E. Without Blemish

The burnt offering had to be without blemish. This means that it had to be without defects and faults. As the burnt offering, Christ is without defects and faults (1 Pet. 1:19; Heb. 9:14).

Leviticus 2b

OFFERED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT OF MEETING

A. In the Outer Court of the Tabernacle

The burnt offering was offered at the entrance of the tent of meeting (Lev. 1:3), that is, in the outer court of the tabernacle. The outer court signifies the earth.

B. Accepted before Jehovah

The burnt offering, which was offered on the altar in the outer court, was accepted before Jehovah (v. 3). The altar signifies the cross. The cross on which Christ offered Himself was on earth, but His offering of Himself was before God. He offered Himself on earth, and He was accepted by God and before God.

THE OFFERER

Leviticus 1:4-6 speaks of the offerer.

A. Laying His Hand on the Offering

Leviticus 1:4 says of the offerer, “He shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make propitiation for him.” The offerer was not only to bring the offering but also to lay his hand on the offering.

In the Scripture, the laying on of hands always signifies identification, union; it does not signify substitution. To lay our hand on the offering means that we are one with the offering and take the offering as being one with us. Hence, the laying on of hands makes the two parties one.

By laying our hands on Christ as our burnt offering we are joined to Him. We and He, He and we, become one. Such a union, such an identification, indicates that all our weaknesses, defects, shortcomings, and faults become His and that all His virtues become ours. This is not exchange—it is union.

We may realize that we are altogether unqualified and hopeless. This is our actual situation. But when we lay our hands on Christ, our weak points become His, and His strong points, His virtues, become ours. Furthermore, spiritually speaking, by such a union He becomes one with us and lives in us. As He lives in us, He will repeat in us the life He lived on earth, the life of the burnt offering. In ourselves we cannot live this kind of life, but He can live it in us. By laying our hands on Him we make Him one with us, and we make ourselves one with Him. Then He will repeat His living in us. This is to offer the burnt offering.

Laying our hands on Christ as the burnt offering is not just a matter of identification; it is also a matter of propitiation. Propitiation means that our problems with God and God’s problems with us are taken care of. Laying our hands on Christ not only makes us one with Him but also takes care of our problems, propitiating our situation with God and enabling us to have peace with God.

Once we had problems with God, and God had problems with us. Christ propitiated our situation with God and took care of the problems. Now we simply need to lay our hands on Him. When we lay our hands on Christ, the problems between us and God and between God and us will be solved. Therefore, the laying of our hands on the burnt offering is for propitiation.

B. Slaughtering the Offering before Jehovah (v. 5)

The slaughtering of the offering was for the shedding of blood for forgiveness. The sprinkling of the blood around the altar was for the acceptance by God of the offering burned on the altar.

C. Skinning the Offering and Cutting It into Pieces

Verse 6 tells us that the offering was to be skinned and cut into pieces. As our burnt offering, Christ passed through this kind of mistreatment. He was skinned and He was cut into pieces.

1. Skinning the Offering

The skin of the burnt offering is its outward expression of its beauty. Hence, to skin the offering is to strip it of its outward expression. This skinning of the burnt offering signifies Christ’s being willing to let the outward expression of His virtues be stripped. When Christ was crucified, His clothing was removed. This indicates that He was “skinned.”

2. Cutting the Offering into Pieces

The cutting of the offering into pieces signifies Christ’s being willing to let His entire being be broken without any reservation. As our burnt offering, Christ, with His entire life and history, was cut into pieces.

If we did not have Christ as our burnt offering, we would have to suffer being slaughtered, skinned, and cut into pieces. We need to realize this whenever we offer Christ to God as the burnt offering. We also need to realize that He was slaughtered, stripped of His outward expression, and cut into pieces. All these sufferings were for Christ to do God’s will. Christ’s going to the cross to be slaughtered, stripped, and cut into pieces was His doing the will of God.

Because they are bad?

Enjoy Christ

LEVITICUS pt 3b?

Chapters one through seven of Leviticus do not give us the details concerning what Christ is as the offerings; instead, these chapters show us the way to offer Christ. Although Leviticus 1—7 tells us that Christ is the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering, actually these chapters do not tell us how Christ is these offerings but tell us how to offer Christ as these offerings. Leviticus 1—7 does not speak of what Christ Himself is totally as the offerings. For example, Leviticus 1 speaks not of what Christ is totally as the burnt offering but rather speaks of the way to offer Christ as the burnt offering. If these chapters only told us what Christ is totally as the offerings, then these chapters would be merely objective teachings of doctrines. However, these chapters are not merely objective teachings, but they reveal to us the subjective experiences we may have of Christ.

LABORING ON CHRIST THAT WE MAY HAVE SOMETHING OF CHRIST TO BRING TO GOD

In coming to the tent of meeting, we should not come empty-handed, but we should come with something of Christ. Leviticus 1:2 says, “When anyone of you brings an offering to Jehovah, you shall bring your offering from the cattle, of the herd or of the flock.” Notice the words “brings” and “shall bring.” The Hebrew word for bring here means to bring near, to bring something to someone’s presence. Further, the word implies presenting, offering.

Suppose an Israelite who had inherited a portion of the good land was a loose and lazy person, not tilling the ground or sowing seed and watering. At the time of harvest, such a person would not have anything to reap. As a result, he would not have anything to bring to the feast; he would come empty-handed. Like the foolish virgins in Matthew 25, who wanted to borrow oil from the wise virgins, a lazy Israelite might have tried to borrow or to buy from others something to offer to God.

Today many of the saints are like this. They are loose and lazy and do not labor on Christ, in Christ, with Christ, and for Christ. Paul, however, was different. He said that he strived, struggled (Col. 1:28-29), labored (1 Cor. 15:10), and even fought for Christ. Paul was a busy person; he labored more than all the other apostles, yet it was not he but the grace of God that was with him. Like Paul, we need to labor on Christ that we may have something of Christ to present to God.

Of course, in ourselves and by ourselves we are nothing and we can do nothing. We surely must depend on the rain from the heavens. Suppose the heavens send rain, yet we do not labor. What would happen then? We would reap nothing of Christ, and thus we would have nothing of Christ to bring to God. We need to labor on Christ that we may be able to bring something of Christ to God. This is not a matter of doctrine concerning Christ as the burnt offering but a matter of experience related to offering Christ to God.

The Hebrew word that is translated as “offering” in Leviticus 1:2, the word corban, means a gift or a present. What we bring to the presence of God becomes a gift, a present. If we would have a present for God, we need to labor on Christ and struggle, strive, and fight for Christ. To labor on Christ as the good land is to till the ground, to sow the seed, to water the seed, and to take care of the crop. This is to work, to toil, diligently as a farmer. Second Timothy 2:6 indicates that we are farmers, the most diligent and industrious of people. As farmers, we need to labor on Christ. If we labor on Christ, we shall have something of Christ as the burnt offering to be a present for God.

LEVITICUS .. (the real 3b)...

SLAUGHTERING THE BURNT OFFERING

The way of offering the burnt offering is a demonstration of our experience of Christ; it is a demonstration of how we have experienced Christ’s experience.

“He shall slaughter the young bull before Jehovah” (Lev. 1:5a). This indicates that as the burnt offering Christ was slaughtered. Being slaughtered was Christ’s personal experience when He was on earth. As lovers of Christ who would take Christ as our burnt offering, we need to experience His being slaughtered. Have you ever been slaughtered? Have you ever experienced Christ’s being slaughtered? Have you ever made Christ’s experience of being slaughtered your experience?

We should have this experience in our married life. Suppose a brother’s wife is very strong and insistent with him. What should he do? Instead of arguing with her, he should experience Christ’s experience of being slaughtered.

Consider the picture presented in the Gospels of the Lord Jesus standing before Pilate, who was about to make the final judgment concerning His crucifixion. The Lord was handed over to evil men who then brought Him to the place of slaughter. In this situation the Lord Jesus did not resist. If we have the real experience of Christ’s being slaughtered, we shall not resist being led to the slaughter by our husband or wife. Instead of resisting, we shall allow our husband or wife to put us on the cross.

If we experience Christ’s being slaughtered, we shall come to the Lord’s table and praise the Lord, perhaps with tears, saying, “Lord, thank You for giving me the opportunity to experience Your being slaughtered. How sweet it was to be one with You in being led to the slaughter!” This is to offer Christ to God as our burnt offering. This is also a demonstration of how we have experienced Christ in His experience of being slaughtered.

If we in the churches have this experience, there will be no quarreling or fighting but only the experience of being brought to the slaughter. At the Lord’s table there will be many praises, perhaps offered with tears, to the Lord for giving us opportunities to experience Christ’s being slaughtered.

Sometimes we reason with the brothers or with our spouse. Whenever we do this we turn away from the cross. Reasoning is nothing but a turning away from being slaughtered. If this is our situation, then at the Lord’s table there will be no praises to the Lord. Whatever we say in our prayer or praise will mean nothing because we have not had the real experience of Christ in His sufferings and, hence, we have no burnt offering. In such a case we are not absolutely for God; neither do we take Christ as our burnt offering, experiencing what He experienced in His being slaughtered. This is the reason that at the Lord’s table we have repeated, common, and customary songs, prayers, and praises, without the real experience of appreciation and presentation of the Christ whom we have experienced.

If we experience what Christ experienced in being slaughtered, there will be much praise offered to the Lord at the Lord’s table, but there will not be any quarreling in the church life or in our married life. Certain ones may oppose us or criticize us, but we shall not fight with them. Without saying anything, we shall simply allow others to lead us to the cross and slaughter us. If this is our experience, we shall have a large burnt offering to bring to God, and we shall have much praise in the tent of meeting. What we present to God will be a demonstration of how we have experienced Christ’s experience of being slaughtered.

Haha yeah .... was trying to remember the last running number ....

LEVITICUS PART 3C

THE SKINNING OF THE BURNT OFFERING

The first part of 1:6 says, “He shall skin the burnt offering.” The skinning of the burnt offering signifies Christ’s willingness to let the outward expression of His virtues be stripped. In the four Gospels we see that Christ was defamed, stripped of the beauty of His virtues. For example, some said, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” (John 8:48). Others said of Him, “He has a demon and is insane; why do you listen to him?” (John 10:20). This indicates that as the burnt offering the Lord Jesus was “skinned.”

Paul also experienced this skinning. He was skinned by the Corinthians who accused him of sending Titus to them for the purpose of taking money from them. Paul addressed this accusation in 2 Corinthians 12:16-18. “But let it be so, I did not burden you, but being crafty I took you with guile. Did I take advantage of you through anyone whom I have sent to you? I entreated Titus and sent with him the brother. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Not in the same steps?” Some of the Corinthians had charged Paul of being crafty in making gain, indemnifying himself by sending Titus to receive the collection for the poor saints. Paul’s real attitude is expressed in verse 15. “I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent on behalf of your souls, even if loving you more abundantly, I am loved less.” He was willing to be wholly exhausted for their sake. Nevertheless, he was accused of beguiling them and of using Titus to steal money from them. Was this not a matter of skinning?

In 2 Corinthians 6:3-13 Paul lists many of the evidences that he is a servant, a minister, of God. Verse 8 says, “Through glory and dishonor, through evil report and good report.” We may find it hard to believe that the spreading of evil reports concerning Paul was an evidence that he was an apostle. These evil reports were an evidence that Paul was God’s servant. An evil report is a matter of skinning, of having our outward beauty stripped away.

No one likes to be skinned. Many may asked is it possible to put back the skin that had been peeled off. If you are skinned by your husband or wife, will you not do everything possible to reattach the skin? Will you not try to restore the good report concerning you, to recover the outward expression of your virtues?

Suppose you are one trying to reattach the peeled-off skin. When you come to the Lord’s table, will you be able to praise the Lord for helping to put the skin back on? I do not think that anyone could offer such a praise to the Lord.

However, suppose in the family life and in the church life you experience a lot of skinning. Then you will be able to say, “Lord, I have experienced the very skinning You experienced. I follow You and accept the skinning, the stripping, the defaming, the evil reports, just as You did. Lord, what I have experienced is actually Your experience of being skinned.” If you are a person with this kind of experience, the praise you offer, even if it is short, at the Lord’s table will deeply touch the meeting. This is the real, sincere, and honest offering of Christ as the burnt offering.

This is not an offering of the total Christ as the burnt offering. No one, not even Paul, can offer Christ totally as He is. Rather, we can offer only that part of Christ which we have experienced.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Mar 29 2013, 10:16 AM

You are a Christian?

LEVITICUS pt 3d

CUTTING THE BURNT OFFERING INTO PIECES

Leviticus 1:6 also tells us that the one who presented the burnt offering was to “cut it into its pieces.” No one likes to be cut into pieces; we all like to remain whole, complete, perfect. We keep ourselves from being cut by insisting that we are right and that others are wrong. To be accused of doing something wrong is to be cut into pieces. Most of the quarrels between husband and wife involve the first party saying that the second party is wrong and the second party arguing that the first party is wrong.

The situation is the same in the church life. A sister may complain that others in the church life are not fair. When she comes to the meeting, she may look at a certain saint, thinking that this saint has not been fair with her. This saint may have the same thought toward this sister. The result is an inner fighting. Who, then, is fair, and who is not fair? The only fair one is the one who is willing to be put on the cross and crucified.

Problems between husband and wife and between the saints can be solved only through forgiveness. Do you know what it means to forgive? To forgive is to forget. If you touch some saints in the church life wrongly, they may not forgive you during their lifetime. This unwillingness to forgive affects the praises at the Lord’s table. If the saints have complaints against one another, it will be difficult to have a living, uplifted Lord’s table meeting.

Instead of being willing to be cut into pieces, we like to protect ourselves. During His life on earth, Christ was cut into pieces continually, and we need to experience His being cut. In our married life and in our church life, we need to follow the Lord’s steps by His life within us. His life is not a quarreling life. His life is a life that is willing to suffer the cutting. If we experience this, we shall be able to bring to God the Christ whom we have experienced.

We have often spoken about laboring on Christ in order to have something of Christ to exhibit in the meetings. Laboring on Christ includes our being willing to be cut into pieces as He was. If we labor on Christ in this way, then as the produce to be offered to God we shall have the Christ who was cut into pieces.

WASHING THE BURNT OFFERING

The burnt offering was to be washed with water by the offerer. “Its inwards and its legs shall be washed with water” (v. 9; cf. 13a). This surely does not mean that Christ, our burnt offering, was dirty. When the Lord Jesus was living and walking on earth, the Spirit within Him continually kept Him, preserved Him, protected Him, from becoming dirty. In our daily walk we need to have the same kind of experience. We need to experience Christ’s being cleansed, His being washed by the Holy Spirit. We are able to experience this because His cleansing Spirit is within us to cleanse us day by day, to keep us from being touched by the earthly dirt.

A SATISFYING FRAGRANCE TO JEHOVAH

After the burnt offering was slaughtered, skinned, cut into pieces, and washed, it was burned on the altar. “The priest shall offer up in smoke all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a satisfying fragrance to Jehovah” (v. 9). The Hebrew words translated “satisfying fragrance” literally mean savor of rest or satisfaction, that is, a savor giving satisfaction to the Deity, to whom it is offered, and, therefore, received with favor by Him. The phrase is a technical term for the fragrant steam arising from a burning sacrifice (S. R. Driver). The word “smoke” in this verse indicates that the offering was not burned quickly but slowly. As a result of this slow burning there was a satisfying fragrance, a savor that brought satisfaction, peace, and rest. Such a satisfying fragrance is an enjoyment to God.

When we offer a burnt offering in smoke to God, a fragrance well-pleasing to God will ascend to Him for His satisfaction and rest. Since God is satisfied, He will render His sweet acceptance to us. This is the significance of the burnt offering.

The burnt offering denotes Christ’s being absolute for God’s satisfaction. The way to satisfy God with sweetness, peace, and rest is to live a life that is absolutely for God. Since we cannot live such a life, we must take Christ as our burnt offering. We need to lay our hands on Him to indicate that we desire to be identified with Him, one with Him, and to live the kind of life He lived on earth. Such a life includes being slaughtered, skinned, cut into pieces, and washed. By passing through all these processes, we shall have something to offer to God as our burnt offering—the very Christ whom we have experienced.

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Realize that you can't in yourself. No one can.

In that Epistle John indicates that we should love one another by God Himself as love. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). As we enjoy God as love, out of this love issues a love with which we love others. When we love others with the love that issues from our enjoyment of God as love, our love will be in sincerity. This sincerity is not our human virtue; rather, it is the issue of our enjoyment of the divine reality.

So, forget about trying to love . Just enjoy God Himself as love.

Unfortunately, majority of Christians do not even have the basic experience of the divine life. Much less of the growth of the divine life within them. Most are babes in Christ ... not much different with worldly people.

What are the real experiences of life? If we realize that life is the Triune God Himself, we must realize that the real experience of life is the experience of God.

If a person says that he has had some Christian experiences, he may simply mean that he has repented. Formerly he was a sinner, but now he has repented and turned to God. However, there are at least two different kinds of repentance. One kind of repentance is merely a human repentance without experiencing God. There is another kind of repentance: while someone is repenting, he can experience God within him. What is the difference between the repentance of a worldly person and the repentance of a true Christian? According to the general teachings in today’s Christianity, repentance is merely a change of direction and a dropping of the old life. I do not say that this definition of repentance is right or wrong. I would simply beg you to forget about the general teaching of today’s Christianity.

Real repentance is a repentance in which we experience God, a repentance in which God passes through us and we pass through God. It is a repentance in which we have been met by God and we meet God. After this kind of repentance, something of God Himself is mingled with us. We may compare this with our drinking of water, after which the water is mingled with us. For Christians, real repentance is the way in which, with which, or by which we experience God. God passes through our being—through our heart, through our spirit, and even through our understanding—and we pass through God. We experience God in such a repentance.

Formerly a brother may have been very proud and careless. One day he receives the feeling that he is wrong to be this way, so he makes up his mind to adjust himself to be humble and careful. This is a repentance, and it is a repentance experienced by a Christian. However, do you believe this repentance is a real experience of life? It is not. Such a repentance has nothing to do with God. A real repentance as an experience of life is one in which God one day meets someone, and he meets God. Then, in the presence of God he has the feeling that he is proud and careless. God passes through him, and God brings him to pass through Him. He does not make up his mind to be humble or careful. He simply tells the Lord, “Lord, here I am. I am this kind of person, Lord, but I praise You that today You have met me and I have met You. O Lord, praise You, I have met You here!” After this there is a real change within him. This is the real experience of life in the matter of repentance. The real experience of life is that we experience God, we let God pass through us, and we pass through God. It is something in which we and God are mingled together. It is not that we alone do something. It is God Himself mingled with us to cause us to have a change. This is a real repentance as the experience of life.

Many Christians today talk about love. There are also two different kinds of love. One is the human love, while the other is the divine love, that is, God Himself experienced by us. One day we may hear a message saying that we have to love one another. After we hear this, we may repent and make up our mind that from now on we will love our brothers. We may pray, asking the Lord to help us, “Lord, I am weak in this matter. Please help me to love my brothers.” Then we will try our best to love others. The first day we may truly succeed. Then the second day we may succeed about seventy percent of the time, the third day sixty percent, the following week only twenty percent, and after three weeks we may succeed only one percent of the time. We all know this story. Is this kind of “Christian love” a real experience of life? No, it is not. A real experience of life is the experience of God.

One day, perhaps while we are praying, studying, reading the Word, or even walking on the street, God may come to visit us. God meets us, and we meet God. Something penetrates and permeates us. Something of God passes through us. After this, even if we have not made up our mind to love others, we will unconsciously love others very much. We will have love, and this very love is nothing other than God Himself experienced by us and expressed by us toward others. What is the mutual love among Christians? It is God Himself expressed by us toward one another. This is a real experience of life. It is the experience of God Himself.

LEVITICUS pt 4a


We shall consider the way to offer the burnt offering. We shall view this matter from the standpoint of experience.

The Offerings Differing Not Only in Size but Also in the Way They Are Offered

The various kinds of burnt offerings differ not only in size but also in the way they are offered. According to Leviticus 1, the burnt offering could be a bull, a sheep or a goat, or turtledoves or young pigeons. As pointed out, the differences in the size of the burnt offering indicate not that Christ Himself varies in size but that our apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ differ in degree. Surely a bull would not be large enough to represent Paul’s apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ, whereas even a pigeon may be too large to signify a new believer’s apprehension, realization, and appreciation. A new believer may be very zealous, but his appreciation of Christ is nevertheless very limited,

Having seen the significance of the differences in the size of the burnt offering, we now need to consider the significance of the different ways in which the burnt offerings were offered. The first two categories of offerings—a bull and a sheep or a goat—were offered in the same way. First, the offering was slain, not by the priests but by the offerer. Following this, the offering was skinned and cut into pieces. (The offering was not to be offered to God as a whole.) After the offering was cut into pieces, its inwards and its legs were washed with water. The offering was then ready to be burned, and it was burned completely. No part of it was rejected by God. This was the way to offer the first two categories of burnt offerings.

The way to offer the third category of burnt offerings— the turtledoves and young pigeons—was very different. With the offerings in the first two categories, the priest did nothing to the offering except dash its blood on the altar and lay the pieces of the offering on the fire. The slaughtering, skinning, cutting, and washing of the offering were done by the offerer. We may say that the offerer was the “cook” and that the priests were merely “waiters.” However, with the offerings in the third category, the offerer simply brought the offering to the tent of meeting, and the priests did everything else. The priest brought the offering to the altar, nipped its head, took away its crop, tore it by the wings, and offered it up in smoke on the altar (vv. 14-17). This surely is different from the offerings in the first two categories, where nearly everything was done not by the priest but by the offerer.

We need to see that in Leviticus 1 the way to offer the burnt offering is very particular and peculiar. The way of offering differs according to one’s spiritual age and spiritual ability. Therefore the way we offer Christ to God as the burnt offering depends entirely on our apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ.

you gi na?