As we return to the Crystallization-Study of the book of Leviticus (part 2), this week we will focus on The Consecration of the Priests, and today in particular we want to see how we need to be constituted with Christ to be consecrated to God and ordained by Him as priests.
Praise the Lord, we are a chosen people to God – we are a royal priesthood, a holy priesthood, and a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). We are a priesthood to God; what was in type with Israel is being fulfilled with the church, where we all are priests to God.
We are a chosen race – our descent is from God; we’re a royal priesthood – we serve God; we’re a holy nation – we’re a community for God; and we’re a people acquired for a possession – we are precious to God.
One of the most important statuses we have acquired through regeneration is being priests to God, entering into the New Testament priesthood of the gospel.
God is working Himself into us so that we may be transformed in His life to be in His image and exercise His authority; the result is that we become His royal priesthood. No matter how young we may be, as long as we are regenerated, we’re members of the Body of Christ, and we are priests to God.
A priest is one who is joined to God as one; He enters into us and we enter into Him, we belong to God and we serve God. Everyone of the perfected saints must participate in the building work of the Body of Christ.
This is a universal priesthood – there shouldn’t be merely a minority of people tho serve God, but all perfected saints, all believers in Christ, are priests. No one can replace someone else to serve God.
And to be a priest, we need to be consecrated to God. The consecration of the priests as seen in Leviticus is not a light matter; it is something that is filled with deep solemnity and dedication, otherwise the Lord would not spend a whole chapter speaking of how to consecrate the priests.
To live and serve as priests we need to be consecrated to God; this is a solemn affair. We need to enter into the experiences typified in Leviticus so that we may become true priests, those sanctified (separated without and filled within) for God’s purpose, His use.
We also need to be anointed with the compound ointment, which is a type of the compound Spirit. We are chosen and selected by God in a particular way to serve Him as priests. He designated us as priests to fulfill His commission; this is something official, not amateurish.
For eternity we will serve God – the Lamb-God – and this service will be as priests. We will be serving the Lord as priests even in eternity! How much we need to be trained to be priests to God, those who are consecrated to God and ordained by Him!
God Speaks to us to Train us to Worship Him and Partake of Him and to live a Holy, Clean and Rejoicing Life
After God delivered His people from Egypt, He brought them through the wilderness to the mountain of God, mount Sinai; here they had God’s presence and His speaking.
God brought His people to Himself and stayed with them, speaking to them and giving them His laws and ordinances (see Exo. 19:1; cf. Num. 10:11).
Through His speaking, God trained His people. He gave them the law and the pattern for the tabernacle. On one hand, God regulated His people by the law, and He encouraged them by the tabernacle.
After God decreed the law and gave them the pattern of the tabernacle, He spoke to them in the book of Leviticus for the purpose of training them to worship God and partake of God, and to live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life.
Our God delivered us, the believers in Christ, from the usurpation of the world, and He brought us to Himself to open His heart to us; He gave us Christ, the embodiment of the law of God, and He gave us the church, the tabernacle of God.
Furthermore, our God is training us every day through His speaking so that we may worship God and partake of Him, and so that we may live a holy, clean and rejoicing life.
We may think that we don’t need to be trained to rejoice – but actually we need to know how to rejoice in the Lord, how to really worship Him, and how to live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life.
We need the Lord’s training through His speaking, especially as we read the book of Leviticus and enjoy a deeper study on it. We can tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, train us to worship and partake of You, and train us to live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life! We give ourselves to You, Lord, to be under Your speaking, so that we may be trained how to worship You and how to partake of You in Your way. Lord, may You be our God and we would be Your people, those among whom You dwell and are expressed. Train us, Lord, how to live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life!
Being Constituted with Christ to be Consecrated to God and Ordained by Him as Priests
The record in chapter 8 of Leviticus is concerning the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the priests.
We need to know what it is to be consecrated to God as priests, and how can we maintain our consecration fresh before the Lord. The offerings in Lev. 1-7 are for the consecration or ordination of the priests; on man’s side it is consecration, and on God’s side it is ordination.
Our enjoyment and experience of Christ in so many aspects as the reality of all the offerings are for our consecration and ordination to be priests. We enjoy Christ as the reality of all the offerings not merely to have a richer spiritual life but so that we can serve Him as priests, to be qualified to be His priests.
The Hebrew word for “consecrate” in Exo. 28:41; 29:9, 33, 35 means, “to fill the hands”; through Aaron’s consecration to receive the holy position of the high priest, his empty hands were filled (see Lev. 8:25-28).
The hands of the priests were filled with the offerings. Our hands need to be filled with Christ, and in our experience we need to have Christ as the reality of all the offerings.
We cannot serve God empty-handed or Christless; we need Christ-filled hands in order to serve God, because God is only pleased with His Son.
Our consecration for the priesthood must be with the all-inclusive Christ as all the five main offerings – the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and the peace offering – “filling our hands” for our enjoyment.
Whatever Christ is to us and does for us – as typified by the offerings – is to constitute us as priests (see 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; cf. 2:6).
How are we constituted to be priests? On one hand, God destined us and separated us to be priests to God, but to be constituted as priests is by enjoying and experiences what Christ is and what He does. We need to enjoy what Christ is to us and what He does for us as typified by the offerings.
We need to daily enjoy Christ as the reality of all the offerings.
We need to enjoy Christ as the absolute One for God, the humanly perfect One, the One who restored our fellowship with God as peace, as the One who is our sin offering dealing with our sinful nature, and as the trespass offering dealing with our outward sinful behavior.
We need to daily enjoy Christ as such a One for us to be constituted as the serving ones of God. Amen! The constitution of Christ in us through our enjoyment of Him as the offerings is the divine ordination; on our side, we consecrate ourselves to God, and on His side, God ordains us.
We are constituted with Christ through our enjoyment and experience of Him so that we may be consecrated to God and ordained by Him as priests. While we are being consecrated, while we consecrate to God, at the same time God is ordaining us; both of these have to do with our constitution.
On one hand we need to see that we are priests to God, on the other, we need to realise we need to be trained to be priests to God by being constituted with Christ to be consecrated to God and ordained by Him as priests.
We may have spent much of our service to God in our early years as unconsecrated service, therefore not being accepted by God in a well-pleasing way. Our consecration is not a once for all momentary experience; we must be consecrated every day.
Our consecration as priests is a continual affair, going on every day. Therefore, we need to be further constituted with Christ on a daily basis; every day we need to consecrate to God so that we may be priests meeting God’s need.
Lord Jesus, we are Yours because You bought us. You redeemed us with Your blood, and You have regenerated us. Now we have Your life and the enjoyment of Your redemption, and we want to offer ourselves to You! Lord, we consecrate to You to serve You as priests. Be our daily experience as the reality of all the offerings so that we may be constituted with Christ and have our hands full of Christ. Amen, Lord, cause us to be constituted with Christ and be filled with Him, so that we may be consecrated to God and ordained by Him to be priests to God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 28 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 1, The Consecration of the Priests.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, Thou art all the offerings / Prepared by God for us; / They are so rich in meaning, / So sweet and glorious. / They have fulfilled God’s purpose / And met His heart’s desire; / They too have satisfied us, / And faced what we require. (Hymns #195)
# As we eat Thyself, Lord Jesus, / Consecrated we become; / By Thy wondrous life within us, / Thy obedience is our own. / No more need we strive and struggle, / Consecrated try to be; / Consecration dwells within us— / Now our part to eat of Thee. (Hymns #1138)
# O how blessed is the priest’s life, / Christ to him is all in all: / All His clothing, food, and dwelling, / And His portion therewithal. (Hymns #911)
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