Seeing how the Entire Divine Trinity is Revealed in the Type of the Burnt Offering

The entire Divine Trinity is revealed in the type of the burnt offering – Christ the Son is the burnt offering, the tent of meeting, and the offerer; Jehovah as the Receiver and the fire is actually God the Father; and the water washing the inward parts is a type of the Spirit.

The entire Divine Trinity works together and coordinates together to make a way for us to enter into God, experience God, and be absolutely for God.

First of all, Christ Himself was fully qualified to be the burnt offering. He lived a restricted life that was fully for the satisfaction of the Father.

He didn’t do His own work, didn’t speak His own words, didn’t seek His own glory, and didn’t initiate anything – everything He did was what He saw the Father doing, everything He spoke was what He heard the Father speaking, and He sought the glory of the Father.

Others were able to go places and do things as they liked, but Christ as the first God-man was restricted by the Father’s timing and doing. He didn’t seek His own glory in that He didn’t speak from Himself – He sought the glory of the One who sent Him.

Thus, by what He did and spoke and was, He was qualified to be the burnt offering, an offering by fire to God for His satisfaction. He was the infinite God who was incarnated to be a man, being limited and restricted, and He was willing to be restricted by the will of the Father, so that God would gain all the glory, God would be satisfied, and God would be expressed.

Are we willing to be restricted? Are we willing to live a restricted live for the satisfaction of God? No one likes restriction, and no one wants to be restricted. We all love ourselves, live for ourselves, improve ourselves, and seek our own goals and purpose, according to our opinion and preferences.

But in this universe there was such a One who lived not by and for Himself but for God, who didn’t speak His own words but God’s words, and who sought the glory of God.

We can enjoy and experience Him as the burnt offering, and we can lay our hands on Him to be identified with Him and thus be enabled to live the same kind of life that He lived, a life of the burnt offering.

Christ is not only the reality of the type of the burnt offering, but He in us is the life that enables us to live a restricted life that is fully for the Father, for God’s satisfaction.

Seeing how the Entire Divine Trinity is Revealed in the Type of the Burnt Offering

The Divine Trinity – who is revealed in the entire Bible to be for dispensing God into man so that man would enjoy God and be constituted with God to fulfill God’s economy – is fully involved with all the five main offerings. Actually, the Divine Trinity is the element and structure of the offerings.

He is the Accepting Father, the Serving Son, and the Mingling Spirit. He is the element, the functioning agent of the offerings, to bring us all into the full enjoyment of the divine riches of the Divine Trinity.

The Divine Trinity is for us to participate in and enjoy God, not for our theological debate. In the type of the burnt offering, the crucial items revealing the Divine Trinity in Lev. 1:3, 8, and 9 are the burnt offering, the Tent of Meeting, Jehovah, the priest, the fire, and the water.

The Burnt Offering typifies Christ as the Food for God’s Satisfaction

The first item of the burnt offering is the offering itself, which typifies Christ as the food for God’s satisfaction (Lev. 1:3). In Num. 28:2 Jehovah said, My offering, My food for My offerings by fire of a satisfying fragrance to Me.

The burnt offering typifies Christ the Son as the food for God’s satisfaction. His living, His words, His being, and everything about Christ satisfied God in a detailed and wonderful way, and Christ is the only One that delights the Father and causes Him to be happy and satisfied.

The Tent of Meeting typifies Christ the Son as the Place of Offering

The offerings were offered at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; in order for an offering to be legitimate, it couldn’t be offered anywhere else.

What is the reality of the type of the Tent of Meeting? The Tent of Meeting, the place where the offering was made, is a type of Christ. Only Christ is the ground of our offering.

We cannot take the ground of our own righteousness or goodness to offer Christ as the burnt offering to God – only Christ Himself is the place where God meets man, for He qualifies us to meet God and He is our meeting place.

The Father is the Receiver of the Burnt Offering

In Leviticus 1, because Christ the Son is offered to Jehovah as the reality of the burnt offering, Jehovah refers to the Father as the Receiver of the offering (Lev. 1:3).

In the New Testament Jehovah is Jesus – Jesus is Jehovah the Savior; in Exo. 3:6 Jehovah is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – He is the Triune God. Here in Lev. 1, Jehovah refers to the Father as the Receiver of the offering.

This really shows us that the Divine Trinity can’t be systematized according to doctrines and traditional theology.

The Priest serving the Offering typifies Christ as the Serving One, our Great High Priest

The burnt offering was offered to God by the priest; in Lev. 1:8-9 the priest who served the offering typifies Christ the Son as the serving One. Hallelujah, Christ is our great High Priest and a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 4:14-15; 5:5-6; 7:17)!

Christ is both the offering itself, the place where the offering is offered, and the Offerer, the Priest who offers the offering.

Logically speaking, this is incomprehensible: how can the waiter, the food, and the restaurant be one (to use today’s terminology)? But hallelujah, in spirit this all is real, for the Divine Trinity is not for mental understanding but for our enjoyment and experience!

The Fire signifies God as the Accepting Agent

The fire that devoured the burnt offering entirely signifies God as the accepting agent. Fire consumes and devours; God accepts the burnt offering by burning it.

Our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29); the fire that burned the burnt offering was God Himself – this fire was God’s mouth. God eats by burning; the burning of the burnt offering was the divine eating (Num. 28:2).

He consumes by burning the offerings presented to Him. The divine fire may be for judging or for accepting; in the type of the burnt offering, the divine fire that consumed the burnt offering was not for judgment but for acceptance by God.

The Water washing the Inward Parts and Legs signifies the Spirit as the Washing Agent

In Lev. 1:9 it says that the inward parts and legs of the burnt offering had to be washed with water; this water signifies the Spirit as the washing agent.

Christ’s inward parts (signified by the inward parts of the burnt offering) and His daily walk (signified by the legs of the burnt offering) were continually being washed by the Holy Spirit to keep Him from being defiled by His contact with earthly things (John 7:38-39).

This doesn’t mean that Christ was unclean, but that His inward parts and His daily walk were continually washed by the Holy Spirit, to keep him from being defiled.

The Entire Divine Trinity is Involved in the Burnt Offering

How wonderful it is to see that the entire Divine Trinity is involved in the burnt offering! It is not just Christ only who is the burnt offering, but the entire Trinity is involved, so that we all can partake of Christ as the type of the burnt offering to share in and enter into the riches of the Divine Trinity.

God the Father is the Receiver; God the Son is the offering, the place of offering, and the serving One; and God the Spirit is the washing One. The accepting fire refers to the entire Godhead, which accepts the offering of Christ and is satisfied.

We need to have our mind renewed in the word of God and leave aside any traditional teachings and doctrines concerning the Divine Trinity, and we need to not be systematized but enjoy the Divine Trinity dispensing Himself into us!

The Trinity is a mystery that cannot be completely understood with our human mind, but we can enjoy the Divine Trinity in the type of the burnt offering!

Thank You Lord for being our burnt offering for God’s satisfaction and enjoyment. Hallelujah, the entire Divine Trinity is involved in the burnt offering – the Father is the Receiver, the Son is the offering and the place of offering and the serving One, and the Spirit is the washing One. Lord, we want to enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity by enjoying and experiencing You in the type of the burnt offering. Dispense Yourself into us, and release us from any systematic theology that would keep us back or hinder us from fully enjoying and partaking of the Divine Trinity!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1983, vol. 3, “The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word,” ch. 6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 3, The Continual Burnt Offering – a Living Sacrifice.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord, You’re balanced, fine and pure and loving through and through / You welcome the leprous ones, blind, lame all come to You. / You have eyes of a dove, Lord — blemish free are You. / No mixed motives, self-glory, what the Father says You do! (Song on, Our Burnt Offering)
  # The name of Jesus is our stand, / It is our victory; / Not on ourselves do we rely, / But, mighty Lord, on Thee. (Hymns #887)
  # The Triune God has now become our all! / How wonderful! How glorious! / This Gift divine we never can exhaust! / How excellent! How marvelous! (Hymns #608)