For our consecration for the priesthood we need to enjoy Christ as the sin offering and minister Him as the sin-dealing life to the saints, thus bearing the iniquity of God’s people.
Part of the consecration of the priests was that there was a bull offered as a sin offering, which signifies the richer and stronger Christ as our sin offering to deal with the flesh, the old man, the indwelling sin, Satan, the world, and the ruler of the world.
For us to assume our New Testament priesthood we need to enjoy and experience Christ as such a One. What we are by our fallen nature is a constitution of sin, the world, the old man, and even Satan, so for us to serve God as priests, we need to take Christ as our sin offering, enjoy Him as the sin dealing life, and minister Him as such a One to God’s people.
On one hand we need to have such an experience, coming to the Lord and taking Him as our sin offering, exercising our spirit to experience Him as the sin dealing life, and allowing this Christ to terminate anything of sin, the world, the old man, the ruler of the world, the flesh, and Satan in us.
On the other hand, we need to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to the saints, learning to cherish and warm up a brother who is in sin, and then praying to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life, thus bearing the iniquity of God’s people.
As believers in Christ we are all priests to God, and we need to have a fresh consecration before Him, having our hands filled with the wonderful Christ as the reality of all the offerings, and in particular for our consecration for the priesthood, we need to enjoy, experience, and minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to God’s people.
The priests not only minister to God by enjoying God and being filled with God, but they also minister to God’s people by bringing God to man and bringing man to God.
The priests also bear the iniquity of God’s people, for they themselves experience Christ as the stronger and richer sin offering, and they have the capacity to minister Christ to the dear ones who are in sin.
The church life is not a utopia, and the saints are not perfect (yet) or sinless (yet), so there’s the need for the priests to be consecrated to God and experience Christ as the sin offering, and then bear away the iniquity of the people of God by cooperating with God to help and save a brother who is in sin.
What a wonderful God we have, how loving and caring is His heart, and how much He wants to recover those who sin and are lost! And we as His priests can cooperate with Him for this!
Enjoying the Richer and Stronger Christ a our Sin Offering and Ministering Christ to God’s People
In Lev. 8:14-15 we see that, for the consecration of the priests, Aaron and his sons had to offer a bull for a sin offering. Usually people offered a lamb or a smaller animal for a sin offering, so this bull signifies the stronger and richer Christ as our sin offering.
As such a One, Christ is our sin offering to deal with the flesh, the old man, the indwelling sin, Satan, the world, and the ruler of the world, and when we experience Him as such a One, we can assume our New Testament priesthood.
In ourselves we are a constitution of all these negative things, so for us to serve God as priests, we need to take Christ as our richer and stronger sin offering for what we are. We need to daily offer Christ as our sin offering for our priesthood.
The richer and stronger Christ as our sin offering deals with our natural man, our flesh, the personified sin that dwells in us (see Rom. 7), Satan, the world hanging on Satan, and the power struggle.
For us to be priests to God, we need to deal with all these negative things by taking Christ as our sin offering, and when we pray and take Christ as such a One, we will be prevailing priests serving God.
Also, our offering of Christ as our sin offering is for us to bear the iniquity of God’s people. This shows that we, the New Testament priests, can partake of Christ as the believers’ sin offering not in the sense of accomplishing redemption, but in the sense of participating in Christ’s life.
As believers in Christ we are priests to God, and we can participate in Christ’s life to bear others’ sins, for He as our life supply enables us to bear the problems of God’s people.
We can never participate in Christ’s redemption in the sense of dying for others’ sins; only Christ can do this, only He is qualified to do this, and we have no share in it.
However, we can share in His life, and His life is a sin-dealing life, a sin-bearing life; we can enjoy and minister such a life to others as priests to God. This is why we need to richly enjoy Christ as the sin offering in the church life.
The rich enjoyment of Christ as our sin offering in the church life enables us as priests to God to minister Christ to the believers as the life that deals with sin.
As we richly enjoy Christ as our sin offering, we can minister such a Christ to the believers so that they may deal with their sins to restore their broken fellowship with God (see Gal. 6:1-2; Eph. 4:2).
It is interesting to notice that the first thing a priest had to do in order to be consecrated is to offer a sin offering; it is not the burnt offering first, but the sin offering. This reminds us of our Adamic, sinful constitution that comprises the many negative things that are in us, so we need to offer Christ as our sin offering for our priesthood.
Lord Jesus, may we all enjoy the richer and stronger Christ as our sin offering, and may we participate in Your life to minister the sin-dealing life of Christ to others! Oh Lord, in ourselves we are a constitution of many negative things, so we take You firstly as our sin offering, and we want to enjoy Your sin-dealing life. May we daily offer You as our sin offering for our priesthood, and may we learn to participate in Your life to minister the life that deals with sin to Your people so that they may return to God and be priests to God!
Experience and Minister Christ as the Sin-Dealing Life to God’s People for our Priesthood
As priests to God, we need to be consecrated to Him by taking Christ as our sin offering and ministering Him as the sin-dealing life to God’s people for our priesthood.
The priests in the Old Testament were to eat the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary so that they may bear the iniquity of the assembly, to make expiation for them before Jehovah (Lev. 10:17).
The fact that the priests partook of the sin offering to bear the iniquity of the people signifies that we, as New Testament priests, need to partake of Christ as the believers’ sin offering and minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to others.
On one hand we are here to minister to the Lord, enjoy Him, and be filled with Him; on the other hand, we are here to serve His people, bearing them before the Lord and ministering God to them.
As we enjoy Christ as the sin-dealing life, we must have the capacity to bear away the iniquity of God’s people; we must learn to minister Christ to the dear ones who are in sin.
Before we partake of the Lord’s Table, we need to prove ourselves, dealing with the Lord concerning our being. We may know of some saints who have been committing sins and still come to the Lord’s table; our job, however, is not to prove others or judge them, but to prove ourselves.
However, at the same time, we need to cooperate with the Lord as priests to God to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to the ones in sin.
The last thing a saint who commits sin needs to hear is our words of rebuking, criticizing, and exposing his sin; what they need is more Christ as the sin-dealing life so that they may be able to no longer live in sin.
To do this is not so easy; we need to first enjoy Christ as our sin offering and be dealt with by enjoying Christ’s sin-dealing life. We must take Christ as our sin offering for what we are in our nature, and we need to let His life to deal with any sin in our being.
Then, as we enjoy Christ as the sin-dealing life, we will have the capacity to bear the iniquity of God’s people by ministering Christ to the dear ones who are in sin. We shouldn’t condemn or point out the faults of the saints who commit sins; this will only damage them and not help them.
We need to be one with the Lord as the One who softens people’s heart, so that his hardened heart would be softened and open (Heb. 3:13).
We need to trust in the Lord that we may have the grace with the Spirit to soften his hardened heart; we should not trust in ourselves or use natural methods in this, but trust in the Lord.
When his heart is softened and warmed up, then the very Christ as life will be actually, really, and richly ministered to him as life; this life, which is the Spirit Himself, will work within him.
We cannot convince or change others who sin, but we can cooperate with the Lord to experience and minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to God’s people for our priesthood, and this life will supply the saints and enable them to no longer commit sin or live in sin.
Lord Jesus, we want to experience and enjoy Christ as the sin-dealing life so that anything in our being that is not according to You may be dealt with and removed. Lord, make us one with You as Your priests, part of the divine and holy priesthood, to bear the iniquity of God’s people. Give us Your loving, caring, and shepherding heart that we may soften others’ heart and learn to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to them. Oh Lord, may Christ as such a life be ministered to the saints so that He may work in them and save them from sin, enabling them to no longer live in sin!
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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1988, vol. 3, “A Timely Word,” ch. 1, 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:
# Take my life, and let it be / Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; / Take my moments and my days, / Let them flow in ceaseless praise. (Hymns #445)
# Such a union requires exercise through proper prayer / We open our failures, defects for our Lord to bear. / As we pray in this way, Christ — the One with no such sin / As the life-giving Spirit moves and works within… (Song on, Our burnt offering)
# God’s heart toward us is good in every way; / And our hearts too, in all we do and say, / Can minister and build up all the saints; / With cherishing and kindness, love constrains. (Song on, Shepherd the Flock)
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