Experiencing Christ as the Reality of the Offerings, the Total Picture of God’s Economy

If we read Leviticus 1:1 – 6:7 we see that the sequence of the five offerings is according to our practical experience, while the sequence in 6:8-7:38 is according to the total picture of God’s economy.

This entire last week we have been enjoying the matter of Christ as the reality of the peace offering at the Lord’s Table to present the total picture of God’s economy.

If we know God’s economy, if we are unveiled to see what God’s economy is, we will realize that the five main offerings and our enjoyment of the peace offering as the issuing offering is for us to present the total picture of God’s economy at the Lord’s table.

The peace offering signifies Christ as our peace with God that we may enjoy Christ with God and with man in fellowship and joy, and it is primarily fulfilled in our enjoying Christ at the Lord’s table in the breaking of bread for the remembrance of Him and in the offering of Christ to the Father for the worship of the Father.

In the Old Testament there was the peace offering, but in the New Testament we have the Lord’s table, where we as believers enjoy Christ as our peace offering for our fellowship with God and with one another.

First, at the Lord’s table we enjoy Christ as the reality of all the offerings, especially as the peace offering; then, we offer Christ to God for His satisfaction and for our worship to Him.

The result is that we may even offer a voluntary vow to the Lord, giving ourselves to Him regardless of how we feel. When we take Christ as our peace offering, the blood He shed on the cross brings peace to our conscience, giving us the assurance that our sins have been washed away.

Furthermore, He is for the fellowship and enjoyment of God (the best part, the fat, the most excellent part of Christ), the serving priest (those who offer Christ to God; to them He is the loving ability of Christ), the offerer (to us He is the right thigh – the strong Christ in ascension), and to all the congregation of the cleansed people.

God’s portion is the excellent Christ, the inward riches of Christ as the abundance of life which satisfy God according to His glory; also, the tenderness, smallness, and preciousness of what Christ is in His inward being toward God is for God’s satisfaction, and only God can apprehend and appreciate such a Christ.

As for us, Christ is so rich to us in His loving ability and standing strength, and He is our food for our serving supply. We simply need to make sure we stay away from uncleanness, for no unclean person can partake of Christ as the peace offering, especially a the Lord’s table.

We need to apply the blood of Christ, appreciate its preciousness and effectiveness, and eat the Lord as the reality of all the offerings. Today we want to see how Christ as the peace offering is for us to enjoy at the Lord’s table and to present a total picture of God’s economy.

The Sequence of the Offerings: According to our Practical Experience and According to the Total Picture of God’s Economy

If we read Lev. 1-7 carefully we will see that the five main offerings are expounded on in two main sequences: the first is according to our practical experience (in Lev. 1:1-6:7) and the second is according to the total picture of God’s economy.

In Lev. 1-5 the offerings are in a particular sequence: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. This sequence is not according to doctrine but according to our practical experience.

But then, when God gave the laws of the five offerings in chapters 6-7, the sequence is different: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and the peace offering. This latter sequence is according to the total picture of God’s economy.

The first offering is the burnt offering: if we want to enjoy Christ in a daily and practical way, we must first take Him as our burnt offering to satisfy God, and then we need to feed on Him (as typified by the meal offering), enjoying Christ as our food.

The peace offering based on the sin offering and the trespass offering, for when the problem of our sin and trespasses is solved by Christ as the sin offering and trespass offering, and when God and we are satisfied with Christ as the burnt offering and the meal offering, the result is that we can offer Christ as the peace offering for our mutual enjoyment in peace.

This is the sequence of the offerings according to the total picture of God’s economy. According to this sequence what we see in God’s heart and desire is that He wants to be four kinds offerings to us – the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering – all resulting in the peace offering.

The burnt offering is the qualification for the sin offering, and the meal offering is the qualification for the trespass offering; the result and issue of experiencing Christ as all these offerings is that we can offer Christ to God as our peace offering.

God wants us to enjoy His economy around His Son, Jesus Christ; He is our burnt offering, our meal offering, our sin offering, and our trespass offering so that we may enjoy Him as our peace.

When we take Christ as our burnt offering, laying our hands on Him and taking Him as our absoluteness, we offer Him as our sin offering, for by nature we are not what He wants us to be. Then, we eat Christ as our meal offering, we are nourished with Him, and we confess any sins that His light exposes in our being.

The result is that we have peace with God and with man, and we offer Christ as our peace offering to God for His satisfaction, especially at the Lord’s table meeting. This is to experience Christ as our peace offering according to the total picture of God’s economy.

Lord Jesus, we take You as the absolute One, the unique One who can satisfy the Father and who fulfills God’s purpose. We are sin, Lord, and we have the sinful nature; we take You as our sin offering, and we lay our hands on You as the burnt offering. We come to You to eat You as our meal offering so that we may live because of You and live a life for Your purpose. We confess our sins as Your light shines on us, and we apply Your precious blood. Lord, You are our peace with God and with man, and in such a peace we offer Christ to God for His satisfaction.

Experiencing Christ as the Reality of the Offerings, the Total Picture of God’s Economy

The ordinances, the laws, concerning the offerings in Lev. 6-7, are a record of the totality of God’s economy.

In God’s heart and in His desire God would have Christ to be four kinds of offerings to us — the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering—that we may enjoy Christ as peace with God in every way; Christ’s being these four offerings consummates in peace between God and God’s people, and this peace is simply Christ Himself (Eph. 2:14).

In our experience, the peace offering is in the middle – it is the center of all the five offerings, with the burnt offering and meal offering on one side, and the sin offering and trespass offering on the other side.

Eventually, the enjoyment of Christ as all the offerings, issuing in the peace offering, will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate peace offering (Jerusalem means, “the foundation of peace”) in which we enjoy the Triune God as peace (Phil. 4:7, 9) for eternity.

For eternity we will enjoy a forever Lord’s Table – we will enjoy Christ as our peace offering in the city and foundation of peace. All the five main offerings presented in Leviticus 1-7 are a picture of God’s economy, showing us the totality of God’s economy.

There’s the judicial side (the sin offering and the trespass offering) and the organic side (the burnt offering and the meal offering). In these five main offerings we have God, Christ, the Spirit, the believers, the church, the kingdom, and the New Jerusalem.

The entire God’s economy is unveiled to us through these five marvelous offerings in Leviticus. Today we need to live our whole daily life as a mini-New Jerusalem, participating in this Christ in many aspects, and having an uplifted Lord’s table meeting.

The early church continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, the apostles’ fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers. The two meetings of the church that are essential, which require the exercise of our spirit, are the Lord’s table (the bread-breaking meeting) and the prayer meeting (the prayers).

At the Lord’s table meeting we praise and express the Triune God, bringing glory to Him, speaking well of Him, and giving Him honor and glory and wisdom and might.

At the prayer meeting we exercise our spirit to represent God with His authority, so that the Lord may gain an army who would rule over the enemy, take over this earth, advance God’s kingdom, and defeat Satan.

May the Lord’s Table me recovered all over the earth, and may our experience of Christ as the reality of all the offerings be uplifted so that we may see and enter into the totality of God’s economy.

We need to take Christ as our burnt offering every day, and we need to enjoy Him as our meal offering, our sin offering, and our trespass offering, so that we may enjoy Christ as peace with God in every way.

As we take Christ as the reality of all the offerings, we have peace with God, and we present at the Lord’s table a total picture of God’s economy.

Lord Jesus, may our life today be a miniature of the New Jerusalem, daily experiencing and enjoying Christ as the reality of all the offerings. Lord, we take You as the reality of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering, to be brought into peace with God and with man. Work Yourself into us, Lord, as the reality of all the offerings, and may we enter into and present the total picture of God’s economy. May we be those who enjoy Christ as the realty of the peace offering at the Lord’s Table to present the total picture of God’s economy!

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, pp. 246-247 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 12, Enjoying Christ as the Reality of the Peace Offering at the Lord’s Table to Present the Total Picture of God’s Economy.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # 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)
  # 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)
  # With all the cleansed ones feasting, / How rich the Christ we eat! / Oh, this is true communion, / The only way to meet. / We bring our full thanksgiving / And e’en would make a vow— / We’re for the Lord’s recovery / As He is for us now. (Hymns #1104)