Overcoming the Principle of Babylon by Taking Christ as our Burnt Offering Daily

The only way for us to overcome the principle of Babylon is by daily taking Christ as our burnt offering, for He lived a life that is perfect and absolutely for God and for God’s satisfaction, and He is such a life in us to enable us to have such a living.

We first need to see what is the principle of Babylon and realise that, even though we may not be in Babylon but in the church life, this principle still operates in us and affects our living and work in the church life.

Then, we need to see what is the way for us to be freed from and overcome the principle of Babylon; the way is not by trying or keeping some laws and principles, but by taking Christ as our burnt offering so that, by being identified with Him in spirit through prayer, we may be inwardly enabled to live the same kind of life that He lived when He was on earth.

The only one that is pleasing to God the Father, the only one who had a living that was absolutely for Him and His satisfaction, and the only one who can live such a life in us again is Christ as the burnt offering.

May we be enlightened by the Lord to see the principle of Babylon and condemn it, and may we exercise our spirit to pray ourselves into God and pray God into us by taking Christ as our burnt offering, so that He in us may overcome the principle of Babylon, and He in us may live a life for God’s satisfaction.

When we allow the Lord’s light to shine and expose the principle of Babylon in our being, and when we agree with His light to judge anything in us that is according to this principle, we become one with the Lord.

Then, we can lay our hands on Christ, our burnt offering, and be identified with Him, even eat Him, so that we may no longer live to ourselves but to Him who loved us and gave Himself up for us. To overcome the principle of Babylon we need to be absolute, for anything halfway is in the principle of Babylon.

How can we be absolute? It is by taking Christ as our burnt offering. Only He is the absolute one, and we can be identified with Him. How can we overcome division, being scattered, mixture, confusion, and being halfway?

All these are present and operating in our being, and we can’t overcome them. It is only Christ as our burnt offering that can enable us inwardly to overcome the principle of Babylon and to live the same kind of life that Jesus lived when He was on earth.

Christ is our Burnt Offering – He Lived a Life Absolutely for God and His Satisfaction

The way for us to overcome the principle of Babylon is by daily taking Christ as our burnt offering. The burnt offering in the Old Testament was the only offering that was completely offered and burned for God, for His satisfaction.

Literally, the Hebrew word for burnt offering in Lev. 1:3 means that which goes up, signifying something that ascends to God.

The burnt offering typifies Christ in a particular aspect, which is not the redeeming aspect but in His living a life that is perfect and absolutely for God and for His satisfaction (see Lev. 1:3, 9; John 5:19, 30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:29; 14:24), and in His being the life that enables us, God’s people, to have such a living.

Christ with His absolute and perfect living is God’s food that God may enjoy it and be satisfied (Num. 28:2).

On one hand Christ died an all-inclusive death on the cross to redeem us – He is the sin offering; on the other, He lived a life that satisfied God to the uttermost. If you read the four Gospels you will see that Christ, the God-man, lived a life in which the divine attributes were expressed through His human virtues, and His human virtues were expressed in and with His divine attributes.

Even when He was confronted, tested, examined, and questioned by the opposers (the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians), He still expressed God, He did not do His own will, He did not seek His own glory, and He did not speak His own word, but He did the Father’s will, spoke the Father’s words, and sought the Father’s glory.

The life of the Lord Jesus had no blemish, no defect, and no imperfection. He lived a perfect life 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). Just as the burnt offering was offered in the outer court and was accepted by God, so Christ offered Himself on the cross on earth, and He was accepted by God the Father.

On one hand Christ died on the cross on earth, outside Jerusalem, and on the other, He offered Himself to God the Father, and He was accepted and pleasing to God. In this One the Father finds all His delight, and only this one is qualified to live a life that is pleasing to God.

We can take Him in, we can lay our hands on Him, and we can be identified with Him as such a one.

Lord Jesus, You are the reality of the burnt offering. You alone are the one absolute for God, the One who lived a life that is fully pleasing to the Father. Lord, we are not absolute for God, but You are. We take You as our burnt offering. We lay our hands on You, and we identify ourselves with You. Live in us today the same kind of life that You lived while on earth, a life that is absolute for God and that is pleasing to Him. Lord, we take You as our burnt offering to be delivered from the principle of Babylon!

Daily Taking Christ as our Burnt Offering to Live a Life that is Absolute for God

Anything that is halfway and not absolute for the Lord is Babylon; however, Christ as the burnt offering in our spirit enables us to live a life that is absolute for God and His satisfaction.

In order for us to overcome the principle of Babylon which operates in our being, we need to daily take Christ as our burnt offering; He lived a life that is perfect and absolutely for God and His satisfaction, and He is the life that enables us to have such a living (see Lev. 1:3, 9; John 5:19, 30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:29; 14:24; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Gal. 2:19-20; Phil. 1:19-21a).

The burnt offering is a satisfying fragrance to Jehovah, and the apostles testified that they were a fragrance of Christ wherever they went (2 Cor. 4:15).

We need to learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus, that is, we need to have the life of Jesus being duplicated and reproduced in our living as we enjoy Him and pray ourselves into Him (see Eph. 4:20-21).

The love of Christ constrains us that we no longer live to ourselves but to Him who died for us and has been raised (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

By laying our hands on Christ as our burnt offering, we are joined to Him, and He and we become one. We lay our hands on Christ through prayer, so that we experientially enter into an organic union with Him; in this organic union all our weaknesses, defects, and faults are taken on by Him, and all His virtues become ours.

How can we be organically joined to Christ as our burnt offering through our laying our hands on Him? It is by the exercise of our spirit through the proper prayer, so that we may be one with Him in an experiential way.

Every morning and every day we need to take Christ as our burnt offering, and we will be organically joined to Him; He takes all our problems and defects, and His virtues become ours. We need to have a proper prayer – praying ourselves into GOd and praying God into us, so that we may be one with Christ in an experiential way.

When we lay our hands on Christ through prayer, the life-giving Spirit (who is the very Christ on whom we lay our hands) will immediately move and work within us to live in us a life that is a repetition of the life that Christ lived on earth, the life of the burnt offering.

This is the key, the secret: taking Christ as our burnt offering through prayer and the exercise of our spirit. In and by ourselves we cannot live a life for God’s satisfaction, but Christ in us can satisfy God with sweetness, peace, and rest to live a life that is absolutely for God.

Christ wants to live in us the same kind of life that He lived when He was on earth, the life of the burnt offering; we need to simply take Christ as our burnt offering, being identified with Him and one with Him, to live the kind of life He lived on earth.

This is the way for us to overcome the principle of Babylon, and this is the way for us to live a life absolutely for God and His satisfaction.

Lord Jesus, we take You as our burnt offering: we lay our hands on You to be joined to You and have You live in us a life that is absolutely for God and His satisfaction. We exercise our spirit, Lord, and we want to pray ourselves into God and pray God into us, so that we may be one with You in an experiential way. Have a way to move and work within us to live a life that is a repetition of the life that You lived on earth, a life of the burnt offering. Lord, may we daily take You as our burnt offering to live a life that is a satisfying fragrance to the Father!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Leviticus, msgs. 3-4, 6 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Church (2017 fall ITERO), week 3, The Degradation of the Church – the Principle of Babylon and the Way to Overcome it.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord, Thou art our consecration, / Thou the consecrated One; / Thou hast satisfied the Father— / Consecration thus was done. / When on earth Thou hadst no pleasure, / Save to do the Father’s will; / Now Thou livest here within us, / Consecration to fulfill. (Hymns #1138)
  # We the altar must obtain, / Have our all upon it lain. / The burnt-offering must be slain, / O glory be to God! / This we never should dispute, / For the church be absolute, / All that’s otherwise uproot / In the local churches now. (Hymns #1251)
  # 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 / To live in us a life, a repetition of Christ our King, / The One who lived on earth the life of the burnt offering. (Song on Our burnt offering)