The Lord today desires to recover the priesthood for God’s building; when there’s a group of priests who live and function in a normal way, the Body of Christ is built up. We need to be restored to a normal situation, a proper situation according to the divine standard, from a condition of failure, degradation, loss, and abnormality.
We are not here to be superspiritual or extraordinary Christians; rather, because everything by large falls short of what God desires, we see the need to be brought to a normal plane to be a normal Christian according to God’s standard, that is, an overcomer.
Because of the enemy’s work to damage and destroy, the Lord today needs a recovery back to normality, a recovery back to the normal situation as outlined by the word of God; we need to see the Scripture-revealed and God-ordained things in His word regarding His people being priests, and we need to be such ones!
It is important to have the recovery of the priesthood, since the priesthood is the building of God. The building up of the church is the building up of the priesthood, and when the priesthood is built up and in place, the church is built up. The spiritual and holy priesthood is actually the spiritual house, which is the church.
In Exodus 25-30 we see how the priesthood and the building are inseparable; as God was revealing to Moses the details of the tabernacle, He also spoke at length concerning the garments of the priests. To God the priesthood and the tabernacle are inseparable; when the assigned men were doing the work of building the tabernacle, they also had to make the garments of the priests – these are not “two works” but one work by one master designer and architect, God, carried out by some men He has selected as supervisors.
The priesthood and the building are inseparable; if we are for God’s building, we need to be 100% for the recovery of the priesthood. The more the priesthood is restored among us, the more the church is built up. Christ is everything to us for the building of the church and for the recovery of the priesthood.
Christ is the Food, the Clothing, and the Dwelling of the Priests
According to the divine revelation in the word of God concerning the priests, they did not only minister to God, bring God to man, and intercede for man before God, but they also had to eat a particular food, dress in a certain way, and live in a particular place. Before we consider the work of the priests for God we need to realize that Christ is the food, clothing, and dwelling of the priests.
The priests breathe in Christ, handle Christ, serve Christ, minister Christ, “cut up” Christ, “wash” Christ, “burn” Christ, etc – everything related to what the priests did and were is Christ. God wants to mingle His Christ with His chosen people, so that He may gain a kingdom of priests.
And this service of the priesthood is for eternity: prophethood will cease, but in the New Jerusalem we will all serve God as priests! Hallelujah, for eternity we will be serving God as a kingdom of priests in that holy city! As priests to God, Christ is our food, our clothing, and our dwelling.
1. Christ is our food – the food of the priests is Christ. The priests did not eat in a wild way and in any place: they had a particular diet to be prepared and eaten in a particular place. The priestly diet and way of eating were regulated; all had to be done in a proper way and place, otherwise they would offend God.
We need to be trained and perfected in our eating: what we eat, how we eat, and where we eat, and we need to help others to be priests eating not in a preferential or natural way but in the God-ordained way.
The food of the priests was the offerings; the children of Israel ate manna in a general way, but the portion of the priests was the offerings. All the offerings are types of the all-inclusive unsearchably rich Christ in His different aspects. We need to eat Christ and live by Him; if we don’t offer Christ to God and eat Him, we have no food.
The priests had the right thigh, the breast, and no fat (the fat is for God). The food of the priests have to do with the content of their living, the satisfaction of a priest, and the daily supply.
2. Christ is our clothing – the clothing of the priests is Christ. The priests had an unbelievable and wonderful attire that took a long time to put on; it was delicate, fine tuned, exquisitely designed layers of clothing to be put on carefully and in order. We need to be trained how to wear Christ and express Him in an excellent and wonderful way. We should not express Christ in a crooked or improper way.
Christ is the manifestation of the food we eat, and He is lived out of us as priests to be our clothing. The clothing of the priests refers to Christ in many aspects. The fine linen, the gold and the golden thread, the blue purple and scarlet, the turban and the girding sache, the trousers and the robe, the ephod – all these refer to Christ being worn by the priests and expressed through them.
Clothing is for covering our nakedness, for our protection from the elements and environment, and for our beauty and glory. Christ is our covering from nakedness, He protects us from the enemy and the environment, and He is our beauty and glory in an excellent, fine, and delicate way.
3. Christ is our dwelling – the dwelling place of the priests is Christ. The priests’ dwelling was the tabernacle, which is a type of Christ; their entire living, food, and dwelling was in the tabernacle, in Christ. Wherever the tabernacle is, that’s where the priests are; the priests are in the tabernacle; these two are inseparable; the tabernacle was the place where the priests live, serve, work, and do everything.
All the aspects of the tabernacle is Christ, and the furnishings and the components of the tabernacle were carried, handled, unpacked, packed, and tended to by the priests. We need to be trained and perfected how to dwell and abide and remain in Christ. Our dwelling place is Christ in a specific and wonderful way, and we need to abide in Him, remain here, and dwell in Him even as He makes us His habitation.
The food, dwelling, and clothing of the priests were uncommon, atypical, and extraordinary; they are unique: no such food, garments, or dwelling can be found in today’s society. Only the priests would eat this kind of food, wear this kind of garment, and live in such a place; all these were designed and arranged by God for the priests.
As we eat Christ as our food allotted to us by God – the reality of all the offerings and the bread of the presence, there is an expression that is glorious, wonderful, unique, and delicate, an expression that shows forth Christ and manifests Him. By eating Christ we take Him into us, and by being clothed with Christ we are in Him; the result is that we dwell in Christ, and we become His building, the mutual dwelling place of God and man – the desire of God’s heart.
Lord Jesus, we take You as the reality of all the offerings. You are our food and our unique diet as priests to God. Lord, train us and perfect us how to eat You in Your ordained way. We take You as our covering: be manifested in us and through us so that You may gain Your corporate expression in the priesthood. Lord, we want to dwell and remain in You, abiding in You as You abide in us so that You may gain a mutual dwelling place, God’s building, the desire of Your heart. Thank You Lord for being our everything as priests: You are our food, our clothing, and our dwelling!
Christ is the Food of the Priests for their Enjoyment and Supply
The people of Israel were given the manna to eat and be supplied, but what did the priests eat? The Bible doesn’t say whether they ate manna, but in Leviticus we see that the food of the priests was the offerings. On the one hand, the priests “handled Christ” by handling and offering the sacrifices for the people, and on the other hand the priests ate Christ by eating the meat of the offerings, as God apportioned it to them.
If we read Leviticus carefully and are enlightened by the Lord we will realize that again and again with most of the offerings God ordained that the priests would have a portion for their supply and enjoyment. Hallelujah, Christ is our food for our priestly service!
As priests we don’t only serve God, minister Christ to others, and intercede for others, but we also handle the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of all the offerings and we eat Him! Our unique food as priests is the rich and unsearchable Christ, and we need to continually take Him in and minister Him to others.
God ordained that we eat only one thing: Christ; our eating, however, should not be wild and in any place, but in the way ordained by God (by praying over His word and calling on His name to fellowship with the Lord) and in the right place (in our mingled spirit). Praise the Lord!
Tomorrow we will see more on how we can enjoy Christ specifically as the reality of each offering, but today we need to realize that the all-inclusive Christ has come to replace all the physical offerings and become our unique diet as priests!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to replace all the offerings with Yourself and become the all-inclusive and rich Christ as our unique diet as priests to God. Lord, we want to eat You and live because of You. We take You as the reality of all the offerings; we offer You to God and we eat You before God and with God in fellowship with God. We exercise our spirit to contact You, take You as all the offerings, and enjoy You as our all-inclusive supply. Lord, You are our food for our enjoyment and life-supply!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1966, vol. 1, “The Priesthood,” ch. 9, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 3 / msg 3, Christ as Food, Clothing, and Dwelling of the Priests.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# The goal of God’s complete salvation / Is to make His redeemed people / His dwelling place on earth / That they may fellowship with God, serve God / And be God’s holy people living a holy life / Through the tabernacle with the offerings, and by the priests— / All types of the all-inclusive Christ— / To issue in the gaining of Christ as their mutual rest / And enjoyment typified by the feasts. (Song on Christ as all to the priests)
# 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)
# God in man and man in God / Mutual dwelling thus possess; / God the content is to man, / And the man doth God express. (Hymns #972)
About aGodMan
The priests] are not only the ones serving God or interceding for others, but they also take care of the different aspects of Christ, handle Christ, and minister Christ to others. Like the businessman who handles a certain kind of merchandise, so the priests handle Christ as their merchandise. They handle the all-inclusive Christ, the rich Christ, the infinite and unsearchable Christ! They are continually taking care of Christ and ministering Him to others.
Now we see that the living of the priests is also Christ. They not only handle Christ, but they also eat of Him. They must experience Him in a very inward and subjective way. They handle Christ not only as the merchandise for others but also as the food for themselves.
The different offerings typify the different aspects of Christ to us. The priests were destined to live by these offerings, for they ate what they offered, and they ate it properly in a regulated way. At certain times, they ate certain offerings at a certain place. If we had the time, we would see where we should enjoy the various riches of Christ. It is very interesting and even marvelous. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1966, vol. 1, “The Priesthood,” pp. 495-496)