In Leviticus chs. 1-10 God trained His people to worship and partake of Him through the offerings and the priesthood; Christ is the reality of the offerings with which we worship God.
We love God, we enjoy His word, and we appreciate our fellowship with Him and with all the saints, but as we see in Leviticus, we need to be trained by God through His speaking and His being with us, for He is a righteous, holy, and glorious God, and for Him to dwell among us, we need to match Him.
We still live in our natural way of life, speak natural things, behave in our own way, and live out our natural man.
But the God of glory has come to dwell in us, making us His people. He has chosen us, redeemed us, and regenerated us, and now through His speaking He is training us as His people to worship Him and partake of Him, and to live a holy life, a clean life, and a rejoicing life.
This is what the book of Leviticus speaks about. Now God is no longer merely in the heavens or on the mountain speaking to us – He is in our midst, and He speaks to us in the church.
Therefore, we need to open to His training, receive His speaking, and accept His provision. We need to enjoy and experience Christ as the reality of the offerings, we need to take Him as our priest bringing us before God, and we need to be one with Him to partake of God and worship God.
He knows where we are, He knows our situation, and He knows what our condition is. He’s good at being God. He’s good at training us. We just need to have a cleansed, circumcised, opened, and anointed ear, and we will hear the Spirit speaking.
God is Training us to Worship and Partake of Him through the Offerings
There’s a battle in the universe for worship, and in Leviticus we see how God is training us to worship Him and partake of Him through the offerings and the priesthood (see Leviticus chs. 1-10).
There are different kinds of worship. The magi came to worship the new born Jesus, the King of the Jews, in Matt. 2:11. Several times in the gospels of Matthew and John we see how the Lord in the flesh is worshiped by others – this is an objective, outward kind of worship.
In addition to this, there are many kinds of religious concepts of what should happen when we worship God.
But the Lord’s word in John 4 makes it clear that the Father is still seeking for true worshippers. In John 4:23-24 we see a subjective worship of God in the divine dispensing.
This is the kind of worship that is the expression or our drinking and eating Christ, having Christ wrought into our being, and then we worship the Father with the Christ who has been wrought into our being.
This is being expressed many times after the Lord’s Table meeting, after we partake of the bread and the wine, and we have a substantial time of worshipping the Father in spirit and truthfulness.
What is truthfulness? It is the divine reality – the processed and consummated Triune God – wrought into our being experientially, becoming our genuineness and sincerity.
We all have to admit many times that, what we have to offer the Father is just a hymn and some praises, but we may not have much of Christ wrought into our being to offer Him for His satisfaction.
A spiritual law in the divine realm is in Deut. 16:16-17, which is not to appear before God empty handed. Similarly in Exo. 23:15 and in 34:20 we see the command not to be empty before the Lord. We need to admit that many of us, week after week, come before God empty.
The Father – who seeks genuine worship offered by His worshippers – is not angry about this, but He is not satisfied, not pleased, and not rejoicing. There is a great need for us to be trained to worship God.
On the other hand, we need to realise that God is not the only One in this universe that seeks worship. Satan seeks worship, and he tempted the Lord with the whole world and its glory, if He would only bow down and worship him.
And not too far into the future, a leader will be manifested in Europe who, after he is assassinated and then resuscitated, will be manifested as Antichrist, will worship the dragon Satan, and will demand that all will worship him; the false prophet will also demand the whole earth to worship him.
There will be a battle at the end over worship, and while this is going on, an angel will proclaim the eternal gospel, Fear God and worship Him; don’t worship the beast.
We need to be thoroughly trained in the matter of worship, and we need the Lord to gain our whole being that we would be absolute in this matter, and that there would be nothing in our heart or our possession that we would worship…
Furthermore, God is training us to partake of Him. What does it mean to partake? It is to take part in or experience something along with others; to partake is to be in a corporate situation where we all share in something.
To partake is to have a portion for our enjoyment, such as food. Furthermore, to partake is to possess or share in a certain nature or some attributes; we share in the nature and attributes of God to the extent that they can be shared.
The meal offering is our portion to partake before God and with God (Lev. 6:17). We all partake of the one bread, being one Body (1 Cor. 10:16), and we partake of the Lord’s table – not of the demon’s table (1 Cor. 10:21).
We cannot partake of the demons’ table on Saturday evening and then partake of the Lord’s table on the Lord’s day morning; to partake is to identify ourselves with something and be one with what you partake of.
We are called to partake of God’s holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:10). We are also partaking of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 6:4), and we are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). We need to be trained to worship God and partake of him.
Lord Jesus, train us to worship God with the worship that He desires. We want to be the genuine worshippers who worship God in spirit and in truthfulness. Lord, work Yourself into our being experientially and become our genuineness and sincerity with which and in which we can worship God. Work Yourself into us every day so that we may have a portion of Christ to offer to the Father for His satisfaction. Oh Lord, we want to partake of You, taking part in You and experiencing You together with the saints for our enjoyment. Hallelujah, we are partakers of God’s holiness, partakers of the Holy Spirit, and partakers of the divine nature!
Christ is the Reality of the Offerings – He is the Unique Sacrifice, the Unique Offering
Leviticus shows us that we worship God and partake of Him through the offerings, and in chs. 1-10 there’s a detailed description of each offering. Today Christ is the reality of the offerings – He came in the flesh to do the will of God, which was to replace the Old Testament offerings with Himself (see Heb. 10:7-9).
He took away the first (the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament) that He may establish the second (Christ as the unique sacrifice, the unique offering). There are many offerings in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament there’s a unique offering – Christ, the wonderful person of Christ.
There are eight offerings, and today Christ is the reality of the offerings.
1. The burnt offering, which was wholly for God’s satisfaction, typifies Christ as God’s pleasure and satisfaction, the One whose living on earth was absolutely for God – Lev. 1:3; Num. 28:2-3; John 7:16-18.
Christ lived fully for God’s satisfaction; He made God happy and satisfied God because He always did the will of God (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38) and He always sought the glory of God (John 7:16-18). Christ is God’s food, He satisfies God, and He has been “burned” to feed God and satisfy Him.
2. The meal offering typifies Christ in His perfect humanity as food for God and for those who have fellowship with God and serve Him – Lev. 2:1, 4; John 7:46; 18:38; 19:4, 6.
The meal offering was made of fine flour mingled with oil; the fine flour typifies Christ’s perfect humanity with its balance, evenness, and fineness – He has been mingled with the Spirit (typified by oil) with the application of the cross of Christ (typified by the salt) to become our food and God’s food.
3. The peace offering typifies Christ as the Peacemaker, the One who became the peace and the fellowship between us and God by dying for us, enabling us to enjoy Christ with God and to have fellowship with God in Christ for our mutual satisfaction with God – Lev. 3:1; Eph. 2:14-15; John 12:1-3; 20:21.
Hallelujah, Christ is our Peace maker; apart from Him, we can’t have peace with God or with others. He made peace through the blood of His cross, and now He is our peace with God and with one another. Christ is the reality of the offerings – He’s our real peace offering.
4. The sin offering typifies Christ as the One who was made sin for us and who died on the cross to deal with the sinful nature of our fallen being – Lev. 4:8; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3; John 1:29; 3:14.
He was made sin for us to deal with the sin that dwells in us (Rom. 7:20), the personified sin described in Rom. 5-7. We can’t deal with sin, but Christ as our sin offering can.
5. The trespass offering typifies Christ as the One who bore our sins in His own body and was judged by God on the cross to deal with our sinful deeds that we might be forgiven in our sinful conduct – Lev. 5:6; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; Isa. 53:5-6, 10-11; John 4:15-18.
How can we be forgiven by God? It is through Christ as the trespass offering; on the cross Christ bore up our sins in His body on the tree, and now God can forgive us.
6. The wave offering typifies Christ as the resurrected One in love – Lev. 7:30; 10:15. A portion of the peace offering was waved as a wave offering before Jehovah; this typifies Christ moving in His resurrection. Hallelujah, our Christ is resurrected – He is living, He is “waving”!
7. The heave offering typifies the powerful Christ in ascension and exaltation – 7:32; Exo. 29:27; Eph. 1:21. The heave offering is something lifted up, offered to the Lord; Christ in His ascension and exaltation was lifted up to be the ascended, transcendent, exalted One, the One who is far above all!
8. The drink offering typifies Christ, the One poured out as wine before God for His satisfaction and also the One who saturates us with Himself as heavenly wine to be poured out for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction – Lev. 23:13; Exo. 29:40; Num. 28:7-10; Isa. 53:12; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6; Judg. 9:13.
Christ satisfies God; He was poured out to God for Him to drink – He’s the real wine before God for His satisfaction. Also, He is saturating us with Himself as the heavenly wine until He and we become one to be poured out for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming as the real and unique offering to replace and fulfill all the offerings in Your unique sacrifice on the cross. Hallelujah, today Christ is the reality of the offerings, and we can partake of Him, enjoy Him, and eat Him with God and before God in love and peace! You are the One absolute for God who satisfies God. You have a perfect humanity to be food for God and man. You are our Peacemaker and our peace. You were made sin for us to deal with our sinful nature, and You bore our sins on the cross to deal with our sinful deeds. You were resurrected in love and ascended to be the One above all. Lord Jesus, You are the One who was poured out as wine to satisfy God and man! How we love You Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 43 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 1, God Training His People to Worship and Partake of Him and to Live a Holy, Clean, and Rejoicing Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
# In spirit and in truth, O Lord, / We meet to worship here; / As taught by Christ, the Son of God, / We now in Him draw near. (Hymns #865)
# 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)
# Lord, Thou art our peace offering; / We lay our hands on Thee. / We’re one with Thee, Lord Jesus, / In fact and practically. / Here in the tent of meeting / We offer Thee to God / And with the Father feasting / Enjoy Thee as our food. (Hymns #1104)
About aGodMan
Yes, and in John 7, the river of water of life has come to indwell us and flows out from our innermost being to water those around us.
In the Old Testament Christ is typified by all the offerings. The New Testament reveals that in His person Christ is the fulfillment of these types.
The burnt offering (Lev. 1:3), which was wholly for God’s satisfaction, typifies Christ as God’s pleasure and satisfaction. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He made God happy and satisfied Him because He always did God’s will (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38) and sought His glory (John 7:16-18). Whatever God wanted, Christ did. Therefore, He pleased God and satisfied Him.
As the fulfillment of the type of the burnt offering, Christ is God’s food. Christ has been “burned” to feed God and satisfy Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 459-460)
The meal offering (Lev. 2:1) typifies Christ in His humanity as food for God and especially for those who have fellowship with God and serve Him. In His humanity Christ is our food and constant satisfaction.
The meal offering was made of fine flour mingled with oil (Lev. 2:4). The fine flour, with its evenness and fineness, typifies Christ’s perfect humanity with its balance, evenness, and fineness.
The peace offering (Lev. 3:1) typifies Christ as the Peacemaker (Eph. 2:15). Apart from Christ, we cannot have peace with God or with others. Because there can be no peace in the universe without Christ, we need Him to be our peace offering. Christ has “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20). Now as the fulfillment of the type of the peace offering, Christ is our peace (Eph. 2:14) with God and with one another. Through Him and in Him we have peace with God and man.
The sin offering (Lev. 4:3) is a type of Christ as the One who died on the cross to deal with the sinful nature of our fallen being. As the sin offering, Christ has dealt with the sin that dwells in us (Rom. 7:20), the personified sin extensively described in Romans 5—7 (5:12, 21; 6:12, 14; 7:8, 9, 11, 13, 17, 23).
Christ is also typified by the trespass offering (Lev. 5:6). We are sinful and have many sins and transgressions. God can forgive our sins only through Christ as the trespass offering. On the cross Christ bore all our trespasses before God. He “Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24)….As the trespass offering He bore our sins.
The wave offering typifies Christ as the resurrected One. Leviticus 7:30 speaks of a portion of the peace offering being “waved as a wave offering before Jehovah.”…This typifies Christ moving in His resurrection. The resurrected Christ is “waving”; that is, He is living.
Leviticus 7:32 says, “The right thigh you shall give to the priest for a heave offering.” To heave an offering is to lift it up. The heave offering, an offering heaved up before the Lord, typifies Christ in ascension and exaltation. As the fulfillment of the type of the heave offering, Christ is the ascended, exalted, transcendent One, the One who is “far above all” (Eph. 1:21).
Exodus 29:40 speaks of the drink offering. The wine of the drink offering was for God’s satisfaction; it was poured out to God for Him to drink. In the Old Testament a drink offering was poured out on one of the basic offerings described in chapters 1 through 7 of Leviticus. The basic offerings are types of various aspects of what Christ is to God on our behalf. The drink offering typifies Christ as the One poured out as real wine before God for His satisfaction….Furthermore, the drink offering typifies not only Christ Himself, but also the Christ who saturates us with Himself as heavenly wine until He and we become one to be poured out for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 460-462, by Witness Lee)
Amen! And we can have a holy, clean, and rejoicing life by partaking of Christ as the reality of all the offerings! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Jesus Christ is Lord!
Amen, thank You Lord for doing God’s will, for taking away the first and establishing the second. For being the real sacrifice, the wonderful Christ. Thank you Lord for making God happy for pleasing God and satisfying God! Hallelujah
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[Thank you Lord! Amen.]