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Scripture Reading: Lev. 1:1-10, 14-17; 6:8-13; 7:8; Psa. 20:3; Num. 28:2
We have seen two things whereby God meets us and we meet God. It is by the tabernacle that God comes to meet us, and it is by the offerings that we can meet God. This is Christ coming and going. God is in the heavens, and we are on the earth. How can God come to us? Praise the Lord, it is through Christ being the tabernacle! And how can we go to God? It is by Christ being all the offerings.
Exodus shows us a tabernacle on the earth, and this tabernacle is of three parts. There is the outer court, which has a white linen fence enclosing the tabernacle. Then within the outer court there is the tabernacle, which is divided into two parts: the Holy Place, which is the outer part, and the Holy of Holies, which is the inner part. Within the Holy of Holies, there is the Ark. These three parts compose the Tent of Meeting, which is Christ enlarged.
Christ Himself is the Ark individually, and when He is enlarged, He becomes the tabernacle. This signifies the church, so it is called the Tent of Meeting.
Once the tabernacle is erected, God is no more just the God in the heavens but the very God on the earth among His people. Christ as the tabernacle has brought God down to the earth. God is now in the Tent of Meeting, in the midst of us, through Christ the tabernacle. God is here, but how may we contact Him? God is on the earth among the people, but look at ourselves. We are so sinful. How can we contact God? This is the reason for the fence in the outer court. The white linen fence signifies the righteousness of God. God is righteous, and His righteousness is an enclosing fence. If we would contact this very God who is now on the earth among His people, we need to pass through this fence. In other words, we must meet the requirements of this fence. The righteousness of God is a kind of requirement.
Can we meet the righteous requirement of God? In ourselves we are nothing but sin and unrighteousness. We are not qualified to meet the requirement of God’s righteousness. But praise the Lord, we have Christ! Christ is God’s righteousness, so He is qualified to meet the requirement on our behalf.
Within the tabernacle, on nearly every side, there is gold. All the boards on each of the four sides are overlaid with gold. It is a golden place. Gold signifies God’s nature, which is holy. Not only is the righteousness of God a requirement, but also His holiness is a requirement. If we would meet with God, we must meet the requirement of His holiness as well as His righteousness.
In addition, on the ceiling at the top of the tabernacle, there are the cherubim. The cherubim in typology signify God’s glory. Thus, there is another requirement, the requirement of God’s glory. If we would meet with God, we must meet these three divine requirements. There is the requirement of divine righteousness, divine holiness, and divine glory. God is now on the earth in the tabernacle, but do not think that He is on the earth in a careless way. He is enclosed by His righteousness and holiness, and He is also covered by His glory.
There is the separating line of white linen. This is the first enclosure of the righteousness of God. God’s righteousness is a separating line. It separates unrighteousness from righteousness. The second enclosure is made of gold. Linen is the first boundary, and gold is the second. Righteousness is the first requirement, and holiness is the second. God is enclosed within these two requirements, and He is covered by His glory. If we would enter the Holy of Holies to meet this righteous, holy, and glorious God, we need to meet all His requirements. Do you think that you can make it? Do you have the righteousness, the holiness, and the glory? We need Christ not only as the tabernacle but also as the offerings.
Christ has brought God down to the earth by being the tabernacle, but without Christ as the offerings, we simply cannot meet the requirements of God. Hallelujah, Christ is all kinds of offerings! In all these offerings, Christ meets the requirements of the white linen, the gold, and the cherubim. Christ as the offerings is capable, qualified, and equipped to meet all the requirements of the divine righteousness, holiness, and glory. Praise the Lord that we have Christ! And who is Christ? Christ is the righteousness of God, Christ is the holiness of God, and Christ is the glory of God. When we have Christ, we have these three attributes of God. Then we are able to meet all God’s requirements. But it is not in ourselves; it is in Christ and by Christ. Hallelujah, Christ is our righteousness! Christ is our holiness! Christ is our glory! Whatever God requires, we have, because we have Christ. Therefore, we can walk into the Tent of Meeting with peace and joy to meet God.
On the one hand, Christ is the tabernacle for God to come to us, and on the other hand, Christ is the offerings for us to go to God. He is the way for God to come to man, and He is also the way for man to go to God. Eventually, He is the very Tent of Meeting. Here we meet not only with one another but also with God. This is because Christ has brought God to us, and Christ brings us to God.
In the book of Leviticus, we see that Christ is typified by many different kinds of offerings. If we read through the first six or seven chapters of this book, we see at least five main offerings: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. Accompanying these five, there are the wave offering and the heave offering. Why do we need so many kinds of offerings? It is because we are in a situation of at least five to seven aspects before God.
Our first situation is that we are not for God. Of course, before we were saved, we were absolutely not for God. Now that we are saved, in a sense we are for God, but in another sense we are still not for God. Are you absolutely for God? This is the first aspect of our situation. Whether we are good or whether we are bad, whether we are doing right or doing wrong, the pitiful thing is that we are not really for God. You may be doing good and still not be for God, just as others may be doing bad and not be for God. Regardless of whether we are good or bad, we are altogether not for God. One person may be a bank robber, and another may be a gentleman, but both are not for God. Therefore, in a sense all are the same, whether they are robbers or college professors. Sometimes even the Christian teachers, preachers, and pastors are not for God. Your reading of the Bible may not be for God, just as reading a magazine may not be for God.
Do you really care absolutely for God? Can you say that whatever you do, whatever you say, and whatever you are is one hundred percent for God? No, none of us can honestly say this. Then what shall we do? We must take Christ. We need Him as our burnt offering. The burnt offering signifies that Christ is the One who is absolutely for God. If you would read the four Gospels again, you would see a man living on the earth who was one hundred percent for God. Whatever He was, whatever He spoke, and whatever He did was absolutely for God. On the contrary, we are not for God. We are for our own interests and our own choices. But Christ as our burnt offering is completely for God.
In the past my realization was that we need Christ first of all as our trespass offering. But today my realization has changed. We need Christ first as our burnt offering, because our first problem with God is not a matter of trespasses but a matter of not being for God. Whether we have trespassed or not, we are still not much for God. We may have done nothing amiss, but we are still not for God. Though I may not be wrong with this person or that person, I am wrong with God because I am still not absolutely for Him. So our first need is Christ as the burnt offering.
I was a Christian for years before I realized that God needs food. I was not aware that God is hungry. Then one day I read Numbers 28:2, which says that the burnt offering is the food of God. God is hungry; God needs something to satisfy Him, and this something is the burnt offering offered by His people. Do you satisfy God day by day? God commanded the children of Israel to present the burnt offering every day both in the morning and in the evening. God needs this kind of food. Many Christians may talk about glorifying God, but God would reply that He is hungry. He needs food. You may say that you will go to the mission field to glorify God, but God would say that He desires food from you today right where you are.
How can we know that we are offering food to God? It is when we are satisfied. When we are satisfied, surely God is satisfied by the food we offer Him. If God is not satisfied, we can never be satisfied. So many missionaries are working day and night on the mission field but are not satisfied. If they would be honest, they would say that although they are doing much work to glorify God, yet they are so hungry. That is a strong proof that God is also hungry. God needs food, and that food is just the burnt offering. We must be absolutely for God. When we offer Christ as our burnt offering, we have the deep conviction that we are satisfied, and our satisfaction is just a proof of God’s satisfaction.
We must be clear which life is the life that is absolutely for God. Our life is just the life for self; it is not a life for God. Regardless of how much we train ourselves to be for God, eventually we will be just for ourselves. In principle, it is similar to a monkey that has been trained to eat like a man. Regardless of how much you train him to eat food in a human way, eventually the monkey will revert to his own way, because he has only the monkey life. How can a monkey behave like a human if he does not have the human life? In the same way, our life is a life for self and not for God.
I have heard others saying that a certain person is self-centered. You may say that that person is self-centered, but I will ask, “What about you?” I am not worried about that person being self-centered. I am the same. In a sense we may be more self-centered than the person of whom we are speaking. Suppose I ask the wives if their husbands are self-centered. If they say that their husbands are self-centered, then I would ask whether the wives are self-centered. We are all self-centered. There is no need to condemn others for being self-centered; we are all the same.
But Hallelujah! There is another life that we can experience. We can be one with Him; we can rely upon Him. We can be one with Christ as our burnt offering. He is the life in us that is absolutely for God. Our life may be self-centered, but His life is God-centered.
According to the record of Leviticus 1, those who present the burnt offering must kill it, skin it, and cut it into pieces. Then they must wash all the inward parts and the legs with all the other parts that must be burnt. But we must realize that we are unable to kill, to skin, and to cut into pieces. Our life is unable to do this. The life for killing, for skinning, for cutting, and for washing is altogether Christ. Do you think that you can cut yourself into pieces? You cannot. There is only one life that is able to do this, and that is Christ.
If we will stay in our spirit where we are one with Christ, there will be some killing, some skinning, some cutting into pieces, and some washing. There will even be some burning. If we are one with Christ in the spirit, we will experience the killing, the skinning, the cutting, the washing, and eventually the burning until we become ashes. When we become ashes, it is a strong proof that God has accepted our present.
Psalm 20:3 says, “May He remember all your meal offerings / And accept your burnt offering.” The notes in some versions indicate that the word accept in this verse in the original language means “turn to ashes.” When God turns our burnt offering to ashes, that means that He has accepted our burnt offering. The note in the ASV says that the word accept in Hebrew means “accept as fat.” In Hebrew the word for ashes is the same word for fat. In our eyes it is ashes, but to God it is fat. It is ashes, but God accepts it as fat. It pleases and satisfies God as fat. The more we become ashes, the more we are nothing, the more we become fat to God. This is something sweet to God, and this is the way that God accepts our burnt offering. How do we know that God accepts our present as a sweet burnt offering? It is when we realize that we have become nothing but ashes.
We ourselves should not attempt to be burnt. No matter how much you try to be burnt, you will escape. The more you try to be nothing but ashes, the more you will be something. Do not try to be burnt; do not try to become ashes. Just stay in the spirit, taking Christ as your burnt offering. Then there will be the killing, the skinning, the cutting, the washing, the burning, and eventually the ashes. Whenever we come to the meeting, we must come with such a Christ as the burnt offering for us to present to God. This is food to God. This is Christ as reality in our worship to God.
I look to the Lord that He will bring us into the reality of experiencing Him as the burnt offering in such a way. We need to enjoy Christ in such a way that when the killing, the skinning, the cutting, the washing, and the burning comes, we will be one with Christ, so willing to take all these things. It is not by trying to take them by ourselves but by being one with Christ. We need these kinds of deeper experiences. Then the meetings, full of such a Christ, will be a real enjoyment to God.
There is one more point concerning the burnt offering: the priests and those who present the burnt offering are not allowed to eat any part of it; it is absolutely for God. But the skin is for the priest who presents the burnt offering. If we present the burnt offering, it will be burnt to ashes for God, yet the skin will be ours. This means that the more we present Christ as our burnt offering, the more we will be covered by Him. God enjoys Christ as the burnt offering, and this Christ becomes our covering. In other words, the more we offer Christ as the burnt offering to God, the more we will be in Christ. We will simply be covered by Christ. A person may say that he is in Christ, but many times it is rather difficult to see Christ upon him. But the more he experiences Christ as the burnt offering, and presents Him to God in the Tent of Meeting, the more he is covered with Christ. He is under the covering of Christ, and he shares this covering. God shares the enjoyment, and he shares the covering because the skin is his.
We need to bring these points to the Lord and pray. We need to pray-read these verses in Leviticus 1 concerning the burnt offering a few more times. Then the Lord will point out something to us. We are not here for the teaching of typology or for any doctrine. We are here for something deeper of Christ as the reality. This is the way not only to experience Christ as the reality but also to enjoy Him as our reality. Then in the meetings there will be so many who can present Christ as the burnt offering to God and share the covering of Christ.
