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Scripture Reading: Lev. 8:2, 12, 14, 18, 26, 30-31; 9:23-24; 14:4-5, 10, 12, 17-19; 24:2-4
Prayer: Lord, we need Your blood to cleanse us, and we need Your Spirit to anoint us. Grant us the understanding. Show us Your mystery, and give us a full revelation concerning the Divine Trinity.
In the preceding chapter we saw that the Divine Trinity is fully involved with the basic offerings. The Divine Trinity is the structure, the elements, and every aspect of all five basic offerings. Genesis reveals the fall of man. Exodus reveals the redemption of fallen man, consummating in the tabernacle, which was God’s dwelling among His redeemed for God to fully give Himself to them and for them to enter into Him to enjoy Him in full. Then Leviticus continues to show us how God’s redeemed people can enjoy God in fellowship through the offerings in the Tent of Meeting. Leviticus is a full revelation of the divine fellowship.
The subject of 1 John is the fellowship of the divine life (1:3-7). First John reveals that we need to abide in the Lord (2:27-28; 4:13) by the anointing (2:20, 27) and by confessing that we have sin within us (1:8), that we commit sins (v. 9), that we need the cleansing of Lord’s blood (v. 7), and that we need Him as our Advocate, our Paraclete, to take care of our trespasses as our propitiation (2:1-2). First John has only five chapters, but the twenty-seven chapters of Leviticus are a full development of the divine fellowship. To see this is a great blessing. In the ordinances concerning the offerings in the first section of Leviticus (chs. 1—7), we can see the Trinity for our experience of fellowship with God.
In this chapter we will consider three cases in the second section of Leviticus. First, we will study portions of Leviticus 8 and 9 that reveal how a saved one can be a priest to serve God. Chapter 8 concerns the consecration of the priests. The word consecration comes from a Hebrew term meaning “the filling of hands” (cf. Exo. 28:41; 29:9). The consecration of the priests is the filling of their hands to serve the Triune God. A redeemed one must serve God not with himself or with anything else but with the Triune God. Such service requires the full experience of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity as revealed in detail in the consecration of the priests. In order to serve God we need not doctrinal knowledge of the Trinity but much experience of the Trinity. The Trinity is not for doctrine but for experience. In order to serve God as priests with our hands filled, we need the experience of the Triune God.
The next case we will consider in Leviticus is the cleansing of the leper in chapter 14. In type the Divine Trinity is fully involved with the cleansing of the leper. Early in my Christian life I learned from the Brethren teachings that a leper in the Old Testament typifies a sinner. Leprosy signifies sin in both its inward and outward aspects. I often referred to this case in Leviticus when preaching the gospel, but until recently I did not see that the cleansing of a typical leper depends upon the Trinity. It is through the Divine Trinity that a leper can be cleansed. The cleansing of a sinner is altogether a matter of the experience of the Divine Trinity.
The last case of the experience of the Divine Trinity in Leviticus is the arrangement of the lampstand for the shining of the divine light in chapter 24. Although we may be cleansed, without the shining of the divine light we cannot walk or move, much less serve God. In order to serve God, we need to have our hands filled with the Trinity and to be in the shining of the divine light. Within the tabernacle there were all the offerings, utensils, and furniture, but the priests needed the shining of the lampstand to be able to do anything. Similarly, the construction of a modern building may be completed, but without electricity to provide light, nothing can be done within the building. A lack of light causes disorder, but the shining of light results in order. Light controls. It is through light that we are able to move. Furthermore, light and life go together, just as darkness and death go together.
According to the complete revelation of Leviticus, we need the offerings, the filled hands of the priests, cleansing, and divine shining so that we can serve God by enjoying Him. This is the divine fellowship. The divine fellowship is simply our enjoyment of the Triune God for our service rendered to Him.
Leviticus 8:2 says, “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread.” The anointing oil typifies the compound Spirit. According to Exodus 30:23-31, the anointing oil is a compound ointment of five elements compounded together. These elements and their quantities and measurements are rich in significance. The anointing oil in Leviticus 8:2 is related to the sin offering. The sin offering typifies Christ for the priests’ sin. We should not think that those serving as priests do not have sin. Like all men, they have sin within and sins without. The sin offering is for their indwelling sin.
Verse 12 says, “He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to sanctify him.” When the anointing oil was poured on the head of the serving priest, it was no longer objective but became subjective to him. When it was poured on his head, it must have run down and covered his entire body, including his face and his clothing. The serving priest was sanctified not by doctrine or teaching but by being anointed with the compound ointment. The compound ointment signifies the compound Spirit, which includes the Triune God mingled with Christ’s humanity, crucifixion, and resurrection. We cannot be sanctified by teaching; instead, we need to experience the compound Spirit to become holy.
Verse 14 says, “He brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.” The laying on of hands indicates union and identification. The oil was poured upon the priests, and the priests laid their hands on the bull. This indicates that the compound Spirit anoints us and that we lay our hands on Christ to be united and identified with Him. The Old Testament pictures convey many details that are not found in the plain words of the New Testament. The clear, plain word concerning the divine fellowship is in 1 John, but the details of the divine fellowship are found throughout Leviticus. The picture of the oil being poured upon Aaron’s head and of Aaron laying his hands on the bull of the sin offering typifies the compound Spirit anointing us and also typifies our union and identification with Christ.
Verse 18 says, “He presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.” The priests laid their hands not only on the sin offering but also on the burnt offering. The burnt offering signifies Christ for God’s satisfaction. The bull was the offering for sin, and a ram was a burnt offering for God’s satisfaction. Christ is the offering both for our sin and for God’s satisfaction. Because we are identified with Him in these two aspects, our sin is terminated, and we can satisfy God.
Verse 26 says, “From the basket of unleavened bread that was before Jehovah, he took one unleavened cake and one cake of oiled bread and one wafer.” Jehovah is God the Father, and the oil typifies the Spirit. The unleavened bread signifies the sinless Christ, and the oiled bread typifies Christ mingled with the Spirit. Christ lived a life without sin but full of the Spirit. These breads were for the priests to eat and live on (v. 31). In order to serve God, it is not enough to be outwardly sanctified; we also need the nourishment of an inward supply. The offerings were mainly God’s food, but a portion of the meal offering was the priest’s food. The sinless Christ, who is mingled with the Spirit, is the nourishing supply to sustain us in our priestly service.
Verses 30 through 31 say, “Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; and he sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him. And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of consecration, just as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.” After the anointing oil was poured on Aaron in verse 12, it was sprinkled bit by bit on the priests and their garments. The Tent of Meeting typifies Christ as the dwelling of God among His people. The flesh of the ram of consecration typifies Christ as the priests’ food (v. 22; cf. Exo. 29:31-32). One ram was fully burned to be food for God, but the flesh of the second ram, which was an offering for consecration, was for the priests to eat. The bread of the meal offering that was in the basket of consecration also typifies Christ as the priests’ food (Lev. 8:2). The priests ate the flesh of the ram of consecration and the bread of the meal offering. The best diet is composed of the animal life, signifying Christ as the redeeming life (John 1:29), and the plant life, signifying Christ as the generating life (12:24). As the reality of these offerings, Christ is our food for redemption and generation.
Leviticus 9:23-24 says, “Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting. And they came out and blessed the people; and the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the people. Then fire came forth from before Jehovah and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar.” After the consecration of the priests, Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle; then they came out and blessed the people. Glory, which is God expressed, appeared. The fire that burned the offerings on the altar was not a fire kindled by human hands but a fire that came from God. The children of Israel were brought to Mount Sinai and stayed there for nine months, receiving the divine revelation and building the tabernacle. After Israel erected the tabernacle, Moses filled the hands of the priests to sanctify them. This was the first time that an offering was made to God before the tabernacle. In Exodus 40 the tabernacle and the altar were prepared, but the priests, who were required to carry out the offerings, were not yet ready. Thus, the priests needed to be consecrated. Leviticus is a continuation of the record in Exodus. After Aaron and his sons were inaugurated into the priesthood in Leviticus 8, they immediately began to make offerings in chapter 9. As soon as Moses anointed and consecrated the priests, Aaron began to place the various offerings on the altar. However, nothing happened to the offerings until Moses and Aaron entered into the tabernacle and came out. Then fire came forth from God to burn the offerings (vv. 23-24). This divine fire remained burning; it was never extinguished (6:12-13; cf. 16:12).
The fire that consumed the offering signifies God as the accepting agent. As we have seen already, this fire represents the mouth of God, for God received the offerings on the altar through this fire. Because the fire was not an earthly fire from human hands but a heavenly fire from God Himself, the burning of the offering was God’s accepting the offering. This fire was not a judging fire but an accepting fire. The consummation of this burning was ashes, which were a sign that God had accepted the offering. Ordinarily, ashes are not a pleasant sight, but the priests making the offerings hoped to see ashes. When they saw ashes, they had the assurance that God had accepted their offering. In other words, God had enjoyed the food that they offered.
The consecration of the priests, the filling of their hands, was so that they might enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. According to the New Testament, Christian service is a priestly service, a priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). If we do not have the priesthood, nothing we do is a service to God. The service that God requires of us is a priestly service. Regrettably, not many Christians today see this revelation, and as a result, many who think that they are serving God are actually laboring in ignorance and blindness. We need the Old Testament to give us the details of the divine revelation. In Leviticus 10 two sons of Aaron died because they made an offering with strange, man-made fire, which signifies man’s natural enthusiasm, affection, strength, and ability. We cannot serve the Lord by our natural life or ability. Our service must be the filling of our hands with the Divine Trinity; otherwise, our service will be an abomination in the eyes of God. The filling of our hands with the Divine Trinity as the reality of the types in Leviticus 8 and 9 will usher us into the enjoyment of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. Our hands need to be filled with the Divine Trinity, and our entire being needs to be daily nourished by and mingled with the Divine Trinity. Then we will be able to serve God, and the service that we render to God will be altogether acceptable.
Leviticus 14:4-5 says, “The priest shall command that two living clean birds...be taken for the one who is to be cleansed. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered in an earthen vessel over running water.” The priest typifies Christ the Son. The cleansing of the leper required two living and clean birds, which typify Christ the Son, who is living and pure. The bird that was killed signifies the crucified Christ, and the bird that was released signifies the resurrected Christ (v. 7). The cleansing of our sinful condition requires the crucified Christ with His shed blood and the resurrected Christ with His resurrection life. The running water, which was also for the cleansing of the leper, signifies the Spirit. After we enjoy Christ as the crucified and resurrected One, the life-giving Spirit makes us living and pure.
Verse 10 says, “He shall take two male lambs without blemish and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mingled with oil.” The two male lambs, the ewe lamb, and the meal offering each typify Christ the Son. Verse 12 says, “The priest shall take one of the male lambs and present it as a trespass offering.” The three lambs served as a trespass offering, a sin offering, and a burnt offering to be God’s food (vv. 19-20). Lepers signify unclean persons, sinners. As sinners, we need Christ as the reality of these offerings to cleanse us. Christ as the trespass offering deals with our sins. Christ as the sin offering deals with our sinful nature. Christ as the burnt offering is God’s food for His satisfaction. These details are found only in the Old Testament.
The meal offering typifies Christ’s humanity as God’s food, and the oil typifies the Spirit. Thus, the meal offering mingled with oil signifies Christ the Son mingled with the Spirit in His humanity as God’s food. Only the proper humanity can satisfy God. Therefore, Christ needed to become a man to satisfy God. Christ’s humanity is perfect and is fully mingled with the Spirit.
Verses 17 through 19 say, “From the rest of the oil that is in the palm of his hand the priest shall put some on the lobe of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed and some on the thumb of his right hand and some on the big toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering. The rest of the oil that is in the palm of the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of the one who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make expiation for him before Jehovah. And the priest shall offer the sin offering and make expiation for the one who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness, and afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering.” Before the oil was put on the leper, the blood of the trespass offering was put on his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot (v. 14). This shows that without the blood of Christ, we cannot enjoy the anointing Spirit. The ear is for listening, for hearing; the hand signifies doing; and the foot is for walking. This indicates that we have trespasses because we do not hear the word of God properly, we do not do things according to God’s will, and we do not walk in the ways of God.
In the cleansing of the leper we can see the relationship between the trespass offering, the sin offering, and the burnt offering. We first need the trespass offering, then the sin offering, and finally the burnt offering. Because we have many trespasses, we first need Christ as our trespass offering to deal with our sins. Then we need to realize that because the source of our sins is indwelling sin, our sinful nature, we also need Christ as our sin offering. Finally, we need to realize that because the cause of our sins is our not being absolute for God, we also need Christ as our burnt offering. Additionally, we need Christ as our meal offering to supply us to live absolutely for God. By Christ as these four offerings, a sinner is fully cleansed of his uncleanness.
The Old Testament types reveal many details of our spiritual experience. Jehovah being God the Father, the various offerings typifying Christ the Son, and the running water and oil representing the Spirit show us that sinners, signified by the leper, need to be cleansed in order to be brought back to the enjoyment of the Triune God. In fact, the cleansing itself is an experience and enjoyment of the Triune God. All three of the Trinity are fully involved in the cleansing of a sinner. When we were saved, we enjoyed Christ, who shed His blood and resurrected for us; we enjoyed the living Spirit, who gave us life to make us living; and we enjoyed God the Father, who joyfully accepted us. Furthermore, salvation is only the beginning of our enjoyment of the Triune God and initiates us into a life of following and fully enjoying the dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
Leviticus 24:2-4 says, “Command the children of Israel to bring to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting Aaron shall maintain it in order from evening to morning before Jehovah continually. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. He shall maintain the lamps in order on the pure lampstand before Jehovah continually.” The pure oil typifies the Spirit. The light is the shining of God. The lamps are the seven lamps (Exo. 25:37), which are the seven Spirits of God, the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 4:5), as the expression of God. The Tent of Meeting typifies Christ as the dwelling of God among His people. Here Jehovah is the Triune God.
The gold of the lampstand (Exo. 25:31) signifies God the Father in His divine nature, the form of the lampstand signifies God the Son as the embodiment of God the Father, and the seven lamps signify God the Spirit as the sevenfold intensified expression of the Father in the Son. Therefore, the pure lampstand signifies Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. This embodiment shines so that the serving ones can live, walk, and work under the shining of the Triune God.
In conclusion, the arrangement of the lampstand reveals that the Divine Trinity is applied for the shining of the divine light within God’s dwelling so that the people of God might serve Him through the enjoyment of the Divine Trinity. In type, the consecration of the priests, the cleansing of the leper, and the shining of the light of the lamps are all issues of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. This revelation requires much consideration, prayer, and fellowship.
