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“Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing. And you shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet with water from it; when they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they may not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering by fire to Jehovah, they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they may not die. And it shall be a perpetual statute to them, for him and for his seed throughout their generations” (Exo. 30:17-21).
“Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help” (Heb. 4:16).
“Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus, which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh” (10:19-20).
In the foregoing chapters we have seen that all the Lord’s work depends upon the priestly ministry. We must keep in mind that when we use the word priesthood, it not only means the office of the priests but also the body of priests. All the ministries throughout all generations depend on the priesthood. The army of God in the Old Testament was a priestly army, and even the apostle Paul preached the gospel as a priestly evangelist (Rom. 15:16). He served the Lord as a priest in the gospel of God. These cases show us that all the ministries and works of God depend upon the priesthood.
Now we must see the practical way to be a living priest. I believe that Hebrews 4:16 and 10:19-20 are very familiar to all Christians who read the Bible. We know that we must come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to meet our timely need. We also know that we must have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies to contact the Lord by the blood through a new and living way. We know these verses, but have we ever considered that they describe a priest? According to the Old Testament, only the priests could enter the Holy of Holies and touch the throne of grace.
The throne of grace is the expiation cover, which is composed of three things: the testimony (the law), the two cherubim of glory, and the blood sprinkled on the cover of the Ark under the two watching cherubim. The composition of these three things is the expiation cover. Thus, the expiation cover is the law, the glory, and the blood. The law is the testimony and definition of God. The glory of God convicts us, but the blood of Jesus speaks for us. It is through the blood that the judgment seat of the Lord becomes the expiation cover, and this expiation cover is the very throne of grace.
Only the priests could enter the Holy of Holies and touch the throne of grace. If we are familiar with Hebrews 4:16 and 10:19, we realize that these two verses speak of the priests.
However, any priest who would enter the Holy of Holies must pass through many things. In the outer court there is first of all the altar. Then, between the tabernacle and the altar there is the laver. When a priest is going to enter into the Holy of Holies, he not only has to pass through the altar and the laver but also through the veil. He must pass through these three main things. Do we adequately realize what all these things mean to us?
At the altar, it is mainly sin and sins that are dealt with. Many kinds of offerings, such as the trespass offering and the sin offering, must be offered to the Lord there. These offerings are for the purpose of dealing with sin and sins.
Have you fully dealt with the matter of sin? Christians, more or less, are careless with the problem of sin. If the Lord Jesus were to stand before us, we would sense that we are sinful in many respects. In certain things we are wrong with others, and in other things we are wrong with the Lord. We are so careless about our sins. But when we go into the Holy of Holies as a priest, we cannot be careless about sin. Anything sinful must be dealt with at the altar. We must go to the Lord again and again to deal with this matter.
First John 1 tells us that when we stay in the fellowship, we are in the light. Then we see our sinfulness. Our shortcomings and weaknesses are exposed by the light, and we need the cleansing of the blood. We need the altar to deal with our sins.
Most Christians today do not have a deep and full sense of sin and sins. When they pray to the Lord, they do not have the conviction that they are so sinful. Therefore, they do not apply the blood. But one who is really with the Lord is so conscious of sin. He will stay at the altar to deal with his sins by applying the blood of the Lord.
After the altar, there is the laver. What is dealt with at the laver? It is at the laver that the hands and the feet of the priests are washed. Our feet and hands are dirty from the earthly touch. This is worldliness. If we are going to be real priests and practice the priesthood, sin and sins must be dealt with, and all the worldliness from the earthly touch must be washed away. This washing is not by the blood but by the spiritual water which is the Holy Spirit. The working of the Holy Spirit is the water in the laver.
Today Christians are not only careless about sins, but they are also very careless about worldliness. They may not be so evil or bad, but they are quite worldly.
Do we come to the laver every day to be washed by the Holy Spirit from the earthly and worldly touch? How do you feel when you go to the department store? Do you feel so holy and heavenly after a certain period of shopping? The earthly touch dirties us, not by sinful things but by worldliness.
We must apply the blood to deal with our sin and sins, and we must apply the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit to get rid of all of the earthly touch so that we may be cleansed for the Lord’s service.
But this is not all. Eventually, we come to the veil, which is the flesh. To practice the priesthood, these three things must be dealt with: sin and sins, the world, and the self. It is not so easy to understand what the self is. Do not think that the self is so bad. Many times the self is really good. The flesh mentioned in Hebrews 10:20 is the flesh of the Lord Jesus. There is nothing bad about Him, but even His flesh had to be rent and broken. Otherwise, His flesh would become a veil preventing anyone from getting into the Holy of Holies. We should not consider whether we are good or bad, right or wrong. Even if we are good and right, this good and right self must be broken.
Once a sister came and tried to persuade me that she was right and her husband was wrong. I would not say one word to confirm that she was right, nor would I say that her husband was wrong. She tried her best to persuade me that she was right. Finally, she challenged me: “Brother Lee, don’t you know what is right and what is wrong?” I said, “Sister, I do not like to talk with you about what is right and what is wrong. But I would ask one question, while you are arguing for yourself and trying your best to persuade me that you are right, do you have the sense that you are in the presence of the Lord? Do you sense that the Lord is standing with you and arguing for you? Tell me the truth. What is your relationship with the Lord while you are arguing in this way? Are you in light, or are you in darkness?”
She was honest and told me, “Brother Lee, I am in darkness. I am not in the light, neither am I in the presence of the Lord.” Then I said, “Sister, since you have told me that you are in darkness and not in the presence of the Lord, what use is it for you to argue?”
With Christians, it is not a matter of whether we are right or wrong. It is entirely a matter of whether we are in the presence of the Lord or not. It is a matter of whether we are in the Holy of Holies or outside it. The more we vindicate ourselves to prove that we are right, the more we are outside the Holy of Holies. Furthermore, we are even outside the outer court. We simply become someone in the street!
Our “right” self must be broken, for it is the veil that keeps us away from the presence of the Lord. To say this is quite easy, and this kind of teaching has been in the church for many years, but I am sorry to say that not many Christians practice it.
In all these chapters we have seen that the church is not just a group of Christians meeting together. It is not simply a religious organization or a social group. The genuine church life is the very expression of Christ from within so many Christians. This expression comes out of these dealings: the dealings with sin and sins, the dealings with the world, and the dealings with the flesh, the self. It is not just to deal with the evil, wrong, and bad things; even the right, humble, and good self has to be dealt with. We ourselves have to go. Without all these dealings it is impossible to have an expression of Christ and the church life.
The genuine church life comes out of the expression of Christ, and the expression of Christ comes out of these dealings. That is why we all must check ourselves. Unless we are willing to deal with all our sin and sins, our worldliness, and our fleshly self, we can never be in the Holy of Holies. Instead, we are outside the priesthood. We may be priests in name, but we are not priests in reality.
How do we know that we are in the priesthood? We know because we have the sense within that we are in the Holy of Holies. Deep within us there is the sense that we are at the expiation cover touching the throne of grace. Many times we are kept away from the throne of grace and the expiation cover simply because we are vindicating ourselves. When we are for ourselves, immediately we are away from the Holy of Holies. I believe that all of us have had this experience. Whenever we are for ourselves, we are outside the Holy of Holies.
On the contrary, the more we repudiate, renounce, and deny ourselves, the more we have the deep sense that we are touching the expiation cover. It is at this time that we receive mercy and find grace. Mercy and grace become like a flow of living water to us. We must not only condemn our bad self, but even more our good self. When we do this, we have the sense that we are in the Holy of Holies.
I have never seen believers who were in the Holy of Holies arguing, debating, and quarreling with one another. Never argue with your husband, your children, your parents, or the brothers and sisters in the church. The more you argue, the more you suffer. You may win the case, but I am sure that you will lose the expiation cover. For a Christian to lose the expiation cover is a real suffering. I am willing to lose all the cases, just as long as I can receive mercy and find grace to meet my timely need—Hallelujah, that is enough! Let others win the case, but give me the expiation cover.
Whenever there is an argument among us, the church life is gone. The church life is in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is like a dove. In the Bible, He is not likened to a tiger, but to a gentle dove. When we argue, quarrel, or fight with others, the dove is gone, the expiation cover is gone, and the presence of the Lord is gone. In the church life the self must be put aside.
Why do I speak so much about arguing? It is simply because arguing is the appetite of the self. Even little children who are only two years old want to argue. To prove how much a person is in the self, see how much he argues. Everyone likes to argue because they are so much in the self, and in arguing, some are very sharp.
Sometimes the brothers and sisters in the meetings even pray in a way to fight one another. As they pray you can sense that some take one side, and others take another side. When this is so, you can be sure that the church life is gone. They have no church life because there is too much self. The veil has never been broken.
I am not talking about doctrine. By His mercy I am trying to impress you that all these dealings with sin, the world, and the self are vital to the church life. Whenever we are with the brothers, the self must be crossed out. The veil has to be torn down and broken. If it is not, there is no way for us to practice the priesthood. The priesthood, strictly speaking, is not in the outer court or the Holy Place but in the Holy of Holies. It is only in the Holy of Holies that the priests can be saturated with the shekinah glory of the Lord. In the outer court the priests are enlightened by the sunshine. In the Holy Place they have the light from the lampstand. But in the Holy of Holies, there is no sunshine and no lampstand. There is no natural light or humanly manufactured light. There is only the Lord Himself as the shekinah glory, shining and saturating them with Himself. When they become the real priests in the priesthood, they have the real expression of Christ.
This expression is not just some kind of good behavior or good conduct. It comes from dealing with sin, the world, and the self. Then we are with the Lord in the Holy of Holies, where nothing as a veil or covering can keep us from being thoroughly saturated with Him. It is not that we are adjusted, corrected, or balanced by Him. Instead, we are saturated with Him. We must be so saturated with His shekinah glory that He will shine through us. Then His very expression will be upon us, and this expression of Christ is the genuine church life.
For more than twenty years I have been trying to find the best utterance to speak about the genuine church life. I believe that the best expression and definition of the church life is the priesthood. When the priests are full of Christ, then He becomes their garments, their outward expression, and on their garments are all the precious stones built up together as a body. The building up of the Body is in the expression of Christ, and the expression of Christ comes from the inner enjoyment of Christ.
When we have passed through all these dealings, we are spontaneously in the Holy of Holies, and we are at the expiation cover. We receive mercy and find grace. The mercy and grace are the hidden manna and the budding rod. The rich, hidden supply of the all-inclusive Christ and His resurrection power is the mercy and grace, and it is also the flow of the living water. In Hebrews the mercy and grace flow out of the throne of grace, and in Revelation the water of life flows out of the throne of the Lamb. The water of life in Revelation is the mercy and grace in Hebrews. These are the hidden manna and the budding rod, the unsearchable riches of Christ and His resurrection power.
Let us go back to the illustration of arguing. We have made it quite clear that the more we argue, the more we lose the expiation cover. That means that the flow within us is stopped, and we lose the mercy and the grace. In other words, we lose the bountiful, rich supply of Christ and His resurrection power. But suppose we learn the lesson of dealing with the self and crossing out the flesh. Outwardly, we may suffer by not arguing, but inwardly, we are in the Holy of Holies. We are at the expiation cover, and the rich supply of Christ becomes our portion, with the resurrection power strengthening, sustaining, and uplifting us within. We are enjoying the budding rod and the bountiful riches of Christ. He is so sweet, so rich, so strengthening, so satisfying, and so refreshing. This is the mercy and grace.
However, many times when we pray we do not have the sense that we have the inner flow. Instead, we sense that the flow within us is stopped. There is some blockage within, because we are hindered by sins, the world, or the self. We may have done nothing wrong or worldly, but each has his “self.” The self is the problem. The self is the separating barrier. So we must learn the lesson of crossing out the self.
The first time I spent a few months with Brother Watchman Nee, he said to me concerning a certain matter, “In any case we must lose the case. We should not try to win the case, for if we do, the flow within will be stopped.”
Are we going to win the case or keep the flow within? Do not try to win the case with your dear wife. Do not try to win the case with your husband. We may win the case, but we will lose the inner flow. To win the case means to treasure the self. The self has to be crossed out. Do not hate others, but hate the self. Do not hate your husband or wife, but hate your self. Do not hate your brothers or sisters, but hate your self. Do not condemn others, but condemn your self. To say or read this is easy, but when the case or cases really come, it is not so easy. Then we will be exposed. Many times we are simply in the self, not in the Holy of Holies.
I have the sense that if only this one message were engraved into us, all the problems in the church would be gone. When the self is gone, we are not in the wilderness but in the good land of Canaan. When the self is gone, we are in the heavenlies, and the real expression of Christ will be our genuine church life. The church is in the Holy of Holies under the expiation cover, enjoying the bountiful riches of Christ and His resurrection power. We must keep ourselves in the Holy of Holies at the expiation cover, enjoying the hidden manna and the budding rod all the time. Then we will be so rich and powerful in the spirit.
Therefore, to be practical priests is to experience these three categories of dealings. There is no other way. We must have our sins dealt with at the altar by the blood, and our worldliness dealt with by the working and washing power of the Holy Spirit. Then we must have our self dealt with by the cross. Spontaneously, we will be in the Holy of Holies at the expiation cover enjoying Christ as the hidden manna and resurrection power. Here we receive mercy and grace, which flow within us all the time as the water of life. Here we have the expression of Christ and the genuine church life. May the Lord be gracious to us that we may be willing to be such priests.
