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We must continue to examine the relationship between Christ and the priesthood by seeing the living of the priests. As far as their living is concerned, the priests need to eat so that they might be strengthened, nourished, and filled within, and they need to be clothed so that they might be covered without. Food and clothing are the two main items of the living of the priests. Of course, besides food and clothing, there is the matter of their dwelling, which will be covered in the next chapter.
For forty years the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. Day after day they ate manna as their food. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they had only one thing to eat—manna. But have you ever considered what the priests ate during all those years? Did they also eat manna day by day, or something else?
Let us first read Leviticus 2:3: “What is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; it is a thing most holy of Jehovah’s offerings by fire.” The priests were to eat a portion of the meal offering.
Then let us read Leviticus 7:14 and 31-34: “From it he shall present one out of each offering as a heave offering to Jehovah; it shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings...And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and for his sons. And the right thigh you shall give to the priest for a heave offering out of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. The one among the sons of Aaron who presents the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh as his portion. For the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering I have taken from the children of Israel out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons for a perpetual statute to be observed by the children of Israel.” Some parts of the peace offering were also a portion for the priests.
Furthermore, Leviticus 6:26 says, “The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the Tent of Meeting.” The sin offering was another portion for the priests.
Leviticus 7:6-7 says, “Every male among the priests may eat of it; it shall be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy. The trespass offering is like the sin offering; there is one law for them: The priest who makes expiation with it shall have it.” This is the trespass offering as a portion for the priests.
Leviticus 24:9 says, “It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him of Jehovah’s offerings by fire, a perpetual statute.” The context of this passage shows that this is the bread of the Presence. The bread of the Presence was a portion for the priests.
These verses show us that nearly all the different kinds of offerings became the food for the priest to eat. In the last chapter we saw that the priests mainly take care of the things of Christ. They 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.
In all my travels to so many places, I have noticed that Christians eat in different ways. Yet, how many of them know how to eat Christ? Christians today are very careless about Christ, and many real Christians do not even relate the word enjoyment to Christ. They know how to believe in Christ, follow Christ, know Christ, worship Christ, and preach Christ, but they have never heard about enjoying Christ by feeding upon Him.
In 1958 I ministered in a certain city that we should eat Christ. Following the message, a young man told me, “Brother, your message is good, but you use a wild word. How can you say that we should eat the Lord Jesus?” I replied, “If my word is wild, then the Lord’s word is also wild. He says in John 6:57, ‘He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.’ We must eat Him. He also said, ‘I am the bread of life’ (v. 35). Bread is to be eaten.”
Although we cannot cover all the offerings, let us illustrate what the bread of the Presence means to us. The bread of the Presence is one of the foods for the priests, and we have seen that it signifies Christ as our life and life supply. To handle Christ as the bread of the Presence and to minister Him to others, we must first enjoy and feed on Him as the bread of the Presence. This means that we must experience Christ as the inner life and the life supply by feeding on Him.
Not many Christians know how to feed on Christ. We must learn to feed on Him, to take Him in, and to enjoy Him as our spiritual food. When we minister Christ to others, we also feed ourselves with Him. While we are feeding others, we are fed. Every time I minister, the first one to be fed is myself. After the ministry I am satisfied. I am satisfied by my ministering of Christ to others.
Another example is the trespass offering. The whole trespass offering was to be eaten by the priests. This means that when we minister Christ as the Savior to a lost person, not only will the person be saved, but we will also be fed with Christ while we are ministering Him in this way. By doing this we enjoy Christ within. While we are ministering Christ to others, regardless in what aspect, we are fed and we enjoy Him.
Some brothers have told me, “Brother Lee, we cannot stop preaching the gospel. If we do not minister Christ to the sinners, we are hungry.” Their spiritual food was the very Christ whom they ministered to others as the trespass offering.
If we are lazy and do not go out to reach others, we are hungry within. But when we go out to minister Christ to others as the trespass offering, we are satisfied. After we return home, we have the sense that we are really full. This is the way to eat Christ. We handle Christ as the trespass offering for others. When Christ as the trespass offering becomes the Savior to others, He becomes the food to us.
What is our food? It must be Christ, not a Christ in doctrine or teaching, but Christ in our ministry. Christ ministered to others as the trespass offering will be their Savior and our food. This is also true with the sin offering, the peace offering, and the meal offering. I cannot elaborate on all the items, but the principle is clear. The more we handle Christ and minister Him to others, the more we feed upon Him. We cannot minister an objective Christ, but One who is so subjective to us. He as our merchandise is also our food, for we must eat what we sell.
The more I speak about Christ, the more I am satisfied. If this is not true, then I am a false minister. The more I talk with you about Christ and present Christ to you, the more I feed on Christ. While I am ministering Him, I am feeding on Him. He is so subjective to me. I am not selling Christ by my thinking mind but by my enjoying spirit. He is my food. Nothing is so subjective to us as food. The food we eat becomes our very being after a short period of time. We must experience Christ in such a subjective way.
“Bring near to yourself Aaron your brother and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may serve Me as a priest—Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. And you shall speak to all who are wise in heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may serve Me as a priest. And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of checkered work, a turban and a girding sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and for his sons that he may serve Me as a priest.
“They therefore shall take the gold and the blue and the purple and the scarlet strands and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold thread, of blue and purple and scarlet strands, and fine twined linen, the work of a skillful workman. It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. And the skillfully woven band, which is on it for its fastening, shall be like it in workmanship, of one piece with it; of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet strands and fine twined linen. And you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones, according to the names of the sons of Israel; you shall make them enclosed in settings of gold...
“You shall make settings of gold, and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them twisted, a corded work, and you shall put the chains of cords on the settings. And you shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of a skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet strands, and of fine twined linen you shall make it. It shall be square and doubled; a span its length and a span its width. And you shall enclose in it enclosures of stones, four rows of stones: the first row shall be a row of a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; and the second row, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a chrysolite, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold in their enclosures. And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names; they shall be like the engravings of a signet, each according to its name, for the twelve tribes...
“You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron’s heart when he goes in before Jehovah, and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before Jehovah continually” (Exo. 28:1-11, 13-21, 30).
Christ as our food is the very content of our being. He is not only our satisfaction but also our content. Furthermore, Christ is also the garments of the priests. These are their manifestation or outward expression. We must experience Christ in an inner way and express Him in an outer way. We are not merely to eat of Christ but also to wear Christ, putting Him on as our garment. We are not only to enjoy Christ but also to express and magnify Him. Christ must be manifested through us and magnified upon us! He is our inner satisfaction and our outer expression.
Four or five things are very important concerning the garments of the priests. First, they have a robe made of white linen to cover the whole body. Then they have the ephod, which is something like a vest upon the robe. Next, they have a turban, which is a head piece, something like a crown. Finally, upon their shoulders are two precious stones, and upon their breast is the breastplate, with twelve precious stones and the Urim and the Thummim.
The robe is Christ Himself as our righteousness. We are under His covering. Most of us know this as a doctrine, but I am afraid that very few know it in an experiential way.
What I mean is this: Suppose we meet a brother in the church who is very meek, very humble, just, and good. But he was born as a meek, humble, just, and good person. Before he was saved, he was also meek, humble, and good. Now in the church some may say that he is such a good brother, but before he was saved, he was just as good as he is now. Does he have Christ as his robe? No. All he has is his own righteousness, his natural goodness. You cannot discern that Christ is expressed as his meekness, as his humility, or as his justice. The sweet savor of Christ cannot be sensed in his behavior. You may say that he is a good brother with a good character, but the flavor or sweet odor of Christ in his outward behavior is missing. In the meekness of some Christians there is a real sense of the sweetness of Christ. The flavor of Christ is definitely sensed in their meekness. Sometimes in a brother’s humility you can only sense pride, not Christ. Do you see the difference?
Our robe must be Christ expressed as our righteousness. We must not express our meekness, our humility, our rightness, our goodness, but Christ as all these things. We must not know meekness, but Christ! We must not know humility, but only Christ! This is a profound lesson for us to learn. We must learn to reject our natural meekness, humility, and rightness; then Christ will have a free way to flow out of us to be expressed as our covering.
The ephod is made of five main items: fine twined linen, gold, blue, purple, and scarlet. This is very interesting. Linen signifies the purity of Christ; gold, the divine nature of Christ; blue, the heavenly nature of Christ; scarlet, the redemption of Christ; and purple, the kingship and dignity of Christ. All these things must be Christ wrought into us and expressed through us. Others should see upon us the purity of Christ, the divine nature of Christ, the redemption of Christ, the heavenly nature of Christ, and the kingship, headship, dignity, and authority of Christ. They will see these things in us when these aspects of Christ have first been wrought into us. Then we will have a rich and beautiful expression of Christ.
The turban is Christ as our boast and glory. He is our turban, our crown, our head covering; He is our boast and glory. We have nothing to boast of except Christ. When Christ as all these things has been wrought into us, these things will emanate from us as the very expression of Christ.
The garments of the priests also contain the aspect of building, signified by the precious stones built into the gold. The first stone mentioned is onyx, and the last one is jasper. This is very interesting, for in chapter 2 of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the onyx stone is in the flow of the river in the garden of Eden. Then in Revelation, the last book, the main precious stone is jasper. Revelation 4 tells us that the One who sits on the throne looks like jasper. The manifest appearance of God is likened to jasper in the Bible. Jasper is the very expression of God. Jasper and onyx, as well as many other precious stones, are built up in that golden city, the New Jerusalem, which is the dwelling place of God. Thus, on the garments of the priests is the miniature of the New Jerusalem. In the settings of gold on the breastplate, the stones are built up together as a body. This simply means that when Christ is fully wrought into us, He will be expressed through us, and in this expression of Christ is the building of the church.
We must eat of Christ and enjoy Him again and again, taking Him as our food all the time. Then we will eventually be filled and saturated with Christ, and He will become our outward expression and manifestation. In this manifestation all the precious stones are set in enclosures of gold. These precious stones represent the transformed ones, who are set in the golden nature of the divine life. This is the building. All are related to one another and built up together as a Body by experiencing Christ in different ways.
There are also the Urim and the Thummim upon the breastplate. Urim means “light,” and Thummim means “perfecters.” When the breastplate is built up with all the precious stones set into the golden enclosures and related as one, it then, with the Urim and Thummim, becomes the means of God’s revelation for His people. It is through this that God reveals to His people His mind concerning them.
First, we must take Christ in and digest Him as our very content. Second, we must express Him outwardly. Third, in this outward expression is the building up of the Body. Finally, in this building are the “Urim” and “Thummim” as the revelation of the Lord’s mind concerning His people. The Lord’s revelation to His people is through the building (the Body) and in the building (the church).
All these things should not be merely a kind of talking or teaching to us. They must be definitely experienced by us. We must feed on Christ, learning how to take Him in as food. Then we will be filled and saturated with Him. Spontaneously, we will have an outward expression and manifestation of Christ. Others will see all that Christ is among us and upon us. They will see the purity of Christ, the divine nature of Christ, the heavenly nature of Christ, the redemption of Christ, and the kingship of Christ. They will simply see Christ upon us in His real manifestation, and in this manifestation there is the building of the saints, for they will be transformed into the precious stones and built up together in the divine nature. Finally, the revelation will come from the Lord through His built-up Body, showing us His mind about His people.
Now we can realize how much is included in the priesthood; it is very comprehensive. We have only seen a very simple and brief sketch. May the Lord reveal all these things to us in a practical way that we as priests may experience Christ as our inner food and outer clothing.
