Message 137
(5)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 29:15-28; 40:14-15
According to the New Testament, the goal of God’s salvation is to make all those who believe in Christ priests of God. Therefore, if a person is saved but fails to become a priest to serve God, he cannot fulfill God’s purpose or satisfy His desire. In the last book of the New Testament, Revelation, we see that the redeemed ones are all priests of God. In Revelation 1:5 and 6 we are told that Jesus Christ has loosed us from our sins by His blood and “made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.” Likewise, Revelation 5:10 says that we have been made “to our God a kingdom and priests.”
From the typology in the Old Testament, we see that God first redeemed His people, then saved them, and then educated them. These three matters are revealed in the book of Exodus. First God redeemed the children of Israel, then He rescued and delivered them, and after that He educated them. While they were in Egypt, they were redeemed, and then they were rescued from Egypt. In the wilderness they enjoyed God’s provision. Eventually, they arrived at Mount Sinai, where they received a divine education. At Mount Sinai God came in to sanctify certain ones among the children of Israel to be His priests.
If we consider the entire revelation of the Scripture, we shall see that it was not God’s intention to sanctify merely some of His redeemed ones to be priests. No, God’s intention was to sanctify all of His redeemed people for this purpose. This means that God intended for the whole people of Israel to be a kingdom of priests. Exodus 19:6 says, “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” However, due to the degradation of the people, eleven tribes fell away. Therefore, God chose one of the twelve tribes, the tribe of Levi, to be His priests.
We should not think that God wants only some of His people to be sanctified as priests. On the contrary, God is sanctifying all believers in Christ to be His priests. For this reason, some Christian teachers speak of the New Testament priesthood as the universal priesthood. Because the priesthood is universal, there should not be some believers who are priests and others who are laymen. There should not be any clergy-laity system among New Testament believers. All those who believe in Christ, all the redeemed and saved ones, should be educated and sanctified to be priests of God. As revealed in the New Testament, God’s desire is that all who have been redeemed in Christ should be His priests. This is spoken of not only in Revelation, but also in 1 Peter. First Peter 2:5 says, “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (lit.). Moreover, 1 Peter 2:9 says that the believers are a royal priesthood. This reveals that God’s New Testament economy is to have all His redeemed people to be His priests.
Although the New Testament reveals clearly that all the redeemed ones should be God’s priests, the New Testament does not provide a detailed description of how we may be priests serving God in a practical way. There is no detailed account in the New Testament of how we may actually be sanctified to serve God as priests. The New Testament tells us that God wants us to be priests, but it does not show us how to become priests. But in the Old Testament, specifically, in the book of Exodus, there is a chapter that gives such a detailed description of the sanctification of God’s priests. This chapter is Exodus 29. Concerning this, chapter twenty-nine of Exodus is precious. I can testify that I love this chapter very much.
In order to love anything it is necessary to have a proper appreciation of that thing. For example, in my home province in China there is a mountain known for yielding crystal used in making eye glasses. Outwardly, the stones containing this crystal are rough and uncomely. But if these stones are cut open, the high quality crystal within them can be seen. Only by having the proper appreciation of these stones can we value them. In the same principle, if we would have a love for chapter twenty-nine of Exodus, we must first come to appreciate this chapter. I believe that if you spend adequate time in this portion of the Word, you also will come to love it. It may be that after all these messages on Exodus 29, you will love this chapter as much as I do.
Why is Exodus 29 so precious? The preciousness of this chapter consists in its detailed description of how God’s redeemed people can be sanctified to serve Him as priests. As we have pointed out, what this chapter describes is not ordination or even just consecration, but sanctification. The first verse of this chapter says, “And this is the thing which you shall do to them to sanctify them to serve as priests to Me.” God commanded Moses to sanctify Aaron and his sons to serve as His priests.
Christians today are familiar with the words sanctify and sanctification. If we have a heart to seek a full sanctification in our experience, we must come to chapter twenty-nine of Exodus. This chapter is not only on the priesthood; in particular, it is a chapter on sanctification.
Sanctification is an important subject in theology. It may be as great in importance as justification. Among believers there are different schools of teaching concerning sanctification. What we need is an understanding of sanctification as described in Exodus 29. In these messages I shall try to give a brief sketch of the sanctification of the priests as portrayed in Exodus 29.
When Aaron and his sons were being sanctified to serve God as priests, they first had to realize that they were unclean, they were dirty, and they needed to be cleansed. It is not pleasant to realize that we are dirty and need a thorough cleansing. Physically speaking, uncleanness may come from two sources, one source from within us and the other from outside of us. On the one hand, we may come in contact with many things that cause us to become dirty. On the other hand, perspiration from within us also makes it necessary for us to bathe daily. Therefore, we become dirty, unclean, both from perspiration and from the outward touch with earthly things. In fact, it is not necessary to touch anything to get dirty, for we can be made dirty simply by what is in the atmosphere.
I use the matter of physical cleansing to illustrate the washing, the cleansing, that is part of the process of sanctification to serve as God’s priests. Do you intend to be a priest serving God? If this is your intention, you must realize that you are dirty and that you need to wash. This is the reason in chapter twenty-nine the sanctification of Aaron and his sons to be priests of God begins with washing, with cleansing. Exodus 29:4 says, “And you shall bring Aaron and his sons near unto the door of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water.” We need to wash away the uncleanness caused by perspiration and also the uncleanness which comes from the contact with the things on earth.
After Aaron and his sons had been washed with water, they needed to be clothed with priestly garments. In order to serve God as priests, they had to be properly clothed. Their priestly garments can be compared to a uniform, official clothing worn for a specific purpose. The priestly garments not only covered the nakedness of Aaron and his sons; these garments also qualified them to fill the office of priest. Exodus 29:5 and 6 say, “And you shall take the garments, and clothe Aaron with the tunic, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate; and you shall gird him with the band of the ephod. And you shall put the turban upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the turban.” Verses 8 and 9 go on to say, “And you shall bring his sons near, and clothe them with tunics. And you shall gird them with a girdle, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them.” These verses clearly indicate that in order to serve as priests, Aaron and his sons had to be clothed with the priestly garments.
As the high priest, Aaron wore several layers of clothing. The innermost layer was the breeches, a garment that covered the area from the loins to the knees, the most unclean part of the body. Then Aaron wore a tunic, which may be called the inner robe. Over the tunic he was clothed with an outer robe, the robe of the ephod. Then he put on the ephod and the breastplate. Here we have five layers: the breeches, the tunic, the robe, the ephod, and the breastplate. In addition, Aaron wore a covering on his head. As the priests, Aaron’s sons wore the breeches, a tunic, and a head covering. By this we see that to serve as priests, we first need to have our uncleanness washed away, and then our nakedness needs to be covered with the priestly garments. It is important for us to realize that, as fallen human beings, we are unclean and also naked in the sight of God. Therefore to be God’s priests we need to be washed and clothed.
Those who would serve God as priests must realize that they are unclean and need to be washed, and that they are naked and need to be clothed. Furthermore, we all must see that by our natural birth we are sin. Because we were born in sin, we have a nature of sin. By birth we are sinners, a composition, a constitution, of sin. Therefore, even though we have been washed and clothed and have solved the problems of uncleanness and nakedness, what about our fallen nature? Because we are sin by nature, we need to be redeemed.
The words redemption and redeemed are commonly used by Christians. However, not many believers realize adequately that in the sight of God redemption includes three matters. First, it includes termination. Because we are sinners, we need to be terminated. After we have been terminated, we need to be redeemed, and what is redeemed needs to be restored. Therefore, we have termination, redemption itself, and restoration. How can all of this be accomplished? For this, we need Christ as our sin offering.
In Exodus 29 the sin offering is mentioned. According to this chapter, the sin offering was slaughtered, terminated, and then it was cut into pieces and burned. Hence, the entire sin offering was burned to ashes. The inward parts of this offering were burned on the altar; the remaining parts were burned outside the camp.
The sin offering in Exodus 29 typifies Christ. Christ has joined Himself to us, and now we join ourselves to Him. This joining is signified by Aaron and his sons laying their hands upon the head of the bull used in the sin offering. In this way they fully identified themselves with that offering. This means that by being identified with the sin offering, they too were slaughtered, cut in pieces, and burned. In Christ we have been terminated and reduced to ashes. In the sight of God, our old nature has become ashes. We have been utterly terminated.
Aaron and his sons were dirty and needed to be washed. They were naked in the sight of God and needed to be clothed. Now we see that they were sinful by nature and needed to be redeemed. Do you intend to be a priest serving God? If this is your intention, you need to be washed, you need to be clothed, and you need to be redeemed.
Redemption is by Christ as the sin offering. This redemption implies termination. God will not redeem anything sinful unless it is terminated. Therefore, in Christ we have been terminated. Nothing remains of our old nature except a heap of ashes.
In Exodus 29 we have not only the bull of the sin offering, but we also have two rams, one for a burnt offering and the other for a peace offering. The burnt offering is different from the sin offering. The sin offering may be considered a sacrifice, but the burnt offering may be considered a gift. The sin offering is for redemption; the burnt offering is for fellowship. The peace offering is for enjoyment and satisfaction. On the one hand, we have been identified with the crucified Christ as our sin offering. On the other hand, we are also identified with the resurrected Christ. The bull in Exodus 29 typifies the crucified Christ; the two rams signify the resurrected Christ. The resurrected Christ is offered to God first as a burnt offering and then as a peace offering. As those who are being sanctified to serve God as priests, not only do we have Christ as the sin offering, but we also have Him as the burnt offering and the peace offering. He is the bull in crucifixion, and He is also the rams in resurrection.
The offerings for the sanctification of the priests are of two main categories. The first category is that of the animal life; the second category is that of the vegetable life. Regarding the animal life, there are the bull and the two rams. Regarding the vegetable life, there are the bread, the cake, and the wafer. In each category there are three items. Figuratively speaking, this number three signifies resurrection. Even when Christ was on the cross, He offered Himself in resurrection.
Christ is both the crucified One and the resurrected One. As such a crucified and resurrected One, He not only represents us, but also includes us. We are included in Him. Hence, when He was crucified, we were crucified in Him. When He was resurrected and presented to God, we were in Him.
The resurrected Christ is a burnt offering. The burnt offering is offered to God for His full satisfaction. The entire burnt offering was burned on the altar as a sweet savor to God. This is difficult to explain. From experience we know that when we are identified with Christ in His death, we have the realization that we have become a heap of ashes. Then, spontaneously, we are in resurrection. Here in resurrection Christ, our portion, is a ram offered to God as our burnt offering to satisfy God in full. Therefore, in order to be priests, we need to be washed, clothed, and redeemed. Furthermore, we need Christ as the resurrected One to offer to God for His satisfaction.
The last step in the sanctifying of the priests is the offering of the second ram, the ram for a peace offering. The first step is to be washed; the second is to be clothed; the third is to present the bull as the sin offering; the fourth is to present the first ram as the burnt offering; and the fifth, the last, is to present the second ram as a peace offering.
The last part of 29:9 says, “You shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.” Literally, the Hebrew rendered consecrate means “fill their hands.” This is also the meaning in verses 29, 33, and 35. Therefore, to sanctify God’s redeemed ones to be His priests requires the filling of their hands.
Many versions do not translate literally the Hebrew word which means to fill their hands. Some translations say consecrate; others even use the word ordain. Actually, what we have here is neither consecration nor ordination; it is the filling of the hands of the sanctified ones. Thus far, Aaron and his sons have been washed, clothed, and redeemed. These are the first three aspects of sanctification. They have also presented Christ as the burnt offering for God’s full satisfaction. Therefore, their uncleanness has been taken away, their nakedness has been covered, their sinful nature has been dealt with, and they have offered Christ to God for His satisfaction. However, their hands are still empty. Even after all these four steps, they are still empty-handed. How can they serve God as priests if they are still empty-handed? In order to be priests serving God in a practical way, they need to have their hands filled.
We have seen that the washing, the clothing, and the presenting of the bull as the sin offering have solved three problems. The washing solves the problem of uncleanness, the clothing solves the problem of nakedness, and the presenting of the sin offering solves the problem of our sinful nature. Furthermore, we have seen that the presenting of the burnt offering satisfies God and causes Him to be happy. When God smells the aroma of the burnt offering, He can say, “I am satisfied and happy.” However, the priests, who are still empty-handed, might say, “O God, You are happy, but we are still hungry. Lord, we have nothing to fill our hands or our stomach. Yes, we have been cleansed and covered. Our sin has been taken away, and You are satisfied. But, Lord, we are still hungry.” Because of this hunger, there is the need for the last step in the sanctification of the priests — the offering of the second ram.
Hallelujah for Christ as the second ram! This ram is not the sin offering to solve the problem of sin; neither is it the burnt offering to satisfy God. This ram is for the peace offering. The peace offering enables the priests to enjoy Christ with God. In other words, to have the peace offering is to be prepared to feast with God. The peace offering is for our feasting with God. In the following message we shall consider this offering in more detail.
