Message 142
(10)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 29:29-46
In the foregoing message we pointed out that if we would be brought into oneness with God, we need to offer the sin offering. This offering is not actually food for God in a direct way. Rather, it solves the problem between us and God so that we may have fellowship with Him.
Exodus 29:35 and 36 say, “And thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all which I have commanded you; seven days you shall fill their hands. And every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for propitiation; and you shall purify the altar when you make propitiation upon it; and you shall anoint it to sanctify it.” The seven days mentioned in verse 35 signify a full course of time, that is, our entire life. Every day we need to offer Christ as our sin offering. According to verse 36, the bull as a sin offering was offered for propitiation. Here the emphasis is propitiation on the altar.
The altar is purified by having propitiation made upon it. The altar, we should remember, is a dining table. Whenever we are about to serve a meal, we first clean the table. We want to remove all dirt that is there and purify the table. The sin offering purifies our dining table, the altar, and makes it clean as a place for eating.
Verse 36 says that the altar was to be anointed in order to be sanctified. In this verse nothing is said concerning the blood. But in principle the matter of sanctification through the sprinkling of the blood is revealed elsewhere in the writings of Moses. There is no question that the altar is purified by the blood. Here, however, the altar is sanctified by the anointing oil. Blood signifies the death of Christ, and oil, the anointing of the Spirit. We have the blood to purify us and the Spirit to anoint us. Again, we may use the illustration of a dining table. When we clean a dining table, we like it to be bright and shining. The blood purifies us, and the oil causes us to shine. Therefore we need both the blood to make us pure and the Spirit to cause us to shine. This is to be sanctified.
We need to remember that to be sanctified is to be separated and marked out. All other tables may be unclean and dull. They are dirty, and they do not shine. But there is one table — the altar — that is purified and anointed. Thus, it is clean, and it is shining. As a result, this table is different from all other tables and separate from them.
Verse 37 says, “Seven days you shall make propitiation on the altar and sanctify it, and the altar shall become most holy; all that touches the altar shall be holy.” Here we see that propitiation was to be made on the altar every day. After the altar had been sanctified, it became most holy. Anyone who touched the altar became holy. This means that the altar on which propitiation has been accomplished and which has been anointed with oil has become most holy. As such, the altar itself is able to sanctify the one who touches it. Whoever touches the altar is sanctified, and whatever is put on the altar is likewise sanctified. Therefore, anything offered on the altar is spontaneously sanctified.
Every day we need to offer the sin offering. When we do this, we have a dining table that has been fully cleansed and anointed. Whatever is placed on this table will then be sanctified.
Every morning we need to offer Christ as the sin offering. This will cause us to have a good morning. People often greet one another with the words “good morning.” When we speak of a good morning, we should refer not to a greeting, but to having a good morning through offering the sin offering to God. If we present Christ as the sin offering to God in the morning, we shall have a good morning, a morning of propitiation. The result will be that we shall have a good day, for that good morning will sanctify the entire day.
In the foregoing message we used the illustration of man inviting God to dinner. When we offer Christ as the sin offering, there will be no problem between us, those who invite God to dinner, and God, the One who is invited. Instead of problems, we shall have the redeeming blood and the anointing oil signifying propitiation and sanctification. Now there is peace between the inviting one and the invited One, and we can proceed to serve God food for His satisfaction.
The matter of propitiation needs to be understood according to the background of the practice in ancient times. Especially among Jews, when two parties had a problem, there was the need of propitiation. After propitiation had been accomplished, the parties involved could eat together. Because propitiation had been made, they could be at peace. Then in peace they could enjoy a meal together. This is a picture, a type, of the relationship between us and God. Because of our sin, we have a problem with God. The source of this problem, this trouble, is Satan. He injected sin into us, and that sin has become a problem. But Christ came as the Lamb of God to take away sin. In this way He solved the problem and made propitiation. Therefore, whenever we offer Him to God as the sin offering, we may enjoy what He has done for us. In this way, because He has made propitiation with God on our behalf, we no longer have a problem with God. Instead, we have peace, and in peace we can feast with God.
Verses 38 through 41 speak of offering two lambs every day as food directly for God. Verse 38 says, “And this is what you shall offer upon the altar: two lambs a year old, every day continually.” According to verse 39, one lamb was to be offered in the morning, and the other lamb, in the evening. With each lamb there was an offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering (v. 40). The lambs with the flour, the oil, and the wine were offered to God by priests who had been washed, clothed, and satisfied.
At this point, let us consider the “groceries” used in preparing the food offered to God. These groceries include two lambs, an amount of flour, and a quantity of oil and wine. The lambs, of course, are of the animal kingdom; the flour, the oil, and the wine are of the vegetable kingdom. All these groceries typify aspects of Christ. Christ is our lamb, our wheat, our grapevine producing wine, and the olive tree producing oil.
How can Christ in these four aspects become groceries to us? If we would answer this question, we need to realize that these matters were not merely objective to the Israelites. Rather, they were quite subjective to them, because they were things grown, raised, and reaped by the children of Israel. A tenth of the harvest was set aside and, during the feasts, was offered to God. Because these items were produced in such a way, they were subjective to the children of Israel. In other words, these items were the produce of their labor, a produce that belonged to the children of Israel.
God’s people in the Old Testament offered what they had produced. This indicates that the Christ we offer to God as His food should be very subjective to us. He should be our produce, what we have produced by our labor and daily experience.
Recently we have been speaking much about living Christ. To live Christ is actually to grow Christ. This means that as we live Christ, He grows in us. In Matthew 13 the Lord Jesus likens Himself to seed and us to soil. He came to sow Himself as the seed into us as the soil so that we may grow Him. This thought is richly developed in the New Testament. For example, in 1 Corinthians 3:9 Paul says, “You are God’s farm.” Literally, the Greek word rendered farm in this verse means cultivated soil, cultivated land. We are God’s cultivated land for growing Christ. Therefore, it is crucial that we produce Christ.
We may speak of living Christ, but we may not realize that to live Christ is to grow Him and raise Him. On the one hand, as believers we are a farm; on the other hand, we are a ranch. A farm produces cereal and vegetables, but a ranch is for the raising of cattle. Therefore, we are growing Christ as the vegetable life, and we are raising Him as the animal life. But now we need to ask how to grow Christ and how to raise Him.
If we would raise Christ as a bull for our sin offering, every morning we need to practice offering Christ as our sin offering. The more we offer Christ as the sin offering, the more He will grow in us in this aspect. Perhaps when we first begin to offer Him as the sin offering, He will be a very small bull. But gradually, as we continue to offer Him, He will grow. Eventually, after a period of time, He will be a large bull.
From experience I have come to realize that every time we contact God, we need to offer Christ as the sin offering. However, in praying with others, I have observed that hardly anyone in prayer offers Christ as the sin offering. I have wondered why the brothers and sisters do not offer Christ in this way. Are they not sinful? Of course, we all are sinful, but many do not have the realization of their sinfulness. Just as we need to wash our hands before eating, we need to wash ourselves by offering Christ as our sin offering. Every day we need to offer Christ to God as our sin offering. We should not do this merely as a habit or routine. On the contrary, we should do it with a strong impression and consciousness that, in our fallen nature, we are sin. When we realize that we are sinful, that we are actually sin itself, and then offer Christ as our sin offering, Christ will little by little grow in us until He is a large bull.
You may have the feeling that the meetings of the church in your locality are quite good or that they are improving. However, are there any groceries in the meetings? In particular, is Christ offered to God as a bull for a sin offering? In the church meetings we should hear prayers such as this: “Lord, we confess that we are sinful. Lord, we are even sin. Even if we do not feel that we have done anything wrong, we are still sinful in nature. Lord, whenever we come into Your presence to contact You, we have the deep realization that we are sin. We need Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be our sin offering.” At the Lord’s table some should pray, “Lord, here at Your table we behold You as our sin offering. We thank You, Lord, for becoming our sin offering.” However, among today’s Christians there is spiritual poverty. Dead religion has deprived so many of the Lord’s people of the riches of Christ.
I have learned that due to certain situations, many young people in China have been deprived of a proper education. Likewise, many of today’s Christians have been deprived of the proper spiritual education. Many preachers are eloquent, knowledgeable, and capable, but they are shallow. My heart is broken over this situation. Dear saints, we all need more genuine spiritual education. Christians in this country may have a high secular education, but in spiritual things many are deprived. They may know a great deal about science, material things, and the affairs of this life, but they are limited in their knowledge of spiritual things. But I hope that all the saints in the Lord’s recovery will acquire the best spiritual education. Therefore, I encourage you to spend time in the Life-study Messages. These messages will help you to be educated spiritually.
In the meetings of the church we must have the proper content. We should not have empty shouting, shouting void of content or reality. It is not sufficient merely to function in the meetings in an active way or in a so-called living way. We need spiritual content. This content requires that daily we grow Christ and raise Christ. If you do not raise Christ as the animal life, how can you have a bull or a lamb to offer to God? If you do not till the ground, sow seed, and water the crop, how can you have a harvest of wheat? How can you have oil and wine? It is absolutely necessary that we grow Christ as the vegetable life and raise Him as the animal life.
Just as we need to raise Christ as a bull for propitiation, we need to raise Him as a lamb to be food offered directly to God. This means that we need to raise Christ as a bull and also as a lamb. When we come to the meetings, we shall then bring Christ as a bull and a lamb.
We also need to grow Christ as wheat to produce flour, as olives to produce oil, and as a grapevine to produce wine. To grow wheat is to experience Christ daily as our life supply. Wheat signifies Christ in incarnation, whereas barley signifies Christ in resurrection. (For a fuller treatment of these aspects of Christ, see The All-Inclusive Christ.) If we experience Christ as our life supply, we shall grow Him as wheat and barley. If we live Christ by the Spirit in our spirit, we shall grow Him as olives to produce oil. Furthermore, if in our experience we pour out the self that lives Christ, we shall grow the grapevine to produce wine for a drink offering. Hence, to produce the oil and the wine, we should live daily and die daily. We need a life of living and dying. Paul said that daily he was put to death. Day by day he was delivered into the death of Christ. This should also be our experience. Daily we may be put to death by others, perhaps by our family or by different things in our environment. As we live such a life of being put to death, we shall produce wine for the drink offering. I hope that this brief and simple word will give you some understanding of the spiritual groceries described in Exodus 29.
Let us all experience the riches of Christ and gain the proper spiritual education so that we may live a life on a higher plane, not on the low plane common among today’s Christians. Let us grow Christ and raise Christ. Then we shall have groceries to bring into the church meetings.
