Message 143
(11)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 29:29-46
In the foregoing messages we have seen that with the sanctification of Aaron and his sons to serve God as priests, there were four important points. Three of these points are related to the priests, and one is related to God. The three points concerning the priests are the matters of being washed, being clothed, and being satisfied. The one point related to God was that of preparing food for God and feeding Him so that He may be satisfied. The “groceries” used in preparing God’s food involved three items of the animal life — a bull and two lambs — and three of the plant life — flour, oil, and wine. As we know, flour comes from wheat, oil comes from the olive tree, and wine comes from the grapevine.
As we have seen, the bull offered as a sin offering was not God’s food in a direct way. Rather, the bull of the sin offering was for atonement, for propitiation. This means that it was offered for appeasement. Daily we need to raise Christ as a bull for a sin offering. This means that we need to practice every day offering Christ to God as the sin offering because our nature, our being, is sinful.
When we invite others to our home for dinner, we like to have everything clean and in order. Then, with everything properly prepared, we and our guests shall be able to enjoy our food in peace. This illustrates the function of Christ as our sin offering. This sin offering, typified by the bull offered to God in Exodus 29, clears up the situation between us and God. The basic problem between us and God is that of our sin. Through the fall, sin entered into mankind, and as a result we are constituted of sin. Hence, we actually are sin. When Christ was incarnated, He came to be made sin. Second Corinthians 5:21 says that He was made sin for us. According to Romans 8:3, Christ, the Son of God, came in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin. Moreover, this verse reveals that when Christ was on the cross, God condemned sin in the flesh. Therefore, Christ was made sin for us, and God condemned sin in the flesh.
In the sight of God, sin, which has its source in Satan and which has entered into man, is the element of our fallen nature and of our old self. Actually, we ourselves are sin. Christ became sin and brought the flesh of sin to the cross, where God condemned sin in the flesh. Therefore, before God, sin has been dealt with.
If you read the New Testament carefully, you will see that nowhere are we told that Christ bore our sin on the cross. Rather, the New Testament tells us that Christ bore our sins. For example, Hebrews 9:28 says that Christ has been “once offered to bear the sins of many.” First Peter 2:24 says that Christ “Himself carried up our sins in His body onto the tree.” Regarding sin, the New Testament says that it was taken away or put away. According to John 1:29, John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Speaking of Christ, Hebrews 9:26 says, “He has been manifested for the putting away of sin by His sacrifice.” As we have already pointed out, Romans 8:3 says that God has condemned sin. According to these verses, sin has been dealt with. It has been condemned, taken away, and put away.
In saving us, God does not eradicate our sinful nature at the time of our repentance, conversion, and regeneration. To save us in that way is not according to God’s economy. When we repented, God forgave our sins. He also came into our spirit to regenerate us with His Spirit. However, He did not eradicate the sin that is within us. Although we have been forgiven, cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, and regenerated by the Spirit, we are still in our old nature, in the old creation. On the one hand, we are a new creation and have a new nature; on the other hand, we are still in the old creation with the old nature. Therefore, we need to be reminded that in our old nature, our flesh, we are still sinful. We need to realize that we are sin.
Some Christians hold on to a concept of the eradication of sin or to a doctrine of absolute holiness. Some teach that once a believer receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he becomes absolutely holy and can no longer sin. Such teachings are not according to the Bible. Furthermore, accepting the concept of eradication or absolute holiness has led some to excuse sinful things by calling them weaknesses or shortcomings. In some cases, those who hold onto the concept of eradication or of absolute holiness have fallen into gross sin. According to the Bible, we are a new creation in Christ, but in our fallen nature we are still in the old creation. Yes, we have eternal life, the divine nature, and the Holy Spirit. This means that God Himself is in us. Yet, we still have the old man, the old creation, and the flesh. Thus, with us there is always the possibility of falling into sin. We need to realize that we are still sinful.
According to the typology in the book of Exodus, every day we need to offer Christ to God as the sin offering. The seven days mentioned in Exodus 29 signify a full course of time, that is, our entire Christian life. Until we have experienced transfiguration, the redemption of our body, we shall continue to need the sin offering. Daily we should remind ourselves that we are sin and that we need Christ as the sin offering to clear up the situation between us and God.
When we apply Christ as the sin offering, the problem between us and God is solved, and we are cleansed. Because God has been appeased through Christ as the sin offering, we may be at peace. Now in an atmosphere of peace, we can serve food to God.
According to Exodus 29, God’s food consists of two lambs, a meal offering containing flour and oil, and a drink offering of wine. In the morning one lamb was offered to God with the meal offering and the drink offering, and in the evening, the other lamb was offered to Him, also with the meal offering and the drink offering. Let us now go on to consider the lambs, the flour, the oil, and the wine offered to God as food.
The lamb typifies Christ as the One who is obedient to God. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was absolutely obedient to God. Philippians 2 says that He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Christ’s death on the cross was the highest expression of His obedience. In the words of Romans 5:18 and 19, in the sight of God that obedience is regarded as a righteous act. The “one righteous act” is in particular ascribed to that single act of Christ in which He was obedient to God unto the death of the cross.
As a lamb, Christ was not only obedient to God, but was also meek before man. Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” According to the Bible, to be meek means not to resist or fight against what happens to you. Rather, it is to suffer attack and oppression. Meekness is a characteristic of lambs. Unlike dogs and cats that fight back, lambs do not resist. The four Gospels reveal that Christ was obedient and also meek.
The picture in Exodus 29 indicates that throughout the course of our Christian life, we should daily offer Christ as the sin offering. Then we need to have the lambs, the flour, the olive oil, and the wine. In order to be God’s priests, every day we must offer Christ to God as our sin offering. If we do this, then in our Christian life we shall raise Christ as a bull. The more we practice offering Christ as the sin offering, the more in our experience He will grow to be a large bull. After a period of time, in our experience Christ will increase more and more as the bull for the sin offering. To have Christ increase as the sin offering in this way is to raise Christ on our “ranch” in our daily life.
In the church meetings we need to offer Christ to God as the sin offering. This should be a demonstration, a testimony, of what we experience in our daily life. If we try to offer Christ in the meetings without experiencing Him day by day, we shall be performing like actors in a theater. What we do in the meetings should be a testimony of our daily life. Every morning we should offer Christ as our sin offering. This is a kind of spiritual washing. After washing in this way, we then may go on to live Christ during the day. Therefore, if we would offer Christ as the sin offering, we need to raise Him as the animal life.
We also need to raise Christ as a lamb and grow Him as wheat, olive trees, and vines. How can we raise Christ as a lamb in our daily life? We do this by living Him as a lamb. After we offer Christ as the sin offering to be cleansed, our spirit will be living. Then we should live Christ by taking Him as a lamb.
At least some of us can testify that whenever we take Christ as the sin offering in the morning, we immediately sense that we have been cleansed, that our spirit is living, and that Christ as the Spirit is real to us. As a result, in a practical way we live by Him as the lamb. This means that in so many things we take Him as the One in us who is obedient to God. We have this obedient One as our obedient life, even as our obedience to God, and He lives in us a life of obedience. In times past, we were not obedient or submissive to God. But through the practice of offering Christ as the sin offering, we spontaneously become obedient. Actually, it is not we who are obedient; it is Christ who is the obedient One living in us. On the one hand, Christ is the bull for our sin offering; on the other hand, He is also the lamb by whom we live.
I believe that many of us can testify that by taking Christ as our sin offering, we are becoming more obedient to God. In the past, when we were not obedient in certain matters, we trespassed. This made it necessary for us to offer Christ as our trespass offering. For example, a sister may be disobedient in shopping. In going to a department store, she may be rebellious and disobedient. As a result, there is a fight between her and God. Instead of taking the trespass offering in a proper way, she later may simply try to apply the Lord’s blood to her situation and claim His cleansing. But if this sister will daily offer Christ to God as her sin offering, her experience will be quite different. Spontaneously, she will be much more obedient to God. Much more of the time she will willingly obey and submit. This is to raise Christ as a lamb.
If a brother and his wife are obedient to God, they will not want to exchange words. The arguing between husband and wife can be compared to the barking of dogs. To be sure, this kind of arguing, this exchange of words, is not pleasant. If a brother daily takes Christ as his sin offering, he will automatically become obedient to God and also meek. Instead of arguing with his wife, he will be much more willing to give in. He will be meek, neither fighting nor resisting. This is the living of Christ as a lamb.
I would emphasize the fact that if we would raise Christ as a lamb, we must first have Him as the sin offering. I know from experience that when we raise Christ as a bull for a sin offering, we also raise Him as a lamb for a burnt offering. Offering Christ as the sin offering is the way to raise Christ as a lamb.
Revelation 14:1 says, “And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” As part of a description of the hundred and forty-four thousand with the Lamb, Revelation 14:4 says, “These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go.” This is a strong verse related to growing Christ as a lamb. Those who are faithful follow the Lamb wherever He goes. To follow Christ as the Lamb is to raise Him as a lamb. Eventually, we shall raise Christ as a flock of lambs. This does not mean, of course, that there is more than one Christ. Christ is uniquely one, but in our experience we may have Him in many ways. Therefore, experientially we may raise Christ as a flock of lambs.
To understand a matter in a doctrinal way is one thing, but to view the same matter experientially is very different. Regarding Christ, I do not want to remain merely in doctrine, but I long to have the adequate spiritual experience.
Those who care primarily for doctrine often oppose those believers with experience. Toward the end of the last century and in the first part of this century, certain Bible teachers criticized Andrew Murray because he emphasized experience more than doctrine. His books on spiritual experience have been helpful to thousands of seeking Christians. His masterpiece is The Spirit of Christ. I have received great help from this book, and I encourage you all not only to read it, but also to study it. Apart from the writings in the Lord’s recovery, no book other than The Spirit of Christ has been so helpful to Christians in knowing Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Nevertheless, Andrew Murray has been condemned by certain Bible teachers, in particular by some of the Brethren. Furthermore, Jessie Penn-Lewis has also been severely criticized by these same Bible teachers. Years ago, a certain bookstore in China sold all of Brother Nee’s books with the exception of The Spiritual Man. Those who operated this bookstore knew that one chapter in The Spiritual Manwas a translation of Mrs. Penn-Lewis’ writings on spiritual warfare. They regarded that book as unclean because it contained a portion of her writings. Although thousands of believers have been helped by the writings of Jessie Penn-Lewis, some who focus on doctrine condemned her not only as a heretic, but even as a witch.
When we speak about raising Christ as a flock of lambs, we are talking about our experience of Christ. My concern here is not merely with teaching the Bible. With the Bible as my basis, I wish to speak concerning the experience of Christ. Thus, speaking from the experiential point of view, I would say that we can have Christ as a flock of lambs.
In ancient times, the children of Israel brought the firstlings of their flocks and of their herds to Mount Zion to offer to God. All these firstlings typified Christ. We have pointed out that Christ is uniquely one. But in our experience we may have Christ in many different ways. There is only one Christ, but the experiences of Christ are countless.
We have seen the way to raise Christ as a bull for the sin offering and as lambs for the burnt offering. In Exodus 29 the lamb is not for propitiation; rather, the lamb is a burnt offering as food for God. It was offered to God for Him to eat. Many Christians have never heard that Christ may be offered not only for propitiation, but also as food for God’s eating. Those with some knowledge of theology may wonder about this. Nevertheless, according to the Bible, certain offerings were not for atonement, not for propitiation, but were for God’s eating. This is clearly portrayed in Exodus 29. In this chapter the bull was offered as a sin offering; that is, it was offered for propitiation. The lambs, however, were offered to God for His eating. For this reason, Exodus 29 does not mention blood with respect to the lambs. The blood is for redeeming, for propitiation, and for atonement; it is not for eating. But the lambs offered as the burnt offering were wholly for God to eat.
Do you know by what way God eats His food? God eats with fire. When God comes to eat the food you have prepared for Him, He will eat it by His holy, consuming fire. Perhaps you have never heard before that fire is the means by which God eats His food.
Now we know how to raise Christ as a bull for a sin offering and as a lamb for a burnt offering. The whole lamb was burned. This means that it was absolutely for God. No part of the lamb of the burnt offering was for the offerer or for the priests. The lamb was God’s food and was entirely for His eating.
If we continue to practice offering Christ as our sin offering, we shall live by Christ as the lamb, as the One obedient to God and meek before man. Then in the meetings we shall have Christ as many lambs to offer to God as food for His satisfaction.
