Message 29
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Scripture Reading: Lev. 8:14-29
In this message we will consider further the consecration of Aaron and his sons.
In the consecration of the priesthood, the first thing carried out was the anointing of the priests. This indicates strongly that the consecration or anointing of the priesthood is to make God one with us, for the anointing oil signifies that whatever God is, whatever He does, and whatever He will do are ours. What God has done, what He is doing, and what He will do involve many things, such as Christ’s incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming back. All this has been anointed upon us, that is, made one with us. This is the positive side of the ordination of the priesthood.
In the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the offerings immediately followed the anointing. The offerings remind us of who and what we are, and of what we should be yet are not.
The sin offering is the first to do such a reminding. Aaron had been anointed with the anointing oil, which signifies that the Triune God with all that He is, has done, and will do was now Aaron’s. This anointing also indicates that Aaron was one with the Triune God. However, this anointed one still needed a strong reminding that by himself and in himself he was sin, a sin-constituted sinner, and flesh with nothing good in him; that he was a natural man, a part of the old creation, which is absolutely saturated, possessed, usurped, and indwelt by the evil one; and that he was filled with the world and the power struggle.
The Triune God had ordained Aaron to be His serving one and had anointed him with Himself. However, Aaron still needed to realize what he was. Thus, God used the sin offering to remind him of what he was. On the first day of Aaron’s priesthood and every day thereafter, he had to offer the sin offering to God so that he would be reminded of what he was.
We today are God’s priests. He has chosen, appointed, and ordained us to be His holy priests. Whatever the Triune God has done, is doing, and will do is ours. He is one with us, and we are one with Him. However, we still need to be reminded that, in ourselves, we are sin, flesh, and the old man, that we are the old creation, which is saturated with Satan, the evil one, and that we are filled with the world and its power struggle. If every day and all during the day the brothers, co-workers, and elders would remember this, being reminded of what they are, the situation among us would be different.
Concerning our life and work, we need to ask ourselves whether the one moving, acting, and doing things is the old man or God’s priest. Do you have the assurance to say that whatever you are doing in the church life, in the Lord’s work, and in the recovery is of the divine priesthood and not of the flesh? Who can say that his hands are clean and that he is absolutely free from the flesh? Because we cannot say this, we need the sin offering as it is typified in Leviticus. We need this offering not only to be forgiven by God but also to be reminded of what we are. Even in loving others we need to be reminded that we are sin, flesh, the old man, and the old creation and that we are filled with worldliness. If we love others according to our flesh, taste, and choice, our love is sinful in the eyes of God, for such a love is linked to the evil one. Furthermore, as we pray and share in the meetings, we may have thoughts that come from the flesh, where sin is hidden and where Satan moves secretly. This is our actual situation. Thus, we need the sin offering not only at the time of our ordination as priests but also every time we practice our priesthood.
In the ordination of the priests a ram was used for a burnt offering. The burnt offering reminds us that we should be absolute for God yet we are not. As ordained priests of God, we should therefore receive His mercy and grace to be absolute for God in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ.
Since Aaron had been anointed by God, why did he still need the burnt offering? Aaron needed this offering because God wanted Aaron to be reminded that he should be absolute for God yet he was not. This should remind us that we today are likewise not absolute for God. It should also warn us that every day we need to offer a burnt offering. Daily we need to offer a burnt offering for our priesthood, for our priestly service. The elders and co-workers in particular should offer the burnt offering every morning. We should tell the Lord, “Lord, throughout this day remind me that I should be absolute for You. Yet, I realize that I am not and cannot be absolute for You. Lord, I trust in You and take You as my life, my person, and my absoluteness. My absoluteness for God is You, Lord.” This is to live Christ.
We may be familiar with the words “live Christ,” but we may not understand the real significance of living Christ. Do we live Christ at home and in the church life? In our family life and in our dealing with the saints, are we absolute for God? When our self-feeling or self-interest is touched by others, we may become offended. Does this not indicate that we are not absolute for God? We surely need to be reminded that, in ourselves, we are not absolute for God.
According to Leviticus, the burnt offering should be offered every morning (6:12-13). The burning of the burnt offering should not cease. “The burnt offering itself shall be upon the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it” (6:9). This indicates that the burnt offering should burn through the dark night of this age until morning, until the Lord Jesus comes again.
The second ram was used as a consecration offering (7:37) for the consecration of the priesthood (8:22-32). This ram signifies the strong Christ for our assuming of the New Testament priesthood. We need a strong Christ for our consecration.
“Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. And he brought Aaron’s sons near, and Moses put some of the blood on the tip of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot” (8:23-24a). This signifies that the redeeming blood of Christ cleanses our ears, our hands, and our feet for the assuming of our New Testament priesthood. The service of the New Testament priesthood includes functioning in the meetings, preaching the gospel, and visiting the saints in their homes. For all these services, we need the cleansing of the blood of Christ.
Our moving (feet) and working (hands) are always under the direction of our hearing. We act according to what we hear. Therefore, in the church life, hearing is crucial.
By hearing we have been saved, and by hearing we may be nourished and edified. However, by hearing we may also be damaged and killed, and we may do evil things to others because of what we hear. Our hearing is a problem. In 2 Timothy 4:3 Paul speaks of those who “heap up to themselves teachers tickling the ear.” Therefore, God’s dealing must first touch the source — our hearing.
If any church would stop hearing negative things, that church would be very healthy and living. The church that is the weakest and the most deadened is the one full of criticism, gossip, and reasoning.
The principle is the same in married life. A certain brother may be very living. But if his wife speaks to him in a negative way, he will be poisoned and deadened and will find it hard to pray in the church meeting. Likewise, if a brother passes on a negative word to his wife, she will be deadened by it. These illustrations from the church life and from married life show the importance of hearing.
Since we are God’s priests, we need to ask ourselves what kind of things we are willing to hear. Do we intend to hear positive things or negative things? Because we often hear unclean things, things that are unhealthy and contagious, we need to wash our ears with the blood of Christ. According to the Bible, where the blood washes, there the Spirit anoints. After the washing of the blood, we will enjoy the anointing of the Spirit. Then we will forget the negative things we heard, or at least we will not repeat these things. We will also become healthy and living, and the church will go on in our health.
Wherever we go, we need to take care of our hearing. If we do this, whatever we hear will be right and positive. Then we will go the right way and do the right work. However, if we do not take care of our hearing but give ear to negative speaking, our deeds and work will be affected in a negative way.
The purpose of the consecration offering (Lev. 8:23) is not to deal with our sin and trespasses but to deal particularly with our ear, our thumb, and our toe, that is, with our listening, our working, and our acting. If we are not careful about our ears, we will be gossipers and those who spread reasonings and debates. Then instead of ministering Christ, we will spread death. Today some devote themselves to spreading death and not to spreading Christ, the truth, and the gospel. Our listening ear, our working hand, and our walking toe must be redeemed by the blood of Christ. We must let the blood of Christ release us from all the negative things. Then all the positive things of Christ will fill our hands.
Leviticus 8:24b says, “Then Moses dashed the blood on the altar all around.” This signifies that the blood of the redeeming Christ is for the redemption from our sin.
In 8:25-28 we see that one unleavened cake, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer were placed upon the portions of the fat and upon the right thigh. Then all these portions were put on the palms of Aaron and of his sons, waved as a wave offering, taken from their hands, and offered up in smoke upon the altar upon the burnt offering for a consecration offering by fire to Jehovah for a satisfying fragrance. This signifies that the tender, excellent, and strong parts of Christ, with the three kinds of cakes, with His sinless but Spirit-mingled humanity in different aspects as food, are offered to God in Christ’s resurrection as a satisfying and fragrant offering in the fellowship of His sufferings unto death on the cross for our assuming of the New Testament priesthood.
Leviticus 8:26 speaks of “one unleavened cake, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer.” This verse also refers to the fat and the right thigh. The unleavened cake, the cake of oiled bread, and the one wafer indicate respectively that we have Christ as our daily food without sin, that we have Christ as our daily food mingled with the Spirit, and that we have Christ as the food that is so available and easy to take in and that is good for feeding the young ones. We feed ourselves with the cakes, and we feed others with the wafers. The fat signifies the portion of Christ that is for God, and the right thigh signifies Christ as our strength to stand.
Verse 27 says, “Then he put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and waved them as a wave offering before Jehovah.” Through this filling of the hands, they became consecrated, ordained priests. Today our hands can also be filled with the all-inclusive Christ, with the Christ who is the unleavened cake, the cake mingled with oil, the wafer, the fat, and the right thigh. We have the Christ who is God’s portion (the fat) and the Christ who is our standing power (the right thigh). We also have Christ as cakes to feed ourselves and as wafers to feed others, especially the young ones.
All these things were waved before Jehovah. This means that they were a wave offering, which signifies Christ in resurrection. Nothing here is natural; rather, everything is in Christ’s resurrection. In resurrection Christ is food for us and for the young ones. In resurrection Christ is also God’s portion and our standing power.
“Moses took them from their palms and offered them up in smoke on the altar upon the burnt offering; they were a consecration offering for a satisfying fragrance, an offering by fire to Jehovah” (v. 28). Here we see that the consecration offering is not merely a ram but has been increased to include other items. This all-inclusive offering was offered in Christ’s resurrection to God for His satisfaction.
If we intend to be New Testament priests, we need to take care of all the matters signified in these verses. In order to function as New Testament priests, preaching the gospel, functioning in the church, visiting people in their homes, and caring for the saints, we need to pay attention to all that is covered in 8:24-28. In particular, we need to realize that the priesthood is a burning service. In this service we burn ourselves and cause others to be burned. This burning is upon Christ’s burning. As we burn upon Christ’s burning, we have the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings unto death on the cross for the practice of the New Testament priesthood.
“Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before Jehovah; it was Moses’ portion from the ram of consecration, as Jehovah had commanded Moses” (v. 29). This signifies that the loving capacity of Christ in His resurrection is for the one who ministers Christ to us in our consecration for the priesthood.
This verse indicates that the serving one deserves a particular portion of Christ. When you preach Christ, you deserve Christ. When you preach the gospel, you deserve the rich enjoyment of the gospel. Whenever we, the serving ones, minister Christ to others, we deserve to enjoy the very Christ we minister to them.
