Message 48
Scripture Reading: Lev. 17:1-16
In this message we shall consider two matters in Leviticus 17 that are difficult to comprehend — taking care of the sacrifices and taking care of the blood. If we would understand chapter seventeen, we need to see that it is a continuation of chapter sixteen.
In order to see the connection between Leviticus 16 and 17, we need a view of the arrangement of this book. Leviticus is a book on God’s serving ones, the priests. In the preceding book, Exodus, the tabernacle was built up, the priesthood was set up, and, to some extent, the offerings were arranged. At the end of Exodus, the service to God from His people began. Following Exodus, there is the need of a book to tell us about the serving ones in God’s service, the priests, about the details concerning all the offerings, and about the kind of life and living the priests should have. The priests’ life should correspond to what God is. God is holy, so the living of the priests as God’s serving ones should also be holy. The priests should be holy even as God is holy. This is indicated by the sequence of the books of Exodus and Leviticus.
The first ten chapters of Leviticus show us the offerings with the priesthood. The next five chapters show us who and what the serving ones are, what their origin, condition, and situation are, and what comes out of them. All these things are negative. Nevertheless, the negative portrait in chapters eleven through fifteen is a background for presenting to us Christ as the One we need.
In chapter sixteen we have a type, a shadow, of God’s redemption, which, at the time this book was written, was still to come. According to God’s concept and in His divine economy, there is the need of redemption. Because the Old Testament time was not the time for redemption to take place, a type, shadow, of the coming redemption was needed. This shadow is the propitiation in Leviticus 16. In this propitiation four of the five basic offerings presented in chapters one through seven are involved: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. The one offering not involved yet is the peace offering. Later, particularly in chapter nineteen, we shall see that the propitiated people enjoyed the peace offering. Therefore, in chapter sixteen, the propitiation is fully applied, but the result of the four offerings — the peace offering — is not yet applied.
At the end of chapter sixteen, everything is wonderful. In type, this chapter signifies that we have been propitiated and that we may now enjoy Christ as the burnt offering and live on Him as the meal offering. Furthermore, we have come out of the camp to follow Him, the suffering One, bearing His reproach. What else do we need? It seems that we are not in need of anything. Using New Testament terms, we have been redeemed and, to some extent, replaced. We are living Christ as the life that is absolute for God, we are enjoying Him as our daily life supply, and we are following Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach and living a godly life. With us, everything is fine, but the situation around us is still very complicated. For this reason, there is the need of chapter seventeen.
Leviticus 17 is a reminder and a warning regarding the abuse of the sacrifices. To abuse the sacrifices is to apply them wrongly, improperly. It is to apply the sacrifices not according to God’s economy but according to man’s choice, not according to God’s desire but according to our preference. There should be a limitation with respect to the application of the sacrifices. They should not be applied everywhere or anywhere or in the place of our choice. The application of the sacrifices is not a matter of our choice, desire, intention, and enjoyment; it is a matter of God’s intention, desire, and choice. God has a unique choice regarding the use, the application, of the sacrifices prepared for Him. This is why the subject of this message is concerned with two things — taking care of the sacrifices and taking care of the blood.
First, we must take care of the sacrifices and then of the blood. The sacrifices (vv. 5, 7) refer to Christ. In the whole universe Christ is the unique sacrifice. Eventually, for the sake of our need, this unique sacrifice becomes many sacrifices. It is one sacrifice in many aspects: the trespass offering, the sin offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. Hence, Christ is one sacrifice becoming five sacrifices, or one sacrifice in five aspects.
The sacrifices in chapter seventeen refer to Christ in His person. Christ is the unique sacrifice applied to our situation. As such a One, He meets our need in five aspects. He is our trespass offering, sin offering, burnt offering, meal offering, and peace offering. Christ is everything to us. In particular, He is all the offerings. Therefore, to take care of the sacrifices means to take care of Christ.
In the Bible, the blood refers to Christ’s redemptive work. Whereas the sacrifices refer to Christ’s person, the blood refers to Christ’s work. Our New Testament faith, the unique faith, is a composition of the person and work of Christ. When we put together Christ’s person and work, we have the Christian faith. We believe in Christ, and we believe in His work. This is our faith, which is according to the teaching of the New Testament and according to God’s eternal economy.
As believers in Christ, we treasure the two matters that constitute the faith in which we believe. We treasure Christ’s person, and we treasure Christ’s redemptive work. In Leviticus 17, Christ’s person is typified by the sacrifices, and Christ’s work is typified by the blood. We must care for the sacrifices and the blood; that is, we must care for the person of Christ and His redemptive work.
In chapter seventeen of Leviticus, the Israelites were charged not to offer their sacrifices in any place they desired. Instead, they were required to bring their sacrifices to a unique place, to the one place chosen and designated by God. God’s unique choice was “the entrance of the tent of meeting,” “before the tabernacle of Jehovah” (v. 4). This unique place — the entrance of the tent of meeting — signifies the church. Today the church is the place of God’s tabernacle, the place of the tent of meeting. The sacrifice was to be offered only at the place where the tabernacle was. This signifies that today Christ should be applied in the church, the place of God’s dwelling. In Leviticus God’s dwelling place on earth was the tabernacle. In the New Testament age God’s dwelling place is the church. Therefore, as signified by offering the sacrifices at the entrance of the tent of meeting, we should apply Christ in the church, the place of God’s dwelling today. To apply Christ outside the church is to abuse Christ.
Concerning the matter of applying Christ in the church, I would ask you to consider why we do not have a name to designate what we are as the church. We are simply the church. Often we are reproached because we do not use a name to designate the church, such as Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Baptist. To name ourselves in this way would be to offer sacrifices anywhere, according to our taste. This is typified in Leviticus 17 by offering the sacrifices in an abusive way.
To apply Christ in an abusive way is to apply Him without regulation, restriction, or limitation. Today many like to have a proper noun as a name to designate the church. But to designate the church in this way is to denominate it, and this is to be abusive in the application of the sacrifices.
Many years ago I had a conversation with some Christians who found fault with our standing concerning the church. They said to me, “You are too narrow. Christ is omnipresent. He is everywhere. He is present in China, in Great Britain, in America. Christ is in every church — Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian.” I answered by saying, “Yes, Christ is everywhere. But why does He have to bear so many names? Is there a Chinese Christ? A British Christ? An American Christ? Is there a Lutheran Christ or a Wesleyan Christ?” To answer these questions with a “no” is to lose the case.
To designate the church by taking a name in addition to the name of Christ is to abuse Christ. We may use marriage as an illustration. A married lady should have one husband and one married name. Suppose Mary Jones marries Mr. Smith. Her name should then be Mary Jones Smith. If she were to take any other name, she would be abusing the name of her husband. She would in fact be prostituting herself. The principle is the same with abusing Christ by applying Him outside the church, that is, by applying Him anywhere we choose according to our preference. This kind of abuse, this kind of prostituting of one’s self, is typified in Leviticus 17, where the expression “prostitute themselves” is emphatically used (v. 7).
According to Leviticus 17, the worship of God must be limited to the place of God’s choice. This is the place of God’s dwelling on earth. Every sacrifice is to be brought to this place. This means that Christ is to be applied in the church. However, many Christian workers today do not have this concept. Instead of applying Christ in the place chosen by God, they apply Christ everywhere. To do this is to abuse Christ.
Let us now consider in detail from Leviticus 17 the two matters of taking care of the sacrifices and of the blood.
Verses 3 through 9 speak of taking care of the sacrifices. To take care of the sacrifices is to take care of Christ and treasure Him as our sacrifices to God.
According to verses 3 through 6, the sacrifices were to be offered to God only at the entrance of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, and their blood was to be shed on the altar. This signifies that our taking of the Lord Jesus as our sacrifices offered to God and our participating in His redeeming blood must be at the entrance of God’s dwelling place (the church) on earth and must be through the cross.
Verse 5b speaks of a sacrifice of a peace offering to Jehovah. This signifies Christ as our peace with God that we may enjoy Him with man and with God in fellowship and joy, as in our enjoying of Christ in the breaking of bread for the remembrance of Him (1 Cor. 10:16).
Leviticus 16 refers to the sin offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering, and the meal offering, but there is no mention of the peace offering. We have the peace offering in chapter seventeen. The peace offering is the result of the four other main offerings. In other words, chapter seventeen is the result of chapter sixteen. Thus, the sacrifices in 17:5 refer to the result of the sin offering, trespass offering, burnt offering, and meal offering.
“The priest shall dash the blood on the altar of Jehovah at the entrance of the tent of meeting” (v. 6a). This signifies that Christ’s blood was shed on the cross.
The priest also was to “offer up the fat in smoke for a satisfying fragrance to Jehovah” (v. 6b). The fat here typifies Christ’s excellencies. The satisfying fragrance is a fragrance that satisfies God. Offering up the fat in smoke for a satisfying fragrance to Jehovah signifies that Christ’s excellencies are offered up to God through God’s holy fire for a fragrance to satisfy God.
“They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons, to which they prostitute themselves. This shall be a perpetual statute to them throughout their generations” (v. 7). This signifies no longer having fellowship with demons so as to commit spiritual fornication (1 Cor. 10:20-21).
The Hebrew for “goat demons” may also be translated “goat idols.” The word “prostitute” here indicates that for an Israelite to abuse the sacrifices by offering them in the place of his choice was to make himself a prostitute. This is a matter of spiritual prostitution, of spiritual fornication.
If we are narrow-minded in saying that the church is the place where Christ should be applied, then God Himself is narrow-minded in this matter, for we are simply following Him. Only God’s choice is the right choice. His requirement is that the sacrifices be offered only at the place of His dwelling. Concerning this, we must be as holy as He is and as narrow as He is. God is our pattern, and we must follow Him. Otherwise, instead of being a pure virgin presented to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2), we shall conduct ourselves like the great prostitute in Revelation 17. Leviticus 17 indicates in the matter of the sacrifices God is narrow-minded, and we must be the same, even if it causes us to bear the Lord’s reproach (Heb. 13:13).
In Leviticus 17:8 the burnt offering is mentioned. The burnt offering signifies Christ as our burnt offering to God, by whose life we can live absolutely for God.
The burnt offering was to be offered to Jehovah at the entrance of the tent of meeting (v. 9a). This signifies taking Christ as our burnt offering to God at the entrance of God’s dwelling place (the church).
Verse 9b tells us that the one who did not offer the burnt offering to Jehovah at the entrance to the tent of meeting was to be cut off from the people. To be cut off from the people signifies to be removed from the fellowship of God’s people. If we apply Christ as the burnt offering in a denominated place and not in the church, we shall be cut off from the proper fellowship of God’s people.
Leviticus 17:10-16 speaks of taking care of the blood. To take care of the blood is to take care of and to treasure the blood of Christ. Later we shall see that different bloods typify different beliefs. Every kind of blood signifies a belief. We should not take care of any blood other than the blood of Christ. There is only one kind of blood that we can drink (John 6:53-56), that is, receive, and that is the blood of Christ. Exodus 12 indicates this. The children of Israel were to sprinkle the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts (vv. 7,13). They were to accept only that blood.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make propitiation for your souls; for it is the blood which, by the life, makes propitiation” (Lev. 17:11). This signifies that the blood of the Lord Jesus was shed on the cross for our redemption.
“Any man of the sons of Israel, or of the aliens who sojourn among you, who takes in hunting an animal or bird that may be eaten, shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth” (v. 13). This signifies that all the blood other than the blood of the Lord Jesus that man can obtain cannot redeem us from our sins and should be buried. To bury is to give up, to abandon, to reject. We reject all other bloods; we “bury” them. The only blood we accept and treasure is the blood of Jesus shed on the cross as the altar.
Verse 15a speaks of “that which dies of itself or is torn by beasts.” As with the other verses in chapter seventeen, we need to understand this typologically.
The blood of that which dies of itself signifies the blood of one who sacrifices himself for the good of others, which blood cannot redeem us from our sins. Only the blood of Jesus Christ, whom God bruised (Isa. 53:10) on the cross, can cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Throughout history a number of heroes have shed their blood for others. But this kind of blood cannot redeem us. Therefore, we must reject it.
The blood of that which is torn by beasts signifies the blood of one who is martyred by wild people, who are like beasts, which blood also is unable to redeem us from our sins. Only the blood of Jesus Christ, whom God judged on the cross (Isa. 53:8), is able to wash us from our sins (Rev. 1:5). On the cross, God bruised Christ and judged Him for us. Thus Christ’s blood is the unique redeeming blood. Only His blood can redeem us from all our sins.
The religions in the world today are formed mainly with one of the two things typified in Leviticus 17:15a as the basis. They are based either on one who sacrificed himself for the good of others, or on one who was martyred. In the United States there are many different religions that are based upon persons. To form a religion on such a basis is to receive a different blood. For example, those who form a religion based on Buddha drink the blood of Buddha. Likewise, those who base their religion on Mohammed drink the blood of Mohammed. From this we see that different beliefs, different religions, are based on different persons, that is, on different bloods.
“Every person who eats that which dies of itself or is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or an alien, shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean” (Lev. 17:15). This signifies that the one who takes any blood, that is, any belief, other than the blood of the Lord Jesus is unclean until the matter is cleared up and brought to a complete ending.
If you study the statistics concerning the increase of religion, you will discover that in the United States it is very difficult to bring one who is a real pagan to the Lord. The reason is that nearly everyone is occupied with some kind of belief or religion. Speaking according to typology, nearly all the people have drunk a blood other than the blood of the Lord Jesus. It is not an easy thing to remove that blood and to replace it with the blood of Jesus Christ.
God has ordained that there be only one blood that we should drink, one belief that we should receive. The one blood is the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross. The one belief is the belief in the Christ who died on the cross for us. However, the modernists preach a Christ other than the Christ who died on the cross for our redemption. This means that they have another belief. Furthermore, today the sacrifices are offered everywhere, according to one’s choice.
In the Lord’s recovery we are offering Christ in the place chosen by God, because we are standing on the unique ground of the oneness of the Body of Christ for the church life. We do not have any other standing. We do not take anything or anyone as our standing other than the oneness of the Body of Christ. Meeting on this ground, the place chosen by God, we apply Christ. This is to offer the sacrifices, to apply Christ, according to God’s choice.
If we applied Christ elsewhere, we would be prostituting ourselves, making ourselves into a prostitute who does not have a definite husband. That would be spiritual fornication.
In the past, we drank different bloods. Now in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we are drinking one blood. This is practiced in particular at the Lord’s table. We drink the unique blood, the blood of Jesus Christ. We apply Christ according to God’s choice.
The Lord’s recovery is a matter of caring for Christ in His person and in His redemptive work. Today we are practicing the church life in taking care of Christ in these two aspects. We take care of His unique person and of His unique work. We do not have any other person or any other work. We are here for Christ with His redemptive work.
After making a careful study of this chapter, I have the full peace to say that here we have a type showing us how we should take care of Christ in His person and redemptive work. This type indicates that we should offer Christ only in the place that is according to God’s choice and that we should believe only in Christ’s redemptive work, not in anything that replaces it.
Leviticus 17:15 tells us that the one who ate that which died of itself or was torn by beasts was to wash his clothes and bathe in water. Verse 16 continues, “But if he does not wash them and bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity.” This signifies that the one who takes any blood other than the blood of the Lord Jesus should deal with his former behavior and with what he was in the past concerning religion, and should purge himself. Otherwise, he will be condemned.
This aspect of the type in the divine revelation is crucial in relation to the people who live in a world like today’s, a world full of confusion in the matter of religion. Every sinner should believe only in Jesus Christ and take His blood for his redemption that he might be saved before God. All other beliefs and religions should be abandoned and buried.
