Message 5
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Scripture Reading: Lev. 1:5-17
In this message we shall consider the way to offer the burnt offering. We shall view this matter from the standpoint of experience.
Regarding the way to offer the burnt offering as revealed in Leviticus 1, there are a number of puzzling points. One of these points concerns the priests, who are serving ones.
In Leviticus 1 we often read of “Aaron’s sons, the priests” (vv. 5, 7, 8, 11). A number of verses simply speak of “the priest” (vv. 9, 12, 13, 15, 17). The priests here are of three classes: Aaron, the sons of Aaron, and an individual priest, a priest who is singled out for service. As the book of Hebrews indicates, Aaron is a type of Christ. Aaron’s sons are types of the believers. In this chapter we do not see any actions performed by Aaron. Rather, here in relation to the offering of the burnt offering, we have the service of Aaron’s sons or the service of a particular priest. Whenever someone presented a burnt offering to God, the serving priests rendered some help to the offerer.
The various kinds of burnt offerings differ not only in size but also in the way they are offered. According to Leviticus 1, the burnt offering could be a bull, a sheep or a goat, or turtledoves or young pigeons. As we have pointed out, the differences in the size of the burnt offering indicate not that Christ Himself varies in size but that our apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ differ in degree. Surely a bull would not be large enough to represent Paul’s apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ, whereas even a pigeon may be too large to signify a new believer’s apprehension, realization, and appreciation. A new believer may be very zealous, but his appreciation of Christ is nevertheless very limited,
Having seen the significance of the differences in the size of the burnt offering, we now need to consider the significance of the different ways in which the burnt offerings were offered. The first two categories of offerings — a bull and a sheep or a goat — were offered in the same way. First, the offering was slain, not by the priests but by the offerer. Following this, the offering was skinned and cut into pieces. (The offering was not to be offered to God as a whole.) After the offering was cut into pieces, its inwards and its legs were washed with water. The offering was then ready to be burned, and it was burned completely. No part of it was rejected by God. This was the way to offer the first two categories of burnt offerings.
The way to offer the third category of burnt offerings — the turtledoves and young pigeons — was very different. With the offerings in the first two categories, the priest did nothing to the offering except dash its blood on the altar and lay the pieces of the offering on the fire. The slaughtering, skinning, cutting, and washing of the offering were done by the offerer. We may say that the offerer was the “cook” and that the priests were merely “waiters.” However, with the offerings in the third category, the offerer simply brought the offering to the tent of meeting, and the priests did everything else. The priest brought the offering to the altar, nipped its head, took away its crop, tore it by the wings, and offered it up in smoke on the altar (vv. 14-17). This surely is different from the offerings in the first two categories, where nearly everything was done not by the priest but by the offerer.
We need to see that in Leviticus 1 the way to offer the burnt offering is very particular and peculiar. The way of offering differs according to one’s spiritual age and spiritual ability. Therefore, my burden in this message is to point out that the way we offer Christ to God as the burnt offering depends entirely on our apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ.
Spiritually speaking, the one who offers Christ as typified by turtledoves or pigeons has a limited apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ. Such a one is young in the spiritual life and therefore lacks maturity. He does not have much ability to appreciate Christ. In contrast to worldly people, who have no appreciation or realization of Christ, a new believer has begun to have some appreciation of Christ. However, he does not yet have the ability to slaughter, skin, cut, and wash his burnt offering. He can only bring Christ as a very small burnt offering.
A believer’s appreciation of Christ and his offering of Christ may be quite natural. For example, some believers may appreciate Christ as He is presented in the four Gospels, but this appreciation may be natural. Furthermore, their love of the Lord Jesus may be according to their natural understanding. This was my situation after I was saved and began to love the Lord. For the most part, my way of offering Christ to God was also natural. However, through the years my apprehension, realization, appreciation, and offering of Christ have changed.
Those who offer Christ as a bull appreciate Christ in a deep and detailed way. Those who offer Christ as a turtledove do not have such a deep and detailed appreciation of Christ. Moreover, their way of offering Christ as the burnt offering is natural.
The Old Testament priests knew that in order for a turtledove to be accepted as a burnt offering, the turtledove had to pass through a process. It was necessary for the priest to kill the bird, take away its crop with its feathers, and tear its wings. The taking away of the crop and the feathers indicates the removal of what is unclean. The priest did all that was required to process the offering. This signifies that to offer Christ as a turtledove is to offer a Christ who has not been processed by the offerer; it is to offer Christ in a natural way. Therefore, when someone offers Christ as a turtledove, this offering needs to be processed by someone other than the offerer. However, the one who offers Christ as a bull or as a lamb offers Christ in a processed way, not in a natural way.
All the offerings were offered at the tent of meeting. Since the tent of meeting typifies the church, offering the burnt offering at the tent of meeting typifies offering Christ to God in the church meetings.
As we have indicated, the size of a believer’s offering and the way he offers it depend on his spiritual maturity, capacity, and ability. Some saints may offer Christ as the burnt offering in a way that is not natural and with an offering that is not whole but processed. Such saints, who are matured and rich in the ability to apprehend, realize, and appreciate Christ, have had very deep experiences of Christ. They have experienced what is signified by the different parts of the burnt offering: the head, the fat, the inwards, and the legs. To experience Christ’s head is to experience His understanding, wisdom, and prudence. To experience Christ’s inwards is to experience His sensibility, affections, feelings, thoughts, will, intentions, and purposes. The burnt offering presented by these saints is an offering that has been cut into pieces. This indicates that their experience of Christ is detailed and also that their way of offering Christ to God as the burnt offering is not at all natural.
Little by little, the matured saints experience Christ in detail according to the pieces of Christ. They have come to realize that the Lord Jesus lived a life of having His inwards purified by the Spirit. This is typified in Leviticus 1 by the water. These saints have also experienced Christ’s walk on earth, a walk in which the Spirit constantly kept Him clean and pure in His outward contacts. In their daily experience, they appreciate Christ as the One who was always being washed inwardly and outwardly, not because He was unclean but for the purpose of preserving Him in His cleanness and purity. This is the Christ they apprehend, realize, and appreciate, and this is the Christ they offer to God.
A believer who offers Christ as turtledoves or pigeons certainly does not have the kind of appreciation of Christ that a mature believer has. Furthermore, his way of offering Christ in the church meetings is natural. As you listen to the prayers and testimonies of the new or young believers, especially in the Lord’s table meeting, you can realize that in a natural way they offer Christ as two young pigeons. A dear saint who has recently been saved may stand up and say, “Praise the Lord! I love the Lord Jesus!” He may offer Christ or give a testimony, but he does so in a natural way. However, when certain other saints pray or testify, you can realize that, according to their spiritual maturity, capacity, and ability, they offer a detailed, processed Christ.
In Leviticus 1, the one who offered turtledoves or pigeons was not rejected. His offering, even though raw and unprocessed, was accepted, but it was accepted through the work of the priest who processed the offering. After the priest worked on the offering, wringing off its head, tearing its wings, and removing its crop and feathers, the offering was no longer natural but processed.
As we apply this matter of the processing of the offering by the priests, we need to ask a question: Who are the serving priests today? In order to answer this question, we need to realize that the burnt offering was presented not in the offerer’s home but at the tent of meeting, where the altar and the priests were. This is a type of our offering Christ as the burnt offering not in our homes but in the church meetings. In the church meetings we have the altar, and we also have the saints as the serving priests.
In a meeting a young believer may in a natural way offer Christ as two birds. His offering of Christ may then be processed by the prayers and testimonies of other saints. As the young believer listens to these prayers and testimonies, he may realize that his way of offering Christ was natural and unprocessed. However, some of the priests processed his offering for him. Therefore, the priests are those saints who, in the church meetings, process a burnt offering that is offered in a natural way.
When you first came into the church life, your way of offering Christ, either by a prayer or by a testimony, may have been quite natural. You did offer something of Christ, but you offered Christ in a natural way. Throughout your years in the church life, your way of offering Christ has become less and less natural. Now what you offer of Christ is mainly something that has been processed. However, your way of offering Christ may still be somewhat natural. For instance, you may praise the Lord for His kindness, but your understanding of the Lord’s kindness may be natural.
We may say that in Leviticus 1 the offering of the turtledoves or pigeons was in two stages — the stage before it was processed and the stage after it has been processed. In the first stage the offering was still whole and in a natural condition. When the offering was still in this stage, it could not be accepted by God. After the offering had been processed, it was in the second stage, and it was ready to be accepted by God.
We all need to see that the difference in the burnt offerings is not only in their size but also in the way they are offered. The young ones in the church life offer a Christ who is very small in size, and they offer Him in a way that is natural, in a way that is without process. The mature, experienced ones not only offer a larger Christ, but they offer Christ absolutely in a processed way. For instance, the inwards and legs of their burnt offering will be washed in water, indicating that they have experienced Christ in His being kept clean by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The mature saints experience Christ in a detailed way. They understand His thoughts, feelings, and decisions. Those who experience Christ in this way will appreciate the details concerning the Lord’s life recorded in the four Gospels. In their experience, Christ has been cut into pieces, and they appreciate Him in a fine, detailed way. They do not merely experience Christ as a whole in an outward way; they enter, through their cutting Christ into pieces, into the depths of His being. I can testify that many years ago I did not experience Christ in such detail as I experience Him today. Now when I offer Christ to God as a burnt offering, I offer a Christ who has been cut into pieces.
Those who offer Christ in a natural way as birds need the older saints to be the priests to help them to process their offering. However, if the older saints process the offering presented by a young saint, he may be offended. He may be troubled by their wringing off the head of his offering and removing its crop and feathers. In a meeting a young brother may testify of the Lord’s gentleness, saying that He is always gentle. Later, an experienced brother may cite the cases of the Lord’s cleansing the temple and His rebuking the Pharisees and point out that sometimes the Lord Jesus is not gentle. When the young brother hears this, he may feel that the experienced brother has wrung off the head of his offering, an offering which he had presented whole and unprocessed.
I would ask those who have been in the church life for many years to recall their experience of offering Christ in the church meetings. Has not much of what you have offered in prayer and testimony been processed by the priests? Perhaps the greater part of your offerings have been “torn.” At times you might have said, “I will never offer something in that way again.” Eventually, you became not only an offerer but also a priest helping to process the offerings of other saints.
The burnt offerings in Leviticus 1 do not signify Christ’s size in Himself. Not even a bull is an adequate type of the actual size of Christ. No one, including Paul, is able to realize Christ in His full size. Therefore, what we offer of Christ as the burnt offering is only what we have apprehended, realized, and appreciated of Christ.
In our preaching and teaching we may present Christ in a natural way. For instance, someone in a Christian meeting may preach Christ, but this preaching may be almost entirely natural, for the one preaching presents Christ according to his natural understanding. The Christ thus presented is not Christ as He actually is but Christ as understood by the one presenting Him.
In the early years of my ministry, my presentation of Christ was natural to a great degree. At that time I did not know Christ as I know Him today. Now, by the Lord’s mercy, the presentation of Christ in my teaching and preaching is no longer very much in a natural way.
My point here is that the way we offer Christ as the burnt offering is according to our realization, apprehension, appreciation, and experience of Christ. As our realization, apprehension, appreciation, and experience of Christ improve, our way of offering Christ will also improve. Eventually, anything natural, especially any natural concepts, in our way of offering Christ will be dealt with. If we are still offering Christ as two birds, we will need the experienced saints to process our offering. But after we become experienced and matured, we will no longer need this kind of help from the serving priests. May we all enter into the depths of Christ’s being and experience Him in a deep, fine, and detailed way!
If we offer Christ as a bull or a lamb and if we slaughter this burnt offering, skin it, cut it into pieces, and wash its inwards and its legs, this will indicate that we appreciate Christ and experience Him not merely as a whole but in a detailed way. Then what is burned on the altar will be accepted by God as a sweet incense. This is the kind of burnt offering that satisfies God.
