Message 64
In the twenty-eight foregoing messages, we covered the last seventeen chapters of Leviticus. These seventeen chapters form the second section of this book. Now, in this concluding word, I would like to consider six matters that are the main points in chapters eleven through twenty-seven of Leviticus.
The first five chapters of this section of Leviticus unveil our situation. According to these chapters, our contact with others may be unclean, and our source, our origin, is uncleanness. Furthermore, our condition is one of leprosy, and whatever comes out of us as a discharge is unclean. This is our situation as it is clearly unveiled to us in chapters eleven through fifteen.
The second main point is Christ’s redemption. Instead of the word redemption, the word used in Leviticus is propitiation. Christ’s redemption, His propitiation, has solved our problems and has brought us back to God. We have not only been redeemed back to God and brought into His presence — we have been brought into God Himself. Now we are in the consummated Triune God, and here, in Him, we have full enjoyment.
Having been brought back to God and into God by Christ’s redemption, we may now enjoy all the riches of the processed and consummated Triune God. This is fully revealed in Leviticus 23, a chapter that speaks of the seven feasts, which are seven festivals for our enjoyment of all the riches of our God. It is in God Himself that we have the enjoyment of His riches. By enjoying the riches of the processed and consummated Triune God, we become His expression. This means that we become the Body of Christ as the enlargement of Christ to express Christ.
Our enjoyment of the riches of the processed and consummated Triune God brings us to the fourth point — the jubilee. The jubilee is the completion and the consummation of our enjoyment of the riches of the Triune God in God Himself. When we enjoy the Triune God in all His riches and when we have this enjoyment in the Triune God Himself, we will reach the jubilee, which will be for eternity.
The fifth point is our realization that three items are crucial to us.
God Himself should be our unique goal, our unique aim. Apart from Him we should not have any other goal. We should not seek anything other than God. Our goal is the Triune God processed, completed, and consummated to be our full enjoyment.
We all need to respect God’s completed work, the work that God has accomplished for our interest and for our rest. God’s work has been accomplished, and it has been accomplished for our rest. Therefore, we need to regard God Himself and His work for our interest.
God’s work has a result, and this result is His enlargement, His extension. This enlargement is the Body of Christ, which is the mingling of the processed Triune God and His chosen and redeemed people as one entity. This entity is God’s dwelling, God’s embodiment, and God’s expression. Eventually, it will be God’s manifestation in eternity.
Based upon the fact of having God as our unique goal and regarding His completed work, we obey God. To obey God simply means to go along with God. To obey God is to agree with all that He is and with all that He has accomplished. When we obey God, we agree with God and with His work. We also agree with the result of God’s work, which is His enlargement. When we agree with God and go along with Him, we spontaneously obey Him, and by obeying Him we receive His rich blessing.
Finally, we need to see that there is the need for those who are willing and able to enjoy God, to enjoy God’s work, and to enjoy the result of God’s work. If we would be those who enjoy God, God’s work, and the result of God’s work, we need to respond to God’s desire by making a vow. Our response to God’s desire that we be His enjoyers should not be ordinary but particular. This means that it should be a vow. We need to make a vow in which we tell God that we shall enjoy Him according to what is revealed in the book of Leviticus. We should tell Him that we want to enjoy Him by regarding Him, by respecting His work, and by honoring the result of His work. This is a vow to enjoy the processed, completed, and consummated Triune God. This Triune God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is one with His Body, which is His expression.
We all need to regard God, His work, and the result of His work, go along with Him, and become those who enjoy Him. For this, we have to respond to God by making a vow. Are you willing to do this? Let us all make such a vow today.
