Immediately after the offerings in the first part of Leviticus, we are introduced to the priesthood. Aaron and his sons were all adorned and qualified to serve as priests to God. We must have this; we must have Christ as our Aaron, Christ as our high priest, and all of us must be His sons, the priests to serve the Lord. This is something more to enjoy, something more to experience and apply. When you come to the meeting to enjoy the Lord, do you serve, do you function, do you minister? Perhaps you will answer, “Brother, I am not a minister; I don’t minister. You are the minister.” But if you tell me that you are not a minister, I will tell you that I am not a minister either. I am what you are. You are a brother, and I am a brother too. But, brothers and sisters, you must realize that you have to minister. We all have to minister. What should you minister? You know. If you are sincere and faithful to the Lord, you will know what you have to minister. You are a priest.
If you are not serving as priests, you can never take possession of the all-inclusive Christ. If you would enter into that good land, you must be a priest. There must be a priesthood among the Lord’s children before the entrance into the land will be available. Perhaps you will say that many of the children of Israel were not priests. But you do recognize that they were all profited by the priesthood. In any case, there was a priesthood among them, and there must also be a priesthood among us.
What is a priest? Please do not consider that the priests among God’s children today are those so-called ministers, pastors, preachers, etc. I am afraid that many of them are not genuine priests. Who are the priests today? They are those who are living in Christ and by Christ to manifest Christ. It does not matter what you do or what your job is. You may be a school teacher, a businessman, a doctor, a nurse, a student, or a housewife. The essential and basic thing is that you live in Christ, walk in Christ, enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and apply Christ to all your life. This makes you a priest. Consider the sons of Aaron when they were brought to Moses. What did Moses do? He removed their clothes and put upon them the priestly robes. What are the priestly robes? They are the manifestation of Christ. Christ manifested upon you is the robe of the priest. What the priests eat represents Christ, what they wear represents Christ, and all their living represents Christ. To be a priest you must live in Christ and serve with Christ. When you teach in school, you teach in Christ; when you do business, you do business in Christ; when you take care of your home, you do it in Christ. You are in the robe of a priest.
A sister recently came to us from a distant city. She sent us a telegram, indicating her time of arrival and her flight number, but none of us knew her or had ever met her before. To further complicate the situation, it was a holiday season and the airport was crowded with travelers. The brothers were very much concerned and talked with me, saying, “Brother, how will we be able to recognize this sister? How will she know us?” “Be at peace,” I said, “there will be some signs; we will know her.” When the plane arrived and the passengers began to deplane, we were waiting at the entrance. Several ladies went by, and then several more. As we watched them pass, I said to one of the brothers, “This is not the one. This is not her. No, not that one. No... No...” Then another one was coming, and I said to the brother, “This is her; this one must be her. Go ahead and speak to her.” And this very one was smiling at us. She was the right one. I recognized her from her “priestly robe.”
About thirty years ago, another sister came to us in north China by boat from Shanghai. The ship could not dock at the pier; so many small ferries brought the guests to shore. A multitude of friends and relatives were there, shouting and welcoming this one and that one. But we had never seen this sister; we did not know her. We looked at this one, and we looked at that one. We scanned and searched every ferry that arrived, but we could not distinguish anyone as the sister. Finally, another ferry came carrying a lady, and when she came within eyesight, we all said it was her. We were right. How could we tell? Just by a certain kind of manifestation. I cannot explain the signs, but I can realize them, I can sense them.
There are many stories like this. If you are a priest, there is something about you which is not ordinary; you have distinct and distinguishing characteristics. You are equipped with Christ, you are adorned with Christ; Christ is your robe. You must experience Christ in such a way; then you will be a priest. Whatever you handle, you will handle with Christ; whatever you do, you will do with Christ. You will manifest Christ. If you are a sister and you are handling Christ all the day, think how much you will be able to minister to the Lord. You will help people to know Christ; you will minister Christ to your family. When you come to the meetings, you will be able to minister many things. Whether you clean or arrange the seats or kneel down with two or three other sisters to pray for the meeting, it is all a ministry, a ministry fulfilled in Christ, with Christ, and by Christ. Perhaps you will prepare some food for guests who will come for special meetings. That is also a ministry which must be filled with the Spirit. In Acts we are told that those who served the tables must be filled with the Spirit. It is not an easy matter to handle the preparation of food. It is an excellent opportunity to apply Christ and minister Christ.
There are many ministries for the priests to perform. You can come and sit here in the meeting, and although you may not be taking an active part openly in the meeting, yet you may have a powerful and prevailing ministry every moment. In Shanghai, during the period of 1946 through 1948, I delivered the greater part of the messages. I can tell you that whenever I was releasing a message, some brothers and sisters—not a small number, perhaps one or two hundred—were sitting there ministering. They were ministering by the spirit, by a praying spirit, by a receiving spirit. They were sitting there to draw out my message by their spirit. That was their ministry, and it was most effective and valuable. There were hundreds of people crowded into that meeting place, but they were my backers, my supporters. They were so one with me. Without them I could not minister in such a living and released way.
One time we arranged some special meetings to preach the gospel to the unbelievers. All the brothers and sisters considered it best to reserve the seats for their unsaved friends; so they withdrew to another room. Hence, all the hall, especially in the front, was filled with unbelievers. When I arose to minister, I looked around and received a real shock. Not one backer, not one supporter was there. I had to fight the battle all by myself. The weight of all those unbelievers, those sons of the devil, was exceedingly heavy. They crowded around me, and their sins rose against me. The next day I told the brothers and sisters, “No, no, you must never do that! At least two hundred of you must stay to support me. I cannot fight with hundreds of people singled-handed. You must come back. You must sit with all the people to pray and receive.”
With such a supporting spirit, what boldness and authority there is! Everyone is subdued, not by me, but by the Body, by the priesthood. On the day of Pentecost, Peter did not stand alone, but he stood with the eleven. See his boldness. See his authority. See the prevailing results.
One year in Taiwan we had a large conference with more than two thousand in attendance. As I faced it, a great burden was upon me. I was deeply burdened. I said to the elders, “You all have to come with me to the platform.” Thus, when we arrived at the meetings, they all came up to the platform, and while I stood to deliver the messages, there was a resounding Amen! Amen! They supported me; they backed me. I had much boldness, and the entire congregation was subdued. The fear of the Lord and the love of the Lord are stirred up by this kind of atmosphere. This is the ministry. Brothers and sisters, we can never fool the enemy, we can never fool our conscience, and we can never fool the Lord. If those elders on the platform were not priests, if they were worldly people, it would have been impossible for them to say Amen in such a way. There would be no peace in their conscience. They might have said Amen softly and weakly, but that is meaningless; there is no support in that. But they were serving the Lord in Christ; they were living in Christ, with Christ, and by Christ. Therefore, they had great boldness. When the occasion arose that a brother must minister, they could say, “Let us go with him to the platform as an army.” Not just one brother was ministering but a team, an army. When he spoke, they all said Amen with a strong spirit and drove the enemy away. There was no room for the enemy, and the whole meeting with the entire congregation was conquered and captured by the Lord. If you have had such an experience or have been in such a meeting, you can testify to the reality of this.
Brothers and sisters, this is the real ministry. It all depends on how much you live in Christ, walk in Christ, and take Christ as your food, your clothing, and your everything.
Now we have finished Leviticus. How many items of Christ we have to experience! How rich, how wonderfully rich He is! We must experience Him more and more. Now we not only have the Ark with the tabernacle but the offerings and the priesthood. We are much more qualified to enter the land, but we must not be proud. We have to practice all these things day by day and experience them in reality. By enjoying Christ as the lamb, the passover feast, the daily manna, the rock with the living water, the Ark with the tabernacle, all the various offerings, and all the equipment and supply of the real priesthood, we are qualified to enter that good land.