The second of the four things which we need in order to properly present the offerings to God is the tent of meeting. What is the tent of meeting? This is the meeting of the local church. Without the church meetings, how could we present the burnt offering to God as His food? We all need the church meetings. If you do not believe it, just try to offer Christ as the burnt offering to God in your home by yourself. It will not work. Some may say, “Brother Lee, you are too narrow. You are limiting God. If I can present Christ as the burnt offering to God in the meeting, I can surely do it in my home!” All I can say is that those who feel this way should go home and try to do it.
According to the type, the picture is very clear. Not one Israelite was allowed to present the burnt offering in his home. Have you read this? Today, so many Christians say that they do not care for the meetings. As long as they are fellowshipping with the Lord in their home or somewhere else, they feel that it is all right. In a sense, it is all right, but it is not all right for offering Christ as the burnt offering to God. No Israelite in ancient times could kill a bullock for a burnt offering to God in any place he chose. He had to be at the tent of meeting. Only at the door of the tent of meeting was he able to present the burnt offering. You may enjoy Christ in your home tonight, and you may enjoy Christ in your home tomorrow morning, and you may enjoy Christ anytime in any place, but you can never present Christ as the burnt offering to God for God’s food in any place other than the meeting of the local church.
In the meetings we have a certain kind of sensation that is so sweet and pleasant. There is the sensation that something here is so unique, so pleasant, and so good. Try to imitate this sensation at home. You simply cannot do it. You can never have such a sensation outside of the tent of meeting. We all must come to the church meetings to present our burnt offering to God. In the church meetings we sense something of Christ which we can never sense in any other place. Leviticus 1:3 says clearly that we must present our burnt offering at the door of the tent of meeting before the Lord. This is the only place to present Christ as the burnt offering. You may try to do it according to Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.” However, I know that many of us have tried this already and have no desire to try it again. Praise the Lord that today we are on the unique ground, and we do have the tent of meeting where we can offer our burnt offering to God as food!
The third item is the altar. In the Old Testament times there was only one altar among the people of Israel. There were no altars in the homes. The altar was unique, because it was in the unique place that God chose. As long as there is only one altar, how can we present the burnt offering in our home? The altar is at the tent of meeting, not in your home or my home. There is one altar, and we need the altar to present all the offerings, especially the burnt offering.
The fourth thing which we must have to properly present the offerings to God is the priests. Praise the Lord, we all may say that we are priests! But we must realize that according to the type, none of the priests was individualistic. All the priests were coordinated into one body. There was one priesthood. The word “priesthood” here means a body of priests. We need the coordination of the body of priests, the priesthood, in order to properly present the burnt offering to God.
Thus, we see four things which we must have to present the burnt offering. We need the unique place, the tent of meeting, the altar, and the priesthood. It is impossible to have these four things in our home. I tried this forty years ago, but it did not work. Then I came to the unique ground of the tent of meeting with the unique altar and the priesthood. It was so easy to present Christ as the burnt offering in the proper place. These four things are the third point we must see in order to present the burnt offering.
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