Prayer: Lord, we need Your blood to cleanse us, and we need Your Spirit to anoint us. Grant us the understanding. Show us Your mystery, and give us a full revelation concerning the Divine Trinity.
In the preceding chapter we saw that the Divine Trinity is fully involved with the basic offerings. The Divine Trinity is the structure, the elements, and every aspect of all five basic offerings. Genesis reveals the fall of man. Exodus reveals the redemption of fallen man, consummating in the tabernacle, which was God’s dwelling among His redeemed for God to fully give Himself to them and for them to enter into Him to enjoy Him in full. Then Leviticus continues to show us how God’s redeemed people can enjoy God in fellowship through the offerings in the Tent of Meeting. Leviticus is a full revelation of the divine fellowship.
The subject of 1 John is the fellowship of the divine life (1:3-7). First John reveals that we need to abide in the Lord (2:27-28; 4:13) by the anointing (2:20, 27) and by confessing that we have sin within us (1:8), that we commit sins (v. 9), that we need the cleansing of Lord’s blood (v. 7), and that we need Him as our Advocate, our Paraclete, to take care of our trespasses as our propitiation (2:1-2). First John is only five chapters, but the twenty-seven chapters of Leviticus are a full development of the divine fellowship. To see this is a great blessing. In the ordinances concerning the offerings in the first section of Leviticus (chs. 1—7) we can see the Trinity for our experience of fellowship with God.
In this chapter we will consider three cases in the second section of Leviticus. First, we will study portions of Leviticus 8 and 9 that reveal how a saved one can be a priest to serve God. Chapter 8 concerns the consecration of the priests. The word consecration comes from a Hebrew term meaning “the filling of hands” (cf. Exo. 28:41; 29:9) The consecration of the priests is the filling of their hands to serve the Triune God. A redeemed one must serve God not with himself or with anything else but with the Triune God. Such service requires the full experience of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity as revealed in detail in the consecration of the priests. In order to serve God we need not doctrinal knowledge of the Trinity but much experience of the Trinity. The Trinity is not for doctrine but for experience. In order to serve God as priests with our hands filled, we need the experience of the Triune God.
The next case we will consider in Leviticus is the cleansing of the leper in chapter 14. In type the Divine Trinity is fully involved with the cleansing of the leper. Early in my Christian life I learned from the Brethren teachings that a leper in the Old Testament typifies a sinner. Leprosy signifies sin in both its inward and outward aspects. I often referred to this case in Leviticus when preaching the gospel, but until recently I did not see that the cleansing of a typical leper depends upon the Trinity. It is through the Divine Trinity that a leper can be cleansed. The cleansing of a sinner is altogether a matter of the experience of the Divine Trinity.
The last case of the experience of the Divine Trinity in Leviticus is the arrangement of the lampstand for the shining of the divine light in chapter 24. Although we may be cleansed, without the shining of the divine light we cannot walk or move, much less serve God. In order to serve God, we need to have our hands filled with the Trinity and to be in the shining of the divine light. Within the tabernacle there were all the offerings, utensils, and furniture, but the priests needed the shining of the lampstand to be able to do anything. Similarly, the construction of a modern building may be completed, but without electricity to provide light, nothing can be done within the building. A lack of light causes disorder, but the shining of light results in order. Light controls. It is through light that we are able to move. Furthermore, light and life go together, just as darkness and death go together.
According to the complete revelation of Leviticus, we need the offerings, the filled hands of the priests, cleansing, and divine shining so that we can serve God by enjoying Him. This is the divine fellowship. The divine fellowship is simply our enjoyment of the Triune God for our service rendered to Him.
Leviticus 8:2 says, “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread.” The anointing oil typifies the compound Spirit. According to Exodus 30:23-31, the anointing oil is a compound ointment of five elements compounded together. These elements and their quantities and measurements are rich in significance. The anointing oil in Leviticus 8:2 is related to the sin offering. The sin offering typifies Christ for the priests’ sin. We should not think that those serving as priests do not have sin. Like all men, they have sin within and sins without. The sin offering is for their indwelling sin.
Verse 12 says, “He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to sanctify him.” When the anointing oil was poured on the head of the serving priest, it is no longer objective but became subjective to him. When it was poured on his head, it must have run down and covered his entire body, including his face and his clothing. The serving priest was sanctified not by doctrine or teaching but by being anointed with the compound ointment. The compound ointment signifies the compound Spirit, which includes the Triune God mingled with Christ’s humanity, crucifixion, and resurrection. We cannot be sanctified by teaching; instead, we need to experience the compound Spirit to become holy.
Verse 14 says, “He brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.” The laying on of hands indicates union and identification. The oil was poured upon the priests, and the priests laid their hands on the bull. This indicates that the compound Spirit anoints us and that we lay our hands on Christ to be united and identified with Him. The Old Testament pictures convey many details that are not found in the plain words of the New Testament. The clear, plain word concerning the divine fellowship is in 1 John, but the details of the divine fellowship are found throughout Leviticus. The picture of the oil being poured upon Aaron’s head and of Aaron laying his hands on the bull of the sin offering typifies the compound Spirit anointing us and also typifies our union and identification with Christ.
Verse 18 says, “He presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.” The priests laid their hands not only on the sin offering but also on the burnt offering. The burnt offering signifies Christ for God’s satisfaction. The bull was the offering for sin, and a ram was a burnt offering for God’s satisfaction. Christ is the offering both for our sin and for God’s satisfaction. Because we are identified with Him in these two aspects, our sin is terminated, and we can satisfy God.
Verse 26 says, “From the basket of unleavened bread that was before Jehovah, he took one unleavened cake and one cake of oiled bread and one wafer.” Jehovah is God the Father, and the oil typifies the Spirit. The unleavened bread signifies the sinless Christ, and the oiled bread typifies Christ mingled with the Spirit. Christ lived a life without sin but full of the Spirit. These breads were for the priests to eat and live on (v. 31). In order to serve God, it is not enough to be outwardly sanctified; we also need the nourishment of an inward supply. The offerings were mainly God’s food, but a portion of the meal offering was the priest’s food. The sinless Christ, who is mingled with the Spirit, is the nourishing supply to sustain us in our priestly service.
Verses 30 through 31 say, “Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; and he sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him. And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of consecration, just as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.” After the anointing oil was poured on Aaron in verse 12, it was sprinkled bit by bit on the priests and their garments. The Tent of Meeting typifies Christ as the dwelling of God among His people. The flesh of the ram of consecration typifies Christ as the priests’ food (v. 22; cf. Exo. 29:31-32). One ram was fully burned to be food for God, but the flesh of the second ram, which was an offering for consecration, was for the priests to eat. The bread of the meal offering that was in the basket of consecration also typifies Christ as the priests’ food (Lev. 8:2). The priests ate the flesh of the ram of consecration and the bread of the meal offering. The best diet is composed of the animal life, signifying Christ as the redeeming life (John 1:29), and the plant life, signifying Christ as the generating life (12:24). As the reality of these offerings, Christ is our food for redemption and generation.
Leviticus 9:23-24 says, “Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting. And they came out and blessed the people; and the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the people. Then fire came forth from before Jehovah and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar.” After the consecration of the priests, Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle; then they came out and blessed the people. Glory, which is God expressed, appeared. The fire that burned the offerings on the altar was not a fire kindled by human hands but a fire that came from God. The children of Israel were brought to Mount Sinai and stayed there for nine months, receiving the divine revelation and building the tabernacle. After Israel erected the tabernacle, Moses filled the hands of the priests to sanctify them. This was the first time that an offering was made to God before the tabernacle. In Exodus 40 the tabernacle and the altar were prepared, but the priests, who were required to carry out the offerings, were not yet ready. Thus, the priests needed to be consecrated. Leviticus is a continuation of the record in Exodus. After Aaron and his sons were inaugurated into the priesthood in Leviticus 8, they immediately began to make offerings in chapter 9. As soon as Moses anointed and consecrated the priests, Aaron began to place the various offerings on the altar. However, nothing happened to the offerings until Moses and Aaron entered into the tabernacle and came out. Then fire came forth from God to burn the offerings (vv. 23-24). This divine fire remained burning; it was never extinguished (6:12-13; cf. 16:12).
The fire that consumed the offering signifies God as the accepting agent. As we have seen already, this fire represents the mouth of God, for God received the offerings on the altar through this fire. Because the fire was not an earthly fire from human hands but a heavenly fire from God Himself, the burning of the offering was God’s accepting the offering. This fire was not a judging fire but an accepting fire. The consummation of this burning was ashes, which were a sign that God had accepted the offering. Ordinarily, ashes are not a pleasant sight, but the priests making the offerings hoped to see ashes. When they saw ashes, they had the assurance that God had accepted their offering. In other words, God had enjoyed the food they offered.
The consecration of the priests, the filling of their hands, was so that they might enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. According to the New Testament, Christian service is a priestly service, a priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). If we do not have the priesthood, nothing we do is a service to God. The service that God requires of us is a priestly service. Regrettably, not many Christians today see this revelation, and as a result, many who think that they are serving God are actually laboring in ignorance and blindness. We need the Old Testament to give us the details of the divine revelation. In Leviticus 10 two sons of Aaron died because they made an offering with strange, man-made fire, which signifies man’s natural enthusiasm, affection, strength, and ability. We cannot serve the Lord by our natural life or ability. Our service must be the filling of our hands with the Divine Trinity; otherwise, our service will be an abomination in the eyes of God. The filling of our hands with the Divine Trinity as the reality of the types in Leviticus 8 and 9 will usher us into the enjoyment of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. Our hands need to be filled with the Divine Trinity, and our entire being needs to be daily nourished by and mingled with the Divine Trinity. Then we will be able to serve God, and the service that we render to God will be altogether acceptable.