Leviticus 14:4-5 says, “The priest shall command that two living clean birds...be taken for the one who is to be cleansed. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered in an earthen vessel over running water.” The priest typifies Christ the Son. The cleansing of the leper required two living and clean birds, which typify Christ the Son, who is living and pure. The bird that was killed signifies the crucified Christ, and the bird that was released signifies the resurrected Christ (v. 7). The cleansing of our sinful condition requires the crucified Christ with His shed blood and the resurrected Christ with His resurrection life. The running water, which was also for the cleansing of the leper, signifies the Spirit. After we enjoy Christ as the crucified and resurrected One, the life-giving Spirit makes us living and pure.
Verse 10 says, “He shall take two male lambs without blemish and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mingled with oil.” The two male lambs, the ewe lamb, and the meal offering each typify Christ the Son. Verse 12 says, “The priest shall take one of the male lambs and present it as a trespass offering.” The three lambs served as a trespass offering, a sin offering, and a burnt offering to be God’s food (vv. 19-20). Lepers signify unclean persons, sinners. As sinners, we need Christ as the reality of these offerings to cleanse us. Christ as the trespass offering deals with our sins. Christ as the sin offering deals with our sinful nature. Christ as the burnt offering is God’s food for His satisfaction. These details are found only in the Old Testament.
The meal offering typifies Christ’s humanity as God’s food, and the oil typifies the Spirit. Thus, the meal offering mingled with oil signifies Christ the Son mingled with the Spirit in His humanity as God’s food. Only the proper humanity can satisfy God. Therefore, Christ needed to become a man to satisfy God. Christ’s humanity is perfect and is fully mingled with the Spirit.
Verses 17 through 19 say, “From the rest of the oil that is in the palm of his hand the priest shall put some on the lobe of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed and some on the thumb of his right hand and some on the big toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering. The rest of the oil that is in the palm of the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of the one who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make expiation for him before Jehovah. And the priest shall offer the sin offering and make expiation for the one who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness, and afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering.” Before the oil was put on the leper, the blood of the trespass offering was put on his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot (v. 14). This shows that without the blood of Christ, we cannot enjoy the anointing Spirit. The ear is for listening, for hearing; the hand signifies doing; and the foot is for walking. This indicates that we have trespasses because we do not hear the word of God properly, we do not do things according to God’s will, and we do not walk in the ways of God.
In the cleansing of the leper we can see the relation between the trespass offering, the sin offering, and the burnt offering. We first need the trespass offering, then the sin offering, and finally the burnt offering. Because we have many trespasses, we first need Christ as our trespass offering to deal with our sins. Then we need to realize that because the source of our sins is indwelling sin, our sinful nature, we also need Christ as our sin offering. Finally, we need to realize that because the cause of our sins is our not being absolute for God, we also need Christ as our burnt offering. Additionally, we need Christ as our meal offering to supply us to live absolutely for God. By Christ as these four offerings, a sinner is fully cleansed of his uncleanness.
The Old Testament types reveal many details of our spiritual experience. Jehovah being God the Father, the various offerings typifying Christ the Son, and the running water and oil representing the Spirit show us that sinners, signified by the leper, need to be cleansed in order to be brought back to the enjoyment of the Triune God. In fact, the cleansing itself is an experience and enjoyment of the Triune God. All three of the Trinity are fully involved in the cleansing of a sinner. When we were saved, we enjoyed Christ, who shed His blood and resurrected for us; we enjoyed the living Spirit, who gave us life to make us living; and we enjoyed God the Father, who joyfully accepted us. Furthermore, salvation is only the beginning of our enjoyment of the Triune God and initiates us into a life of following and fully enjoying the dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
Leviticus 24:2-4 says, “Command the children of Israel to bring to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting Aaron shall set it in order from evening to morning before Jehovah continually. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure lampstand before Jehovah continually.” The pure oil typifies the Spirit. The light is the shining of God. The lamps are the seven lamps (Exo. 25:37), which are the seven Spirits of God, the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 4:5), as the expression of God. The Tent of Meeting typifies Christ as the dwelling of God among His people. Here Jehovah is the Triune God.
The gold of the lampstand (Exo. 25:31) signifies God the Father in His divine nature; the form of the lampstand signifies God the Son as the embodiment of God the Father; and the seven lamps signify God the Spirit as the sevenfold intensified expression of the Father in the Son. Therefore, the pure lampstand signifies Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. This embodiment shines so that the serving ones can live, walk, and work under the shining of the Triune God.
In conclusion, the arrangement of the lampstand reveals that the Divine Trinity is applied for the shining of the divine light within God’s dwelling so that the people of God might serve Him through the enjoyment of the Divine Trinity. In type, the consecration of the priests, the cleansing of the leper, and the shining of the light of the lamps are all issues of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. This revelation requires much consideration, prayer, and fellowship.