Aaron, the high priest, experienced the Passover in Egypt. In relation to the filling up of Aaron’s empty hands, the sin offering was the first offering presented to God. Was this not a repetition of the Passover? Did not the Passover include the sin offering? These questions are not easy to answer. We all experienced the Passover when we were saved. Why, then, do we still need the sin offering? Why in the filling up of the priests’ empty hands was there still the need for the sin offering? When we were saved and experienced the Passover, our sins were forgiven. Nevertheless, when we come to the Lord, we still need the sin offering. No matter how long we have been saved, whenever we come to serve God, we need the sin offering because we are still living in the flesh, in the old creation. To serve God as priests requires the sin offering. Even to contact the Lord during morning watch requires the sin offering. Serving the Lord as a priest is a great matter, and contacting Him in the morning watch is a comparatively small matter, but in both cases we need the sin offering and the trespass offering.
To consecrate someone to be God’s priest is to sanctify him, and to sanctify him is to set him apart. In order for someone to be set apart to serve God as a priest, his hands need to be filled. This filling up of the hands becomes a mark that sets him apart from everything that is common. If I have something of Christ filling my hands, this indicates that I have been set apart. Whoever has Christ in his hands to fill his emptiness is set apart, sanctified.
Not only is it inaccurate to use the word consecrate in verse 9, but it is also inappropriate, because it somewhat hinders the proper understanding of what is recorded in this chapter. When we read the word consecrate, we may automatically think about dedicating ourselves to the Lord. But as we have pointed out, the meaning of consecrate here is to have Christ filling up our emptiness. In ourselves we are empty-handed. Now we need our empty hands to be filled with Christ. Having our hands filled is not a matter of consecration; it is to sanctify us, to set us apart, to make us different from others.
If our hands are filled with Christ, those in our family, neighborhood, or place of employment will realize that we are different. But if we are common, if there is no difference between us and unbelievers, then we are not priests. What makes us different from others is that we have Christ filling our hands. Wherever we may be, at school, at work, or at home, we need to have hands full of Christ. Being filled up with Christ will then be a mark that sets us apart from those who are common. Others will recognize that we are different. They are still empty-handed, but our hands are full of Christ. To have hands filled with Christ is to be sanctified to be a priest.
When I was young, I learned about the universal priesthood from the Brethren teachers. The Brethren are opposed to the clergy-laity system. Before they were raised up one hundred sixty years ago, the clergy and laity were prevailing among Christians. Then the Brethren began to stand up against this system and testify that it is wrong. They said that, according to the New Testament, all believers are priests. Because this teaching is true, I accepted it and passed it on to others. However, I did not realize how God’s people could be sanctified to serve as priests.
Although Aaron and his sons were of God’s people, they still needed to be sanctified. What was done to them in Exodus 29 was not done to unbelievers, to Egyptians. Because they were among the people of God, Aaron and his sons had experienced the Passover, even while they were yet in Egypt. But they still needed to be set apart, sanctified, in order to serve God as priests. According to verse 9, the priesthood was to be theirs for an eternal statute. What was it that sanctified Aaron and his sons and made them different from others? What made them different and sanctified them from the rest of the children of Israel was the filling up of their hands with all the rich offerings. This filling sanctified them, set them apart, and became a mark of separation and sanctification. Yes, we all have been saved, but we need to ask ourselves if our hands are filled with Christ.
For a long time I did not know how to be a priest. Through years of groping, I gradually came to understand that to serve God as a priest requires that our hands be filled with Christ. Praise the Lord that I am no longer groping! Now I see that it is by having our hands filled with Christ that we are set apart to serve God as His priests.
We all need to be encouraged to function in the meetings. But the question is how to function. Some may function by simply saying, “Praise the Lord!” However, if someone functions only in this way for a period of time, he will no longer have a pleasant taste when he declares this in the meetings. The same will be true of saying, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah.” To function properly in the meetings, we all need to have our hands filled with Christ.
We need to see what it means to be sanctified to serve God as a priest. This matter of being set apart, separated, does not take place by some action or activity on our part; it comes about by having our hands filled with Christ as the offerings. This filling up of our empty hands with Christ is our sanctification, and this sanctification sets us apart to be God’s priests.
Who sets us apart for this? The One who sets us apart to be priests serving God is Christ. However, the Christ who sets us apart is not a mere doctrinal Christ; He is the Christ we experience as the offerings filling up our hands. If we understand this, we have the proper foundation to consider the details of the sanctification of Aaron and his sons to be priests.