According to 29:1, the sin offering used in sanctifying Aaron and his sons to be priests was a young bull. This young bull typifies Christ being strong and rich in life. We have seen that Aaron and his sons laying their hands upon the head of the bull signifies the believers being identified with Christ. According to verse 11, Moses was required to slaughter the bull before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting. This signifies that Christ was slain by God, represented by Moses, before God Himself in front of His people (Isa. 53:10).
Verse 12 goes on to say, “And you shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it upon the horns of the altar with your finger; and pour out all the blood at the base of the altar.” This signifies making the redemption of Christ powerful with a strong foundation.
As we have pointed out, the burning of the fat covering the inwards, the net on the liver and the two kidneys and their fat signifies the riches and sweetness of the inward being of Christ offered to God for His satisfaction. The burning of the flesh of the bull with its skin and dung outside the camp signifies the outward being of Christ sacrificed for the believers on this earth for their redemption.
One crucial point we have covered thus far is that to be a priest we need to be filled up with Christ. We all must realize that, apart from Christ, we are utterly empty, void of anything to satisfy God and ourselves. Before we were saved, we were absolutely empty. We had nothing to fill us and qualify us so that we might serve God. But God intends to sanctify us, to set us apart, to be His priests. In order to do this, He needs to fill our emptiness so that we may be able to satisfy Him. Outwardly and inwardly, this is to fill our hands with Christ. Outwardly, we are clothed with Christ as the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate. All these garments typify different aspects of Christ covering our nakedness. Now that we are covered by Him, we are no longer naked. Rather, Christ as our clothing qualifies us to serve as priests.
The clothing worn by the priests qualified them to serve God. Their priestly garments can be compared to a uniform. In many types of employment, a person must wear the proper uniform to be qualified for work. For example, both a policeman and a nurse must wear the appropriate uniform. In the same principle, a judge and a medical doctor also wear appropriate clothing. When we wear Christ, He becomes the clothing that qualifies us to serve God as priests. He is the covering for our nakedness.
Inwardly Christ is our nourishment and strength. He fills the emptiness within our being.
In order to fill our inward emptiness, Christ had to solve our basic problem with God, the problem of our sinful nature. In our flesh we are sinful. Actually we are sin. According to Romans 7, nothing good dwells in us, that is, in our flesh, for we are nothing but sin. Therefore, Christ has become the sin offering to solve our basic problem with God so that our inward emptiness may be filled.
A second crucial point related to serving God as priests is that whenever we would serve Him in this way, we need to realize and confess that we have a sinful nature. Every morning we need to offer the sin offering. This is to be reminded that in our flesh we are nothing but sin.
If we realize and admit that we have a sinful nature, will it be possible for us to argue with others or fight with them? Certainly not. Since we ourselves are sinful in nature, what right have we to argue with others? What reason have we to be proud or to consider ourselves superior? The reason we argue and fight is that we consider ourselves better than others. This attitude is an indication that we have forgotten what we are, that we have forgotten that we are sinful. If we remember that we are sinful in nature, even sin itself, we shall not be proud.
Offering Christ as the sin offering prepares the way for us to enjoy Christ. If in the morning you offer Christ as the sin offering, surely during the day you will enjoy Him, perhaps as a ram, bread, cakes, or wafers. If you do not remember the sin offering, you will not have the basis to enjoy Christ. Very probably, you will be short of the enjoyment of Christ during the day. As a result of not having the enjoyment of Christ, you will be empty. How, then, will you be satisfied inwardly to serve God as a priest? You will be a priest in name and in position, but not in reality. All believers in Christ are priests, but in actuality most of them do not have the basis to serve as priests.
My burden concerning Exodus 29 is not to cover doctrinal points such as the putting of the blood upon the horns of the altar, or pouring out the blood at the base of the altar. My burden is to show how we need to be filled up with Christ and to feed on Christ. Chapter twenty-nine of Exodus shows us the way to feed on Christ. However, the way revealed in this chapter is quite unusual. It is marvelous even to realize that this chapter gives us the way to feed on Christ. Many have read this chapter a number of times without realizing that it gives us the way to feed on Christ. We may see the offerings, the cleansing, and the application of the blood but not the feeding on Christ.
I doubt if there are any books which say that Exodus 29 reveals the way to feed on Christ. Most Christians do not see this matter because they are not on the line of life. But by the Lord’s mercy we are on this line. This is the reason we call our study of the Bible a life-study. When we read a portion of the Word, what we care for is life. This is also true of our study of Exodus 29. From this chapter we see that we need to be filled with Christ. What we need is the experience of life. Thus, whenever I touch the matter of life in a chapter of the Bible, I am fully occupied and give less emphasis to doctrinal points.
Certain Bible teachers have much to say concerning the sin offering. Their approach may be very interesting in a doctrinal way. You may find this approach attractive, but eventually it will distract you from life to the mere mental understanding of doctrinal teachings of typology. The result is that you do not receive any life supply. We approach Exodus 29 from another perspective. This is why I point out that we need to offer the sin offering in order to be prepared to enjoy Christ.
May we all see that we need to be filled with Christ. May we also realize that we still have a sinful nature and that daily, early in the morning, we need to offer Christ as our sin offering. This sinful nature deserves to be condemned, burned, as was the sin offering outside the camp. If we offer Christ as the sin offering with this realization, we shall be preserved, and we shall have the way to enjoy more of Christ.