In Exodus 29 we have a negative picture of what we are without Christ and outside of Christ. Apart from Christ we are unclean, naked, sinful, empty, and without anything to satisfy God or ourselves. Although they have been saved, many Christians, under the influence of superficial preaching and teaching, do not know the goal of their salvation. From Exodus 29 we see that we have been saved so that we may be sanctified to serve God as priests. As revealed in this chapter, sanctification includes being washed and clothed. It also includes redemption, which solves the problem of our sinful nature, and having our hands filled with something to satisfy God and ourselves. This last aspect of sanctification—feasting on Christ—involves saturation and transformation. Eventually, we are saturated by what we eat and transformed by it. The priests do not eat ordinary food. Instead, they have a priestly diet and eat priestly food. Their food, as typified by the offerings, is Christ. Eventually, the priests were constituted of the food they ate, for we always become what we eat.
When I was a child, my maternal grandparents lived by the sea, and they ate a great deal of fish. I remember visiting them and being surprised that they smelled of fish. When I asked my mother about this, she rebuked me and said, “Don’t you know that they eat fish every day? They smell like fish because they eat fish three times a day.” This is an illustration of the fact that eating is related to saturation and transformation. We are saturated and transformed by what we eat.
Because the priests ate the offerings, they were not merely sanctified positionally, but were also sanctified dispositionally. They were separated in position, and they were also transformed in disposition.
Before they were sanctified, the priests were not clean. Therefore, they needed to be washed by Christ with His word as signified by the living water. Because they were naked in the sight of God, they needed to be covered by Christ as their clothing. With this clothing we see glory in divinity and beauty in humanity. The priests, therefore, were richly clothed with Christ in all His riches. Because they were clothed in such a way, their nakedness was covered. Furthermore, although they were sinful in nature, their fallen nature was terminated in Christ as their sin offering. Hence, three negative problems were dealt with: the problems of uncleanness, nakedness, and sinfulness. However, the priests were still empty, having nothing to satisfy God or themselves.
On the positive side, the priests had the resurrected Christ typified by the two rams. The first ram was a burnt offering absolutely for God’s satisfaction. With the burnt offering the priest had something to offer to God. Toward God, therefore, they now were rich, for they had Christ in resurrection as the burnt offering to ascend to God for His satisfaction. They also had Christ in resurrection as the wave offering and in ascension as the heave offering to satisfy themselves as well as God. Thus, there was a mutual satisfaction through the peace offering. The priests could enjoy peace and find satisfaction. Now they had their hands filled with Christ. They had something that could satisfy God and themselves. They could be satisfied with Christ in resurrection as the wave offering of love and Christ in ascension as the heave offering of power. As a result, the priests were empowered and qualified to serve God. This is sanctification. All believers in Christ should be sanctified in this way.
If we understand Exodus 29, we shall have a proper understanding of the significance of sanctification in the New Testament. In Exodus 29 we have a picture of the sanctification spoken of in the New Testament. Now when we read about sanctification in the New Testament, we should have the view of Exodus 29 in front of us and understand New Testament sanctification according to this view.
Sanctification means that we are washed, clothed, redeemed, and filled. We are filled inwardly with Christ in such a way that we are saturated and transformed. As a result, our uncleanness is removed, our nakedness is covered, our sinfulness is dealt with, and our emptiness is filled. Outwardly we now have something of Christ to satisfy God, and inwardly we have something of Christ to satisfy ourselves. What we eat of Christ eventually saturates us and transforms us. In this way we are fully sanctified, equipped, qualified, and empowered to serve God as His priests. This is the full meaning of sanctification in the Scriptures.
We all need a richer, broader view of sanctification. Never underestimate the value of seeing a proper view of a certain matter. The view changes us; it affects our entire being. This is true both in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm. I love Exodus 29 because of the wonderful view it gives us of the sanctification of the priests.
When Aaron first stood before Moses, he had nothing. Moses, however, had been charged to sanctify him, that is, to equip, qualify, and empower him to serve God as a priest. First Aaron was washed with water. This water signifies Christ with His word. Then he was clothed with the priestly garments. This signifies the various aspects of Christ for glory and beauty. Following this, Aaron was redeemed by Christ as the sin offering. By means of this offering Aaron was terminated, brought back to God, and restored. In order for this to take place, he had to be identified with Christ, one with Him, as indicated by the laying of hands on the sin offering. Then Aaron had Christ in resurrection as the burnt offering ascending to God for His satisfaction. He also had Christ as the peace offering, the second ram plus the bread, the cake, and the wafer. Moreover, he had Christ in resurrection as a wave offering of love and as a heave offering in ascension in His power. This offering satisfied both God and man. Christ in His conduct is signified by the bread, the cake, and the wafer, an offering to satisfy God. God is satisfied with such a Christ, and we also are satisfied with Him. Not only are we satisfied with Christ—we are saturated with Him and transformed by Him.
The burnt offering typifies the objective Christ who ascends to God for His satisfaction. The peace offering signifies the subjective Christ who comes into us to satisfy us, saturate us, and transform us, thereby making us another kind of person, one who is no longer unclean, naked, sinful, empty, and natural, but one who has something in his hands to satisfy God, who is filled inwardly with Christ, and who is transformed by Him. This is to be sanctified to be priests serving God. This sanctification is not only for Aaron and his sons; it is for all of God’s saved and redeemed people. We all should be sanctified in this way to serve God as priests.
One matter we especially need to see is that of saturation and transformation. By eating Christ as the peace offering we are saturated with Him and transformed by Him and therefore are no longer natural. When the breast of the wave offering and the shoulder of the heave offering are taken into us, we are saturated and transformed. When Christ as the ram of the peace offering gets into us in this way, we are constituted of Him to become a ram.
Exodus 29 is unique in the picture it presents. Here we see that the right shoulder of the peace offering was given to God, that the right breast was given to Moses, and that the left breast and the left shoulder were given to the priests. The inward parts and the fat of the sin offering and also the bread, the cake, and the wafer of the peace offering were God’s portion. This indicates that God enjoys Christ’s inward being and outward behavior. These were the topmost holy things offered to God. We thus have the holy land, the holy produce, the holy tithe, and the holiest part of the tithe as the top portion for God’s enjoyment.
If we serve as priests, we enjoy Christ with God. This enjoyment is portrayed by the peace offering. In peace there are mutual enjoyment and satisfaction for God and His priests. This is a picture of the church life, in particular of the church meetings. In the meetings of the church all the priests meet with God and feast on Christ with God.