In the foregoing message we emphasized the value of the types in the Old Testament, and we also considered different attitudes toward these types. In addition to the plain words in the New Testament, we need the types, the pictures, in the Old Testament. In particular, we need to pay attention to the types of Christ presented in Exodus 29. If we apply this picture of Christ to our experience, we shall enjoy more of Christ and learn how to grow Christ and produce Him so that we can offer Him to God in the church meetings.
I hope that all the saints in the Lord’s recovery will be willing to drop their old, religious background. At least to some extent, this background influences the saints unconsciously or subconsciously. When they come to the meetings, many are still under the influence of the background of religion. Because of this influence, they come to the meetings merely to sit and join the congregation in singing. Others may offer a prayer or give a testimony. This, of course, is an improvement. Nevertheless, the situation of the meetings is still too much under the influence of what we inherited from traditional Christianity. We may regard this inheritance, this influence, as an old culture that we need to drop.
In these messages on Exodus 29 we have been considering the sanctification of the believers to serve God as priests. This is related to the question of how to meet. What is revealed through the types in Exodus 29 is absolutely different from the practice of traditional Christianity. For this reason, I urge you to lay aside your old background and take up something new according to the picture in Exodus 29.
Toward the end of Exodus 29 we see the bull for the sin offering, the lambs for the burnt offering, the flour and the oil for the meal offering, and the wine for the drink offering. Daily our practice needs to match what is revealed in these types. This means that in our living we should experience Christ in all these ways. No longer should we live the Christian life in an old way. The New Testament makes clear what the Christian life is. However, the New Testament does not give us the details. The details are pictured in the Old Testament types. Here in Exodus 29 we have a picture showing that daily we need a bull, two lambs, flour, oil, and wine. Where is the sin offering in your way of living the Christian life? Where are the lambs, the fine flour, the oil, and the wine? It is possible that you do not have any of these in your daily life. The aspects of Christ are pictured in the Bible, but they are not part of your experience; they are not found in your daily life. Our way of living the Christian life may have its source in ethics, culture, religion, and the natural concept. It is not constituted of the elements portrayed in Exodus 29. We may be like Bible students studying the Old Testament who study the types in Exodus 29, but do not live according to them. We do not make them one with our daily living. What is the purpose of the picture of the bull, the lambs, the flour, the oil, the wine? To be sure, it is not just for the composition of the Bible. It is a picture of what we should experience in our daily life.
It is possible to be under the Lord’s ministry for years without applying in our daily life the revelation we have received. If this is our situation, we have the ministry in our listening, learning, or reading, but not in our living. Furthermore, what we have in our Christian life may be derived from tradition. Even what we gain from the Lord’s ministry may do nothing more than influence our traditional way of living the Christian life. It does not lead to a radical change, to a revolution, in our daily living. The picture in Exodus 29 should bring about a radical change in our Christian life. It should cause us to no longer have our daily life in a traditional way.
We may illustrate what we mean by tradition from certain practices of Catholicism. According to the Catholic way, regularly a believer should go to confession and then attend mass. In addition, when she is in a church building, a woman is supposed to have a covering on her head. Also according to Catholic tradition, some may buy candles and place them in front of an image. This is the Catholic way according to tradition. Although you do not follow this kind of tradition, in principle your way of living the Christian life may also be traditional. Therefore, I hope that as we are speaking concerning how to meet and how to be priests serving the Lord, we shall apply all the matters in Exodus 29 to our daily living. May all these things cause a revolution in our Christian life. In particular, we need to be revolutionized in our praying.
I can testify that I am still learning how to have a proper Christian life. I admit that in the past I was strongly under the influence of tradition. We do not know how deep in tradition we are. When we try to get out of tradition, we discover that it is extremely difficult to get out.
In Exodus 29 the bull typifies Christ as our sin offering and the lambs typify Christ as our burnt offering. I encourage you to practice offering Christ to God as your sin offering and also as your burnt offering. I would also encourage you throughout the day to enjoy Christ as the meal offering, as the fine flour mingled with oil, and even to experience Him as the wine to be poured out to God as a drink offering.