At this juncture we need to consider how the circumcised, faithful, and qualified ones serve the Lord. First, they serve by offering the fat and the blood of the offerings (v. 15). The most precious part of the offerings is the fat, which typifies the precious person of the Lord Jesus. Whereas the fat typifies the preciousness of the person of Christ, the blood signifies the redemptive work of Christ. In brief, the fat signifies the person of Christ and the blood signifies the work of Christ. In our service to God, we must present to Him the precious person of Christ and the redemptive work of Christ.
When the priests came in to minister to the Lord, they were not allowed to wear any woolen garment (v. 17). Instead, while they were in the Lord’s presence serving Him, they had to wear linen garments. In the Bible linen signifies a behavior, a living, that is pure, clean, and fine. Linen garments signify a daily living and walk in the life-giving Spirit by the life of Christ.
The priests were not allowed to wear woolen garments because woolen garments would make the priests too warm and cause them to sweat. According to Genesis 3:19 sweat is a sign of being under God’s curse. Because fallen man is under God’s curse, he must labor and sweat. Under the curse man, lacking God’s blessing, must exercise his energy and strength, which cause sweating. In the Lord’s service there is no need for us to use our own strength. When we use our own strength to endeavor and struggle, this proves that we are not under the Lord’s blessing but rather are under the Lord’s curse.
In the church service in the Lord’s recovery, we need to avoid and even escape from any kind of self-energy, self-struggle, and self-endeavor. We should not push anything. If a certain matter is of the Lord, the Lord will surely grant His abundant blessing upon it and work that matter out. There is no need for us to push, endeavor, struggle, and expend our energy to work out anything. We should not do anything that causes us to “sweat.” In the church service we all need to be in the life-giving Spirit by the life of Christ and not exercise our natural strength to push anything. On the contrary, often we may need to back off a little and give in to others. To do this is to give in to the Lord and to place on Him the responsibility for the matter that concerns us. Then we will be able to say, “Lord, if this burden is of You, I will stay back and ask You to come in. I ask You, Lord, to take up this burden. This will confirm my burden so that I may know that it is truly of You.” May we realize that there is no need for us to strive or contend with others in our service to the Lord.
Ezekiel 44:19 says, “When they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments.” Here we see that when the priests go forth into the outer court to the people, they must put off their garments wherein they ministered and lay them in the holy chambers and then put on other garments. This indicates that the priests are not allowed to mix what is holy with what is profane but maintain a separation between the holy and the profane. If we today would stand in the position of a priest, we must maintain this kind of separation. God does not allow mixture; He requires us to be separated unto Him.
Another matter concerning the priests who came near to serve the Lord is their hair. “Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads” (v. 20). This verse says that the priests should neither shave their head, cutting off all their hair, nor should they let their hair grow long. Rather, they should poll their hair, which means to cut it short.
First Corinthians 11:5 indicates that to cut off, or shave off, all our hair signifies rebellion against the Lord’s headship. In serving the Lord we must not be rebellious against His authority. Rather, we must submit to the Lord’s headship. For this, we need some amount of hair upon our head, signifying our submission to the Lord’s headship. On the other hand, 1 Corinthians 11 tells us that to have long hair indicates self-glory and self-dignity (v. 15). We may even use another term—self-enjoyment. In the Bible long hair signifies beauty and glory. If a man keeps his hair long, this indicates that he is keeping his self-glory and self-dignity and that he is fulfilling his self-pleasure and self-enjoyment. He simply enjoys his long hair.
These points concerning hair are applicable to the church life. Suppose a brother has the attitude that there is no need for him to be under anyone; he is independent and claims that he is equal to every other member in the Body. He may even quote the Lord’s word in Matthew 23:8 in defense of his attitude. For him to have such an attitude indicates that, spiritually speaking, he has shaved off all his hair and thus does not submit to the Lord’s headship. Yes, Matthew 23:8 does say that we all are brothers, but 1 Peter 5:5 says that the younger should submit to the elder and that we all should submit to one another. In the church life we need the proper submission. Hence, we should not shave our head.
Now we need to see that, spiritually speaking, to have long hair in the church life, signifying self-glory, is to desire and seek to be a leader. One problem in the church life is the lack of submission, and another is the desire for position and leadership. To seek a position in the church is to seek self-glory and self-dignity. Some are seeking to be an elder or to be a leader. This kind of seeking is not a glory; it is a shame. It is a shame to seek after leadership or any kind of self-glory. This kills us spiritually and disqualifies us from serving the Lord properly. If we want to be qualified to serve the Lord, we should not shave our head, meaning that we should have a proper submission, and we should not let our hair grow long, meaning that we should not seek self-glory, self-dignity, position, and leadership.
Both the lack of submission and the seeking after a position damage the church. Whoever is seeking leadership in the church life is disqualified and finished with the church life. I thank the Lord that many brothers have received grace from the Lord and have no desire to seek leadership. However, some brothers desire not only to be an elder but to be the leading one among the elders. This is to let one’s hair grow long, that is, to seek self-glory.
Spiritually speaking, we need to keep a moderate cut of hair. We need to poll our hair, that is, to have a moderate cut. On the one hand, we submit to the Lord’s authority. On the other hand, we do not seek to be a leader. Instead of seeking to be a leader, we should simply minister life to others and support the church life by His grace. We should do everything we can for the church without seeking to have a position or to be a leader. Such an attitude is marvelous.