“In the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering” (Ezek. 44:27). Whenever we approach God, we need to offer the sin offering, even if we are not conscious of any uncleanness. Every time we draw near to God, we need to apply the Lord’s redemption and receive the cleansing of His precious blood.
“I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession” (v. 28b). This reveals that the priests have no possession besides God. Their possession is God Himself, and they enjoy God as their supply. All these serving ones have only God Himself as their inheritance, their possession. This indicates that as today’s priests we should not expect to be rich in physical, material possessions. Instead, we need to realize that our God, whom we serve, is our possession, our inheritance.
Finally, all the priests enjoyed the riches of Christ. All the heave offerings, all the firstfruits, and all the top produce of the people of the Lord belonged to these serving ones (vv. 29-30). This indicates that the riches of Christ were for their enjoyment. They had God as their possession, and they had Christ in all His rich aspects as their enjoyment. May we all serve the Lord in this way.
The responsibility of the priest was to present the offerings to God. Concerning this, the record in Ezekiel may seem to be peculiar. Moses told the people of the Lord to offer to God one lamb out of ten, but Ezekiel told them to offer one out of two hundred (45:15). This indicates that if we do not produce large quantities of the enjoyment of Christ, we are not qualified to offer anything. Anything less than two hundred lambs was not adequate. If we would be qualified to offer one lamb, we must first raise up two hundred lambs. This means that our richness in the experience of Christ qualifies us to offer something.
The principle is the same with the wheat and the barley. Ezekiel 45:13 says, “This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of a homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of a homer of barley.” One homer equals ten ephahs, and the offering must be one-sixth of an ephah. Thus, one was required to offer one part out of sixty. This is different from Moses’ requirement, which was one part out of ten. Those who had less than an homer of wheat were not qualified to offer anything. If one had an homer of wheat, he was qualified to offer one-sixtieth to God. In order to present an offering of wheat, one had to be rich in wheat. In contrast to Moses’ requirement, Ezekiel’s requirement forces us to be rich.
The offering of oil also required an abundant supply. Ezekiel 45:14 says, “Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is a homer of ten baths; for ten baths are a homer.” One homer equals ten baths, and the people were told to offer one tenth of a bath. To offer one tenth of a bath of an homer is to offer one percent. One must be rich in the produce of Christ to offer an offering of oil to the Lord.
Those who were not rich were not qualified to offer anything. The offering of the wheat and the barley was to be one-sixtieth; of the oil, one-hundredth; and of the lambs, one two-hundredth.
In the writings of Moses there are many kinds of heave offerings, but Ezekiel mentions only three categories for the heave offering: wheat and barley, oil, and lambs. The heave offering was heaved up into the air which signifies the ascended Christ, the highest Christ. In our service to God, we need to “heave” Christ, that is, offer the ascended Christ, the highest Christ, to God.
In The All-inclusive Christ we point out that wheat signifies Christ incarnated to die for us. In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus likened Himself to a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die. From His incarnation to His crucifixion, He was wheat. Barley signifies the Christ in resurrection, because in Palestine barley is the first grain to be harvested. Thus, barley signifies the firstfruits of resurrection. It is significant that the Lord Jesus fed the five thousand with loaves made of barley (John 6:9). Wheat and barley signify Christ from the time of His incarnation all the way to His resurrection. As we know, the lamb signifies the redeeming Christ, and the oil signifies the Holy Spirit. These are the main aspects of the heave offering which we need to offer in our service. All these are related to Christ, for Christ is the wheat, the barley, the lamb, and the oil.
According to Ezekiel’s record there were the yearly offering, the monthly offering, the weekly offering, and the daily offering. The yearly offering was offered on the first day of the year, signifying that, in principle, every year we should have a new beginning (45:18-19). Every year we need a fresh cleansing and clearing up. The yearly offering was offered not only on the first day of the year but also on the seventh day of the year (v. 20). This indicates a period of graciousness for the people. Some were not ready on the first day of the year to fully clear up their situations and to be cleansed, so the Lord gave them another opportunity on the seventh day. If they missed the first day, they had another opportunity on the seventh day.
In principle, at the beginning of every year, we need to have a renewal in our service for the Lord. At the beginning of every year, we need a new beginning in our service.
There was also the monthly offering at the time of the new moon. Whenever there was a new moon, an offering had to be made (46:6). The new moon also indicates a new beginning. We need a new beginning not only yearly but also monthly.
In addition, there was to be a weekly offering. An offering was to be made every week on the Sabbath (v. 4). The Sabbath means not only that we have a new turn but also that we are enjoying the Lord’s work. To keep the Sabbath means that we stop our work and enjoy what the Lord has done. Keeping the Sabbath indicates that we are not trusting in our work but are fully trusting and enjoying the Lord’s work. We need to be able to declare to the universe, “Our work has ceased and we are enjoying the Lord’s work.” This is the principle of the Sabbath.
There was also a daily offering (v. 13). The daily offering in Ezekiel is different from the daily offering required by Moses. Moses said that the continual daily burnt offering had to be both in the morning and in the evening, but in Ezekiel there is no offering in the evening. I believe that this indicates that in the service of the priests there is no evening; they are continually in the freshness of the morning. The situation in Ezekiel has improved to the point that there was no evening, only morning. There was no sunset, only sunrise.
In addition to the yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily offerings, there were also the offerings at the appointed feasts—at the Feast of the Passover, Feast of the Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles (45:21, 25). Praise the Lord for the offerings and the feasts!
Now we know what kind of priests we need to be in order to serve the Lord and what we need to offer to the Lord.