There was no mention of the drink offering in connection with the five basic offerings in Leviticus 1 through 7 because at that time the offerers had no experience of Christ. They were like Jacob at Bethel the first time. But after they had entered into the good land, had experienced Christ, and had gained something to offer God, they were required to offer the drink offering to match their other offerings. Numbers 15:1-10 and 28:6-10 indicate that the drink offering always matched the basic offering. The drink offering was in proportion to the size of the basic offering: a fourth of a hin of wine for a lamb; a third of a hin for a ram; and half a hin for a bullock (Num. 15:4-10). This indicates that the more we experience Christ, the more of a drink offering we become. If you experience Christ only as a little lamb, you will be a drink offering of one fourth of a hin. But if you experience Him as a ram or as a bullock, you will become a larger drink offering. In other words, the more you offer Christ to God, the greater must be the drink offering to match it. Our experience proves that the more we experience Christ, the more we become the drink offering. As we offer Christ to God, spontaneously we have the drink offering to match our offering.

Although the lamb, the ram, and the bullock are types merely of Christ, the wine is not merely Christ. The Bible clearly indicates that the drink offering could not be offered to God by itself. It could only be presented to match one of the basic offerings. The basic offerings are Christ, but the drink offering is not just Christ Himself; it is the Christ who has saturated us until the wine has become us. Although the wine in Matthew 9:17 was only Christ, Paul said, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering" (2 Tim. 4:6, Gk.). The wine in 2 Timothy 4:6 was the Christ of Matthew 9:17 who had saturated Paul and who had made him wine. Formerly, this wine was only Christ; but now it becomes us that we may be poured out as a drink offering. This pouring out depends upon our experience of Christ. Here in Bethel, in God's house, we must be poured out as a drink offering.

Suppose a group of believers assembles every Sunday, but hardly any of them has the real experience of Christ. Could they be the drink offering? Certainly not. Because they cannot be a drink offering, this gathering of Christians cannot be considered as the house of God. The only pillar that can be rightly called the house of God is the pillar upon which the drink offering has been poured. If there is no drink offering poured upon the pillar, then there must be something wrong with that pillar. We must have doubts about any gathering of Christians in which there is no pouring out of the drink offering. In any meeting that is truly the house of God those meeting together will be a drink offering.

By the New Testament alone we cannot clearly and adequately understand spiritual things, especially the things concerning Christ and the church life. We also need the pictures in the Old Testament. We have a very vivid picture in Genesis 35. Here we see Jacob setting up a pillar and pouring the drink offering upon it. In chapter twenty-eight Jacob even called this pillar the house of God. There must have been a reason for all this to be recorded in the Bible. The reason is that the pillar indicates that the house of God is a matter of the building. If we do not have the drink offering poured out upon the pillar, it is questionable that we have the genuine building. Although many are talking about the building—thank the Lord for this—we must still ask whether or not a drink offering has been poured out upon the pillar.

The drink offering does not come from wine out of the winepress; it comes from our experience of drinking the wine. The winepress itself cannot produce a drink offering. God will not be satisfied merely with wine from the winepress. He will be fully satisfied with those who have enjoyed Christ as wine to such an extent that they have become drunk with Christ and have themselves become the wine to satisfy God. This wine is not the direct wine from the winepress; it is the indirect wine from those who drink Christ as the wine. This is deep. I believe that if many among us continue to go on with the Lord for another period of time, they will become such a drink offering and will be able to say, "Lord Jesus, I am already being poured out upon You as a drink offering." No recently saved person can say this. But there are some among us who can faithfully and honestly say with full assurance that they are already being poured out as a drink offering for the Lord. Wherever there is the drink offering, there is also the pillar set up as the house of God. This matter is deep, practical, and touches something deep in our experience. It touches us very deeply to see a person who is so saturated with Christ that his only interest is Christ and the church.