In Exodus 29 is the consecration of the priesthood. In verses 38 through 42 we are told that the priests had to offer the daily continual burnt offering with the drink offering. This indicates that in the priestly service the drink offering is needed to match the continual burnt offering.
The drink offering was also related to the law of the Nazarite (Num. 6:13-17). A Nazarite was a person wholly consecrated to God. When the days of a Nazarite's separation were fulfilled, he had to offer a burnt offering, a sin offering, and a peace offering. Along with these offerings, he also had to offer a drink offering. The Nazarite was qualified to offer the drink offering because he was one who had experienced God to a great degree. This also proves that the drink offering comes from our experiences of the Lord. If we do not experience Him, we cannot have a drink offering. The drink offering is not merely the Lord Himself objectively; it is our subjective experience of being made one with the Lord to the extent that He becomes us. The Christ whom we experience in this subjective way is the wine we pour out to satisfy God for God's building.
We have pointed out that a drunkard's only interest is wine. His mind is constantly preoccupied with thoughts of wine. Even his dreams are dreams of wine. We must be like this about the church, the house of God. Besides Bethel, we should have no other interest. Consider the example of the Apostle Paul. His writings reveal that he was "crazy" for the church; he was drunk with Christ and interested only in God's house, God's temple. His terms for Bethel were "the church" and "the Body." He was drunk for the church. Some have said, "You church people are crazy. The only thing you know is the church." Once a lady approached me after a meeting and said, "Mr. Lee, why do you always talk about the church? Why don't you speak about the family life?" I answered, "I don't talk about the family because you talk about it so much. I must be interested in the church." The church should be our only interest. What is your interest today—school? business? family? My only interest is the church. We all need to be such "drunkards" for the church. Before his martyrdom, Paul said, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering." If our only interest is the church, then we are ready to say the same thing. It has only been through experience that I have come to understand why Jacob set up a stone and poured a drink offering upon it. At Bethel, we who are interested only in the house of God spontaneously become a drink offering.
According to Romans 16:3-5, Aquila and Priscilla were such people. This couple was absolute for the local churches. Their only interest was the church, and they were willing to be martyred for it. They risked their necks for the Apostle Paul and for the churches. Because Aquila and Priscilla risked their necks for the churches and were interested only in the churches, they were undoubtedly a drink offering; they were ready to be poured out.
We need to go over the verses regarding the drink offering again and again. I repeat that the drink offering is in addition to the basic offerings we have experienced. We should not say that it is sufficient merely to have the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. If this is our attitude, then we are poor in experience. Our burnt offering must be accompanied by the drink offering. The basic offering, which is Christ Himself, must always be complemented by a matching offering, the drink offering. The matching offering is not merely Christ Himself; it is the Christ who has saturated us and who has made us one with Him. We must be those who have the drink offering to match the basic offerings. The larger our offering is, the larger our matching offering must be. If we offer only the basic offerings, our offerings will be poor and short of experience. We need to offer Christ daily as our basic offerings. At the same time we must have something to match these offerings. The matching offering comes from our experience of the basic offerings. The more the basic offerings make us one with Christ, the more we become the matching offering, the drink offering. After we have come to this point, we are fully assured that we are at Bethel.
If we fit together the verses concerning the drink offering like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, we shall see that the drink offering is mainly for the church. The first mention of the drink offering is in Genesis 35. The first mention of a matter determines the principle of that matter in the Scriptures. The drink offering is first mentioned in relation to God's building, for this offering was poured out upon the pillar. If we read about the drink offering in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers without having Genesis 35:14 as a basis, we shall not realize that the drink offering is for the building of God. But we must return to the first mention of the drink offering, where we see that it was not only for the worship of God, but also for the building of Bethel. The last mention of the drink offering is 2 Timothy 4:6. Here the drink offering is also for the church, for Bethel. Therefore, from the first mention to the last, the drink offering is mainly for God's building, not mainly for the worship of God. Apparently, the drink offering is for worship; actually, it is for the house of God, for the building of the pillar, the signboard of God's temple.
We need to have a good number of saints who are ready to be poured out upon God's building. This is genuine martyrdom. Martyrdom is the pouring out of a drink offering full of the experience of Christ. When you are filled to the brim with the experience of Christ, then you will be ready to be poured out, to be martyred, for the building of God. We need this in the Lord's recovery today. We are not told whether or not Aquila and Priscilla were martyred. But we know for certain that in their spirit, attitude, and way of life they had already been martyred. Hence, they were a genuine drink offering, not only for the worship of God, but even the more for God's building.
When Jacob poured the drink offering upon the pillar, he undoubtedly felt that he was worshipping God. To him, the pouring out of that offering was an act of worship. The word "offering" denotes something related to the worship of God. This worship, however, is not a religious ritual; it is for God's building. Today in the Lord's recovery we need many saints to experience Christ to the extent that they are so filled with Him and saturated with Him as wine that they become the very wine to be poured out upon God's building for His worship and satisfaction in His building. This is the meaning of the drink offering.