A believer’s appreciation of Christ and his offering of Christ may be quite natural. For example, some believers may appreciate Christ as He is presented in the four Gospels, but this appreciation may be natural. Furthermore, their love of the Lord Jesus may be according to their natural understanding. This was my situation after I was saved and began to love the Lord. For the most part, my way of offering Christ to God was also natural. However, through the years my apprehension, realization, appreciation, and offering of Christ have changed.

Those who offer Christ as a bull appreciate Christ in a deep and detailed way. Those who offer Christ as a turtledove do not have such a deep and detailed appreciation of Christ. Moreover, their way of offering Christ as the burnt offering is natural.

The Old Testament priests knew that in order for a turtledove to be accepted as a burnt offering, the turtledove had to pass through a process. It was necessary for the priest to kill the bird, take away its crop with its feathers, and tear its wings. The taking away of the crop and the feathers indicates the removal of what is unclean. The priest did all that was required to process the offering. This signifies that to offer Christ as a turtledove is to offer a Christ who has not been processed by the offerer; it is to offer Christ in a natural way. Therefore, when someone offers Christ as a turtledove, this offering needs to be processed by someone other than the offerer. However, the one who offers Christ as a bull or as a lamb offers Christ in a processed way, not in a natural way.

All the offerings were offered at the tent of meeting. Since the tent of meeting typifies the church, offering the burnt offering at the tent of meeting typifies offering Christ to God in the church meetings.

As we have indicated, the size of a believer’s offering and the way he offers it depend on his spiritual maturity, capacity, and ability. Some saints may offer Christ as the burnt offering in a way that is not natural and with an offering that is not whole but processed. Such saints, who are matured and rich in the ability to apprehend, realize, and appreciate Christ, have had very deep experiences of Christ. They have experienced what is signified by the different parts of the burnt offering: the head, the fat, the inwards, and the legs. To experience Christ’s head is to experience His understanding, wisdom, and prudence. To experience Christ’s inwards is to experience His sensibility, affections, feelings, thoughts, will, intentions, and purposes. The burnt offering presented by these saints is an offering that has been cut into pieces. This indicates that their experience of Christ is detailed and also that their way of offering Christ to God as the burnt offering is not at all natural.

Little by little, the matured saints experience Christ in detail according to the pieces of Christ. They have come to realize that the Lord Jesus lived a life of having His inwards purified by the Spirit. This is typified in Leviticus 1 by the water. These saints have also experienced Christ’s walk on earth, a walk in which the Spirit constantly kept Him clean and pure in His outward contacts. In their daily experience, they appreciate Christ as the One who was always being washed inwardly and outwardly, not because He was unclean but for the purpose of preserving Him in His cleanness and purity. This is the Christ they apprehend, realize, and appreciate, and this is the Christ they offer to God.

A believer who offers Christ as turtledoves or pigeons certainly does not have the kind of appreciation of Christ that a mature believer has. Furthermore, his way of offering Christ in the church meetings is natural. As you listen to the prayers and testimonies of the new or young believers, especially in the Lord’s table meeting, you can realize that in a natural way they offer Christ as two young pigeons. A dear saint who has recently been saved may stand up and say, “Praise the Lord! I love the Lord Jesus!” He may offer Christ or give a testimony, but he does so in a natural way. However, when certain other saints pray or testify, you can realize that, according to their spiritual maturity, capacity, and ability, they offer a detailed, processed Christ.

In Leviticus 1, the one who offered turtledoves or pigeons was not rejected. His offering, even though raw and unprocessed, was accepted, but it was accepted through the work of the priest who processed the offering. After the priest worked on the offering, wringing off its head, tearing its wings, and removing its crop and feathers, the offering was no longer natural but processed.

As we apply this matter of the processing of the offering by the priests, we need to ask a question: Who are the serving priests today? In order to answer this question, we need to realize that the burnt offering was presented not in the offerer’s home but at the tent of meeting, where the altar and the priests were. This is a type of our offering Christ as the burnt offering not in our homes but in the church meetings. In the church meetings we have the altar, and we also have the saints as the serving priests.

In a meeting a young believer may in a natural way offer Christ as two birds. His offering of Christ may then be processed by the prayers and testimonies of other saints. As the young believer listens to these prayers and testimonies, he may realize that his way of offering Christ was natural and unprocessed. However, some of the priests processed his offering for him. Therefore, the priests are those saints who, in the church meetings, process a burnt offering that is offered in a natural way.
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