The most crucial point for us to interpret and understand concerning the burnt offering is the difference in the way the burnt offering is offered. For years, Bible teachers have stressed the difference in the size of the offering:
the bull-the largest size; the lamb or goat-the second largest size; and a pair of birds-the smallest size. It is easy for us to see the difference in size, but it is not easy for us to see the difference in the way to offer, although this matter is clearly recorded in Leviticus 1. Even if we see the difference in the way to offer the burnt offering, it may still be difficult for us to realize the significance of this difference.
In order to understand the burnt offering, we need to realize that whenever we present a burnt offering we review our experience in our daily life. Because the burnt offering, subjectively speaking, is altogether related to our daily life, to our daily walk, the presentation of the burnt offering is a demonstration, a display, of our daily experience. If we daily and hourly live a life of experiencing Christ, we shall have Christ as a burnt offering to offer to God. However, if we do not experience Christ in our daily walk, we shall not have Him as a burnt offering. Then we shall be able to offer Christ mainly as the trespass offering. The point here is that we cannot offer Christ as a burnt offering if we do not live Christ and experience Christ in our daily walk.
Let us consider the experience of three brothers. The first experiences Christ as a bull, the second experiences Christ as a lamb or a goat, and the third experiences Christ as a pair of birds.
The brother who experiences Christ as a bull lives Christ at every time, in everything, and with everyone. In his living of Christ, he first experiences Christ’s crucifixion; he experiences Christ’s being slaughtered on the cross. This is the real experience of Christ’s death, the real experience of being conformed to Christ’s death (Phil. 3:10). This brother experiences Christ’s death in his relationship to his parents, wife, and children. In his daily life there truly is the conformity to the death of Christ.
As this brother experiences Christ’s death in such a way, he will also experience Christ’s being stripped of His outward beauty. In the four Gospels we see that while our Lord was living on earth, He had the experience of being stripped of His outward beauty. This means that He was stripped of the outward expression of His human virtues, a matter that is closely related to His death. Therefore, as the brother experiences being conformed to Christ’s death, he spontaneously experiences Christ’s being stripped of His outward beauty. This experience is actually equal to being the object of an evil report (2 Cor. 6:8). The Lord Jesus had many evil reports spread about Him, and these evil reports stripped Him of the outward appearance of His human virtues.
Moreover, as the brother is conformed to the death of Christ, he will also be cut into pieces. This means that he will have the experiences of Christ’s being cut into pieces. Such an experience may be contrary to our expectations. We may think that the more we love the Lord and fear God, the more blessings we will have. Consider the situation with John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. Instead of receiving blessings, John was imprisoned and beheaded. Consider further the situation with the Lord Jesus Himself. How much blessing did He receive? Was He not cut into pieces? The Gospels reveal that, as far as His humanity was concerned, the Lord Jesus was cut into pieces in every way. Not one aspect of His human life was left whole; on the contrary, every part of His human life was cut into pieces. Therefore, the Lord Jesus is the unique example of one who was cut into pieces in every way.
Being cut into pieces will also be the experience of those who follow the Lord Jesus today. This is why Paul says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10). Living a life of being conformed to the death of Christ requires the power of His resurrection, because as we experience being conformed to His death, we shall be cut into pieces. Our whole being and our entire life will be cut into pieces. The brother who experiences Christ as a bull experiences this cutting.
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