The Lord Jesus also had much experience in God’s delight, as signified by the fat. He was a delight to God. When the Lord Jesus went up from the water of baptism, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight” (Matt. 3:17). The same words were spoken when He was with three of His disciples on a high mountain (17:5). Furthermore, Isaiah 42:1 says, “Behold my servant...mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.” This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 12. “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul delights” (v. 18). Christ is God’s choice and His delight.
In John 6:38 the Lord Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” How much the Sender, that is, the Father, was pleased by such a One, the One who came to do not His own will but the will of Him who sent Him.
“My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me....He who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him, this One is true, and unrighteousness is not in Him” (John 7:16, 18). This indicates that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was absolutely for God. Because there was nothing in Him that was not for God, there was no unrighteousness with Him. It is unrighteous not to be for God, because God created us for Himself. Righteously speaking, we should be for Him. If we are not for God, we are not righteous. In the Lord Jesus there was no unrighteousness, for He was absolutely for God. This was His experience of being a delight to God.
We come now to Christ’s experience in His inwards. As a man, Christ had the human inwards with their various functions. Christ’s experience in His inwards is His experience in His mind, emotion, will, soul, heart, and spirit, including His love, desire, feeling, thought, decision, motive, and intention.
A number of verses reveal Christ’s experience in His inwards. According to Luke 2:49, when the Lord Jesus was twelve He said, “Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?” This can also be translated, “I must mind My Father’s business.” The Lord’s mind was on His Father’s business. His mind was occupied with the Father’s business. Here we have the function of the Lord’s mind, and we see how much He was inwardly for the Father.
John 2:17 speaks of the Lord’s zeal. “The zeal of Your house shall devour Me.” Zeal is a matter of the emotion. The zeal within the Lord Jesus was on fire, was burning, for God’s temple. Here we see the exercise of the Lord’s emotion.
In Matthew 26:39 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as You will.” This was His prayer in Gethsemane when He was about to be arrested and brought to the slaughter. He took the Father’s will, for His own will was subdued to the Father’s will. This was a matter of the function of the Lord’s will.
Isaiah 53:12 prophesied concerning the Lord Jesus in His death on the cross: “He hath poured out his soul unto death.” The Lord Jesus lost His soul, voluntarily pouring out His soul unto death. This, of course, was a function of His soul.
Concerning Christ, Isaiah 42:4 says, “He shall not fail [be disheartened] nor be discouraged.” This speaks about the condition of the Lord’s heart. He was never disheartened; He was never discouraged in heart.
Mark 2:8 says, “Jesus, knowing in His spirit.” The Lord Jesus used His spirit, and He knew things in His spirit. In whatever situation He was, He knew that situation by exercising His spirit. He used His spirit for God and for making Himself a burnt offering.
The New Testament also speaks of the Lord’s walk, signified by the legs of the burnt offering. Luke 24:19 says, “Jesus...powerful in work and word before God and all the people.” This means that in action and in speaking He was perfect before God and all the people.
In John 8:46 the Lord Jesus asked, “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?” As He stood in the presence of the opposers, He was perfect. There was no fault in Him.
We have pointed out that in Leviticus 1 the legs and the inwards of the burnt offering were to be washed. This washing signifies Christ’s experience of being kept by the Holy Spirit from defilement. For instance, the Holy Spirit kept Him from defilement when He was tempted by the Devil. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by the Devil” (Luke 4:1). The Holy Spirit within the Lord Jesus kept Him from being defiled by that temptation.
In speaking of Christ as the High Priest, Hebrews 7:26 uses the word “undefiled.” Although the Lord Jesus had to contact many unclean things while He was on earth, He was never defiled. The Holy Spirit within Him kept Him from being defiled in any way.
If we put together all the aspects of Christ’s experience covered in this message-all the experiences from being brought to the slaughter to being washed-we shall see that He is the perfect and complete burnt offering. What we have here is not a doctrine but a portrait of Christ in His experiences.
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