The sequence of the five offerings in Leviticus 1 through 5 is a picture of the sequence in 1 John 1. The burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering bring us into fellowship with God. When we take Christ as our burnt offering before God and when we take Him as our daily life supply, we are brought into divine peace, and in this peace we enjoy the Triune God in fellowship. Therefore, the issue of our experience of the first three offerings is fellowship with God, who is light. In the light we see our failures, our mistakes, and our wrong attitude toward others. Eventually we realize not only that we have outward sins but also that sin dwells in our flesh. We even realize that we ourselves are sin. We have the deep realization that we are nothing but sin.
We may try to be good and do what is right. However, our situation turns out to be the opposite, and we learn to say with Paul, “Now it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Rom. 7:17). Through our fellowship with God, who is light, we discover that we are sinful, that we have sin inwardly and sins outwardly. Inwardly we have a sinful “mother,” and outwardly we have sinful deeds, which are the “children” of this sinful mother.
Galatians 5:19-21 speaks of the works of the flesh. These works include strife, jealousy, divisions, and parties. Can we say that we are without strife and jealousy in our church life? We cannot say this. In the church life there may also be parties; that is, the saints may take sides with certain ones. This was the situation in Corinth. “Each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ” (1 Cor. 1:12). If we have strife, jealousy, divisions, and parties in our church life or family life, we are living and acting in the flesh. If we say that we have fellowship with God and still have these works of the flesh, we are walking in darkness and we are self-deceived. If we have strife, jealousy, divisions, and parties in our church life, this means that our church life is in darkness. Likewise, if we say that we are in fellowship with God but are wrong in our attitude toward our husband or wife, we are self-deceived.
If we truly take Christ as our burnt offering to satisfy God and as our meal offering to be our daily food, we should be in the light and walk in the light. Then in the divine light we will see our failures and shortcomings. If we have an improper attitude toward our husband or wife, we will realize this and confess that it is wrong. If we have criticized certain brothers or taken sides with certain saints, we will realize that this also is wrong. Oh, may we all be willing to be enlightened and look to the Lord for light! If we say that we are enjoying the Lord, we must be in the light.
Colossians 1:12 tells us that Christ is the portion of the saints in the light. Christ is not the portion of the saints in darkness or in criticism or in parties. Where are we-in light or in darkness? We cannot enjoy Christ as the portion of the saints unless we are in the light.
After we enjoy Christ as the first three offerings, we need Him as the sin offering. As we are enjoying Him, we may say from the depths of our being, “Lord, I thank You that I am in Your presence. I love You, Lord, and I take You as my daily supply.” Spontaneously the light will shine. The light may shine on a word we spoke to our spouse or on our criticizing of a certain brother. Immediately we will confess and ask the Lord to forgive us.
Quite often, as I was enjoying Him, the Lord enlightened me concerning my speaking well of a certain person and showed me that my speaking was from my flesh, from my natural being, not from my spirit. Therefore, I had to make confession to the Lord concerning my speaking well of others and of their good points.
Anything that is not in the spirit, whether it is good or evil, is of one source-the flesh. Criticizing others is of the flesh, and speaking well of others from our natural being is also of the flesh. Only what we do by walking, speaking, and behaving absolutely according to the spirit, setting our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6), is not of the flesh.
In Romans 8:4 Paul says that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk according to the spirit. Paul does not say that when we do good things the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us, for doing good things is not according to the tree of life but according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Instead of trying to do good, we should simply walk according to the spirit. If we do not have the anointing in our spirit, we should not say anything good or bad. This is to walk in the spirit and to be delivered from the flesh.
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