The book of Leviticus shows us a new beginning, in which, for the first time, God’s people offered offerings to God according to God’s regulations. This was the first time God’s people offered Christ to God not merely according to their need but also according to God’s laws, His regulations. Before that time, some, such as Abel, Noah, and Abraham, offered to God, but it was not until the Israelites kept the Passover (Exo. 12:1-28) that offerings were presented to God according to His instructions. Strictly speaking, although the Passover lamb was an offering, it was not called an offering.
In Leviticus, after the erecting of the tabernacle, God had a dwelling place on earth from within which He spoke to His people. The first category of speaking concerned the offerings (Lev. 1-7). The offerings were not only needed by man and requested by God but were also ordained by God in regulations which were absolutely according to God’s mind and desire. Moses should have realized the significance of these offerings in regard to the matter of propitiation (Lev. 9:7), yet in the details of the offerings he may have understood very little.
In Leviticus the Israelites began to practice offering to God in a way which had never been done before. The offerings were now offered to God not by an individual but by a people, a congregation, and not at the place of their choice. God asked the people to come to the entrance of the tent of meeting to contact Him and to offer their offerings by priests, not by themselves. (This is different from the offering of the offerings by Abel, Noah, and Abraham, who were not only offerers but serving priests.) The manner in which the offerings were offered became a ceremony, a form, to be carried out before God at the entrance of His dwelling place according to His regulations, laws, and arrangement. All this was surely something new.
Although Moses did not see that the offerings were Christ, God was actually giving commands to His people about how to apply Christ as all the offerings according to God’s laws. We today need to learn how to apply Christ according to God’s requests. Early in the morning, we need to apply Christ as our burnt offering, sin offering, and meal offering so that we may have something to live by during the day.
Let us now consider the record in Leviticus 9:1-21 regarding the initiation of the priestly service of Aaron and his sons.
The initiation of the priestly service of Aaron and his sons took place on the eighth day (v. 1), which signifies resurrection (Mark 16:9a). This indicates that all the priestly service must be in resurrection (cf. Rev. 20:6).
The eighth day in Leviticus 9:1 refers to the day after the seven days of the consecration of Aaron and his sons. During each of these seven days, Aaron and his sons went through the same procedure. On the eighth day, the day after that course of consecration, they had a new beginning. The eighth day thus implies both a new beginning and the ending of the oldness.
As priests of God, our priesthood, our priestly service, must be altogether in resurrection. The natural life, the old man, and the flesh have no ground here. Unfortunately, however, in our actual church life there are many natural things, and there is much oldness. Such things are not on the eighth day; that is, they are not in the realm of resurrection but in the realm of the natural life.
We condemn evil things, but we may not condemn those good things which are done in the old creation. For example, we condemn hatred, but we may not condemn a love which is natural and not in the Spirit. In the New Testament, on the contrary, there is a concern regarding natural love, which is actually a kind of “honey.” According to Leviticus 2, neither leaven nor honey was allowed to be added to the meal offering. Leaven refers to what is evil, and honey, to what is naturally good. Whereas natural hatred is leaven, natural love is honey. Natural hatred is evil, but natural love is good. However, both good and evil are from the same source-the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Since natural hatred and natural love are natural, both belong to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and since both belong to this tree, both should be condemned. This is the reason that when, in the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus was asked questions regarding good and evil, right and wrong, yes and no, He referred the people to life. The Lord’s concern is life, not good and evil.
The priestly service we render to God must be in resurrection. The reality of resurrection is Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Anything we do in the Spirit is on the eighth day, in resurrection. Anything we do outside the Spirit, in our natural life, mind, or emotion, is not on the eighth day, not in resurrection.
I hope that all the saints, including the newly saved ones, will receive this word concerning the priestly service on the eighth day. When you intend to show love toward a particular person, you need to consider whether this love arises from your spirit or from your natural emotion. Is this love a matter of your natural likes or dislikes, a matter of liking one person but not another? Further, because of your natural love for a certain one, you may treat that one in a preferential way. This is honey, and honey eventually ferments and becomes the same as leaven. This means that, in the eyes of God, natural love is just as evil as natural hatred.
Quite often the Lord will require us to love someone whom we cannot love in our natural life and with our natural love. The only way we can love that one is with a love which is not natural but is in resurrection. All our service must be in spirit, in resurrection.
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