"So shall you also offer a heave offering to Jehovah from all your tithes, which you take from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give Jehovah's heave offering to Aaron the priest" (v. 28). This verse tells us clearly that the heave offering offered by the Levites to Jehovah was to be given to Aaron the priest. The tithe from the people went to the Levites, and the tithe from the Levites went to Aaron the priest.
Why is the tithe of the tithe called a heave offering? We have pointed out that in typology the heave offering refers to the ascension of Christ, to the ascending of Christ to the heavens. This thought corresponds to the Lord's word in Matthew 6:19 and 20, where we are told to "lay up treasures in heaven" rather than on earth. To lay up treasures in heaven is to "send" our money to heaven, and to do this is to "heave up" our money. According to typology, whatever is heaved to God becomes a type of the ascended Christ. For example, suppose a particular heave offering consisted of one hundred goats. These goats, which were heaved up to the heavens, became a type of Christ in ascension. Today, we, the children of God, should also offer some of the things God has given us. When we offer these things, we heave them up, lifting them up to the heavens. What we offer in this way becomes the ascended Christ.
The living of the children of Israel in the wilderness was a matter of doing everything for Christ. They took care of the ark, a type of Christ, and also of the tabernacle, the lodging place of the ark. Inside the tabernacle were different aspects of Christ—the showbread table, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the ark with its contents—and outside the tabernacle was the altar, which signifies the cross of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul said, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified." Paul cared for Christ and His cross. His life on earth was a life of handling Christ and the cross. While Paul was handling Christ, he sometimes handled tents as well (Acts 18:3). Eventually, all the tents he made became Christ, because he did not make them for himself but for Christ. All the tents made by Paul were heaved up to the heavens; hence, they all became Christ.
The principle should be the same with us today. No matter what our profession or occupation may be, in actuality we should not be handling the things related to our work; rather, we should be handling Christ all the time. Whether or not this is our situation depends on a basic factor—working at our profession or occupation for Christ and not for ourselves. If we do our work for Christ, then what we offer to God will become a heave offering. It will become something of Christ heaved up to the heavens.
What are we Christians doing on earth? What is our center? The ark was the center of the children of Israel. According to typology, this indicates that our center should be Christ. The type further indicates that we should handle Christ as the ark and as all the contents of the tabernacle, and we should also handle His cross. Then whatever we do, we will work for Christ and handle Christ. This will become the factor, the cause, the element, and the essence of our living on earth, and it will cause our living to be absolutely Christ. Then whatever we give to the Lord will be heaved up to Him and will become Christ.