What is the relationship between Christ and the priesthood? When we say “Christ” we mean the all-inclusive Christ. He is the very embodiment of the Triune God, our Savior, and He is also our life. He is everything to us, for He is so all-inclusive. The priesthood has much to do with such a Christ.
According to the types revealed in the Old Testament, the relationship between the priesthood and Christ is clearly manifested. Briefly speaking, they may be classified into several categories.
The work, ministry, and commission of the priesthood are all in Christ. Christ is the very ministry of the priesthood. Thus, the priesthood takes care of nothing but Christ. First of all, the priesthood takes care of all the offerings (Lev. 6:8—7:34). All the offerings typify the different aspects of what Christ is to us. From the standpoint of experience, the trespass offering is first, the sin offering second, the peace offering third, the meal or food offering fourth, and the burnt offering fifth. Some parts of these offerings are the wave offerings and some parts are the heave offerings (Lev. 7:29-34). The priesthood must take care of these offerings. Thus, to partake of the priesthood today means that we must experience Christ as all the offerings. Only when we have experienced Christ as these offerings can we minister them to others.
First, we must experience Christ as the trespass offering. We are sinful and have many transgressions before the Lord. How can God forgive all our sins? He can forgive us only by Christ’s death on the cross as our trespass offering. This is the story of our salvation: when we first trusted in Christ, we realized that we were sinful, with many trespasses. Then when we confessed to the Lord, we realized that Christ on the cross bore all our trespasses before God. He is our trespass offering.
After we were saved, we soon discovered that it is not simply a matter of the sinful things we do or have done, but the very nature of sin within us. Capitalized Sin is within us. We not only have the sinful deeds without, but also the sinful nature within. We knew that Christ died on the cross to deal with all the sinful deeds committed before God, but now we realize that the sinful nature is within. Romans 7 calls this nature “Sin that dwells in me.” Then the Lord reveals to us that by dying on the cross He has not only dealt with our sins, but also our Sin! This means that He is not only our trespass offering, but also our sin offering. Trespasses are something without, but Sin is something within. Therefore, we must learn to experience Christ not only as our trespass offering, but also as our sin offering.
After the experience of these two offerings, we enjoy Christ as the peace offering. Peace always depends upon dealing with all trespasses as well as dealing with Sin. If we still have trespasses which are not yet forgiven and dealt with, we can never have peace within! Furthermore, if we have not dealt with the capitalized Sin within us, we cannot enjoy peace within. After both our trespasses and our Sin have been dealt with by Christ, we can enjoy Him as our peace offering.
Following our experience of Christ as the peace offering, we find that He is also the meal or food offering. This means that Christ is our food and constant satisfaction.
The burnt offering follows the food offering. The burnt offering is the food for God! Christ is not only our satisfaction, but also God’s satisfaction. He is not only our food, but He is also God’s food.
Much time is needed to realize and experience all these offerings, especially by young Christians. Many young Christians today do not know much about Christ. Have you experienced Christ as your trespass offering? No doubt you have, but what about the second offering? Have you ever experienced Christ as the sin offering? Not many Christians have had this experience. Some Christians may have experienced Christ as the peace offering, but what about the meal offering? So many Christians are simply short of these experiences! They are lacking in the experience of Christ as their daily food as seen in the meal offering. Christ is our food, and we must learn to enjoy Him as our satisfaction. Gradually, we will discover that Christ is not only our food, but also God’s food and God’s satisfaction, for He is the burnt offering.
I believe that at the Lord’s table some of the brothers and sisters have had some apprehension and realization that their sins are forgiven, and they have been very grateful to the Lord for His forgiveness. Others have apprehended something deeper than this. They have realized that their sinful nature has been dealt with by the crucifixion of the Lord on the cross. They have sensed that they were released and set free from Sin. They were experiencing Romans 8—there is no condemnation because in Christ the law of the Spirit of life has set them free from the law of sin and death. Christ has dealt with their sinful nature, so by His death they can be set free from Sin which dwells in their body.
I also believe that at the Lord’s table some of the brothers and sisters have had the sense of enjoying the Lord as their peace offering. What wonderful peace within! And others may have the feeling of satisfaction, for the Lord is their food, their meal offering. A few may realize that the Lord is the satisfaction not only to them, but also to God. Christ is the meal offering to them and the burnt offering to God.
We must experience all these offerings in such a way; then we will be in the real priesthood. Christ is so much to us! He is the trespass offering, dealing with our sinful deeds; He is the sin offering, dealing with our sinful nature; then He becomes our peace and satisfaction as well as the satisfaction to God.
But this is not all. We must also learn to experience Christ as the wave and heave offerings. Firstly, we must experience Him as the resurrected One—as the wave offering. He is waving, that is, He is so living! He has been resurrected; thus, we must know the power of His resurrection as the living One who is waving within us all the time. No Christian should be so quiet. We all must be very living. If we know Christ as the resurrected and living One, we cannot be still! We cannot be quiet. We will be waving, and full of energy. We will not come to the meetings so quietly. If we do, it probably means that we are a little bit dead. However, the One within us can never be dead. He is the living One! When He came back to speak to the churches in the book of Revelation, He told them, “I am...the living One...and behold, I am living forever and ever...” (Rev. 1:17-18). His church should be neither dead nor deadened. His church must be living and waving all the time. We must learn to enjoy this waving Christ, for He is our wave offering.
Then Christ is our heave offering. He is not only the resurrected One, but also the ascended and transcendent One. He has ascended to the heavens, and He is transcendent far above all. We must experience Christ as such a One. Many times, different brothers and sisters have said to me, “Oh, brother, I’m finished. I’m through!” They were very depressed. If this is true of us, we can never minister Christ to others as the heave offering. We need to experience Christ as the ascended One. He is so transcendent that nothing can oppress, depress, or suppress Him!
For us to be in the priesthood, we must experience these aspects of Christ and then help others to experience Christ in such a way. As the real priesthood, we must first take care of all the offerings before we can help others to realize that Christ is their trespass and sin offering. We must also help them to experience Christ as their peace, and as their food and satisfaction. They must see that He is not only their satisfaction, but God’s satisfaction as well. Also, they must be helped to realize the resurrected Christ as their wave offering and the ascended Christ as their heave offering.
When the Apostle Paul was put into prison, he experienced both the wave and the heave offerings. Just because he was in prison did not mean that he was through. He was so energetic, so waving, because he had the living Christ within him as the wave offering. He even tried to sleep, but the waving One within him did not agree, so he sang hymns. He was not in prison; he was in heavenly places. He was not in jail; he was in the Holy of Holies. He was so transcendent, experiencing Christ as his heave offering.
Sometimes our home becomes a kind of jail. It is our “home sweet home,” yet it becomes a prison to us. If this is true, it proves that we do not know how to experience Christ as our heave offering.
Many times in my experience the surrounding circumstances have been just like a thick wall. There was no entrance and no window. But I could say, “Lord, all these surrounding circumstances are like many walls, but, hallelujah! I have a window upwards. I am in the ark, and the window is open toward heaven” (referring to the window in Noah’s ark in Genesis 6:16).
We must learn to experience Christ as our heave offering. Only through the enjoyment of these offerings can we be in the real priesthood. But, as most of us know, the offerings are just in the outer court. We may say that they are quite good, deep, and spiritual, but they are still in the outer court. We are still at the brass altar and not yet in the tabernacle. These offerings are the outward experiences, not the inward. They are still superficial and not so deep. When we realize this, we see how poor many Christians are today. Most of them have not even experienced all the items of these offerings; even those who have are still in the outer court.