Finally, all the priests enjoyed the riches of Christ. All the heave offerings, all the firstfruits, all the top produce of the people of the Lord belonged to the priests (44:29-30). All of the riches of Christ were for their enjoyment. They have God as their possession, and they have Christ in all His rich aspects as their enjoyment.
The responsibility of the priest was to present the offerings to God. The record in Ezekiel may seem to be peculiar. Moses told the people of the Lord to offer one lamb out of ten to God, but Ezekiel told them to offer one out of two hundred (45:15). This means that if you do not produce a large quantity of the enjoyment of Christ, you are not qualified to offer anything. Though you may produce 199 lambs, you are still not qualified to make an offering to the Lord. If you desire to offer one lamb, you must first raise up two hundred lambs. Your richness in the experience of Christ qualifies your offering. According to Moses' law, if you have ten lambs, you are qualified to offer one. But according to Ezekiel you must have twenty times more. You must have two hundred lambs in order to be qualified to offer one. I am afraid that none of us can come up to the standard in Ezekiel concerning the offerings.
The principle is the same with the wheat and the barley. Ezekiel 45:13 says, "This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of a homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of a homer of barley." One homer is equal to ten ephahs and the offering must be one sixth of an ephah. This means that you have to offer one part out of sixty. Moses' requirement was one out of ten, but Ezekiel's requirement was one out of sixty. Even if you have four ephahs of wheat, you are not qualified to offer anything: you must have at least a homer of wheat. Once you have a homer of wheat, then you can offer one-sixtieth to God. You must be rich in wheat. Moses' requirement did not force you to be so rich, but Ezekiel's requirement forces you to be very rich.
The offering of oil also required an abundant supply. Ezekiel 45:14 says, "Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is a homer of ten baths; for ten baths are a homer." One homer is equal to ten baths and you must offer one tenth of a bath of a homer. This means you offer only one percent, one out of a hundred. You must be rich in the produce of Christ in order to offer an offering of oil to the Lord. If you are not rich, you are not qualified. Of the wheat and barley, you must offer one-sixtieth; of the oil, you must offer one-hundredth; and of the lambs you must offer one two-hundredth.
Ezekiel only mentions three categories for the heave offering: the barley and wheat, the oil, and the lambs. The heave offering was heaved up into the air and signified the ascended Christ. This is the highest Christ. In our service to God we need to heave Christ. We have to offer the ascended Christ, the highest Christ, to God. In Moses' law, there were many kinds of heave offerings, but in Ezekiel's writing there were only these three categories: the wheat and barley, the oil, and the lamb.
In the book, The All-Inclusive Christ, we pointed out that wheat signifies the incarnated Christ who died for us. From the time of His incarnation to the time of His crucifixion, He was the wheat. Barley signifies Christ in resurrection, because in Palestine barley is the first grain to be harvested. Thus, barley signifies the firstfruit of resurrection. Jesus fed the five thousand with loaves made of barley (John 6:9). The wheat and the barley signify Christ from the time of His incarnation all the way to His resurrection. The oil, of course, signifies the Holy Spirit, and the lamb signifies the redeeming Christ. These are the main aspects of the heave offering which we need to offer in our service. All these are related to Christ. Christ is the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the lamb.