Leviticus shows us how we should experience and enjoy Christ, so that we apprieciate Him more and more, and we can present Him to one another for nourishment, so that the church can be built up.
based on our experience and enjoyment, our offerings will differ in sizes. Christ is the reality of the burnt offering, the One who is absolute for God, for God's satisfation. there are different types and sizes of the burnt offerings, like bull, sheep, pigeon, and turtledove. in Himself, Christ is so rich, so marvelous, and will not change in size. but our appreciation, experience and enjoyment of Christ is different in sizes, may be as small as turtledove. only God know how much size we have in our apprieciation and experience. so, we slhould never be content with how much we know Christ, how much do we really know Him as a Person experiencially. we need to pray, "Lord, I want to know You more. open my eyes to know You more. open my heart to contain You more." in this way, our expereince will go on from turtledove, towards bull. and we will have something to share with others, and to offer to God for His satisfaction. as we go on in Christian life, we go through sufferings, trials and hardship, and the Lord will go deeper and becomer richer within us. as we go on, we know the Lord in a deeper richer and fuller way.
in aspect of preparation of the offerings, for larger ones like bull, the offerer will need to prepare, but for smaller ones like pigeon, the priests will do everything. the way to offer Christ to God as the burnt offerings depends on our apprehension, realization and appreciation of Christ. 1 Corinthians 14:26 "What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up." this verse needs to be recovered among us Christians today. if we experience and enjoy Christ in our daily living, whenver we come together in the meetings, whether home meetings or church meetings, we all have something of Christ, some portions, so our meetings will be like the lovefeasts. and our sharing of the portion of Christ is to dispense Christ into all the believers, which is the building up of the bhurch. the ways to prepare and offer the sacrifices also differ according to the degree the believers appreciate and enjoy Christ. it can be seen in the meetings, in the sharing and testimonies of the saints. two saints may share on the same subject of "God is faithful", but their sharing may be in different levels according to their life and maturity. But that doesn't matter, because that's just where they are. we will not adjust or correct the newer ones. just let them grow according to the speed of life.
if we look at the apostle Paul, his whole life is a quest to know Christ, to win Christ, and to gain Christ. His Christian life begins with a question "who are You, Lord" and his whole life is a life to find the answer to this question. even after 26 years, he is still agressive in pursuing to know Christ, and to gain Christ. Paul's appreciation, realization, knowledge and apprehension of Christ was continually growing everyday. if we want to know Christ in a deeper way everyday, and if we want to offer Christ in the church meetings to God and to one another, as we see in 1 Corinthians 14:31 "For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged." "to prophey" here means to speak for and speak forth Christ. if we want to do this, we need to spend time on reading the Bible everyday. everyday, we need to read the Bible, to pray over the Bible, and to gain the riches from the Bible. in this way, the Lord will unveil Himself to us, and we can enjoy Christ more, appreciate Him more, and apprehend Him more, day by day. and the church will be built up in this way.
for more detailed reading, please see life study of Leviticus message 5
to listen to this program, please see life study of Leviticus broadcast program 5
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