THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From Moses to Samuel
Message Three—Leviticus (1)
Scripture Reading: Lev. 1—7; Exo. 40; Heb. 10:5-10; Rom. 12:2, 4-5; John 1:29; 16:13; 1 John 5:6
I. As a further advancement of the divine revelation, Leviticus unveils the worship and living of God’s redeemed people—Lev. 1:1—7:8: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Lev. 1:1, footnote 1)
A. This book shows that through the tabernacle, with the offerings, and by the priests, God’s redeemed are able to fellowship with God, serve God, and be God’s holy people living a holy life, which expresses God; Christ is everything in the fellowship, service, and life of God’s people—Lev. 1:1—7:8. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Lev. 1:1, footnote 1)
B. The worship portrayed in Leviticus is a matter of contacting God by enjoying Christ as the common portion with God and with one another; the issue of enjoying Christ with God is the holy living of God’s people—Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; cf. John 4:24 and notes. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Lev. 1:1, footnote 1)
II. Exodus ends with the erecting of the tabernacle, and Leviticus begins with the offerings, implying a direct continuation between the two books—Exo. 40; Lev. 1—7: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Lev. 1:2, footnote 1)
A. Both the tabernacle and the offerings are types of Christ; through incarnation Christ came to be the tabernacle; this same Christ is also the Lamb of God, the totality, the aggregate, of all the offerings—John 1:14, 29; Heb. 10:5-10. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Lev. 1:2, footnote 1)
B. The tabernacle signifies that God is in Christ that we may contact, experience, enter into, and join to God; the offerings signify God in Christ for us to enjoy and even to eat, digest, and assimilate that we may be mingled with God—John 6:53-58. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Lev. 1:2, footnote 1)
III. The will of God is to have Christ as the replacement for all the offerings in the Old Testament so that we may enjoy Him as everything for the building up of the Body of Christ—Heb. 10:5-10; Rom. 12:2, 4-5: (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
A. The sin offering typifies Christ as the One who was made sin for us and who died on the cross to deal with the sinful nature of our fallen being—Lev. 4:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3; John 1:29; 3:14. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
B. The trespass offering typifies Christ as the One who bore our sins in His own body and was judged by God on the cross to deal with our sinful deeds that we might be forgiven in our sinful conduct—Lev. 5:6; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; Isa. 53:5-6, 10-11; John 4:15-18. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
C. The burnt offering, which was wholly for God’s satisfaction, typifies Christ as God’s pleasure and satisfaction, the One whose living on earth was absolutely for God—Lev. 1:3; Num. 28:2-3; John 7:16-18. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
D. The meal offering typifies Christ in His perfect humanity as food for God and for those who have fellowship with God and serve Him—Lev. 2:1, 4; John 7:46; 18:38; 19:4, 6. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
E. The peace offering typifies Christ as the Peacemaker, the One who became the peace and the fellowship between us and God by dying for us, enabling us to enjoy Christ with God and to have fellowship with God in Christ for our mutual satisfaction with God—Lev. 3:1; Eph. 2:14-15; John 12:1-3; 20:21. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
F. The wave offering typifies Christ as the resurrected One in love—Lev. 7:30; 10:15. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
G. The heave offering typifies the powerful Christ in ascension and exaltation—Lev. 7:32; Exo. 29:27; Eph. 1:21. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
H. The drink offering typifies Christ as the One poured out as wine before God for His satisfaction and also as the One who saturates us with Himself as heavenly wine to be poured out for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction—Exo. 29:40; Num. 28:7-10; Isa. 53:12; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6; Judg. 9:13. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
IV. We need to experience Christ as the reality of the offerings—John 1:29; 16:13; 1 John 5:6: (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
A. The offerings solve our problems and bridge the gap between us and God—John 14:6. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
B. The offerings are Christ as grace to us—1:29, 14, 16-17. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
C. The offerings are good for us to enjoy God, to be mingled with God, and to have God assimilated into our being to become our constituent—Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:17; Col. 3:10-11. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
D. The offerings are the way for us to enter into God and become part of the divine-human incorporation—John 14:6, 20. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
E. When we experience Christ as the reality of the offerings, He becomes our genuineness and sincerity so that we may worship the Father in spirit and in truthfulness—4:23-24. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
F. The offerings are not only sacrifices to solve our problems but also presents to God for His enjoyment—Num. 28:2. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
G. Through Christ as the offerings, we and God, God and we, have a mutual enjoyment, the fellowship of co-enjoyment—Deut. 12:7. (2000 FTTA-S, msg. 1)