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The bull of the sin offering signifies the stronger and richer Christ as our sin offering to deal with the flesh, the old man, indwelling sin, Satan, the world, and the ruler of the world, for the assuming of our New Testament priesthood; this reminds us that in ourselves we are a constitution of all the aforementioned negative things and need to offer Christ daily as our sin offering for our priesthood (Lev. 8:14):
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The priests were to eat the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary that they might "bear the iniquity of the assembly, to make expiation for them before Jehovah" (10:17).
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The priests' partaking of the sin offering to bear the iniquity of the people signifies that we, the New Testament priests, partake of Christ as the believers' sin offering in the sense of participating in Christ's life, the life that bears others' sins, as our life supply that we may be able to bear the problems of God's people.
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The rich enjoyment of Christ as our sin offering in the church life enables us to minister Christ to the believers as the life that deals with sin, that they may deal with their sins to restore their broken fellowship with God (Gal. 6:1-2; Eph. 4:2).
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As we are enjoying Christ as the sin-dealing life, we must have the capacity to bear away the iniquity of God's people; we must learn to minister Christ to the dear ones who are in sin:
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To minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to someone is not to go to him to point out his fault and condemn him; this will only cause damage.
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A person who sins usually has his heart hardened (Heb. 3:13); if we are going to minister Christ to him, we have to trust in the Lord that we may have the grace with the Spirit to soften and warm up his hardened heart.
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Then the very Christ as life will be actually, really, and richly ministered to him, and this life, which is the Spirit, will work within him; he will then be healed by the very Spirit, the life of Christ, ministered into him through us.
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This is what it means, according to Leviticus, to bear away the iniquity of the people of God; this is the way to get rid of the sins among some saints so that they may eventually be recovered.
Morning Nourishment
Lev. 8:14-15 And he brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. And Moses slaughtered it and took the blood and put some of it on and around the horns of the altar with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and sanctified it, to make expiation for it.The bull of the sin offering signifies the stronger and richer Christ as our sin offering to deal with the flesh, the old man, indwelling sin, Satan, the world, and the ruler of the world, for the assuming of our New Testament priesthood (see footnote 4 on Lev. 4:3, par. 2). This reminds us that in ourselves we are a constitution of all the aforementioned negative things and need to offer Christ daily as our sin offering for our priesthood (see footnote 1 on Exo. 29:36). (Lev. 8:14, footnote 1)
The sin offering deals with our natural man, our flesh, the personified sin that dwells in us, Satan, the world hanging on Satan, and the power struggle. If we would be New Testament priests, all these things must be dealt with by Christ as the sin offering. When Christ was crucified as our sin offering, He dealt with the natural man, the flesh, the indwelling sin, Satan, the world, and the power struggle. In the divine ordination, such a sin offering is applied to us that we may be prevailing priests serving God. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 255)
Today's Reading
The priests' partaking of the sin offering to bear the iniquity of the people signifies that we, the New Testament priests, partake of Christ as the believers' sin offering in the sense of participating in Christ's life, the life that bears others' sins, as our life supply that we may be able to bear the problems of God's people. The rich enjoyment of Christ as our sin offering in the church life enables us to minister Christ to the believers as the life that deals with sin, that they may deal with their sins to restore their broken fellowship with God (cf. Gal. 6:1-2; Eph. 4:2). (Lev. 10:17, footnote 1)We may feel that we have been approved to partake of the table, but we are concerned about others who have been committing sins. We may know of some saints who have been committing sins and still come to the Lord's table. What shall we do? We must remember that Paul's word in 1 Corinthians 11 tells us to prove ourselves, to test ourselves for approval. It does not tell us that we have to prove or test others. We should leave others to the Lord and not be their judge. We should only judge ourselves and not judge others.
If you know that someone has committed some sins, you have to pray for him and learn to minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to him that he may deal with his sins. The life of Christ is a life that deals with sin, a sin-dealing life. First, you yourself must be dealt with by enjoying Christ's sin-dealing life. Then you must minister such a Christ as the sin-dealing life to others. The book of Leviticus tells us that the priests were to eat the sin offering in the holy place that they might "bear the iniquity of the assembly, to make expiation for them before Jehovah" (10:17). As you are enjoying Christ as the sin-dealing life, you must have the capacity to bear the iniquity of God's people. You must learn to minister Christ to the dear ones who are in sin.
To minister Christ as the sin-dealing life to someone is not to go to him to point out his fault and condemn him. This will only cause damage. You have to go first to soften his hardened heart. A person who sins usually has his heart hardened (Heb. 3:13). If you are going to minister Christ to him, you have to trust in the Lord that you may have the grace with the Spirit to soften his hardened heart. You have to soften his heart and warm up his heart. Then the very Christ as life will be actually, really, and richly ministered to him, and this life, which is the Spirit, will work within him. You do not need to mention his fault because the life that gets into him as the life supply will do a lot. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 3, "A Timely Word," p. 54)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 3, "A Timely Word," ch. 1