In this chapter we want to continue our fellowship concerning God’s working on His elect through Moses. The entire book of Leviticus shows that God trained His elect to worship and partake of God and to live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life.

The history of God as seen in the books of Genesis and Exodus consummated in the children of Israel as a nation. In the previous chapter we saw how God brought His people, His elect, through the wilderness. God moved with them and brought them to Mount Sinai. Sinai represents God’s presence. God brought His people to Himself at Sinai and stayed with them. The children of Israel remained at Sinai with God for about eleven months (Exo. 19:1; cf. Num. 10:11). God stayed with His people day and night there, so God trained them.

At Mount Sinai God gave them the law and the pattern for the tabernacle. On the one hand, God regulated them by the law, and on the other hand, He encouraged them by the tabernacle. After the decree of the law and the building up of the tabernacle at Sinai, God gave them all the chapters of Leviticus to train them to worship and partake of God and to live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life.

TRAINING THEM TO WORSHIP AND PARTAKE OF GOD

God trains His people to worship Him and also to partake of Him, to participate in Him, for their enjoyment. We need to be trained to worship God in the way of partaking of Him to enjoy Him.

With the Offerings—Christ in All Aspects

God’s people were instructed to worship Him with the offerings, typifying Christ in all aspects. The aspects of Christ in all His riches are untraceable and unsearchable (Eph. 3:8).

The Burnt Offering

The burnt offering (Lev. 1:3-9) typifies Christ in His absoluteness for God’s satisfaction. The burnt offering was the qualification for the sin offering. The sin offering was to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering was slaughtered. This indicates that the sin offering is based upon the burnt offering, and it signifies that Christ is the sin offering for us based upon His being the burnt offering. For Jesus Christ to be the sin offering, He had to be the burnt offering. His being the burnt offering was His qualification for Him to be the sin offering.

The Meal Offering

The meal offering (2:1-3) typifies Christ in His human living and daily walk. A part of the meal offering was to be burned on the altar to God as an offering by fire for food to God (v. 2; Num. 28:2, 8). The rest of the meal offering was to be food to the priests (Lev. 2:3). Thus, Christ as the meal offering is food to God and food to us, the New Testament priests.