The Peace Offering

The peace offering (3:1-6) typifies Christ as the peace between God and His people for the enjoyment of God with His people in fellowship.

The Sin Offering

The sin offering (4:13-21) typifies Christ as the sin offering for the sin of God’s people. Sin here is not the outward sins in our conduct, in our behavior, but the inward sin in our nature. The whole sin offering was to be burned outside the camp (v. 21). Nothing of the sin offering was for God or for God’s serving ones to eat, because it was absolutely for dealing with the sin in the nature of God’s people. Christ as the sin offering suffered reproach outside the Jewish religion—a human organization (Heb. 13:11-13). He was crucified outside Jerusalem, which was considered a camp representing the Jewish religious organization.

The Trespass Offering

The trespass offering (Lev. 5:1-6) is very difficult to study because it is hard to differentiate sin from sins. They are of one family. The sin within is in our nature, and the sins without are in our behavior. Christ is the reality of the trespass offering for the sins, the trespasses, of God’s people.

The trespass offering was also considered as a sin offering (v. 6). This signifies that Christ’s redemption for our sin resolves the problem of sin in its two aspects—sin in our inward nature and sins in our outward conduct. These two aspects of sin make up the totality of sin. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Sin here denotes the totality of sin, comprising both the inward sin and the outward sins.

Through the Priests

God’s elect people were trained to worship and partake of God through the priests (Lev. 1:5-8; 2:2; 3:2; 4:5, 10; 5:8). The priests typify Christ as God’s Priest (Heb. 5:5-6) offering Himself to God for us (9:14, 26; 10:10).

To worship God is a matter in Christ and through Christ. Christ is both the offerings and the Priest. It is impossible to render the true worship to God without Christ. Among most Christians there is not the thought of enjoying Christ, partaking of Christ, and participating in the riches of Christ. To enjoy Christ, to partake of Christ, and to participate in all the riches of Christ is new terminology picked up by us over the last forty years. Christ is the way to worship God and the way to partake of God.

If someone asked us how to enjoy Christ, what would we say? We should be able to give a brief, definite, and accurate answer concerning how to enjoy Christ. In order to enjoy Christ, we first have to realize who and what Christ is. Christ today is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Then we need to realize where Christ is. He is in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). In order to enjoy Christ we have to realize that He is the Spirit dwelling in our spirit, so we have to exercise our spirit to call on Him—“O Lord Jesus!” This is very simple.

If we do not call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we cannot enjoy Him. To the feeling of many Christians, Christ is objective and far away from them. The way to enjoy Christ is to call, “O Lord Jesus!” When we call upon Him, we have the inward sensation that He is present with us. In the New Testament the teaching concerning calling on the Lord is very great (see Acts 2:21 and footnote 1, Recovery Version). Romans 10:12 says that the Lord is “rich to all who call upon Him.” He is rich to us if we call on Him. His riches can be enjoyed by us only by our calling on Him.

The proper worship to God is with Christ as His embodiment for our enjoyment of God in all His riches. Who could invent such a worship, but God? If there were no Christ, there would be no worship to God and no enjoyment of God.