GOD’S PORTION
God’s portion of the peace offering is the hidden part. He gets all the inwards with all the fat and the two kidneys. This is indeed meaningful. We cannot understand the “inwards” of Christ. We can present them, but we cannot appreciate them so deeply. The inwards of Christ can only be understood, apprehended, and appreciated by God Himself. They are too deep, too hidden, and too mysterious to us. Yet, praise the Lord, we can present them! We cannot appreciate them so deeply, and we cannot apprehend the mystery, but we can present them to God and let God enjoy this hidden part.
What does Christ think within Himself? What does He consider deep in His being? No one can realize such depths; therefore, not one of us can enjoy this part. We are not qualified, but God is qualified; so this is His part. The hidden and mysterious part of Christ is for God, and this is God’s food. God is satisfied by the inwards of Christ who is offered by us. Every time we have the Lord’s table, it is also a dining table for God. Some of us have been meeting in the local church and enjoying the Lord’s table for years, but I do not believe that many of us have realized that the Lord’s table is also a dining table for God. It is not only the saints who come and dine, but God also who comes and dines. It is here that we present something to God which is so hidden and mysterious that we cannot apprehend it. But God can! This is the inward parts of Christ, the most tender and precious parts of His inner being. All the fat of the inwards and all the tender, sweet, and precious parts are for God’s appreciation and God’s enjoyment. Leviticus 3 mentions repeatedly that this is God’s food.
THE SERVING ONES’ PORTION
The serving ones enjoy the right shoulder, that is, the right front leg. This means that the more I serve in this way, the more I will have the strength to walk as Christ walks. He simply becomes my right leg for walking. The serving ones also have the right to participate in one of each kind of the cakes. The right leg and the cakes together constitute the heave offering, which is Christ in ascension. The leg, as we have pointed out, signifies the walking strength, and the different kinds of cakes signify the rich nourishment and satisfaction. In the next Lord’s table meeting, some will be the serving ones in the meeting, and all of them will have the realization that while they are serving, they are enjoying Christ in His ascension. Christ is their walking strength, and their rich nourishment and full satisfaction.
The breast, which is the embracing strength in love, is for the priesthood. All the priests have the right to enjoy the embracing love of Christ in resurrection.
The flesh of the offering is for the presenter and for all the people in the tent of meeting who are clean. Hence, if we are serving ones, we not only have a special right to enjoy the right shoulder and one of each kind of the cakes, but we also have the right to enjoy the breast, because we are in the priesthood. In addition to this, we have the right to enjoy the flesh, because we are one of the clean ones among God’s people. The serving ones have the right to enjoy everything but God’s portion, which is too deep and too mysterious for them. They have the full right to enjoy all the other parts.
Sometimes when we come to the tent of meeting, we are clean, but we do not present anything. We may be a presenter, yet not a priest. In position we are all priests, but in the church some will not function as the priests. Only the functioning ones in the meeting are the priesthood. All the rest are just the attendants. Thus, in a sense, we may be clean, yet we are not in the priesthood. We may even be in the priesthood, yet not so active as a serving one. We must not only be the clean ones, but also the presenters, the priesthood, and the serving ones. Then we will have the full right to enjoy Christ in so many ways as the peace offering.
(Christ as the Reality, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee)
