The only life that is pleasing to God is the life that is a repetition of the life Christ lived on the earth, a life that experiences Christ in His experiences as the burnt offering; we can lay our hands on Christ as the burnt offering, for He lived a life absolutely for God, and we can live the same kind of life today for God’s satisfaction as He lives in us to repeat His life in us.
Lord Jesus, thank You for living a perfect human life on earth for God’s satisfaction. We praise You for being the reality of the burnt offering. We lay our hands on You and we are one with You. Keep us in the organic union with You so that You may repeat Your human living in us. Oh Lord, may our life be a repetition of the life Christ lived on the earth. May we experience Christ in His experiences as the burnt offering. Live in us today. May it be no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. Amen!
As believers in Christ, we have been regenerated by God with His life to be children of God, those who are becoming God in life and in nature. As children of God, we need to live the life of a God-man, no longer living by our natural life but by the divine life.
Like the Lord Jesus did when He was on earth, we need to continually deny our natural life and live by God’s life in our spirit.
The Lord Jesus is our pattern, and He is also in us as the life-giving Spirit to guide us into all the reality of what He is and what He has done.
God sent the Lord Jesus not only to accomplish redemption for us on the cross but even more, for Him to live a God-man life by denying His natural human life and living by the life of God.
He set up a pattern of what it means to live the life of a God-man, and now we follow in His steps.
We don’t copy Him by outwardly trying to imitate Him; rather, we eat Christ so that we may live because of Him.
Our Christian life is not a life of deliberately trying to do this or that for God, nor is it us asking ourselves what would Jesus do in that moment if He were there; our Christian life is Christ living in us. It is us eating Christ and living because of Christ.
He lived on earth because of the Father, partaking of the Father’s life and nature, and we live because of Christ, partaking of all His riches.
This means that we need to eat Christ in His word, contact the Lord throughout the day, and live in fellowship with Him so that He may live in us and we may express Him.
The Life that Pleases God is the Repetition of the Life Christ Lived on Earth: He’s the Reality of the Burnt Offering
In the Old Testament, we see the burnt offering in Leviticus 1:7-9; this was a male from the herd that was without blemish, which was burnt completely for God’s satisfaction. God wants to be satisfied with the sweet-smelling savour of the burnt offering, a perfect offering for Him to enjoy.
The only life that is pleasing to God is the life that is a repetition of the life Christ lived on the earth. This is a life that experiences Christ in His experiences as the burnt offering (Lev. 1:9; John 8:29; 2 Cor. 5:9).
When we experience Christ in His experiences as the burnt offering, we live a God-pleasing life; such a life is a delight to God.
The burnt offering is not for redeeming man or for making peace between God and man; there is the sin offering that is for man’s redemption, and there is the peace offering for making peace between God and man, but the burnt offering is fully for God’s satisfaction.
When we read the four Gospels, we get the clear impression that God was fully satisfied with the kind of life that Christ lived on the earth.
God’s divine attributes were expressed through Christ’s human virtues, and Christ completely depended on God in all things and concerning all things.
He was tested by the devil and he was confronted, examined, and questioned by subtle opposers such as the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians, and in all things He expressed God in a wonderful way.
He is the reality of the burnt offering, and He offered Himself to God for His satisfaction. Paul said that in all things, whether at home or abroad, we want to gain the honour to be well-pleasing to God (2 Cor. 5:9).
We want to live a life that is well-pleasing to God by having the repetition of the life Christ lived on the earth.
As we see in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, we who determine to gain the honour of being well-pleasing to God are being constrained by the love of Christ to live to Him.
The love of Christ constrains us, pressing us from all sides to keep us in the central lane of God’s economy, and we are forcibly limited by God’s love so that we no longer live to ourselves but to Him who loved us and gave Himself up for us.
We don’t just live for the Lord but to the Lord. To live to the Lord is deeper than to live for the Lord, for when we live for the Lord we can still do things in ourselves and by ourselves yet not one with the Lord or according to His desire.
But to live to the Lord means that we live in such a way that we satisfy His desires; we want to please Him, and we want to make Him happy.
The burnt offering typifies Christ in His living a life that is absolutely for God and for God’s satisfaction (Lev. 1:3; Num. 28:2-3; John 5:30; 6:38; 8:29; Heb. 10:5-10).
He lived such a life when He was on the earth, and even more, He lives in us to repeat such a life in us. The burnt offering also typifies Christ in His being the life that enables God’s people to have a repetition of the life Christ lived on the earth.
This is what God desires to gain today. He wants to gain many God-men who live the same kind of life as Christ did.
Christ is the life in us that enables us to have a living that is absolutely for God and absolutely for God’s satisfaction. Only He can live such a life, and He lives in us to enable us to live such a life.
The word translated “burnt offering” denotes something that is ascending; this ascending refers to Christ (Lev. 1:3, 10, 14).
The only thing that can ascend to God from earth is the life lived by Christ, for He is the unique person to live a life that is absolutely for God (John 6:38). His life and living on earth satisfied God.
The burnt offering was “a satisfying fragrance to Jehovah” (Lev. 1:9). The Hebrew words translated “satisfying fragrance” literally mean “savour of rest or satisfaction”. A satisfying fragrance is a savor that brings satisfaction, peace, and rest; such a satisfying fragrance is an enjoyment to God.
God wants to be satisfied with the fragrance of the life of Christ lived out in many believers of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 2:15, Paul said that we are a fragrance of Christ to God.
This means that he was so permeated, soaked, and saturated with Christ that his life was a fragrance that satisfied God.
We need to be like the loving seeker in Song of Songs who was so filled, saturated, and soaked with Christ that, no matter what wind blows – the harsh north wind or the pleasant south wind – our fragrance flows for the Lord to be satisfied (Song of Songs 4:16).
May we open to the Lord, enjoy Him, live Him, be one with Him, and express Him in both pleasant and easy environments, and in situations that are harsh and bitter or difficult.
Lord Jesus, we praise You for living a life that satisfies God and pleases Him. Praise the Lord, the only life that is pleasing to God is a repetition of the life Christ lived on the earth. Amen, Lord, may we experience You in Your experiences as the burnt offering today. You lived a life that is absolutely for God and for God’s satisfaction. Thank You for coming into us to live the same kind of life today. Enable us, Lord Jesus, to live one with You, even to have the repetition of the life Christ lived on the earth. May we be filled with Christ, saturated with Christ, and soaked with Christ to such an extent that our life will be absolutely for God and for God’s satisfaction. Oh, what a satisfying fragrance it is to God when Christ lives in us to repeat the same kind of life He lived while on the earth! Amen, Lord, we want to live for Your satisfaction and enjoyment today. Live in us today and repeat Your living in our living so that God may be satisfied, at peace, and in rest. Amen!
Lay our Hands on Christ as our Burnt Offering through Prayer to be Joined to Him and let Him Live in us to Repeat in us the Life He lived on Earth, the Life of the Burnt Offering
Thank the Lord for coming not only to redeem us but even more, to live the life of a God-man on earth, even to live the life that is the reality of the burnt offering! And now He is in us; the life of Christ within us is the reality of the burnt offering.
This is a life of obedience, a life of submission, and a life of total dependence on God according to the principle of the tree of life (Phil. 2:8; John 5:19, 30; Heb. 5:8; 10:7).
We may hear that we need to have obedience to God, and we may think this is an Old Testament thing; however, the life of Christ in us, the life of the burnt offering, is a life of obedience.
When we contact the Lord, love Him, pray to Him, and enjoy Him, we spontaneously live a life of obedience. We automatically live a life of submission, for we live a life of total dependence on God.
This is how the Lord Jesus lived on the earth, and He lives in us today.
When we act alone and independently, apart from God and outside of God, that is sin; God wants us to act according to His instructions in everything (Psa. 40:7-8; 1 John 3:4).
Lawlessness means living a life outside of the principle of God ruling over man. This is a principle in today’s society and also in our being as Christians.
So many times we are living in such a way that we reject God’s rule over us. Oh Lord!
May we be like little children today as we come to the Lord so that we may learn from Him, be one with Him, and let Him live in us (Luke 18:17). God wants us to be like a little child all the time because He wants us to depend on Him all the time; self-confidence is the enemy of God-dependence.
This means that we need to be one with Christ. He is the reality of the burnt offering, and His life satisfied God the Father.
By laying our hands on Christ as our burnt offering through proper prayer, we are joined to Him, and He and we become one (Lev. 1:4; 1 Cor. 6:17; Gal. 2:20).
In this organic union with the Lord, as we exercise our spirit through proper prayer to lay our hands on Christ as our burnt offering, we are joined to Him and we let Him live in us to repeat in us the life He lived on earth, the life of the burnt offering.
He wants to live in us today, and we need to be one with Him. We need to pray prayers that will cause us to be one with God; we need to pray ourselves into God.
Doctrinally speaking, we are in Christ, we are in God; experientially speaking, so many times we are outside of God. When we wake up in the morning, we find ourselves to be outside of God.
When someone cuts us off as we speak or when we drive, we react, and in our reaction we realise we’re not in God. Day by day, we need to pray ourselves into God and lay our hands on Christ, our burnt offering, so that we may be identified with Him.
We fail again and again, and we may even realise we are altogether unqualified and hopeless. Being a Christian doesn’t mean we become perfect; rather, it means that we are under the Lord’s shining to realise how unqualified and hopeless we are.
But when we lay our hands on Christ, our weak points become His, and His virtues and strong points become ours. In such a union, what He is becomes ours, and what we are becomes His.
He lives in us, and He repeats in us the life He lived on the earth.
We have defects, we have faults, and we have many weaknesses; as we live in the organic union with the Lord by exercising our spirit to pray, He takes away all our weaknesses and defects, and He imparts what He is into us.
He lives in us, and He repeats in us the life He lived on earth, the life of the burnt offering.
It is not us trying to live out something or behave in a certain way; it is us laying our hands on Him to be one with Him, and He repeats His living in us. May we enter into this experience today!
Lord Jesus, we realise that we are altogether unqualified and hopeless, for we cannot express God in ourselves or by ourselves. We come to You. We lay our hands on You. We give You all our weaknesses, defects, and sins. We take in all that You are, for we are organically joined to You in spirit. Hallelujah, Christ’s virtues become our virtues by us being one with Him through proper prayer. Oh Lord, we humble ourselves and we come to You as little children; we depend on You and we look to You! We want to live a life of the burnt offering today by allowing You to live in us. Live in us today, Lord, a life of obedience, a life of submission, and a life of total dependence on God according to the principle of the tree of life. Praise the Lord, the life of Christ within us is the reality of the burnt offering! Amen, Lord, we lay our hands on You and we want to live one with You so that You may live in us. Lord Jesus, repeat in us the life You lived on earth, the life of the burnt offering! May our life and living today be pleasing to God, satisfying Him! Amen!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Leviticus, msgs. 3-9, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Great Need for a New Revival (2026 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 3, “The God-man Living for a New Revival” – day 3.
- Hymns on this topic:
– As we eat Thyself, Lord Jesus, / Consecrated we become; / By Thy wondrous life within us, / Thy obedience is our own. / No more need we strive and struggle, / Consecrated try to be; / Consecration dwells within us— / Now our part to eat of Thee. (Hymns #1138 stanza 3)
– All is in Christ; / God’s dear Son is Lord of all. / In me there is naught but weakness, / I am worthless, full of sin, / Stricken by its mortal sickness, / Lacking light and hope within. / Now in Christ I find abundant / Victory and strength and power. / Savior, come and live in me, / Come and make me rich in Thee. (Hymns #515 stanza 3)
– Have Thine own way, Lord, / Have Thine own way; / Wounded and weary, / Help me, I pray. / Power, all power, / Surely is Thine, / Touch me and heal me, / Savior divine. / Have Thine own way, Lord, / Have Thine own way; / Hold o’er my being / Absolute sway. / Fill with Thy Spirit / Till all shall see / Christ only, always, / Living in me. (Hymns #449 stanzas 3-4)
