Leviticus 4
WE WERE saying last week that the sin offering, instead of being burned upon the brazen altar, was burned outside the camp. The word to burn, when used in refence to the offerings burned on the altar, means to “go up,” or “to ascend”; however, in the case of the sin offering the word to burn is different. It was consumed to ashes. Even the priests that sprinkled the blood and he who burned the animal had to wash their clothes, and were unclean until the evening. (Num. 19:1-81And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: 3And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 4And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 5And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: 6And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 7Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even. 8And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. (Numbers 19:1‑8)).
The sin offering is a type of our blessed Lord Jesus who was “made sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). He was dealt with as sin itself, bearing all the wrath and judgment due to it, and this so fully that God forsook Him! This we learn from His own lips (Matt. 27:4646And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)). And if that solemn cry declares His integrity and His spotless purity and perfection as Man, how tremendously it declares also the hatefulness, “the exceeding sinfulness of sin” in God’s eye! The very perfections of Jesus only make this the more plain. “The chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely” One so endured the fire of wrath against sin, that He could say, “My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels"; “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws.” Psalm 22:14, 1514I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. 15My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. (Psalm 22:14‑15). How solemnly this tells the enormity of sin in the sight of God!
That such as Jesus was, should suffer thus; that nothing less than a Sacrifice so excellent could suffice to “put away sin"; and that such pre-eminence in every excellency should be “cast into the burning” and “forsaken” on account of it!
Then besides His perfections as a man, we must never forget that He who “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” was the eternal Son, “God manifest in flesh,” the Everlasting Word, the Creator of all things. How tremendous the cost at which sin has been put away! How unlimited and eternal the judgment those will have to bear who reject such a sacrifice through their unbelief (Hebrews 10:2929Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)).
Dear young friends, we live in a day when sin is lightly thought of. We live in the atmosphere of a sinful world and oftentimes our own hearts become defiled. How well for us to be reminded often of what sin is in the sight of a holy God!
Perhaps when we hear or read of some terrible crime committed we judge it to be a great sin, and rightly so. But we can only rightly estimate the awfulness of sin when we see the blessed Lord Jesus, God’s Son, in the throes of Calvary, suffering in those three hours the wrath of a sin-hating God. There all that God is against sin fell upon that blessed Substitute.
But how blessed to know that the storm that bowed His blessed head is hushed forever now. He could cry “It is finished!” What can be more hateful to God, yet what is further removed from Him now at more infinite distance — than sin by the sacrifice of Jesus. Now the “new and living way” is open and believers have boldness to enter right into the very presence of God (Hebrews 10). Have you, dear rear, taken that Way?
ML-06/27/1971