Bible Talks

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 8
 
“AND THOU shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle...; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD.”
In the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, the next we have are the offerings. They could not go into God’s presence to serve Him without them, and the first is the bullock, which was for a sin offering. And here we have, in type, Christ in His death who has borne away the sins of His people.
In placing their hands upon the head of the bullock, Aaron and his sons transferred, in type, their sins to the victim. With their sins upon its head, the animal was then slain before the Lord. What a solemn act this was! As they watched the innocent victim die they would get a glimpse at least of what sin is in the sight of God. “The wages of sin is death,” Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23); and “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22). In the death of the Lord Jesus, the spotless Victim, dying on the cross for our sins, we see as far as we are able, what sin is in the sight of God. All that God is against sin, in the holiness of His nature, came out at the cross when the wrath and billows of eternal judgment fell upon Jesus in those three dark hours. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness God in Him.” 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). How should humble us as we gaze in spirit upon that cross and hear Saviour’s cry, “My God, My why hast Thou forsaken Me?” knowing that it was our sins that brought Him there. Well might we sing:
In His spotless soul’s distress
I have learned my guiltiness;
Oh how vile my low estate,
Since my ransom was so great.
Part of the blood of the bullock was put on the horns of the altar, and the rest was poured out at the bottom of the altar. In this we see that all the blood was for God. We read in Leviticus 17:11And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, (Leviticus 17:1)1 That “the life is in the blood,” and so the life of the sinless Substitute, our blessed Lord Jesus, was offered up to God in order that we, as guilty sinners, might live.
The fat and certain of the inwards were burned on the altar — this too was only for God; but all the rest of the animal, his flesh, his skin and his dung, were taken outside the camp and burned there. In this burning of the sin offering outside the camp of Israel we get a further sight of what sin is in God’s sight, and of the awful place the Lord Jesus took when He suffered “without the gate” of Jerusalem to put sin away by the sacrifice of Himself.
Lest men might have low thoughts of Christ crucified on a cross of shame, and reproach the name of Jesus because of the low place He took there, God tells us in the burning of the fat on the altar of the preciousness of His dear Son to Him in that dark hour. For never was the Lord Jesus more precious to Him than when He hung upon the cross and glorified Him in such a death. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.” Phil. 2:9,109Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (Philippians 2:9‑10).
ML-10/25/1970