THE BURNT OFFERING
Lev. 1. As forgiven, in communion, and with some idea of the perfection of Christ, we can now turn to the highest sacrifice of all, the burnt offering.
It is the first in the order in which the sacrifices are written out for us, and it will be usually found in such series, that our God begins with that which best suits Himself; the last of a series being that which meets us in our thoughts and need.
The distinctive feature of the burnt offering was that it was wholly burned on the brazen altar for a sweet savor to God. God glorified by Christ on the cross is the great truth expressed. It might be by a bullock, goat, sheep, or bird, the differences between these probably corresponding to the varying energy of the offerers, as well as the result of their respective circumstances of wealth or poverty. But the ground upon which the burnt offering was killed is not at first clear. The sin offering was killed to make propitiation for a transgression; the peace offering was killed to bring in communion by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, first for life, and then for maintenance; the burnt offering is killed for the person of the offerer, as Christ "made sin" on his behalf. It is God's side of the truth which we have seen connected with the burning of destruction of the sin offering bullock. There, it was that the body of sin might be annulled; here it goes further, and, while the judgment of sin (not sins) is figured, it shows the one grand truth of sweet savor resulting from "made sin.”
In verse 3 it would be better to read, "he shall offer it for his acceptance at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation," the same term being so rendered in the next verse, "and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him." On the expression "to make atonement for him," much difficulty has been felt, since atonement, as we have before seen, does not apply to a nature, for an evil nature must be ended in judgment. There is, however, a clear value for these words. The very existence of a rebellious nature reflects back on the government that permits it; it is, if allowed to continue in free action un-judged, a slur on the administration. Such is man in Adam, and God forbore with him only in view of the cross. When Christ however takes up the whole question of evil and accepts its judgment in death, He there makes atonement, not for the nature itself, but for the dishonor that the mere fact of its existence is to the righteousness and holiness of the throne of God.
This must be carefully distinguished from the idea of making propitiation for the nature itself, for nothing could be a moral equivalent for free enmity. But repair is possible for the temporary permission of evil to exist.
It is in this latter way only that verse 4 can be understood. But then, what an understanding it is.
“It shall be accepted for him, to make an atonement for him:" more accurately perhaps, concerning him, concerning the person, not as propitiation for the nature, but to make righteous repair for allowing it to continue at all.
The offerer's own person could never be acceptable in itself; but the true Burnt Offering, when He should take the place of judgment, would be so infinitely acceptable in Himself (chap. 2. displays that) that He would transcend and eclipse all the evil of sin, and from the fire that judged it, would become an inexhaustible sweet savor to God. That is the distinctive truth of this sacrifice.
Christ "made sin," and bearing its judgment, becomes to God wholly a "smell of delight.”
What a vindication of the Eternal Majesty from the reproach that the allowed existence of evil would otherwise be.
The details of the sacrifice show what guard is set round this truth. The offerer kills, and the priests sprinkle the blood round about on the brazen altar.
The offerer takes off the skin, and divides the carcass into its parts or pieces, which the priests lay upon the wood that they have freshly put on the altar fire. But the inwards are to be washed; no trace of unassimilated food can be allowed on the fire, for it could not make sweet savor. Also the legs are to be washed; nothing that was not the animal itself could be burned now. Only Christ, purely Christ's own person, could surmount being made sin, and produce "smell of delight" to God, glorifying Him.
But this Christ did. The offensive nature was before God, and must be dealt with; it was a stain upon His fair creation. But all creation was formed for God's glory, and if a defilement had been suffered to come in, it must in every form be purged out, and repair be made for even its sufferance. All was accomplished at the cross that was needed to maintain righteousness, preserve holiness, and, yet more, to accredit Infinite Majesty with glory.
When the God-Man Sufferer wrought His final work He shed His precious blood in propitiation for sins; He accepted also the place of evil, and was "made sin," suffered the condemnation of sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)), and then, immeasurably greater still, Himself in sweet savor rose from Calvary to the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a tribute of infinite glory, an exhaustless smell of delight, to "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords ... . to whom be honor and power everlasting.”
Judicially, there then remained for God no sin; He, Christ, made an end of sin, but in the place of it there was the eternal sweetness of Christ.
Surely this is the climax of the work of the cross, as seen in these sacrifices.
Christ, the sin offering, made propitiation for sins in the shedding of His blood; Christ, the peace offering, is our food both for life and for its maintenance in enjoyed communion; Christ, the meal offering, is our one absorbing object, to know, to love, and to live in, the perfectness of His person.
Christ, the burnt offering, is the One who wrought glory to God, in place of the sin and evil which He quelled forever.
Now all this blessed work is by grace to-day made good to each and every believer.
The believer in Christ has, and is to know, the present forgiveness of his sins; he has life now, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and is also maintained in the full energy of life in the same way; he receives, too, from the fullness of Christ grace upon grace, as the beauty of the Lord ravishes his heart, so knowing Him better and better every day; lastly, he is accepted in the sweet savor of Him who perfectly glorified God.
A more utter and total change in a soul's position cannot be conceived; but it is the gift of God to faith.
It is the stupendous blessing and grace of being perfected forever by the One Offering, and abiding eternally before God in that perfectness.
A striking picture of what the result of this should be in our lives yet remains to be noticed.
Lev. 1:66And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. (Leviticus 1:6) tells us the burnt offering bullock was to be flayed, and chapter 7:8 adds that the skin was to be the portion of the priest who officiated at the altar.
This is in contrast with the appointment made in chapter 4:11, 12, where we have seen the sin offering bullock was to be burnt utterly outside the camp. The skin of this one is expressly named for the burning.
Why this difference? And what is the skin to us? The skin of an animal is that by which it is seen and known, and as the bullock stands for the sinner who offers it, its skin will at once suggest the manner and style of life by which he has been seen and known hitherto. But in this feature of burning the carcass, Christ is shown accepting the final judgment of the man. Then let the believer accept for himself the full truth of that judgment on his own behalf, and see all his ways of past life judged, burnt, and put away finally; let him apply this to his path now, putting off the old man in practice, daily judging it, as God saw it judged in Christ. Let his "skin" be burnt.
What then are we to see? How are we to show ourselves? It is found in the burnt offering. In this case, we are brought into Christ's position; God's estimate of Christ is shown in the final sweet savor of this sacrifice, in which He has accepted us, making us too, the priests of to-day, worshippers in spirit and in truth. But this offering's skin is preserved for the priest's own portion and use, and it is the outward expression by which the blessed Glorifier of God was, in figure, known. It is reserved for the believer in the four Gospels, i.e., how He was known and recognized when here. Then let us wear that skin, it is given us for the purpose that we should follow in His steps. Reckon our old style of life judged, burnt utterly; and now, the life we live in the flesh, let it be by faith on the Son of God, so that we reproduce Him, as we gaze on Him, and enjoy the precious privilege of acceptance "in the Beloved.”