Before entering upon the details of the chapter before us, there are two things which demand our careful consideration; namely, first, Jehovah’s position; and, secondly, the order in which the offerings are presented.
“And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Such was the position from which Jehovah made the communications contained in this Book, He had been speaking from Mount Sinai, and his position, there, gave marked character to the communication. From the fiery mound “went a fiery law”; but, here, He speaks “out of the tabernacle of the congregation.” This was an entirely different position. We have seen this tabernacle set up, at the close of the preceding book. “And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate, So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle....For the glory of the Lord was upon the tabernacle, by day, and fire was on it, by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys” (Ex. 40:33-3833And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. 34Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: 37But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:33‑38)).
Now the tabernacle was God’s dwelling-place in grace. He could take up His abode there because He was surrounded on all sides by that which vividly set forth the ground of His relationship with the people. Had He come into their midst in the full display of the character revealed upon Mount Sinai, it could only have been to consume them in a moment as a stiff-necked people. But He retired within the veil — type of Christ’s flesh (Heb. 10:2020By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:20)) — and took His place on the mercy seat, where the blood of atonement, and not the stiff-neckedness of Israel, was that which met His view and satisfied the claims of His nature. The blood which was brought into the sanctuary by the high priest was the type of that precious blood which cleanses from all sin, and although Israel after the flesh saw nothing of this, it nevertheless justified God in abiding amongst them; it “sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh” (Heb. 9:1313For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (Hebrews 9:13)).
Thus much as to Jehovah’s position in this book, which must be taken into account in order to a proper understanding of the communications made therein. In them we shall find inflexible holiness, united with the purest grace. God is holy, no matter from whence He speaks. He was holy on Mount Sinai and holy above the mercy seat, but in the former case His holiness stood connected with a devouring fire, in the latter it was connected with patient grace. Now the connection of perfect holiness with perfect grace is that which characterizes the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, which redemption is in various ways shadowed forth in the Book of Leviticus. God must be holy even though it should be in the eternal condemnation of impenitent sinners, but the full display of His holiness in the salvation of sinners calls forth heaven’s loudest and loftiest note of praise: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:1414Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:14)). This doxology could not have been sung in connection with the fiery law. No doubt there was glory to God in the highest, but there was no peace on earth nor good pleasure in men, inasmuch as it was the declaration of what men ought to be before God could take pleasure in them. But when the Son took His place as a man on the earth, the mind of heaven could express its entire delight in Him as the One whose Person and work could combine in the most perfect manner divine glory with human blessedness.
And now one word as to the order of the offerings in the opening chapters of the Book of Leviticus. The Lord begins with the burnt offering and ends with the trespass offering, that is to say, He leaves off where we begin. This order is marked and most instructive. When first the arrow of conviction enters the soul, there are deep searchings of conscience in reference to sins actually committed. Memory casts back its enlightened eye over the page of one’s past life and sees it stained with numberless trespasses against God and man. At this point of the soul’s history it is not so much occupied with the question of the root from whence those trespasses have sprung, as with the stern and palpable fact that such and such things have actually been committed, and hence it needs to know that God has provided a sacrifice through which all trespasses can be frankly forgiven. This is presented to us in the trespass offering.
But as one advances in the divine life, one becomes conscious that those sins which one has committed are but branches from a root, streams from a fountain, and, moreover, that sin in one’s nature is that fountain — that root. This leads to far deeper exercise, which can only be met by a deeper insight into the work of the cross. In a word, the cross will need to be apprehended as that in which God Himself has “condemned 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)). My reader will observe it does not say, “sins in the life,” but the root from whence these have sprung, namely, “sin in the flesh.” This is a truth of immense importance. Christ not merely died for our sins, according to the scriptures, but He 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)). This is the doctrine of the sin offering.
Now it is when the heart and conscience are set at rest through the knowledge of Christ’s work that we can feed upon Himself as the ground of our peace and joy in the presence of God. There can be no such thing known as peace or joy until we see all our trespasses forgiven and our sin judged. The trespass offering and the sin offering must be known before the peace offering, joy offering, or thanksgiving offering can be appreciated. Hence, therefore, the order in which the peace offering stands corresponds with the order of our spiritual apprehension of Christ.
The same perfect order is observable in reference to the meat offering. When the soul is led to taste the sweetness of spiritual communion with Christ, to feed upon Him in peace and thankfulness in the divine presence, it is drawn out in earnest desire to know more of the wondrous mysteries of His Person, and this desire is most blessedly met in the meat offering, which is the type of Christ’s perfect manhood.
Then, in the burnt offering, we are conducted to a point beyond which it is impossible to go, and that is the work of the cross as accomplished under the immediate eye of God, and as the expression of the unswerving devotion of the heart of Christ. All these things will come before us in beauteous detail as we pass along; we are here only looking at the order of the offerings, which is truly marvelous whichever way we travel, whether outward from God to us or inward from us to God. In either case we begin with the cross and end with the cross. If we begin with the burnt offering, we see Christ on the cross doing the will of God, making atonement according to the measure of His perfect surrender of Himself to God. If we begin with the trespass offering, we see Christ on the cross bearing our sins and putting them away according to the perfection of His atoning sacrifice; while in each and all we behold the excellence, the beauty and the perfection of His divine and adorable Person. Surely all this is sufficient to awaken in our hearts the deepest interest in the study of those precious types which we shall now proceed to consider in detail. And may God the Holy Spirit, who penned the Book of Leviticus, expound its contents in living power to our hearts, that so when we have reached the close we may have abundant cause to bless His name for many thrilling and soul-stirring views of the Person and work of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom be glory now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen.