17. —THE OFFERINGS OF LEVITICUS.
We trust our readers will find in this subject, as we have done, much to draw out the affections to Christ, as with a reverent eye we survey His varied perfections sketched in these types by the unerring hand of God ages before His advent. Wonderfully full indeed the subject is of Christ, and everywhere with His name, introducing us to the inner aspect of His life and death as seen by the eye of His Father, and giving us the Divine estimate of it all.
How beautiful to notice in the burnt offering not only the outward spotlessness, but the inward purity of the whole life and character of Christ. How touching to see that it was “of His own voluntary will” that He thus offered Himself to God In the burnt offering, Christ, completely offered up to God for the full expression of His glory, undergoes the full trial of judgment. The first tries what He is, He is salted with fire. “The perfect holiness of God, in the power of His judgment, tries to the uttermost all that is in Him. The bloody sweat, the affecting supplication in the garden, the deep sorrow of the cross in the touching consciousness of righteousness, Why hast thou forsaken me?”—as to any lightening of the trial, an unheeded cry—all mark the full trial of the Son of God. Deep answered unto deep, all Jehovah’s waves and billows passed over Him. But as He had offered Himself perfectly to the thorough—trial, this consuming fire and trying of His inmost thoughts did, could, produce naught but a sweet savor to God.
It is remarkable that the word used for burning the burnt offering is not the same as that of the sin offering, but the same as that of burning incense. In this offering, then, we have Christ’s perfect offering of Himself up, and then tried in His inmost parts by the fiery trial of God’s judgment. The consuming of His life was a sacrifice of a sweet savor, all infinitely agreeable to God—not a thought, not a feeling, but was put to the test—His life consumed in it; but all, without apparent answer to sustain Him, given up to God, all was purely a sweet savor to Him. Such was the burnt offering.”
In the meat offering the first thing we observe is the fineness of the flour. As has been beautifully observed “ There was no unevenness in Jesus: no predominant quality to produce the effect of giving Him a distinctive character, He was, though despised and rejected of men, the perfection of human nature. The sensibilities, firmness, decision (though that attached itself also to the principle of obedience), elevation and calm meekness which belong to human nature, all found their perfect place in Him. In a Paul I find energy and zeal; in a Peter ardent affection; in a John tender sensibilities and abstraction of thought, united to a desire to vindicate what he loved, which scarce knew limit. But the quality we have observed in Peter predominates and characterizes him. In a Paul, blessed servant though he was, he does not repent though he had repented. He had no rest in his spirit, when he found not Titus his brother. He goes off to Macedonia though a door is opened at Troas. He wot not that it was the high priest. He is compelled to glory of himself. In him, in whom God was mighty toward the circumcision, we find the fear of man break through the faithfulness of his zeal. He who would have vindicated Jesus in his zeal, knew not what manner of spirit he was of, and would have forbidden the glory of God, if man walked not with them. Such were Paul, and Peter, and John. But in Jesus, even as man, there was none of this unevenness; there was nothing salient in His character, because all was in perfect subjection to God in His humanity, and had its place, and did exactly its service, and then disappeared. In a word then, His humanity was perfect, all subject to God, all in immediate answer to His will, and so necessarily in harmony. The hand that struck the chord found all in tune; all answered to the mind of Him whose thoughts of grace and holiness, of goodness, yet of judgment of evil, whose fullness of blessing and goodness was a sound of sweetness to every weary ear, and found in Christ their only expression, every element, every faculty in his humanity responded to the impulse which the divine will gave to it, and then ceased in a tranquility in which self had no place. Such was Christ in human nature. But we must pass on. This fine flour was not only pure, and even and full of sweet savor and frankincense, but was mingled with and anointed with oil, or in other words Christ was born of, and anointed with the Holy Ghost. Thus in His nature was a perfect absence of all evil and the presence of the Holy Ghost’s power.
In the peace offering we get typified the communion of saints according to the efficacy of the sacrifice with God, with the priest who has offered it in our behalf, with one another and with the whole body of the Church, with the offerings that accompanied this sacrifice it was ordered (7:13.) that leavened cakes should be offered. For though that which is unclean is to be excluded, there is always a mixture of evil in our worship itself. The leaven is there, man cannot be without it, but it may be a very small part of the matter.
In the case of the sin offering, he who came, came not as a worshipper, but as a sinner, and instead of being identified with the acceptability of the victim, the victim became identified with his guilt, was made sin in his behalf and treated accordingly. This offering, however, is treated so fully that we need not enlarge upon it here, especially as our space is almost gone. We conclude with one or two general remarks.
The Lord’s part in the peace (or prosperity) offerings being the fat of the inwards, and this being consumed on the burnt offering (Leviticus 3:55And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. (Leviticus 3:5)), and with the meat offering (7:12), the participation in the other parts of the peace offering of the priest that offered, the priests at large, and the worshipper, really brought them into communion with God’s own joy and delight, not only in the peace offering, but also in the burnt and meat offerings, of which the fat of the peace offering was “ the food.” Further; the fat of all the sin offerings (except the red heifer in Numbers 19), was consumed on the altar of burnt offerings (see Leviticus 4:10, 19, 26, 31, 35; 7:5; 16:2510As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. (Leviticus 4:10)
19And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar. (Leviticus 4:19)
26And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. (Leviticus 4:26)
31And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor unto the Lord; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. (Leviticus 4:31)
35And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him. (Leviticus 4:35)
5And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a trespass offering. (Leviticus 7:5)
25And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. (Leviticus 16:25), &c., &c.) Thus we see, that even in that view of Christ’s work, in which He was most actually and absolutely made sin for us, his own inward devotion to God, in which He was willing to be thus made sin, was infinitely pleasant and acceptable to God, forming thus a link between the sin offering and all the rest. How precious, that at the very time when Jesus was really bearing wrath for our sins; when it was impossible that God could manifest His favor to Him; when in consequence, He had to cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” at this very time the link with God, on His part (Christ’s) was still, as always, unbroken! Indeed, in what one scene do we so see His complete devotion to the Father’s glory, as that in which He bows to His Father’s will that He should be made sin and suffer without the gate? And even when forsaken, and asking “why” He calls Him “My God.”
Again; the case of the priest (chapter 4.) whose sin interrupted the communion of the whole congregation or the similar case of the sin of the whole congregation is what cannot now occur. The instruction, therefore, as often in Hebrews, is by contrast not comparison. Our Priest cannot fail, and all the sins, yea, the sin of the whole congregation has once for all, and forever been so expiated, that nothing can now disqualify the whole church as such for communion and worship.
Lastly,—as to the diverse force and meaning of the laying on of hands on the victim. In the one case, that of the sin and trespass offerings, a person came as a sinner, and placing his hands on the victim’s head, confessed his sins, and transferred, as it were, the load of sin to the victim that suffered in his stead. In the other case, a person came as a worshipper, and placed his hands on the head of the animal, in token of being himself identified with the.acceptableness of the offering.