READ LEVITICUS. 1. AND 4.
How the New Testament helps us in understanding the Old, throwing light upon the types there; and, in so doing, ofttimes bringing out the truth more vividly than a mere doctrinal statement of the same!
In these two chapters, we have the work of Christ on the cross brought before us in two aspects. In the 1st (the burnt offering), what Christ was in His death for God; in the 4th (the sin offering), what He was in His death for the sinner. God of course begins with that aspect of it which is for Himself, and afterward comes to that which is for the sinner. We, on the contrary, have to begin with what Christ was in His death for us, and so will look first at chap. 4.
" If a soul shall sin through ignorance, etc." (ver. 2). How strikingly this brings out the holiness of God! How ready we are to make excuses, and, if a thing is done in ignorance, to think but little of it. But, dear reader, in having to do with God, we must remember that His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither His ways our ways... and that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isa. 55:8,98For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8‑9)). God, in His grace, has made provision for the guiltiest, if they will but hearken to Him, but He will pass by nothing, not even if " a soul shall sin through ignorance,"-for, " GOD IS LIGHT" (I John, 1:5). What then is to be done? On our part we can do absolutely nothing to cancel the guilt, for " 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)). Then the victim for the sacrifice, whether bullock, or kid of the goats (male or female, vs. 23, 28) or a lamb, must be one " without blemish." Where was such an one to be found? Could man produce such? God waited for hundreds of years, but such an one could not be found among the sons of Adam. God then must do one of two things-either visit judgment upon all, or provide the one necessary Himself. Which did He do? " He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but Five everlasting life" (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)), thereby proving that " GOD IS LOVE" (t John 4:88(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) (John 4:8)). Jesus, His beloved Son, becomes a man, and John the Baptist gazing on Him once exclaims, " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)). Then we have the life on earth of/the blessed Lord looked at in four different aspects, in the four gospels. But though He humbled Himself and became man, His people remember that He was never less than The One who did humble Himself-even " Christ who is over all, God blessed forever," Amen. (Rom. 9:55Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:5)). As He walked this earth God saw, for the first time, a man that answered in everything to the desires of His heart-ever and only doing His will, thereby proving Himself the Lamb without spot. But there was the question of sin to be settled before God, and so " Christ through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God" to purge our consciences from dead works to serve the living God (Heb. 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)).
The 4th verse of our chapter tells us that the animal (which was really a type of Christ) was brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, and the sinning Jew was to " lay his hand upon the bullock's head." Laying the hand on the victim's head expresses identification, as much as saying, " That's me-that animal takes my place." And so when I look at Jesus on Calvary's cross bearing sin's heavy load, faith enables me to say, " That's me-He took my place"-surely in grace-but still He took it. Well, if He took it, He must bear all the consequences of taking it, and so He did. Judgment and death were hanging over my head, for " 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 " It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). All that God was against sin Jesus bore on Calvary's cross. Hearken to that cry, " My God, my God, why halt Thou forsaken Me?" (Psa. 22:11<<To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.>> My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psalm 22:1); 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 " He yielded up the Ghost" (Matt. 27:5050Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. (Matthew 27:50)), having said, " It is finished" (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)). How those words of the Lord Jesus bring before us the contrast with every sacrifice in Old Testament times! If it was the great day of atonement as presented in Lev. 16, it must be repeated every year, for the redemption then accomplished only held good for that length of time; if it was an individual who had sinned, a fresh sacrifice must be brought. Consequently there never could be at that time " perfection as pertaining to the conscience" as mentioned in Heb. 9 Perfection, or otherwise, of the conscience depends upon the character of the sacrifice presented. When the offending one coming to God brought a bullock or a goat-the sacrifice not being perfect, the conscience could not be perfect. But now if a sinner comes to God-just as a sinner and nothing else or he would not be "doing truth" (John 3:2121But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:21))—on the ground of the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary's cross, and rests upon that, and that only, the sacrifice being a perfect one, the, conscience of him who believes the record " God has given of Its Son," is perfect. The redemption that resulted from the atonement made on the cross was an eternal one (see Heb. 9:1212Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)). The blood that was there shed did not merely cancel an individual act of sin, for " the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all (more accurately ' every') sin " (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). We get that truth brought out, in type, in our chapter in ver. 6, in the blood being sprinkled "seven times before the Lord"—"seven" standing for perfection in spiritual things.
Dear reader, have you come to God, just as a poor sinner and nothing else, and are you resting, and resting only, on the precious blood of Christ? If so, that blood cleanseth from every sin; God-the God you have sinned against-says so, and so forgiveness flows from it. But the resurrection of Christ is another proof of the question of sin being settled before God-because if Jesus was bearing my sins on Calvary's cross (see Isa. 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)) how could God righteously raise Him from the dead, if every sin was not fully atoned for? But, blessed be God! if He " was delivered for our offenses," He " was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ " (Rom. 4:25;525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25). f). Remember then that it is a work done outside of us, even the work on Calvary's cross, that is the ground of our peace, and not the work of the Holy Spirit in us. There is never such a thing as a soul resting on the work of Christ, outside of him, that there is not a work of the Holy Spirit inside him-still it is the former and not the latter which is the ground of peace, and it is important not to confound them. They go together, still they are distinct from each other.
It' is important also to remember that He who bore our sins on Calvary's Cross is not there now; for, " If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:1717And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)). In Acts 13, Paul, having given a short outline of God's dealings with Israel, refers to the Lord Jesus as the One in whom the promises found their fulfillment. He speaks of His death and resurrection.
Then, pointing to Him as the risen, glorified Man at God's right hand, he says, " Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are (not `will be') justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."
The Holy Ghost, in Rom. 4:77Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (Romans 4:7), says: " Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered."
DEAR READER, IS THAT BLESSEDNESS YOURS?
( To be continued, D. V.)