Leviticus 16
AARON was first washed with water, then covered with clean linen garments. This was because he was to be a shadow of the blessed Lord in all His sinlessness and outward purity.
But the Lord Jesus was also inwardly pure. Therefore it was necessary that Aaron be purged with blood, for he was but a sinner, guilty like other men, and inwardly unclean. He needed therefore a sin offering for himself.
Then the Lord Jesus was also infinitely fragrant and acceptable to God. He was one, the only One, in whom God the Father could find all His delight. These excellencies and moral glories of the Son of God could only be set forth in Aaron by his bringing a ram for a burnt offering. The whole of the burnt offering was offered to God upon the altar, and went up to God as a sweet savor. So that through the burnt offering Aaron became a shadow of the infinite acceptance of the Person of the Lord Jesus.
Aaron therefore is presented to us in this chapter as a type of the peerless, spotless Son of God, who did not need to offer up sacrifices for His own sins, but was holy, harmless, undefiled, outwardly and inwardly pure, and in every respect He was infinitely well-pleasing to God. He alone was qualified for the work of atonement.
The unblemished bullock is now brought forth by Aaron to be killed, and this sets forth Christ as the Offering as well as the Offerer, for He was both — He “offered Himself without spot to God.” We learn from this the absolute necessity of the death of Christ; nothing less than His death was called for, and that death too under the judgment of God for sin. In spite of all that He did in His holy spotless life, had He not actually died for our sins, no sinner could be saved. And this is what our Lord clearly taught when He said, “Except [the] corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.”
Aaron’s hand was placed upon the bullock and it was offered as a sin offering. Thus we have Christ’s death typically set forth, making propitiation for our sins, for He “died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” We can truly sing, “Our every joy on earth and heaven, we owe it to Thy blood.”
The Lord Jesus died, but, thank God, He is risen from the dead; He triumphed over death and Satan and the grave, and “He saw no corruption.” In this way, through death, He destroyed “him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil; and [delivered] them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” His resurrection is the clearest proof that all our sins were judged and put away, that He was the Son of God, and God testified publicly to the fact that He had finished the work, satisfied God’s justice for us and obtained victory for us over death, grave, and Satan. Thus the believer can now sing, “Death and judgment are behind us, grace and glory are before.” Because of this it is said “we shall not all sleep.” Instead of dying, and our bodies being laid in the grave, it is possible that we may have nothing to do with either, for if alive when Jesus comes, we shall be “changed in a moment,” “caught up... to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess.
ML-05/07/1972