Leviticus 4
WE COME now to the sin and trespass offerings which in many ways are the same. They differed from the first three in that they are not seen as sweet savor offerings, and were not burned on the brazen altar.
The sin offering was to be a young bullock without blemish in order to be a fit type of the blessed Lord Jesus as our Sin-bearer. Nothing showed His perfectness as much as His being made sin for us. If He had had any sin of His own He could not have borne our sins. God could say of Him, “In Him is no sin,” and though He died on the cross and was buried, yet He arose from the dead and now from heaven He gives eternal life to all who believe on Him.
The bullock was brought to the door of the tabernacle and killed there. Some of the blood was sprinkled seven times before the Lord, before the veil, some was put upon the horns of the altar of incense, and then all was poured out at the bottom of the brazen altar. In this way the blood all went back to God, “for the life is in the blood,” and it told of the life of the spotless Victim laid down for another’s sin.
The fat and some of the inwards were burned on the altar of burnt offering, and these also were for God alone. This teaches us that what ever low thoughts men might have of Christ who hung upon a tree, God would have us know that His beloved Son never was more precious to Him than when He was dying upon the cross for sin.
The whole of the bullock was then carried outside the camp and burned in a clean place. It was not burned on the brazen altar for this showed how much God hates sin; He would not let it come near His dwelling-place. Nor would He have sweet incense burned with it, but He sent it away from His tabernacle to be burned alone in a place by itself.
Oh to what depths the Lord Jesus must go when He undertook to put our sins away! How it should humble us when we think it was our sins and guilt that brought Him so low. We know that when He had our sins upon His blessed Person, God had to hide His face from that holy Sufferer.
The whole bullock was burned to ashes, and how this speaks to us of God’s vengeance against sin.
“For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” Heb. 13:11, 1211For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. 12Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. (Hebrews 13:11‑12). But such was His love; He gave His all in death for us.
Our sins, our guilt, in love divine,
Confessed and borne by Thee;
The gall, the curse, the wrath were Thine,
To set Thy ransomed free.
Oh how we ought to love and thank Him for all that He has done for us!
ML-06/20/1971