The Burnt Offering and Propitiation
Arthur Copeland Brown
Table of Contents
The Burnt Offering and Propitiation
Why write on this double subject? It is because they have incomparable importance in typifying the means whereby God has been infinitely satisfied and glorified by His Beloved Son on the cross. Both of these most precious subjects give God the first place by Christ's voluntarily undertaking to glorify God, and at the same time, to meet all His righteous claims respecting sinful man. Man's need as a sinner and the provision for this by the finished work of Christ are really secondary. We are so inclined to see only that which concerns our own benefits—Christ's dying for our sins, etc. It is the present trend.
As the four gospels give us four distinct views of Christ, so the four main offerings of Lev. 1-4 in- clued in type four aspects of the life and sacrifice of Christ. The first, in its importance Godward, is the burnt offering and' it is therefore given the first place, being the subject of the whole of chapter one.
At their commencement Ex. 12 records that Israel was sheltered limn the judgment that fell upon Egypt by the blood of the paschal lamb sprinkled over their doors (1 Cor. 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19). Then followed their deliverance from Egyptian bondage under Pharoah by the way of the Red Sea (Ex. 14; Gal. 1:4; Heb. 2:14,15). In the wilderness God prescribed for their building Him a suitable sanctuary, and when it was completed "the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."
Leviticus commences with Jehovah thus dwelling in the midst of His people, yet, hidden within the wail. Approach into His presence was forbidden, except once a year on the Day of Atonement.
"The Day of Atonement"
"Atonement has incomparably the deepest place of all truths in scripture, save only Christ's person." (W. K., Lectures on the Pentateuch, p. 275.)
In this truly wonderful and comprehensive chapter 16 of Leviticus we get the most profound truth of propitiation Godward, typifying that great work of Christ on the cross. Only on this notable tenth day of the seventh month could Aaron enter into God's presence within the vail. For this God specified that he come "with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering." Also he was to bathe, be attired entirely with holy linen garments, have a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the brazen altar, have sweet incense to "put on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat", where he was to sprinkle the blood of the bullock to make "atonement for himself and for his house" to propitiate God for sin.
Incidentally here, although typically important, Aaron's house represents the Christian family of priests, 1 Peter 2:5-9; Rev. 1:6. Aaron's acceptance in God's presence, by virtue of the blood, tells us of our being "accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6) and our present priestly privileges of entering by faith as worshipers into the holiest (Heb. 10:19).
During this present age, Israel's Messiah and Great High Priest is hidden, as it were, within the vail of the sanctuary until He comes forth for their blessings.
The Two Goats
On this same occasion, because of Israel's sins, propitiation Godward was to be made by killing one of two goats and sprinkling its blood also upon the mercy seat. So far the blood here, including the blood of the bullock, is looked at exclusively as propitiating God, making "atonement for the holy place," "for the tabernacle," "for the altar," "for Aaron," "for his house," and "for Israel," without considering any benefits for the sinner. Thus God's requirements because of sin come first and before the truth as to the second goat, the scapegoat, on which the sins of the people were laid.
"The first part is the most important" (J. N. D. Synopsis, Vol. 1, p. 205). "That we have been saved and redeemed, and that our sins have been atoned for in that same sacrifice, according to the counsels of the grace of God, is (I presume to say it, precious and important as it is for us) the inferior part of that work... its object at least—we sinners—is inferior" (J. N. D. Synopsis, Vol. 1, p. 207).
"God's glory must be first, rather than the creature's need. God's holiness and honor must first be secured. Man is slow to rise above anything that is not for himself. Men only think of the sinner in the work of our Lord Jesus. But the primary aspect of the atonement is toward God" (W.K., Day of Atonement, p. 104).
"This latter is but secondary—an inferior application of the atonement, though our foolish hearts would fain regard it as the very highest possible view of the cross, to see in it that which puts away our sins. This is a mistake. God's glory is the first thing, our salvation is the second" (C H. M., Notes on Leviticus, p. 197).
"Israel's High Priest is hid within the wail.... Israel is outside... our position is inside in the person of Christ" (J. N. D. Synopsis, Vol 1, p. 209.) For the repentant of Israel in their coming "tenth day of this seventh month shall be a day of atonement" (Lev. 23:27) when they will afflict their souls as they “look on Him whom they had pierced" and mourn bitterly. (Zech. 12; Ezek. 20:43; 36:31.)
The Burnt Offering
"These typical sacrifices have an interest that nothing can surpass" (J.N. D. Synopsis, Vol. 1, p. 127).
It is the burnt offering that is given the first place in Leviticus. Eight times it is spoken of in chapter one, and 290 times in God's Word. “Nothing can be more worthy of profound. attention... Jesus presents Himself that God may be fully glorified in Him" (p.139). "The word used for burning the burnt offering... is the same as that of burning incense"(p. 145). "We cannot too much study the burnt offering. It is that one act in the history of eternity in which the basis of all that in which God has glorified Himself morally... is laid" (p. 167). "The infinite acceptability of the offering of Christ to God—its intrinsic excellency" (p. 175).
"The most important of the sweet savor presentations was the burnt offering" (W.K., Offerings of Leviticus, p. 6). "It is an offering neither for sin nor for guilt, but God glorified" (p. 7). "One is content then to look at no more than His bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. In itself a most necessary blessing, but assuredly short of appropriating the distinct truth of the burnt offering" (p. 14). 'The stronger the faith, one enjoys God's side as well as our own" (p. 69).
The "Spirit of God begins not with the sinner and his wants... but with Christ in the highest thought of our Lord's death in atonement—the burnt offering. It is exclusively Godward—an aspect which believers are apt to be in no small danger of attenuating, if not losing sight of altogether. There is no child of God that does not see the need of Christ to be a sin offering for him, but far too many stop here.... One deplores the habitual disposition, in looking at Christ's sacrifice, to think of nothing but His adaptation to our wants" (W. K., Lectures on the Pentateuch, p. 224).
The lowest view of the burnt offering is found in the end of the chapter. There turtledoves or young pigeons were to have their heads wrung off and their crop and feathers plucked away. God graciously considers the poor, yet He must reject immature or undigested thoughts mixed with show.
"In the burnt offering... the primary object of Christ's work was Godward exclusively... the highest object was the glory of God... devoted to God... offering Himself without spot to God... a sweet savor" (C. H. M, Notes on Leviticus, pp. 6,7).
"We are too apt to look upon the cross merely as the place where our sins were atoned for" (p.11). "The burnt offering does not foreshadow Christ on the cross bearing sin, but...presenting to the heart of the Father an odor of incomparable fragrance" (pp. 12,13). "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life," John 10:17. "Offered Himself without spot to God," Heb. 9:14. "I have glorified Thee on the earth," John 17:4.
It is also blessedly true that through God's wonderful grace we have been "accepted in the Beloved". “For his acceptance, " Lev. 1:3 J. N. D. translation. Right here some have made this more important than "the burnt offering... shall be accepted for him" in verse 4.
"Christ as foreshadowed by the burnt offering is not for the sinner's conscience" (p. 16). "Aaron's sons do not represent convicted sinners, but worshiping saints, as priests they have to do with the burnt offering" (p. 21). "The burnt offering gets the first place. It typifies Christ's death as viewed and valued by God alone... It gives us the highest possible aspect of the death of Christ" (p. 25). "Which was to be exclusively for Himself... the heart of God reaps His richest harvest of glory... reason why that type should occupy the leading place—should stand at the very top of the list" (p. 26, C.H.M., Notes on Leviticus).
"Nine out of ten would say, that the first object was to save sinners. Yet that was not the first object... The first object was to accomplish the will of God, and to glorify Him" (R. F. K., Christ as Seen in the Offerings, p. 10).
The Continual Burnt Offering
In Ex. 29:38, 39 and 42, we have God's instructions for the continual burnt offering. “Two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning: and the other thou shalt offer in the even...for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the lord. This shall be a continual burnt offering." "The fire shall ever be burning on the altar: it shall never go out", Lev. 6:13.
Interesting is the intimate relationship between the continual burnt offering on the brazen altar of which we have been reading in Ex. 29 and what immediately follows in chapter 30, where we have the golden incense altar. "Burn thereon sweet incense every morning... And at even he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord." For this, burning coals were to be carried in a censer from the brazen altar of burnt offering. All this speaks of the fragrance of Christ ascending in worship to God.
In the book of Numbers, chapters 28 and 29 teem with the truth of the continual burnt offering. Then "Beside the continual burnt offering," "every sabbath," "and in the beginnings of your months," "in the first day" of the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread," "And in the day of the first fruits,... after your weeks," "And in the... day of the blowing of the trumpets, " "And on the tenth day of the seventh month... beside the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering," "And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month... seven days ye shall offer a burnt offering"; in these days they were to offer altogether 70 young bullocks, 14 rams and 96 lambs. Then "On the eighth day... one young bullock, one ram, seven lambs... beside the continual burnt offering." All these countless offerings intimate God's infinite delight in the voluntary offering and sacrifice of His Beloved Son as a sweet smelling savor.
Oh the peace forever flowing From God's thoughts of His own Son.
Delightful Tracings in the Word
"Abel's offering bore the character of a burnt offering... the value of the sacrifice, Heb. 11:4. Noah offered a burnt offering after the deluge. The Lord smelled a sweet savor... Job offered burnt offerings, Job 1:5" (Christ as Seen in the Offerings, R.F.K., pp. 18, 19).
In the well known chapter 22 of Genesis, where Abraham was told to offer up his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, six times it is called the burnt offering. This same most significant place on earth is where David also built an altar and offered up burnt offerings to Jehovah (1 Chron. 21 and 22:1), and where his son Solomon built the magnificent temple of worship to Jehovah (2 Chron. 3:1). "The place which the Lord your God shall chose... to put His name there.... His habitation... thither thou shalt come; and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings," Deut. 12:5,6. (Before Solomon built the temple "he offered up a thousand burnt offerings upon" the brazen altar which was before the tabernacle pitched in Gibeon, 1 Kings 3:4). When the temple was finished and dedicated, in the middle of the court "he offered burnt offerings...because the brazen altar was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings," 1 Kings 8:64, 2 Chron. 7:1-7. On the same momentous occasion when they brought the ark into the temple they "sacrificed sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude," 1 Kings 8:5 and 2 Chron. 5:6.
Sad Declension and Division
In Numbers chapter 32 we see how cattle-minded the two and a half tribes were, when God let them have their own way, and were even allowed to capture many thousands more of cattle, camels, sheep, asses and men from their enemies; but because they transgressed against God they were the first to be carried away captive to Assyria (Deut. 3:7; 1 Chron. 5:18-26; B.C. 1056). How stupid we may be to give the first place to self, business, prosperity and luxury.
It was due to unfaithfulness that God had to rend ten tribes from Solomon's kingdom (B. C. 975), and they in turn soon merited being "carried away out of their own land to Assyria," (2 Kings 17:23; B.C. 721).
Hezekiah's Exemplary Reign
In spite of much failure in the kingdom of Judah, eight chapters tell of the commendable reign of King Hezekiah. In the remarkable chapter 29 of Second Chronicles, we see exceptional faithfulness in this young king of 25 years. "He opened the doors of the house of the Lord," had them "carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place," and made confession of the shameful failures of the past. "They have shut up the doors... and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings... to God... Be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him... and that ye should minister unto Him and be incense burners"—this 'applies also to the burnt offerings", N.T. footnote. The joyful response was God-honoring. 'They sang praises with gladness... thank offerings and burnt offerings... threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams; and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord... the burnt offerings were in abundance."
Isaiah at the same time tells of the internal corruption and hypocrisy that God saw and which necessitated His having Judah and Jerusalem carried away into Babylon in B.C. 606 and 588 (2 Kings 24:12-15; 25:8-11; 2 Chron. 36).
The Return of a Remnant
Seventy years later God made a way for the recovery of a small remnant (42,360) led by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. It is most interesting to see in Ezra chapter three that the first thing they did was to "build an altar to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening." They kept also the feast of tabernacles seven days offering in all the 70 young bullocks, 14 rams and 96 lambs (according to Num. 29). "And afterward the continual burnt offering, and those of the new moons, and of all the set feasts... to the Lord." Such overflowing devotedness and faithfulness should characterize those gathered to His precious name, and did over a century ago. Where there is any trace of this nowadays it is most precious to God. But mere pretension to it is "strange fire", Lev. 10:1.
Anticipating the Millenium
In the coming day of the Lord's glorious kingdom, Ezekiel, from 40:38 to 46:15, prophesies of Israel's offering burnt offerings eighteen times. What a day of worship and rejoicing will there be—a day without a cloud, "as the days of heaven upon the earth", Deut. 11:21. All will be blissful under our Lord's righteous ordering and control, "as the days of heaven," Psa. 89:29.
Ezekiel 44
Before closing this paper may we pause a bit to focus our attention upon several remarkable truths in Ezek. 44 that reveal God's valuation of worship as compared to service. Here we are reminded of Martha and Mary as related in the end of Luke 10. These truths refer especially to the most privileged ones that have to do with the Lord's place of worship in Jerusalem.
"Behold the glory of the Lord filled the house... the rebellious... have brought into My sanctuary to pollute it... all your abominations. And ye have not kept the charge of My holy things... The Levites shall be ministers...ministering to the house... to minister unto them... shall not come near to Me, to do the office of a priest unto Me, nor to come near to any of My holy things, in the most holy place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations... but I will make them keepers...for all the service.
"But the priests... that kept the charge... shall come near to Me to minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me... They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister unto Me... They shall be clothed with linen garments... linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat... Neither shall they suffer their locks to grow long... They shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean."
The worship offering—"the burnt offering"—is spoken of in verse 11.
Being becomingly clothed for God's presence is insisted upon, and fleshly energy, being not of the Holy Spirit, is forbidden.
"We are in danger of putting service in the place of the burnt offering" (J.N.D. Collected Writings, Vol 19, p. 517, Morrish Ed.)
"It is a mistake to read in the burnt offering our own devotedness" (W. K., The Offerings of Leviticus, p. 116).
A. C. B.
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