BS1255 J93 1877 Jukes, Andrew Jo^a-^ 1815-1901. Law of the offerings in Leviticus I.-Vn. oonsidered as the appointed figure of lhe| THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. THE LAW OE THE OEEERINGS IN LEVITICUS I.— VIL CONSIDEEED AS THE APPOINTED PIGTIRE OF THE VAEIOUS ASPECTS OF THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST. BY ANDREW JUKES. " This is the law of the Bumt-oflfering, of the Meat-offering, and of the Sin-offering, and of the Trespass-offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the Peace-offerings." — Leviticus vii. 37. &inf) be accepted." 52 THE LAW OP THE OFFERINGS. The question was, could man bring an offering so acceptable as to satisfy God ? Jesus as man did bring sucli an offering. He offered Himself, and His offering was accepted. Even with our poor thoughts of what Jesus was to the Father, it seems wondrous that He, the Blessed One, should ever have thus offered "/or His acceptance." But this was only one of the many steps of humiliation which He took, as our represen- tative, " for us." And this explains the word "atonement" in the fourth verse : — " It shall be accepted for him to make atonement!' These words might suggest to some the thought of sin in connexion with the Burnt- offering. Such a view of the case would be erroneous. The word "atonement" here, as elsewhere, in itself means simply making satisfaction : and satisfaction may be of two sorts, depending on that which we have to satisfy. We may satisfy a loving and holy require- ment, or satisfy offended justice. Either would be satisfaction : the Burnt-offering is the former ; the Sin-offering the latter. And that the atonement of the Sin-offering is of a very different nature from the atonement here spoken of in the Burnt-offering, will at once be seen by any who will compare what is said of the atonement of the Burnt-offering and of the Sin-offerings : for in the Sin-offering we find it expressly added that the atone- ment is an " atonement for the offerer's sin"* This * See chap. iv. 20, 26, 31 ; chap. v. 6, 10, 13, 16, 18 ; chap, vi, 7; where in every case the atonement of the Sin-offerings is expressly THE BUENT-OFFERING. 53 is never said in the Bumt-offering : on the contrary, it is said to be " offered /or acceptance." The atonement of the Burnt-offering is the satisfaction which God receives from the perfectness which the offerer presents to Him. The atonement of the Sin-offering is expia- tory : the offerer by his offering satisfies offended justice. In the Sin-offering the atonement is /or sin; the offering, therefore, is not presented for acceptance ; but as seen charged with the sin of the offerer, is cast out, the victim of a broken law : thenceforth, as under the imputation of sin, and regarded as unfit for a place among God's people, it is cast out from the midst of Israel, and burnt without the camp. In the Burnt- offering the atonement is made by one who comes as a worshipper without sin, and in his sinless offering offers for acceptance that which is received as a sweet savour by the Lord. Man is under trial, indeed, and offering for acceptance : but he is seen accepted, as having satisfied God. I need not say that but One ever did this perfectly, and He gave Himself, and was accepted for us.* (3.) The third point peculiar to the Burnt-offering was, that a life was offered on the altar: — "He shall kill the bullock before the Lord, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar.'' -|- In this particular the Burnt-offer- ing stands distinguished from the Meat-offering, which in other respects it closely resembles. In the Meat- connected with sin. There is nothing like this in the atonement of the Bumt-ofFering, chap. i. 4. * Eph. V. 2 ; Tit. ii. 14. f Verse 5. 64 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. offering, however, the offering was " corn, oil, and frank- incense ;" here the offering is a life. The right under- standing of the precise import of this particular will help us to the distinct character of the Burnt-offering. Life was that part in creation which from the begin- ning God claimed as His. As such, — as being His claim on His creatures, — it stands as an emblem for what we owe Him. What we owe to God is our duty to Him. And this, I doubt not, is the thought here intended. Of course, the offering here, as elsewhere, is the body of Jesus, that body which He took, and then gave for us : but in giving God a life, in contradistinction to offering Him corn or frankincense, the peculiar thought is the fulfilment of the first table of the Decalogue. Thus the life yielded is man's duty to God, and man here is seen perfectly giving it. Am I asked what man ever thus offered ? I answer, none but One, " the man Christ Jesus." * He alone of all the sons of Adam in perfectness accomplished all man's duty to God- ward ; He in His own blessed and perfect righteous- ness met every claim God could make upon Him. Again, I say, He did it " for us," and we are " accepted in Him." (4.) The fourth and last feature peculiar to the Burnt-offering is, that it was wholly burnt on the alta7\ " The priest shall burn all upon the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord."-f- In this particular the Burnt- offering differed from the Meat and Peace-offerings, in which a part only was burnt with fire ; nor did it differ * 1 Tim. ii. 5. + Verse 9. THE BUENT-OFFEEING. ^ 55 less from tliose offerings for Sin, which, though wholly- burnt, were not burnt upon the altar. The import of this distinction is manifest, and in exact keeping with the character of the offering. Man's duty to God is not the giving up of one faculty, but the entire surrender of all. So Christ sums up the Pirst Commandment, — all the mind, all the soul, all the affections. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."* I cannot doubt that the type refers to this in speaking so particularly of the parts of the Burnt-offer- ing; for "the head/' "the fat," "the legs,'' "the in- wards," are all distinctly enumerated.-]- "The head" is the well-known emblem of the thoughts; " the legs '*'' the emblem of the walk; and " the inwards " the con- stant and familiar symbol of the feelings and affec- tions of the heart. The meaning of " the fat " may not he quite so obvious, though here also Scripture helps us to the solution. J It represents the energy not of one limb or faculty, but the general health and vigour of the luhole. In Jesus these were all surrendered, and all without spot or blemish. Had there been but one thought in the mind of Jesus which was not perfectly given to God ; — had there been but one affection in the heart of Jesus which was not yielded to His Father's will ; — had there been one step in the walk of Jesus which was taken not for God, but for His own pleasure ; — then He could not have offered Himself or * Matt. xxii. 37. t Verses 8, 9. % Ps. xvii. 10, xcii. 14, cxix. 70 ; Deut. xxsii. 15. 56 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. been accepted as " a whole burnt-offering to Jeliovab." But Jesus gave up all : He reserved nothing. All was burnt, all consumed upon the altar. I do not know that there is anything more remark- / able than this in the perfect offering of our blessed Master. Everything He did or said was for God. From first to last self had no place : His Father's work, His Father's will, were everything. The first words recorded of Him as a child are, " I must be about my Father's business." His last words on the cross, " It is finished,'' proclaim how that business and that labour were fulfilled and cared for. So entirely was His whole life devoted to spend and be spent for His Father, that in reading the Gospels the thought scarce occurs to us that He could have had a will of His own. Yet Jesus was perfect man, and as such had a human will as we have. In one point only did it differ from ours : His will was always subject to His Father. As a man, His thoughts were human thoughts ; His affections human affections. But how much of these did He reserve for self, for His own ease, or credit, or pleasure ? What one act recorded of Him was for His own advancement ? What one word which was not in entire devotedness to His Father? But it is vain to endeavour to describe His perfect- ness ; words cannot express it : God only knows it. Of this, however, I am fully assured, — the more we are in communion with God, the more we shall estimate it. Out of God's presence we see no beauty in Jesus : His very perfectness is so strange to our natural judgments. THE BUENT-OFFEEING. 57 Had He been less devoted, we should have better ^ understood Him. Nay, had His self- surrender been less complete, we should have valued it higher. Had He, instead of always refusing to be anything here, taken the glory of the world for a season, and then re- signed it, we should probably have thought more of His humiliation in becoming the friend and com- panion of the poor. But so it was, and so it is still; the more humble, the more despised in man's eyes ; the more faithful, the less accepted. But the Burnt-offering was for God's acceptance, not for man's. He at least could estimate the full value of the offering. Such was " the whole hurnt-o^Qvmg : " the entire surrender of self to God in everything. How utterly in contrast to what the world thinks wisdom; "for men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself.''* Nay, how utterly unlike anything which can be found even in believers. With us how many thoughts are there for self ; for our ease, our pleasure, our interest. How much of our walk, how much of our affections, is consumed on anything rather than the altar ! It was not so with the blessed Jesus. " With all His heart " He lived for God, for " the inwards " were all consumed: " with all His soul and with all His strength," for " the fat and head " wore offered. His offering was not the surrender of one part, while He kept what He most valued for Himself. It was not the surrender of what cost nothing, or what cost but little, or what was com- * Psalm xlix. 18. S>8 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. paratively worthless. " He gave Himself/' * in all His perfectness, and satisfied the heart of God. Such is the general aspect of the Burnt-offering, as distinguished from the other offerings. It was a sweet savour, an offering for acceptance, the offering of a life, and wholly burnt upon the altar. Let us now proceed to examine, II. Its varieties, that is, the different measures of apprehension with which it may be seen. There were, then, three grades in the Burnt-offering. It might be " of the herd,''f or " of the flock,'' I or " of fowls y ^ These different grades gave rise to several varieties in the offering, the import of which we shall now consider. (1.) The first difference is in the animal offered. We have in the first grade, " a hidlock ; " in the second, " a lamb; " in the third, " a turtle-dove^ Each of these animals, from their well-known character, presents us with a different thought respecting the offering. The bullock, "strong to labour," || — for "great increase is by the strength of the ox,"^ — suggests at once the thought of service, of patient, untiring labour. In the lamb we have another picture presented to us ; here the thought is passive submission without a murmur : for the lamb is the figure constantly chosen to represent the submissive, uncomplaining character of Christ's sufferings. " He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so He open- * Eph. V. 2. t Verse 3. + Verse 10. § Verse U. [j Ps. cxliv. 4. H Prov. xiv. 4. THE BURNT-OFFERING. 59 eth not Lis mouth." * The turtle-dove is different from either of these, and give^ again another view of the offering of Jesus. In this class the thought of labour is lost sight of : the unmurmuring submission, too, of the lamb is wanting : the thought is rather simj^ly one of mourning innocence ; as it is written, " We mourn like doves ; " -|- and again, "Be harmless as doves." j Here, then, are some of the measures of apprehen- sion with which the sacrifice of Jesus as Burnt-offering may be regarded ; for a saint may see either His de- voted labour. His uncomplaining submission, or His mourning innocence. All these are equally true, all equally precious, all equally acceptable : yet all do not equally bring out the distinct character of this perfect offering. The thought of the Burnt-offering, as we have already seen, is man fulfilling his duty towards God. But man's duty to God is not merely a life of innocence, or a life of submission ; it is also a life of labour. "The bullock" brings out this thought dis- tinctly: the other classes, " the lamb" and " turtle-dove," omit it. It may be asked, what do we learn by " the goatJ'§ which was sometimes offered in one of the lower grades of the Burnt- offering? If I mistake not, this emblem suggests a thought of the Sin-offering, reminding us of Christ's offering as scape-goat. This view of the case may seem to be open to an objection ; and I may be asked how the thought of sin can be connected with ♦ Isa. liii. 7. t Isa. lix. 11, xxxviii. 14. :;: Matt. x. 16. § Verse 10. 60 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. the Burnt-offering ? I answer, these different grades in the offerings are but different measures of apprehen- sion ; and there may be apprehension enough to see Christ bringing His offering, without clearly distin- guishing the different aspects of that offering. Accord- ingly, we find that in the lower grades of all the offer- ings, the distinctive character of the particular offering is constantly lost sight of, while a thought or view of some other offering is partially substituted in its place.* This is what we might naturally have exjoected as the result of a smaller measure of apprehension. It is what we find universally the case in those whose views of Christ are limited. So in the type ; where the measure of apprehension is small, there is a confusion between two different aspects of Christ's offering. The building, to recur to a former illustration, is viewed from so great a distance, that more than one side of it is seen, though neither of the sides is seen very distinctly. Thus with many the thought of Jesus as Burnt-offer- ing is scarce distinguished from the thought of the Sin- offering. These different relations of His work are unseen, or at least they are very much confused to- gether. Such are some of the varieties of the Burnt-offering, corresponding to the different apprehensions which be- * This is seen especially in the last grade of the Meat-offering, and in the last two grades of the Sin-offering. The last cjass of the Meat-offering gives us a thought of " first-fruits ;" (chap. ii. 14.) The last grade but one of the Sin-offering is seen as " a sweet savour " Burnt- offering; (chap. iv. 31 ;) while the last grade of all is repre- sented as almost a Meat-offering; (chap. v. 11, 12.) THE BUENT-OFFEEING. 61 lievers have of Jesus : for His offering may be seen as the bullock, the lamb, the goat, or the turtle-dove. Comparatively few, I believe, see Jesus as presented in the first class, — the patient, unwearied labourer for others. The lamb, the goat, the turtle-dove, are all more familiar symbols. The fact is, we need to be our- selves in service, and to know practically something of its toil and trial, before we can at all rightly estimate the aspect of Christ's offering which is presented in the emblem of the bullock. The Gospels, however, are full of this view of the Burnt- offering : in fact, one whole Gospel is specially devoted to it. In Mark, Jesus is not brought before us as in the other Gospels, either as Son of Abraham, Son of Adam, or Son of God; He stands rather, — as another has observed, — the patient, untiring labourer for others. In Mark, turn where we will, we see Jesus always " the girded ser- vant ; " always at the disposal of others, to spend and be spent at their bidding. Thus when, after days of ceaseless labour, He retires alone for prayer or rest with His disciples, no sooner do the multitude dis- turb Him than He at once goes with them, or rises to minister to their need.* So entirely does He give Himself to His work, that " He had no leisure so much as to eat;"•^ but He had meat to eat which the world saw not : " His meat was to do His Father's will." J And oh, what touches of grace are there in all His service ! He not only cures the blind, but " He takes * Mark i. 35-38, vi. 30-45; &c. &c t Mark iii, 20, vi. 31, J John vr. 31-34. 62 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. him by tlie hand." * He not only raises the dead : His mission in that house ends not till, with careful foresight, "He commands them to give her meat."-|* Blessed Lord, shew us more of Thy footsteps, that, while we rejoice in Thy work, we may learn to follow Thee. (2.) A second distinction between the different grades of the Burnt- offering is, that while in the first grade the 'parts are discriminated, in the last this j^ecidiarity is omitted : the bird was killed, hut not divided. In the case of the bullock and the lamb, it is noticed that the offering is " cut into its pieces/' Here " the legs, the head, the fat, the inwards," are all distinctly noticed and enumerated.]; In the last case, that of the turtle-dove, it is otherwise : "he shall not divide it asunder." § " The legs, the head, the inwards," as we have already seen, represent the walk, the thoughts, the feelings of Jesus. In the first grade these are all apprehended : they are all lost sight of in the last. These grades represent, as I have said, measures of apprehension. Where the measure of spiritual appre- hension is large, a saint will see the offering dissected : his eyes will be turning constantly to see the walk, the mind, the affections of Jesus. He will now observe, what once he regarded not, how Jesus walked, how He thought, what were His feelings. On the other hand, where Jesus is but little apprehended, all the details of His walk and feelings will be unseen. Christ's charac- * Mark viii. 23. f Mark v. 43. t Verses 6, 8, 9. § Verse 17. THE BUENT-OFFEEING. 63 ter will not be dissected, nor the different parts of His work appear. It is further noticed in the type, that, in the first class of the Burnt-offering, " the imuards and legs luere washed in water.''* Nothing like this is seen in the last grade : there even the parts are not discriminated. What are we to learn by this distinction ? " The legs " and " the imuards " are the walk and affections. " The water " represents the Spirit acting through the Word ; as it is written, " Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it hy the washing of luater hy the Word ;''-]• and again, — " Sanctify them through Thy truth ; Thy word is truth." J Christ, though without spot or blemish, yet as a man in His feelings and walk submitted to God's AVord and Spirit. As a man He was Himself sanctified by them ; for as He said, " By the word of Thy lips I have kept me/'§ The law said, " Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God ; " || and Jesus, as man, fully did so : every step, every feel- ing, obeyed. But all this is lost sight of in the turtle- dove. The discrimination of the parts, and the wash- in^: of water, are both unnoticed. (3.) A third distinction between the different grades of the Burnt-offering is, that while in the first grade the offerer is seen to lay his hand on the offering,^ in the other grades this act is not observed. I have * Verse 9. + Eph. v. 26, tw Xovrpoo tov vbarosj iv prjuaru J John xvii. 17. § Psalm xvii. 4. II Deut. viii. 3 ; Luke iv. 4. TI Verse 4. 64 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. already adverted to the import of tliis action as repre- senting tlie identity of the offering and offerer. In the first grade of the Burnt-offering this identity is seen : it is wholly lost sight of in the other grades. Not a few see Christ as offering for us, without fully realising that His offering was Himself. They see that He gave up this thing or that ; that He gave much for us, and that what He gave was most precious. But they do not really see that " He gave Himself" that His own blessed person was what He offered. This is clearly seen in the first grade of the Burnt-offering. It is lost sight of, or unobserved, in the other grades. (4.) A fourth distinction, closely allied with the one just considered, is, that in the first class the ofih^er is seen to kill the victim, — in the last the priest kills it* In fact, in the last class, the priest does nearly every- thing, the offerer is scarcely seen at all ; whereas in the first class it is just the reverse, there are many particulars noted of the offerer. The import of this is at once obvious, when we see the distinction between the priest and offerer. The offerer, as I have already observed, sets Christ before us in His person. The priest represents Hini in His official character, as the appointed Mediator between God and man. Where the identity between the offerer and offering is appre- hended, the offerer is seen to kill the offering ; that is, Christ is seen in His person, of His own will laying down His life ; as it is written, — " No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." f On the * Compare verses 5 and 15. + John x. 18. THE BCTRNT-OFFERING. 65 contrary, where the identity of the offering and offerer is unseen or disregarded, the priest is seen to kill the victim, that is, Christ's death is seen as the work of the Mediator ; and is connected with His official character as Priest, rather than with His person ag the willing Oiferer. So with believers, where there is only a limited measure of apprehension, little is known of Christ save His office as Mediator: He Himself, His blessed person, is overlooked or but little seen. Such are the chief varieties of the Burnt-offerins: : how full are they of instruction to the believer : how clearly do they mark the different apprehensions among saints respecting the work and person of our Lord. Some, however, — I speak of believers, — are content to know nothing of this ; and they would rather not be told their ignorance. They can see but one truth, — the Paschal lamb, — and anything further they neither care nor wish for. Such, whether they are aware of it or not, shew too plainly that they know little either of the wilderness or of the tabernacle, that hitherto their home has been Egypt, and that as yet they are little better than bondsmen there. But after through grace we are out of Egypt, and have received a knowledge of the varied offerings ; after we know and are assured of our deliverance, and have spiritual apprehension enough to see the different aspects of Christ's oflfering ; how much remains to be learnt of Jesus in any or every aspect of His work. There are babes as well as strong men in the wilderness, and the babes can know but little till they are grown. Yea, there are men of E 66 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. Israel, fuU-^rown men, in the wilderness, who throii2;h •unfaithfulness are almost strangers to the offering. With all such the measure of apprehension will be limited, and consequently their joy and strength but small. Lord, awaken Thy saints to know their calling, by knowing more and more of Jesus ; that instead of boasting themselves as children of Abraham, while they are bondsmen in Babylon or Egypt, they may seek as sons of Abraham to walk as he did, as strangers and pilgrims with Thee ! Here I conclude my remarks on the Burnt-offering. In it we have seen Jesus as our representative. His offerinoj was offered " for us ; " therefore " as He is, so are we in this world /'* the measure of His acceptance is the measure of our acceptance, — " we are made ac- cepted in the Beloved." -f But in the Burnt-offering Jesus stands also as our example, "leaving us an example that we should follow His steps ; '' \ the mea- sure therefore of His devotedness should be the measure of ours, — " we should walk even as He walked.'' § ]May the Lord grant to His Church more fully to know and apprehend her calling, her union with Jesus dead and risen, and her hope when He appears ; that so while she rejoices in her inheritance, and that Jesus represents her above, she may daily be found nearer to His cross, and more and more represent Him here. Aiiieii. ♦IJohniv. 17. -fEph. 1. 6. ;;. I Peter iL 21. § 1 Joim u. tJ. THE MEAT-OPFERING. Leviticus n. We now come to the Meat-offering, which gives us another aspect of the perfect offering of Jesus. We may consider it, first, in its contrasts to the other offerings; that is, as giving us one definite and par- ticular aspect of His off'ering : and then, secondly, in its several varieties; that is, as bringing out the difiierent apprehensions of this one aspect. I. And first, In its contrast to the other Offer- ings. Five points here at once present themselves, which bring out what is distinctive in this ofiering. The apprehension of these will enable us to see the particular relation which Jesus filled for man as Meat-ofi'ering. (1.) The first point is that the Meat-oSering was a sweet savour* In this particular it stands in contrast to the Sin-ofiering, but in exact accordance with the Burnt-offering. For this latter reason I need not dwell upon the purport of it, as I have already sufii- ciently considered it in the Burnt-ofiering. Sxiffice it * Chapter ii 2, 9. 68 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. to say, that the thought of sin never comes into any of the sweet savour offerings : they represent man in perfect obedience yielding to God an offering which He accepts as pleasing to Him. The Sin-offerings, on the contrary, are not a sweet savour : they represent man as a sinner receiving the penalty due to his offences. But I have already sufficiently pointed out this distinction. I do not therefore here further dwell upon it. (2.) The second point in which the Meat-offering differed from the others, is seen in the materials of which it was composed. These were "flour, oil, and frankincense:"^ there is no giving up of life here. It is in this particular, especially, that the Meat-offering differs from the Burnt-offering. The question is, does the Scripture supply us with a key by which to discover what is intended by this distinction ? That it does so, not on this point alone, but on every other, I do not entertain a doubt. The Scripture is a key to itself. Besides, we have the Holy Ghost to open it to us : and especially is this His office where Jesus is the subject of our inquiries. God is His own interpreter. We fail in understanding the Scripture because we so little use Him. This I feel assured is the reason we are so often in ignorance. It is not that the truth sought for is not in the Word, but that through lack of communion with Him who gave that Word, we have not enough of His mind to apprehend His meaning, even where He has fully expressed it. • Verse 1. THE MEAT-OFFEKING. 69 But to return. I said that the great distinction between the Burnt- offering and the Meat-offering was, that life was offered in the one case, fruits in the other. The key to this I believe may be found in more than one place in Scripture. Thus in the first chapter of Genesis we read of God thus allotting to man that part of creation which He intended to satisfy him : — " Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall he for meat." * Thus the fruit of the herb and of the tree was man's allotted portion. But life was reserved as God's portion, and wholly belonged to Him. It was only after the flood, (and this too I believe is typical,) that man was permitted to eat the flesh of animals. Yet even then the life was God's part : as it is written, " The life, which is the blood, ye shall not eat."-|- The import of this difference between the Burnt and Meat-offerings may now be surely and easily gathered. Life is that which from the beginning God claimed as His part in creation : as an emblem, therefore, it repre- sents what the creature owes to God. Corn, the fruit of the earth, on the other hand, is man's part in crea- tion ; as such, it stands the emblem of man's claim, or of what we owe to man. What we owe to God or to man is respectively our duty to either. Thus in the Burnt-offering the surrender of life to God represents the fulfilment of man's duty to God ; man yielding to * Genesis i. 29. + Genesis ix. 4. 70 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. God His portion to satisfy all His claim. In the Meat-offering the gift of corn and oil represents the fulfilment of man's duty to his neighbour : man in his offering surrendering himself to God, but doing so that he may give to man his portion. Thus the Burnt- offering is the perfect fulfilment of the laws of the first table ; the Meat-offering the perfect fulfilment of the second. Of course, in both cases the offering is but one, — that offering is " the body " of Jesus ; but that body is seen offered in different aspects : here in the Meat-offering as fulfilling man's duty to man. The one case is man satisfying God, giving Him His portion, and receiving testimony that it is acceptable. The other is man satisfying his neighbour, giving man his portion as an offering to the Lord. And how exactly do the emblems here chosen repre- sent the perfect fulness of this blessed offering. God's claim met perfectly in the Burnt-offering : man's claim as perfectly satisfied here. Had the Burnt-offering alone been offered, man would have lacked his portion and been unsatisfied : and a^ijain, had the Meat-offerinoj been offered to the exclusion of the Burnt-offering, God would have been unsatisfied ; it would have been imperfect. But it could not be so ; therefore after the law came in, the Meat-offerino^ was rep^arded as an ad- junct of the Burnt-offering. Thus the book of Numbers always speaks of the Meat-offering as in use and prac- tice connected with the Burnt-offering. Having first regulated the amount of flour for the Meat-offering, which was to accompany the different classes of the THE MEAT-OFFEEING. 71 Burnt-offering,* the law proceeds to speak of "the Burnt-oflfering and its Meat-ofFering," "the Burnt- ofFering and the Meat-offering thereof:' -f* So again in Ezra the offerings for the altar are summed up as "bullocks, rams, lambs, with their Meat-offerings/' J The Meat-offering was in fact Cain's offering, but offered by one who had first offered as Abel did. Cain's offering was "the fruit of the ground," offered to God without bloodshedding. How could this, the mere acknowledgment of man's claim, satisfy Him who had His own claim also on His creatures ? And this was Cain's error. Here was a fallen man, through the fall an exile from Eden, despising the sprinkled blood, that is, the acknowledgment of God's claim upon him ; and presuming to approach and satisfy God with the fruit of the earth, that is, man's claim. Yet how many, even now, are thinking to render Cain's offering, de- ceiving themselves with the idea that of itself it will be accepted. Had any man's service to his fellow-crea- tures been such as to justify him before God, that one would have been our blessed Lord ; yet even He came not without a Burnt- offering. Christ's perfect fulfil- ment of every duty to man was not enough without entire devotedness, even to death, to God-ward. Nor could all this perfectness avail for sinners, had not the Perfect One further been judged for sin. The Meat-offering, then, to speak of it generally, is Christ presenting Himself to God as man's meat. Most * Numb, xxviii. 12, 13. f Numb, sxi^., passim. X Ezra vil 17; see also Judges xiii. 19. 72 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. sweet it is, most precious to the soul of the believer who can thus see Jesus. We shall see this preciousness as we examine particularly the typical import of each of the materials of the Meat-offering. [i.] The first is ''flour;" and the type is significant, in exact accordance with the word, " Bread corn must be bruised.''* Bread is the staff of life, and Christ our staff of life is here represented as the bruised One. The emblem, corn ground to powder, is one of the deepest suffering. It is not the blade springing up in beauty, green and flourishing with the rain of heaven, or ripening into full maturity under the influence of the summer sun. The thought is one of bruising and grinding ; of pressing, wearing trial. Jesus was not only tried by ''fire ; " God's holiness was not the only thino; that consumed Him. In meetinsj the wants of man, His blessed soul was grieved, and pressed and bruised continually. And the bruising here was from those to whom He was ministering, for whom He daily gave Himself. Who can read the Gospels without seeing this ? Jesus lays Himself out for others ; He spends Himself for others ; but they cannot understand Him. His soul is grieved, His spirit bruised with the blindness and hardness of their hearts. Oh, what a picture of devotedness does His lowly service present to us! Look at Him beginning His course, knowing each sorrow that was to befall Him ; foreseeing the whole course of rejection, and the shame- ful end of His pilgrimage : rejected when He would * Isaiah xxviii. 28. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 73 minister blessing ; misunderstood when He gave in- struction ; suffering not merely at the hands of enemies, but more acutely from those around Him ; — to them alone He said, "How long shall I suffer you?''* — rejected, misunderstood, suffering, He goes forward without the slightest faltering ; He never stops for a moment in His devoted service to all around Him. To the very end of His course, as at the beginning. He is the meat of all who need and will accept Him. We think when trouble or sorrow comes on us, that it is time to care for ourselves. Not so Jesus. We think there must be a limit to our self-sacrifice. Not so our blessed Lord. We think that our interests, our credit, or at least our life, must not be touched or endangered. We think when our kindness is rejected we need not repeat it ; we think our times of rest and relaxation are our own. Oh, how unlike to us in all was our blessed, lowly Master ! Oh, how far above us in all things ! Nothing moved His steadfast heart, or turned Him from doing good. In vain was the stupidity of His disciples, the rage of His enemies, or the craft of Satan. Jesus never wavered nor hesitated ; His course of self-surrender was complete. But are we to suppose He did not feel all this ? God only knows the measure of His sufferings, or how deeply He was bruised and broken. As a man He was " in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin;" this aQ:c>Tavated His sufferini2;s. The Psalms here and there give us a glance of His sorrows, though no murmur ever * Mark ix. 19. 74 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. escaped His lips. " Reproach," He says, " lias broken my heart. They lay to my charge things I know not. It was not an enemy that did this, for then I could have borne it : neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me, for then I would have hid myself from him ; but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in company."* It may be, some of God's children cannot enter into this ; they know not as yet the trials of service. Only let them follow Jesus in spending and being spent for others, and the emblem of this type, " bruised corn," will not be altogether strange to them. And, indeed, how much is there of Christ's suffering which we have no idea of until through grace we are in measure brought into His circumstances, and feel the bruising which our brethren, oft unconsciously, inflict on us, while we would minister to, and be spent for them. I have just glanced at some of the bruisings of Christ's spirit, but as respects His body also how much was He bruised ! What labours, what pains, what weaknesses did He suffer to feed others !f So much was He worn by labour, that He could not even bear His cross. Another was compelled to bear it for Him.]; Doubtless this was not kindness but necessity. Jesus was already ground and broken. He was now ready to be put upon the altar. * Psalm Ixix. 20, xxxv. 11, Iv. 12, 13. + Ps. xxii. 15, cii. 4, 5. J Mark xv. 21. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 75 And what a lesson is there here for the believer who wishes to give himself in service to his brethren ! This scripture, as in fact all Scripture, testifies that service is self-surrender, self-sacrifice. .. Christ, to satisfy others, was broken : and bread corn must still be bruised : and the nearer our ministry approaches the measure of His ministry, — immeasurably far as we shall ever be behind Him, — the more shall we resemble Him, the bruised, the oppressed, the broken One. But there is another thought brought out in this emblem. The Meat-ofFering was not only flour ; it was to be ''fine flour."* In fine flour there is no un- evenness, fit emblem of what Jesus was. In Him there was no unevenness. Perhaps in no one respect does He stand out more in contrast to His best and most beloved servants. Jesus was always even, always the same, unchanged by circumstances. In Him one day's walk never contradicted another, one hour's service never clashed with another. In Him every grace was in its perfectness, none in excess, none out of place, none wanting. Firm, unmoved, elevated, He was yet the meek, the gentle, the humble One. In Him firmness never degenerated into obstinacy, or calmness into stoical indiSerence. His gentleness never became a weakness, or His elevation of soul forgetfulness of others. With us our very graces are uneven, and clash and jostle with each other. Our very attempts to live and die for Him who loved us only shew how unlike Him we are. * Verse L 76 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. Take His most devoted followers, a Paul, a John, a Peter. In each of them there is un evenness, one grace preponderates ; in Paul energy, in Peter zeal, in John affection. And even in their very graces we see their failings. Paul's energy leads him to Macedonia when a door is opened in Troas : * he repents of his letter to Corinth, and then again he does not repent. -|* Peter too, through zeal, once and again takes a place he has not grace to occupy : he steps out on the water and sinks ; J he follows Jesus but to deny Him. § So, too, in the beloved disciple, his very affection to his Master does but bring out his unlikeness to Him : he would be the highest, next to His Lord, in the kingdom ; || he would call down fire on all who dared to reject Him. IF And to turn from apostles to ourselves, we need not, I think, be shewn our unevenness. One thing when alone before God, we are quite another thing before our brethren. In solitude striving and praying against the very folly we commit in public. In one circum- stance backward, in another hasty ; in this place stead- fast, in that wavering. Nor is it our sins alone which shew our unevenness : our very graces are uneven : and our possessing one more than another only shews our deficiency. Why is it that in Paul, John, and Peter, we mark one grace peculiarly, while such a thought never so much as occurs to us in considering our blessed Lord ? Is it that His servants surpassed Him * 1 Cor. ii. 12, 13. t 2 Cor. vii. 8. t Matt. xiv. 28-31. § Matt. xxvi. 58, &c. U Matt. XX. 20-24. II Luke ix. 54. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 77 in energy, or zeal, or tenderness ? The reason is, Jesus was perfect. In His devotedness there was no uneven- ness. No one grace to be singled out where everything and all were perfect. [ii.] The next material in the Meat-offering is oil. "He shall pour oil upon it;''* this was a necessary ingTcdient : without it the offering was incomplete. The typical signification of this will be familiar to many, for the New Testament is full of allusions to it. Oil, in its nature nourishing and healing, is the con- stant emblem of the SjDirit's actings. Jesus as the obedient man was filled with the Holy Ghost, and His oblation of Himself as Meat-offering was in the unction and power of the Spirit. Luke, the Gospel of the Son of IMan, gives abundant information on this point. Accordingly we read, — when His public ministry com- menced, when, to speak typically. He began to bring His Meat-offering, — " the Holy Ghost descended on Him visibly," t the oil was poured on the flour. Immediately after,! we read again, " Jesus, full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan." Again, in the fourteenth verse, " Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." Then immediately, § in the synagogue of Nazareth, when the book of the prophet Esaias is delivered to Him, He finds the place which describes His anointing and its consequences : and whether He heals the sick, teaches the poor, or feeds the hungry, it is all done in the power of the anointing. " The Spirit of the Lord * Verse 1. t Luke iii. 22. X Luke iv. 1. § Verse 16. 78 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, and to heal the broken- hearted." " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power; and He went about doing good;"* this is exactly the Meat-offering. And the Gospels from one end to the other in every page are full of it. To take one example from the chapter re- ferred too : no sooner had our Lord commenced His ministry, than they rose up and thrust Him out of the city.-f Go where He would, He was still the Meat- offering ; the bruised corn and the oil are always together. What a contrast to us in all this is Jesus our blessed Master ! In Him, viewed simply as a man, the bruised corn is fully anointed. For this reason, bruised as He may be. He never lacks power. How different with us ! We are not bruised, we are not broken, but we are powerless : and what little is attempted or done for others is too often in the energy of our flesh rather than in the power of the Spirit. It is this which so ruins our efforts ; the power we use for God is our power, not the Spirit. If " we go about doing good," is it, I ask, in the power of the anointing from above, or in the power derived from some earthly advantage of circumstance, or station, or natural ability? Is it not thought right to seek these things to give power where we feel power is wanting ? But this is not the strength Christ wallvcd in : the Meat-offering was " anointed with oil." * Acts X. 38. t Luke iv. 29. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 79 The truth is, that the greatest zeal and knowledge are useless towards others without the Spirit. Look at Christ's last interview with His disciples!* We read, "He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures : '' He then shewed them "what was written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning Him." He tells them further, that of these very truths they are the constituted "witnesses." He then "lifts up His hands and blesses them." Are they then fitly equipped for the work appointed them ? No : — He says, " Tarry tiU ye be endued with power.'' They have knowledge of Christ, they have His commission, they have His blessing ; but they lack power, and the word is, " Tarry." They must wait for " power from on high," and that power is the Spirit. When shall we learn that we require not only truth but power : and that the only power which avails in ministry is the power of the Holy Ghost ? I have one other remark to make here. The " oil " is in the Meat-ofi'erino^, not in the Burnt-offerinir. In the Burnt-offering we have the Spirit as " water : " f in the Meat-offering it is seen as " oil." It is in relation to man, in service to our neighbour, that the Spirit is specially needed in gi^ace and power. There is the flesh in our brethren to try us, and the thousand diffi- culties of intercourse with evil. How is this to be met aright, save in the grace and unction of the Spirit? But could Jesus in His offering of Himself be so ♦ Luke xxiv. 41-49. f Chapter L 9, and see page 63. 80 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. dependent as to need this anointing? Could He require the Spirit of power for His walk and service to those around Him ? Yes, He humbled Himself even to this, to take, as a lowly dependent man, the grace which He manifested to others. Blessed Jesus ! May we learn more and more to be dependent like Thee. [iii.] The third ingredient of the Meat-offering is frankincense : — "he shall put frankincense thereon ;"* in connexion with which, and yet in contrast, it is commanded, — "ye shall burn no honey unto the Lord."-|- These emblems, like all the others, are at once simple yet most significant. Frankincense is the most precious of perfumes, of enduring and delightful fragrance : fit emblem of the sweetness and fragrance of the offer- ing of our blessed Lord. Honey, on the other hand, though sweet, is corruptible ; soon fermented, and easily turned sour. In frankincense the full fragrance is not brought out until the perfume is submitted to the action of fire. In honey it is just the reverse ; the heat ferments and spoils it. The bearing of this on the offering of Jesus is too obvious to require comment. The fire of God's holiness tried Him, but all was precious fragrance. The holiness of God only brought out graces which would have escaped our notice had He never suffered. Yea, much of the precious odour of His offering was the very result of His fiery trial. How different is it in believers ! There is in many a sweetness of nature, — very sweet for a while it may seem to our taste, — which * Verse 1. f Verse 11. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 81 yet will not stand the test of fire : the first trial is enough to soiu' it. Who is there that has been cast into sifting circumstances, where God's holiness and our ease or interests have come into collision, without feeling how much there is in us which could not be a sweet savour on the altar ? And have we never found, in setting even before saints some plain but neglected command of our Master, that much of the sweetness in them, which we have taken to be frankincense, has at once shewn itself to be fermenting honey. It was not so with the blessed Jesus : — " Anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows, all His garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia." * " Because of the savour of His good ointments, His name is like ointment poured forth."f Sweetness there is in abundance, but the sweetness of frankincense, not honey. Well might the bride exclaim, '' ^My beloved is a bundle of myrrh ; my beloved is to me as clusters of camphire.'']: And not to her alone : for her He has been a sweet savour unto Jehovah. [iv.] The fourth and last ingredient of the Meat- offering is salt : — " Every oblation of the meat-offering shalt thou season with salt.'"§ And to bring out the typical import more clearly, another emblem by way of contrast is added : — " No meat-ofiering shall be made with leaven:"^ there must be salt; there must be no leaven. The import of these emblems is obvious : the one * Psalm xlv. 7, 8. f Canticles i. 3. t Canticles i. 13, 14. g Verse 13. U Verse 11. F 82 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. positively, the other negatively, bringing but one and the same thought before us. '' Salt/' the well-known preservative against corruption, is the emblem of per- petuity and incorruptness ; while " leaven,'' on the other hand, composed of sour and corrupting dough, is the as well-known emblem of corruption. Thus, when the Apostle would sum up in a word " the incor- ruptness, gravity, and sincerity," befitting a Christian, he says, " Let your speech be always with grace, sea- soned with salt/' * Thus again, when^ a covenant is described as perpetual, it is spoken of as " a covenant of salt." -|- The use of the word "leaven" is even more familiar. We read of " the leaven of the Pharisees," J "the leaven of the Sadducees,"§ and "the leaven of Herod." II So, too, in the Epistles, we are enjoined to " purge out the old leaven." IF Here we have a key to these emblems. Jesus in His blessed offering brought that with it which not only secured its own incorrup- tion, but which supplied a preservative against corrup- tion to whatever He might come in contact with. It * Col. iv. 6. t Numb, xviii. 19 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 5. J Luke xii. 1. § Matt. xvi. 6. || Mark viii. 15. U 1 Cor. V, 7. The parable of the leaven, Matt. xiii. 33, may per- haps be quoted as giving to leaven another meaning. I am satis- fied, however, that there, as in every other place, leaven is the em- blem of evil and corruption. Of course, the great thought in the parable is the spread of nominal Christianity, while it is left for spi- ritual apprehension to discern whether what is actually spread ia good or evil. But the Church is so bHnd to her own state, that she can neither see it as foretold in Scripture or existing in fact. As with the disciples at the sepulchre, a fact is before us which but few kave eyes or heart to apprehend. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 83 might not always be sweet to man's taste, but it was the seasoning of the offering to the Lord. How different is it with the most devoted Christians! Leaven is mixed with their choicest offerings. But our God has foreseen and provided for it. Thus at the offering at Pentecost, and the oblation with the Peace-offering, (appointed emblems of the Church's offering,) leavened cakes were offered to the Lord, but though accepted, they could not be burnt as a sweet savour. These offerings I shall notice as I proceed ; I do not therefore here enter into them, further than to observe, that no measure of oil, that is, the Spirit, could counteract the effect of leaven. A cake might be anointed again and again, but if there had been leaven in its composition, it could not be put upon the altar. What a lesson for those who are looking to the Spirit in them rather than to Christ for them as the ground of acceptance ! The Spirit's operations in the greatest power will never alter or destroy the old nature. As soon may we expect the nettle to yield us oUves as for sinful flesh to be ought but sinful. Salt water cannot be washed sweet : you may pour oil on it, but they will not mingle ; " that which is born of the flesh is flesh ; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." * The flesh is still in Paul, after he has been caught up to Paradise ; he therefore needs the thorn in it to humble him.-f- The power of the flesh in us may be controlled, and its active energy restrained or weakened, but the leaven is still within us, only waiting its opportunity to rise. * John iii. 6. f 2 Cor. xii. 4, 7. 84 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. " The root of bitterness " is there, though it may be out of sight and kept from budding. It was not so with the blessed Jesus. Even by na- tural birth He was born of God. His nature, as well as His walk, was sinless ; for " He was conceived by the Holy Ghost." Thus, when, after a trial of centu- ries, both Burnt-ofFering and Meat-offering had failed in man's hand, Jesus in " the body prepared for Him " came to do His Father's will. These offerings in type \ shew us how He did it. And He was accepted for us. (3.) But it is time that we pass on to consider the third particular in which the Meat-offering stood in contrast to the other offerings. The Meat-offering was not wholly hurnt* In this it differed from the Burnt-offering. Christ as performing man's duty to God, — that is, the Burnt- offering, — was wholly the food of God, wholly put upon His altar, wholly consumed by Him. But Christ as performing His duty to man, — that is, the Meat-offering, — is also man's meat, the food of the priests : — " The remnant of the meat-offering shall be Aaron's and his sons' ; it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire." Yet even here He satisfies God. " A handful, the memorial of the offering," is put upon the altar, to teach us, that even in fulfilling man's duty to his neighbour, Christ fulfilled it as " an offering unto the Lord." But though God had thus a portion in the Meat- offering, it is nevertheless specially the food of man ; • Verses 2, 3. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 85 primarily to be viewed as oflfered for us to God, but also as given to us, as priests, to feed on. For us, as Meat-offering, Jesus fulfilled what was due to man. He did this as our representative, as the substitute of those who trust Him : — in this aspect of the offering our souls find peace ; here is our acceptance : — but this, though securing peace, is but a part of our blessed portion. If Jesus did all this for us, will He not do it to us ? As righteous in Him, we still have wants, we need daily food and anointing; and for these as much as for righteousness, we are debtors to His abounding grace. We need Him, and we have Him as our brother to fulfil His part of the law to us, " for He came not to destroy, but to fulfil." * The law is, that the priests should be fed of the altar ; they may not work for their bread as others. The faithful Israelite is the appointed channel of their subsist- ence : on his faithfulness, under God, do they depend for their food. Jesus, as the faithful Israelite, will not fail the priests who wait at the altar. Let His priests (" ye are a royal priesthood," f) be but found where they should be, and His offering wiU be there to feed them. " He will abundantly bless the provision. He will satisfy His poor with bread." | We do not sufficiently think of Jesus in this aspect, as presenting Himself to God as man's meat. The Gospels, however, are full of it : it shines out in every page. Jesus, with all His devotedness to God, was stiU ever the devoted servant of all around Him. Who ♦ Matt. V. 17. t 1 Pet. ii. 9. :|: Ps. cxxxiL 15. 86 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. ever drew upon His love or power, and went away without being satisfied? He opened His hand wide unto His brother, to the poor and the needy in the land. What sorrow was there, what need, what trial, to which Jesus refused to minister ? How precious, then, is Jesus, viewed as Meat- offering ! We often want one to fulfil toward us those acts of love and sympathy which our lonely hearts yearn after. Around us there is a heartless world, or brethren, it may be, who can neither sympathise with, nor help us. We think, perhaps, if Jesus were here on earth, we would go to Him and tell Him our sorrows. We are sure, if He were still " the man of sorrows," that we should have a claim on His loving heart. But is He not the same now as in His humili- ation, "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever?"* Surely He is the same to those who come to Him. Oh, may we learn thus to use Him, that He may satisfy us in every difficulty ; when poor to give us bread, when mourning to dry our tears ! Weary pilgrim, Jesus is the Meat-offering, to meet your claim as well as God's. You have a claim on Him; it is your necessity. He must, as a brother, answer it. Come to Him, then, as the One to feed you: it is more blessed for Him to give than for you to receive. Know Him as the One who, when all else fail, has a Meat-offering already provided to satisfy you. I said that the Meat-offering was not all burnt; but though not all burnt, all was consumed. In this ♦ Heb. xiiL 8. THE MEAT-OFFEEING. 87 offering tlie offerer had nothing for himself. God and His 23riests had the whole between them. How simple, how instructive the lesson! If we coidd fulfil every duty to God and man according to the standard God has given, — if our bodies were really a living sacrifice, — if we were offered on the sacrifice and service of faith, as Jesus set us an example, what should we have left for self? Just what was left of the Burnt and Meat-offering ; — nothing. Between God and man all would be consumed. A holy God and a needy world would require everything. I would that they, who think to earn heaven by their fulfilment of the law, might learn here what fulfilling the law comes to, and how far it is above and beyond them ! The Burnt- offering and the Meat- offering together are God's standard of full obedience : and what a picture do they give us ! The first, the Burnt- offering, requiring perfectness in every member, and then the entire surrender of every member ; the head, the inwards, the legs, all yielded up upon the altar. The next, the Meat-offering, though giving another aspect of devotedness, not a whit behind the Burnt-off'erinor in entire self-surrender ; witness the bruised corn, the oil, the frankincense, and the salt to savour it all. This is God's measure of devotedness ; that is what satisfies Him. One, and but one, has thus satisfied Hun ; and in Him, and in Him alone, we may rejoice. (4.) The fourth point I notice in the Meat-off'ering is, that, though intended for, and for the most part consumed by, man, it was, nevertheless, " offered unto 88 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. the Lordy^ In this particular, as in every other, the Meat-offering has something well worth our notice. In the Meat-offering the offerer gives himself as man's meat ; yet this is yielded as " an offering unto Jehovah." The offering indeed fed the priests ; but it was offered, not to them, but to the Lord. The first Adam took for man not only what was given him, but what God had reserved for Himself. The second Adam gave to God not only God's portion, but even of man's part God had the first memorial. Jesus as man, in satisfying man's claim on Him, did it as " an offering unto the Lord." With us how much even of our graces is offered to man rather than to God. Even in our most devoted service, what a seeking there is, perhaps unconsciously, to be something in the estimation of others : some secret desire, some undetected wish, even by our very service to be greater here. The very gifts of God and the power of His Spirit are sought the better to give us a place in this world. Thus are our very graces used to obtain for us glory, not of God, but of those around us. Surely this is one of the reasons why God can trust us with so little, for with His gifts we build up our own name, instead of His name. But how unlike all this to our Master ; yea, how unlike even to His apostles ! " Neither of men," says Paul, " sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others." f This is our calling, not only to be nothing in the world, but to be willing to be nothing even among our brethren ; to * Verse 1. f 1 Thess. ii. 16. THE MEAT-OFFERING. 89 take tlie nearest place to Him who has indeed taken the lowest. And in these last dciys, when through abounding iniquity the love of many is waxing cold, — when the service which the time demands is the only service the Church will not accept, — Christ's example, as here seen in the Meat-offering, is one most precious to us. His service to His neighbour was always " an offering unto the Lord." Thus He gladly was spent for others, though the more He loved them, the less He was loved. May we be thus like Him, that so through grace we may be steadfast. If, on the other hand, our labour of love is offered for man's acceptance, when man rejects us our labour will cease. And surely this is the secret of much of our half-hearted service. But let us when ministering to others, offer ourselves, like Jesus, " unto the Lord," and not unto man ; then, though our love is here slighted, it will be accepted by Him to whom we offer it. We have thus marked four particulars in which the Meat-offering differed from the other offerings. First, it was of a sweet savour ; here it differed from the Sin and Trespass-offerings. Next, it was fed upon by the priests ; here, as well as in its materials, it differed from the Burnt-offering. Then again it left nothing for the offerer ; here it differed from the Peace-offering. It now remains for me to point out, (5.) In the last place, the contrast between the Meat- offering and the offering of first-fruits at Pentecost. The distinction is stated in the twelfth verse : — " Aa 90 THE LAT7 OF THE OFFEEINGS. for the oblation of the first-fruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord, but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour/' The contrast is this : — the Meat- offering was a sweet savour ; the oblation of first-fruits, though very like the Meat-offering, was not so. For the key to this we must turn to Leviticus xxiii., where the law respecting ''the oblation of first-fruits" is given to us. In that chapter we have a list of the Feasts. First in order comes the Passover, on the fourteenth day at even : * then the wave-sheaf of first- fruits, on the morrow after the sabbath : f and then, fifty days after, the oblation of the first-fruits on the day of Pentecost. if The ''sheaf oi first-fruits " on the morrow after the sabbath, might be burnt to the Lord as a sweet savour ;§ but " tJie oblation of the first- fruits'' at Pentecost might not be burnt on the altar. || The reason for this distinction is found in the fact, that "the sheaf of first-fruits" was unleavened, while "the oblation of first-fruits" at Pentecost was mixed and made with leaven.l The typical application of all this is too obvious to need any comment. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us, and sacrificed on the predetermined day.** Then "on the morrow after the sabbath," the next ensuing sabbath, that is, on the appointed " first day of the week,"-f-i- Christ "rose from the dead, and became * Chapter xxiii. 5. f Chapter xxiii. 1 1. J Chapter xxiii. 15-17. § Chapter ii. 14-16. II Chapter ii. 12. H Chapter xxiii. 17. ** John xviii. 28 ; 1 Cor. v. 7. +t Mark xvi. 1, 2. THE MEAT-OFFEEING. 91 tJie first-fruits of tliem that slept." * In Him tliere was no sin, no leaven ; He was in Himself a sweet savour to Jehovah. With this offering, therefore, no Sin-offering was coupled ; it was offered only with a Bmiit-offering and ]\Ieat-offering. f But fifty days after this, "when the day of Pentecost was fully come,'' the Church, typified by the leavened oblation of first-fruits, is offered unto the Lord : for we, as well as Jesus, are first-fruits ; " we are," says James, " a kind of first-fruits of His creatures." | But this oSer- ing, having sin in it, being " mixed with leaven,'' could neither stand the test of the fire of the altar, nor be an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. Yet it was to be both ofi'ered and accepted: — "Ye shall ofier it, but it shall not be burnt." § And why, and how, was this leavened cake accepted ? Something was ofiered " with it," for the sake of which the leavened first-fruits were accepted. They offered with the leavened bread a Burnt-ofiering, a Meat-offering, a Peace-offering, and a Sin-ofiering ; || for leaven being found in the oblation of first-fruits, a Sin-offering was needed with it. And the priest waved all together: " the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first- fruits for a wave-ofiering before the Lord." The Church comes with Christ before God; it is offered zuith all the value of His work attached to it. In itself it cannot stand the trial of God's holiness, for no measure of oil can naturalise the leaven ; but in * 1 Cor. XV. 20. t Chapter xxiii. 12, 13. J James L 18. § Chapter ii. 12. |1 Chapter xxiii. 18, 19, 92 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. Christ, and witli Christ, and for Christ, it is accepted even as He is. Thus when the Church is presented to God, it comes not alone into His presence, but with the sweet savour of all that Christ has been for it, and with the witness that He has met its sin. It may be asked, perhajDS, why the offering of the Church is represented by a Meat-offering, seeing this offering has such special reference to the second table of the Decalogue ? I answer, the Church is not always seen as a Meat-offering. It is on Pentecost that it ap- pears in this aspect. There are in the law many types of the Church. She is seen as daughter in the father's house, as wife in the husband's ;* and further, she shares with Christ in many of His relations, as offering, as priest, as prophet, or as candlestick. But on Pente- cost she is specially seen as a Meat-offering, that is, as man's portion, in active service towards a lost and needy world ; because on that day she first stood forth in such service toward man, as taking her part with Christ in loving service to the sons of Adam. Then, "Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, strangers from Home, Jews, Proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians," were fed by the service of those, who, though leavened, were yet an appointed and accepted Meat-offering. Such is the general character of the Meat-offering, as collected from the points in which it differs from the other offerings. I proceed now very briefly to examine it, XL In its different grades or varieties. The THE MEAT-OFFEEING. 93 are three in number, and represent (as we have already seen,) the dijfferent measures of ajDprehension with which a saint may see Jesus in any of His relations. The first class or grade is unbaked flour ; * this is the most perfect type of the JNIeat-offering : the second is baked loaves or cakes ;-f- in this emblem one or two particulars are lost sight of : the third, gi^een ears dried by the fire,], is lower still than either of the others. Each gives us Jesus as Meat-ofiering, that is, as meeting and fulfilling man's claim on Him : in all He is equally " a sweet savour," § in all equally acceptable to God : but the second class gives a higher view of His per- fectness in this relation than the third ; and again the first class is higher than either. The first class shews us an offering like that of the princes ; || the next gives us something lower ;1[ the last class shews us the off'ering in its rudest form, "ears of corn dried by the fire." The Lord lead us to see Jesus more fidly, according to the measure of the first class, that our joy and strength may increase. We must rejoice in proportion as we see His perfectness ; for His ofieriug is all ours ; it was *' ofi'ered for us." Observe, then, the chief distinctions between the different grades of the ]\Ieat-ofFering. (1.) The first contrast is, that while in the first g^^ade • Verse 1. f Verses 4-7. t Verse 14. § Verses 2, 9, 12, 16. H Compare verse 1, and Numb. vii. 13, 19, 25, &c. ^ Here, too, there is within this class a measure of variety, as the Meat-oflfering baked in the oven and in the pan. The difference, however, I believe, is merely connected with the size of the offering. A large loaf covild not be baked in a frying-pan. 94! THE LAW OP THE OFFERINGS. each article of the materials is enumerated,^ the second describes the offering more generally as "unleavened wafers anointed." -f The import of this distinction is at once and easily discoverable. How many saints are there, who, in thinking or speaking about Jesus, can fully assert that He is " unleavened,'' who know and beheve He is sinless, while yet they cannot see all His perfectness. But absence of evil, the being mth- out leaven, is a lower thought than the possession of perfect goodness. We can say, " He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," long before we can tell what was in Him, and the way in which He spent it all for others. (2.) A second point of contrast between the different grades of the Meat-offering is too remarkable to be omitted. In the first class it is observed, that the offerer himself takes the memorial for God out of the offering : J in the second, the priest is said to take it : § while in the last class, — " in the dried ears," — no mention is made who takes it. |1 We observed a dis- tinction similar to this in the Burnt-offering : in the first class the offerer killed the victim; in the last, the priest did. The difference is obvious and instruc- tive. The one view shews Christ in His 'person as ofi'erer ; the other in His appointed office as the priest. The first, Christ as offerer personally giving to God, is a higher view than Christ offering as priest officially. The latter view loses, at least, one precious * Verses 1, 2, + Verse 4. J Verse 2. § Verse 9. U Verse 16. THE MEAT-OFFEEING. 95 object in the precious offering of Jesus : the office is indeed seen, but the person of the Lord quite lost sight of. (3.) But there is a third contrast, and one which may be more generally apprehended, between the first class of the Meat-offering and the others. In the first class Christ's offering is seen as flour : He is " the fine fiour " bruised. In the other classes this parti- cular is almost merged: He is rather bread, either " loaves " or " wafers/' * The distinction here is very manifest. We may see Jesus as our " bread/' or even as God's bread, without entering into the thoughts which are suggested by the emblems of " fine fiour '* and ''frankincense." The perfect absence of all un- evenness, and the deep bruisings which He endured that He might satisfy us ; the precious savour also of the offering, only more fragrant when tried by fire ; these are not our first views of Jesus : for as they are the most perfect apprehensions, so are they generally the last. (4.) The difference between the first class of the Meat-offering and the third is even more strikmg and manifest : this latter offering giving us a thought of Christ as '' first fruits," the first sheaf of the ripening harvest, rather than the bread already prepared for food, or the fine fiour as seen in the first grade.'f This distinction I need not dwell upon, as its general bearing is sufficiently clear. Suffice it to say, that here, as in the latter grades of the other offerings, we lose • Compare verses 1 and 4. f Compare verses 1 and 14. 96 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. what is distinctive or peculiar in the particular offer- ing, while a thought or view of some other offering is in measure substituted in its place. We have already seen this to be the case in the Burnt-offering : we shall find it again in the Sin-offerings. The fact is, that these classes are measures of apprehension. When the measure of apprehension is small, one view of the offering is confounded with another view. The building, to repeat a former illustration, is seen too indistinctly to observe its different aspects : more than one side of it is seen at once, though neither of these sides is seen very distinctly. This, I doubt not, is the case here. The thought of the Meat-offering is joined with that of the First-fruits. How many true Christians are there whose views of Christ are thus without definiteness ; Sin-offering, Meat-offering, Burnt- offering, all mixed together. Such are some of the Varieties in this Offering; and if they teach no more, they teach us at least what Christians lose from their lack of knowledge: for many a precious truth seen in the first grade, is in the lower grades wholly overlooked. For instance, in the first grade, all the materials are seen, " the flour, the oil, the salt, the frankincense ; " while nearly the whole of this is lost in the lower grades, where it is only noticed that the offering is " unleavened.''' Is it to be supposed that this mere negative knowledge, this bare knowledge of what Christ was not, can ever have the same effect upon our souls as the full apprehension of what He really was ? So again, in the first grade THE MEAT-OFFERING. 97 Clirist's person is seen: the offerer is seen himself offering. Need we be told how different is the effect of merely seeing Christ's office in His atonement? And so of the rest. He who, seeing the first-fruits, confounds or substitutes this thought for that of the INIeat-offering, though he sees Christ, does not see Him as fulfilling the Law, but simply as the first sheaf of a promised harvest. There are many who believe that Christ is risen as the first-fruits of them that slept, who by no means see how, by His offering for them, they also are accepted in Him. But I will not pursue the subject. Such as have intelligence will be able to trace it for themselves. Others, I fear, would scarce understand the mere outline, which is all that I could here give of it. Here I close my remarks on the Meat-offering. More, much more, might be said. What has been said, I trust, may, through grace, lead us, first to bless God for having given us such an offering ; and then to desire a greater insight into all that Jesus has been for us. For ever blessed be our God who has thus loved us. May we daily know more of His love. THE PEAOE-OFFEEING. Leviticus hi., and vii. 11-21 and 29-34. We now come to the sacrifice of Peace-offeeings, the last offered of all the typical offerings. Accord- ingly, we shall find it revealing to us that aspect of Christ's offering, which is generally the last appre- hended by the believer. And I may add, that as it was 'burnt upon the Burnt-offering,"* and was directly consequent upon it, so it reveals to us the consequences of those aspects of Christ's offering which are prefigured in the Burnt and Meat-offerings. We may examine it, first, in its contrasts to the other offerings, that is, as bringing out one definite and par- ticular aspect of Christ's offering ; and then, secondly, in its several varieties, as shewing the difierent appre- hensions enjoyed by Christians of this aspect. I. And, first, In its contkast to the other Offer- ings, it may be sufiicient to enumerate two chief points : (1.) It was a sweet-savour offering ; and, (2.) The offerer, God, and the priest were fed by it. In the former of these particulars, it differed from the Sin-offerings; in" the latter, it differed from all others. * See chapter iiL 5. 1 THE PEACE-OFFERINa. 99 (1.) It luas a '^ sweet-savour" offering* On the import of this distinction, I need here say little, since we have already more than once examined it. Suffice it to say that here, as in the Burnt and Meat-ofFerings, we are presented with a view of the offering, not as offered with any reference to sin, but rather as shewing man giving to God that which is sweet and pleasant to Him. But the Burnt-offerino; and Meat-offerino; were both "sweet savours/' This particular, therefore, though distinguishing the Peace-offering from the Sin-offerings, gives us nothing by which we may distinguish it from the other sweet-savour offerings. I pass on, therefore, to the next particular, in which the Peace-offering very distinctly differs from the Burnt and Meat- offerings. (2.) The second point in which the Peace-offering differed from others was, that in it the offerer, the priest, and God, all fed together. This was the case in no offering but the Peace-offering. In this they had some- thing in common. Here each had a part. They held communion in feeding on the same offering. We have first the offerer's part ; then God's part ; then the priest' s part ; and included in this last, though sejDarately mentioned, the part ivhich luasfed upon by the priest's children.-\- And what a view does this give of the efficacy of the offering ! how does it magnify " the unsearchable * Verses 5, IG, i" See chapter vii. 31, 32, and compare Numbers xviii. 9-11, 100 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS, riclies of Christ ! " God, man, and the priest, all fed to- gether, all finding satisfaction in the offering. God first has His part and is satisfied, for He declares it to be very good. " It is an ofTering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord."* Man (in Christ) as ofi'erer has his part, and is permitted to share this offering with his friends. -j- And the priest, that is, Christ in His official character, is satisfied also, and His children are satisfied with Him.J What a picture is here pre- sented to us ! The offerer feasts with God, Avith His priest, and with the priest's children. [i.] In the Peace-offering the offerer feasts, in other words, finds satisfaction, and feeds upon the same offer- ing of which a part has already satisfied God : for a part of the Peace-offering, (as we shall see in the sequel,) "the fat, the blood, the inwards," before the ofierer can touch his part, must have already been con- sumed on the altar. We get nothing like this either in the Burnt or Meat-offering. In them we have the offhHng satisfying God ; all consumed by His fire, and ascending to Him, as in the Burnt-offering ; or shared, as in the Meat- offering, with His priests. But in all this, though Gorl was satisfied, the offerer got no 23art of the offering. The Burnt and Meat-offerings were (as we have already seen) the emblem of the perfect fulfilment of the law's /•equirements. In them we see man (in Christ) offering to God that which perfectly satisfies Him. God finds food in the offering, and declares it to be very good. * Chapter iii. 5. f Chapter vii. 16. J Chapter vii. 31. I THE PEACE-OFFEEING. 101 But in all this tlie offerer has nothing. The Peace- offering shews us the offerer himself satisfied. Now the offerer here, as elsewhere, is Christ ; Christ in His 23erson standing "for us."* But the extent to which we are interested in this, and the fact that, till we realize it, the Peace-offering is unmtelligible, require that I should dwell here for a moment, before I proceed to details. I repeat, then, that in all the offerings, Christ, as offerer, stands as our representative. Whether it be in the Sin-offering, the Burnt-offering, the Meat-offer- ing, or the Peace-offering, He is the man Christ Jesus "for us." He is for us without the camp, for us put upon the altar, for us bearing our sins, for us accepted and satisfied. And when we say He did this "for us," we mean that He did it instead of us, nay, as us. Thus, when He was judged. He was judged as us. When He kept the law. He kejDt it as us. When He was accepted. He was accepted as us ; and so when He was satisfied, He was satisfied as us. Now, the consequence of Christ's thus standing "for us " is, that what is true of Him, is true of all who are in Him. Thus the offerings, in shewing us Christ's position, in shewing Him, only shew us our o^vn ; nay, I may say, when they shew us Christ, they shew us the Church, for He stood " for us." "As He is, so are Ave in this world :"-|- we are "accepted in the Beloved."|" I do not say that this is apprehended even by those who are seen of God to stand in these blessinsjs. I ♦ Eph. V. 2. 1 1 John iv. 17. :;: Epli. i. 6. 102 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. need not say liow little "we apprehend of that for whicli we are apprehended. " * I simply state the fact, that in all those relations which are typified by the various offerings, Jesus in offering them as a man stood "for us ;" He stood as us ; nay, He was us, if I may say so. When Christ offered, God saw us offering; for Christ stood as offerer "for us." God looked upon Christ as us. He sees us, therefore, as Christ before Him.-[- And just as truly as Christ stood for us and as us, so as a consequence do we stand in Him to God- ward. What He did, we are reckoned to have done, for as us He did it. So what He enjoys, we enjoy, for as us He enjoys it. Now this last thought is the thought of the Peace- offering. Christ is satisfied and fed by His offering. But in this He stands for us ; and therefore we are satisfied as soon as we thus apprehend Him. The thought may be a little more complex than that of the Sin and Burnt-offering ; but it proceeds exactly on the same principle. Just as the feeble believer in Christ, when he sees Christ offering the Sin-offering, sees that God's wrath against sin has been met, for Jesus stand- ing instead of us as man has borne it ; — just as the same feeble saint, when He sees Christ offering the Burnt and Meat-offering, sees that God and His re- quirements have been satisfied, for Jesus standing for us as man has satisfied them ; — just so the same believer when he sees Christ offering the Peace-offer- in cr, sees that man is satisfied with the offerino-, for * Phil. iii. 12. + See 1 Cor. xii. 12 ; " So also is Christ." THE PEACE-OFFEEING. 103 Jesus standing for us as man is satisfied. And as our\ sense of acceptance depends on realizing Him as ac- cepted for us, so our sense of satisfaction and commu- nion with God depends on realizing Him in communion for us. Thus seeing the Peace-offering, and by it find- / ing that Christ as man is satisfied, is to those who know | themselves " in Christ/' to find that they themselves are satisfied. I fear that there are but too many saints who never realize this aspect of the Offering, and therefore never fully experience that satisfaction which the Offering has purchased for them. I do not say that the blessing is not theirs ; this and all else is theirs, if they are ''in Christ!' But those things which are true for them in Him, are not realized by them in their own experience. Experience is, I again repeat, nothing more than our measure of apprehension of that which is already true for us in Christ. Thank God, the sufficiency of His work does not depend upon our apprehension of it. But our satisfaction depends much on our apprehension. It is because we apprehend so little that we have so little comfort. And our strength particularly depends on our appre- hension of that view of Christ which the Peace-offering teaches ; for strength is sustained by food, and the Peace-offering shews man fed by the sacrifice. Yet how little is this view of Christ apprehended ! Am I asked the cause? It is because so few really know acceptance. As long as it is at all a question with you whether God has accepted you or not, your chief desire 104^ THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. will be to know God satisfied, far rather than to be satisfied yourself. As a criminal whose reprieve has not yet come, you will not ask, Have I bread for to- day? but, Am I pardoned? Death stares you in the face : you cannot think of food or raiment. But let the question of acceptance be settled : let this be fully known ; and then you will find time to listen to the cravings of that new nature, which needs to be sus- tained and nourished. What is to satisfy this ? No- thing but the precious meat of the altar. And this is shewn as provided for us in Jesus, when we see Him, as our representative, the offerer of the Peace-offering. And here observe what the offerer feasts on. He feasts on the meat of the altar : his food is the spotless offering which has already satisfied the Lord. Now this offering represents "the body of Jesus/'* including His walk, His thoughts, His strength, His affections. These, as we saw in the Burnt-offering, were the things He sacrificed ; and because they were unblemished, they were accepted. As a sweet savour they satisfied God. But they give satisfaction, too, because they are unblemished, to the offerer. Christ finds His meat in His own offering. He "is satisfied with the travail of His soul."-!* Jesus as offerer stands "for us ;" and by His feeding on the offering, He shews how man is satisfied. Would to God His people might learn here what, as respects atonement, will alone satisfy them. Out of God's pre- sence man seeks food in many things. He may try * Heb. X. 5-10. + Isa. liii. 11. THE PEACE-OFFERING. 105 " the riotous living of the far country:'' yea, in his hour of need he may come to "the husks which the swine eat."* In seeking God's presence too, not a few have yet to learn what alone can give peace and satisfaction in that presence. Some of those who are longing to feast with God, are seeking satisfaction in their frames or feelings. Others are trying tlieir oa\ii righteousness, their experi- ences, their walk, their service. Are these things the unblemished meat of the altar ? Is it by these things Christ has satisfied God? Are our experiences, our frames, our feelings, the things on which, as respects atonement, Christ and God have fellowship ? If not, they cannot be the meat upon which we, as needing atonement, are to feed with God. If Christ as man could not have communion with God through anything save a spotless ofi'ering, so neither can any of His members : if they are fed at all, they must be fed as He is. Oh, let us be wise and see our calling, nor seek satisfaction save in Jesus ! He is the only perfect One ; out of Him there is nothinoj fit for the altar, nothins; suited therefore to feed our souls. When Christ feeds with God on that which is blemished; when He makes a Peace-offering of the unclean ; then, nor till then, let us seek our food in the unclean, the torn, the blemished. But while we see that even He, as far as atonement is concerned, can only be fed with His own perfect unblemished offering, let us as in Him reject all others, and feed and be satisfied in Him. How important is the lesson taught here ; how unan- ♦ Luke XV. 13, 15, 16. 106 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. swerably does it express this truth, that, as respects atonement at least, the Christian has nothing to feed on with God, but that which Christ Himself feeds on with Him : that however right our experiences or attainments or walk or service may be in their place, they are not the offering for atonement, nor can they ever be the ground of peace. And indeed, for a Chris- tian to seek his food in these things, is as though an Israelite were to take his garments to feed on. In truth the man who seeks satisfaction in his own attain- ments just does this : what should be his raiment, he makes his meat. The garments of the Israelite are the appointed symbol of a man's deportment and manifested character.* So the New Testament interprets the type : "The fine linen is the righteousness of saints." f This garment might be easily defiled. But let us suppose it clean : are garments to be fed on ? The type answers at once : it is the meat of the altar, the sweet savour alone, which satisfies. Our prayers, our love, our ser- vice, these things, like the leavened cake at Pentecost, | though accepted for the sake of what accompanies them, are one and all in themselves blemished. In one sense indeed, our services are a " sweet savour ; " § but it is only in the same sense that our persons are "righteous." In either case the works and persons are accounted to be what in themselves they are not, in virtue of that perfect Work and Person, in whom * Psalm Ixxiii. 6, cix. 18; Isa. Hi. 1, lix, 17, Ixi. 3; Zech. iii. 3; Col. iii. 8, 12 ; Rev. iii. 4, xvi. 15, &c. t Rev. xix. 8. J See page 91. § Phil. iv. 18. THE PEACE-OFFEEING. 107 and tlirough whom they are offered. Just as the sin- ner, thoiio'h in himself vile, is accomited ri2:hteous in Him through whom we have received the atonement ; so are His ofTerings, though leavened, accounted sweet in the savour of that through which they are offered. The sinner accej^ted in Christ becomes indeed himself, in spirit, both an offerer and offering ; yet even then his " spiritual sacrifices," whether of work or worship, are only "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."* Like " the leavened cake " already referred to, our works or worship, because imperfect, could never be accepted, did they not come before God with the sweet savour, and as the consequence of another and a perfect offer- ing. Were they offered to make atonement they would be rejected. They are only -accepted because atonemeiit has been_ already made. To make atonement, there nmsTlbe perfection in the offering : God will not be satisfied with ought less than a j)erfect sacrifice. If we wish to be fed and satisfied with Him, it must be in and through that "One oflPering" which has already satisfied His hohness. But this leads ns to the next particular in the Peace- ofi'ering ; namely, that, [ii.] The offerer feasts tvith God. Man (in Christ) and God find common food. The ofiering is shared between them. The thought here is not, as in the Burnt- ofiering, merely that God finds satisfaction in the offering. It includes this, but it goes further. It shews communion ; for God and man share together. * 1 Pet. ii. 5. 108 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. I would that tins aspect of the Offering were more familiar to the minds of Christians : how would it raise their thoughts of the value of the Offering, and of the place, which, through the Offering, man is called to ! We should not, we could not, truly realize the joy and satisfaction God finds in the Offering, without obtaining more exalted views of its wondrous preciousness and efficacy. We could not behold man sharing with God in that which God declares to be most precious to Him, without being led to a far deeper apprehension of man's high and blessed destiny. But are these our thoughts of the Offering ? Do we, when we think of it, think of the joy God finds in it ; or do we thus habitually realize the place into which it puts man as sharer with God ? Alas ! to how many are such thoughts strangers ; and the reason is, because as yet they have not seen the Peace-offering. If only they may be delivered from wrath ! If only they may hope for acceptance ! This is all many saints hope for, this is practically all they expect. But is this all that the Offering has purchased? Is this all that Christ enjoys ? Is His place bare ac- ceptance? Is His portion only pardon? Is He not, as man, God's heir and first-born, the One in whom His soul delights, the One with whom God holds unbroken fellowship, to whom He reveals all His mind ? And does Jesus hold this alone ? Are we not, in Him, called to the same communion ? Are we not in all, — His fel- low-heirs, His joy, His bride, His members ? The Peace-offering answers the question when it shews us man feasting with Jehovah; when it teUs us that. THE PEACE-OFFERING. 109 Christ's place is our place, ana that in Him we are called to share with God. And how clearly does this portion of the type give the answer to the question, What is communion? Cornmunion is simply sharing ; to have communion, therefore, we must have something to share; and to have communion with a holy God, we must have some- thing which we can share with Him. We cannot share nothing, and He will not share with us in the unclean. Our attainments, therefore, cannot yield communion, nor our works, for the best have sin in them. But, thank God, there is a jDcrfect offering, the oflfering of our blessed Lord ; and if we would have communion with God, the only way is to share that offering. And this at once gives us the key to the cause of our general and acknowledged lack of communion. Of in- tercourse we have enough, perhaps too much. Of com- munion, how very little! The reason is, so little of Christ's Offering is apprehended, that when believers meet they have scarce anything of Him to share. And the same is true of our approaches to God, for there may be intercourse with God without communion. How often when we approach God do we speak to Him only about our feelings, our experiences, our sins, our trials. All this is right ; we cannot be without these, and we are right to tell them to our Father. But after all, this of itself is not communion, nor will speaking of these things ever yield it to us. Let us come before God to be filled with Christ, to be taken up with Him, His life, His ways. His sweetness; let the confession / 1 10 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. of our failure and nothingness in ourselves be made the plea that we may be filled with Him ; and our inter- course will be soon changed to communion, for in Him we shall have something we can share. May the Lord lead us more into His presence, there to be taught what we possess in Jesus ; and then, when we meet our bre- thren or our Father, we shall feast together on what there is in Him. [iii.] But further, in the sacrifice of Peace-ofierings, the offerer feasts luith the priest.^ The sacrificing priest, as I have already observed, is always Christ, viewed in His official character as ^lediator. We learn here how the offering, which He off'ered as man, feeds, that is, satisfies Him, not only as man, but also as Mediator. To understand this we must recollect and apprehend the varied relations in which Christ stands connected with the offering ; for He ap]3ears for us in many offices, in more than one relation. In connexion with the Offering alone, we see Him, as I have said, in at least three characters. He stands as offerer, but He is also the offering ; and He who is both off*erer and offer- ing is also priest. Yet each of these is a distinct rela- tion ; each gives us a different thought of Christ. As offerer He is presented to us as man : there is one in our nature satisfying God. Thus in the offerer we rather see Christ's person : it is a man standing for men. The offering gives us another thought. It is not Himself, so much as what He (lid. Here it is not His * Chapter vii. 32, 33. THE PEACE-OFFERING. Ill person, so mucli as His luorh and character, which the type brings before us. The 'priest again is even more distinct. It is Christ in His office as Mediator : here it is neither Christ's person nor His work, but one of His offices, that is presented to us. Now, if this simple distinction be apprehended, as I think it must be more or less by every Christian, it will be manifest that there are things true of Christ in one relation which are by no means true of Him in another. For instance, His intercession for us is as priest. As the offering, He does not intercede ; as lamb. He dies for us. So again as priest and offerer. He is fed ; as the lamb, as the offering. He is not fed. Now there are offerings in which the priest finds food, but from participating in which the offerer is excluded : some of the Sin-offerino;s are of this latter character, for in them the priest is fed, while the offerer has nothing. The Sin-offerings, as we shall see more fully in the sequel, are man satisfying offended justice. They are not man giving something sweet to God, but man receiving from God in his offering the penalty of sin. These Sin-offer- ings supply food to the priest,* that is, Christ as Me- diator finds satisfaction in them, but they afford Him no food as man the offerer : as man in them He only confesses sin. The ^j?*ies^, God's official servant, is satisfied, because offended justice is vindicated: but man, who pays the penalty in his offering, finds no satisfaction in the act. The Peace-offeriiig gives us a very different view of • Chapter vL 25-30. 112 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. the offering. In it man, as well as the priest, is satis- fied. In bearing the penalty of sin, that is, in the Sin- offerino:, man found no satisfaction. But he does find it in the sacrifice of Peace-offerings ; here he shares the offering with God. Nor is the priest excluded from this offering: the Peace-offering feeds him too. If, as priest, Christ found satisfaction in the Sin-offer- ing, that offering which only vindicated offended jus- tice, we might exjDect to find Him equally satisfied in the offering which fed both God and man. And the Peace-offering reveals that it is so. God and man feast in peace together ; and the Priest, the common friend of both, seeing them satisfied, is Himself satisfied also. How blessed is the thought here revealed to us! how does it open to us the heart of Christ, the joy which He feels as Mediator in seeing communion in- stituted between God and man ! Surely we lose not a little in our communion, if we forget the joy which the Mediator finds in it; if we overlook the satisfaction which He experiences when He sees man at peace with God. He who knows the full value of the offering, never forgets that by it the priest is fed. And if the presence of beloved friends enhances the sweetness of each earthly blessing ; and if the absence of those we love makes the full cup lose half its enjoyment ; how much must it enhance our joy to know that He who loves us is feasting with us ; what must they lose of the sweetness of communion who forget that in it our Priest is fed ! This I know, Christ never forgets that when He feasts, He feasts with us. Even yet He says, THE PEACE- OFFERING. 1 1 3 as once of old, " With desire I desire to eat this sacri- fice with you."* Shall we, then, have no thought of His joy ; shall we forget the satisfaction He finds in the ofTering ? Those who can do this have as yet learnt but little of the Peace-offering ; for in the Peace-offer- ing the Priest is fed. [iv.] But the type takes us further still, and shews us the Priesfs children also sharing with the offerer in the Peace-offering.-|- They, too, as well as the offerer, the priest, and God, find satisfaction in this blessed offering. Our first question here, of course, must be, — Who are represented by the Priest's chil- dren ? We have already seen that the Priest is Christ ; Christ viewed in His official character as Mediator. His children, that is. His family, are therefore the yj Church ; but the Church viewed in one particular aspect. The Church, like her blessed Lord, stands both to God and man in more than one relation ; and each of these different relations requires in the type a different emblem. This we have abundantly seen is true of Christ : but it is no less true of the Church, His body. Por instance, just as the varied pictures we have considered, — the offering, the priest, the offerer, — all shew out our blessed Lord, while yet each shews Him in a different character ; so in like manner is it with the Church also. She, too, has varied relations, which require varied emblems. In one we see her in * Luke xxii, 15. t Chap. vii. 31, 32, compared with Numb, xviii. 9-11. H 114 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. service for God ; in another in communion with Him. Israel, as the chosen nation, represents the Church as " the peculiar people,'' looked at simply as the seed of Abraham, and as such, in covenant with God. The Levites give us a different thought : they shew us the Church in service ; as ministering for God before men, carrying His ark, and caring for His tabernacle.* The family of Priests give us yet another thought. Here we have the Church in communion with God ; as the seed of the High Priest and Mediator, sharing with Him in His access to God and in intercession ; having a right to stand in the holy place, where no eye sees them but God's. If this be seen, it will sufficiently reveal the import of the Priest's children feeding on the Peace-offering. Their share in the sacrifice shews us the Church in communion, sharing with the Offerer in the satisfaction afforded by the Offering. To me this is a blessed thought, marking the extent and efficacy of this precious offering. Just as of old he that really feasted with God in the Peace-offering, could not do so without sharing with God's priests ; so now communion with God, if enjoyed at all, must be shared with all in communion with Him. This is no question of choice : it cannot be * I may observe here that both Priests and Levites are types of the whole Church, not of a part of it. We are told that by God's ex- press command " the Levites were not numbered among the chil- dren of Israel." (Numbers i. 47, 54, and ii. 33.) By this appoint- ment the tribe of Levi was purposely separated, so that it might not be looked at merely as a part of Israel. Thus it constitutes a distinct picture, and shews a distinct relation of the Church. \ THE PEACE-OFFERING. 115 otherwise ; for he that is in communion with God must be in communion also with all whom He communes "with. We may indeed be accepted in the Beloved, while yet we do not know our calling, or the relation- ship which exists in Christ between us and all His redeemed worshippers. But it is impossible to realize our standing in Christ, as offerers and partakers in Him of the Peace-offering, without finding that the Offering in which we rejoice links us with the joy of all God's spiritual priesthood. __ And here let me observe in connexion with this particular, that it is possible for believers to find satis- faction in the offering as priest's children, when through ignorance of their union with Christ as the Offerer, they find no satisfaction as offei^ers in Him of the Peace-offering. Alas ! the great mass of God's Israel are captives in Babylon or Egypt ; cut off, though born to it, from the exercise of priesthood and sacrifice, and from the sacred meat of the altar. But even of those who do know the power of redemption, and who have fed on the offerings of the Lord, how few know that meat save as priests ; how few apprehend it as offerers of the Peace-offering ! I would that all saints fed as priest's children, but not less that they fed as offerers in Christ. To find satisfaction as priest's children in the offering, we need not know our oneness with Christ as Offerer. It is enough to see that He as the faithful Israelite has offered, and that we as priest's children have a claim on the sacrifice. But this measure of apprehension will not suffice to make us realize our share in the Peace- 116 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. offering as offerers. To know that Christ as Offerer has offered, will not give ns the food which belongs to the offerer, unless we apprehend our oneness with Him, that He stood for us, that we are "in Him." This, alas ! how few now see : how few therefore take the offerer's part in the Peace-offering. Thank God, if we know our priesthood, this relation alone will provide us meat : for another has satisfied God, and His priests may feed with Him. But while we do this, and rejoice in this relation, may the Lord lead us on to see yet another, — that our place is also " in Christ " as Offerer, and that we have satisfied God in Him. This as much as priesthood is our calling. May we but apprehend what we are apprehended for ! There is a particular connected with participation in the Peace-offering, which is incidentally mentioned here, and which we must not overlook ; namely, that none, even though of the Priest's family, could eat of the offering unless they were clean.^ There is a dif- ference between being a priest and being clean. The fact of a man's contracting some defilement did not prove him to be no priest. On the contrary, the rules respecting clean and unclean were only for God's elect. This is very important truth. May the Lord make us all understand it better. It teaches us that it is one thing to be a priest ; another thing to be a clean priest; yet the unclean priest, if of the chosen seed, is still in the covenant, and on very different ground from the seed of strangers. The Israelite, who through contact * Chapter vii. 20. THE PEACE-OFFEEING. 117 with uncleanness, might for a while be excluded from the Tabernacle, could at any time be restored again by- using the appointed washings. Still his uncleanness for the time made him as a stranger, and cut him off from the meat of God. The details of the law on this point* are well worthy our deepest attention. We learn that "leprosy" or " the running issue '' excluded even a son of Aaron from the camp ; the period of his exclusion depending on the time during which the disease was manifest. " Leprosy " and " the running issue " were both break- ings out of the flesh, breakings out which were manifest to others, though manifested differently. They typify those outbreaks of the flesh in the Christian, which are too flagrant to be hid from others. The appointed discipline for these, now as of old, is temporary ex- clusion from the camp.*|* During this period the priest's child was still a priest ; but to little purpose, for he was cut off from the altar. But there were defilements of a less manifest character than leprosy, less discernible by the eyes of man, which yet brought with them temporary uncleanness, and with it temporary exclusion from the Tabernacle. If a child of the priest touched any dead thing, or anything which was unclean by contact -svith the dead ; or if he touched any creeping- thing whereby he might be made unclean, or a man of whom he might take uncleanness, the law was express, — " The soul that hath touched any such shall be imclean until the even, and shall not eat of the holy * See Leviticus xxii. 1-7. t 1 Cor. v. 13. 118 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. things unless lie wash his flesh with water/' A spiritual priest may in like manner contract defilement, and so have his communion hindered. If our spirits (for this dispensation is spiritual, not carnal,) come in contact with the spirit of the world, if its dead things are felt to touch us, if its creeping things affect our souls, no visible impression may be left to be seen by others, while yet we ourselves may feel our communion hindered. At such a time we may not, under a penalty of judgment,* approach that which at other times is our food. Thank God, contact with the unclean, though it hinders our sense of communion, cannot remove the blood of the covenant. That still remains before God. We may not see it perhaps ; He always sees it. Yet who would willingly be the unclean priest, cut ofi* from participa- tion with the altar ; his days lost to God and to His tabernacle ; his food eaten in the dark?-[- Such are the chief particulars in which the Peace- offering differed from the other offerings. It was the sweet-savour offering in which not only God was satis- fied, but in which man and the priest found satisfac- tion also. I now pass on to observe, II. The diffeeent geades oe vaeieties which AEE obseeved IN THIS Offeeing. These shew us the different measures of intelligence with which this view of Christ's offering may be apprehended. And here, as there are several distinct sharers in the * Compare Lev. vii. 20, 21, and 1 Cor. xi. 29. f He might not eat it until after sunset. See Lev. xsli 7. THE PEACE-OFFERING. 119 offering, — for God, man, and the Priest, have each a portion, — it may be well to consider each portion sepa- rately with its particular differences, since in each por- tion there are distinct varieties observed. (1.) First, then, as to Gods part in the Peace-offer- ing. In this certain varieties at once present them- selves ; some of them relating to the value of the offer- ing, others connected with the offerer's purport in the oblation. [i.] To speak first of the varieties touching the value of the offering. We have here, just as in the Burnt- offering, several different grades. There is the " bul- lock," "the lamb,'' "the goat;'' and these respectively represent here what they do in the Burnt-offering. Each gives us rather a different thought as to the character of Christ's blessed offering. But it is to be noticed here, that although in the Peace-offering we have nearly the same number of gTades as in the Burnt- offering, in the details of these various grades we do not find nearly so much difference as is the case in the Burnt-offering. There is, indeed, the variety of " bullock," " lamb," and " goat," shewing that the offer- ing is apprehended under these various characters ; but nearly all the rest seen respecting this portion of the offering, as to the mode of the oblation and the part taken by the offerer, is much the same. It will be remembered that, in the different grades of the Burnt- offering, a great variety was observed in the mode of oblation. In some the parts of the victim were seen to be discriminated ; in others this was not so : in 120 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. some a portion of the offering was seen to be washed in water ; in others this was overlooked : in some the offerer was seen laying his hand on the offering; in others this was not observed : in some the offerer him- self was seen to kill the offering ; in others the priest killed it. But in the Peace-offering we lose this great variety, for in each grade the offering is treated nearly alike. There are indeed the different grades, but this is nearly all : and even these grades do not vary here so much as in the Burnt-offering.* The import of this is sufficiently plain. It teaches that if God's part of the Peace-offering be apprehended at all, it will be apprehended nearly equally. If Christ is seen at all as offering the Peace-offering to God, the view of Him will lack no important particular, nor will His office be confounded with His person, nor will the various parts of His work be overlooked. The differ- ence, for the most part, will simply have reference to the general character of the offering as " goat," " lamb," or "bullock." [ii.] But there are other varieties noticed in the type, as to that part of the Peace-offering which was offered to God, which are connected, not with the value of the offering, but with the offerer's purport in bringing the oblation. If we turn to the seventh chapter, where the distinction I refer to is mentioned, it will be seen that the Peace-offering might be offered in two ways. It might be offered either as a thanksgiving, that is, for * The " turtle- dove," that is, the lowest view of the offering, is i omitted. THE PEACE-OFFERING. 121 praise ;* or as a vow or voluntary offering, that is, for service.i" If it were seen to be offered "for thanhs- giving,'' many particulars are noticed respecting man's share in it, which are entirely lost sight of and omitted when it is seen to be offered "/or a vow!' And most of the varieties in the Peace-offering (I may say all the varieties touching the Priest's and Offerer's part in it) depend upon the view which may be taken of the general character of the offering, whether it were offered "for thanksgiving," or whether it were offered "for a vow!' What these particular differences are, we shall note in their proper order and place when we come to consider the Varieties in the Priest's and Offerer's part of the Peace-offering. Suffice it here to state the import of the general distinction between " the Thanks- giving " and " the Vow ; " and to shew wherein the view of the Peace-offering as seen offered "for thanks- giving," differed from the Peace-offering to be offered "for a vow." To understand this, we must remember what the Offering was. It was Christ, as our representative, giving Himself to God for us. But the purport of this offering may be very differently apprehended : it may be seen as offered for praise, or in service. Jesus may be seen as offering Himself for God's glory ; this is the offering "for 'praise : " or He may be seen offer- ing Himself in God's service ; this is the offering "for a vow." Most Christians, I believe all of us at first, ♦ Chapter vii. 12, " for praise." So the LXX., and many versions. + Chapter vii. 16. 122 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. regard Christ's offering rather as a matter of service : we look on the atonement as something done by Christ in God's service ; rather than as something which, from first to last, was for God's glory. Of course these two views are most intimately connected ; but I note here, that though connected, they are distinct : and the difference, if it be seen in nothing else, is immediately seen in the results of either. It will be found in the type, and our experience confirms this, that the ap- prehension of Christ as bringing an ofi'ering for God's glory will lead us at once to far deeper and more extended views of its consequences, than the view of Christ as offering Himself in God's service. Accordingly, when the offering is apprehended as offered ''for praise^' then many details and consequences connected with it are seen also, which are entirely omitted or lost sight of when the offering is seen as offered "for a vow."* Having thus briefly marked the varieties in the Peace-offering, in that part which was offered to God, as shewing the different apprehensions which may be entertained by saints of this aspect of Christ's offering, we now proceed to consider, (2.) The Priest's and Offerers part, and the varieties which are observable here. It will be found that the particulars respecting this portion of the Peace-offering differ very much according as the offering is apprehended "for praise" or "for service." " If he offer it for a * Compare verses 12-15, which describe the oflfering "for praise," with verses 16-18, which describe the offering "for a vow." THE PEACE-OFFEEIKG. 123 thanksgiving (or for praise), then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled mth oil, of fine flour, fried. Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace-offerings. And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave-ofiering unto the Lord, and it shall be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace-offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered ; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering he a vow, or a volmi- tary ofi'ering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice : and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten : but the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire."* Such is the law : let us now note these particulars. When off'ered "for praise,'' [i.] a Meat-offering is ofiered with the Peace-off'ering, of which the offerer, as well as the priests, partake ; [ii.] lea^vened cakes also are seen to be offered with the sacrifice, which, though presented " mth the Peace-ofi'ering," are, of course, not burnt ; and [iii.] further one cake out of the whole oblation, — that is, one of each sort, both leavened and unleavened, — is, after being waved as a Heave-offeriug to the Lord, given to the priest, who sprinkles the blood of the Peace-offerings ; [iv.] the last thing noted • Chapter vu. 12-17. ] 24 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. is, that the flesh of the offering is to he eaten the same day, or until the morning. Three of these four par- ticulars are entirely overlooked when the sacrifice of Peace-offerings is ''for a vow ;" and though the fourth is noticed, it is seen rather differently ; the flesh in " the vow-offering '' is eaten for tiuo days, or until the third day. As several of the emblems used here have already been considered, though not in the combination which we find in the Peace-offering, a few words may be sufl[icient to point out their purport and significance here. [i.] In the offering ''for praise," a Meat-offering is offered of which the offerer as well as the priests par- take. The purport of the Meat-offering, as we have already seen, is the fiulfilment of the second table of the Decalogue ; man offering to God as a sweet savour the perfect accomplishment of his duty towards his neighbour. The peculiarity here is, that the offerer joartakes of this Meat-offering, a thing not permitted in the common Meat-offering. The common Meat-offering shews us the fulfilment of the law, simply with refer- ence to God, to satisfy Him. But that same fulfilment of the law has other aspects, one of which is, that it satisfies the Offerer also. This is the truth brought out in the Peace-offering, in which the Offerer, as well as God, finds satisfaction in the fulfilment of all righteous- ness. And this satisfaction is not only in the fulfilment of that part of the law which had reference to God, and which was represented by the offering of a life ; but in that part also which referred to man, and was repre- THE PEACE-OFFEEING. 125 sented by the unleavened cakes of the Meat-offering. The latter part of this appears to be quite lost sight of, unless the Peace-offering is apprehended as offered " for praise." [ii.] But further, in the offering "for praise" leavened cakes also are seen to be offered with the sacrifice* This emblem, too, has already occupied our attention in "the leavened cakes'' of the day of Pentecost. Those cakes represent the offering of the Church. When Christ's work is seen merely as " the vow," as a matter of service, the Church's offering does not come into sight : but when His offering is seen " for praise," that is for God's glory, the Church is seen united with Him. The leavened cakes could not be burnt to God, but they come before Him "with"f the sweet-savour offerings. And though not fit to stand the trial of fire, or to satisfy God as the meat of His altar, they are yet presented for His gracious acceptance, and are fed upon by the Priest and Offerer. [iii.] And this leads us to the next particular, namely, that one cake out of all the oblation (that is, one of each sort, both leavened and unleavened,) is given to the priest who sp^nnkles the blood,X whUe the remainder, both of the leavened and unleavened, belongs to him who brings the offering. Christ, as Priest, finds food and satisfaction not only in His o\vn blessed and perfect offering : He feeds also on " the leavened cake : " the offering of His Church, with all its failings, satisfies Him. As Offerer, too, He presents this offering with * Verse 13. f Chapter vii. 13, and xxiii. 18. X Verse 14. 126 THE LAW OF THE OFrEEINGS. . His own : as Offerer, too, He feeds upon it. And we also, as offerers in Him, though not able to hold fellow- ship with God on the Church's offerings, (no part of leavened cake was burnt to God,) may yet find satis- faction in such offerings, even as Paul found satisfac- tion in the love of saints.* Sweet, however, as such offerings may be to us, and much as they may " refresh our bowels in the Lord," they cannot by themselves be accepted of God, or be the ground of our communion with Him. The only meat we can thus share with Him is the unblemished and perfect meat of the altar. But these particulars and distinctions are not appre- hended, unless the Peace-offering is seen as offered " for praise." [iv.] The last particular noticed respects the period daring which the Peace-offering was to he eaten. The time for eating the offering "for praise" was "the same day" or "until the morning :''f in the "vow- offering " there is a little difference ; it might be eaten "the same day and on the morrow," or "until the third day." I Now the "morning" and the "third day" are sufficiently common types, and are both constantly used, I beheve, to denote the resurrection.§ Thus far I con- * 2 Timothy i. 16 ; Philemon 7, 20. + Verse 15. J Verses 16, 17. § For "the morning" see Exod. xii. 8, 10; Psalm xlix. 14; Rom. xiii. 12. For "the third day," Hosea vi. 2; Luke xiii. 32; 1 Cor. XV. 4, &c. The "eighth day" also is the resurrection, but the resurrection looked at in a different aspect, either to the view given in " the morning" or " the third day." THE PEACE-OFFEEING. 127 ceive tlie sense of the emblems unquestionable : but I am not so certain as to the different aspect of the resurrection represented by each of them. I am dis- posed, however, to think that ''the morning " represents the resurrection as the time of Christ's appealing; while the thought connected with "the third day" is simply deliverance from the grave. In either case the main truth remains the same, that the Peace-offering is our food until the resurrection : but in the one case we eat as those whose time is short, in the night it may be, but in hope of the morning ; in the other the thought of the morning is lost, and instead of it we see days of labour to intervene. I need not say that the first is the higher and happier view. Such is the law of the Peace-offering, and such some of its chief varieties. In our progress we have little more than traced the outline, but how much does it contain. Even what we see and know of it reveals both depths and lengths of grace in the Eedeemer; when we think of what our peace cost Him, and that He poured out His life to bring us to communion. Blessed be His name for the measure and manner of His love. May He reveal it to us by the Holy Ghost. Well might the Psalmist say, " Praise waiteth for thee, God, in Zion : and unto thee shall the vow be per- formed. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts : we shaU be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple."* "They shall * Psalm Ixv. 1, 4. 1 28 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy plea- sures/'* The Lord grant us, not merely to know about these things, but to know Him better of whom they speak. * Psalm xsxvi. 8. THE SIN-OFFEEING. Leviticus iv., and v. 1-13. We now come to Offerings not of a sweet savour. Of this class are the Sin and Trespass-offerings ; the object of which is to present Christ's Oflfering to us in an aspect wholly distinct from those already dwelt upon. Hitherto we have met no thought of Sin in the offerings. The Burnt-offering, the Meat-offering, and the Peace-offering, much as they differed, were yet alike in this, that in each of them the offering was the presentation of something which was sweet to Jehovah, an oblation to satisfy His holy require- ments, and in the acceptance of which He found grate- ful satisfaction. But here, in the Sin and Trespass- offerings, we read of Sin in connexion with the offering. Here is confessed sin, judged sin, sin requiring sacri- fice and blood-shedding; yet sin atoned for, blotted out, and pardoned. It might perhaps be thought that this view of the Offering, as leading to the knowledge and discovery of sin, might be less blessed, less full of joy and consola- tion, than those views of the Offering on which we have already meditated. Such might be the case^ I 130 THE LAW OP THE OFFERINGS. were we other than what we are, and were the Sin- offering other than God has provided. Were we sin- less beings who knew no sin, this view of the Offering might not be needed by us, save as revealing the grace of Him who, though the Holy One, could be "just and yet a justifier." But to us, who, knowing ourselves to be sinners, and as such subject to God's just wrath and judgment, have yet believed in Him " who was made a curse for us," * this view of the Offering is perhaps of all most comforting. The Sin-offering shews that sin has been judged, and that therefore the sense of sin, if we believe, need not shake our sense of safety. Sin is indeed here pre-eminently shewn to be exceeding sinful, exceeding hateful, ex- ceeding evil before God : yet it is also shewn to have been perfectly met by sacrifice, perfectly borne, per- fectly judged, perfectly atoned for. And the fact is, that the view of Christ as Sin- offering is sooner apprehended than those prefigured in the Burnt and Meat-offerings. Experience abund- antly testifies this. As in the type the Sin-offerings, though last in order of institution, were invariably the first in order of application ; f so in the experience of baints, Christ is first apprehended as the Sin-offering. Long before there is any intelligence of all the details of Christ's perfect work, as fulfilling all righteousness * Gal. iii. 13. + See any chapter which describes the order in which the sacri- fices were to be offered, as Exodus xxix. ; Leviticus viiL ix. xiv. and 2 Chron. xxix, &c. THE SIN-OFFERING. 131 as man, and being accepted of God as a sweet-smelling savour, — long before there is any thought of His oflPer- ing as that wherein God takes delight and finds satis- faction, the weak Christian sees Christ as Sin-bearer, and His offering as a sacrifice for sin. And though, as the type will shew us, tliis view may be very in- distinct, confused, or partial, — and though it may be apprehended by different believers with an immense difference as to the measure of discernment and intelli- gence, — yet in some form or other it is, I may say invariably, the first view of Christ's Offering appre- hended by the Christian. I have observed that in the institution of the offer- ings, as recorded in the commencement of Leviticus, the sweet- savour offerings precede the others, but that in the application of these offerings, the order is re- versed. I will add here a word or two on this point, as, if I mistake not, this, like all else, has a meaning in it. The reason of it will, I think, commend itself, when the characteristic difference of these offerings is seen. The sweet-savour offerings are, as we know, Christ in perfectness offering Himself for us to God without sin : the others, on the contrary, as we shall see, represent Him as offering Himself as our repre- sentative for sin. The institution of these sacrifices gives us certain aspects of the Offering, in the order in which they are viewed by God : and in this view Christ offering Himself without sin would clearly pre- cede His offering Himself for sin. Had He not been in Himself what the Burnt and Meat-offerings typify, 182 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. a voluntary offerer of a sinless offering, He could not have been offered for sin : the fact of His being perfect fitted Him to be a Sin-offering. But the application of the offerings, on the other hand, gives us the order of Christ's work as viewed by Israel; and Israel's view in this case, as in all others, begins where the Offering meets Israel's sin and failure. For this reason it is, I cannot doubt, that in their application the Sin-offerings preceded the Burnt- offerings. But to pass from this order to the Offerings them- selves, the least degree of attention is sufficient to shew, that the offerings which were not of a sweet savour are of two sorts, — first the Sin-offerings* and then the Trespass-offering s.-^- For a Christian rightly to know the difference between these, shews that he has learnt more than one lesson in God's school. And indeed it is one mark, — a mark not to be mistaken, — of the present low state of the mass of Christians, that so many of them never seem to apprehend the differ- ence which God sees between Sin and Trespass. I assume here that there is a difference ; for with these offerings before us, it is impossible to doubt it. One thing at least is plain : God sees a difference : happy the saint who sees with God. Happy, I say, for though the knowledge of sin in itself can never be a cause of joyfulness, yet to see and judge anything as God Himself judges it is a step to blessedness, as surely as it is a mark of communion with Him. Truly it is for lack of knowledge on the particular now * Chapters iv. and v. 1-13. f Chapter v. 14-19, vi. 1-7. THE SIN-OFFERING. 133 before us, that so many are mourning wlio should be l^raising ; for thej^ do not see that atonement has been made and accejDted for sin in them, as well as for their acts of trespass. I defer, however, entering into this subject, until we have more fully considered the peculiar character of the Sin-ofifering. When we have done this, and obtained, as I hope, a clearer appre- hension of it, we shall be better able to discriminate the distinction between Sin and Trespass and their respective offerings. I proceed, therefore, at once to the consideration of THE Sin-offering. We may look at it, first, in its contrast to the other offerings ; and then, in its several varieties : the first will shew the particular aspect of Christ's Offering which is prefigured in the type now before us ; the second, the various measures of intelli- gence with which this aspect may be apprehended by Christians. I. To note then, first, the Sin-offering IN CONTRAST WITH THE OTHER OFFERINGS: three particulars will give us all the outlines. (1.) First, it was, though with- out blemish, not of a sweet savour. Then (2.) it was burnt, not on the altar in the tabernacle, but on the bare earth without the camp : in these two particulars the Sin-offerino; was in contrast to the Burnt-offerino^. Lastly, (3.) it was an offering for sin, and this as dis- tinct from an offering for tr^espass : in this, as I need hardly observe, it stands contrasted particularly with the Trespass-offering. (1.) First, the Sin-offering, though without spot or 134i THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. blemish, was yet not a sweet-savour offering.* I liave already dwelt more than once on what is implied in a "sweet savour/' I need not, therefore, here do more than refer to it, to shew how Jesus, the spotless One, could be "not a sweet savour." The distinction is this : — the sweet-savour offerino^s were for acceptance ; the others for expiation. In the first class, sin is not seen at all ; it is simply the faith- ful Israelite satisfying Jehovah. In the Sin-offerings it is just the reverse ; it is an offering charged with the sin of the offerer. In the Burnt-offering and other sweet-savour offerings, the offerer came as a worshipper, to give in his offering, which represented himself, some- thing sweet and pleasant to Jehovah. In the Sin and Trespass-offerings, which were not of a sweet savour, the offerer came as a convicted sinner, to receive in his offering, which represented himself, the judgment due to his sin or trespass. In the Sin-offerings, as in the Burnt- offerings, Christ is Offerer : but here He is seen standing for us under the imputation of sin. For though in Himself without sin, " the Holy One," yet He became our substitute, confessed our sins as His sins, and bore their penalty. Thus taking up His people's sins as His own. He says, " 3Iy sins, God, are not hid from Thee.''-|- " Innumerable evils have compassed me about ; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me : they are more than the hairs of my head ; therefore my heart faileth me."| wondious mystery, the Holy One of God made sin for sinners !§ And unspeak- * Chapter iv. f Psalm Ixix. 5. J Psalm xl. 12. § 2 Cor. v. 21. THE SIN-OFFERING. 135 able love, the Blessed One made a curse for cursed ones!* Such, then, is the import of the distinction between what was, and what was not, of a sweet savour. In the one case the offering was accepted to shew that the offerer was accepted of the Lord ; and the total con- sumption of the offering on the altar shewed God's acceptance of, and satisfaction in, the offerer. In the other case the offering was cast out, and burnt, not on God's table, the altar, but in the wilderness without the camp ; to shew that the offerer in his offering endures the judgment of God, and is cast out of His presence as accursed. In the one the offerer came to satisfy God, and having in his offering stood the sifting trial of fire, was accepted as a sweet savour, and fed upon, if I may say so, by the Lord. In the other he came as a guilty sinner, and in his offering bore the penalty for sin. The one is, — " He gave Himself for us, as an offering to God of a sweet-smelling savour." f The other, — "He gave Himself for our sins: "J "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin.''§ The Sin-offering is the latter of these : not for acceptance, but to expiate sin. And yet the Sin-offering needed to be ''without blemish,'' \\ as much as the Burnt-offering: indeed in no offering was perfectness more requisite. Again and again it is repeated that nothing but an unblemished victim could be a Sin-offering : IF one blemish, either ♦ Gal. iii. 13. + Eph. v. 2. % Gal. i. 4. § 2 Cor. v. 21. U Chapter iv. 3. H Chapter iv. 3, 23, 28, 32, &c. 136 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. within or without, was enough to unfit the offering to bear the sin of others. So, because He was sinless, Jesus could be a Sin-offering. Because He was perfect. He could bear our sin. It is well to meditate on this, the perfectness yet the rejection of the victim in the Sin-offering, that we may learn how alone sin can be borne, and how it has been borne and pardoned. Had there been spot or blemish of any sort on Jesus, His offering could not have met and expiated sin. Had there been one desire in His heart unholy, one act, one word, one look, one thought im- perfect, He could not have borne the curse for others : He would Himself have needed atonement. But He was tried by man, by God, by devils ; and the trial only proved Him " the Holy One of God." And " yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him :''* though "the Holy One," He was cast without the camp : the only spotless offering this world ever witnessed, was yet not only afflicted of man, but judged of God and smitten. The spotless Jesus not a sweet savour ! the spotless Jesus accursed of God ! cast forth, not merely without the Tabernacle, but as unclean " without the camp ! " " But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon Him ; and by His stripes we were healed." f Here we may learn the measure of the love of Jesus, and our security as having been already judged in Him. In His love He beheld, and saw us ruined, and that fallen man could not bear the curse and live : " Then He * Isaiah liii. 10. f Isaiah liii. 5. I THE SIN-OFFERING. 187 said, Lo, I come : " and He came, and was accursed for sinners. As our representative He confessed our sins, binding on Him that which would have sunk us in wrath for ever: as our representative He bore their curse ; and received at God's hand our judgment. And because He has been judged for us, justice is satisfied ; we who believe have already been judged in Him ; and God now is "just to forgive us,"* for Christ has borne our sins. "He His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, might live unto righteousness : " -f- " For in that He died, He died unto sin once ; but in that He liveth. He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord."i But I pass on to the next characteristic feature in the Sin-offering, which has already been incidentally alluded to. (2.) The Sin-offering was burnt without the Camp.^ The other offerings were, without exception, burnt on the altar in the Tabernacle. Here "the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, his inwards, &c., even the whole bullock shall he carry without the camp, .... and burn him on the wood with fire." || The import of this we have more than once noticed in passing. It testified how com- pletely the offering was identified with the sin it suffered for ; so completely identified that it was itself looked • 1 Jolin i. 9. t 1 Pet. ii. 24. J Rom. vi. 10, IL § Chap. iv. 12, 21. 11 Verses 11, 12. 138 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. at as sin, and as sncli cast out of the camp into the wilderness. A part indeed, " the fat,"* was burnt on the altar, to shew that the offering, though made a sin- bearer, was in itself perfect. But the body of the victim, ''even the whole bullock" was cast forth with- out the camp. '' Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suJBTered with- out the gate."f He was cast out as one who was unfit for Jerusalem, as unworthy a place in the city of God. And what this must have cost that Blessed One can never be entered into or understood, till the holiness of Christ and the sinfulness of sin are seen in measure at least as God sees them. Who shall tell the secrets of that hour, when this part of the type was fulfilled in Jesus ; when He was led forth without the camp, to bear the vengeance due to sinners? His own words may perhaps help us to lift the veil : — " My God ! my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me ? " J As a man, — and He was perfect man, with all our feelings and affec- tions, sin excepted, — as a man He felt the approach of death by painful, shameful, lingering suffering: but the hiding of His Father's face, the consequence of imputed sin ; this was His anguish. Doubtless He sufi"ered being tempted ; He sufiered from reproach, from the shame, the contempt, the spitting : doubtless He felt the mockery of His foes, the flight of His dis- ciples, with all their aggravating circumstances. How He felt let the Psalms reveal. But it was not this which made Him cry in anguish, " My God ! my God ! * Verse 8. f Heb. xiii. 12. .J Matt, xsvii. 46, THE SIN-OFFEEING. 139 why hast Thou forsaken me ?" He had " suffered being tempted ;"* He had "suffered, leaving us an example ;"-|- but His greatest suffering was, "He suffered for sins/' J And herein was His anguish, that He who had never known what it was to have a thought out of communion with His Father, should for a season be cast out of His presence, and endure the hiding of that Father's face. In the Garden, looking forward to this hour, with a will still longing for unbroken fellowship with His God, He cried once and ao^ain, while great drops of blood fell from Him, — " If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." But even here He says, " Nevertheless not my will, — not my will, but Thine, be done."'§ Yea, knowing what being forsaken of God would involve, He comes to His Father and says, " Not my wiU, but Thy will" He might, had He wished to spare Himself, have escaped this. He might have refused to drain the cup of trembling. But then how would His Father have been glorified, — how should we have been redeemed to His praise? Therefore "He suffered for sins," and "the Just One" died for the unjust. He took our place that we may take His : He was " cast out'* that we might be " brought nigh" || for ever. Blessed, blessed Lord, may we in the know- ledge of Thy love learn to love Thee better ! What consolation is there here for the mourner groaning under the sense of sin or strong temptation ; to know Jesus, though sinless, has suffered for sins, * Heb. ii. 18. i 1 Pet. u. 21. :J: 1 Pet. iii. 18. § Luke xxii. 42. U Eph. ii. 13. 140 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. and therefore He can, and assuredly will, sympathize with us. And oh ! what security, too, is here : our sins have a Sin-bearer ; they were once His burden. It is unbelief, or ignorance of the Sin-bearer, that leaves the sense of the burden but for a moment upon us. Faith sees the Sin-offering "without the camp," and that Jesus there has met, and suffered for sins for us. (3.) The third peculiarity we may note in the Siu- offering is, that it was an offering for sin, not an offering for trespass.^ This distinction, like all the rest which God has recorded, is full of instruction and of comfort to our souls. It is as definite, too, as any of the other differences which we have dwelt upon. The want of apprehension respecting it only arises from our so little knowing either what man is, or what God is. With our shortsightedness, our inability to see beyond the surface, we naturally look at what man does rather than at what he is; and while we are willing to allow that he does evil, we perhaps scarcely think that he is evil. But God judges what we are as well as what we do ; our sin, the sin in us, as much as our trespasses. In His sight sin in us, our evil nature, is as clearly seen as our trespasses, which are but the fruit of that nature. He needs not wait to see the fruit put forth. He knows the root is evil, and so will be the buddings. Now the distinction between the Sin and Trespass- * Chapter iv. 3, 21, 24, 33, compared with chapter v. 13, 19, and vi.2, 6. THE SIN-OFFEEING. 141 offerings is just this : — the one is for sin in our nature, the other for the fruits of it. And a careful examina- tion of the particulars of the offerings is all that is needed to make this manifest. Thus in the Sin-offerino; no particular act of sin is mentioned, but a certain person is seen standing confessedly as a sinner : in the Trespass- offering certain acts are enumerated, and the person never appears. In the Sin-offering I see a per- son who needs atonement, offering an oblation ybr him- self as a sinner : in the Trespass-offering I see certain acts which need atonement, and the offering offered /or these particular offences. The details of the offerings, as we examine them, will bring all this before us most remarkably. Of course, in the Sin-offering, though the man is seen rather than his acts, proof must needs be brought that he is a sinner. But let it be noticed that this is done, not by the enumeration of certain tres- passes, but simply by a reference to the law ; which, though no particular transgression is mentioned, is said to have been neglected or broken.* Be it noticed, no particular act is mentioned, though of course it is by particular acts that sin in us is shewn ; but the parti- cular acts are not seen in the Sin-offering, for the ob- ject is to shew sin, not trespass. And therefore, though it was needful to shew sin, and in doing so to refer to the commandment as exposing it, yet any definite act of trespass is not seen here : for it is " an offering for sin" not an offering for trespass. In the Trespass- offering, on the other hand, it is exactly the reverse. * Chapter iv. 2, 13, 14, 22, 27, &c. 142 THE LAW OP THE OFFERINGS. We Lave nothing but one detail after another of parti- cular wrongs and offences ; the first class being of wrongs done against God, the other of wrongs against- our neighbour. And here, by the way, let me call attention to a point incidentally brought before us respecting the Sin-offering, namely, that the sin was brought out " by the command- ment," as it is said, " If he shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments." * We get here, I think, the reason why before the law there were neither Sin nor Trespass-offerings. We read indeed of Burnt- offerings and Meat-offerings being offered by many of the early patriarchs ; but they are never recorded to have offered Sin-offerings, for " where there is no law there is no transgression.'' •(• " By the law," says the Apostle, " is the knowledge of sin," and again, " Sin is not im- puted where there is no law." J It was the law which convicted man of sin, and made it necessary that he should have a Sin-offering. '' The law entered that the offence might abound ; but where sin abounded grace * Verse 2, &c. + Rom. iv. 15. I observe that in Job (chap. i. 5.) we find the Bumt- offering offered in reference to sin. We read that " Job rose up early in the morning, and oiFered Burnt-offerings according to the number of them all : for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." This was before the law was given; BO Job says, " It may he that my sons have sinned." Had they sinned after the giving of the law, a Sin or Trespass -offering would have been needed ; but before the law the Burnt-offering was all which could be given : and as it represented all God's claim fulfilled, no- thing more in such an age could be added to it, J Rom. iii. 20, and v. 13. I THE SIN-OFFEKING. 1 43 did mucii more abound."* The law entered, and it proved man a sinner, and that to make his flesh other than sinful flesh was impossible. But grace has done what law could not do; grace brought One "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,"-|- to save us. The truth is, the law given by Moses was given neither to make nor prove man holy; but rather to prove us, what God ever since the fall has seen us, in ourselves sinners and only sinners. Yet how has Satan beguiled man here also : he would have us to prove ourselves holy by that which God gave to prove us sinners. Bat to return to the distinction between the Sin and Trespass-oSering : — the one was for sin in our nature, the other for the fruits of it. In the Sin-ofiering, the atonement is seen not for trespasses the fruits of sin, but for sin itself within us. I would that all God's children saw this. Sure I am, — and the type proves it, — that many know the Trespass-ofi'ering who have but very imperfect views of Christ as Sin-offering. I do not now speak of the unconverted : with them acts of trespass are the only things discernible : sin in them is generally utterly disbelieved ; at all events its guilt is always unf elt, unrecognized. With the young Christian, too, but just awakened, how much less perception is there of sin than trespass : he has done this evil, or that evil, or the other ; he scarcely has learnt as yet that in himseK he is evil. But look at the man who has somewhat grown in grace ; not only what he has done, but what he is, is his sorrow. With such it is not so ♦ Kom. V. 20. t Rom. viii. 3. 144 THE LAW OP THE OFFEEINGS. mucli this or that act of trespass, which leaves the question of guilt on the conscience : but it is the con- stant sense of indwelling evil, and that "when we would do good, evil is present with us." This or that particular act of iniquity we have confessed, it is past, and we believe it pardoned : but this ever-remaining, ever-struggling sin within us, it is this more than ought else that burdens us. True, " the Spirit in our hearts cries Abba, Father," and "the Spirit in us lusteth against the flesh ; " but we find that all this instead of improving the flesh only manifests it, and shews how it "lusteth against the Spirit."* To those who are thus painfully learning what they are, what joy to know Christ died for this as well as for trespasses ; and that this indwelling sin, as much as our acts of wickedness, was equally confessed and pat away by His sacrifice. Nay, had we not been sufiering under this very evil, had we been without this sin. He would not have offered a Sin-off'ering. It was because we were this that He ofiered ; and because He offered, we who trust Him are saved. Oh, how little is this apprehended, and, consequently, how little peace is there among saints ! Many seem to think that the Spirit's work in revealing to them their sinfulness,^- should be an excuse for unbelief and doubt- ings ; that because God in His mercy has shewn them what they are, sinners, therefore they are not safe. To such I say, — Are we saved by Christ as sinners, or are we saved by being sinless and holy ? God's testimony ♦ Gal. V. 17. t " He shall convince of sin," &c,; John xvi. 8. THE SIN-OFFERING. 145 is that we are saved as sinners, not by the Spirit's work in us, but by Christ's work for us. The Lord grant us to know more of the Spirit's work in us ; but after all, this is not the ground of peace. The type is clear on this : and if it shews anything, it shews that the dis- covery of sin should not shake the believer's faith of pardon ; for faith sees not only that we have sinned, but that the " Holy One " has been made sin for us. To doubt our pardon because we see our sin is just weakness of faith in the Offering : it proves how low is our estimate of Christ, how limited our confidence in God's love and faithfulness. Do I then speak lightly of sin ? God forbid ! If we want to know how hateful it is, we have but to look at the Sin-offering ; to see the Holy One of God, His beloved Son, for sin cast out and broken. Our sin is indeed liateful to God, but it does not alter the value of Christ's Offering. Our sin indeed is most hateful; but I ask still, has not the Sin-offering been offered? If it has not, then we may mourn for ever, for we can never blot out one single trespass. But if it has been offered, what are all our doubts but aspersions on the value of Christ's Offering? Whatever plea we have for them, — be it humility, or fear of presumption, or the amount and evil of our sinfulness, — God judges such pleas for doubt as unbelief, and as a questioning of what He testifies of Jesus. God indeed never forgets we are sinners : we may forget it. He never can : but He never forgets the Offering of Christ, and that by that Offering the Church's sins are cancelled. And the K 146 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. blood of tlie Sin-offering wliich is taken within the veil, by the High Priest on the great day of atonement, remains there where none can approach to hide it, ever present before the eye of God. And even when through the uncleanness of the camp or the wilderness we seem to lose sight of it, it remains there before Him a witness that sin has been judged, and that the way is open for sinners into the holiest. "He by Himself purged our sins.''* Yea, He sat not down again in glory till He had purged them. What certainty of salvation is there here for those who trust in Jesus? It is no future work, no promised work, no work to be yet accomplished, but a finished work which is our sure foundation. "He bore our sins:" this is God's testimony: and having borne them "He was raised because we were justified.'' f Had we not been justified, Christ could not have been raised. His resurrection, and ours in Him, is the proof that we are justified. If sin has not been already borne, how shall it be borne ? Is Christ to die again, is He to be again a Sin-offering ? " Christ was ONCE offered to bear the sins of many," J and " now there re- maineth no more sacrifice for sin."§ If therefore He has not borne our sins, He can never bear them. If He has borne them, why have we not peace ? If we think * Heb. i. 3. + Rom. iv. 25. "He was delivered, irapehoOr} dia ra TrapanTcofxara rj^avj because of our sins; and raised, rjyepdrj dia ttjv 8iKaicoatv fjfxaiVy because of our justification." t Heb. ix. 28. § Heb. x. 18, 26. THE SIN-OFFERING. 147 that the Sin-oflfering once offered on Calvary has not met all sin and every trespass, whatsoever remains, be it small or great, can never be propitiated, never par- doned. But Jesus for His people bore not some sins, but all sins : and " by Him all that believe are justified from all things."* "He hath forgiven us all tres- passes, "-f* The Cross has cancelled all. May the Lord more fully reveal these things to His chosen ones, that their rejoicing may be, not Yea and Nay, but Yea and Amen. Such is the general character of the Sin-offering, as elicited by comparing the particulars in which it stands in contrast to the other Off'erings. We now proceed to consider, II. The vaeieties in this Offeeing, which shew the diff'erent apprehensions which may be entertained of this particular aspect of Christ's sacrifice. And here there is very great variety, far exceeding what we find in any of the preceding offerings. In the Sin-offering there is not only variety seen in the animal offered, and in the details which are given as to the mode of offering it ; but a good deal of variety is noticed as to the person of the offerer, a peculiarity not to be found in any of the other offerings. Besides these varieties, there are several other minor ones, in reference to the blood, the fat, the body, and lastly the name, of the offering. Each of these varieties as they are recorded by the Lord, so will they be found worthy of our attentive meditation. I shall do little more here * Acts xiii 39. t Col. u. 13. 14S THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. than mark some of the chief outlines, and may the Lord make His people to profit by them. (1.) The first variety, then, which is seen in the Sin- off'ering is the difference in the animal offered. In the Burnt-ofiering we observed a similar variety ; the pur- port of which is, of course, the same in both cases. There is, however, far greater variety in the different grades of the Sin-offering than in the Burnt-off'ering ; thus teaching us that Christ's off'ering for sin may be apprehended with far greater measures of difference than Christ as Burnt-off'erino;. In the Burnt-off"erino:, the off'ering though varied was limited, either to a bidlock, a lamb, a goat, or turtle-doves* Here in the Sin-off'ering we have several other grades, -|- coming down at last to a sin-offering composed of simple "flour.'' The last grade is this : — " And if he be not able to bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons ; then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin-offering : he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon ; for it is a sin-off'ering." We have already considered the import of these varied emblems ; 1 need not therefore do more than just advert to them. Suffice it to say that here, as in the Burnt-off'erings, they shew us the different cha- racters under which the Off'ering of Christ may be apprehended by us. In the Sin-off'ering as in the * See chapter i. t " A male kid," chapter iv. 23 : "a female kid," iv. 28 : "a female lamb/' iv. 32 : ending at last with "flour/' v. 11. THE SIN-OFFEKING. 149 Burnt-offering, one saint has one view, another another view respecting the character of the offering. One sees the willing labour, another the submission, another the innocence, of the Offering which is yielded to Jehovah. But in the Sin-offering we have still lower views, the lowest of which is, as we have observed, very like a Meat-offering. The solution is easy. As in the preceding offerings we found, without exception, that there was an indistinctness, almost like confusion, in the lower views, — a mixing up of one aspect with another, while the distinct thought of each was more or less lost sight of ; so is it here : in its lowest grade, (the one we are considering,) the Sin-offering is seen very nearly as a Meat-offering. The thought is almost that of the Meat-offering, yet it is seen as offered for sin : this is distinctly noticed : though " of flour," " it is a Sin-offering." * How exactly this peculiarity in the type describes the way in which some apprehend the Offering, will be best understood by those who, going from strength to strength, have learnt how partially Christ may be ap- prehended, even by those who love Him. Some see the pain and sorrow Christ had in service, the grinding, the bruising, the scorching, of the Meat-offering : and they think that this was His sin-bearing : they cannot distinguish between the trials of service and the curse. They see indeed a life of suffering, but they do not see One accursed for them. Nevertheless, they see a suffer- ing One offered, and though they lose many points in ♦ Chapter v. 11. 150 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. His Offering, they still see it as offered for sin. Yet how much is lost, in such partial views, of the design and character of the work of Jesus. (2.) The next variety we may notice is in the person offering: we have the priest, the congregation, the ruler, and the common Israelite. Pirst in order we have the Sin-offering for the priest;^ then the Sin- offering for the whole congregation ;-\' then the Sin- offering for a ruler; I then for one of the common people ;§ and lastly, the Sin-offering for particular sins;\\ in which last the person of the offerer is lost sight of, and the particular act for which he offers more clearly seen. This last is very nearly akin to the Trespass-offering, and is indeed called indifferently by both names of Sin and Trespass. IF In this last class, as in the lowest classes of the other offerings, we get the lowest view which can be taken of this particular aspect of the Offering. But what is the import of this variety in the per- son offering t We have only to remember what these varieties are. , They are, as we have sufficiently seen, only different measures of apprehension. In the Burnt- offering, the Meat-offering, and the Peace-offering, we have already become familiar with the varieties in the Offering, and have seen that they represent the different apprehensions which may be, and are, formed of its value and character. So in the Sin-offering, the * Chapter iv. 3-12. + Chapter iv. 13-21. " t Chapter iv. 22-26. § Chapter iv. 27-35. II Chapter v. 1-13. t Chapter v. 6-9. THE SIN-OFFERING. 151 varieties which are noted of the Offerer, in like manner represent the different apprehensions which are formed of the person who offered. Of course the Offerer here, as elsewhere, is Christ, man under the law, our repre- sentative. As such He is here seen confessing sin ; but though seen as Offerer in this aspect, He may yet be seen very differently. For example, in the first case the offerer is apprehended as " jDriest," a person who stands the representative of a family or congregation. In other cases the offerer is seen as " one of the common people,'' one who stands simply the representative of an individual. In the lowest cases of all, the person of the offerer is altogether lost sight of, neither indivi- dual nor congregation are seen, and the sin for which he suffers is almost the only thing apprehended. But let us note here a little more particularly, the exact difference which is intended by these separate views of the Offerer ; and that we may see the contrast more clearly, let us for a moment set side by side the higher and lower grades of the Sin-offering. In the first class the offerer is the " anointed priest ; " in the next, " the whole congregation ; " in a lower grade, (how great the contrast,) the offerer is " one of the common people." The " anointed priest," and " the whole congregation," are t}^es familiar to the youngest Christian. "The anointed priest," as head of the priestly family, and the appointed mediator between God and man, stands the type of Jesus as head of a priestly family, and also as mediator to God's chosen ChurcL In this class, Christ, as Offerer of the Sin- 152 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. offering, is seen either as Head of the Church, or as its appointed Mediator. His OjQfering is apprehended, not merely as the atonement for this or that individual, but as affecting a whole family or people. In the next class, "the conojreo-ation " offer. This cono^recration represents the Church. Here we lose sight of the priest as under the guilt of sin with Israel ; but with this exception, the congregation's offering is almost identical with the preceding one. But the point to be especially noted in both these cases, and where they differ so remarkably from the others, is that the sin, and atonement made, is seen, not as affecting an indi- vidual merely, but the whole of Israel. Now, mark the contrast. In the lower classes the offerer is a private individual, " one of the common people : " and his sin, and the atonement made for it, is seen as affect- ing only himself. Those saints who have the highest views of the Sin-offering, see it as affecting not them- selves merely, but the Priest and Israel. Those with lower views only see it for themselves : the High Priest's or Israel's interest in it is unseen and for- gotten. Here then is the difference. The apprehension some have of Christ as Offerer of the Sin-offering is One who in His own person represented the whole Church ; the Church being seen either as the family of the Priest, or as the whole congregation of Israel. Others again see Him as head of a tribe, " the ruler ; " in this case the unity of the Church is lost sight of. Others, far more numerous, never see anything of this : THE SIN- OFFERING. 153 Christ as Offerer of the Sin-offering is viewed as having stood for them individually. Others again, lower still in the scale of intelligence, see only that He stood for sin. These stages in the apprehension and experience of Christians, will be familiar to those who know much of that experience. Such is the variety respecting the person of the Offerer, and such too, if I mistake not, the purport of it. We have only glanced at the outlines, but the details are equally full of interest ; requiring indeed a certain measure of intelligence to apprehend them, yet if apprehended, precious to our souls. And just as every difference of the Offering, — the difference, I mean, whether it was a bullock, a lamb, or turtle-dove, — all brought before us some feature of Christ's work or character, in which both God and His saints saw per- fectness ; so here, in each of these varieties in tlie Offerer, there is some fresh thought or view of Christ's person for us to glory in. I will not, however, enter further into the consideration of them, not from a doubt of their value, but from a sense of the length to which they would carry me. I only pray that we may be led to feel our need of knowing more of Him of whom these things testify. (3.) A third variety in the Sin-offering has reference to " the blood!' In the higher classes the blood was sprinkled on the incense altar ;''^ in the lower classes it was not taken into the holy place, but sprinkled upon the brazen altar in the court.'\ I fear it will be * Chapter iv. 7, 18. f Chapter iv. 25, 30, 34. 154 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. impossible to make tins intelligible to those wlio bave never considered the typical import of the relative parts of the Tabernacle. Two things, at least, must be apprehended ; first, the import of these altars, and then of their sprinkling. As to the altars, they were, the one of gold, the other brazen. The brazen one stood in the outer court of the congregation. The other, the golden one, in the holy place, where none but the priests might enter. The "outer court," with its brazen altar and laver, represents the earth and the work which is done in it to God-ward. The " holy place,'' with the golden altar for incense, shews us the heavenly places and their appointed service. On the brazen altar were ofiered the sacrifices of Israel. Any Israelite, if clean, might draw nigh and off'er there.* But priests only might approach the golden altar, and nothing come on it save the perfumed incense. -f- The position and use of these altars, and the references to them in the New Testa- ment, j: unite to point out their typical meaning; the one leading us to the service of the Church as on earth, the other to their service as j^riests in heavenly places. Thus much for the altars. As to the sprinkling of blood, I need scarcely say it always refers to atone- ment by sacrifice : it signifies that the thing or person sprinkled is thereby brought from a state of distance from God to a state of nearness. The sprinkling, * Exodus xxix. 36-43. 'f- Exodus xxx. 1-10. X Heb. xiii. 10, 16; Rev. viii. 3, 4, &c. THE SIN-OFFEEING. 155 then, of blood upon the incense altar implied that until this act was performed the altar was imapproachable ; and consequently, that all priestly service, and there- fore all service of all kinds, was stopped between God and Israel. In like manner the sprinkling of blood on the brazen altar implied that till this was done, that altar too was regarded as unapproachable. In each case sin is apprehended to have interrupted communion ; in the one, the communion of priests ; in the other, that of Israel ; while the sprinkling of blood declares that communion restored through the Sin-offering, on the incense altar to the priests, on the brazen altar to Israel The import of the distinction we are considering will now, I suppose, be sufficiently plain. In the higher classes, where it is observed that the incense altar needs sprinkling, the consequences of sin are seen to be far more extensive than in the other case ; for the interruption of communion is apprehended, not of individuals on earth merely, but of the priests in their access to God as in heavenly places. In the lower classes, for instance, in the case of " one of the common people," it is not seen that sin has destroyed the com- munion of the congregation : it is not observed how the priest and Israel are implicated in it : the thought is rather about self. In a word, in the lower classes both the full effects, and the fuU remedy of sin, are known but partially. Need of personal acceptance and reconciliation is indeed seen, and that acceptance and reconciliation apprehended ; but that the whole congre- 156 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. gation needs reconciliation, and that it has it, is un- known, or at least forgotten. Thus is the sense of the extent of the evil caused by sin exactly in proportion to the depth of apprehension respecting the extent of the reconciliation effected by the Sin-offering. He only that saw the Priest's altar hallowed for service by the blood of the Sin-offering, saw also that the com- munion of that altar had ever been hindered by sin. It is so on all points. The deeper the apprehension of the efficacy of the blood, the deeper will be the sense of that from which it delivers us. But the difference in the apprehension of this particular goes even further. In the fifth chapter, which gives the lowest grades of the Sin-offering, there is no notice whatever taken of either altar.* All that is apprehended is, that an atonement has been made by the Priest ; the altars, and their re- storation to service, are forgotten. This, alas 1 is the common case with many now-a-days. An atonement has been made for sin ; thus much they see, and they are thankful for it. But as for any intelligent appre- hension of the different altars, or how far their use is hindered by slq and restored by the Sin-offering, they not only know nothing about it, but judge such matters non-essential, unnecessary. The same spirit * Chapter v. 6. " And he .shall bring his trespass-offering unto the Lord, for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb, or a kid of the goats, for a sin-ofifering ; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin." It wiU be observed that here there is no notice of either altar. THE SIN-OFFERING. 157 wliich makes the fool say, "There is no God," tempts even Christians to say there is nought in much He wrought for us. (4.) A fourth variety noticed in the Sin-offering has reference to ''the fat." In the higher grades the fat was burnt upon the altar : * in the lowest class -f* this is overlooked : what was done with the fat is entirely unnoticed. As usual between the highest and lowest class, we have several steps of more or less intelligence. In the first grade not only is it seen that the fat is burnt, but there is the fullest discrimination of every portion of it.| In the subsequent grades too, indeed in all save the lowest, the fat is burnt, but the j)arts are not discriminated. In the last grade alone of all, " the fat " of the offering is quite unnoticed. " The fat," as we have already seen in the other offerings, § represents the general health and energy of the whole body. Its being burnt to God was the appointed proof that the victim offered for sin was yet in itself accej^table. This acceptability is most seen in the higher classes, but it is apprehended also in all save the lowest grade. There the atonement made for sin is indeed apprehended, but the perfect acceptableness of the victim is unnoticed. So with some Christians, is not their thought respecting * Chapter iv. 8, 9, 10, 19, 26, 31, 35. f Chapter v. 6. J' Chapter iv. 8, 10. We read here of "the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, and the fat that is upon the kidneys," &c. &c. In no other grade do we find this detail. § See in the Burnt-ofifering, p. 55. 158 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. the Sin-ofTering more of our j^cardon than of Christ's perfectness ? (5.) Another variety we may observe in the Sin- offering has reference to " the body " of the victim. In the higher grades it is cast luithout the camp : * in the lower this is unnoticed : hut in the law of the offer- ingsf another particular is marked : the priest is seen to feed on the offering. The import of this distinction is at once obvious. Where the Sin-ofiering is fully apprehended, the victim, which is the sin-bearer, is seen accursed, and as such cast out as unclean into the wilderness. Where the Sin-offering is more partially apprehended, the victim is still seen as sin-bearer, but the reality of its separation from God is lost sight of, and its death viewed merely as 'satisfying the Mediator. And here let me observe how amidst all this variety of detail, there is still throughout one point of remark- able similarity in principle. It is this. In the lower classes, that is where there is a lower measure of in- tellio;ence, the view of the nature of the Offerino^ is invariably exchanged for a view of the effects of it : in other words, the Offering is seen as it affects Israel, rather than as it is in itself, in its real character. Thus the burning of the fat, shewing the perfectness of the victim offered ; and the casting forth of its body, shew- ing the nature of the judgment borne by it ; these and similar details respecting the sacrifice itself, are lost sight of in the lower classes ; while the effects of it, a? making atonement, are perhaps even more fully dwelt * Chapter iv. 12, 21. t Chapter vi. 25-30. I THE SIN-OFFEEING. 159 upon. And how exactly this accords with the successive stages of Christian experience, will be sufliciently under- stood by those who know much either of themselves or others. At first Christ's work, or person, or offering, is viewed with interest solely on account of what it is to us. Nothing respecting it is regarded as worthy of notice save its bearing upon us, or efficacy towards us. It has taken away our sins ; it has made atonement ; this is the one thing, and almost the sole thing, seen respecting it. Anything further than this at such a stage would appear a grand impertinence. But let the question of peace with God be settled, let our acceptance become a thing known and realized, then the perfect- ness of the Offering, and what it is in itself, will, with- out exception, be more seen and dwelt upon. (6.) The last variety I will here notice in the different grades of the Sin-offering, is connected with the name by which the offering is variously designated. In tJis higher classes it is always called a ''Sin-offering,''^ and no particular act of trespass is noticed ; in the lower classes it is called a " Trespass-offering " as well as a ''Sin-offering''-]' and the person of the offerer is lost sight of in the particular trespass. So when the measure of apprehension is limited, there will be want of intelligence respecting the precise difference of sin and trespass ; nor this alone ; the Offering will be seen only /or sins ; that it is offered for persons will not be apprehended. But the expressions here used respectively, in reference * Chapter iv. 8, 21, 24, 29. f Chapter v. 6, 7. 160 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. to the effects of each different grade of the Sin-offering, are so remarkably varied in reference to this particular, that we cannot but notice the differences. In the higher class, in "the congregation's offering,"* we simply read, — " The priest shall make atonement for them!' In the case of "the ruler," -j- we find this slight variety, — " The priest shaU make atonement for him for his sin." In the case of "one of the common people," J we find still further difference, — " The priest shall make an atonement for his sin which he hath committed." Observe, in the first of these the atone- ment is seen for persons ; — "The priest shall make atonement for them.'' Of course the atonement here is in consequence of sin, but the persons rather than the sin are specially thought of. In the next class, the atonement is regarded as for the sin of the persons, rather than for the persons ; though both persons and sins are seen atoned for : as it says, — " The priest shall make atonement for him for his sin." In the lowest class, "of the common people," the atonement for persons is quite lost sight of ; " the sin luhich he hath committed " is the chief thing dwelt upon. How much is there " for our learning " in these varieties ; how clearly they teach us the cause of the difference in the views of saints respecting the Atone- ment. There are some believers who see atonement for sin, but almost deny that atonement has been made for persons. They see Christ gave Himself '^for sins,"^ but hardly think He stood for persoris. In word ♦ Verse 20. f Verse 26. J Verse 35. § 1 Pet. iii. 18. \ THE SIN-OFFEEING. 161 perhaps they assent to the Apostle, who said, "He loved me, and gave Himself /or me;"^ but the full reality and force of his words are scarcely assented to ; they need to be explained away. And as long as there are different measures of intelligence, so long will such difference of views be inevitable ; for though the truth is but one, yet while "we know in part," that one truth may and will be seen variously or partially. Such are some of the Varieties in the Sin-offering. There are others to be seen, but I have noticed the chief. They shew us how very different is the measure of apprehension with which Christ as Sin-bearer may be seen by Christians. They shew us, too, how much of Christ, and therefore of joy, is lost sight of, by those who are content to continue in comjDarative ignorance of the Offering. I shall rejoice if these Notes should be used of God to lead but one of His people to seek more communion with Him, there to inquire whether these things are so, in deeper acquaintance with Him of whom they speak. Need I add here that it is one thing to know Him ; another to know about Him. It is possible that some, who read these pages, may at once confess that such and such things are to be seen of Christ, who yet may have never seen, and even do not care to see, one of them. To know that another has seen the Prince, and know Him in His different relations, or that He may be so seen by those who dwell with Him, is very different from our knowing Him ourselves. It is just so with the knowledge of * Gal. ii. 20. L 162 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. Jesus.. Strangers to His family and household may hear about Him ; but to know Him, as He is, must be taught of God, and is only to be learnt in His presence by His family. We have thus gone through the particulars of the Sin-offering, as far at least as they are given in the Law of the Offerings. In other places there are some other details added, the principles of which are, however, all contained in what we have investigated. The additions only give us some new combinations as to the character under which the Sin-offering may be exhibited : I refer to the Offerings of the Red Heifer,^ and of the Scape- goat on the great day of Atonement. -f- The offering of the Eed Heifer, as we might expect from its being found in Numbers, exhibits not so much what the offer- ing is in itself, as its use in meeting the wants of the wilderness. Thus no memorial of it was burnt on the altar, nor was the blood seen to be taken into the Tabernacle ; but the whole animal was burnt without the camp, and its ashes laid up to be mixed with the water of purification. Then when an Israelite found himself unclean, through contact with the dead, these ashes with water were sprinkled on him. All this is the Sin-offering as meeting our need of cleansing, and as given to remove the defilement caused by the dead things of the wilderness. The view presented by it has to do with the effects of the offering, and its use towards man as applied by water, that is the Spirit. In the Scape-goat, offered on the great day of atonement, the * Numbers xix. f Leviticus xvi. THE SIN-OFFERING. 1G3 view presented is very different. In this Sin-offering, which was offered but once a year, the blood was seen to be put on the mercy-seat. The offering it spoke of is shewn by Paul to have been " once for ever," and " access into the holiest " the consequence of it * But I forbear going further into these particulars, as we have already sufficiently seen their principles. He that has apprehended what we have gone over will see more. For others, any further detail would be unintelligible. Such is the Sin-offering, and such some of the appre- hensions of it. Blessed be God that we have such an Offering. " He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." • Heb. X. 1, 22. THE TRESPASS-OFFERING. Leviticus v. 14-19, and vi. 1-7. We now come to the Teespass-offering. Closely allied in its broad principle to the Sin-offering, in cer- tain particulars it as decidedly differs from it. These particulars, though few in number, are broadly marked, and full of teaching. The apprehension of them will bring out very definitely that distinct aspect of Christ which the Trespass-offering is designed to present to us. I proceed at once, as before, to consider this Ofier- ing, first, in its distinctive character, and then in its varieties : the first will give us the distinct aspect of Christ which is intended by this particular offering : the second shew the various apprehensions which may be formed of this one aspect. I. First then, AS TO the distinctive CHAEACTER OF THIS Offering : four particulars may at once be noted ; the first having reference to the broad distinc- tion between the Trespass-offerings and the whole class of sweet-savour offerings ; the next bearing on the general distinction between the offerings not of a sweet savour, namely, the Sin and Trespass-offerings : the THE TRESPASS-OFFEEING. 165 other two are more definite, and have to do with certain details connected with and flowing from the distinction between the nature of sin and trespass, and their atone- ment. (1.) On the first particular I need not here enter, for the distinction between what was and what was not of a sweet savour has so often been dwelt upon. I therefore merely notice the fact that the Trespass-ofier- ing was not a sweet savour. Christ is seen here suffer- ing for sins : the view of His work in the Trespass- ofiering is expiatory. (2.) The next particular, too, we have already consi- dered, namely, that this offering was a Trespass-offering, as distinct from a Sin-offering. We may, however, again advert to this, as the particulars given here very definitely mark what constitutes trespass. If a man wronged God, that was trespass : if he wronged or robbed his neighbour, that was trespass. We read, — "If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord ; . . . . then he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done.'' * Again, — " If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour ; or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely ; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein : then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which * Chapter v. 15, 16. 166 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. he took violently away, or tlie tiling whicli he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found." * Here trespass is defined as wrong done to God, or wrong done to a neighbour : we read of " violently taking," " deceitfidly getting'' and ''swearing falsely about that which is found." In every case of trespass, WTong was done; there was an act of evil by which another was injured. And the offering for this act, the Trespass- offering, (in this a contrast to the Sin-offering,) was offered by the offerer, not because he was, but because he had done, evil. Accordingly, in the Trespass-offering we never get sight of any particular person as a sinner : the act of wrong is the point noticed and dwelt upon. Such was trespass, actual wrong and robbery, and yet there might be trespass, as well as sin, of which the trespasser was ignorant. -[• This is remarkable. It shews how little man's judgment, not only respecting what he is, but respecting what he does, can be trusted. I observe that this unwitting trespass is specially seen in cases of " wrong in holy things ; " we do not find an instance of it in cases of " wrong done to a neigh- bour." The reason is manifest : our natural conscience takes cognizance of man and his claims far more readily than it is brought to understand God's stan- dard for all approaches to Him in holy things. Thus when little is known of this standard, when little is seen of the holy things, when trespass is thought of merely as affecting man, then unwitting trespass will * Chapter vi. 2-4. f Chapter v. 15, 17, 19. THE TEESPASS-OFFEEING. 167 not be recognized. But let a man be led much into the sanctuary, and learn something there of God's holiness, and he will find that the holy things them- selves, the very opportunities of worship, may, through our weakness, open a door for trespass. Those who are most with God will most confess, what to some seems quite incredible, that often there has been un- witting trespass in the holiest acts of work and wor- ship. I believe there is not an act of any kind, whether of praise, or j)i'ayer, or worship, or ministry, which may not, through Satan's cunning, prove an occasion to the flesh to bring forth some fruit of trespass. I need not particularize instances ; I doubt not each instructed Christian will recognize some, where that which has been done either to the Lord or for the Lord, has afterwards been discovered to have been mixed with trespass. At the time, perhaps, the trespass has been unrecognized : but other circumstances or fuller light have made us conscious of it. Still the trespass is the same, recognized or mirecognized : and our ignorance, though it leaves us unconscious of evil, does not alter it. And how solemn is the truth here taught us, that neither our conscience, nor our measure of light, nor our ability, but the truth of God, is the standard by which both sin and trespass are to be measured. " Though he ivist it not, yet is he guilty ; he hath certainly trespassed against the Lord."* If man's conscience or man's light were the standard, each man * Chapter v. 17, 19. 168 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. might have a different rule. And, at this rate, right or wrong, good or evil, would depend, not upon God's truth, but on the creature's apprehension of it. At this rate, the filthiest of unclean beasts could not be convicted of uncleanness, while it could plead that it had no apprehension of that which was pure and seemly. But we do not judge thus in the things of this world ; neither does God judge so in the things of heaven. Who argues that because swine are filthy, therefore the standard of cleanliness is to be set by their perceptions or ability ; or that because they seem unconscious of their state, therefore the distinction between what is clean and unclean must be relinquished. No : we judge not by their perceptions, but our own ; with our light and knowledge, not their ignorance, as our standard. God, in like manner, though in grace He finds means for pardoning it, still judges evil as evil wherever He meets it. Our blindness does not alter His judgment ; for it is our sin and that alone which has caused the bhndness. Such is trespass, and such the measure of it, a mea- sure ever apparently widening according to our know- ledge ; for He who calls us, leads us to see as He sees, not only His grace, but our own deep and constant need of it. But, blessed be God, He that convinces of sin, testifies of Him also by whose Offering sins are pardoned. He that sees Jesus in the Trespass-offering, sees trespass met ; for Christ has confessed it, borne its judgment, paid its penalty. Not only was "His soul an offering for sin^' — in this we get the Sin-offer- I THE TEESPASS-OFFERING. 169 ing, — but "He was wounded /or our transgressions'' * the judgment for trespass was also laid upon Him. Here, as in the Sin-ofFering, He stood "the just for the unjust/' -f- confessing the wrongs of His people as His wrongs ; and for those wrongs He made full restitution ; and we in Him have satisfied God. All this, however, is so nearly allied to the Sin-ofiering, that I pass it as briefly as may be, to go on to those particulars which are more definite, and specially cha- racteristic of the Trespass-offering. These are two. In the Trespass-offering, besides the life laid down, the value of the trespass, according to the priest's valuation of it, was paid in shekels of the sanctuary, to the injured party. Then, in addition to this, a fifth part more, in shekels also, was added to the sum just spoken of, which, together with the amount of the original wrong or trespass, was jiaid by the trespasser to the person trespassed against. J These particulars, respecting the payment of money in con- nexion with the offering, are not only very definite, but very remarkable. It may be well, therefore, before we consider them separately, to note how distinctly all this differed from the Sin-offering. In the Sin-offering we see nothing of money : there was no estimation by the priest, nor any fifth part added. Indeed, from the nature of the case, there could be neither of these, for they depend entirely on the nature of trespass. In the Sin-offering the * Compare Isaiah liii. 5, 10. + 1 Pet. iii. 18. X Chapter v. 15, 16, and vi. 5, 6. 170 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. offerer was a sinner : and his sin was met and judged in the victim. A joerfect victim bore the penalty ; a sinless one was judged for sin. In all this the one thought presented to us is sin receiving its rightful wages. We see due judgment inflicted on the sinner's substitute ; and this having been inflicted, justice is satisfied. In the Trespass-offering, with the exception of " trespass " instead of " sin,^' we have all this pre- cisely the same as in the Sin-offering. The victim's life is given for trespass : judgment is inflicted, and so far justice is satisfied. But in the Trespass-offering, there is more than this, — arising, as we shall see, out of the nature of trespass, — the original wrong or evil is remedied ; and further, a fifth part is added to it Observe, in the Trespass-ofiering the wrong inflicted is made up and restored by the offerer. According to the priest's valuation, the injured party receives his own, or the value of it, back again. Nor is this all ; more than the original loss is repaid : the loss is more than remedied. These two most interesting particulars, specially characterizing, as they do, the atonement of the Trespass-offering, result directly and immediately from the distinction between sin and trespass. The apprehension of this distinction is absolutely necessary, if we would understand what remains of the Trespass- off'ering. Sin then, I repeat, is the evil of our nature ; and the offering for this, the Sin-offering, is for what we are. In the case of trespass, the offering is for what we have done, for actual wrong committed against some one. THE TEESPASS-OFFEEING. '171 Now, it follows from the distinct nature of these things, that the atonement or satisfaction for each must differ, in measure at least ; for that which would fully satisfy justice in reference to sin, would by no means do so in reference to trespass. In the case of sin — that is, our sinful nature, where no actual robbery or wrong had been committed against any one — justice would be fully satisfied by the death and suffering of the sinner. But the mere suffering and death of the sinner would not make satisfaction for the wrong of trespass. For the victim merely to die for trespass, would leave the injured party a loser still. The trespasser indeed might be punished, but the wrong and injury would still remain. The trespasser's death would not repair the trespass, nor restore those rights which another had been robbed of. Yet, till this was done, atonement or satisfaction could scarcely be considered perfect. Accordingly, to make satisfaction in the Trespass-offering, there is not only judgment on the victim, but restitution also : the right of which another had been defrauded is satisfied ; the wrong fully repaid. To illustrate this. Suppose some noxious creature. It is evil : for this it merits death : the infliction of death would be judgment of the evil, and justice here could claim no more. But suppose this creature had also done evil and robbed us ; its mere death will not repair the injury. Satisfaction for this will not be complete unless the injury done is made good in all points. In a word, atonement for trespass implies res- titution ; without this, though the trespasser is judged, 172 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. the claim of trespass remains still unsatisfied. But in Christ man has made full satisfaction. God is not a loser even from the wrong of trespass. Nor this only. He receives even more. But let us look at the distinct particulars. (3.) In the Trespass-ofiering we get restitution, full restitution for the original wrong. The amount of the injury, according to the priest' s valuation of it, is paid in shekels of the sanctuary to the injured 'person.^ The thought here is not that trespass is punished, but that the injured party is repaid the wrong. The pay- ment was in shekels : these "shekels of the sanctuary" were the appointed standard by which God's rights were measured ;-|- as it is said, "And all thy estimation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary.''| Thus they represent the truest measure, God's standard by which He weighs all things. By this standard the trespass is weighed, and then the value paid to the injured person. And God and man, though wronged by trespass, each receive as much aorain from man in Christ throuo^h o o the Trespass-offering. God was injured by trespass in His holy things, His rights unpaid. His claim slighted : for man was ofttimes a robber, taking for himself the fat or life, God's claim in the offerings. Thus, if I may so say, God through man was a loser : but at the * Chapter v, 15. + See Exodus xxx. 13, 24, xxxviii. 24, 25; Leviticus xxvii. 3, 25 ; Numbers iii. 47, 50, xviii, 16. ± Leviticus xxvii 25. I THE TRESPASS-OFFERING. 1 73 hands of Christ the loss has been repaid : and whatever was lost through man in the First Adam, has been made up to the full in the Second Adam. Whether honour, service, worship, or obedience, whatever God could claim, whatever man could rob Him of, all this has He received again from man in Christ, " according to the priest's estimation in shekels of the sanctuary." But man also was injured by trespass ; and he, too, receives as much again. Christ for man as offerer of the Trespass-offering, must offer to injured man the value of the original injury. And such as accept His offering, find their loss through man's trespass more than paid. Has trespass wronged man of life, peace, or gladness, he may claim and receive through Christ re- payment. For man to man, as for man to God, Christ stands the One in whom man's wrongs are remedied. The wrong done to God has been met. God clearly is no loser now by trespass. And the wrong done to man is no less paid for. Man need not, more than God, be a loser. (4.) But this is not all. Not only is the original wrong paid, but a fifth 'part more is paid with it in the Trespass-offering.* Not only is tlie original claim, of which God and man had been wronged, satisfied : but something more, " a fifth," is added with it. And first, what of the amount ? It is " a fifth part'' To find the import of this, we must again go back to Genesis. If I mistake not, the first place in Scripture where " the fifth " is mentioned, wiU lead us to appre- * Chapter v. 16, vi. 5. 174 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. hend its import. The particulars will be found in the history of Joseph. Briefly, the facts are these. Before the great seven years' famine, though Egypt was Pha- raoh's land, and the Egyptians his people, yet both were independent of him in some way which e\idently was not the case afterwards. This we gather from the fact that after the famine " a fifth," never paid before, was paid to Pharaoh, in token that both land and peo- ple were Pharaoh's by another claim. We read that "when that year was ended, the Egyptians came to Joseph the second year, and said unto him. We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent ; my lord also hath our herds of cattle : there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands : wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land ? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh ; and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh ; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them : so the land became Pharaoh's. Then Joseph said unto the people. Behold, I have bought you this day, and your land, for Pharaoh : lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass, in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own. And they said, Thou hast saved our lives : let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto THE TRESPASS-OFFERING. 175 this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth "part ; ex- cept the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's." * We see here that ''the fifth 2)art" paid to Pharaoh, was the acknowledgment that all had been forfeited to him through misery. We learn, too, that in whatever way the Egyptians had been his jDCople heretofore, they were now, through their need, made his by another claim. Accordingly, the payment of " a fifth " hence- forward, wherever we meet with it in Scripture,*!- is the acknowledgment that the person paying it has lost and forfeited that whereof " the fifth " was offered. It is a witness not only that the sum or thing yielded up, has been yielded of necessity, as a debt, not as a free gift ; but that the whole of that whereof the fifth was paid, was the right and property of him to whom its " fifth " was rendered. Thus its import in the Trespass-offer- ing seals the character of the ofiering, testifying that what was given was indeed a debt, and not a free gift. J * Genesis xlvii. 18-26. f It is only found in the law of the Trespass-oflferings, Leviticus V. vi. ; and in the law concerning vows or dedicated things, Leviti- cus xxvii. In both cases evidently the purport is the same. J If I mistake not, this "ffth" is also connected with the tenth or tithe ; the fifth being two tenths, or a double tithe. One tenth was paid by God's people before anything was forfeited in any way, as the acknowledgment that he to whom it was paid had a claim on all that of which a tenth was offered. But after a thing was for- feited by vow or trespass, (Lev. xxvii. and v. vi.,) we find that a fifth or double tithe was rendered. By the law in Exodus xxii. 4, 7, 9, any act of trespass gave him who had been trespassed against a double claim, or rather a claim to doulk the amount of the original 176 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. But while this was the import of giving " the fifth part," yet by the addition of this fifth the injured party became in truth a gainer. So far from losing by tres- pass, he received more back again: and this is what we have now to consider. Wonderful indeed are the ways of God: how unsearchable are His counsels and wisdom ! Who would have thought that from the entrance of trespass, both God and man should in the end be gainers. But so it is. From man in Christ both God and man have received back more than they were robbed of. All things are indeed of God; yet it is from man in Christ, and this in consequence of tres- pass, that God, according to His wondrous purpose, re- ceives back more than that of which sin had robbed Him. In this sense, " where sin abounded," yea, and because sin abounded, " grace did more abound." Just as in the case above alluded to, which I doubt not is typical, and typical, if I mistake not, of very kindred truth, the effect of the famine and misery on the Egyp- tians was to give Pharaoh a claim not possessed before ; so the efi"ect of the entrance of trespass has been to give the injured person, whether God or man, a claim on the person and property of the trespasser, which before trespass entered was all unknown. I would to God this were more fully seen. We should then oftener hear of grace, of rights more sel- wrong or injury inflicted on him. Thus when trespass had been committed and confessed, "the fifth" was paid as the acknowledg- ment of the double claim. But this only by the way, as marking, if I mistake not, the connexion between the "tithe " and the "fifth part." I THE TRESPASS-OFFERING. 177 dom : nor should we so often see Christians shrinking from that which we call grace, but to the exercise of which w^e are nevertheless most surely debtors. But to explain this : — Before tresjoass entered, God only claimed His part or right. He had a right to holy things as His portion, and these He looked for from man. But since trespass has entered. His claim is more: the original right and the fifth part added. " The fifth " was, as we have seen, the token how much had been forfeited by the trespasser. Its payment testified that he to whom it was given had now not only his original right, but a still further claim u|)on him who wronged him. Thus God's claim through trespass is greater: and the same is true with regard to man's claim. Be- fore trespass entered, man too had his claim : that claim was his right, that claim was justice. But since tres- pass has entered, his claim is more : more than his right is now his claim from the trespasser. The fact that God has been wronged by man, and that Christ stands for man confessing trespasses, gives God a claim upon Him, not only for the original right, but for more than the first claimed holy things. So, too, because man has been injured by man, and because Christ stands for man as his substitute, therefore man, injured by trespass, has a claim on Christ, not for the original right only, but for greater blessings. And this claim Christ never refuses : nor are those in Christ free to shrink from it. They, too, as "in Him," are called, yea, and they are debtors, to deal in grace far beyond the claim of justice. The world may M 178 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. tMnk that to mete out justice is the highest path of which man is capable. But Christ has shewn a higher still ; and " he that abideth in Him is called to walk as He walked."* Such a path, of course, as every other step after Christ, if followed, will surely cost us some- thing. But costly things become king's children : we are rich enough to lose this world. May the Lord make His people know their calling, and conform them to Him in grace even as in glory 1 But I will not pursue this here, as further on I must again touch it in its bearing on the believer's walk. I merely add therefore, — ''Christ set us an example :"•(- and He yielded, not merely rights, but grace, to every man. Thus much then, for what is specially characteristic of the Trespass-offering, and as marking where it differs from the other offerings. It only remains to notice, II. The Varieties or Grades in this Offering. These are fewer than in any other offering, teaching us that those who apprehend this aspect of Christ's work, will apprehend it all very much alike. Doubtless, the cause of this lies in the nature of trespass, as it stands distinct from sin. It will be remembered, that in the Sin-offering the varieties were most numerous, and that because sin in us may be, and is, so differently appre- ' bended ; but trespass, the act of wrong committed, if seen at all, can scarce be seen differently. Accordingly, we find but one small variety in the Trespass-offering, for I can scarce regard the two differ- ent aspects of trespass as varieties. These aspects are, * 1 John ii. 6. t 1 Peter ii. 21. THE TEESPASS-OFFERIXG. 179 first, trespasses against God,* and then trespasses against our neighbour ; f but this distinction is more like the difference between the offerings, than the varieties in the different grades of the same. It simply points out distinct bearings of trespass, for which in each case the atonement seen is precisely similar. There is, however, one small yet remarkable difference between the two grades of the offering for wrongs in holy things. In the first grade, which gives us the fullest view of the offering, we read of the life laid down, the restitution made, and the fifth part added. But in the loiuer class, the last of these is unnoticed : "the fifth part" is quite unseen.\ And how true this is in the experience of Christians. Where the measure of appre- hension is full, there not only the life laid down, and the restitution made in the Trespass-offering, but all the truth also which is taught in the " fifth part," will be seen as a consequence of trespass and a part of the Trespass-offering. Not so, however, where the appre- hension is limited : here there is no addition seen beyond the amount of the original trespass. But I hasten to conclude these Notes on the distinctive character of the Offerings. We have considered them separately ; but we must never forget that though there are different aspects, there is but One Offering. Jesus, our blessed Lord, by His one oblation of Himself once offered for ever, has perfectly met, and perfectly satisfied, * Chapter v. 15-19. + Chapter vi. 1-7. X Compare versos 15, 16, which contain the higher grade, with verses 17, 18, which give the lower. 180 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. and that for us who believe, all that these emblems typify. I know that saints do not, and cannot see all the aspects of His Offering equally ; but God sees all, and sees it "for us." In this surely we may rest. Blessed indeed is it so to grow in grace that we can " apprehend that for which we are apprehended : " but after all the joy is this, that we are indeed apprehended. And though our knowledge of what is Christ's and ours is still small, the day that is coming shall reveal it. Then when that which is perfect is come, our present knowledge, which is but in part, shall be done away. Blessed Lord, hasten Thy coming, to gladden with Thine own presence those whom Thou hast saved with Thy blood ! i THE OFFEEINGS AS A WHOLE. 1 Peter iv. 1. — Romans xii. 1, 2. Union with Christ is that which essentially constitutes a Christian. Nor is this union something changeful or visionary : it is a reality wrought by the Holy Ghost The Church is "in Christ Jesus;"* and, as a conse- quence, " as He is, so are we in this world -"f identified with Him in His shame and in His joys ; in His death, His burial, and His resurrection.J And truly the figures which are used to describe this union are such as we should never have dared to appro- priate, had they not been given to us in our Father's Word, and were they not sealed in our hearts by His Spirit. What is the fellowship of brethren ? What the union of the bridegroom and bride ? What is the union of members with the head, of the branches with the vine, yea, of Christ with God ; such is the union of saints with Christ, such the bond which binds us to Him. Kot only does Christ say of His people, — " They * Eom. xii. 5; 2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. i. 22; Eph. i. 3 ; 1 Thess. iv. 16; 1 John v. 20, &c., &c. t 1 John iv. 17 :;: Rom. vi. 4, 8; Col. ii. 12, iii. 1. 182 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. are not of the world, even as I am not of tlie world ;"* but if He is " the Head/' they are " the members/' and both but "one body." "As the many members are one body, so also is Christ/'-f- The context and argu- ment here plainly demand that the sense should be, "so also is the Church;'' but the Church and Christ "are not twain, but one :"X therefore the Apostle writes, *' So also is Christ :" " Eor ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular/' "And no man ever yet hated his own body ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church : for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." § This union has its consequences, and they are most important, having reference to our standing and to our walk in Christ. For the first of these, our standing in Christ, faith apprehends it : and thus we have j)eace with God. We see a man, "the man Christ Jesus," as man in perf ectness standing " for us : " by His perfect sacrifice of Himself meeting God's claim on man, and thus in His person reconciling man to God. The sight of this, or rather the faith of it, gives peace. We see man reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus. His place, therefore, is now by faith apprehended as ours. Through Him, and in Him, by the Spirit, we claim and realize it. But the union of Christ and His Church not only affects our standing ; it must, if it be a reality, aff^^ect * John xvii. 14, 16. +1 Cor. xii. 12. X Eph. V. 31, 32. § Eph. v. 29, 30. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 183 oiir lualk. It is true, indeed, that our walk, as beinir part of our experience, and our experience being but the measure of our apprehension, through our lack of spiritual power, is constantly short of that for which we are apprehended.* But our standard is still that for which we are apprehended, and that is the walk of Christ. "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.'' -f- Indeed, the work of the Spirit is but to verify in all Christ's members that which is already true for them in the person of their Head. To see, therefore, what is true of Him as our Head, cannot be looked at alone in its connexion with our standing. If we are Christ's, it must necessarily take us further, leading us to know what should be the measure of our walk, and teaching us to judge in it, as unbecoming our calhng, all that in us is contrary to the walk of Christ. If it be true that we are indeed His members, by the living Spirit bound to Him, to be His for ever ; if it be true that in Him we are dead and risen, and if through grace we can rejoice in this ; we are only the more called on in the knowledge of this to seek to be conformed to Him, that so the things which are true for us in Him, may be made true in our soul's experience by the Spirit. Now, there are not a few who seem to see one part of this truth, but who appear incapable of receiving both parts ; some exclusively pressing that which bears upon our walk, others that which is connected with our standing. The consequence inevitably is meagre- * Phil. iii. 12. 1 1 Jo^n ii- 6. 184 THE LAW OF THE OFFEPJNGS. ness in both, while the truth of God is on each point deformed and weakened. Those who, while they see the standard for our walk in Christ, do not see the believer's 23lace in Him as accepted, uncertain of their place, while aiming to apprehend, lose the joy and strength which flows from knowing that they are apprehended. As a consequence, they lower the stan- dard of their walk, seeking only just so much of the Spirit's fruits as will prove them Christians. Others ao^ain, having; read of Christ's oneness with His Church, and as a consequence the believer's acceptance in Him, seem often by no means equally to understand the' necessary connexion of this with their walk as Chris- tians. Such profess to see their union with Christ, that He died for them, that they died in Him, without seeing that this union, if indeed it be real, must in- volve their daily dying with Him. Indeed, the very reverse of this is practically asserted. They seem to think Christ died in the flesh, that they might live in it. With such the doctrine really is this, — Christ died to sin that I might live to sin. I ask, is there any tiling like this to be found within the whole com- pass of Scripture ? Such a doctrine exhibited as it is in the lives of hundreds, though practically denying our union with Christ, because so often stated by those who profess to know that union, has done more than ought else to hide it. The humble soul, shrinking from the thought of making Christ's love to us an in- dulgence or apology for sin, recoils instinctively from THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 185 that which, while it speaks of union with Christ, in works utterly denies it. To connect this with the Offerings. The Offerings set forth Christ. We see in them how man in Christ has made atonement. Our standing as believers im- mediately flows from this : for " as He is, so are we in this world." We look at the Sin and Trespass-ofi'erings, and see that the sin of man has been fully borne. We look at the Burnt and Meat-ofFerings, and see all God's requirements satisfied. And tliis is our confidence, that as Christ " for us " has been without the camp, as " for us " He has been laid on the altar ; so truly do we, if quickened by His Spirit, stand in Him, even as He is : " for by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." * But there is also the other aspect of this truth. AVe are one with Christ : therefore we should lualh even as He walked. In this view His Offering, as our example, sets before us the model and standard for our self-sacri- fice. And just as Christ's sacrifice for us had varied aspects, as satisf}dng God, as satisfying man, as bearing sin ; so, though of course in a lower sense, will our self-sacrifice, just as it is conformed to His, and because we are one with Him, have these same aspects. It is in this way that, in a secondary sense, the Typical offer- ings have an application to Christians. Thus we also are offerers and our bodies offerings ; as it is wiitten, *' Present your bodies a living sacrifice."-(- Not indeed * Heb. X. 14. t Eom. xii. 1. 186 THE LAW OF THE OFFEPJNGS. as tliough by our self-sacrifice we could make Christ's Offering for us more acceptable : — " We are sanctified by tlie offering of His body once for all;"* "we are made accepted in the Beloved :"-|^ — but as the conse- quence of our acceptance in Him, and as the fruit of our union with Him through the Spirit. Therefore we offer ; and as already accepted in Christ, though in our- selves poor, weak, and worthless, our sacrifices, whether our works or person, as the fruits of Christ's Spirit, are acceptable through Him. Of course there is in His pure Offering that which will find no counterpart in us. Dissimilarities neither few nor small arise from the fact that He was sinless, we sinners. Yet the saint, as in spirit alive with Christ, as entering into His willing mind, J yea, as already one with Him, as in Him dead and risen, will seek further "to be made conformable to His death." § His self-sacrifice may fail in many ways : but his rule is the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. I proceed therefore to trace, in conclusion, how far the various aspects of the offering of the body of Christ, may be applicable to those who, being members of His mystical body, are called to walk even as He walked. I. And first the Buent-offering. This was man satisfying God : man in Christ giving himself to God as His ijortion. We have seen how for us this was fulfilled in Christ. We inquire how far in us it may be fulfilled by the Spirit. And in this light, both in its * Heb. X. 10. t Eph. i. 6. + 1 Cor. ii. 16. § Phil. iii. 10. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. ] 87 measure and character, the Burnt-offering stands a wit- ness how we should "yiekl ourselves."* First, as to its measure. It was " wholly burnt." No part was with- held from God. Can we mistake this teaching ? Does it not plainly say that conformity to Christ must cost us something, — yea, that it involves entire self- surrender, even though that surrender lead us to the cross? *'I will not," said David, " offer unto the Lord a Burnt- offering of that which doth cost me nothing.""|* The Burnt-offering is still costly, befitting Him who receives it at our hands. The Burnt-offering was God's claim ; that claim was love ; as He said, " Thou shalt love the Lord with all thine heart." The fulfilment of this re- quired a life from Christ. It will demand our lives just in measure as we walk with Him. " For love is stronsc as death ; jealousy is cruel as the grave ; the coals there- of are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."J And in these days when pious worldliness is so suc- cessfully misusing the truth of God ; — when, in the light of the advanced wisdom of this our age, self- sacrifice is exploded folly ; — when the mere fact that a path involves loss in this world, is considered a good reason for our at once avoiding it ; — when the doctrine of the cross, as it bears upon our walk, is not only omitted, but openly condemned ; — when to give up the world is injudiciousness, and to crucify the flesh a re- turn to law ; — in such days we do well to look at the Burnt-offering, as setting before us the example we are called to follow. Alas ! that it should be so, but it is * Rom. vi. 13. t 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. J Canticles viii. 6. 188 THE LAW OF THE OFFEKINGS. not denied, by some it is even gloried in, tliat Cliristian- ity now involves no loss ; the times are altered : the world is changed. The offence of the cross has ceased : they that live godly need not suffer * A path has been found, a happy path some think it, wherein the highest profession of Christ costs nothing ; nay, in which such a profession, so far from involving the loss of this world, is the surest way to gain its praise. According to this doctrine, Christ suffered for us; apostles, pro- phets, martyrs, all suffered. They, in their pilgrimage, lost this world for another ; but we, in happier days, can possess both worlds. It cannot be. If God's Word be true, our path after Christ must be still a sacrifice. We, as they of old, if followers of Christ, must with Him "present our bodies a living sacrifice.'' -|- And indeed if we do but weigh these words, — "Present your bodies a living sacrifice," — we cannot shut our eyes to what is involved in them, and that we are called to give up ourselves. Can we do this without cost, or without feeling that sacrifice is in- deed sacrifice, though it be willing sacrifice ? Impos- sible. Christ felt His sacrifice : and so surely shall we, if we offer with Him. Nor shall we grudge this. Just as it was His joy to give Himself ; as He said, " I delight to do Thy will, God;"| so in us also, as quickened with Him, " the spirit is willing, though the flesh is weak."§ I do not wish to press every detail of the Burnt - * See 2 Tim. iii. 12. f Rom. xii. 1. + Psalm xi. 8. § Matt. xxvi. 41. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 189 offering in its application to our individual walk ; yet tlie general character of the victim may be a guide to the character, as its entire surrender was to the measure, of our offering. We saw, in the application of the type to Christ, how its varieties of bullock, lamb, and turtle- dove, each brought out some distinct particular in the character of our blessed Lord. In each of these we have an example we can comprehend, however far we may be from attaining to it. Would to God that in active yet patient service, in silent unmurmuring sub- mission, in gentleness and innocency of life, we might be conformed to Him who went before us. These emblems of His offering, if they mean anything, sufficiently shew us, — even as His example shewed it, — that self-sacrifice is not to make us great in this world : service, submission, meekness, will gain no crown here. We cannot be heroes in this world, if we offer ourselves to God in the character these emblems typify. But if conformed to them, we shall be more like Christ. May He give us grace gladly to acquiesce in the likeness ! He, as man in a proud and violent world, yea, and for us, was all that these emblems typify. He bore the cross such a character involved ; He shrunk not from the reproach it brought Him. He was despised and rejected of men, as a lamb slain, and none to jjity. In a word, and this is indeed the sum of it, He was content to be nothing, that God might be all. May the corresponding reality be more manifested in us, through subjection to the power of His indwelling Spirit. 1 90 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. II. But let US pass on to the Meat-offering. Here, as man for men, Christ offered Himself as the fruit of the earth, that is, as mans meat In doing this. He gave Himself to God, yet with S23ecial refer- ence to man, and as meeting man's claim on Him. Man had a claim upon man ; God had ratified the claim, saying, ^ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- self." In the Meat-offering, Christ met and satisfied this claim, by giving Himself to God as man's portion. Let us, in the light of His sacrifice, learn how far His members, though but "leavened bread," may yield themselves to God as man's meat. To turn then to our Pattern. What, as meeting man's claim, was the character of His Offerino^, and what the measure of it ? Tor its chai^acter, " the bruised corn," " the oil," " the salt," and " the frankincense," are sufficiently explicit. For the measure of it, it is enough to say, the Type shews us the whole consumed. Such is our standard. Its import we cannot mistake. The question is, How far we may be conformed to it? To answer this let us look to other days, and see how far poor sinful man has been conformed to it. Time was when the Church, though but "a leavened cake,"* was so far filled with the anointing of the Holy Ghost, that "the multitude of them which believed were of one heart and of one soul : neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own ; but they had all things common. Neither was there any that lacked : for as many as were possessors of * Lev. xxiii. 17. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 191 lands or houses sold tliem, and brouglit the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at tlie apostles' feet ; and distribution was made to every man according as he had need." * Here was a Meat-offer- ing, and a costly one : but costly as it was, it was not then a rare one. In that day there were living men, who for the gospel had "lost all things/' -[* who yet, while suffering this, were willing to suffer more, even to give their ovm lives to God for others. *'Yea,'' says Paul, "if I be poured out," (lie alludes to the Drink-offering which was offered as an adjunct to the Meat-offering I) — "Yea if I be poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you."§ Nor was he alone in this. Time would fail to tell of others, Onesiphorus, Epaphroditus, Phile- mon, Phebe, who "oft refreshed the bowels of the saints." II Their lives were indeed a Meat-offering. There is yet a Church. There must yet be offerings ; and thank God we yet hear of sacrifices. But what is their measure, what their character? How far are they conformed to those we have but just spoken of ? Let each here judge himself. This only will I say, that just in measure as we are like our Master, — just in proportion as we accept His words as the rule for the measure, as well as the manner of our sacrifice, — just so far as in the steps of those of old, we " sell that we have, and give alms,'' — just as we "give to him that asketh of us, and from him that would borrow of us * Acts iv. 32-35. f Thil. iii. 8. X Numbers xv. 1-12. § Pliil. ii. 17. II Philemon 7. 192 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. turn not away," — just so far shall we find our path a sacrifice, involving not only cost, but unexpected trial. As of old, so is it now. The box of alabaster, of oint- ment, of spikenard very precious, cannot be poured upon the head of Christ, without exciting the anger of those who see it. Even disciples must complain. " When the disciples saw it, they had indignation, say- ing, To what purpose was this waste?" Even so is it now. Self-sacrifice is still reproved, even by those who follow the Crucified One. With not a few, such a course is sufficient proof of the lack of common sense or common prudence in the person guilty of it. But what saith the Lord ? " When Jesus understood it, He said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman ? for she hath wrought a good work upon me : for in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her."* And in that coming day, when the gospel shall have done its work, in gathering a people out of all nations, when the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, — in that day when the righteous answer, When saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee, the King shall say, Inasmuch as ye did it to my breth- ren, ye did it unto me. III. I pass on to the Peace-offeeing. This was that view of the Offering which shewed us the Offerer fed. In the Peace-offering, the off'erer, with the Priest, * Matt. xxvi. 7-13. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 1 93 and God, partook of, that is, found satisfaction in, the offering. Can it be said that in this aspect of the Offering, our self-sacrifice can at all resemble Christ's ? Can our poor offerings yield any satisfaction to our- selves ? Can they afford any satisfaction to Christ and God ? I must take heed what I say here. But what saith the Lord? Let His Word in each case supply the answer. That answer will teach us that in this asjDCct also the Peace-offering has a fulfilment, not only in Christ, but in His members. And first, for God's part. Does God find satisfaction in our offering!* ? The following witness is sufficiently clear : — " To do good and to communicate forget not : for iviiJi such sacrifices God is luell pleased!"'^ So again, the offering sent by the Philippians to Paul was "a sweet savour:'' God found in it something pleasant to Him : — " The things which were sent from you, are an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well- 2)leasing to God/'f The words here used in the ori- ginal are the very same as those which the Septuagint have used to express " a sweet savour " in the Peace- offering4 What stronger proof can we need of God's satisfaction in, and the value He puts upon, the offerings of His Church. "God loveth a cheerful giver ;"§ and as our greatest gift is "to give ourselves, ''|| so the presentation of our bodies as living sacrifices is "ac- * Heb. xiii. 16. t Phil. iv. 18. :{. St Paul's words are ocr/i?) evabias Tto 6ea- In the Peace offering the Septuagint version gives oafxf] evcobias tS Kvpia. § 2 Cor. ix. 7. II 2 Cor. viil 5. N 194; THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. ceptable unto the Lord." * And we need to remember this. It is possible, nay, it is easy, in our zeal against the doctrine of salvation by works, to leave the impres- sion that all works are useless, none acceptable to God, or accepted of Him. I fear there are not a few who, practically at least, are in error upon this very question. The works of the flesh are indeed dead works ; but the fruits of the Spirit, as they flow from Christ, as they are the witnesses of His grace, an offering to His praise, so do they come up before God through Him " a sweet savour." But the Priest also fed in the Peace-offering. Por the joy which our Priest finds in our offerings, poor and feeble though they be, it is enough to know, that even in the cup of cold water, in the bread to the hungry. He is refreshed and fed. " I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink!' -^ Oh, did we but know His joy in seeing us yield ourselves an offering for Him, to find that in a world which hated Him some remember Him while still away : — if we but realized the gladness of His soul in some work of faith or labour of love, forgotten it may be by the feeble doer, but treasured in the book of Him who is " not forgetful ; "■ — we could not, I think, give up ourselves with such narrow, selfish, grudging hearts. Could we, if in our services to the poor we saw Christ in them, and realized that He received our gifts, present them with such niggard hands? Would not our best be freely ofi"ered Him? * Kom. xii. 1. + Matt. xxv. 35. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 195 Suppose Him wanting bread. If we knew He lacked, that He was hungry, naked, sick, or suffering ; would not our last shilling, our most precious time, be freely given to minister to Him ? We can do so still. '' I was sick, and ye visited me : I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Verily I say. Inasmuch as ye did it to my brethren, ye did it unto me."* But further, the Peace- offering fed the offerer. And surely we have been strangers to self-sacrifice, if we need be told the joy it imparts to him who sacrifices. But what saith the Word ? Paul, speaking of his ser"sdce, says, " Yea, if I be sacrificed, / joy, and rejoice with yoiiy-]' So again to the Colossians, '' I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fiU up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ." J So again, "I count not my life dear unto me, so that I might finish my com^se with joy."§ Not only is it true, that for our service " every one shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour; "II but in our service, in yielding our- selves to God, there is present joy with which a stranger intermeddleth not. " It is more blessed to give than to receive;" IF and he who gives himself to God shall know this blessedness. "Sorrowful" he may be, "yet always rejoicing ; poor, yet making many rich."** The very costliness of the sacrifice increases our joy, when we know that He, to whom we offer, rejoices with us. IV. Thus far we have only followed the sweet-savour offerings, in their application to the Christian's walk. * Matt. XXV. 40. t Phil. ii. 17. X Col. i. 2L § Acts xx. 2i. II 1 Cor. iii. 8. H Acts xx. 35. ** 2 Cor. vi. 10. 196 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. Are the remaining offerings, the Sin and Teespass- OFFEEINGS, equally applicable to us upon this same principle ? I believe they are ; though, as in the preceding offerings, only applicable in a secondary way. God forbid I should be mistaken upon this point, as though I thought that the saint could atone for himself or others. In this sense, any interference with the Sin-offering would be a setting aside of the work of Christ. Still, there is a sense and measure in which the Sin-offering has its counterpart in us, as bearing on our self-sacrifice : there is a sense in which the Christian may bear sin, and suffer its judgment in his mortal flesh. Just as the Burnt-offering, — which, in its first and full application, shews Christ in perfectness once offering Himself for man ; by that One Oblation of Himself once offered, meeting God's claim on man, and so reconciling us to God for ever ; — -just as this Burnt- offering, while as offered for us it secures our acceptance, has also, as an example to us, an application to our walk, shewing how man in Christ should offer himself, through the Spirit giving himself to God ; just so is it in the Sin and Trespass-offerings. Without in the least degree interfering with the atonement perfected by the One great Sin-offering ; — while holding that by that One perfect sacrifice, and by that alone, sin can ever be purged; as it is written, "He by Himself purged our sins ;"* and again, "He hath put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself ;"t — there is still a sense in which the Christian, in offering himself to God, can * Heb. i. 3. f Heb. ix. 26. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 197 and should use the Sin-offering, as well as the Burnt- offering, as his pattern. For lack of knowing this many are sparing that flesh, which the cross of Christ was given to crucify. What then was the Sin-offering? It was that peculiar offering, in which the victim bore sin, and died for it. The question is, how far, even if at all, this is applicable to the Christian's offering. Is there anything to be wrought in us by the Spirit, answering to the dying for sin of the Sin-offering ? Let the Scripture answer : " Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being jDut to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.''* And what is the inference ? Is it that the death of Christ is the reprieve to the flesh, its release from suffering? On the contrary, Christ's death in the flesh for sin is made our example : we too must also, yea therefore, die with Him. So it follows : — " Foras- much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind : for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sm."-|' The saint, as having been judged in the person of Christ, and knowing that for him Christ has borne the cross, follows on by that cross to judge and mortify all that he finds in himself still contrary to his Lord. The flesh in him is contrary to that Holy One : the flesh in him therefore must die. And instead of making Christ's cross the reprieve for that flesh, the child of God will use that cross to slay it. Others may * 1 Peter iii. 18. f 1 Peter iv. 1. 198 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. preach tlie cross of Christ as an excuse for carnal and careless walking. He who abides in God's presence will surely learn there that by the cross we must be crucified with Christ. If he says, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," he will add at once, " by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." * I know indeed that " there are enemies of the cross, whose God is their belly, who glory in their shame ;"t who are using the doctrine of the cross, to spare that flesh which the cross should crucify. But God's truth is, that so far from " the flesh " or " old man " being saved from death by the cross, it is by it devoted to death and to be crucified ; and that Christ's death, instead of being a kind of indulgence for sin, or a reprieve of the life of the flesh, the life of the old man, is to His members the seal that their flesh must die, and that sin with its lusts and affections must be mortified.^ The fact is that the child of God, who, through igno- rance of God's mind, or disobedience, instead of judging the old man with his works, makes provision to fulfil * Gal. vi. 14. t Phil. iii. 19. X It was but lately that in looking over a work just published, I found the following objection to the doctrines of grace; that, "if death be the penalty of sin, and Christ in dying for His people in- deed bore the punishment due to them, how comes it that any believers die ? " Full well has the so-called Evangelical preaching of the day merited such a rebuke — a rebuke which could never have been heard, had the full truth of the cross been stated, namely, that Christ's death is the witness to His people, that, since they are His members, they must also be crucified with Him. See Rom. vi. • Gal. ii. ; 1 Pet. iv. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 199 the lusts thereof ; such a one, if indeed he be Christ's, by not judging himself, only brings upon himself God's judgment. Happy they who, in communion with the Lord, learn and judge the flesh there, rather than in chastenings from Him. " If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged of the Lord."* But if we reject this path : still the flesh must die. If we do not mortify it, God most surely will. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh."-]- "Our old man is crucified with Him.'' J And just as, because we are alive in Christ, we can, as risen with Him, yield our- selves to God, in spirit giving Him the fruits of right- eousness, a sweet savour to Him by Jesus Christ ; so may we also, as one with Christ in the power and energy of the same Spirit, mortify our members which are upon the earth, and yield our flesh to death, to be crucified with Him. How full, then, of teaching is the Sin-offering, viewed even in this lower light, merely as an example to us ! How does it seal that truth we are so slow to learn, that the flesh, the old man, must be judged and morti- fied ! I ask, how is this aspect of Christ's Offering, and our offering with Him, apprehended by Christians ? Another has said, — "The boast of our day is that Christ crucified is preached. But is He, even in this one respect, fully preached, or the doctrine of the cross fully apprehended? Let the walk of those who make the boast answer. It is not insinuated that such are chargeable with licentiousness or immorality. But * 1 Cor. xi. 31. t Gal. v. 24. :;: Rom. vi. 6. 200 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. are they, therefore, not chargeable with ' walking after the flesh/ and 'making provision to fulfil its desires?' In the m altitude of particulars it is difficult to make a selection. But what then is the high regard in which blood, and ancestry, and family connexion, are held by some ? What is the regard to personal appearance and dress, in others ? What the attention to ease and com- fort, and often-times profuse expenditure, (not to speak of actual luxuries,) in the arrangement of the houses, tables, &c., of almost all? What are the accomplish- ments, on the acquirmg of which so much time and money are spent ? What the character of the educa- tion which most Christians, in common with the world, give their children ? Or, to take a wider view still of making 'provision for the flesh,' apart from what is generally considered evil or sinful, — to what are all the discoveries in science, all the improvements in art, directed? What is the end of most of the trades and businesses followed in a professing Cliristian coun- try, and often by Christians ? Is all this, and a thou- sand other things too numerous to particularize, con- sistent with reckoning ourselves dead as to the old or natural man ? Is this what the Scriptures intend by crucifixion of the flesh ? Alas ! full well do many of the professing Christians of our day shew that they are but half taught the very doctrine in which they make their boast ; that they have but half-learned the lesson which even the cross teaches. They have learned that Christ was crucified /or them, but they have not learned THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 201 that they are to be * crucified with Him ; ' or they have found an explanation for this latter expression in the imjDutation of His death for our justification ; — a part of the truth, but not the whole ; for in vain in this explanation of the words should we seek an answer to the objection which the Apostle anticipated. Yea, rather, that objection is confirmed by it, for it is nothing else than making the cross the reprieve of the flesh from death. And then when death itself comes to give the refutation to this creed, and to shew that the Christian is not saved in the flesh, then is the effect of this half-learned lesson seen. For, instead of welcoming death as that of which his life has been the anticipation, the execution of that sentence on the flesh, which, since he has known Christ as crucified for him, he has learned in its desert, and has been continually passing on it in mind and spirit, the dying with Christ daily, the ' being planted in the likeness of His death,' — instead of being enabled in this view actually to glory in his infirmities, in the weakness, yea, and the dissolu- tion of the flesh, and like the victim found on the arrival of his executioner to have anticipated the end meditated for him, being found of death dead, — he is scarcely resigned to die, and impatient of suffering in the flesh. And why ? Because that truth which the Cross of Christ was designed to teach, he never dis- tinctly understood, or rather experienced, namely, that salvation is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit ; not from death, but out of it ; not the reinstating of the 202 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. old nature, but the conferring of a new, by the dying and risino; ae^ain with Christ."* V. It only remains for us to look at THE Trespass- offering, in its bearing on the walk of saints. This was that offering in which restitution was made for wrong ; the original claim with the added " fifth" was paid by the trespasser. We have seen how this was fulfilled for us in Christ, how at His hands God re- covered all whereof man had robbed Him. We have seen the consequence of this to those in Christ, how they are complete in Him through whom we have received the atonement. Our present inquiry is, how this offering should affect our walk ; how far our union with Christ will make this view of His sacrifice an example to us ? And first we have restitution here. Christ standing for man makes full restitution for man's wrong and trespass ; " not with corruptible things, as silver and gold;"-f- but by the value of His own Offering He repays our trespass. In this sense we can make no restitution. If Christ has not made it, we are lost. The rest of our lives, if wholly spent for God, could never atone for our acts of trespass. Each day would bring its own proper claim. Works of supererogation, therefore, we could have none. Yet there is a measure and a sense in which the saint in fellowship with Christ * Burgh's Tracts, " On preaching Christ." Christ in His death. Pp. 5, 6. 1 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. THE OFFEEINGS AS A WHOLE. 203 Tvill make restitution. Not indeed as to win acceptance, but as shewing how, according to his measure, through the Spirit, he sympathizes with Christ. As he has in days past, as the servant of sin, robbed man and God of their rights, so now, as having been made free from sin, he becomes the servant of righteousness. " Now, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlast- ing life." * But there was a fifth part added. God or man, if wronged by trespass, not only received back their original claim. In consequence of trespass, more than that claim was due to them, the payment of which with a life, constituted the Trespass -offering. Under the law, God and man had each their claim on man: the measure of that claim, by God's own appointment, was righteousness : if man dealt justly toward God and man, nothing further than the right, nothing like grace, could by law be claimed of him. But it was different after he had trespassed. Then, by God's own appointment, right was no longer the measure of his debt to others. If we were sinless, we should without doubt be safe, yea, we might bring the law to justify us, in dealing mere rights to every one. But if the Old and New Testaments mean anything by what they teach on this point, the trespasser is the wrong man to contend for rights. The fact of our being trespassers gives God a claim upon us, not merely the original ♦ Rom. vi. 22. 204) THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. claim, not the bare claim of right. Above and beside this, the trespasser is a debtor to yield that which, but for his being a trespasser, could never have been claimed from him. I know we call this, dealing in grace, to yield to sinners more than their just claim on us. In a sense it is grace : it would be so fully, if we ourselves were sinless before God. But because we are convicted trespassers, and trespassers who make our boast in grace, we are called, as the very witness of that grace and of our need of it, to deal in what we call grace to others. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye : but I say unto you, resist not evil. Do good to them that hate you ; pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you." * " And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also whicji is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your heavenly father forgive you your tres- passes.'^f " Por if ye love them that love you, what thank have ye ? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye ? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye ? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again ; and ye shall be the children of the Highest : for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. "J: * Matt. V. 38-44. f Mark xl 25, 26. t Luke vi. 32-35. THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 205 This is very plain. But how far is it acted upon by many who profess to be one with Christ ? Provided we have been just, who asks, have I been gracious, in my dealings to my fellow-men ? Who scruples to go to law,* who fears to claim his rights, little thinking of the added "fifth" of the Trespass-offering? And who, were his rights withheld by law, would hesitate to strive against the law by political agitation or other- wise ; forgetting that grace, not right, must be the law, as it is the hope, of the trespasser? But I forbear upon this head. He that cannot hear Christ, will scarcely hear His feeble servant. " If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Such is " The Law of the Offeeings." It gives but one view of Christ : yet how much is involved in it, both as to our walk and standing. Do we not need this truth ? Surely if ever there was a time when the truths connected with Christ's sacrifice were needed, that time is the present. As in the days of Christ, so now God's truth is used as the prop of error. Just as then the Law, which was given to prove man's sinful- ness, was used by Pharisees to exalt man's righteous- ness ; so now the Gospel, which was given to lead us to another world, is being used to make this world a more sure abiding place. I speak what is notorious : it is the boast of our age, that Christianity is doing what it ♦ 1 Cor. vL L 7. 206 THE LAW OF THE OFFEEINGS. never did before. It is giving temperance to tlie world and peace to the nations, it is vindicating the liberty of the slave ; in a word, it is making for man a better home, a safer resting-place, on this side the grave. And all the while the world is still the world, and the slave still, as before, the slave of lust. Time was when Christians gave up the world. They now can mend it : they need not leave it. Oh, cunning device of the Evil One, too easily followed by a deluded age ! God's truth now, instead of laying man in his grave, with the cer- tain hope of a resurrection morning, is used on all hands, misused I should say, to perfect man in the flesh, almost to deify him ; — used to prop '' the things which must be shaken," instead of leading us to those "which cannot be moved," — used to give an inherit- ance on this side death, instead of in the glory which shall be revealed. Oh, how does The Offeeing judge all this ! It speaks of sacrifice, even to the cross. It tells us that, as one with Christ, our portion in Him must yet be His portion. What had He here ? He suffered under Pontius Pilate ; He was crucified, dead, and buried ; He rose again the third day ; He ascended up into heaven ; He sitteth at the right hand of God ; He shall come again to judge the quick and dead. AVhat had He here ? Nothing. He took not as His home a world impurged by fire, a creation still under the curse. He passed through it as a rejected jDilgrim. We, too, if we would be like Him, must do so still. As Luther said, " Our spouse is a bloody husband to THE OFFERINGS AS A WHOLE. 207 US." He will not let us have this world till He has it. His day is at hand : for that day He waits.* Let us be content, "yet a little while," to wait with Him. And while many are anticipating His kingdom, in a king- dom without His presence, and without His saints, let us look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. * Heb. X. 13. i APPENDIX. The principle on which I have interpreted the Varieties of the Offerings is one which appears to lie open to an objection. My principle, it will be remembered, is that the Varieties in the Typical Offerings represent different aspects or apprehensions of Christ's One Offering : the different offerings giving ns different aspects of His Offering ; the different grades the various apprehensions of some one aspect. In the preceding pages* I have briefly given the grounds for this judgment. An objection, however, may be made. It may be urged, that it is far more reasonable to suppose that God in His Word would give us representations of realities themselves rather than of certain apprehensions of them, inasmuch as since different apprehensions must be more or less imperfect, the representation of such in His Word would make that Word imperfect likewise. The plausibility of this objection makes me notice it liere. It is, however, I am convinced, unsound ; proceed- ing throughout on an assumption opposed to reason and all experience. That this assumption is not sooner de- Pages 40-47. O 210 THE LAW OF THE OFFERINGS. tected arises from the fact that it involves questions with which but few are conversant. The objection assumes, without appearing to assume anything, certain points connected with the capabilities of our perceptive faculties. The mass of mankind are content to use their perceptive faculties without ever troubling them- selves to inquire what it is those faculties deal with. Any assumption, therefore, on such subjects, takes them into an unknown sphere, where, from misapprehension of what they seem to see, their most logical conclusions, because founded on misapprehension, may, and indeed necessarily must, be most irrational. I say the objection makes assumptions. It does so on the subject of representations, assuming it reasonable to suppose that representations must be of realities rather than of certain apprehensions of realities. To this I say at once, that such a supposition, so far from being reasonable, is most unreasonable. For, first, it is acknowledged that the perceptive faculty, whether of things inward or outward, deals not with realities them- selves, but only with their phenomena ; which pheno- mena, though they pre-suppose the existence of realities, are not realities, but, as the name imports, only certain appearances of them. And secondly, it is equally plain, that j)ictures or similar representations, (and the types are confessedly such representations,) can of necessity be conversant with phenomena only, inas- much as they only describe or represent what the perceptive faculty takes cognizance of. It follows hence at once, that if the Types are to represent what APPENDIX. 211 oiir perceptive faculties take cognizance of, they will necessarily be representations, not of realities them- selves, but of certain appearances or apprehensions of them. I am more and more satisfied that what we see of Christ and God, though true as far as it goes, (and surely most true it is,) is yet very far short of the ineffable reality "which passeth all understanding." Certain forms of the truth we have got : the reality, who has yet attained to know it ? THE END. BALLANTYNE AKD COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBUKQU. LIST OF BOOKS PUBLISHED BY JAMES NISBET & CO, THE STORY OF COMMANDER ALLEN GARDINER, R.N. With Sketches of Missionary Work in South America. By John W. Mahsh, M.A., Vicar of Bleasby-with- Morton, Notts, and Waite H. Stiriing. B.A., Missionary of Tierra-del-Fuego and Patagonia. With Maps and Portrait. Crown Svo, cloth. 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