Sin Against A Fellow Believer - Part IV
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“And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of My offerings made by fire: it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute forever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made by fire: every one who touches them shall be holy.”—Leviticus 6:16-18
MOST HOLY
The meat offering contained no blood, as is obvious, but it was conjoined with an offering that was literally soaked in blood, and we speak of the burnt offering. So, too, our private offerings of thanksgiving contain no great sacrifice of our own; yet, even so, God looks upon our praise or thanksgiving offering as a sacrifice. The reason He does so is because of His Son, Jesus Christ. God willingly receives and accepts our display of thankfulness, even knowing that we have been given great blessings despite our basic unworthiness, because the ground around that Cross was literally soaked with the blood of His only Son.
THANKFULNESS TO THE LORD
So, when we thank God, we must always realize that He accepts our thanksgiving only because of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our thanksgiving in itself cannot please Him; our praises within themselves cannot please Him. If He is pleased, it is only because we do these things in remembrance of His only Son, who died and rose again from the dead. Even as the meat offering was attached totally and completely to the whole burnt offering, so must our worship, thanksgiving, and praises ever be attached to the Cross, or else it will not be accepted (Eph. 2:13–18).
The part eaten by Aaron and his sons, and all the priests who followed thereafter, was, in a sense, a symbolic picture of what Jesus was speaking about when He said to Israel, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, dwells in Me, and I in him” (Jn. 6:53–56).
Christ was not talking about literally eating His flesh and drinking His blood, for He then said, “It is the Spirit who quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (Jn. 6:63).
IN CHRIST
Our Lord was speaking of His death on the Cross. By Him using the terminology that He did, He, in essence, was saying that His great work on the Cross must be accepted as more than a mere philosophical quest. Faith must be tendered completely in Christ and what He did for us in the sacrifice of Himself. When this is done, and I speak of such faith being registered, God literally places us in Christ. In other words, in the mind of God, we were literally in Christ when He died on the Cross, in effect, baptized into His death, then buried with Him by baptism into death, and then, raised with Him in newness of life (Rom. 6:3–5).
Untold millions accept Christ in a philosophical sense. By that I speak of Him being a great healer, a great miracle-worker, or even a great prophet. But that’s not enough! That will save no one!
For Christ to be accepted, He must be accepted totally and completely, which was symbolized by the Passover lamb being eaten totally and completely, with none of it left remaining (Ex. 12:10).
To reject the Cross is to reject Christ. In effect, if the Cross is rejected or ignored in any way, the believer will find himself worshipping another Jesus, and doing so by another spirit, which produces another gospel (II Cor. 11:4).
NO LEAVEN
When the priests would prepare this particular offering of their own consumption, they must not add any leaven to it. Leaven is a type of yeast, which causes the corruption or fermentation of that in which it is placed; therefore, it was not to be used in this offering.
If leaven would have been blended into the flour along with the oil and the frankincense, the mixture would, no doubt, have swelled and frothed, thus creating the repulsive festering appearance that we find used throughout the Mosaic legislation as an image of moral evil.
In fact, when the Passover was to be observed, a detailed ritual was to be carried out, which referred to the cleaning of the house of any leaven. The family was to search and scrub the house so that no crumb of bread would be left in the house. Leaven, as stated, represents corruption; therefore, it should be readily understandable that no leaven would be included in this thanksgiving offering.
If there is unconfessed sin in our lives, which refers to leaven, God will not hear our prayers, and, therefore, our meat offering is made in vain. This flour was a type of Christ, and inasmuch as there was no sin in Him whatsoever, no leaven was to be put into this concoction, which, in effect, typified sin. His body was pure, perfect, and holy, which means that it was a perfect sacrifice.
We saw in the whole burnt offering what sin does to the individual. Its effect was symbolized perfectly in the required cutting up of the carcasses. The grizzly act of quartering and sectioning the slain animal symbolized the penetrating property of sin, which goes down into the very vitals of human beings. This helps to explain why Jesus had to pay the supreme sacrifice to rid man not only of the guilt of sin, but also the very root of sin.
MOST HOLY
Why was this offering most holy? It was most holy because it was an offering to the Lord made by fire. What does this mean?
Any offering that was placed on the fiery brazen altar and consumed by the altar’s fire was considered most holy. Totally and completely, this refers to the Cross of Christ. That connection, and that alone, is what made the offering most holy.
The garments of the offerer did not make it holy. The detailed preparations did not make it holy. The style by which the offering was handed over to the priests did not make it holy.
The fire represented Calvary, and the offering’s ingredients represented Christ and what He would do at the Cross; therefore, the holiness was in the Christ of Calvary and in nothing else!
How confused we get when we think our efforts somehow produce holiness! We wear our hair a certain length, and we think that the look we’ve achieved is holy. Our sleeves are a certain length, and we think that somehow this style is holy. We attend church so many times during the year, and in our minds, we think of this as being holy. We praise the Lord in a certain way, and this is supposed to denote some type of holiness.
THE WORKS OF MAN
We build our own little religion, in other words, and because we strictly adhere to it, we think of ourselves as holy. Conversely, we come to think of those who do not adhere to our own man-made standards as not being holy, unholy, or somehow unclean. We call ourselves people of holiness because we adhere to some set of rules.
When will we wake up and realize that our works and our own talents or abilities cannot produce any holiness? When will we see that all of our holiness, in totality, comes from the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary’s Cross and our faith in that sacrifice, which, in effect, constitutes a holiness made by fire?
The point is, true holiness cannot be attained by works or even by religious observances; it can only be made by fire. Holiness cannot be created by man’s efforts; it can only be made by fire. Satan will not bow before our man-made holiness, but he bows and trembles at that which is made by fire i.e., the Cross of Christ. We are holy simply and truly by having faith in Christ and what Christ has done for us at the Cross, and that alone! The fire represented the judgment of God poured out on Christ instead of us, at least those who trust Christ.
THE MALES
Only the males among the children of Aaron could eat this, symbolizing that it was through man, namely Adam, that sin was imposed upon the human race and, in effect, effected its destruction.
The Law of the meat offering closed with the words, “every one who touches them shall be holy,” which referred to the offerings made by fire. It is the same presently!
Christ alone and what He did at the Cross makes one holy, that is, if his faith is anchored in Christ and the Cross. Only the priests could touch it in those days. However, thank God, at this present time and, in fact, since the Cross, it is possible for anyone to touch that most holy sacrifice. When they do, a perfect righteousness is imputed to them, and they are holy.
THE MORNING AND EVENING SACRIFICES
“And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night” (Lev. 6:19-20).
It seems that much was worked around the two sacrifices that were offered daily, namely the morning sacrifice, which was a whole burnt offering, and carried out at 9 a.m., and the evening sacrifice, which was another whole burnt offering, and carried out at 3 p.m. Along with the high priest preparing this on a daily basis, which he was required to do, the wicks on the golden lampstand would be cleaned twice a day, at this particular time, as well. Also, incense was offered on the golden altar at these two times each day.
Jesus was put on the Cross at the time of the morning sacrifice, and He died at the time of the evening sacrifice, meaning that He stayed on the Cross for six hours. Consequently, he fulfilled the type in totality.
While the high priest was to offer the meat offering everyday, the ordinary priests were to offer it only once, and that was on the day that he was consecrated to his office.
It seems that it was offered after the sacrifice of the whole burnt offering and before the drink offering.
It was to this practice that the apostle referred when he said, “For such a high priest became us…Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for His own sins,” and I might quickly add, because Jesus had no sins (Heb. 7:26–27).
A SWEET SAVOUR
“In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baked, you shall bring it in: and the baked pieces of the meat offering shall you offer for a sweet savour unto the LORD. And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute forever unto the LORD; it shall be wholly burnt. For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: It shall not be eaten” (Lev. 6:21-23).
This small amount of fine flour, which typified the perfect humanity of Christ, was to be sprinkled with oil and then baked. Along with the meat offering, it was to be placed on the brazen altar and then offered for a “sweet savour unto the Lord.”
This was to be carried out by Aaron, who was high priest, and all who would follow in his stead, even down through the centuries. It was not to be eaten; it was to be wholly burnt.
As should be obvious, the high priest typified Christ, but more particularly, this ritual typified what Christ would do as it regarded the redemption of humanity. This offering being burned on the brazen altar signified the death that Christ would suffer, in essence, the price that He would pay.
There was one vast difference.
Whereas the earthly high priests, despite their office, were sinful men and, therefore, had to repeat this every day, Christ, being perfect in every respect, would have to offer up this sacrifice - the sacrifice of Himself — only once. That would forever suffice (Heb. 10:12).
As we have previously stated, while the Cross of Christ took place nearly 2,000 years ago, still, it has continuing positive results, in fact, positive results which will never be discontinued.
THE LAW OF THE SIN OFFERING
“And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy” (Lev. 6:24-25).
The sin offering was killed in the place where the burnt offering was slain and its body (the sin offering) burned outside the camp.
So desperate a malady is sin that anything that came in contact with the sin offering had to be washed, broken, or scoured.
The sin offering, whose blood was brought into the sanctuary, symbolizes Christ bearing before God the sin of the whole world.
The sin offering, whose blood was not so brought in, but whose flesh was eaten by the priest, presented Christ as making His own the sins of the individual sinner who believes upon Him.
The burnt offering and the sin offering being slain upon the one spot sets out the unity of the death of Christ in its two aspects: at Golgotha, He was at once — in the same moment - accursed of God as the sin offering, and beloved of the Father as the burnt offering.
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