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Scripture Reading: Lev. 4:1-15, 22-28, 32; 6:25-30; 2 Cor. 5:21a; Rom. 8:3b; Heb. 9:12; 13:11-12
This chapter will cover the sin offering, which is the fourth kind of offering. When discussing the first offering, we pointed out why the five kinds of offerings were needed. It is because, in the presence of God, we are in five kinds of situations or conditions. We were made for God, but we are not for God. Therefore, we need Christ as the One who is absolutely for God as our burnt offering. Neither are we fine or perfect or properly balanced. Hence, we need Christ as the meal offering, because He is so fine, so perfect, and so balanced in His humanity. Also, we have no peace with God or with others. In the whole universe there is no peace, and among human beings there is no peace. In the schools there is no peace; in society there is no peace; among the nations there is no peace. Though we have the United Nations, there is still no peace. There is no peace in the homes between husbands and wives and between children and parents. We do not have peace with God, and we do not have peace with one another. So we need Christ as our peace offering.
Then we are sinful. And even more than that, we are sin. We are just sin itself. So we need Christ as our sin offering. And because we are sin, we are full of mistakes and wrongdoings. There is nothing right with us. We are wrong with our parents; we are wrong with our husband; we are wrong with our wife; we are wrong with our brothers; we are wrong with our sisters; we are wrong with our children; we are wrong with everyone! Even in the way we dress and cut our hair, we are wrong. We are wrong in every aspect. At one time in the past, I was dealing with the Lord about certain things. I thought that about an hour would be enough time to get through. But I soon discovered that I was wrong in everything. There was nothing in which I was right. Therefore, we need Christ as our trespass offering.
This is our condition before God. We are not for God, we are not fine and perfect, we have no peace with God and man, we are just sin itself, and we are full of mistakes and wrongdoings. These are our five conditions, so we need five kinds of offerings. But, praise the Lord! This means that we can apply Christ in at least five aspects. He is just the One that we need. We are not for God, but He is. We are not perfect, but He is. We do not have peace, but He is peace. We are sinful, we are sin, but He is the sin offering to deal with our sin. And we are full of mistakes, but He is our trespass offering. Hallelujah! We have such a Christ, who takes care of all our situations before God.
We should not consider that we are such wonderful persons. Not one among us is wonderful. In fact, we are pitiful. We are not for God; we are still for ourselves. We have mentioned the matter of thanksgiving and the vow in the last chapter. We are for thanksgiving; we are not for a vow. This indicates that we are so much for ourselves. We have no concern for God. We are not perfect and fine, and we really do not have peace. Our mind is not a mind for God; it is a mind for sin. The more we consider ourselves in the light, the more we find that there is nothing but sin. But, praise the Lord, we are so much negatively, and Christ is so much positively! Whatever we are not, He is. We can enjoy Him as the burnt offering and as the meal offering. These are the two basic offerings. And based upon these offerings, we can enjoy Him as our peace offering.
There is something more that we need to see. At the time we repented to take the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we did not realize that we were so sinful. We may have realized that we were not so good and that we had done many wrong things, but we never realized that we are just sin itself. Whether we intend to do something sinful or we do not intend to do something sinful, we are just sin. Therefore, the phrase without intent is used in Leviticus 4. “Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If anyone sins without intent, in any of the things which Jehovah has commanded not to be done, and does any one of them, if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him present a bull of the herd without blemish to Jehovah for a sin offering for his sin that he committed” (vv. 1-3).
For this phrase without intent we could also use unwillingly, ignorantly, unaware, or inadvertently. This is a picture, and it means that we must realize that while we are enjoying the Lord as our burnt offering, meal offering, and peace offering, we are just sin. Regardless of whether we have the intention of hating others or not, eventually we will hate them. Whether we are willing to lose our temper or not, we will simply lose it. We may not even like to be proud, but we will certainly be proud. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 7. He says that the things he hates to do, that is what he does. He does not want to do it, yet he does it. Perhaps in the morning we make a decision not to gossip at all that day. But during the day we gossip more than ever. We make a decision not to criticize others anymore, yet an hour later we are very critical of someone. Paul says in Romans 7:17, “Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.” It is not I but sin. In Galatians 2:20 we have this word: “No longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Romans 7 says that it is not I but sin. It is another person as in Galatians 2:20, but this person’s name is not Christ; this person’s name is sin. His first name is sin, his last name is sin, and his middle name is also sin. Sin! Sin! Sin! “Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.”
We may think that we are doing a wonderful deed, but eventually we may discover that what we did was terrible. At the time we did it, we thought it was wonderful. But it turned out to be awful. What does this prove? It simply proves that within us there is something called sin, and this sin is just ourselves.
Leviticus 4 is very difficult for people to understand. As a young Christian I tried for many years to understand this chapter, but I failed to do so. First of all, this chapter says that if a priest does something wrong without intent, he must offer the sin offering. Then it says that if the congregation of the Lord’s people errs, they must offer the sin offering. Later it says that when a ruler among the people does something wrong without intent, he must offer the sin offering. And it even mentions that if a common person sins without intent, he must offer the sin offering. By this picture we can realize that this is a congregation that is worshipping and serving God, which is exactly what we are doing today. We are simply a congregation that worships God by enjoying Christ as our burnt offering, meal offering, and peace offering. We may think that we are getting along quite well. We are in the recovery of the church life, so whatever we do surely must be right. However, it may seem right today, but after three weeks we may discover that what we did three weeks ago was horrible.
This chapter first mentions that the leading serving one may do something wrong. Yet he may think that it is one hundred percent correct. He does it without intent. After a certain time, he discovers that it was wrong. What is this? This is not a kind of mistake. This is something out of our inner being. Our inward being is just sin; therefore, what comes out cannot be right. This chapter goes on to say that the whole congregation, a ruler in the congregation, or a common person in the congregation may do something wrong. All these persons do something wrong without intent. The picture here shows us that within us there is something that always causes us to be wrong. This chapter does not deal with mistakes or wrongdoings; it deals with the source of our mistakes.
What is the source of our mistakes? We may say that it is sin, but this can be just a doctrinal answer. We must realize that we are the source of all our mistakes. If there were no one in the local church, surely the local church would never make any mistakes. But the more brothers and sisters there are, the more mistakes will be made. If we had only ten brothers and sisters meeting together, surely the mistakes could never be as many as we have today; today we have almost one thousand sources. This chapter does not deal with mistakes but with the source of our mistakes. And that is our very self. We are just sin. Therefore, we need Christ as our sin offering. Within every drop of our blood and every fiber of our muscle is sin. We are simply constituted of sin. And because we are sin, we need a sin offering. Praise the Lord that Christ is our sin offering! Second Corinthians 5:21 says that Christ was made sin on our behalf.
For many years after I was a Christian, I could not understand how Christ took away my sins. I was sinful, and I had committed many sins, yet Christ took away my sins by dying on the cross. Finally, after many years, I began to understand something concerning Christ bearing away our sins, but it was a much longer time before I could understand how Christ was made sin. He not only bore our sins, but He also was made sin. God made Him sin on our behalf. When He died on the cross, He not only bore our sins, but He was there as sin. He was condemned and crucified there as sin. This is seen in Romans 8:3: “God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” The phrase concerning sin could be adequately translated “as an offering for sin.” It means that Christ became a sin offering to condemn sin. When Christ was crucified on the cross, He was crucified there not only as our Redeemer but as sin itself. I realize that this is rather difficult for us to understand, but the type of the bronze serpent gives us a good picture.
The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that He would be the reality of the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up on a pole (John 3:14). We simply cannot understand. He was lifted up on the cross, and in our eyes He was Jesus, our Redeemer. But in God’s eyes He was there as the serpent. Of course, He was just the serpent in form; He did not have the nature of the serpent. The bronze serpent was a serpent in form only, without the poison in it. Romans 8:3 says that God sent His Son in the likeness, or in the form, of the flesh of sin. He was in the form of the flesh of sin, yet He Himself had no sin. We must realize that Christ was made sin for us. We not only have many sins, but we are even sin itself. Therefore, Christ not only bore our sins, but He was also made sin on our behalf. When He became flesh, He was made sin. Flesh in the Bible almost means sin. When Christ became flesh, He became sin. Since He was made sin, He could become our sin offering to deal with us as sin. He not only dealt with our sins, but He also dealt with us as sin.
The sin offering had to be killed by the presenter on the altar in the presence of God. In this offering, the most important thing mentioned in detail is the blood. “He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before Jehovah, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull and slaughter the bull before Jehovah. And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the Tent of Meeting, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before Jehovah in front of the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before Jehovah, which is in the Tent of Meeting; and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” (Lev. 4:4-7).
First the blood was shed; then the priest brought the blood into the Holy Place to sprinkle the blood seven times in front of the veil. This means that he sprinkled the blood seven times before God, who was behind the veil. There is no doubt that the purpose of this was to satisfy God’s demand and requirement. Then after the sprinkling in the presence of God, the priest put some of the blood on the four horns of the incense altar. We know that the incense altar is in the Holy Place, just before the veil, on the other side of which is God’s presence in the Holy of Holies. The blood is put on the four horns of the incense altar for our acceptance. The sprinkling of the blood seven times is for God’s satisfaction, and the sprinkling of the blood on the four horns of the incense altar is for our acceptance. This means that whenever we come to have fellowship with God, we must do it by the merit of this blood. It is by this blood that our prayer and fellowship are accepted.
All the blood was then poured out at the base of the altar in the sight of the presenter. By this time, the presenter is very much at peace because he realizes that the blood has been sprinkled before God, it has been placed on the horns of the incense altar, and it has been poured out at the base of the altar. When he sees the blood, he realizes that he has been redeemed and fully accepted by God. All His demands and requirements have been fulfilled by Christ. So the presenter is fully at peace. Because of this blood he has no fear. God has been fully satisfied, and he is fully accepted by God. The sprinkling of the blood seven times is for God, but the pouring out of the blood at the base of the altar is for the presenter.
Hebrews 9:12 tells us that when Christ ascended to the heavens, He brought His blood into the heavenly Holy Place, and He sprinkled the blood there. “Not through the blood of goats and calves but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, obtaining an eternal redemption.”
There are two kinds of sin offerings. One is for the priest who did wrong without intent, as well as for the whole congregation that did wrong without intent. For this sin offering, the blood must be brought into the sanctuary. But the blood of the sin offering for a ruler or for one of the common people need not be brought into the sanctuary. It was only necessary to put the blood on the four corners of the burnt-offering altar to show forth the power and effectiveness of the blood as well as its redeeming and cleansing power. All the rest of the blood was then poured out at the base of the altar. Why is there the difference in these two sin offerings? In the first sin offering, the blood had to be brought into the sanctuary to be sprinkled in the presence of God, but with the second, this was not necessary; the blood only needed to be put on the four horns of the burnt-offering altar. This difference is because the first sin offering was for a congregation, but the second was for an individual. A congregation needs something of a more serious nature than an individual. No priest had the right to eat the first kind of sin offering; the whole offering was for God. But the priests did have the right to eat of the second kind of sin offering.
Now we must see something of the body of the sin offering. “All the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall take off from it: the fat that covers the inward parts and all the fat that is upon the inward parts, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the appendage upon the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys, as it is taken off from the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. And the skin of the bull and all its flesh with its head and with its legs, and the rest of its inward parts and its dung, that is, all the rest of the bull he shall bring out to a clean place outside the camp, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned” (Lev. 4:8-12).
These verses tell us clearly that the fat was to be burned on the burnt-offering altar as a sweet incense to God. This was for God’s satisfaction. Then the whole body, including the skin, the inward parts, and the dung, was brought out to a clean place outside the camp, where the ashes were poured out. There the whole sin offering was burned. The fat had to be burned on the burnt-offering altar, but the rest of the body was burned in a clean place outside the camp, where the ashes were put. There was a difference between the fat and the rest of the body because the fat was for God’s satisfaction; therefore, it was burned on the altar. But the body was for God’s righteous judgment, so it was burned in a place of judgment outside the camp.
The body of the sin offering for the congregation was absolutely God’s portion. Nothing was for anyone else. But the sin offering for the individuals did leave a portion for the ministering priest. This shows us that Christ is so sufficient. He is sufficient to meet all the needs of the congregation, and He is more than sufficient to meet the need of individuals. As an individual, we can never exhaust Christ’s sufficiency, so there is a portion left for the priests. If the sin offering is for the congregation, all is for God. But if the sin offering is for individuals, because individuals can never exhaust Christ, there is a part for others to enjoy.
What is the way that the ministering priest enjoyed the portion of the sin offering? This is seen clearly in Leviticus 6:25-27a: “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered the sin offering shall be slaughtered before Jehovah; it is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the Tent of Meeting. Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy.” First of all, it is clear that he could not enjoy the portion of the sin offering in his home. It must be enjoyed in the court of the Tent of Meeting. This kind of enjoyment of Christ belongs to the Body, the church; it is not an individual matter. You may enjoy Christ by yourself in a certain sense, but you can never enjoy Christ as the sin offering to God. This must be enjoyed in the court of the Tent of Meeting, and it must be enjoyed in a holy way.
Now we must see something concerning the vessel that is used to boil the sin offering. “The earthen vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken; and if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, it shall be scoured and rinsed in water” (v. 28). The earthen vessel must be broken, but if the vessel is of bronze, it must be scoured and rinsed. We are the earthen vessel. That is our natural being. We were made of the earth, so we are earthen vessels. Bronze in typology signifies God’s judgment. This means that this kind of vessel has passed through God’s judgment. Both the burnt-offering altar and the laver were made of bronze (Exo. 27:2; 30:18). So the bronze vessel represents our regenerated being. Our natural being is an earthen vessel, and our regenerated being is a bronze vessel. Our natural being must be broken, and our regenerated being must be scoured and rinsed in water. This is the water in the word mentioned in Ephesians 5:26. The scouring is the natural circumstances raised up by God to scour us. God uses the circumstances to scour us and His word to rinse us. Our natural part must be broken, and our regenerated part must be scoured and rinsed.
Only the males among the priests had the right to eat of the sin offering. The males always signify the stronger ones. Aaron had daughters, but they were not privileged to eat the sin offering. This indicates that only the stronger ones in the church life are privileged to eat Christ as the sin offering. When we minister Christ to others as the sin offering, this is a kind of gospel preaching. When we minister Christ as the sin offering in this way, we are a ministering priest. Thus, we are privileged to enjoy a portion of Christ as the sin offering. All the weaker ones in the church who do not minister Christ to others as the sin offering do not have the right to enjoy Christ as the sin offering. Only those who would minister Christ to others in this way are the stronger ones; therefore, they have the right and the position to enjoy Christ as the sin offering. Whether they are brothers or sisters, they are the males among the priests because they are the stronger ones in the church life.
We also need to see the difference in the size of the sin offerings. A bull is much stronger and more vigorous than a goat. The sin offering for the priest as well as the sin offering for the congregation was a bull. This signifies that Christ is so vigorous and full of strength that He can be the sin offering for a congregation. Then a male goat is mentioned, which is much weaker, and then a female goat, which is weaker still. Finally, there is a female lamb, which is the weakest. The sin offering may be weaker, or it may be stronger. Therefore, as with the other offerings, there are degrees in the appreciation and apprehension of Christ as the sin offering.
Two things remain in the sin offering as a strong testimony to us: the blood and the ashes. The blood is at the base of the altar, and the ashes are in the clean place. The blood is proof that God’s requirement has been fully met, and now we are under God’s acceptance. The ashes declare that all our judgment is over. The ashes are the remainder of something that has been burnt. Christ has been burnt and thoroughly judged on our behalf. He has passed through all the judgment, so the remainder is ashes. When we see the ashes, we realize that the judgment is past. Hallelujah for such a sin offering! The blood and the ashes are very meaningful to us.
There is one more matter. Hebrews 13:11-12 tells us that Jesus as the sin offering was burned outside the camp. “The bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the Holy of Holies for sin by the high priest are burned up outside the camp. Therefore also Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” Since Jesus suffered outside the camp, those of us who enjoy Him as the sin offering must also be outside the gate. We must follow Him outside the world and any religious camp. We must be outside any religious organization and any kind of worldly organization. Christ was judged there, and that is also our place. The more we are outside the gate, the more we are in the place where Jesus was burned into ashes. Then we can really enjoy Him and praise Him for the blood and the ashes. We are on the same standing as the ashes. We are the followers of Christ who have left the camp. We are not in any kind of worldly or religious organization. The redeeming Jesus has led us out of all these things. Now all we see is the blood and the ashes. Those who follow Jesus out of the camp also become ashes. We are nothing but ashes following Jesus. This is the full enjoyment of Christ as the sin offering.
