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Scripture Reading: Lev. 5:1-19; 6:24-30; 7:1-7
These verses in Leviticus 5, 6, and 7 are not easy to understand. The more you read them, the more puzzled you would be. For example, have you ever imagined or heard that the fine flour made of wheat could be a trespass offering? Even the trespass offering eventually becomes a sin offering. So what is the difference between the sin offering and the trespass offering if the trespass offering can eventually become the sin offering? Also, how could a tenth of an ephah of fine flour be a sin offering? This seems to contradict Hebrews 9:22, which says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. How could the fine flour which has no blood to shed be a trespass offering and eventually a sin offering?
Leviticus 5:7 presents another puzzle: “If he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring as his trespass offering to Jehovah for that in which he has sinned two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.” This offering is for a trespass, so it should be a trespass offering. How could it be that of the two pieces of the trespass offering, one becomes a sin offering and the other becomes a burnt offering? Have you noticed also that with every kind of trespass offering, there is the mentioning that it is the sin offering?
There are at least four or five kinds of trespass offerings mentioned in these chapters. The first kind is a lamb, which is bigger than a turtledove or a pigeon. The second kind is two birds, either two turtledoves or two pigeons. The third kind is the tenth of an ephah of fine flour. These three kinds of trespass offerings are for the trespass in ordinary, common things. Then from verse 14 you have the trespass offering for the trespass in the holy things such as sacrifices offered to God. For example, if you did something wrong in offering your tithe to God, then you have to offer a ram for your trespass offering. If you trespass in the things belonging to God, the holy things, you have to offer a ram. A ram is bigger than a lamb. There is no choice. The biggest trespass offering is a ram. The second biggest is the lamb. The third biggest is two pigeons or two turtledoves. The fourth is just one tenth of an ephah of fine flour.
What about these three puzzles? First, how could the vegetable life without blood be used for a trespass offering which eventually becomes the sin offering? Second, how could the trespass offering eventually become the sin offering? The four kinds of trespass offerings mentioned here are eventually called sin offerings. Sin offerings are mentioned more times in this chapter than the trespass offerings. Third, how could a part of the trespass offering become a burnt offering? Of the two pigeons or the two turtledoves for the trespass offering, one becomes the sin offering, and the other becomes the burnt offering. How could this be? Then there is another problem: this is concerning the trespass offering. All the trespass offerings are edible; they are good for the priests to eat. But the sin offering is different.
According to chapter 4, there is the sin offering for different people. First, there is the sin offering for the priests, and second, there is the sin offering for the congregation of the people, for the nation. Third, there is the sin offering for the ruler of the people, and fourth, the sin offering for the common people.
The blood of the sin offering for the priests and for the congregation was brought into the Holy Place to be sprinkled before the veil seven times before God. Some of this blood was put upon the horns, or corners, of the altar of fragrant incense. Then the rest of the blood was poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. But the sin offering for the ruler and the sin offering for the common people were different. The blood of these offerings was not brought into the Holy Place. This blood was sprinkled only on the horns, or corners, of the altar of burnt offering, and the rest was poured out at the base of the altar. This kind of sin offering was good for the priests to eat.
In the preceding chapter we pointed out that the sin offering is mainly for God’s satisfaction and that your enjoyment of the sin offering is just the sprinkled blood at the altar. When you see the blood, you have the peace. But actually you can have more enjoyment because a part of some of the sin offerings is good for the priests to eat, and all of the trespass offerings are good for the priests to eat. By checking with my experiences, I realized that in our daily life when we enjoy Christ as our sin offering, we enjoy more than just the satisfaction through His blood. We enjoy much more than that.
When we offer Christ to God as our sin offering and as our trespass offering, in our experience we surely realize that such a Christ is good for eating. He is really good for eating! Also, at that time there are a lot of other senses and a lot of other realizations within you concerning Christ. Every day I am practicing what I fellowship with you. I offer Christ as my sin offering to begin my day, and all the time during the day I offer Christ as my trespass offering. Spontaneously I have the deep sense that Christ is in me. The very Christ whom I offered to God as my sin offering and as my trespass offering is in me. He is in me supplying me and strengthening me. He is in me sustaining and supporting. Also there is a kind of satisfying sense within me. There is a sweet sense, a sweet feeling, within me. There is a comforting sense within me.
When we offer Christ as the sin offering every day and when we offer the trespass offering during the day, we surely have the sense that His blood solves all our problems. We have the full peace. But this is not all. We also have something of the offerings to eat and enjoy. We do not just enjoy an objective blood that has been shed and poured out. But we enjoy something subjective to fill us up. Every day we can be satisfied.
Now we need to come back to solve some of the problems related to the trespass and sin offerings. First of all, we need to see how one of the two birds of the trespass offering could become a burnt offering and how the second could become a sin offering. If you just read these verses according to the letter, you cannot understand them. You have to go to the experience. Your experience will render a lot of help to you in understanding these verses.
Have you noticed that with the lamb for the trespass offering there is no mention of the burnt offering? It is only with the two pigeons or the two turtledoves that there is the mentioning of the burnt offering. When you offer Christ as a lamb for your trespass offering, that is the regular size. A lamb is the regular size for the trespass offering. For example, a regular-size letterhead is eight and one-half by eleven inches. If it is shorter or narrower, it is not the regular size. The regular size for a trespass offering is a lamb, but too many times we are not able to offer a lamb. Then what shall we do? Then we offer two pigeons or two turtledoves. In other words, we should use a regular-size letterhead, but we are poor. We do not have the regular size. So instead, we use smaller pieces of paper.
Because we are not able to offer a lamb, we offer two pigeons. At that time, even with your limitation, you still feel that the Lord Jesus is so sweet. Although you are so poor and unable to offer a lamb, yet you can still be accepted by offering two pigeons. This gives you a sweet sense, a sweet feeling. When you begin to have such a sweet feeling, you feel that you should be absolute for the Lord. Right away at least half of what you have offered to the Lord as the trespass offering becomes a burnt offering.
The significance of the burnt offering is being absolute to the Lord. The burnt offering is just for the Lord. It is just to satisfy God. It is not to make propitiation for your sin or for your trespass but to satisfy Him. Let me repeat: when you offer Christ as your trespass offering that is less than the regular size, offering only two small pigeons, you feel so grateful to the Lord that even though you are so poor and unable to do what you should do regularly, you still are accepted. You have the sense of gratitude. You feel that the Lord is so sweet to you. At this juncture you have a deep sense that you should be absolute for the Lord. This means that while you are enjoying the very Christ whom you offered for your trespass offering, you also enjoy this One at least fifty percent as a burnt offering.
Many times when I offered Christ as a trespass offering that was less than the regular size, I was so grateful to Him that I could be accepted; spontaneously, I had the sweet sense that I should be absolute for Him. But at the same time I realized that I could not make it to be absolute to the Lord. But thank Him, He can! He was absolute to God for me. So spontaneously I prayed, “Lord, thank You! You are not only my trespass offering; You are also my burnt offering.” This is the kind of burnt offering that comes from one-half of your trespass offering that is less than the regular size.
How then could the trespass offering become the sin offering? I believe that this is easy to figure out even logically. All the trespasses are the fruit of the tree. The tree is sin, and every piece of the fruit that comes from the tree is sin. The tree is the father, and all the fruits are the children of the father. Trespasses are children of sin. Not only is sin sin, but all the trespasses are also sin. So the trespass offering could become the sin offering because the trespass comes from the sin. Sin is the father, and the trespass is the child. From where does your gossiping come? It comes from sin. From where does your lying come? It comes from sin. From where does your temper come? It comes from sin. In other words, from where do all your activities of trespasses come? They come from one father — sin. A trespass is sin. So the trespass offering for the trespass is also the sin offering for the sin.
Then you might wonder why the Bible needs to use two different expressions: sin offering and trespass offering. There is a difference. All the fruit may be peaches, but the tree is only one. The peach tree is the sin, and the peach fruits are the trespasses. The Bible is more than logical. The only thing is that we are short of experience.
According to your experience, when you offered Christ as your trespass offering, did you not realize that that trespass came out of your sinful nature? Actually, that trespass does not belong to another category. It belongs to the same category as sin. So you realize that your trespass offering is not merely a trespass offering. Your trespass offering actually is a sin offering.
Do not excuse yourself by saying that you have a little weakness. Do not excuse the loss of your temper to your wife as a little weakness. Do not excuse your gossiping as a little weakness. You have to realize that all these things come from your sinful nature. If you do not realize this in such a thorough way, it indicates that your offering of Christ as the trespass offering is not absolute. If your offering of Christ as the trespass offering is thorough, you will realize that even a little negative speaking concerning a brother comes from your sinful nature. That is sin. So whatever you offered is not merely a trespass offering; it is also a sin offering.
As husbands, we have a lot of experiences with our wife. If you were to ask my dear wife, she could not say that I lose my temper very often. Even within a year, I may not lose my temper once. But too many times I had a lot of feelings. Too many times a lot of thoughts have gone through me. I was not so happy with her. For example, sometimes I like to change my food a little bit, but nearly every morning I get the same kind and the same quantity of food for breakfast. Although I have never said anything to her, many times when I came to the breakfast table, there were some feelings within me. Too many times, I am sorry to say, I did not offer Christ for this trespass. I took the excuse that it was such a small thing. Actually, when I would offer Christ as the trespass offering for this kind of weakness, I would begin to realize that it is sin. I would begin to realize that this comes from the sinful nature within me. Now you can understand why the trespass offering also is a sin offering.
Now we come to the weakest and the smallest of the trespass offerings, the one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour (5:11-13). With this smallest and weakest of the trespass offerings, the sin offering is mentioned twice. The smaller your trespass offering is, the more you should realize your sinful nature. Never take any excuse. Sometimes you might just be standing and looking out the window. A lot of thoughts come in: you do not like your room. It is a little bit too small. It does not have such a good bathroom. The bed is too soft. You are not talking but just thinking. Suddenly the question comes: What are you doing here? You are committing trespasses.
I do not believe that many of us have ever practiced confessing these kinds of things. We excuse them, saying that these are small things, that this is just natural for someone to think about. We just forget about them. This means that we excuse all these things. Do not excuse yourself. You have to condemn them. You have to see that they are from your nature, from the inward sin. They are abominable to you. They are against the divine nature within you and frustrate your living Christ. So you need to offer Christ as your trespass offering and also as your sin offering. The trespass offering eventually becomes your sin offering, not just for your outward doing but also for the root, for the source, for the nature. Why would you not stand before the window and let thoughts concerning Christ’s loveliness, His greatness, and His beauty go through your mind? It is because you are so natural. What does it mean to be natural? It is to be sinful. If you are natural, you are sinful. To say that you are natural may not sound like such a bad term. Actually, it means that you are sinful.
In the next chapter we need to take care of the most puzzling point: how the vegetable life without any blood to shed for sin could be our trespass offering and eventually our sin offering.
