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Scripture Reading: Lev. 5:11-13; 6:30; 7:1-7
In this chapter we come to a big problem that seems to be against the scriptural principle. Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. But according to Leviticus 5:11-13, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, which, of course, has no blood, could be offered for a sin offering. How could any blood be shed from the grains of wheat, especially out of flour made from wheat? It is impossible. Blood has to come out of an animal, not out of any vegetable. In poetry people sometimes like to say that a grapevine sheds its blood to produce wine for us. But still that is wine, not blood. Blood cannot come out of a vegetable. How then could the fine flour of wheat be used as a trespass offering and even for a sin offering?
Some teachers have said that Leviticus 5:1-13 is still on the sin offering as a continuation of chapter 4. But nearly all the leading versions of the Bible translate the Hebrew word in 5:6 into “trespass offering.” Leviticus 5:7 should also read the same, but the King James Version did not render it so accurately. The best translation of Leviticus 5:7 reads, “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.”
Other teachers have said that the Hebrew word for trespass or trespass offering is a derivation from the Hebrew word that means “be guilty.” You may translate this Hebrew word into “guilt,” and you may translate the same Hebrew word into “guilt offering,” which means the trespass offering.
Most translators translate this word for trespass offering into one of three words: “trespass offering,” “transgression offering,” or “guilt offering.” In chapters 4 and 5 of Leviticus the verb form, be guilty, is used many times (4:13, 22, 27; 5:2, 4, 5, 17). The noun form of guilty can be translated into “guilt offering,” meaning a trespass offering.
But in verse 6, to translate the word as “guilt” is meaningless. To say he shall bring his guilt unto the Lord for his sin is not meaningful. So according to the context of the verse, you have to translate it into a kind of offering, whether you call it a trespass offering, a transgression offering, or a guilt offering. It is a kind of offering, not just a kind of guilt or a kind of trespass or a kind of transgression. The sentence governs the meaning of the word. The same word in any language may be used differently according to the context of the sentence. You must make a decision based upon the context. No one can explain away the trespass offering in 5:6. This is a strong proof that 5:1-13 is not a continuation of the sin offering. It is a new section, a section on the trespass offering.
All these points indicate that there are many complications related to these chapters. Not only in the writing of the Bible are there complications, but also even in our experiences we have many complications. Why are there complications in the writing of the Bible? It is because the writing of the Bible is a kind of reflection of our experiences. For example, a certain machine is made in a particular way, so it has a book of particular instructions. If you look at only the instructions apart from the machine, you may think that the writer was not so clear and that his instructions have a lot of complications. But it is complicated because the machine itself was made with so many complications. How could the instructions have no complications? If the instructions had no complications, that would not match the machine. The instructions are written according to the makeup of the machine. You have to realize that Leviticus 4, 5, and 6 were written according to your makeup and your experiences.
In this chapter there is also a bigger and even more basic complication, that is, the word guilt. Many times the word guilt is used instead of sin and instead of transgression or trespass. Two kinds of offerings are mentioned, yet both are dealing with the matter of guilt.
Of course, sin is a guilt, and transgressions are also guilt. We illustrated previously using a peach tree and peaches. Both are called a peach. You cannot say that the peaches are the peach but that the tree is not the peach.
Apparently, this is a complication. Actually, it is not a complication. It is a distinct writing. The tree is the tree, and the peaches are the peaches. Although all are the peach, still there is a difference. In like manner, sin is a guilt, and all the trespasses are guilt. Both are guilt, yet there is a difference. Sin as a guilt is something in our nature. Trespasses or transgressions are guilt, yet they are not in our nature. They are in our conduct and behavior. They all come out of the very sin that is in our nature. The many guilts come out of that one guilt that is in our nature. In our daily character and daily behavior there are a lot of guilts. All these guilts have come out of that unique guilt which is in our nature.
Adam committed sin, and now we have committed sin. What is the difference? The difference is this: with Adam the committing of sin was unique, but with us the committing of sin is not unique. Adam’s committing of sin was a father to produce so many other committings of sin in us.
In the last chapter we saw that part of the trespass offering could become a burnt offering and that the other part of the trespass offering could become a sin offering. You have to realize that these few chapters in Leviticus on the offerings are not written based only upon God’s requirement. Rather, they are written also based upon our experiences. How can we know this? It is because one clause is repeated several times: If he cannot afford. First, God requires you to offer a bullock, but you are not able. Then God requires you to offer a ram. Still you are unable. Then God requires you to offer a kid of the goats, something smaller. But still you are not able. Nor are you able to offer a lamb. Perhaps you are not able even to offer anything from the herd or from the flock. Then God would ask you to offer just two little birds, either turtledoves or pigeons. But you cannot offer even these two things. Because you are unable to offer the least in the animal kingdom, God would allow you to offer just a tenth of an ephah of fine flour from the vegetable kingdom. So you can see that this portion is written according to the Lord’s requirements and also based upon our experiences.
According to the Lord’s requirements for any kind of propitiation or any kind of forgiveness, whether it is the unique sin in our nature or many sins in our conduct, there is the need of the blood to redeem you. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. This is the Lord’s requirement. But so many of us could not afford to offer a bullock or a ram or a lamb or even two little birds for the shedding of the blood. All we are able to offer is just a little flour of the vegetable kingdom.
These few chapters also show us that we as God’s redeemed people all have different sizes of our appreciation of the Lord Jesus. With the Lord Jesus Himself there is no difference in size. The book of Colossians shows us that the Lord Jesus is not only all-inclusive but also all-extensive. He is infinite; He is unlimited; He is eternal. Actually, He does not have a size, because He is the very dimension of the entire universe. What is the length, the width, the height, the depth of the universe? All four of these dimensions are just Christ Himself. Christ is too high, too deep, too long, too wide. He is immeasurable. This means that He has no size. You can measure my size, but you cannot measure Christ’s size.
Our appreciation of the Lord and our apprehension of the Lord differ in size. How much you can apprehend of the Lord depends upon how much you can appreciate. Our appreciation differs. To one, Christ may be a big bullock. To another, Christ may be a ram. To another, Christ may be a goat. To another, Christ may be just a lamb. To many of us, Christ is just two little pigeons or two little turtledoves. To the majority of the Christians, Christ is just one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour.
There is not only the matter of size and quantity. There is also the matter of quality. In the matter of the shedding of blood, none of the offerings has as much blood as a big ox. Surely two small pigeons do not have as much blood as a big ox. Neither does a lamb have as much blood as a big ox. And of course, the fine flour has no blood at all. Whether Christ to you is a bull or a lamb or a turtledove or some amount of fine flour all depends upon your appreciation.
The majority of Christians mainly consider one aspect of Christ, that is, His humanity, which is so fine and so good. When I was young, I always appreciated Christ in the four Gospels. He was so fine, so gentle, so mild, so kind, so patient, so even.
In the four Gospels you could see such a man. Surely every reader of the four Gospels appreciates the man Jesus. No other biography or autobiography can present to you a character or figure such as the Lord Jesus. He is too fine and too good and too gentle and too kind and too merciful and too gracious. I believe that all of us have always appreciated the Lord in this way.
But I would ask you a question: Have you ever appreciated the Lord in any other way? Have you ever appreciated the Lord as a big bullock? According to the New Testament and according to the types in the Old Testament, the preciousness of Christ is not only in His being an excellent man in His humanity but also in His being a bullock, laboring, working, sacrificing, and eventually being killed on the cross not only to satisfy God’s requirements but also to meet our need and to satisfy our need.
Christ was not only a fine man living an excellent human life on this earth. While He was on the earth, He was also laboring and working to fulfill God’s eternal will. And after all that He did, He was brought to the cross as a bullock. However, most believers do not appreciate the Lord as such a laboring and sacrificing bullock so much as His being a man so perfect and fine. But God does. Christ’s main commission was to be a bullock laboring and sacrificing for the fulfilling of God’s redemption. This made Him the biggest sacrifice with a lot of blood. Only such a big sacrifice for the sin offering could afford enough blood for the high priest to bring into the tabernacle, to sprinkle before the veil and to sprinkle upon the four corners of the golden incense altar, and then to pour out the rest at the base of the burnt-offering altar. A pigeon could not afford that much blood for the priest to accomplish all these things.
Most Christians simply appreciate the Lord Jesus as a fine man. This means as the fine flour. He was so balanced, so gentle, so mild, so meek, so kind, so gracious. I am afraid that you have never appreciated Christ in the way of a bullock. If the Lord Jesus had only been the fine flour, how could He do the Father’s will? How could He labor and work for the fulfilling of God’s eternal plan? The grains of wheat could not be crucified on the cross. The grains had no blood to shed. With the grains of wheat there was no way to fulfill God’s purpose and no way to satisfy God’s requirement and no way to solve your problems before God. The offering had to be not fine flour but cattle. So our appreciation must come up to a higher standard.
When we come to the meetings, especially the Lord’s table, most of our praises and thanks have been only up to the standard or to the height of the fine flour. Most of our praises and thanksgiving have only been concerning the fine humanity of the Lord Jesus. Seldom has there been adequate praise concerning the Lord’s laboring and working and being slaughtered on the cross for fulfilling God’s eternal purpose and accomplishing God’s will. We simply do not have this kind of appreciation, so we have no cattle to offer. We have no cattle to bring to the meeting. Most of the time we bring only a handful of fine flour.
It does not mean that God does not want you to offer a bullock. God wants you to, but you do not have the strength. You are not able, because you have never appreciated the Lord in this way. You do not have the appreciation, so you do not have the experience, the produce.
Today the Christians who can offer the fine flour might even be considered as the best ones. Quite a number do not have anything to offer. In the prayer meeting and in the Lord’s table meeting perhaps only one-fifth are the praying ones. Perhaps four-fifths are the silent ones. I do not know what the silent ones have to offer. For sure they do not have any cattle, and perhaps they do not have even one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour.
We surely need to have a revolutionary change, first in our concept, then in our appreciation, then in our experience, and then in our meetings. Daily we do not have any appreciation of the Lord as any kind of cattle with blood to shed. So we do not experience Him in this way. Not many could offer in their experience such a big bullock or a ram or some turtledoves or pigeons. I believe that many of us are simply offering fine flour in meeting after meeting. Once again I would say that the different items in these chapters are not based upon God’s requirements only. They are based also upon our appreciation and our experience of Christ.
With this as a foundation, we can understand how a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a trespass offering could become a sin offering. That offering is not of the animal kingdom but of the vegetable kingdom without any blood. How could this be accepted by God? God did say in His Word that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Heb. 9:22). With fine flour it is quite evident that there is no blood. If there is no blood, how could God forgive our sin?
Christ was offered to God once for all to be our sin offering, and that offering had blood. That is an accomplished fact. But we are not talking about the accomplished fact. We are talking about our experience. We are not talking about Christ’s accomplishment. Christ could never accomplish the redemption for sin for us without the shedding of blood. No! That would offend God. That would never be accepted by God. So Christ was God’s Lamb: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). As the Lamb of God He had blood, and He shed His blood on the cross.
Charles Wesley wrote a hymn that speaks of five bleeding wounds. Five bleeding wounds means that His blood was shed on the cross. John 19:34 says clearly that while He was dying on the cross, blood and water came out of His crucified body. He had blood, and He shed it to accomplish the redemption for our sin. But here we are not talking about the accomplishment of the redemption for our sin. We are talking about our experience, or our application, of His accomplished redemption. The way for Christ to accomplish the redemption for our sin was absolutely according to God’s unique requirement. It was short of nothing. But when we come to apply His redemption, to appreciate His redemption, to use His redemption, to experience His redemption, our usage, our application, and our appreciation are altogether too poor. Even though we may shout, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” this is just our shouting. Our actual appreciation is not a lamb; it is just a handful of fine flour.
Today God is merciful; this is the day of grace. According to the Gospel of Matthew, God sends rain on both the just and the unjust (5:45). God’s mercy and grace today are just like the rain. When the rain comes down from the heavens, it will fill you up right away if you are open. If you are not open, still the water will find a way through a small crack. Why would God accept our different offerings of Christ? It is because God is merciful. Sometimes we may be more strict than God. God would forgive everybody, but you would forgive only yourself. And sometimes you would not even forgive yourself. This is because you do not appreciate Christ that much, so you doubt concerning God’s forgiveness.
But God’s forgiveness does not depend upon your application. God’s forgiveness depends upon Christ’s accomplishment. As long as you would call upon His name and come to God in His name, that is sufficient. Whether you come with a handful of fine flour or you come with a big bullock, God would forgive you because of that name. God would forgive you because of the name of that One who accomplished a full redemption for your sin. The accomplishment in full is altogether completed. But our appreciation is not adequate. Most of our appreciation has no blood shed. I do not believe that you have ever appreciated the Lord’s blood as much as you appreciate His fine humanity. When I was young, I did not appreciate the Lord’s shed blood as much as I appreciated His fine humanity. In faith and in doctrine I believed in the Lord’s blood, but in appreciation, especially in my inner sensation, the Lord was so dear to me, not because of the blood He shed for me but because of His fineness in His excellent humanity.
This is why the Bible says several times, “If he cannot afford.” If you are not able to bring a lamb, then bring a pair of pigeons. If you are not able to bring a pair of pigeons, then bring one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour. This is not a picture of what God requires. This is a picture of what you are able to do. This is a picture of your experience.
So in your poor experience there is no blood. Even though in your prayer you may mention the blood again and again, it may actually occupy very little space. What occupies the space is the Lord’s fine humanity, His kindness, His meekness, His gentleness, His balancedness, His evenness, and His excellency in all His human life. These nearly occupy your appreciation in full. So there is no blood.
Not only is there no blood, but there is also no oil. Of course, if your appreciation is limited to such an extent, there will not be much Spirit. This is why many times when you came to the Lord’s table and prayed, you felt that it was so dry. There was no oil. It was just dry flour without any Spirit. This is because your appreciation of the Lord is nearly altogether natural. There is no enlightenment. You have never been enlightened by the Word of God or by the light of God. That could come only through the Spirit. If you have much Spirit, you would have received much enlightenment and much revelation. Then you would appreciate the Lord much more. You would not appreciate the Lord merely in His fine humanity. The enlightenment will release you and expand your appreciation of the Lord. You will have a lot of oil with your offering. But with your limited appreciation of the Lord, the flour is dry. There is no oil.
Furthermore, there is no frankincense with your offering. That means there is no resurrection. Your concept concerning the Lord’s excellency is altogether natural. It is not in the resurrection life. Unless you receive some enlightenment and some anointing from the Spirit, you could never see how the Lord labored on this earth, how He worked on this earth for the fulfilling of God’s will, and how He went to the cross to be slaughtered to shed His blood to accomplish a full and complete redemption. So our appreciation of the Lord is mostly that He is the fine flour with no blood, no oil, and no frankincense. This means no Spirit and no resurrection. This is the poorest appreciation of the Lord, yet by God’s mercy and grace, He would still accept such an offering. This kind of word is altogether based upon our experience.
