Message 21
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Scripture Reading: Lev. 5:1-10; 7:2
In this message we will begin to consider the trespass offering. We may think that, as the last of the five basic offerings, the trespass offering is not very important and rather easy to understand. Actually, the trespass offering is extremely important and is difficult to understand adequately. Therefore, in our study of Leviticus, we need to read 5:1-10 carefully and attentively.
In talking about sin, many people do not realize that there is a great difference between sin and sins. Sin is a matter of indwelling sin as the nature of Satan within us. Sins are a matter of outward sinful deeds. The sin offering deals with sin, and the trespass offering deals with sins, transgressions, and trespasses, including lies, mistakes, and all kinds of wrongdoing. Trespasses are transgressions, and transgressions are different kinds of sins.
We first need to see the significance of the trespass offering.
There is an important difference between the sin offering and the trespass offering. The sin offering signifies Christ as our offering resolving sin in our fallen nature (Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21). The trespass offering signifies Christ as our offering resolving the problem of sins in our conduct (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:5-6, 10-11 in ASV).
Romans 8:3 says, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” God has condemned sin. How did He do this? He did it by sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin.
The phrase “likeness of the flesh of sin” combines sin and the flesh. Our flesh today is the flesh of sin. As we have pointed out, sin and the flesh are related to Satan, the world, and the prince of the world. Whereas our flesh is the flesh of sin, Christ came only in the likeness of the flesh of sin. In Him there was no sin; He did not have sin in His human nature. Nevertheless, in appearance He bore the likeness of the flesh of sin.
The flesh of fallen mankind is the flesh of sin. In other words, the flesh of the fallen human race is one with sin. Where the flesh is, there is sin. The word flesh signifies a fallen person, and every fallen person is sin. Whether we love others or hate them, we are sin. Genesis 6:3 says that fallen man became flesh. Since man has become flesh and the flesh is of sin, the flesh and sin are one. They are identical. As fallen human beings, we are flesh, and the flesh is sin.
God condemned sin by sending His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He was sin in the eyes of God. Christ was crucified in His flesh. This means that His flesh was crucified. Since His flesh was crucified, sin was condemned because sin and the flesh are identical. God judged the flesh, and He judged sin. He did this by judging Jesus on the cross. When God judged Jesus, He judged the flesh and sin. Moreover, at that time God destroyed Satan in the flesh, judged the world that was hanging on Satan, and condemned the prince of the world and the power struggle. One was crucified, but five things were dealt with: sin, the flesh, Satan, the world, and the power struggle. These five things are one.
Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf.” The Lord Jesus did not know sin, but God made Him sin on the cross for our sake. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He was not only a sinful person in likeness, even as the brass serpent was a serpent in form (John 3:14), but He was also made sin by God. If Jesus had not been made sin, sin could not have been judged when He was crucified. Sin was condemned because Christ, while He was on the cross, was made sin on our behalf by God.
Whereas the sin offering deals with the sin in our nature inwardly, the trespass offering deals with the sins in our conduct outwardly (1 Pet. 2:24). As the marginal notes in the American Standard Version indicate, Isaiah 53:10 puts the trespass offering together with the sin offering. The same thing is true of chapter five of Leviticus.
The trespass offering eventually becomes the sin offering (Lev. 5:6-8, 11-12). This signifies that Christ’s redemption for our sin resolves the problem of sin in its two aspects — sin in our inward nature and sins in our outward conduct. These two aspects of sin make up the totality of sin. John 1:29 speaks of this totality: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Although the word sin is in the singular, it does not refer merely to the sin in our nature; it denotes the totality of sin, comprising both inward sin and outward sins.
Leviticus 5:5-7 and 11 tell us that the trespass offering may be a female from the flock, a sheep or a goat, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, or the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour. This signifies that the trespass offering for our outward sins, for which even a little fine flour is sufficient, is lighter than the sin offering, which needs a bull, or at least a lamb (4:4, 32).
Leviticus 5:7 says, “But if he cannot afford a sheep, then he shall bring 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.” Here we see that two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, form the trespass offering. This signifies that a trespass is out of the inward sin and out of not living for God. The inward sin needs the sin offering. Not living for God needs the burnt offering. The two are a complete type of Christ as the trespass offering resolving our sins.
In 5:7 we can see the source of a trespass and also the reason for a trespass. From where does a trespass come? What is its source? The source of every trespass is the sin that is in our flesh. What is the reason for a trespass? The reason is our not living for God. Therefore, concerning trespasses we have a source with a reason.
We may say that the inward sin is like a man, a husband, and that not living for God is like a woman, a wife. The marriage of these two produces a child, and the name of the child is trespass.
We may also use a fruit tree to illustrate inward sin, not being for God, and trespasses. A fruit tree needs a proper atmosphere and environment in which to grow. When a fruit tree grows in such an atmosphere and environment, fruit is produced. In this illustration the inward sin is the fruit tree, not loving God and not living for Him make up the atmosphere and environment in which the tree grows, and trespasses and transgressions are the fruit.
Why do we make mistakes and do things that are wrong? We spontaneously and even unintentionally do such things because we have sin in our flesh and because we are not for God and do not love Him and live for Him.
If we are for God, we will be sincere, faithful, and careful. This can be proved by our experience. Whenever we are not for God, we become loose, and we may reason, murmur, and criticize others. In Philippians 2:12-14 Paul charges us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, doing all things without murmurings and reasonings. When we are for God, we do not murmur, reason, criticize, gossip, or debate. When we are not for God, we are careless in talking about others. But when we are for God, we are very careful about what we say.
The reason for our mistakes and transgressions is our not living for God. Because we are fallen, we are not for God absolutely. Since we were created by God, we should be absolutely for God, yet we are not. We may be for God to a great degree, but we are not for Him absolutely. Our not being absolutely for God indicates that we are still in a fallen situation. We are fallen, a fallen person is flesh, and this flesh is sin, which produces trespasses as the children, as the fruit.
According to 5:7, we need both the sin offering and the trespass offering. The sin offering takes care of the source; the trespass offering takes care of the “children,” or the “fruits,” produced from this source. From this we see that God is concerned about the source — the sin within us — and also about the fruit which is produced from this source — the outward trespasses. Therefore, we need both the sin offering and the trespass offering.
These two offerings actually deal with one thing — sin. Sin includes both indwelling sin and outward sins. In other words, it is a matter of sin in its totality. As we have pointed out, this is the meaning of the word sin in John 1:29. The Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, has dealt with sin in its totality. On the cross, He was the sin offering and also the trespass offering.
Leviticus 5:1-3 mentions some particular transgressions. Verse 1 says, “When a person sins in that he hears a public charge to testify, and he is a witness, either he has seen or known the matter, and he does not declare it, then he shall bear his iniquity.” The Hebrew expression translated “public charge to testify” literally means the “voice of an oath.” “Bear his iniquity” means to bear the responsibility of sin or guilt. This verse refers to a person who hears a public charge to testify and does not declare what he knows and thus must bear his iniquity.
We may think that what is spoken of here is insignificant and that it has nothing to do with us today. However, this seemingly unimportant matter exposes where we are; it shows that we are not absolutely for God. If we are really for God and live for Him, especially in the church life, we will be faithful, honest, and sincere to testify what we know. We will testify of the truth. To fail in this matter is to be dishonest and unfaithful; it is to be unlike our God, who is faithful and honest.
Leviticus 5:2 goes on to say, “Or when a person touches any unclean thing, whether the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, and it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he is guilty.” Here we see that if a person does nothing more than touch a carcass, he is unclean, for he has touched the uncleanness of death. This is a type that has a spiritual application to us. There is a great deal of death among the children of God today, and this death is spreading. Moreover, there are different kinds of death, signified by the carcasses of unclean beasts, cattle, and creeping things. The words “it is hidden from him” indicate that we may not be aware that we have touched the uncleanness of spiritual death. But if we are enlightened by the Lord, we will realize how much we have touched the uncleanness of spiritual death and have been defiled by it.
Leviticus 5:3 continues, “Or when he touches the uncleanness of man, whatever his uncleanness is whereby he is unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he knows it, then he is guilty.” The uncleanness of man here signifies the natural man, the natural life. With the natural man there is uncleanness. Everything that is discharged from the natural man and the natural life is unclean.
In our contact with one another as members of the Body, there may be uncleanness — the uncleanness of spiritual death and the uncleanness of the natural being. As we are fellowshipping with one another, we need to be aware of these two kinds of uncleanness. For example, a brother may speak a loving word to you, or he may speak a word of appreciation and respect, but his word is altogether natural. If you take that word, you will be defiled, for you will touch the uncleanness of man, the uncleanness of the natural being.
One day, as I was having fellowship with Brother Nee, he told me that politeness is a kind of leprosy. Being polite is different from being nice. For the sake of a proper human living, we should always be nice to others. To be polite is actually to put on a mask. This means that politeness is a matter of pretending. For instance, one brother may be polite with another brother and then gossip with others about him and criticize him. This is leprosy, something that is even worse than being natural.
The word in Leviticus 5 was spoken not to individuals but to the congregation of God’s people. In typology this word is spoken to the church. Among the saints in the church, there may be different kinds of death. Death often spreads among the saints. We may not realize how much we have touched the uncleanness of spiritual death. The spreading of gossip and criticism is the spreading of spiritual death. We may touch death day after day without realizing it. Also, the saints may have “buddy-buddy” relationships and love others in a natural way, not in the spirit. This kind of love is natural, fleshly, and unclean.
If we are enlightened by the Lord through this portion of the Word, we will realize that we surely need the trespass offering. The more we are with the Lord and the more we take Him as the burnt offering, the more we will see that we need Him as the trespass offering and as the sin offering. We need the sin offering to deal with indwelling sin as the source and the trespass offering to deal with the “children,” the trespasses produced from this source.
Some of the blood of the trespass offering was sprinkled on the wall of the altar (5:9a; 7:2). This signifies the sprinkling power of Christ’s blood upon sinners (1 Pet. 1:2).
The remainder of the blood was squeezed (drained) out at the base of the altar (Lev. 5:9b). This signifies the blood of Christ as the base of God’s forgiveness to sinners (Eph. 1:7).
Leviticus 5:11 tells us that the one who brings “the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering” is not to “place oil upon it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.” This signifies that the Holy Spirit and the fragrance of Christ’s resurrection are not involved with sin.
