Message 43
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Scripture Reading: Lev. 14:10-32
As New Testament believers, we enjoy the Lord’s cleansing. However, if we simply read and understand the New Testament, we shall not have a clear, detailed picture of what is involved in this cleansing. For this we need the types in Leviticus 14. From the types we see that to cleanse us of our leprosy the Lord had to be incarnated, to become a human being. As typified by the cedar wood, His humanity was high and honorable. As typified by the hyssop, He was willing to be lowly in becoming in the likeness of men. On the one hand, His standard was high; on the other hand, His status was very low. Both were for the producing of the scarlet thread. Furthermore, the two birds typify Christ in two other aspects, with the slain bird signifying Christ in His crucifixion and the live bird signifying Christ in His resurrection. Without Christ in all these aspects, we could not be cleansed of our leprosy, of our sin.
I do not believe that the ancient Israelites understood the significance of the two birds, the cedar, the hyssop, the killing of one bird over an earthenware vessel filled with living water, binding together the live bird, the cedar, the hyssop, and the scarlet thread and dipping this bundle into the blood of the killed bird that this blood might be sprinkled seven times on the one who was to be cleansed. Although the Israelites saw these things and experienced them, they did not understand them. However, we today do understand these types. Now we can see that for our cleansing we need a Christ of many aspects, a Christ who has gone through a number of processes. The blood shed by Him has been sprinkled upon us, and this sprinkling connects us, the sinners, to Christ, the Redeemer.
Although the Lord has shown us much concerning these types, we hope that in the coming years He will show us even more.
The previous message covered only the first part of the procedure, or the process, of the cleansing of a leper. In this message we shall cover the second part of this process.
In the cleansing of the leper, Christ is revealed not only as the two birds, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet thread but also as four kinds of offerings: the trespass offering, the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the meal offering.
The sin offering deals with our sinful nature, with sin as the nature of our fallen being. The nature of our fallen being is sin, and this sinful nature is the essence, the substance, the element, of Satan. Our sinful nature — the sin in our being — is satanic. We may even say that it is Satan himself. Sin, which is rebellion, is Satan. This sin has been injected into us, causing us to be constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19), that is, sinners in constitution. Human beings, therefore, are a constitution of sin. We need to see that our being is fully constituted with sin, with the enemy of God.
The sin offering deals with our nature of sin. Sin is our nature; it is even our very self. When Christ died on the cross, He did not only die for our sins but was also made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ was crucified as sin. When He was crucified, sin also was crucified, and we were crucified as well. When Christ was crucified as sin, sin, Satan, and we ourselves were crucified with Him. This is the significance of the sin offering.
The trespass offering deals with our sins, which are the issues of the sin within us, the sin which is our nature, our being, our constitution. Sins, the different fruits of sin, are also called offenses, trespasses, and transgressions. Therefore, we need both the sin offering and the trespass offering. We need the sin offering to deal with sin, the source of our sins. We need the trespass offering to deal with all the issues of sin.
The sin offering and the trespass offering are actually of one category to deal with sin in total, including our sin and our sins. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). “Sin” here is a totality of sin which includes our sinful nature and our sinful deeds. Christ is the offering that deals with both sin and sins. In dealing with our sin, He is the sin offering. In dealing with our sins, He is the trespass offering. Because these offerings are both concerned with the same thing — dealing with the totality of sin — in chapters five and six of Leviticus they are sometimes applied interchangeably, with the trespass offering becoming the sin offering and the sin offering becoming the trespass offering.
In relation to the sin offering and the trespass offering, I would like to say a word concerning propitiation. Leviticus 14:18 speaks of the priest making propitiation for a leper before Jehovah. It is difficult to translate the Hebrew word for propitiation. The King James Version renders this Hebrew word as “atonement.” Atonement is a matter of at-one-ment. Two parties have a problem, perhaps a quarrel, that needs to be settled. Because of the problem, these parties are not at one. They need something that will appease their situation, solve their problem, and make them one.
Propitiation is a matter of appeasing a problem or a situation in which one party has offended another party or owes something to another party. Unless the problem is settled, there cannot be peace between the two parties. A third party comes in to act on behalf of the first party to remove the offense so that the second party can be one with the first party. This is to appease, to propitiate.
In Leviticus 14 the leper is one party, the offending party, and God is the other party, the offended party. The problem, of course, is leprosy. We have pointed out that leprosy signifies sin, that sin is rebellion, and that rebellion is Satan. These four things — leprosy, sin, rebellion, and Satan — are synonyms. This means that they are one. Because between God and man there is the problem of leprosy, there is the need of an appeasing to get rid of the leprosy, which is sin, rebellion, and Satan himself. For this appeasing the two birds are not adequate. The two birds can accomplish the cleansing but not the propitiating. Propitiation requires the sin offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering, and the meal offering. Only when we have these four offerings can we have propitiation as well as cleansing.
A leper, a sinner who is under God’s condemnation and who has a problem with God, needs three things: healing, cleansing, and propitiating. For a leper to need propitiation means that he needs to be brought back into fellowship with God. Propitiation removes the obstacle between the leper and God. Christ has come not only to cleanse us but also to make propitiation for us. In order to make propitiation He had to be our sin offering, trespass offering, burnt offering, and meal offering.
We have seen the significance of the sin offering and the trespass offering. Now we need to see the significance of the burnt offering and the meal offering.
Christ is the burnt offering to make us absolute for God. For this purpose He is also the meal offering to feed us, to supply us with food. In order to do anything we need food, which gives us the strength to live. If we would be absolute for God, we need something to supply us, something to support, sustain, and feed us. What we need is Christ as our meal offering, as our food. Christ is the meal offering for us to eat. The more we enjoy Christ as the meal offering, the more we shall live a life that is a burnt offering absolute for God.
After the problems of our sin and our sins have been solved, we need to enjoy Christ as the meal offering. The meal offering is a composition of fine flour and oil. The fine flour typifies the fineness of Christ in His humanity, and the oil typifies the Spirit. These two things, the fine flour and the oil, combined and mingled, become our food. In the morning especially, we may enjoy Christ as the fine flour mingled with oil, the Spirit. This is Christ as our meal offering to support and sustain us that we may live a life that is absolutely for God as a burnt offering.
Through these four kinds of offerings the problem between us and God is fully solved, and the situation between us and God is appeased. Now we have not only been healed and cleansed, but also propitiation has been made for us.
In the matter of the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14, we can see Christ in many aspects. We see Christ as the cedar wood and as the hyssop in His incarnation. We see Christ shedding His blood to produce the scarlet thread. We see Christ as the two birds: the one bird killed over an earthenware vessel (His humanity) filled with living water (the eternal Spirit), and the other bird released to fly over the open field. Now we also see Christ as the sin offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering, and the meal offering. How wonderful is this picture of Christ!
In 14:10-32 we see that the leper who was to be cleansed needed to solve the problem of his sin and sins before God. This signifies that a sinner who is to be cleansed, even though he has been cleansed, still needs to solve the problem of his sin and sins before God. This means that the sinner needs propitiation.
Presenting the offerings before God on the eighth day (vv. 10-11) signifies that man is freed in Christ in resurrection from the flesh of the old creation.
“The priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a trespass offering, with the log of oil, and he shall wave them as a wave offering before Jehovah” (v. 12). Here “log,” a Hebrew term, denotes a certain quantity (a pint) of oil, which signifies the Holy Spirit. “Wave” here signifies resurrection. A wave offering is an offering of resurrection and in resurrection. Therefore, offering one of the male lambs for a trespass offering, with the log of oil, both of which were waved before Jehovah, signifies that the death of the Lord Jesus as the trespass offering deals with our sins, and His resurrection in the Holy Spirit frees us from our trespasses, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness.
“He shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered, in the holy place” (v. 13a). The holy place here is not the holy place in the tabernacle, but the area at the entrance of the tent of meeting where the animals were slaughtered, which was considered holy. Slaughtering the trespass offering in this place signifies that the Lord Jesus’ being able to deal with our sins is based on His bearing our sin as our sin offering and on His living absolutely for God as our burnt offering. Christ’s being the sin offering and the burnt offering is the base for Him to be the trespass offering.
“The trespass offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy” (v. 13b). This signifies that the serving one who leads others to deal with sins also enjoys Christ as his holy portion. For example, when we visit people in their homes and minister Christ to them so that they may be saved, we ourselves enjoy Christ. The Christ who becomes their Savior also becomes our portion for our enjoyment. This means that while we minister Christ to others, we eat Him, enjoying Him as our portion.
“The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot” (v. 14). This signifies that man has trespasses because, first, his ears are wrong in not listening to God, and second, his hands are wrong in not doing the things of God, and third, his feet are wrong in not taking the ways of God. Therefore, he needs to be cleansed with the blood of the Lord Jesus as his trespass offering.
“Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil which is in the palm of his left hand, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before Jehovah” (vv. 15-16). This signifies that the Spirit of the Lord’s resurrection has laid a perfect foundation before God.
“And some of the rest of the oil which is in his palm the priest shall put on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot — upon the blood of the trespass offering” (v. 17). This signifies that man can solve the problem of his trespasses only by listening to the word of God, doing the things of God, and taking the ways of God in the Spirit of resurrection, based on the redemption of the blood of the Lord Jesus as our trespass offering.
Here we have two layers: the layer of the blood and the layer of the oil. The blood signifies Christ’s redeeming blood, and the oil signifies the Spirit of resurrection. First, the blood is applied to the tip of the right ear, to the thumb of the right hand, and to the great toe of the right foot. This is for the washing away of our trespasses and wrongdoings. Following the application of the blood is the application of the oil to the places where the blood is applied. This indicates that, based upon the redemption of Christ, the Spirit comes to help us to do the right things — to listen to God’s word, to do the things of God, and to take the ways of God. This will keep us from any kind of trespass.
“And what remains of the oil in the priest’s palm he shall put upon the head of him who is to be cleansed. Thus the priest shall make propitiation for him before Jehovah” (v. 18). Putting the oil on the head signifies that the authority of the headship, the thoughts of the mind, and the control of the entire being of the sinner who is to be cleansed are dealt with in the cleansing Spirit of resurrection.
Only a small amount of oil is put on the tip of the ear, on the thumb, and on the toe. All the remainder of the oil is put on the head. Because the head is the source of many problems, more oil, more Spirit, is applied to it. The problems related to the head are of three categories. First, the head is not under God’s authority. Second, the head is filled with the thoughts of the mind. Third, the head directs our entire being. Therefore, the head is the most troublesome part of the body. For this reason, the head needs all the remainder of the oil, of the Spirit. Having the Spirit poured upon our head will help us to subject ourselves to God’s authority, taking Him as our head. It will also adjust our thoughts and help us to direct, to control, our whole being in the right way.
“The priest shall then offer the sin offering, and make propitiation for him who is to be cleansed” (v. 19a). This signifies that the Lord Jesus was offered as our sin offering to deal with our uncleanness at the root (the sinful nature) of our sins, which are dealt with by the Lord Jesus as the trespass offering.
“And after that he shall slaughter the burnt offering. And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering on the altar; and the priest shall make propitiation for him, and he shall be clean” (vv. 19b-20). This signifies that the sinner who is to be cleansed, after having been cleansed from the uncleanness of sin and sins through Christ as his sin offering and trespass offering, offers himself in Christ as the burnt offering to God and lives and walks absolutely for God by the life of Christ as the meal offering. Thus the sinner who is to be cleansed is fully cleansed from his uncleanness. The leper has now been healed, cleansed, and propitiated.
The poor who were not able to afford so much were to offer one male lamb for a trespass offering to be waved and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil (vv. 21-32). This signifies that a sinner who is to be cleansed should partake of Christ at least at some minimum level, that is, as much as he can. But in principle he must take Christ as his sin offering, trespass offering, burnt offering, and meal offering, and he must take His mingling and cleansing Spirit.
I would like to close this message with a word concerning certain aspects of Christ unveiled in chapters eleven through fourteen of Leviticus. Chapter eleven unveils that Christ is our food of life, supplying us in the form of food to deal with our uncleanness in the outward contact with people. Chapter twelve unveils that our origin is unclean. Thus, Christ has become our sin offering to deal with our sinful nature. Chapters thirteen and fourteen unveil that what issues from within us also is unclean. Hence, Christ has become our trespass offering to deal with our sinful deeds. Moreover, Christ is our burnt offering and our meal offering that we may have the life supply to live a life which is absolutely for God. With Christ as our offerings we have been brought back to God to live a life that is fully pleasing to Him.
