Schoolmaster to Christ
LEVITICUS CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Chapter 1: Before entering into the details of this chapter, there are two things that demand careful consideration: Jehovah's position; and the order in which the offerings are presented.

"And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation." This was the position from which Jehovah made the communications contained in Leviticus. He had been speaking from Mount Sinai, and his position, there, gave marked character to the communication. From the fiery mount "went a fiery law;" but here He speaks "out of the tabernacle of the congregation" – an entirely different position. We saw the setup of the Tabernacle at the close of Exodus.

"And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle . . . For the glory of the Lord was upon the tabernacle, by day, and fire was on it, by night, in the sight of all the House of Israel, throughout all their journeys" (Ex. 40:33-38).

The Tabernacle was, in grace, God's dwelling place. He could take up His abode there because He was surrounded on all sides by that which vividly set forth the ground of His relationship with the people. Had He come into their midst in the full display of the character revealed on Mount Sinai, it could only have been to "consume them in a moment," as a "stiff-necked people." But He retired within the veil – type of Christ's flesh (Heb. 10:20) – and took His place on the Mercy seat where the blood of atonement (not the "stiff-neckedness" of Israel) met His view, and satisfied the claims of His nature. The blood brought into the sanctuary by the high priest was the type of that precious blood that cleanses from all sin; and although Israel, after the flesh, saw nothing of this, nevertheless, it justified God in abiding among them – it "sanctified to the purifying of the flesh" (Heb. 9:13).

In order to properly understand the communications made in Leviticus, Jehovah's position must be taken into account. In them we find inflexible holiness united with the purest grace. No matter from where He speaks, God is holy. He was holy on Mount Sinai, and holy above the Mercy-seat. But, on Mount Sinai His holiness was connected with "a devouring fire;" above the Mercy-seat, it was connected with patient grace. The connection of perfect holiness with perfect grace is that which characterizes redemption which, in various ways is shadowed in the Book of Leviticus. God must be holy, and we should be eternally condemned as impenitent sinners; but, in the salvation of sinners, the full display of His holiness calls forth heaven's loudest and loftiest note of praise. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, Good-will toward men" (Lk. 2:14). This doxology could not have been sung in connection with "the fiery law." No doubt, there was "glory to God in the highest," but there was no "Peace on earth" nor "good pleasure in men." But when "the Son" took His place as a man on the earth, the mind of Heaven could express its entire delight in Him as the One whose Person and work could combine divine glory with human blessedness.

Let us briefly consider the order of the offerings, in the opening chapters of the Book of Leviticus. The Lord begins with the burnt offering, and ends with the trespass offering. In other words, He leaves off where we begin. This order is most instructive. When the arrow of conviction first enters the soul, there are deep searchings of conscience pertaining to sins actually committed. Memory casts its enlightened eye over the page of one's past life, and sees it stained with numberless trespasses against God and man. At this point of the soul's history, it is not so occupied with the question of the root from whence trespasses have sprung, as with the stern and palpable fact that such and such things have actually been committed. Hence, it needs to know that God has provided a sacrifice through which "all trespasses" can be "frankly forgiven." This is presented to us in the trespass offering.

But, advancing in the divine life, one becomes conscious that past sins committed are but branches from a root, streaming from a fountain; and that sin in our nature is that fountain; that root. This leads to a deeper exercise that can only be met by a deeper insight into the work of the cross. In other words, the cross needs to be understood as that in which God Himself has "condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). Observe that it does not say, "sins in the flesh," but the root from whence sins have sprung – "sin in the flesh;" a truth of immense importance. Christ not merely "died for our sins, according to the scriptures," but He was "made sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21). This is the teaching of the sin offering.

It is when the heart and conscience are set at rest, through knowledge of Christ's work that we can feed on Him as the ground or foundation of peace and joy. Peace and joy cannot be known until we see our trespasses forgiven and our sin judged. The trespass offering and the sin offering must be known, before the peace offering, joy offering, or thanksgiving offering can be appreciated. Therefore, the order of the peace offering corresponds with the order of our spiritual apprehension of Christ.

The same order is observable regarding the meat offering. When the soul is led to taste the sweetness of spiritual communion with Christ; to feed on Him in peace and thankfulness, it does so by being drawn out in earnest desire to know more of the wondrous mysteries of His Person; a desire met in the meat offering – the type of Christ's perfect manhood.

In the burnt offering, we are conducted to a point beyond which it is impossible to go: the work of the cross as accomplished under the immediate eye of God; the expression of the unswerving devotion of the heart of Christ. All these things come before us in detail as we continue our brief study. Here we are only looking at the order of the offerings, which is truly marvelous no matter which way we travel. Whether outward from God to us, or inward from us to God; in either case, we begin with the cross and end with the cross. If we begin with the burnt offering, we see Christ on the cross, doing the will of God – making atonement, according to the measure of perfect surrender of Himself to God. If we begin with the trespass offering, we see Christ on the cross, bearing our sins and putting them away, according to the perfection of His atoning sacrifice. In each and all, we behold the excellency, beauty, and perfection of His divine and adorable Person. Surely, all this is sufficient to awaken in our hearts a deep interest in the study of those precious types which we now proceed to consider in detail. May God the Holy Spirit, who inspired the writing of Leviticus, expound its contents in living power to our hearts; so that when we reach the close we may have cause to bless His name for many thrilling and soul-stirring views of the Person and work of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, now, henceforth, and for evermore. Amen. 

Scripture Reading: Leviticus 1 (KJV)

Leviticus opens with the burnt offering. In it we have a type of Christ "offering himself without spot to God." Hence, the position assigned to it by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ came to accomplish the glorious work of atonement. In so doing, His highest and most fondly-cherished object was the glory of God. "Lo, I come, to do thy will, O God," was the grand motto in every scene and circumstance of His life – none more than in the cross. Whatever be the will of God, He came to do it. Blessed be God, we know what our portion is in the accomplishment of His "Will," for by it "we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once" (Heb. 10:10). Still, the primary aspect of Christ's work was toward God. Accomplishing the will of God on this earth was an ineffable delight to Jesus Christ. No one had ever done this before. Through grace, some had done "that which was right in the sight of the Lord;" but no one had ever, from first to last, without hesitation, and without divergence, done the will of God. But this was exactly what the Lord Jesus did. He was "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). "He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." And as He walked from the garden of Gethsemane to the cross of Calvary, the intense devotion of His heart was revealed in these accents: "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?"

In all this self-emptied devotedness to God, there was truly a sweet savor. A perfect Man on earth accomplishing the will of God, even in death, was an object of amazing interest to the mind of Heaven. Who could fathom the profound depths of that devoted heart that displayed itself under the eye of God on the cross? In this, as in everything else, it is true that "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;" and we know Jesus Christ only as the Father reveals Him. In some measure, the mind of man can grasp any subject of knowledge "under the sun." By human intellect, science can be grasped; but man can know the Son only as the Father reveals Him by the power of the Holy Spirit through the written Word. The Holy Spirit delights to reveal the Son – showing the things of Jesus to us in all their fullness and beauty. There can be no new revelation, because the Spirit brought "all things" to the apostles' memory, and led them into "all truth." There can be nothing beyond "all truth." Therefore, all pretension to a new revelation and the development of new truth (meaning truth not contained in the sacred canon of inspiration) is an effort on man's part to add to what God calls "all truth." No doubt, the Spirit may unfold and apply truth contained in the Word with new and extraordinary power; but this is obviously a different thing from traveling outside the range of Divine revelation, for the purpose of finding principles, ideas, or teachings that command the conscience. This latter can only be regarded in the light of impious presumption.

In the Gospel narrative, Christ is presented in the varied phases of His character, Person, and work. In those precious documents; in the heavenly revelations of the object of their love and confidence – the people of God rejoiced in the One to whom they owed everything, in time and eternity. But, a comparatively few have been led to regard the rites and ceremonies of the Levitical economy as filled with minute instruction regarding the same commanding theme. For example, the offerings of Leviticus have long been regarded as so many antiquated records of Jewish customs, conveying no intelligible voice to our ears – no spiritual light to our understandings. However, the apparently difficult to comprehend records of Leviticus, as well as the sublime strains of Isaiah, take their place among the "things which were written aforetime," and, therefore, they are "for our learning." True, we need to study these records as all Scripture – with an humble, self-emptied spirit; with reverent dependence on the teaching of Him who graciously inspired the writing for us; with sedulous attention to the general scope, bearing, and analogy of the entire body of Divine revelation; with an effectual curb on the imagination, that it may not take unhallowed flights. But once we enter into a study of the types of Leviticus, we find a vein of the richest and finest ore.

Let us now proceed to examine the burnt offering, which presents Christ offering Himself without spot to God. "If His offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male, without blemish." The glory and dignity of Christ's Person form the basis of Christianity. He imparts that dignity and glory to every thing He does and sustains. Nothing could add glory to Him who is "God over all, blessed for ever"; "God manifest in the flesh"; the glorious "Immanuel"; "God with us"; the eternal Word – Creator and Sustainer of the universe. What could add to the dignity of such a One? In point of fact, we know that everything He sustains is connected with His humanity; and in assuming that humanity, He stooped from the glory that He had with the Father, before the world was. In order to glorify, He stooped down into the very midst of a hostile scene. He came to be "eaten up" by a holy, unquenchable zeal for the glory of God, and the effectual carrying out of His eternal counsels.

The unblemished male of the first year was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ offering Himself for the perfect accomplishment of the will of God. There should be nothing expressive either of weakness or imperfection. "A male of the first year" was required. When we examine the other offerings, we will see that in some cases "a female" was permitted; but that was expressive only of the imperfection or defect attached to the worshipper's apprehension, and not in the offering – it was "unblemished" in both cases. However, here it was an offering of the highest order, because it was Christ offering Himself to God. In the burnt offering, Christ was exclusively for the eye and heart of God. This point needs to be understood. God alone could appreciate the Person and work of Christ. He alone could fully appreciate the cross as the expression of Christ's devotion. The cross, foreshadowed by the burnt offering, had an element in it that only the Divine mind could apprehend. It had depths so profound that neither mortal nor angel could fathom them. In it was a voice intended exclusively for, and that went directly to, the Father's ear. There were communications between the cross of Calvary and the throne of God that were far beyond the highest range of created intelligence.

"He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord." The use of the word "voluntary," clearly brings out the grand idea in the burnt offerings. It leads us to contemplate the cross in an aspect not sufficiently apprehended. We are apt to look on the cross merely as the place where the question of sin was settled, between eternal Justice and the spotless victim – the place where our guilt was atoned for, and where Satan was vanquished. The cross was all this, and more. It was the place where Christ's love to the Father was spoken in language that only the Father could hear and understand. It is in the latter aspect that the cross is typified in the burnt offering; and thus the word "voluntary" occurs. Were it merely a question of the imputation of sin, and of enduring the wrath of God because of sin, such an expression would not be in moral order. With strict propriety, the blessed Lord Jesus could not be represented as willing to be "made sin" – willing to endure the wrath of God, and the hiding of His countenance; And, in this one fact, we clearly learn that the burnt offering does not foreshadow Christ on the cross bearing sin, but Christ on the cross accomplishing the will of God. That Christ Himself contemplated the cross in these two aspects is evident from His own words. When he looked at the cross as the place of sin-bearing – when He anticipated the horrors this point of view invested, He exclaimed, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me" (Lk. 23:42). He shrank from that which His work as sin-bearer involved. His pure and holy mind shrank from the thought of contact with sin; and His loving heart shrank from the thought of losing, for a moment, the light of God's countenance.

But, the cross had another aspect. Before the eye of Christ it stood as a scene, in which He could fully reveal the deep secrets of His love to the Father – a place in which He could, "of his own voluntary will," take the cup which the Father had given Him, draining it to the very dregs. True, the whole life of Christ emitted a fragrant odor that ascended to the Father's throne; He always did those things that pleased the Father; He always did the will of God; but the burnt offering does not typify Him in His precious life, but in His death, and in that, not as one "made a curse for us," but as one presenting to the heart of the Father an odor of incomparable fragrance.

This truth invests the cross with peculiar charms for the spiritual mind, imparting to the sufferings of our blessed Lord an interest of the most intense character. No doubt, the guilty sinner finds in the cross God's answer to the deepest and most earnest cravings of heart and conscience. The true believer finds in the cross that which captivates all affection of the heart, transfixing our whole moral being. In the cross, the angels find a theme for ceaseless admiration. All this is true; but in the cross, there is something that passes far beyond the loftiest conceptions of saints or angels: the deep-toned devotion of the heart of the Son presented to, and appreciated by, the heart of the Father. This is the elevated aspect of the cross that is strikingly shadowed in the burnt offering.

If we accept the idea that Christ was a sin-bearer all His life, then the distinctive beauty of the burnt offering must be entirely sacrificed. There would then be no force, no value, no meaning in the word "voluntary." There could be no room for voluntary action in the case of One who by the very necessity of His position was compelled to give up His life. If, in His life, Christ were a sin-bearer, then His death must have been necessary, not voluntary. It may be asserted that the beauty of all the offerings would be marred, and their strict integrity sacrificed, by the theory of a Life of sin-bearing. This is especially the case in the burnt offering, because here it is not a question of sin-bearing or enduring the wrath of God, but entirely one of voluntary devotedness, manifested in the death of the cross. In the burnt offering we recognize a type of God the Son, accomplishing the will of God the Father by God the Spirit. This He did "of His own voluntary will." "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again" (Jn. 10:17). Here we have the burnt offering aspect of the death of Christ. On the other hand, contemplating Him as the sin offering, the prophet says, "his life is taken from the earth" (Acts 8:33, which is the LXX version of Is. 53:8). Again, Christ says, "No one taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." Was He a sin-bearer when He said this? Observe, "no one" – not man, angel, or devil caused Him to lay down His life. No; it was His own voluntary act to lay down His life that He might take it again. "I delight to do thy will, O my God." Such was the language of the Divine burnt offering – of Him who found His unutterable joy in offering Himself without spot to God.

It is also importance to apprehend the primary object of the heart of Christ in the work of redemption. It tends to consolidate the Christian's peace. The accomplishment of God's will, the establishment of God's counsels, and the display of God's glory, occupied the fullest, deepest, and largest place in Jesus Christ – in His devoted heart that viewed everything in reference to God. The Lord Jesus never once stopped to inquire how any act or circumstance would affect Him. "He humbled himself" – "He made himself of no reputation" – He surrendered all. So, when He arrived at the close of His career, He could look back on it all and say, with His eyes lifted up to heaven," I have glorified thee on the earth; I hare finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (Jn. 17:4). It is impossible to contemplate the work of Christ without the heart being filled with the affections toward His Person. It does not detract from our sense of His love for us, to know that in the work of the cross He made God His primary object. No; quite the opposite. His love for us and our salvation in Him could only be founded on God's established glory. That glory must form the solid base of everything. "As truly as I live, All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Num. 14:21). But we know that God's eternal glory, and the creature's eternal blessedness inseparably linked together, so that if the former is secured, so is the latter.

"And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him." The act of laying on of hands expressed full identification. By that significant act, the offerer and the offering became one; and in the case of the burnt offering, this oneness secured for the offerer all the acceptableness of his offering. The application of this to Christ and the believer presents a truth of the most precious nature, and one largely developed in the New Testament: the Christian's everlasting identification with, and acceptance in, Christ. "As he is, so are we, in this world." "We are in him that is true" (1 John 4:17; 5:20). Nothing short of this could avail. The man who is not in Christ is in sin. There is no middle ground. We are either in Christ or out of Him. There is no such thing as being partly in Christ. If there is a single hair's-breadth between you and Christ, you are in a state of wrath and condemnation. But, on the other hand, if you are in Him, then are you "as he is" before God – accounted in the presence of infinite holiness. Such is the plain teaching of the Word of God. "Ye are complete in him"; "accepted in the beloved"; "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 1:6; 5:30; Col. 2:1). It is not possible for the Head to be in one degree of acceptance and the members in another. No; the Head and members are one. God counts them one; therefore, they are one. This truth is the ground, foundation, or basis of the loftiest confidence, and of profound humility, imparting the fullest assurance of "boldness in the day of judgement." Why? Because it is not possible that anything can be laid to the charge of Him with whom we are united. It imparts the deep sense of our own nothingness, because our union with Christ is founded on the death of nature and the abolition of its claims and pretensions.

Therefore, since the Head and the members are viewed in the same position of favor and acceptance before God, it is perfectly evident that all the members stand in one acceptance, in one salvation, in one life, in one righteousness. In other words, there are no degrees in justification. The babe in Christ stands in the same justification as the saint of fifty years' experience – both are in Christ; and this is the only ground or foundation of life and justification. There are not two kinds of life, neither are there two kinds of justification. Yes, there are various measures of enjoying justification; various degrees in the knowledge of its fullness and extent; various degrees in the ability to exhibit its power on the heart and life; and these things are frequently confounded with justification.

But, there is no such thing as progress in justification. A Christian is not more justified today than yesterday; or more justified tomorrow than today. No; a soul "in Christ Jesus" is completely justified, period. A Christian is "complete in Christ" and is "as" Christ. On Christ's own authority, A Christian is "clean every whit" (Jn. 13:10). What more can be said this side of the glory? A Christian may make progress in the sense and enjoyment of this glorious reality; but, as to the thing itself, one who accepts and truly believes the Gospel, passes from a positive state of unrighteousness and condemnation into a positive state of righteousness and acceptance. All this is based on the divine perfectness of Christ's work; just as, in the case of the burnt offering, the worshipper's acceptance was based on the acceptableness of his offering. It was not a question of what he was, but simply of what the sacrifice was. "It shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him."

"And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." In studying the teaching of the burnt offering, it is needful to bear in mind that its point is not the meeting of the sinner's need, but the presentation to God of that which was infinitely acceptable to Him. Christ, as foreshadowed by the burnt offering, is not for the sinner's conscience, but for the heart of God. Further, in the burnt offering, the cross is not the exhibition of the exceeding hatefulness of sin, but of Christ's unshaken and unshakable devotedness to the Father. Neither is it the scene of God's out-poured wrath on Christ the sin-bearer; but of the Father's unmingled complacency in Christ, the voluntary and most fragrant sacrifice. Finally, "atonement," as seen in the burnt offering, is not merely commensurate with the claims of man's conscience, but the intense desire of the heart of Christ to carry out the will and establish the counsels of God – a desire that resulted in the surrendering of His spotless, precious life, as "a voluntary offering" of "sweet savour" to God.

In the carrying out of this desire, no power of earth or hell, men or devils, could shake Him. When, in words of false tenderness, Peter ignorantly sought to dissuade Him from encountering the shame and degradation of the cross – "Pity thyself, Lord! this shall not be unto thee" – what was the reply? "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men" (Matt. 16:22, 23). Also, on another occasion, the Lord says to His disciples, "Hereafter, I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me: but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father hath given me commandment, even so I do" (Jn. 14:30). These and numerous other kindred Scriptures, bring out the burnt offering phase of Christ's work, in which it is evident the primary thought is His "Offering himself without spot to God."

The place and functions that Aaron's sons get is in keeping with what has been stated regarding the special point in the burnt offering. They "sprinkle the blood"; they "put the fire upon the altar"; they "lay the wood in order upon the fire"; they "lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar." These are prominent actions, forming a marked feature of the burnt offering as contrasted with the sin offering, in which Aaron's sons are not mentioned at all. "The sons of Aaron" represent the church, not as "one body," but as a priestly house. This is easily apprehended. If Aaron was a type of Christ, then Aaron's house was a type of Christ's house, as we read in Hebrews 3, "But Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house are we." And, again, "Behold I and the children whom God hath given me." It is the privilege of the Church to gaze on and delight in that aspect of Christ that is presented in this opening type of Leviticus. "Our fellowship is with the Father" who graciously calls us to participate with Him in His thoughts about Christ. True, we can never rise to the height of those thoughts; but we can have fellowship therein, by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. It is not a question of having the conscience tranquillized by the blood of Christ as the sin-bearer, but of communion with God in the matter of Christ's perfect surrender of Himself on the cross.

"The priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Here we have a type of the church, bringing the memorial of an accomplished sacrifice, and presenting it in the place of individual approach to God. But we must remember, it is the blood of the burnt offering, and not of the sin offering. It is the church in the power of the Holy Spirit entering into the stupendous thought of Christ's accomplished devotedness to God – not a convicted sinner entering into the value of the blood of the sin-bearer. We need say that the church is composed of convicted sinners; but "Aaron's sons" do not represent convicted sinners, but worshipping saints. Their connection to the burnt offering was as "priests." Many err regarding this, imagining that because we are invited by the grace of God and fitted by the blood of Christ to take the place of a worshipper, we refuse to acknowledge ourselves as worthless sinners. This is a big mistake. In ourselves, we are "nothing at all." But in Christ, we are purged worshippers. We do not stand in the sanctuary as guilty sinners, but as worshipping priests, clothed in "garments of glory and beauty." To be occupied with guilt in the presence of God is not humility regarding self, but unbelief regarding the sacrifice.

However, the idea of sin-bearing; the imputation of sin; the wrath of God, does not appear in the burnt offering. True, we read, "it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him;" but it is not "atonement" according to the depths and enormity of human guilt, but rather according to the perfection of Christ's surrender of Himself to God, and the intensity of God's delight in Christ. This gives us the loftiest idea of atonement. If we contemplate Christ as the sin offering, we see atonement according to the claims of divine justice, with respect to sin. But when we see atonement in the burnt offering it is according to the measure of Christ's willingness and ability to accomplish the will of God. What a perfect atonement – that which is the fruit of Christ's devotion to God. Could there be anything beyond this? No; the burnt offering aspect of atonement is about that which the priestly household may well be occupied in the courts of the Lord's house, forever.

"And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces." The ceremonial act of "flaying" was peculiarly expressive. It was simply the removing of the outward covering, regarding what was within. It was not sufficient that the offering should outwardly be "without blemish," "the hidden parts" should be disclosed in order that every sinew and every joint might be seen. Only in the case of the burnt offering was this action specially named. This is in character, and sets forth the depth of Christ's devotedness to the Father. It was not just surface-work with Him. The more the secrets of His inner life were disclosed, the more clearly it was manifested that pure devotion to the will of His Father and earnest desire for His glory, were the springs of action in the great Antitype of the burnt offering. Jesus Christ was most assuredly a whole burnt offering.

"And cut it into his pieces." This action presents a somewhat similar truth to that taught in the "sweet incense beaten small" (Lev. 16). The Holy Spirit delights to dwell on the sweetness and fragrance of the sacrifice of Christ, not only as a whole, but also in all its minute details. Look at the burnt offering as a whole and you see it without blemish. Look at it in minute detail, all its parts, and you see the same. Such was Christ; and as such He is shadowed in this important type.

"And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar." This was a high position for the priestly family. The burnt offering was wholly offered to God – all burnt upon the altar¹; Man did not partake of it; but the sons of Aaron the priest, themselves also priests, are here seen standing around the altar of God, beholding the flame of an acceptable sacrifice ascending to Him – an odor of sweet smell. This was a high position; high communion-a high order of priestly service; a striking type of the church having fellowship with God – regarding the perfect accomplishment of His will in the death of Christ. As convicted sinners, we gaze on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, beholding therein all that meets our need. This aspect of the cross gives perfect peace to the conscience. But, as priests, as purged worshippers, as members of the priestly family, we can look at the cross in another light – as the grand consummation of Christ's holy purpose to carry out the will of the Father unto death. As convicted sinners, we stand at the Brazen Altar, and find peace through the blood of atonement; but, as priests, we stand there beholding and admiring the completeness of that burnt offering – the perfect surrender and presentation of the spotless One to God.

Our apprehension of the mystery of the cross is truly defective if we see in it only that which meets man's need as a sinner. There were depths in that mystery that only the mind of God can fathom. Therefore, it is important to see that when the Holy Spirit furnishes us with foreshadowings of the cross, He first gives us one that presents it in its aspect toward God. This alone would be sufficient to teach us that there are heights and depths in the cross that human nature can never reach. We may approach to "that one well-spring of delight," and drink forever; we may satisfy the utmost longings of our spirit; we may explore it with all the powers of a renewed nature; but, after all is said and done, there is that in the cross only God could know and appreciate. The burnt offering gets the first place because it typifies Christ's death as viewed and valued by God alone. Surely, we could not have done without such a type as this, for not only does it give us the highest possible aspect of the death of Christ, it also gives us a most precious thought in reference to God's peculiar interest in that death. The fact that God instituted a type of Christ's death exclusively for Himself contains an overwhelming depth of instruction for the spiritual mind.

But though neither man nor angel can ever fully understand the amazing depths of the mystery of Christ's death, at least we can see some features of it that make it precious to the heart of God beyond all thought. From the cross, He reaps His richest harvest of glory – in no other way could He have been so glorified. In Christ's voluntary surrender of Himself to death, Divine glory shines out in its fullest brightness. In it, too, the solid foundation of all Divine counsels was laid. This is a most comforting truth. Creation never could have furnished such a basis. In addition, the cross furnishes a righteous channel through which God’s love can flow. Finally, by the cross, Satan is eternally confounded and "principalities and powers made a show of openly." These are glorious fruits produced by the cross; and when we think of them, we can see why there should have been a type of the cross exclusively for God Himself, and also why that type should occupy the leading place – at the very top of the list. Again, there would have been a grievous blank among the types had the burnt offering been lacking; and there would be a grievous blank in the page of inspiration had the record of that type been withheld.

"But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord." This action rendered the sacrifice, typically, what Christ was essentially – pure, both inwardly and outwardly, pure. There was perfect correspondence between Christ's inward motives and His outward conduct. The latter was the index of the former. All tended to the one point: the glory of God. The members of His Body perfectly obeyed and carried out the counsels of His devoted heart – that heart which only beat for God and for His glory in the salvation of men. Therefore, well might the priest "burn all on the altar." It was all typically pure, and all designed only as food for the altar of God. Of some sacrifices the priest partook; of some, the offerer; but the burnt offering was "all" consumed on the altar. It was exclusively for God. The priests might have the holy privilege of arranging the wood and the fire, and see the flame ascend. But they did not eat of the sacrifice. In the burnt offering aspect of His death, God alone was the object of Christ. We cannot be too simple in our apprehension of this. From the moment that the unblemished male was voluntarily presented at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, until it was reduced to ashes by the fire, we discern in it Christ offering Himself by the Eternal Spirit, without spot to God.

This makes the burnt offering unspeakably precious to the soul. It gives us a most exalted view of Christ's work. In that work God had His own peculiar joy – a joy into which no created intelligence could enter. We must never lost sight of this. It is unfolded in the burnt offering, and confirmed by "the law of the burnt offering," to which we shall briefly refer. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, this is the law of the burnt offering: it is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. And the priest, shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it, it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offering. The fire shall ever be burning upon the, altar: it shall never go out" (Lev. 6:8-13).

The fire on the altar consumed the burnt offering, as well as the fat of the peace offering. In Christ and His perfect sacrifice, Divine holiness found a proper material on which to feed. That fire was never to go out – that which set forth the action of Divine holiness was to be perpetually maintained. Through the dark and silent watches of the night, the fire blazed on the altar of God.

"And the priest shall put on his linen garment," etc. Here, in type, the priest takes the place of Christ, whose personal righteousness is set forth by the white linen garment. Having given Himself up to the death of the cross in order to accomplish the will of God, Jesus Christ has entered into heaven, in His own eternal righteousness, bearing the memorials of His finished work. The ashes declared the completion of the sacrifice, and God's acceptance thereof. Those ashes, placed beside the altar, indicated that the fire had consumed the sacrifice – that it was not only a completed, but also an accepted sacrifice. The ashes of the burnt offering declared the acceptance of the sacrifice. The ashes of the sin offering declared the judgment of the sin.

Many of the points on which we have been dwelling will, with God's blessing, come before us with increasing clearness, fullness, precision, and power as we proceed with the offerings. Each offering is, as it were, thrown into relief, by being viewed in contrast with all the rest. Taken together, all the offerings give us a full view of Christ. They are like so many mirrors arranged to reflect in various ways the figure of that true and only perfect Sacrifice. No one type could fully present Him. We needed to have Him reflected in life and in death – as a Man and as a Victim – to God and to us; and so we have Him in the offerings of Leviticus. God has graciously met our need, and may He give us an enlarged capacity to enter into and enjoy His provision.

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