Christ Jesus as seen in the Character of the Burnt Offering

 

Christ Jesus as seen in the Character of the Burnt Offering

 

Leviticus 1:3

 

 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

 

The burnt offering is an Old Testament type and shadow of our Great High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ. In New Testament worship Christ Jesus is the Great High Priest, He is the Sacrifice and He is the Alter. And His love of God and devotion to the accomplishment of the will Of God is the fire that consumed the life of His humanity and it is the zeal that ate Him up (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17). The complete self-surrender of the Man Christ Jesus to the will of the Father, the delight of the Lamb of God to do the will of God, His singleness of heart for the will of the Father made His offering of Himself a sweet smelling fragrance coming up from earth to heaven in the essence of the person and obedience of Jesus Christ the Son of God. There was love incomprehensible in the heart of the Son of God, when He, by the Eternal Spirt offered Himself up without spot for a sacrifice acceptable to the heart of the Father who reciprocated the eternal and infinite love of the Son. In that sacrifice of the body of the Son, heaven and earth had fellowship in the act of love of the Father receiving the offering of the Son by the Spirit. As said by our Lord Jesus Christ: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John10:17-18).

 

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, The beginning “if” introduces this type as a voluntary sacrifice on the part Him who is pictured in the burnt offering. Our Lord Jesus told His disciples at His arrest: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be” (Matthew 26:53-54)? The Psalmist speaking of the burnt offering aspect of the cross wrote by the Spirit of God: “ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:6-8).

 

The cross work of our Lord Jesus Christ could not be typified by just one Old Testament sacrifice. There were several types, all of them pointing to the person of Jesus Christ, or to His accomplished work, or both. Each sacrifice had its particular thrust of signification. For example the sin offering signified the cross work of Christ Jesus in the punishment of sin, and the putting away of sin. While both the sin offering, and the burnt offering brought atonement with them, the primary thrust of the burnt offering is the devotion of the heart of our Lord Jesus to the will of God, and the fulfillment of God’s purpose, and covenant promises. The burnt offering typifies a perfect man on earth unceasingly doing the will of God, even unto death, the death of the cross. This is a sweet savor, a delightful smell to God, as it is written: “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor” (Ephesians 5:2)

 

Let him offer a male without blemish: This typifies the perfectly holy humanity of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, for in Him is absolute sinlessness, perfect holiness of His Person, and perfect righteousness in His actions, and motivations. The Holy Ghost calls His Human Body that Holy Thing, it is written: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:31-35).

 

Christ Jesus is the Son of God, and is the seed of woman (Genesis 3:15); and thus undefiled by the sin of Adam which comes by natural generation. Sins committed have their beginning in the desire of the heart, our Lord Jesus said: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man” (Matthew 15:19-20). The inward principle of sin which pervades the nature of natural men is the underling iceburg of which the sins of the flesh are but the observed tip. Christ Jesus had no such inward principle, for He was of the seed of woman, and not of the seed of natural man. In the womb of the virgin Mary a body was prepared of the Holy Ghost, as it is written: “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” (Hebrews 10:5). There is no inward principle of sin in Christ Jesus, therefore there is nothing in the heart of Christ whereunto sin can be appealing, for the external attractions of sin must appeal to the inward principle of sin present in the heart of all natural men. Our Lord Jesus said this about the inward principle of sin: “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). There is no inward principle of sin in the Christ of God, nothing for Satan to appeal to in the Christ, for Jesus Christ is “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24).

 

 He shall offer it of his own voluntary will. Here again the underlying principle is the will of Christ Jesus to do the will of Him that sent Him. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent “me” (John 6:38). And He said: “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once” (Hebrews 10:10; italicized insertions by translators have been omitted). The ultimate object of the offering of the body of Christ once, was the glory of God. God would make known to principalities and powers the perfections of His wisdom and power through the destruction of Satan and his works by Jesus Christ. God destroyed the kingdom of Satan, his government and power, by that nature which Satan had overcome in Adam. That is God destroyed the kingdom of Satan by the humanity of Jesus Christ, who by one offering of His body and soul destroyed Satan and his works.  Satan is now a ruined adversary, he is allowed to do what he can to trouble the people of God, but he can do no more than what God allows. He knows his time is short, and that his imprisonment is sure. All that he does to the children of God, is what God allows for the good of those children. Two things that Satan does when he causes the children of God trouble are: (1.) To wean them from the love of this world, and (2.) To continually teach us our total dependence on Christ Jesus for all that is of essential value to the souls of men. When we are weak in ourselves then are we strong in the Lord; as said the Apostle Paul: “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (II Corinthians 12:9). “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). The fellowship of the Father and the Son as the Son yielded up His soul and offering for sin is incomprehensible to our understanding, and this is what is shadowed forth in the burnt offering. While in the sin offering the shadow is of fury poured out and justice satisfied (Isaiah 27:4).

 

At the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord.  This sacrifice was offered before the Lord. The animal, whether bullock, sheep, or goat, was brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and killed at the door of the tabernacle, where Jehovah dwelt in the holiest of all, between the cherubim of glory. This sacrifice was Godward. As Christ Jesus is shadowed in the burnt offering, Christ’s love of the Father, and honor of the glory of God were the motivating factors in the heart of Christ. In this devotion to the glory and honor of God, Christ Jesus demonstrated the obedience resident in the heart of Christ and required in the moral law, as it is written: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). That which was innate in Christ, the supreme love of God above all else, and desire for the manifestation of His glory, was the fire that burned in His Holy Soul and could not be quenched until it found expression at the cross of Calvary, in His own death which was signified in the burnt offering.

 

The offerer was to put his hand on the head of the offering. Placing his hand on the head of the animal, signifies full identification of the offerer with the sacrifice. This expresses of the union of Christ Jesus with all the elect of God, according to the everlasting covenant of grace. The Hebrew expression for “he shall put’ is, saw’ mak, it means to: prop, reflexively to lean upon or take hold of, to lean, lie hard, sustain. This is what the believer does with respect to Christ, the believer leans all his weight on the Christ of God, and is sustained by Him alone. The believer is upheld at the throne of grace before the God of heaven and earth. Leaning of the everlasting arms is the fellowship of the mystery, that is our participation in the mystery: as it is written: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Ephesians 3:9-12). Christ Jesus fulfilled all the law and the prophets, and all those who lean on him fulfilled the law and the prophets in Christ by that covenant union whereby we are crucified with Christ ( Galatians 2:20). Our Lord Jesus washed the church in His own blood (Revelation 1:5). And therefore all members of His church are “clean every whit” (John 13:10).    

AJ Ison

 

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