Of Laying on of Hands
Leviticus 1:4
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.
In Hebrews 6:2 reference is made to the doctrine of laying on of hands. The doctrine of laying on of hands as it applies to the burnt offering sets before us a different aspect from the doctrine of laying on of hands in the sin offering. In both cases atonement was made for the one who offered the sacrifice. And in both cases atonement is made by the blood of the sacrifice. For “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). The various offerings are shadows of the same substance, that substance is Jesus Christ and His finished work of redemption. The different offerings are shadows showing forth the different aspects of that one completed work of redemption. In the burnt offering, the perfect devotion of the Son of God to the Father’s will is the primary aspect held up to our view. “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect” (Hebrews 10:1).
In the meat offering Christ Jesus is set forth as the bread of life and is feasted upon unto the full satisfaction of the Father and the church. All the incense of the meat offering was burned on the brazen alter and ascended up to God in the smoke of the alter, while the priests, who prefigure the church of God, that is the family of God, fed on the rest of the offering after the memorial had been removed. Their feast and fellowship is in Jesus Christ. The doctrine of Christ, that is the gospel, is a feast of fat things, as it is written: “And in this mountain (the church of God: writer) shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined” (Isaiah 25:6). “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
The laying on of hands in the sin offering was to signify the transfer of sin from the offender to the sacrifice. As said the prophet Isaiah; “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). The Apostle Paul wrote: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). Since the sin, and sins of the family of God have been laid on the Lamb of God, sin whether original or actual is not imputed to the sinner himself. Since Christ has redeemed the elect from the curse of the law, it necessarily follows, that the law has no curse remaining for the children of God.
The different offerings of the Old Testament are shadows of different aspects of the one offering of our Lord Jesus Christ. The different offerings and the manner in which they prefigure Christ with the infinite satisfaction that His one offering brought to the members of the Godhead cannot be appreciated by any created intelligence. The following verses may furnish some obscure insight into the delight the Father and the Holy Spirit took in the Son and His finished work of salvation for the family of God. “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matthew 17:5). “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad” (Psalm 45:6-8). “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4). “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little one” (Zechariah 13:7). No one offering could propose to faith the infinite perfections of the Person and finished work of our Great High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father and the Holy Ghost alone are capable of a true estimation of the value and merit of the one offering of the Son of God. With reference to the Father, the Son said: “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him” (Proverbs 8:22-31)
The laying on of hands in the burnt offering is connected with the idea of oneness or union with the sacrifice. In the burnt offering the offerer is identified with the offering as they stand in union, the one in union with the other. The picture is of Christ Jesus and His church, standing in covenant union from everlasting, according to the eternal decree of election, wherein the persons of the elect were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). These persons were set apart: (1.) by the choice of God the Father unto salvation, as it is written: “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (II Thessalonians 2:13): (2.) and unto redemption by the Son of God: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24): (3.) and they are set apart unto the effectual call of the Holy Spirit: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:9). These persons are: “sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called” effectually by the Holy Ghost (Jude 1:1).
According to the burnt offering aspect of the cross death of Jesus Christ, as viewed in the doctrine of laying on of hands, the atonement and our acceptance, is founded on the baptism of believers into union in death with the Lamb of God, as it is written: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, all believers of all ages are crucified with Christ, as it is written : “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Believers are (1.) baptized into His death: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3), (2.) risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, and (3.) forever justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the works of the law, as it is written: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13;39).
With reference to the sin offering, the offender was again to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering. This action was to identify the offender with the sin offering, but in this offering the action involved the imputation of the sin of the offender to the offering. The identification of the offender with the offering, was typical of the union that exists between the Lord Jesus and His people. They (the children of God) were given of the Father in eternity past to Christ who is the surety of the New Testament. As surety it is and always has been the function of Him who stood in that office to put the sin of His people away, so that sin might not be charged to the those who were given Him of the Father. The justness of this action is based on the covenant union that has existed between Christ and the elect from all eternity.
In the everlasting covenant of Grace, Christ Jesus and the elect are esteemed, reckoned, considered, or legally accounted to be one. Our Lord Jesus said “I am the vine ye are the branches” (John 15:5). “And He is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). Christ Jesus the Head and His body the church in covenant union stand together as one in the Father’s view. And in that view as joined together in one they make “one new man” as it is written: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one (both Jew and Gentile: writer), and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Ephesians 2:14-15). The Jewish members of the body, and the Gentile members of the body, though they are one in Christ, joined together in Christ make up the body and nothing more. The “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15), is composed of Christ the Head of the body and the church His members joined together in spiritual union, as it is written: “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (I Corinthians 6:17). So that the imputation of the righteousness of the Head to the body is just in the judicial government of God, and it is also just that the Christ should bare the sin of His members, their sin, and sins being by imputation alone made His: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21).
In the burnt offering aspect of the cross death of Jesus Christ, the laying on of the hands of the offerer, was intended to signify the shared acceptance of the offering and the offerer. As was the offering so was the offerer. The acceptance of the offerer depended on the acceptableness of the offering. Since the offerer and the offering were identified together as one, the offerer was accepted in the acceptance of the offering. As it is written: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world” (I John 4:17). As Christ is, so are we in this world, before the God of heaven and earth. This is our confidence that gives us boldness in the day of judgment. “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (I john 5:20). “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:22-23). Believers are in the Son of God, (I John 5:20) The Son of God is the advocate of the children of God (I John 2:2) and the Son of God is the judge (John 5:22-23). The Judge and the Advocate are one Person, the Son of God, in whom all the children of God are members, and the Judge is also “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:6), “to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Romans 4:16). Death, hell, the grave, and every enemy of the children of God are conquered foes, they were defeated in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.
AJ Ison
See the writers blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.
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