How wonderful the book of Leviticus becomes to us when we find that, instead of mere Jewish ritual, we have precious things in it concerning the Lord Jesus Himself. And when we find that each one of the offerings gives us a picture of the Lord Jesus, either in His Person or His work, how interesting it becomes!
It is very gracious of God to teach us this way by means of pictures. Our poor, narrow minds could not apprehend at once the glory of the person of the Lord Jesus or the value of His work. Therefore, God gives us these types in order that we may consider one aspect of the Person or work of the Lord Jesus at a time. Then, having looked at one type, we turn to another, which gives us a different aspect. Thus, putting all together, our hearts are filled with wonder and worship.
The burnt offering stands first (Lev. 1). Now of what does this offering speak? “The work of Christ,” you say. But what aspect of the work of Christ?
Suppose I were to ask this question: “What do you think was the first object of the Lord Jesus Christ in coming into the world?” What answer do you think they would give? Nine out of ten would say, the first object was to save sinners, of course. Yet that was not the first object. It was an object. But what was the Lord’s first object in coming into this world?
“Wherefore, when He cometh into the world, He saith…Lo, I come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do Thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:5-7).
The first object the Lord Jesus had in coming into this world was to accomplish the will of God and to glorify Him. And when was this perfect obedience to the will of God more perfectly expressed than when He was made sin for us on the cross–when He, to do the will of God, went down into death for us? It was when He took our sins on Him, and was made sin, that God acquired His highest and greatest glory. It is most important to see that.
Naturally, therefore, the burnt offering comes first because it presents Christ, not so much as taking our sins, but as offering Himself without spot to God, to accomplish the will of God and to glorify Him, even in death.
If you turn to Ephesians 5:2, you will find two sides of the work of Christ presented to us in one verse: “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us”–that is our side–“an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor”–that is the other side, the aspect that is presented in the burnt offering, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.
I am sure we lose much in our own souls through not looking at that aspect of the sacrifice of Christ–what it is to God, and not merely what it is for us. We get far deeper peace by looking at it in that way. We gain immensely by it.
Have you ever contemplated that aspect of the death of the Lord Jesus? I trust every reader is able to say from the heart, “The Lord Jesus died for me; in the love of His heart He gave Himself for me.” Blessed fact! We shall never forget it through all eternity. But let me ask you, Have you ever mused on what that work of Christ was to God? Have you ever considered what God’s thoughts were concerning that blessed One when He thus offered Himself up without spot?
Returning to Leviticus 1, we read: “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish.” An imperfect animal could not be accepted. If there had been a single spot, a single blemish, on that bullock, it could not have been accepted by the Lord.
What does that point to? To the holy, spotless Person of the blessed Lord Jesus, who passed through this world as the holy, sinless One, and offered Himself without spot to God. The obedience that characterized Him in His life was only perfected, so to speak, in His death. Or, as we read in Philippians 2, He was obedient unto [the point of] death, even the death of the cross.
I ask you not what your thought is about that wonderful work, that act of whole-hearted obedience and devotedness to the Father’s glory, but have you ever considered what God’s thoughts are about the blessed One and His obedience to that death on the cross? If the Father could say of Him during His life here, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” how much more now that He has gone even into death itself out of obedience and love to the Father.
The Father always delighted in Him. But now He was going to lay down His life in love and obedience to the Father, and He says, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again” (Jn. 10:17).
Did not the Father always love the Son? To be sure He did. Yet He says, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life.” There was a fresh cause, a new motive, so to speak, for the Father’s love to flow out toward the Son.
“An offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.” What idea do those words convey to your minds? Is not a sweet savor something in which we delight, something that is pleasing to us? These are the words the Holy Ghost uses to make known to us God’s thoughts of that blessed One and His sacrifice.
Now, what is our part in the burnt offering? Where do we come in? You will notice that verse 4 of our chapter says, “He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering.” That action means that the offerer was identified with all the value of the sacrifice. In other words, if God accepted the sacrifice, He accepted the one who brought it. If God found the sacrifice a sweet savor, and found delight in it, He found the same delight in the one who came with it.
The offerer was fully identified with the value of the sacrifice before God. As we read, “And it shall be accepted for him.” Oh, how simple and how blessed that is! The sacrifice of Christ accepted by God for us, according to the value He puts upon it–Christ accepted instead of us.
Instead of being before God with our sins and disobedience and lack of devotedness, we are accepted according to all the value of that work on the cross. Thank God, if we have once come as lost sinners, and taken our true place before Him, we find ourselves accepted on the ground of what Christ was to God when He offered Himself a willing sacrifice.
I do not know a more peace-giving truth than this. If anyone ask, “What are you resting on for your eternal salvation?” we can answer, “The value God puts on the work of His beloved Son.” What a sure, solid foundation for our souls!