SHADOWS OF CHRIST. PART XVIII.

THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD. The sin-offering and the burnt-offering.-Ex. xxix. 10-18. ARON and his sons, having been washed at the

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door of the tabernacle, and invested with their priestly garments, have next to see unfolded in the offerings the great sacrificial work whereby the grace of God had brought them to such a place of blessing and honour.

First in order and most prominent (for it is a bullock and not a ram or a kid) there is the sin-offering.

This is very important for it is the contradiction of all man's ideas of religion or of access to God.

The natural man in all his schemes of religion either leaves out entirely or postpones to some indefinite future period the settlement with God of the question of sin and an evil conscience.

With God and His revealed way of approach to Himself, this is the first question. It cannot be otherwise; for sin is a grievous insult to the Majesty of God and an outrage upon His holiness and righteousness. To allow one who had been guilty of rebellion against His authority and of breaking his laws to draw near to Him on terms of peace and intimacy, without a definite acknowledgement of guilt and a righteous ground of reconciliation, would be utterly inconsistent with the righteous government of God. "Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne," and all that God does must be and ever shall be consistent therewith.

Hence the hatefulness in God's sight of the advances

made to Him in the name of "worship" by the stouthearted and impenitent.

"Bring no more vain oblations: incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting "-then follows the gracious invitation to face the question of sin and have it settled. "Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Is. i. 10-19.) The Epistle to the Hebrews is full of the same teaching. "How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Heb. ix. 14.) To serve God acceptably until the conscience has been "purged," or cleared from the dark stain of guilt which he who honestly desires to draw nigh to God invariably feels to be an intolerable burden, is therefore an impossibility. Again, in x. 22, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, &c."

"He that is washed," in the blood of Christ, "is clean every whit". (John xiii. 10.) Only such are fit to be in the presence of God, either as worshippers or as servants.

The sin-offering being brought before the tabernacle of the congregation, Aaron and his sons were to put their hands upon its head.

This was the only part they had to take in the whole transaction; all the rest was done for them by Moses on behalf of God.

How beautifully this typical action shews forth the believer's part in the great consecration service.

It is only faith's identification of the sinner with the sin-offering. The laying of the hand upon the head of the victim was equivalent to saying, "this bullock is wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement whereby our peace is effected is laid upon him". Thus, faith in the Lord Jesus as having been "made sin for us" is what in our experience answers to the laying of the hands of Aaron and his sons upon the head of the bullock.

"My faith would lay her hand,

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,

And sing His bleeding love."

The bullock was killed "before the Lord ". Jehovah was the first whose claims had to be satisfied. This also is a great truth concerning sin which man commonly ignores. Man can easily see that it is reasonable the claims of a fellow man should be honoured and righteously settled, but leaves utterly out of his calculation the infinitely greater claims of a Holy God and a faithful Creator. Let a man be awakened to this aspect of sin and view it as dishonour done to the righteous claims of the God of love, and then no amount of his own religion or good works will for a moment satisfy his guilty conscience. The blood of Christ alone could then avail, for God has declared that by it alone has peace been made and His righteous claims discharged for guilty man. "Without shedding of blood is no remission."

The blood of the bullock was then to be put upon the horns of the altar, and all the remainder poured out at the bottom of the altar.

Thus it was shewn to be all for God. And after all, what is the peace which faith imparts to the sin burdened conscience? Is it not simply the assurance derived from God's own word, that His claims have been met and satisfied by the obedience unto death of his own dear son. If He is satisfied, then I am satisfied.

I hear the words of love,

I gaze upon the blood,

I see the mighty sacrifice,

And I have peace with God.

All the fat and the inward parts of the bullock were to be burned upon the altar, but the flesh, the skin, and the dung were to be burnt without the camp.

If any taint of disease or corruption were to be found in it at all, it would be on those "inward parts". It is from within out of the heart that the evil thoughts and actions of man proceed. There is the fountain, and since it is polluted every stream that flows from it is also defiled.

But it was just there that God found His chief delight in His beloved Son. He could say truly, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God, yea thy law is within my heart." Every thought and intent of His heart, every purpose and motive was perfect; fit to give satisfaction to God and to find a place on His altar.

And the burning of these parts upon the altar was the witness, that though on account of sin the body of the animal was to be carried outside the camp and burnt there, yet in itself it was perfectly acceptable. Thus the Lord Jesus, although forsaken of God, and in darkness as He hung on Calvary bearing the curse of sin, was even at that same moment an infinite delight to God, His Father. It was such obedience as had never before been yielded and never could be again, and this in the body prepared for Him in the likeness of sinful flesh.

Blessed be God for such an exposure of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and for such a provision for putting away sin from before Him and from us for ever.

The sin offering was followed by the burnt offering. This was a ram, and according to the law of the burnt offering it was wholly consumed upon the altar. In the former offering the leading idea was the putting away of sin consistently with God's righteousnessthrough the shedding of blood. In this the prominent thought is not the putting away of sin, but the acceptance the worshipper enjoys by means of the acceptableness of His burnt offering.

In the sin offering, to use the words of the New Testament, we see Christ, who "knew no sin made sin for us," "in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace". (2 Cor. v. 21, Eph. i. 7.)

In the burnt offering we see Him "giving Himself to God for us, an offering and a sacrifice for a sweet smelling savour". (Eph. v. 2.)

The voice that reaches us from the sin offering is “JUSTIFIED FROM ALL THINGS". (Acts xiii. 39.)

From the burnt offering "ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED". (Eph. i. 6.) Hence in the ordinances connected with the burnt offering, more attention is drawn to the intrinsic perfectness of the offering in all its parts.

The animal was to be divided in pieces-the inwards and the legs were to be washed with water-indicating not the removal of defilement, but rather that every inner spring and motive of the life of Christ and every step of His outward walk was sanctified by the truth, as it is written "for their sakes I sanctify Myself that they also may be sanctified through the truth". (John xvii. 19.)

The head also is specially mentioned. All being regarded as under the direction and control of the head, it was needful that this in its entirety be also laid upon God's altar in proof of its acceptableness to Him.

It was the High Priest's forehead which bore the golden plate whereon was engraved "Holiness to the Lord," and in contrast to this we read that if leprosy appeared in the forehead of a man he was "utterly unclean". (Lev. xiii. 44.)

The importance that thus attaches to the head becomes the more significant when it is seen as in Rom. v., that in God's sight there are but the two men, each being the federal head of the creation to which he pertains. Adam, the leprous head of the utterly unclean human race; Christ, the righteous head of the new creation. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive ". (1 Cor. xv. 22.) That is to say, as by virtue of relationship to Adam all in him. are partakers of sin and death, so by virtue of relationship to Christ (and not otherwise) all in Him are partakers of His righteousness and life.

How perfect then is the divine order of these two offerings as seen in this consecration service. First the chosen family witness the putting away of sin and then they learn their perfect acceptance.

Until the first has been plainly seen, the second can never be enjoyed. Hence it is that with so many the joy of salvation and of communion with God is almost, if not entirely, unknown; they pass their years in doubtful uncertainty as to their acceptance, seeking to obtain the assurance of it from their own experiences,

because they have never clearly seen that by the one sin offering they are "perfected for ever". (Heb. x. 12, 14.) But once let the conscience find settled peace as to the question of sin, and then, in view of the wondrous character of the great Burnt offering, to rejoice in Him and in His acceptableness to God, as all ours and for us, is simple and natural.

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This is beautifully shewn in the history of Hezekiah. When by the grace of God he sought to restore a backslidden nation to Jehovah, the first offering provided was seven bullocks, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a SIN OFFERING for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah ". (2 Chron. xxix. 20, 21.)

This was according to the mind of God and most blessed in its place-but notice what follows. There stood the Levites with their instruments of music and the priests with the trumpets, all in order, all ready to sound the high praises of the Lord; yet in silence they wait until the sin offering is finished and the burnt offering begins! "And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, THE SONG OF THE LORD began and all the congregation worshipped and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded-and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished." (2 Chron. xxix. 27 28.)

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Calmly, thankfully the heart looks back to Calvary and sees its guilt and sin laid on the Holy one of God. In solemn silent adoration we hear amid the awful darkness, the bitter cry, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me "--and peace unutterable fills the soul as again and again the echo falls upon the believing ear "It is finished". But it is as we behold the offered one ascending* in all His glorious acceptance up from the grave to appear in the presence of God for us, and witness by the welcome He receives to the right hand of the throne, how sweet the savour of His offering had been to God, that we can, in the assurance that it is all for us, as it were surround that throne and join the elders there, who, with their golden harps, sound forth the praise of Him who died and rose again. It is further most instructive to see that, although *The burnt offering is literally "the ascending offering," because of its all ascending upon the altar to God. Death and resurrection are both shewn in it, the blood and the ashes witnessing to death and judgment, but the smoke ascending upon high equally pointing to resurrection and ascension

the sin-offering is first in order, and therefore forms the basis of all intercourse between man and God, nevertheless throughout Scripture the sin-offerings are the fewest in number of all the offerings. (See Ex. xxix. 38, 42, Num. vii., viii., and xxix.)

Would not God thus instruct us in the real character of the confession of sin. It is not that which He would have continually thrust upon Him as if it were an acceptable part of our worship. Necessary it is to deal truly and honestly with sin whether in the individual or in the assembly, and be it ever remembered that if sin be covered instead of being confessed, or lightly passed by instead of being judged, it cannot but prove an insurmountable barrier to communion with God; to Him a true groan of contrition is more acceptable worships than songs from lips that are not in fellowship with Himself; but the habit of introducing at all times in approaching to God a general and indefinite confession of sin and unworthiness, about which the conscience is not exercised and the shame of which is not felt, cannot possibly be pleasing to God.

Oh for chastened and self-judged spirits, truly in fellowship with God and filled with the joy of " acceptance in the beloved"! Then would the song of the Lord indeed begin and continue to His glory and to our great blessing.

J. R. C.

NOTES OF AN ADDRESS ON THE PEACE-
OFFERING.
LEVITICUS III.

BY MR. THOMAS NEWBERRY.

(OD is speaking here of peace. The chapter is connected with the former chapter by "and"--and that former chapter is in like manner connected with the first. Thus we have, first, the ascending offering (the burnt offering) speaking perpetually of unreserved consecration and devotedness, in life and death to God. Then the meat-offering, speaking of that incarnate life, in which the Son of God, in His sinless humanity, perfectly manifested His holiness, and in His walk on earth glorified the Father. And now, there is the offering which speaks of peace made ours, and for

ever.

"If his oblation,"-literally, "approach-offering." There must be something to present to God. It is not enough that we have confidence: it must be confidence

based on peace. "He is our peace." "Being justified

Some copies read There is, in this one

by faith, we have peace with God." "Let us have peace with God". offering of Himself, enough to give peace, to secure the soul. "No condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."

"If his approach-offering be a sacrifice of peaceoffering," the word "peace" is in the plural; as it is in Isaiah xxvi. 3. "peace, peace," translated "perfect peace -an offering without blemish :-" who knew no sin" the spotless Lamb of God.

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The offering might be of the herd, a lamb or a goat; meeting the sinner's apprehension of his need in all its aspects.

Am I sensible of the evil of my ways, my failure in obedience, my insubjection, and all the sin of my conduct? The ox speaks to me of Him who was the righteous servant, the One who fulfilled His Father's will, obedient unto death even the death of the cross. But perhaps it is not my conduct, my outward ways, which most affect my conscience. It is my spirit, my temper, my inward consciousness of the pride or envy of my heart. Is it so? Then, behold the Lamb of God! I see Him who was meek and lowly in heart, led as a lamb to the slaughter.

Or, again, it may be, not so much my conduct, and my ways, or the spirit and temper of my mind which trouble me; but the inward nature,-the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. I was born in sin. Then I see Him the sinless One, represented in the goat, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, that in Him God might condemn sin in the flesh.

Thus, every way, He speaks of peace. His precious blood is the blood of One mighty to save, meeting every single need of the conscience, however it may be exercised in the presence of the holiness of God.

The offerer brought the victim; the offerer laid his hand on it; the offerer killed it. This was not done for him. It was done by himself. There was need of this identification of himself with the sacrifice. It is not enough, that I see that Christ was a sacrifice for sin. I must see that it was my sin. It is not enough to see that Pontius Pilate and Herod and all the people of Israel slew Him. No: I must behold my part in it. My sins pierced Him. My sins nailed Him to the tree.

Then, one of Aaron's sons, a priest, sprinkled the blood round about upon the altar. This is my part

too, now, as a priest to God. The blood is not simply poured forth from the slain victim. It is sprinkled on all the four horns of the altar. Thus is the blood exhibited.

So shall I tell to sinners round,

What a dear Saviour I have found; Will point to His redeeming love, And cry-Behold the way to God. Then, part is taken for Jehovah. It is the most precious part. The fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards-portions such as these; and of the fat (as of the blood, reserved for the altar) the people of Israel should never eat. This was a perpetual statute for their generations (v. 20.) It tell us that, besides that which could be seen of the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, there were inward affections-a measure of secret devotedness-which none but the Father could estimate and value in His beloved Son, as He offered Himself without spot to God. And much as we can discern of the perfection that was in Him, and of the love that spoke in His fulfilment of His Father's will, and however deeply we may penetrate in eternity into the wonders of the cross, yet there will remain still greater depths and wonders, which will be known only by God, who so loved the world as to give

His Son.

The offerer thus offered the fat with the blood to God. If I am coming to the cross,-nothing in my hand I bring. But if I approach as a worshipper, consecrated in my service, my hands are filled with Christ. And so approaching, I can in spirit behold that which continually sends up a sweet savour to God. Christ in all His preciousness is displayed, consumed for me, the now ransomed and accepted worshipper:God, eternally satisfied in all His claims, and glorified too, in such an exhibition of the fulfilment of His will; mercy and truth met together; righteousness and peace kissing each other. Such is the Cross!

Here we rest for ever viewing
Mercy's streams in streams of blood,
Precious drops our souls bedewing,
Plead and claim our peace with God.

Thus the offerer feeds on this blessed peace-offering. He shares with God, to whom it is offered, its peacespeaking joy and though his power to apprehend the infinite sweetness of its savour be so much less, he has his own joy-sustaining portion.

But more than this. Not only is peace made. It is

also proclaimed. We are ambassadors for Christ beseeching men to be reconciled to God; for He hath made peace by the blood of the cross, and now is "preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all". (Acts x. 36.) It is a glorious thing to see this; and the heart of the believer rejoices in it. Not only is Jesus our Saviour, but our Lord. To Him our hearts bow; and to Him, in the full response of love, our service is rendered; for He is worthy. It is our privilege to honour Him to obey and to adore.

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NOTES ON THE SONG OF SOLOMON.

BY W. LINCOLN.

Part II. Dialogue III., from Ch. V. 2 to VI. 12.

ND thus it is evident by the fervour of her description of the Beloved One, how her soul was drawn out in desire after Himself and after His presence, from Whom she had got away. Oh! we need to be ever on our guard, otherwise we shall be sure to let something get between Him and us. And, no matter what that something be, whether care or business, or self-indulgence, or routine of duty, if the heart strays from Him, He is jealous, and cannot be otherwise than grieved. So very much has He given to get us, so has He parted with all that He might woo and win us, that well indeed may He now look for His love to be reciprocated. "I HAVE loved you," are His own emphatic words. He demands in return that Himself and His Father's love be the FIRST object of our hearts. Nothing less can satisfy Him, and this is our mercy. Strange that He should care for our affections! Stranger still that we should be so slow to set them on Him or allow them to be so easily withdrawn. But He has ways of bringing us to our senses and to our knees and on our faces

again before Him, even as here with Israel. See like

wise Hosea ii. 7-16.

Her companions, moved by her glowing words and roused by her ardour, next enquire of her where He is to be found. Her answer to this, their second enquiry, is as prompt and as vivid as had already been her reply to their question, What is thy Beloved more than another beloved? If they know Him not, she does, and her heart approves of His way, even though she is made to feel the waywardness of her own. My beloved is gone down into His garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

Do