LESSON 10.—JUNE 1.—THE OFFERINGS.
[Note to the Student.—These lessons are not designed to be exhaustive, but suggestive. In references to the “Desire of Ages,” in the lessons, the subscription edition is referred to. Those who have only the trade edition will find the matter in chapters 1, 4, 11, 27, 71, 77, 78; also read “Patriarchs and Prophets,” chapters 5 and 30. “Christ Our Advocate,” Bible Students’ Library No. 20 (price, 10 cents), and “Looking unto Jesus” (price, $1.00) will be found a great help. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES will have an article on the subject of each lesson this quarter by J. O. Corliss. Read these articles in connection with the study of the lesson. We have not space to print all the scriptures. Let the student study them carefully from the Bible. Those printed are from the Revised Version.] 1. What offerings were made for the sin of ignorance, by the high priest? What offerings were made by the whole congregation? Describe the way in which these offerings were made. Lev. 4: 2-21. 2. What offering was made by a ruler, or by any one of the common people, for the same sin? In what way was it dealt with differently from the offering made by the priest and the whole congregation? Lev. 4: 22-35; 6: 25-30. 3. For what purpose were some of the sin-offerings eaten? “And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin-offering, and, behold, it was burnt; and he was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the sons of Aaron that were left, saying, Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the place of the sanctuary, seeing it is most holy, and He hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord?” Lev. 10: 16, 17. (Notice that where the priest was concerned in the sin, he was not permitted to eat of the offering.) 4. In what way are we privileged above those priests? “We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” Heb. 13: 10-13. (Note 1.) 5. What offering has been provided for us? “And walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.” Eph. 5: 2. 6. What must we do with the offering? What will be the result? “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” Isa. 53: 10. 7. How many kinds of sins are mentioned in Lev. 5: 6:1-7; 7: 1-7? How were the offerings made? (Note 2.) 8. What offering has been provided for us? Eph. 5: 2, above. 9. What must we do with the offering? What will be the result? “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; and He shall bear their iniquities.” Isa. 53: 10, 11. (Note 3.) 10. To whom did the fat of all these offerings belong? (See Lev. 3: 14-17.) 12. For whom was the altar made? What was it called? “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in every place where I record My name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.” Ex. 20: 24, 25; (Mal. 1: 7, 12.) 13. What did the fat represent? “Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled Me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.” Isa. 43: 24. “But the wicked shall perish, And the enemies of the Lord shall be as the excellency of the pastures: They shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” Ps. 37: 20. 14. To whom do our sins belong? Why, then, is the fat the Lord’s? “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father.” Gal. 1: 4. 1. There were two ways in which the priest bore the sins into the sanctuary, by the blood and by eating the flesh. See “Patriarchs and Prophets,” p. 354. Those priests were not permitted to eat their own sin-offering, as the eating of the offering was for the purpose of conveying the sins to the priest, to teach us that Christ actually bore “our sins in His own body”—became “sinful flesh.” We, however, can eat our sin-offering, and by so doing become righteous. 2. The distinction between sin and trespass does not seem very clear, hence will bear much study. One writer has said: “In the sin-offering we see Christ offering Himself for us, for what we are in ourselves,—sinful creatures. In the trespass-offering we see Jesus offering Himself for our sins, our trespasses, the fruits and effects of our sinful natures,—what we do.” 3. There are two classes of offerings, the sweet savor and the non-sweet savor. The sin and trespass offerings belong to the non-sweet savor, as sin was upon them by imputation. Therefore they could not be burnt upon the brazen altar, which was God’s table. Mal. 1: 12. However, in order to teach us the preciousness of our giving up our sins, the fat, representing them, is consumed on God’s altar, and is called the bread of the Lord, a savor of His rest, as we can not enter into His rest except by ceasing from our own works of sin. Heb. 4: 10. All the fat is the Lord’s so all our sins belong to Him, and we should fill Him with the fat of our sacrifices, and not cause Him to serve with our sins. Otherwise our bodies must be burned without the camp in the great burning day. See Ps. 37: 20.