THE SIN-OFFERING AND TRESPASS-OFFERING.
"When his soul hath given a trespass-offering, he shall see his seed, and live long in the pleasure of the Lord." Isa. 53:10, Waldenstrom's translation. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Ps. 51:17. THO the one general meaning of all the sacrifices, as we have seen, was the divine and infinite love of God, that gave the divine life through Christ, and by Christ Jesus, and through us also, for others, yet it will repay us to study these offerings more carefully. When we do this we shall find revealed in them all the fulness of Christ's wonderful teaching. To really understand them, we must separate them into their different classes. There was the sin-offering, the trespass-offering, the burnt-offering, the peace-offering, and the meat-offering. Of these, the last three are said to be for a sweet savor unto the Lord, but not so of the first two. They had to do with sin. Human guilt was upon them. Of course even these offerings represented Christ, upon whom God "laid the iniquity of us all." This does not mean, however, that God arbitrarily punished Jesus for our guilt. Christ took our sinful flesh at the point of weakness and sinfulness to which our sins had brought it. He entered this sinful world when it was at the depths. It was the enmity, and hate, and sin of the world that slew Him; and in His own flesh also He felt the stress of all the world's terrible temptations. Surely, in and through the incarnation, God did lay upon Christ the iniquity of us all. Christ is the great sin-offering. "For He hath made Him to be sin [or a sin-offering] for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Christ gave Himself, His life, for us. He is the great Sacrifice by which souls are saved,—"The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." But the Christ Spirit says to us, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." So the sacrifice represented not only the Christ, but also the Christian; not only Christ on Calvary or in the incarnation, but also Christ back there in the sinner, bringing him to God; for it is only by Christ in us that we are brought to God, and reconciled to Him as our Father. Each sacrifice stood in the place of the one who sacrificed it. God viewed the offerer in the light of his offering. If he came bringing a sin-offering, he was viewed as a sinner confessing his guilt, and pleading by this offering for pardon and renewing grace through Christ. If he came bringing a trespass-offering, by that act he said, "Tho Thou hast forgiven me, O my Father, yet I am conscious of having sinned anew, and I hereby confess my fault and ask through Christ for forgiveness!" Nor could he bring any offering he chose and have it accepted. He must, to be recognized and accepted of God, bring just the offering which truly represented his present condition. Here was the wilful and wicked mistake of Cain. It was all right to bring, under the proper circumstances, the offering he brought. It was a meat-offering, professing, as we shall see hereafter, complete consecration to God. Abel brought the same offering as Cain, but he "also brought of the firstlings of the flock." Abel brought his sin-offering first, but Cain refused to humble himself to do this. While full of sin, and fit only for repentance, he came hypocritically professing consecration. On the day of atonement the high priest offered first a sin-offering for himself, and then the two goats (the live goat and the one killed, both said to be a sin-offering) for the people. Only after these had been offered, and after the priest had put off the clothes he wore while offering them, and had washed his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his consecrated garments, only then could he offer a burnt-offering for himself and a burnt-offering for the people. In John's Gospel we read, "Now we know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth." Yet we know that there is one prayer that God will hear even from a sinner, else the sinner could never be anything but a sinner, and that one prayer is a prayer for pardon. Jesus taught that the sinner who went up to the temple and prayed, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner," was heard and answered. All this is only saying that now, as in the olden time, the sinner, to be accepted, must bring his sin-offering first. The world, and the church also, has to-day many Cains, who, in self-righteous pride, refuse to do this, and so, like Cain, they are not accepted of God, but instead are under Cain's curse. When the sin-offerings or the trespass-offerings were brought, what was done with them? How were they offered?—There was one law for both the sin-offering and the trespass-offering. In the case of a priest, or of the whole congregation, the sinners brought the offering to the door of the tabernacle, and there laid their hands upon it and killed it. If the sin was a sin of the whole congregation, then the "elders of the congregation," representing the whole people, killed the offering. It is the sinner, not the priest, unless he himself is the sinner, that killed the sacrifice. This was to show that it is sin that kills, not the divine anger that arbitrarily demands death. The sacrifice being killed, the officiating priest took of the blood, and sprinkled it seven times before the Lord, before the inner vail of the sanctuary; he also put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of incense, and the remainder of the blood was poured out at the foot of the altar of burnt-offering. Only the fat was burned on the altar of burnt-offering; all the rest, "even the whole bullock," was carried forth without the camp, as unclean, and burned. Wherefore Jesus also (when made a sin-offering for us) suffered without the gate. This was the law for the trespass-offering, and for the sin-offering of the whole congregation. When, however, one of the rulers or one of the common people sinned through ignorance, he brought his sin-offering and killed it as before; but instead of the priest carrying the blood into the holy place, he put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt-offering, and poured the rest out at the bottom of that altar. Instead of the flesh being considered as unholy, and therefore burned without the camp, it was considered holy, and eaten by the priests in the holy place, that the priests might "bear the iniquity." But "no sin-offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten; it shall be burned in the fire." What does all this mean?—It is evident that in some way it represents the sinner coming to God, and God's manner of dealing with him. It is plain, too, that the flesh of the sin-offering represents the flesh of the sinner who brought it; for when the sinner was really guilty and to blame for the sin, the flesh of the sin-offering was considered unholy, and burned without the camp. What does the "flesh" stand for throughout the whole Bible? What is it but the symbol of the carnal heart, the carnal nature, which "must die," "must be crucified," etc., because, as Paul says, "it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be"? On the day of atonement, the man who burned the sin-offering without the gate was equally unclean with the man who led off the scapegoat. Both had to purify themselves by washing their clothes and bathing their flesh in water, before they could enter the camp, which was holy, and participate in the burnt-offering. The scapegoat represents Satan. But man's sinful flesh, his sinful nature, originated with Satan, and is as corrupt as its author. It must die, it must perish without the gate of the eternal city. It can not enter the final camp of the saints,—the true Israel. Our only hope is to let it go, to give it up unto crucifixion. The sinner, when he came to the Lord back there, to be received of Him, must come confessing his sinfulness, and yielding up his whole carnal nature, to be consumed in God's own way as unholy. It is the same to-day. God is no respecter of persons. He deals the same with men in all ages. We have seen, however, that when one of the rulers or one of the common people sinned through ignorance, the flesh of his sin-offering was not burned without the gate as unholy, but it was holy, and was eaten by the priest in the holy place, that the priest might bear the iniquity. Thus God holds the teacher who professes to teach in His name, as in a large degree responsible for the sins committed in ignorance by those under his charge. This sin was upon the priest, and was carried without the camp in the flesh of his sin-offering. "The blood is the life." This blood was sprinkled before the inner vail, put upon the horns of the altar of incense, and poured out at the foot of the altar of burnt-offering. The incense is the merit of Christ. The horns of the altar of incense represent the renewing power of Christ. The altar of burnt-offering is the altar of complete consecration. Even so, to be received, must the life of the sinner be presented to God to-day. The carnal nature must first be willingly renounced and given over to crucifixion; then the life must be presented, with no self-righteous pride, with no self-congratulation, but only in the merit of Christ, to be first renewed by His power, and then gladly poured out in His service. It is not even ours to direct as to how it shall be poured out. It is His to direct,5now, as back there. We must ask no questions as to how it will be appropriated. If God so wills it, we, like Christ, must let the life go willingly, even tho it be spit upon, and insulted, and covered with the dust of oblivion and forgetfulness. But here, as back there, the conscientious, trusting soul that sins through ignorance, while gladly walking in all known light, may still offer his life in perfect trust to God; for Christ's merit covers his unknown sin, and his is the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. The fat of the sin-offering and of the trespass-offering was burned as holy upon the altar of burnt-offering. Why was this fat so different from the flesh, which was burned without the camp as unholy? What does the fat, or oil, represent throughout the Scripture? What but the grace of the Spirit? It was used in anointing, as a sign of the bestowal of the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, He was said to be anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. He Himself said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me." The oil is the grace of the Spirit, the result of the Christ-life that is in us. Christ is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. If that Spirit has been wholly grieved away, if that divine light has wholly become darkness, that sinner will have no desire to repent, no hunger after God. Thank God, there is a little of the oil or fat of the Spirit left in the poorest, leanest sinner, and in the worst and most repeated trespasser that can come to God. That is just so much of the image of God, and it is holy. It does not have to be crucified, but only to be "renewed after the image of Him who created it." The trespass-offering was offered the same as the sin-offering. It differed from the sin-offering only in meaning. The sin-offering represented the sinner coming to God in repentance for what he was by nature, a sinner, without perhaps the present consciousness of any particular sin. It is thus that the little child must first come to God, even tho he has never wilfully and knowingly done wrong. But the trespass-offering represented the trespasser (who, tho professing to serve the Lord, has become conscious of having transgressed His law) coming in repentance for the individual sin. Let us thank God for the trespass-offering, whereby He can heal our backslidings, and receive us graciously. In conclusion, dear reader, if you are a sinner, let me plead with you to come, bringing yourself as a sin-offering. O, yield up the sinful nature, and give your life into His keeping! The Lord will receive you with great joy, and glorify your life with His own goodness. The river of His life will first purify you, and cause you to grow into His image, and then flow through you to bless others. If you are a poor, discouraged, backsliding trespasser, do not stay away longer from the only source of hope and joy. Come, bringing your trespass-offering, and by living faith claim forgiveness and victory. It was for just such as you that God ordained the trespass-offering, and so He can not refuse to receive you if you come as He directs.