Beloved,
Jesus said,
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Mat 11:28-30
There is much to be said in those few verses, but I want to point out two things:
1) Come unto me, Jesus—in other words, don't go to others, come to me.
2) learn of me, Jesus—in other words, learn from me and about me.
The true preacher's job is the ministry of John the Baptist, to point others to Jesus; to prepare the way of the Lord. As we learn of Jesus, the Messiah, we learn of God the Father, as Jesus is the express image of the Father, and we learn about ourselves, as Jesus is perfect man. I am excited about the lessons that the Lord has led me to recently because they reveal Jesus Messiah, His work, His standing before God, and His love for us.
May God, through His Holy Spirit, open our eyes that we may see His Glory and Provision for us who follow His Son.
~Al
CHAPTER II.
The Daily Sacrifices.
"The priest shall burn wood on it (the altar) every morning, and lay the burnt-offering in order upon it." — Lev. 6: 12.
"Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." — Heb. 9:24.
THE annual, or occasional, sacrifices of the Tabernacle and Temple were not sufficient for Israel's requirements. Daily sins needed daily expiation. Hence the institution of the MORNING AND EVENING SACRIFICE, which kept the people in mind of their necessities, and the availableness of the Divine mercy - of the penalty attaching to transgression, and that which alone could preserve them from it.
"Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: and with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink-offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat-offering of the morning and according to the drink - offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt- offering throughout, your generations, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee" (Exod. 29:38—42).
The altar of brass, on which every sacrifice was to be offered, formed a conspicuous and important part of the furniture of the Tabernacle. It was the meeting-place of God and man. There the sinner approached with his oblations the All-Holy, and found on the blood-sprinkled ground on which he stood acceptance for himself and for what he brought. He saw the life he offered, in lieu of his own forfeited one, received; the sins he confessed, forgiven; and the blessings he solicited, conferred; and returned to his place in the camp a relieved and grateful man.
On that altar a fire was always burning, which had been kindled, in the first instance, by a flash of flame from the innermost sanctuary (Lev. 9: 24) , and which was ever feeding on the body of a lamb; for every morning, at nine o'clock, a lamb, which had been previously inspected, and pronounced free from blemish, was, after being killed and flayed, divided into pieces, and sprinkled with salt, committed to it ( Num. 28:3,4).
The sacrifice was repeated every afternoon at three o'clock, after much the same manner. The Sabbath however witnessed a difference. From being specially sacred to the Lord, affording opportunities to men for worship beyond any other of the days of the week, and a type of the rest which remaineth for the people of God, and where divine things will be far more highly appreciated than here, its sacrifices were required to be doubled (Num. 28:9).
The flame that issued from the Holy of Holies, and lit the fire which was never afterwards allowed to go out, would, as the symbol and energy of the Divine righteousness, have smitten with death the guilty congregation beyond the court, had not a lamb on the brazen altar stopped and satisfied it.
Try and realize the scene, as presented under the shadow of Sinai. The Tabernacle is finished, its various articles of furniture are in their places, and God, as the overshadowing cloud shows, is between the cherubim in the most holy place. The people crowd around to witness the dedicatory services, and the offering of the first sacrifices. Yet it is only a short time since they were worshipping the golden calf, attributing to it their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and committing the sin of the grossest and most daring idolatry. The punishment deserved by such conduct would have overtaken them, when the fiery form of justice flashed from the Tabernacle, had not a lamb intervened to arrest it, and exhaust its requirements.
But now what saved the men of Israel from the penalty of their unfaithfulness and disobedience, has saved us--the intervention of a lamb. Had not Christ come between us and the judgment merited, we should have fallen under the sword which smote Him, and been consumed by the wrath that burns "against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." [Rom.1:18] But He took the place of the condemned, "died the Just for the unjust," and "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (1 Peter 3:18; Heb. 9:26).
By no Levitical rite or service was Christ, as "the Lamb of God," more perfectly represented, or more fully and beautifully typified, than by the daily sacrifice. It significantly prefigured Him in His death, the satisfaction He yielded to the Father, and His intercession in behalf of men.
It is Christ then that we have here; and
I.-In the perfectness of His character. The lamb was without spot; and He was without blemish. Watchful and keen-eyed as were the enemies that daily followed Him, none of them could convict Him of sin. Pilate's testimony to the multitude with regard to Him, and after the most searching examination, was, "I find no fault in this man"[Lk 23:4]. He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." [Heb. 7:26] And this is what He needed to be. And yet He was more. He was marked not only for the absence of all defect, but for the presence of every excellence. Nothing was wanting in Him that needed to be present, nor present that required to be absent. He was absolutely and universally perfect. This was the case with the affections He cherished, the dispositions He cultivated, and the virtues He practiced. He was the exact impress of the Person of the Father. But this, as already said, was necessary. Only what is perfect can satisfy an infinitely perfect God. All therefore that is defective and unholy is forbidden a place on His altar.
God's requirement extends to what is internal as well as to what is external. He demands "truth in the inward parts," as well as integrity in the outward life. The demand was fully met by Jesus.
The "flaying" and "cutting" into pieces of the lamb was a ceremonial act of peculiar significance. It revealed the interior condition of the victim, and showed its fitness or otherwise for a place on the brazen altar. The more that Jesus was searched and tested, the more was His perfectness established, the thoroughness of His devotion to the Father's glory made clear, and His qualification for the work undertaken for men, revealed.
But what God required in the offering, He required also in those for whom it was presented. This is what He intended His people of old to learn from the character of their oblations, and what He intends us to learn from the perfectness of Him whom He gave to be a propitiation for our sins. The language that comes to us from the sacrifice offered on our behalf is, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Only as we are personally what God requires, in righteousness of walk before Him, can we occupy the position to which we are invited, appreciate and enjoy the blessings of salvation, and fulfil the purposes of our high calling. But we may be that; provision for our being so has been made. Strengthened, therefore, with might by the Spirit in the inner man, and possessed of the resources of an indwelling Christ there is no duty to which we are called that we may not fulfil, and no appropriation of offered blessing that we may not make. But God not only strengthens for service; He Himself works in us, and for us, and by us,-leading us to will and to do according to His good pleasure, clothing us with the likeness He would see us wearing, and planting us on the heights where He asks us to appear. He first gives to us before He seeks from us; verifies the promises upon which He causes us to hope; and fulfils His purposes with regard to us, as the opportunity for doing so is sup plied. But would it not be strange for it to be otherwise? You know how solicitous He is about our sanctification, and what provision He has made for our possession of it. Think then of His turning away from you when you apply and appeal to Him to be made what He commands. But this is a manner of acting that is entirely strange to Him. He therefore purifies, as well as pardons, all who, taking the attitude of faith, trust Him no less for the character they need than the position they require. Deliverance from the defilement and dominion of sin, is, therefore, as practicable as from its darkness and guilt. Christ is made of God unto all who believe, "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1Cor. 1: 30).
II. —We have Christ here in His completeness of dedication to the Father and to men. The lambs were, with the exception of the skin, wholly consumed by the fire; and Christ gave Himself to God for us.
The primary object of His incarnation and mission to earth was—to glorify the Father. He came not to do His own will, but that of Him who sent Him; and was accordingly always about His Father's business. Whatever was the position to which He stooped, the services He rendered, and the sufferings to which He submitted, it was that the Father might be glorified. For the attainment of this, there was no condition He was not ready to occupy, nor any privation and indignity He was not willing to endure. When He was on earth, it was His meat and His drink to do the will and promote the glory of the Father to reveal and commend Him to men's judgments and hearts. The path might be rugged, but leading to the glory of the Father, He cheerfully trod it; the cup might be bitter, but contributing to the glory of the Father, He readily drank of it; the cross might be ignominious, but ensuring the glory of the Father, Не gave Himself up to the death of it. He made of Himself a whole burnt-offering to God.
But it was a two-fold gift He made of Himself when He laid Himself upon the altar. "He gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour" (Eph.5:2). It was for men as well as for God that He assumed the form in which He appeared, took the place of a servant, bore the contradiction of sinners, stood as a culprit at Pilate's bar, and died as a malefactor on the cross. "He loved me, and gave Himself for me."
One of the purposes for which He became our substitute, delivered us from the dominion of evil, and endued us with Divine strength, was, that we might walk in His steps, and, in our measure, yield ourselves to God as He did. But is this being done? Are you giving to God what He requires? You know with what alone He will be satisfied. He asks for the whole, and will take nothing less.
It is on record that, during the late civil war in America, and when victory was swaying from side to side, that commissioners from the Confederate States sought and obtained an interview with Presi dent Lincoln, with the view of trying to effect an arrangement for the independence of the territory they represented.
They knew the tender-heartedness of Mr. Lincoln, and appealed to him to stay the effusion of blood which, at the moment, was flowing in torrents. They were willing to forego several of the States for which they had hitherto fought, if he would consent to the remainder being independent. They pleaded with him for hours, and made use of the strongest arguments and considerations they could adduce to gain their object. When they had finished, the President, who had patiently and attentively listened to all that had been said, raised his hand, and then bringing it down with emphasis on the map which lay before him, replied, "Gentlemen, this Government must have the whole."
And so God says, regarding the inner kingdom of every human heart. He will allow no partition or division there. The whole is His by right, and He will suffer no one to share with Him the throne He has erected for His own occupancy. The command therefore is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind" (Luke 10:27). "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price" (1Cor.6:19,20). Then "I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reason able service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:1).
Then, having placed all on the altar of a full consecration to God, see that you take none of it back! Think of the thrill of horror that would have passed through the camp of Israel had anyone been seen withdrawing from the altar even the smallest part of what had been laid thereon. The people would have stoned him with stones for the sacrilege, or burned him with fire for the awful impiety. But---
III .-By the daily burnt-offering we are minded of Christ's acceptableness to the Father. The lamb was an offering of a sweet savor unto God, in which He had delight, and from which He derived satisfaction. And He was ever pleased with Christ. His heart found rest in His "Beloved," and was refreshed by all that Jesus rendered in service and love. But is this remembered as it should be? Christ is much more thought of as providing for men's necessities than for God's requirements; as appeasing justice than as giving delight to Him from whom He came; as ministering peace to the troubled than as satisfying the Father's heart. But what Christ was to God, believers are i tended to be, in their measure, also. Is this now, to any extent, the case? Has God satisfaction in all who call themselves by the name of His Son? Has He that, dear reader, in you? Is your life "an offering of a sweet savour" to Him? Has He joy in that which you lay upon His altar, in the services that you fulfil, and in the measure of resemblance which you bear to His Beloved? Speaking of you as His spouse, is the language of Christ in reference to you, "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee"[Song of Songs 4:7]?
Then Christ is brought before us here in the position He ever occupies on our behalf. A lamb was always before God, and Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us. And it is because He does so, in the midst of the throne, and in the character and under the form of a lamb that has been slain, that the Father retains us in filial relation to Him, makes His grace to abound towards us, and fulfils in reference to us "all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power"(2Thes.1:11). It is because Christ represents us that we are accepted; because He intercedes for us that we receive; and because He answers for us, that we are justified and not condemned. Because He lives, we live.
Now, where Christ is in reference to the Father, He ought to be in reference to all who bear His name. Only as this is the case, as He is ever before you, occupying the vision of your faith, filling the sphere of your life, and engaging your feelings and thoughts, will you become assimilated to His likeness and meet for His presence and glory above. When we see Him we shall be like Him. We reflect the light in which we walk; put on the image we admire; and assume the spirit, if not the form, of Him with whom we associate. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1Jn 3:2).
Comments
Post a Comment