We have seen the Burnt
Offering (עֹלָה (olah)), the Grain Offering (מִנְחָה לַֽיהוָה,
minchah qorban) the Peace Offering ( שֶׁלֶם (shelem)). Today we
begin a study of the Sin Offering (or, Guilt Offering), or חַטָּאָת (chatta’ath). Like the two tables containing the Ten
Commandments, many disagree over whether or not to divide this into two
separate offerings—the Sin Offering (Guilt Offering), and a separate Trespass
Offering (אָשָׁם,
awsham) based on the fact that this phrase “Trespass Offering” is found
in Leviticus 5:6—“‘And he shall bring his
trespass offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed…” However,
just to differentiate between the reasons for the differences in bringing and
preparing these offerings, we will split them into the two distinct offerings. The
Sin Offering (חַטָּאָת (chatta’ath)) is the first of
the non-voluntary offerings. Everyone had to bring one of these because they
were Sin Offerings and…well…all have sinned. These offerings could be
classified into two different categories—Sin Offerings for the entire nation;
and Sin Offerings for individuals. Sin Offerings for the entire nation would be
brought if the high priest or the whole assembly sinned, “bringing guilt on all
the people.” However, a Sin Offering for an individual would be brought if a
“ruler of the people” (i.e., the head of a tribe)) sinned, or if one of the
“common people”—just a regular, everyday individual—sinned. That said, let’s
begin by looking at the offering required of a high priest who sinned.
Leviticus 4:1-3—1 Now
the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “2 Speak to the children of Israel, saying:
‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD
in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, 3 if the anointed
priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD for
his sin which he has sinned…” The Sin Offering was a means of atonement
for people who had committed a sin in ignorance. Which begs the question—“How
can a person not know they sinned?” Which is not an unfair question. And it is
a question that will be answered in due time. But first, let’s look a little
closer at the command here. First, look at the focus of this command. Leviticus
4:3—“‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing
guilt on the people.’” Let me just make one clarification here. The KJV
says “‘If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people.’”
And that is not the correct reading. It’s not that the high priest sins “as the
people sin,” so to speak. The principle here is that when the high priest sins,
god imputes guilt of his sin to the people.
What is God saying here?
He’s saying that if the high priest sins, he has brought guilt upon the whole
assembly—not just himself. Doesn't seem very fair, does it? Can't you just hear
the people grumble and complain, saying, “Hey now, I didn’t do anything
wrong! I should not have to be ashamed for myself when I had nothing to do with
what that guy did!! It wasn’t my fault!” But we read all
throughout the Scriptures that God when the rulers sin, that sin is often
imputed to the people. It wasn’t very long before God gave this command that we
see this very principle fleshed out. Think all the way back to Exodus 32. The
episode with the golden calf. Whose bright idea was it to “make gods that will
go before us”? It was the people. And when they came to Aaron, did he try to
restrain them? Should he not have known better? Yes. But listen to Moses’
rebuke of Aaron, in Exodus 32:21—Moses said
to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you
have brought so great a sin upon them?" Who
came up with the idea for the golden calf? Did Aaron initiate the whole thing?
No, that was the people who did that. BUT—who fashioned the golden calf? That
would be Aaron. And who was ultimately responsible for safeguarding these
people’s souls, and keeping them from sin? Again, it was Aaron. So even though
it was the people who rebelled; even though it was the people who clamored for
a graven image; even though it Aaron who fashioned the golden calf and built an
altar to it and declared that thing to be YHVH, God imputed Aaron’s sin to the
entire congregation.
Let’s go even further
back. All the way back to, say, the Garden of Eden. Who was the first to take
of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Genesis 3:6(a)—So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she
took of its fruit and ate. What happened when she ate? Did she begin to
die? Was God wroth with her? No. Why? Well, let’s keep reading. Genesis
3:6(b)-7—6 She also gave to her husband with
her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew
that they were naked… It was not until Adam ate of that fruit that sin
entered the world. Was Adam, alone, held accountable for his sin? Was Adam the
only one who was punished? No. Romans 5:12—Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus
death spread to all men, because all sinned. All have sinned because
that’s who we are. That’s what we are. We are, by birth, sinners. Why? Because
our great-great-great-(skip a few)-great grandfather Adam sinned, and passed
that trait along to us. The sin of the high priest was imputed to the
congregation, just as Aaron’s sin was imputed to the people, just as Adam’s sin
was imputed to the whole human race.
Now, let’s take this one
step further. For us Christians, under the new covenant—the new and better
covenant, based upon better promises with a better sacrifice—who is our High
Priest? Hebrews 9:11—But Christ came as High
Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle…
Let’s think about this a second. We know that Christ is our High Priest. We
also know that according to the Law of God, if a high priest sinned he brought
guilt upon all the people. Leviticus 4:3—“‘If
the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people.’” So, if Christ
sinned, doesn't that mean He would have brought guilt upon us? And doesn't that
mean that He would have had to make an offering for Himself? But, Hebrews
10:12-14—12 But this Man, after He had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God…14 For by one
offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. What
was the one sacrifice for sins that He
offered? Did He have to offer a sacrifice for Himself? I mean, think about
that! We’re talking here about sins committed in ignorance!
Even if the high priest had committed some sin and didn’t know it, he had to
bring a sacrifice once it had come to his attention! But Jesus, our High
Priest, never even committed a sin in ignorance! Which is why the write of
Hebrews can say in another place, Hebrews 7:26-28—26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than
the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up
sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did
once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high
priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the
law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
But allow me to show you
the depths of human depravity and the low view of Christ that some have. Mark
Driscoll—a name which has become synonymous with the word ‘depravity’—once said
this, and I quote—“If you’re tempted to these sorts of things — including sexual
sin — some of you say, ‘Now Mark, Jesus wasn’t sexually tempted.’ Well, of
course he was — 30 something year old single man who had women who adored him.
You don’t think he ever wanted the comfort of a woman? You don’t think he ever
got tired of going to bed by himself? You don’t think that he didn’t once want
to have intimate relations with a woman? He was tempted.” (Mark Driscoll –
“How Human was Jesus?”, October 15th 2006.) This quote just reeks of bad
theology and, even worse, bad Christology. First of all, let’s set some parameters
and define some terms. There is a difference between saying someone was tempted
with sin, versus saying someone was tempted by sin. I can tempt you with a
bottle of Scotch. But if you don’t want it, you will not be tempted by it. See
the difference?
Now, it may be true that
Jesus might have been tempted by a woman or two (although we don’t read that in
the Scriptures, and to go outside of the Scriptures and use broken down human
logic, we run into some monumental blunders). There may have been some women
who tried to tempt Him (although, again, no Scriptural proof). But, to indulge
a fool, let’s say that was true. We then need to go a step further and say that
Jesus was tempted by those women. That is, that He even had a fleeting thought
of indulging them in their fleshly cravings. That means He had fleshly
craving—which is exactly what Driscoll is saying. Then we are opening up the
possibility that Jesus had even one impure thought. And if He had even one
impure thought, then He sinned. And if He sinned, then He brought guilt upon
us. And if He brought guilt upon us, then He could not redeem us and perfect
us, because He would not be, as Peter terms Him, a
Lamb without blemish and without spot (1st Peter 1:18-19).
And what kind of offering was always required for sin? Without spot or blemish.
You see how far off the tracks one can get when they try and be too hip, cool
and relevant? When one invents a Jesus of their own making? They are, for all
intents and purposes, creating an idol in their heart. Ezekiel 14:3—“Son
of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them
that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be
inquired of at all by them?”
So, when the high priest
committed some sin in ignorance, here is the offering he had to bring. Leviticus
4:3-12—“‘3 …a young bull without blemish as a
sin offering. 4 He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of
meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull's head, and kill the bull
before the LORD.’” Could
he bring just any old animal? Could he go over to Yitzhak’s tent and say, “Hey,
got any bulls you’re not doing anything with? Oh, hey, that one ought to do.”
No, he could not do that. Once again, as we read time after time after time,
this had to be “without blemish.” This would prove to be the final undoing of
the old covenant Levitical priesthood before the coming of Christ. We learn
that through the prophet Malachi. Listen to the charge God lays against the p
in Malachi 1:6-14—"6 ‘A son
honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is
My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?’ Says the LORD of hosts
to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, 'In what way have we despised
Your name?' 7 You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, 'In what way have we
defiled You?'…8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil?
And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your
governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?" says
the LORD of hosts...“10 Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, so
that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,”
says the LORD of hosts, "Nor will I accept an offering from your
hands...13 You also say, 'Oh, what a weariness!' and you sneer at it," says
the LORD of hosts. "And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus
you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?" says the
LORD. 14 "But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and
takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished—for I am a great
King," says the LORD of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.”
The charge God is making against the priests is twofold: for one, they
have gotten so familiar with the offerings that they are now taking them for
granted, and they now see them as being a burden and something they just have
to put up with because it is their lot in life. Their attitude was, “Oh
bother, this God we serve is so severe! He makes us go through all these
rituals, and for what? Day after day, we’re knee-deep in blood, and it never
stops!” For so long a period of time (1100 years at the time of the
prophet’s writing) the sons of Aaron had been in one of the most important
positions a man could occupy—mediating between the people of Israel and their
God, Almighty YHVH. But now, instead of seeing these offerings for what they
were—an instrument of God’s grace, by which He gave His people a way to cover
over their sins that they may not face eternal destruction—they saw them as
just another drab job to perform.
The second charge God is making is this: God, in His Law, had commanded
that only the best specimens of animal be offered on His altar. Every beast
offered was to be “without blemish.” And He confronts them with the fact that
they would not dare offer such flesh to the pagan kings who would hold them in
captivity. They would bow and curry favor with their captors, and offer them
the choicest of the herd. But to their true King—they just grabbed any old
beast, didn’t matter whether it was lame or blind or had some kind of deformity
or disease. “We’re gonna burn this on God’s altar and he’s gonna have to like
it.” God says, “Offer the kind of junk you offer Me. See how quickly they would
put you to death. How much more should I, the Sovereign over all creation, do
so and more to you for such an affront?”
So, they were to bring a bull “without blemish.” They were to then lay
their hand on the head of the bull. Here, once again, we have the symbolic act of laying hands on
something, transferring guilt to the object of sacrifice. By placing his hands
on the head of the bull, the high priest was acknowledging that he had sinned,
and that God, in His mercy, would accept this beast as being killed in place of
the sinner. Time and again we see throughout these sacrifices a penal
substitutionary atonement. A foreshadowing of the penal substitutionary
atonement Christ would make for us. Christ is called “The Lamb of God” (John
1:29), and it was on Him that God laid all the sins of all those who would be
saved—both of those who were saved under the old covenant, and those who would
be saved under the new covenant. Then they slit the neck of the bull, they
bleed it out, then Leviticus 4:5-12—“‘5 Then
the anointed priest shall take some of the bull's blood and bring it to the
tabernacle of meeting. 6 The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and
sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of
the sanctuary. 7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the
altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of meeting;
and he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of
the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 He
shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that
covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails, 9 the two kidneys
and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the
liver above the kidneys, he shall remove, 10 as it was taken from the bull of
the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the
altar of the burnt offering. 11 But the bull's hide and all its flesh, with its
head and legs, its entrails and offal—12 the whole bull he shall carry outside
the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood
with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.’”
First, the priest had to
take the blood, catch it in a basin, and sprinkle it seven times before the
veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Not five times, not
eight times, not fifteen times. But seven times. Then he had to take some and
put it on the four horns of the Altar of Incense. Now, if you recall, the only
thing to be burned on this altar was incense, and only incense that had been
prepared the way God specified in Exodus 30:34-38. But the blood of a
Sin Offering was to be smeared on the horns coming off of the corners of the
altar. The rest of the blood was to be poured out at the foot of the Altar of
Burnt Offering. It was then cut up as were the Peace Offerings we read about
back in Leviticus 3, and what was left—the head, the flesh and the dung—none
of that was to be laid on the altar. Now, as far as the carcass was concerned: It
was to be taken “‘outside the camp to a clean
place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the
ashes are poured out it shall be burned.’” And here we see that God is
even telling the people, 1400-1500 years before it would happen, where their
Messiah would be slain. Why couldn’t they kill Jesus within the walls of
Jerusalem? Why did He escape their clutches on the occasions where they could
have stoned Him or thrown Him off a cliff? Because not only was it not His
time, but it was not the place. Sin Offerings were not to be burned within the
camp (or the city).
Now think about this for
a moment. Where was the animal slain? Within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.
Where was the carcass carried off to? A place outside the camp. Did the people
know what the priests were doing when they carted a nearly-intact, unburnt
carcass through their midst? So when all the people saw this dead, hacked-up
animal being carted through their camp, they knew someone had sinned. Not only
did they see someone had sinned, they saw the penalty for sin. They saw the
cost of that sin. They were reminded, once again, that the
wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That as that bull, who had
done nothing wrong—it was a bull, probably just minding his own business,
walking around, grazing, chewing some cud. But then, someone sinned against
God. And the priests looked that bull over from head to tail, and said, “I find
no fault in this bull.” And that bull would die for your sin. Let’s apply that
to Christ and His sacrifice. We read about Christ being bloodied and beaten,
cut by the scourges of the Romans, His blood not only pouring through the
streets, but most importantly being shed on the cross, we see that even now, as
in the old covenant sacrifices, that the wages of
sin is death (Romans 6:23). Christ, being the spotless Lamb of
God, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in
His mouth, harmed no one. But evil men found Him, arrested Him, and
tried Him under the most scandalous circumstances. And even a pagan governor
looked Him over and said, “I find no fault in this
man.” And that Lamb would die for your sin. Outside the camp. Hebrews
13:11-12—11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into
the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore
Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered
outside the gate.
We'll finish up next week.
