INTRODUCTION
Moses is generally
accepted as having been the writer of this book, the date of writing being
in the late 15th century B.C., the instructions being related to
Israel’s worship and walk, and having therefore typological application to
our own worship and walk.
The Epistle to the Hebrews
is generally seen as being the corresponding NT counterpart of Leviticus.
Before beginning our study
of this book of instructions to the Levites - hence its name Leviticus - it
is necessary to look briefly at the typological significance of the
offerings, and we should note that the burnt offering represents Christ
doing everything first for the Father’s glory, and then for the redemption
of men’s souls.
The meat (meal) offering
speaks of the Lord’s sinless humanity, and while there were instances where
it could be offered as a distinct offering in itself, it was almost
invariably presented as an accompaniment of the other offerings, the lesson
in this being that it was only as Man that He could offer Himself in
sacrifice to God, and die in man’s guilty stead, for as God He could not
die.
The peace offering speaks
of Him as the One Who has made peace by the blood of His cross, reconciling
sinful men and a holy God.
The sin offering speaks of
Him as the One Who has dealt, not just with our sins, but with our sinful
nature which produces those sins;
In the trespass offering
we see Him as the One Who has put away all our sins by His death on the
cross.
The offerings were divided into two classes: sweet savor, and non-sweet
savor, the burnt, meal, and peace constituting the former were voluntary;
the sin and trespass, the latter, and were compulsory. The sweet savor were
for the offerer’s acceptance; the non-sweet, for the expiation of his sin.
It is necessary to note
also that these offerings were appointed to be offered by Israel, God’s
redeemed people, so that while an application may be made relative to the
conversion of a sinner when he presents Christ to God as his trespass
offering, and the steps by which he becomes a worshiper in his presentation
of the burnt offering, the typological picture is of the life, service, and
worship of a believer.
The order of presentation
begins with the burnt and ends with the trespass offering, giving us a
typological picture of God coming out to men to bring them back to Himself.
He takes the initiative. He seeks us. We do not seek Him, as it is
written, “... there is none that seeketh after God,” Romans 3:11.
Man, on the other hand,
begins with the trespass offering. Whether he be a sinner or an erring
saint, he is aware that he has committed sins, and the type of the trespass
offering is fulfilled when the repentant sinner trusts in the Lord Jesus
Christ as the One Who has died for those sins; or when the repentant saint
is restored to communion with his Father by seeing that Christ has died even
for the sin which broke that communion.
But as the believer’s
knowledge increases he becomes aware that Christ has done more than make
atonement for men’s sins. He learns that the Lord, as the sin offering, has
dealt with man’s inherent sinfulness, with his sinful nature; and this soon
brings him to the truth portrayed in the peace offering. He learns that
every sin which that old nature ever has or ever will produce in his life
has all been dealt with through Christ’s death, and he has peace in his own
conscience, and with God, for he sees Christ as man’s peace offering, as it
is written, He has “made peace by the blood of his cross,” Colossians 1:20.
As his knowledge continues
to increase, the believer becomes ever more conscious of the fact that apart
from the Lord’s incarnation the great work of atonement could never have
been accomplished. He had to become Man in order to die for us, for as God
He could not die: His assumption of humanity is the lesson of the meal
offering. And finally he comes to realize the truth portrayed in the burnt
offering: transcending the expiation of man’s sin, is the truth that
everything the Lord did was first for the Father’s glory.
With this brief
introduction, we will now begin our study.