PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to bring out from the first eight chapters of the book of Leviticus, and other portions, some of the rich and precious truths and teachings that are concealed therein.

We are commanded by our Lord Jesus to "search the scriptures", and Solomon tells that "It is the glory of Kings to search a matter out", (Prov.25;2.)

After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus , "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning Himself", ( Luke,24;27.) It is the prayer of the writer that the blessed Lord Jesus may be pleased to do this for us through these pages.

If it pleases Him to do this, then we shall be enriched in our knowledge and appreciation of Himself and this will mean that our worship will be offered to God with greater intelligence, and will be of richer quality. Thus the Persons of the Godhead will be glorified, and we shall profit. May it be so! All scripture quotations that differ from the Authorized King James version, will be from the New Translation, by J.N.Darby.

The book of Leviticus begins with the words, "And the LORD called unto Moses, and spoke to him out of the tabernacle of the congregation". These words bring out two important things.

(1) The place where God speaks, and (2) the importance of what God says.

First, let us see that God spoke out of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the dwelling place of God amongst his people, God's house. In Exodus 25;8, God says "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them". Pail tells us that the house of God today is "the assembly of the living God" ( 1. Tim. 3;15, & Heb. 3;6.) This means that the local assembly of true Christian believers, who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, are the dwelling place of God, (not the building in which they gather.) It is there that the voice of God should be heard, not audibly, but through the ministry of his word, (1 Pet. 4;11.) It is there that the "teaching and fellowship of the Apostles" is to be continued, and practiced. It is there that God will teach His people, from His word, what is acceptable to himself, and what should characterize them in their worship, witness, and practical daily living.

Secondly, we see the importance of what God says. This shows us that if our worship is to be acceptable to God, what we offer to him must be according to his word.

Over the centuries men have tried to formalize the worship of God's people. This has been done because believers have never been encouraged to use their God given talents, or to exercise their priesthood, all being done by the priest, minister or pastor.. Thus Collects, Orders of service, Prayer books, Liturgies, and many such things have been produced, in order to keep the public worship of the people in some kind of ritual, avoiding confusion, but all is contrary to the word of God..

It is clear that the children of Israel had been offering sacrifices to God before the giving of these instructions in the book of Leviticus. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all offered sacrifices, and Moses repeatedly told Pharaoh that the purpose of Israel's leaving Egypt, was to offer sacrifice to Jehovah. However, latterly it seems that their method of offering sacrifice was not pleasing to God, even though their desires may have been right. It would seem that during their hundreds of years of sojourn in Egypt, they had been somewhat affected by the idolatrous practices of the Egyptians, as the sacrifice to the golden calf in Exodus 32 would prove. Up until this time they did not have any written instruction as to the manner of offering that was acceptable to God, so God gave the instructions that we are to examine, to teach them what was acceptable to himself.

True worship comes from the heart of the believer, it is a response of love, and it is comforting to know that God knows what is in our hearts, and what we really desire to offer to him. But as well as affection, God desires intelligence in our worship, that what we offer to him should be according to his word, that we should worship him, "In spirit and in truth", (John 4;24.) In that chapter the woman of Samaria, though a sinner, and living a life of sin, yet called herself a worshipper, and was prepared to argue with the Son of God as to the place and manner of worship. Gently the Lord Jesus revealed to her the fact that all she was doing, even her worship was offensive to God, that her worship was in ignorance, "Ye worship you know not what", the Lord Jesus told her, but she did become a true worshipper, and later learned that worship was not related to a place , nor was it the repetition of a ritual, and she learned to worship the true God from her heart, in "spirit and in truth". This all shows that God not only wants our motives and desires in worship to be right, but also our method of worship to be according to his word.

The instructions given in the book of Leviticus were to guide and regulate the response of the people in worship and sacrifice thereafter. God's ways and principles do not change, and we would do well to learn from this, that our worship if it is to be acceptable to him, must be according to his word, and be "in spirit and in truth".

There is a common notion amongst believers who are not properly taught in the scriptures, that worship must be exciting and entertaining to men, that we must "feel comfortable with it". Because of this there is a tendency to regard thoughts that are deep and rich, and not easily understood, to be too heavy, to be dull and boring. Because of this men have introduced into worship, things that are light, entertaining, and exciting. Whether such things are according to scripture, or pleasing to God, does not seem to matter any more. People sing again and again in "vain repetition", things that are quite unscriptural, and which often don't make sense, but do so because it "feels good" , and "has meaning for them".

However, in spite of the foregoing, it must be said, that true worship that comes from the heart, when sincerely offered to God, springs from the deepest emotions of the redeemed heart. Because of this when such worship is offered in the power of the Holy Spirit, and by his leading, it does bring a deep spiritual joy to the heart of the offerer. When such worship is offered audibly, it will also move the hearts of other true believers who are listening, and may lead them to offer worship also. But this does not alter the fact that when one offers audible worship and praise to God, one is not thinking of their own satisfaction or enjoyment, nor the entertainment of those who are present. The worshipper is not seeking to impress them, because true worship is to God, and for God alone, whether it be to God in the absolute sense, (that is to Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the tri-une Godhead, or to the person of the Father, or of the Son distinctly or separately. There is no example in Holy Scripture of worship or prayer being offered to the person of the Holy Spirit as distinct from the Father or the Son.

These instructions, (in Levtitcus,) were given to the covenant people of God, before Christ came, to teach them what was acceptable to him, and from the time of their giving were to regulate their worship, and the offering of sacrifice.

Likewise for our worship to be acceptable to God, and to be glorifying to him, it needs to be offered according to the word of God. Thus when we discern spiritually how the Old Testament offerings speak of Christ, we get spiritual guidance in the principles of worship in our day, the day of grace.

Please note that this is not optional, we are not to say that our way of doing things is better than what is taught in the Bible, nor are we to have an attitude that says anything is good enough for God, as long as it has meaning for me. For in so doing, we imply that we are wiser than God, and offend against his word. If we persist in this attitude, we grieve the Holy Spirit, who inspired the word of God, and through it guides us into all truth.

In these pages we are going to see that there are six different offerings in the first eight chapters of Leviticus, and that these offerings find their counterpart or fulfillment in the person, work and sacrifice of Christ, and in .the teachings of the Gospels and the New Testament Epistles

In the final chapters of the book we will also look at the sacrifices offered on the Great Day of Atonement, in Leviticus chapter 16, and the sacrifice of the red heifer in Numbers chapter 19.

Briefly then we will see the connection between the Levitical offerings, and the different books of the New Testament which are as follows:

THE BURNT OFFERING; corresponds with John's Gospel, and the particular way that he presents to us the glories of the person of Christ, and the facts concerning his sufferings.

THE OBLATION: (or cereal offering) with the Gospel of Luke.

THE SIN OFFERING: with Mark's Gospel.

THE TRESPASS OFFERING; with Matthew's Gospel.

THE PEACE OFFERING: (which was the only offering that was eaten by the offerer, his family and friends, and from which the priest and his family also received their portion), finds it's New Testament fulfillment in the epistles of Paul to the Corinthians.

THE CONSECRATION OFFERING: corresponds with the teaching of Paul in his letter to the Romans. I will explain my reasons for making these assertions when we come to consider each offering.

As mentioned earlier, the Burnt Offering which is presented in Leviticus chapter 1, corresponds with John's presentation of the person and glory of Christ, his worth that was brought out in his life, his sufferings and his death.

In Lev. chapter one, there is no mention of sin, although atonement is mentioned in verse 4. What is in view in this offering is to emphasize, ( in the type,) the worth and excellence of the person of Christ, and in particular, the worshipper's appreciation of that worth.

This also is the theme of John's Gospel, it begins with the presentation of Christ as the Eternal Word, who is the exact and perfect revelation of the mind, wisdom and will of God.

The miracles of John's Gospel are called signs, and we know that a sign points to something, or makes one aware of something. There are seven signs in John's Gospel, eight if you include the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and all of these point to the fact that the Lord Jesus was, and is, the Only Begotten Son of God.

In John's presentation of the sufferings and crucifixion of Christ, he does not emphasize the horrible guilt and cruelty of wicked men, in all that they did to the Lord Jesus, but rather the perfection of the patient sufferer who offered himself. Jesus said in chapter 10, verses 17 & 18 of that Gospel, that no man would (or could,) take his life from him, but that he would lay it down of himself, which he did in perfect obedience to the command of the Father, and in so doing, he gave the Father another reason for loving him.

When the band came to arrest him in the garden, though they were armed with weapons,, yet when he proclaimed himself as the Great I AM, they went backward and fell to the ground, unable to stand in his presence. (John 18;1-9.) In doing this, he demonstrated his complete superiority over his enemies, but still he allowed them to bind him and lead him away.

When rebuked by Pilate who claimed to have the power to do as he willed with him, Jesus replied that he had no power at all, unless given to him from above. It is only John who tells us that Jesus was brought out twice and made to stand before the crowd, while Pilate exclaimed, "Behold the man", and "Behold your King". I believe that these exclamations were in mockery, just as the purple robe was a mockery, and the crown of thorns. Pilate had no appreciation of the worth of the person who stood there, yet those words still move the hearts of those who love Christ.

John tells us nothing about another being made to bear the cross of Jesus, but shows us the Son of God going forth bearing his cross to the place of the skull. This does not mean that there is any discrepancy in the different accounts of the gospel writers, for all agree, but John emphasizes the strength and dignity of the Son of God.

John tells us no details of the thieves or what they said, but instead focuses our gaze on the one on the middle cross, "Jesus in the midst". Neither does he tell us anything about the three hours of darkness, or the agony of the abandoned cry. This is because John is not occupied with man's depravity and vileness, nor with his guilt and sin and it's punishment. Instead John draws attention to the perfection of the person of Christ, the true "Burnt Offering", and occupies us with his worth, perfection. and excellence.

All this helps us to understand the beautiful type of Christ that is presented to us in the Burnt Offering

As we come back now to Leviticus chapter one, we see in verse two that there could be offerings of different sizes. It could be a bullock from the herd, or a lamb or goat, from the flock, and in verse 14 we are told that it could be two turtle doves, or two young pigeons, the smallest offering. This should be of great encouragement to us, for provision is made so that the poorest of God's people could bring an offering. There is no difference in the worth or acceptability of the offering to God, the difference is only in it's size, and in the wealth of the offerer.

The bullock is a large and costly offering, and represents a large and rich appreciation of Christ. It is the kind of offering that would be brought by one who had cultivated his inheritance, and had consequently grown rich. In New Testament times, it would be a contribution in worship of one who has "sown to the Spirit", who has walked with God, who has lived a clean and honest life. One who has read and meditated in the word of God over a long period, and is able to present a rich and choice appreciation of Christ in their worship of God. One who is able to draw from the scriptures the rich and beautiful language that describes the person of Christ.

When such take audible part in the meetings in the assembly for worship and remembrance, then others will be moved, edified, and challenged to go deeper into the word of God for themselves.

The lamb or goat, is a smaller, less costly sacrifice. One may not to use the rich language and beautiful expressions of worship, or the appreciation of the Father, the person of Christ, or the Holy Spirit that an older and more experienced, more mature believer can. But such are not discouraged from taking part in audible worship because of this. God in his love has made provision so that everyone of his redeemed people can bring an offering.

I fact God had to rebuke his people through Isaiah, saying, "Thou hast not brought to me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou glorified me with thy sacrifices," (Isaiah 43;23.) This teaches us that one is never to think or to say, that because one is not able to pray or to worship as well as another person, then one will not pray or worship audibly at all.

God wants us all to bring our burnt-offering, he wants to hear our appreciation of Christ, what we have composed touching the King, (Psl.45;1.) The difference in the offerings was only in their size, not in their value to God. All are equally acceptable to him.

The two turtle doves, or young pigeons are the smallest offering, and represent what a young believer might bring. He may not be able to present an offering of praise of the same quality that an older, more experienced and mature believer can, but however small, his offering of thanksgiving and praise glorifies God, and brings joy to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sweet savor of the offering was just the same, Psalm 8;2 says "Out of the mouths of babes and suckling hast thou established praise. " The Lord Jesus quoted this verse to silence the Pharisees when they were angry about the children praising him in the temple, (Mat. 21;16.)

We notice now that each offering had to be without blemish. This is to remind us of the absolute holiness, and the sinless perfection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word of God bears testimony to this from before the birth of Christ, until the very end of his life. When announcing the fact of his conception to Mary, (then virgin,) the angel said, "Wherefore the HOLY THING that shall be born of thee shall be called SON OF GOD. (Luke 1;35.)

For this to be so the virgin birth was an absolute necessity, because if the Lord Jesus had an earthly father, then like us, he would have possessed a fallen sinful nature, the nature of Adam, and he never could have been our Savior. He was the "seed of the woman", but not the seed of the man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, and because of this was without sin.

His sinless perfection was witnessed to by John the Baptist when he told Jesus, ""I need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?". By these words he implied that Jesus was sinless and needed no baptism, whereas John himself was sinful, and he did need to be baptized. Then the Father testified from heaven, "In thee I have found all my delight", (Mat.3;17.) Paul also says " He knew no sin", (2 Cor.5;21,) John says "In him was no sin, (1 John,3;5.) Peter says , "Who did no sin, " ( 1 Pet. 2;22.) To the Hebrews Paul says that though he was tempted in all points like as we are, "Yet he was without sin"., ( Heb.4;15.) Pilate having scourged the Lord Jesus was compelled to confess twice, "I find no fault in him". The dying thief on the cross said, "This man has done nothing amiss", and even when the Lord Jesus challenged the Pharisees with the words, "Which of you convinces me of sin", they could say nothing.

He was the one who alone was absolutely delightful to the heart of God. Twice the Father declared , " This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found all my delight", once at his baptism, and once on the mount of transfiguration.. He was the true BURNT-OFFERING, WITHOUT BLEMISH.

There is an attempt in recent years, in some assemblies of God's people to introduce what is called "controlled worship",. that is, controlled by man, not by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who is the one who leads, and prompts the believer to worship, and when his place is taken by men, then he is grieved, and any "worship" will then only be mechanical, and not be in "Spirit and in Truth". In Philippians ch. 3;1 we are told that we worship by the Spirit of God, (margin), thus he is the power of all true worship..

Real worship can only come from a redeemed heart that is pure and clean, which is prompted or moved by the Holy Spirit. If the response is produced by man's prompting, cajoling or organizing, then it is not acceptable to God. The offering must be of the worshipper's own free will.

Any liturgy, order of service, prayer book or such like, are contrary to the teaching of the desires of God as clearly taught in his word, since it is dictated by another rather than spontaneous. Hymn books are the only thing of any like nature that are permitted by the word of God, and good hymns are indited by the Holy Spirit, and written to rhyme and music, which normally cannot be done spontaneously on the spur of the moment. The books of Psalms are proof of this assertion.

We now see that each offering is a sacrifice, that it costs the worshipper something, there can be no worship without sacrifice, without cost.

For the worshipper mentioned in our chapter, it meant the sacrifice and death of an animal which was almost a part of his family. He had probably witnessed it's birth, had watched it grow up into an adult, and he had probably handled it daily.

Farm animals in the eastern culture are very much a part of the family. I have been to villages in India, where the family lived in one end of the house and the goats, cow or buffalo lived in the other end. I went to one house and to enter the "sitting room" we had to squeeze past a horse that was occupying the front entrance porch of the house. We conducted the Bible study to the accompaniment of the sounds of the horse blowing it's nose at intervals, and it's constant munching of it's food.

In times past it used to be similar in Tasmania, from which I come. In the days of smaller herds of cows the calves were fed with milk from a bucket, this was often done by the children, and each child would have it's own special calf to feed and to care for. I have seen those same animals after they had grown, reached maturity and were running with the herd, when the child who fed them came and called the animal's name, it would recognize them and go to them, and allow the child to stroke them , handling them like an old friend.

I had a Christian friend who for many years owned and trained teams of working bullocks. That brother had a real gift in the training of animals. When one of his teams became so big and heavy, that their knee joints became so arthritic through age, that it caused them constant pain to move around or to stand, then they had to be sold for meat. Those animals had served him so faithfully, that he could not bear to see them loaded on to the lorry that was to take them away, so he remained in his house. I am telling these things so that you might have some idea of the great emotional cost to the offerer when the animal that he loved so much. had to be presented as an offering, and to be slain.

This explains in part the anger that the Lord Jesus showed towards the merchants who had turned the courtyard of the temple into a cattle bazaar, or market. In providing sacrificial animals, the temple traders were serving those people who came from a distance, the trouble of bringing their own animals. But they were also robbing the worshippers of the real emotional cost and involvement entailed.

These merchants were called thieves by the Lord Jesus, because they were robbing the worshippers financially, emotionally, and in every way. They were using the requirements for worship as a means of personal gain. Sad to say, such merchants are still with us today, being those who would make worship "easy", and remove from it the real spiritual and emotional involvement. Those who do this are robbing the people of God of their richest and costliest experience, reducing worship to the level of entertainment. or ritual of an ecclesiastical kind.

Keeping this in mind, we can see what great personal and emotional cost was involved in the presentation of the burnt-offering. To those who really love the Lord Jesus Christ, the fact that he had to die for us, that " he loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savor", (Eph. 5;2,) should touch our deepest emotions, worship is a costly thing.

In verse four of chapter one, the worshipper was to put his hands on the head of the victim, and in doing this completely identified himself with the animal that was to die. Once he did this we are told that "It shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him". We are told in Ephesians chapter one verse six, that we are "Accepted in the Beloved", that is, in the person of Christ, because of his worth and excellence.

The laying on of the hands of the worshipper in this case did not involve the transfer of his guilt to the offering, as with some other offerings, but rather the complete and personal identification of the offerer with the sacrifice. In its application to us this means the realization that Christ gave himself for us, (in the collective sense,) and for me, (in the individual sense,) i,e, "The Son of God loved me, and gave himself for me", (Gal.2;20.) It is wonderful to know that Christ gave himself, but even more wonderful to know that he gave himself for us, even for me.

The worshipper then found acceptance in the offering. As mentioned earlier, we are taught this in Eph. 1;6 & 7, where we are told that we are "accepted in the Beloved; In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, thus we find both acceptance and atonement, (the forgiveness of sins) in him, but through his blood.

All this is meant to stimulate our hearts and to move them to worship. The word atonement means to cover, so that we are able to approach God, covered with his worth, excellence and righteousness, being accepted in him, and because of him.

In Lev. 1;5, we see the most poignant and saddest part of the whole exercise. The priest puts a sharp knife into the hand of the offerer who kills the bullock before the LORD. In the light of what we have already seen, that must have been a very hard thing for the person to do. To violently end the life of the animal that he loved, which he had led unresisting to the place of sacrifice, must have hurt him very much, especially as it was the knife that he held in his own hand that shed the blood, and ended the life of the innocent victim.

But this is meant to bring home to us the solemn fact that we are responsible for the sufferings and death of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. This should never fail to humble us, and to move our hearts to worship. We often condemn the cruel and horrible things that the Jews and Romans did to the Lord Jesus, but we should never forget that we were the cause of it all. "We had that debt augmented, which thou didst pay in blood".

What a moving sight it must have been as the blood gushed out, and was caught by the priest in a vessel. It reminds of the experience of John, when he saw the soldier thrust the spear violently into the side of our dead Savior, thereby releasing that precious flow of his redeeming blood, as John said, "And immediately there flowed out blood and water, ( John 19;34.)

It would be good for us also, in our minds to go to Golgotha and stand with John and the weeping women there, to see the tortured, bruised body of our precious Savior hanging lifeless there, to see the blood and water gushing forth. There we must surely bow in worship, saying to our souls, "The Son of God...loved me and gave himself for me.

The blood of the victim was subsequently taken by the priest and sprinkled round about upon the altar, (the brazen altar,) that was by the door of the tabernacle. That blood spoke to God, ( and also to us), of the "Precious blood of Christ" as Peter called it. Redemption is now accomplished, the price is paid, the claims of divine righteousness fully met, so that God is not only satisfied, but also glorified, and we are perfected forever by that wondrous sacrifice, all glory be to his great and holy name!

Next the priest takes the knife and removes the skin of the victim, cuts the body open, removes the inner organs one by one, and cuts the sacrifice into pieces

This act revealed the inner perfection in, every part, of the sacrifice, and would remind us once again of the absolute perfection, both outward and inward, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are many, (especially in India,) who claim to be holy, assuming poses and postures to impress their admirers, but inwardly they lack true holiness, these are the bhagavans, gurus, sanyasis, etc. who sit in the lotus position and encourage people to worship them.

This was also true of the Pharisees, as it is also true of all religious hypocrites, regardless of their religion. The Lord Jesus compared the Pharisees to whited sepulchers, outwardly beautiful, but inwardly full of corruption. But he, our sacrifice , was just as perfect inwardly as he was outwardly. He was outwardly perfect in every detail of his life and character, and inwardly perfect in every thought, motive, and desire.

The cutting of the sacrifice into its pieces would reveal the perfection of each piece.

THE HEAD; is mentioned first, and in the type would suggest to us the perfect wisdom which the Lord Jesus displayed all his thoughts and actions, his every thought was pure, holy, and delightful to the heart of God. Paul speaks of the "mind that was in Christ Jesus", that is the mind to be humble and lowly, a mind that put others first. Even as he was suffering on the cross, he was thinking of his mother, the one through whom he came into the world, and he spoke with such wisdom, that without uttering any word of command, John knew what to do, and took her to his own home and into his care.

In his death as throughout his life, the Lord Jesus did everything with perfect wisdom, even in his final words! He knew that all things written of him had been accomplished except for one detail, he therefore said "I thirst", enabling the statement of Psalm 69;21 to be fulfilled, after which he cried "It is finished", whereupon he bowed his blessed head. gave up his spirit, and died in perfect dignity. These words were not uttered , nor his actions fulfilled in panic or desperation, but controlled by a mind filled with perfect wisdom.

All this was indeed a sweet savor to God, such as only he could fully appreciate, nevertheless the believer can express his tiny appreciation of it in worship and adoration.

THE FAT; Then the fat was to be placed in order, and typically this would remind us of the richness of the inward moral excellence of Christ. he inner motives that were the spring of all his actions. No one was ever to eat the fat, like the blood, it was wholly for God. I suggest that this would teach us that only God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ was able to fully appreciate and assimilate his inward moral excellence.

THE INWARDS AND THE LEGS; We read next of the inwards and the legs which were to be washed in water, then burnt upon the fire. The washing does not suggest that there was ever anything about our Lord Jesus that was impure, or needed cleansing, but the washing was to remove anything that was unacceptable that clung to the sacrifice, due to the clumsiness of the priest.

The water used to cleanse the sacrifice, represents the word of God, (Eph.5;26,) and sometimes in our worship, in our offering to God our appreciation of the worth and glory of the person of Christ, we use expressions and thoughts that are not just in accord with the scriptures, and are not acceptable, such need to be cleansed away by a better understanding of the word. This may be because of ignorance, or because of wrong teaching, yet the person's motives or intentions may be perfectly right. Sometimes through nervousness what the believer wanted to say may escape from his mind and he says something he never intended to say. Then a priestly or spiritual person may gently correct that by showing what the word of God does say, but this should never be done harshly, or in rebuke. The washing only further reveals the purity and perfection of the offering.

THE INWARD PARTS: These would again remind us of the purity and perfection of the deep inner desires aims, motives and feelings of the Lord Jesus. The stomach of the bullock, once all the food, acids and extraneous matter is removed by the washing, is a pure, creamy-white colour, and has a soft texture. This would remind us that the Lord Jesus not only did what was right , pure and holy, but he did those things from a perfectly pure motive, which was the motive of eternal love for his Father, and a desire to please him only, see Psl. 40;6-8, 45;7, Jn.4;34, 8;28-29. He did nothing for his own prominence, pleasure or glory, but for that of his Father alone, never once was he motivated by selfishness.

THE LEGS: The legs are mentioned next and these would remind us of the perfect and holy walk of our Lord Jesus both before God, and before men. Peter said that he went about doing good, (Acts 10;38,) and John tells us that we should walk "as he walked". (1 John 2;6.) It was the walk of the Lord Jesus that attracted John the Baptist and caused him to exclaim, "Behold the Lamb of God."

His was a pathway of true perfection, of perfect holiness, complete dependence, absolute dependence and of true separation from all that was evil. Those legs carried him to the cross, and though the legs of the two thieves were broken by the soldiers, yet his legs were not broken, so delightful was his pathway to God. Though God "taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man", (Psalm 147;19,) yet God found perfect delight in the pathway, the legs of his beloved Son.

In verse 7 of Lev. 1, the sons of Aaron were to put fire on the altar, or to re-kindle the fire that was never to go out, and to lay the wood in order upon the fire. The fire speaks of judgment and the suffering associated with it, which the Lord Jesus bore in all its fury, when he hung on the cross. There was no mitigation, God's wrath in all its terrible fury was poured out upon him, but the flame that consumed the sacrifice , made the sweet odour to ascend to God.

The terrible sufferings of Christ will ever remain a mystery to us and to angels. The deepest of those sufferings can never be described or expressed, and were hidden from the gaze of men and of angels by the terrifying darkness of those three hours, the sixth hour, until the ninth hour.

The sufferings through which our Lord Jesus passed, only served to bring out his perfection. Though so dreadfully marred and battered by the brutality of men, yet to his lovers he was never more appealing or lovable than when he hung on the cross, our hearts have been drawn to him there, just as he said, "I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all to me," (John,12;32.)

You will note that the priest had to place the offering piece by piece, in order, upon the wood which was upon the fire. The statement "in order" is important to notice, it was not to be done according to the desires or designs of the worshipper. This shows us that in true worship there will be no confusion, but a divine order and this order flows out of obedience to the word of God, and the leading of the Holy Spirit not out of compliance with liturgies or the rituals of men. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace in the assemblies of the saints, and there all things are to be done "decently and in order", (1 Cor. 14;33 & 40.) can you imagine clapping, shouting or dancing at such a scene as is described in this chapter?

After this we read that the priest was to burn all upon the altar, which would teach us that everything about the Lord Jesus was acceptable to God. The burnt-offering was wholly for God, the priest received nothing from it, only the skin, this would show us that worship is not at all for our personal pleasure or satisfaction, and certainly not for our entertainment, it is wholly for God.

What we gain as we see the fire devour the sacrifice is a deeper, greater appreciation of the worth and excellence of him who offered himself without spot to God. It is true that when one worships audibly , in spirit and in truth, that others who hear will be edified, ( 1 Cor. 14;7,) but the primary object is that God alone may be glorified.

Now we come to consider the smaller offerings and as we have dealt with this matter somewhat earlier in this chapter we shall not repeat. However there are some things here that should be an encouragement to all.

As we have seen, the bullock represents a large and rich appreciation of Christ, and it conveys the ideas of strength, patience and faithfulness. We come to appreciate these qualities in the person of Christ as we prove him in the trials, troubles and difficulties of life.

The smaller offerings however, teach us that we should not be discouraged because our understanding, knowledge and appreciation of Christ is not as great as others who have loved and labored for him over a lifetime. God encourages us all to bring to him our appreciation of Christ, of his worth and glory, which he wants us to present in our own words, though helped and led by the Holy Spirit, as best we can, no matter how poor our praise and worship may seem to us. Let us remember, "The Father seeketh such to worship him".

The appeal of the bridegroom to the bride in Song of Songs 2;14, should also help us to realize how the Lord Jesus longs to hear us express in our own words the love of our hearts for him, and our personal appreciation of himself, "Let me hear thy voice,....for sweet is thy voice".

THE LAMB OR GOAT; would remind us of the meekness and gentleness of Christ, his unresisting, un-complaining submission and surrender to the will of God. "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep is dumb before her shearers, so he opened not his mouth", (Isaiah 53;7.) It also stresses his perfect innocence, so that when men clamored for him to be crucified Pilate asked, "Why, what evil has he done?

The procedure for the smaller offerings was the same as for the bullock, except that they were to be slain on the side of the altar northward.. Perhaps this would remind us of the coldness of man's inhumanity, as the North is the quarter from which the cold winter winds and weather come. It is John who tells us that it was winter, and that it was cold, Jn. 10;22, & ch 18;18.)

TWO TURTLE DOVES: Now we have the smallest of the offerings, two turtle doves, or two young pigeons. These instructions should be a real encouragement to young believers. However small their contribution of praise or worship may be, they may bring their "turtle doves", or "young pigeons". Such should never be discouraged by the fact that they cannot offer a contribution of length, or use the rich expressions that others do, let them just "Give unto God the glory due to his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness", (Psalm 29;2.)

The dove is said by the Lord Jesus to be harmless, and Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus was "Holy harmless and undefiled", (Heb. 7;26.) The dove is a grave and gentle little bird and has no aggressive character, and it has a sweet, sad song. Only this morning I have been listening to its gentle mournful cooing. Isaiah says "I mourn greatly like doves", (ch. 59;11 & 38;14.)

The same prophet tells us that the Lord Jesus is "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and that he has "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows", (ch. 53;3 & 4.) In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death", (Mark 14;34.)

THE YOUNG PIGEONS: These remind us of the fact that the Lord Jesus never reached old age, but gave his life for us on the cross when only 33 1/2 years of age. His feelings as to this were expressed through the Psalmist when he said, "My days are as a lengthened out shadow"...."He shorteneth my days",...."Take me not away in the midst of my days" (Psalm 120;11-23 & 24.) When in the prime and vigor of life, he laid down that life for us, and gave himself as a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor to God.

When the birds were brought all the offerer did was to bring and to present them, the rest was done by the priest. This would teach us how a spiritually mature brother may assist a younger believer in worship. Every part of the birds was not acceptable for sacrifice, and the priest removed what was not acceptable, but enhanced and displayed what was.

First the heads were wrung, or pinched off and burnt on the altar. The bird's heads were much smaller than that of the other offerings, but have the same meaning, and the savor was just as sweet and acceptable to God,

The blood was then pressed out at the side of the altar, though much smaller in quantity, yet just as precious to God, in that it spoke to him of the precious blood of the man of sorrows. The priest then removed the crop and the feathers and placed them beside the altar on the east side where the ashes were kept. They were not burned because their burning would give rise to an unpleasant odour, just as the skin of the bullock was not burned, but given to the priest.

The putting aside of the crop and feathers does not suggest that there was ever anything about the person of Christ that was not delightful to God, but rather that through lack of understanding of the scriptures, or sometimes through nervousness we may say things in our offering of worship that are not quite right, and because of this not acceptable. Sometimes we may hear young men worship God from their full hearts, but due to lack of understanding, say things that are not quite right. In such a case, an older more experienced brother, may take up what is acceptable in the young brother's offering, and either in a word of ministry, or else in his own contribution of worship, enlarge upon the really acceptable and precious thoughts that the younger brother has expressed. He may bring them out in such a way that the younger men will be edified and encouraged, and others may be stimulated to worship.

What is not acceptable is not enlarged upon, nor even mentioned, but gently removed and put in the place of the ashes. God would have us to do all that we can to encourage younger believers, (in fact all believers), to worship.

The crop and feathers being placed on the east side of the altar, may suggest to our minds the fact of the Lord's coming, the east being the place of the sun rising. It would bring to our minds the anticipation of the dawn of that glorious day, the day of Jesus Christ, when we will be caught up to be with him, when we will no longer be hindered by weakness or lack of knowledge, but will be able to worship the Lord in the way that we have always wanted to. since we were saved.

The priest then opened the birds at the wings, but he did not divide it, or tear it apart. This opening of the birds again revealed the inner perfection of the offering, and the purity of the one of whom they spoke. The fact that they were not divided would teach us that we are never to criticize, to pull apart what another may offer in worship.

The birds were then offered, burnt upon the altar, an offering of a sweet smelling savor, acceptable to God. The same sweetness, the same savor, the same fragrance as the bullock, lamb or goat. The fact that two were offered may suggest the thought of testimony or witness, that is even in a small offering there is abundant testimony to the perfect acceptability of him of whom the burnt-offering speaks.

These are just a few of the things that we can learn from the details of the burnt-offering, given to us in the wonderful first chapter of the Book of Leviticus.

C E Wigg