Lev 6:29 | KingComments | STEP | After the law of the grain offering, the law of the peace offering does not come, as in the earlier description of the offerings, but first follows the law of the sin offering. The emphasis here again is on the priest eating it. The first thing that is said by the LORD in the law of the sin offering is that the sin offering must be brought in the place of the burnt offering. This immediately indicates that whoever has to bring a sin offering may also see that the Lord Jesus is also the burnt offering. We come in the awareness that we have deserved the judgment because of the sin we have committed and that the Lord Jesus has entered that judgment in order to deliver us from it. Added to this we also come to the awareness that the Lord Jesus has glorified God in that same work and that on that basis we are made pleasant. How versatile and great is the miracle of His work! It is indeed “most holy”. The sin offering is about sins. Someone has sinned and comes with a sin offering to the priest, who offers it and eats it. Bringing a sin offering speaks of acknowledgment in God’s presence – “in the holy place” ( ) – that the Lord Jesus had to die for that sin. Eating the sin offering means identification with the sin that the other has committed. To point out the sin that another has committed is one thing; to identify with it is another. It is the awareness that it could have happened to me too. I am in no way better ( ; ). Ezra and Daniel confess this, each in chapter 9 of the book named after them ( ; ). They have eaten the sin offering. They themselves are innocent of the condition of the people, but they identify themselves with it and confess the sins of the people as their own. That is eating the sin offering. Eating is the most perfect identification of the priest and the sacrificed animal representing the sin of the offeror. Christ is always both the Priest and the Victim. The action of the priest as he eats the sin offering, shows how Christ made sin His. This eating of the offering shows us the heart of Christ Who, when we sin, makes our cause His. The priest did not commit sin. On the contrary, he has made atonement for it by the blood he has sprinkled. Yet he fully identifies with it. In this way Christ has also prepared the most perfect comfort for us. He Himself, Who is blameless and Who has worked atonement, has identified Himself with all our sins. Now He is, because His one offering has been brought once and for all, active as Advocate with the Father in the case of sin. He works in connection with fellowship, not with atonement. There is nothing more to do in terms of offering or bloodshed. That work has been completely accomplished. On the basis of that work He now serves as Advocate. The sin offering has a sanctifying effect. Everything it comes into contact with becomes holy. The work of the Lord Jesus for sin is perfect in its effect. Nothing in His whole work bears the character of decided holiness, of complete and perfect separation from God, so much as His bearing of sin. That God has judged Him, the Son of His love, when He is made sin is the clearest proof of how much God hates sin. Whoever sees this, will have a holy aversion to all things that have to do with sin and will want to live in complete holiness before God. If blood from the sin offering comes on a garment, the garment must be washed with water ( ). This shows the powerful effect of the blood on my behavior, as can be observed by others. If I suddenly realize again the meaning of the blood of Christ, which has been made sin for me, it will have influence on my life. More humility will be seen in my life. The water of the Word will cleanse my life of things that conflict with humility. The flesh of the sin offering must first be cooked in order to be able to eat it. This can be done in an earthenware or bronze vessel. An earthenware vessel represents our body ( ). This, as an instrument used by sin, must be broken. Nothing of natural man may be linked to the work of the Lord Jesus. The bronze vessel speaks of what we have become after we have come to faith. Bronze speaks of the righteousness of God. Sin has stained it. The vessel must be cleaned. Scouring and rinsing in water speaks of cleansing through the Word of God ( ). When the anointed priest or people have sinned ( ), the blood of a sin offering is brought into the tent of meeting ( ). In that case there is no one who can eat the sin offering, for all are guilty and therefore unfit to eat it.

‏ Leviticus 6:29

The Law of the Sin Offering

After the law of the grain offering, the law of the peace offering does not come, as in the earlier description of the offerings, but first follows the law of the sin offering. The emphasis here again is on the priest eating it.

The first thing that is said by the LORD in the law of the sin offering is that the sin offering must be brought in the place of the burnt offering. This immediately indicates that whoever has to bring a sin offering may also see that the Lord Jesus is also the burnt offering. We come in the awareness that we have deserved the judgment because of the sin we have committed and that the Lord Jesus has entered that judgment in order to deliver us from it. Added to this we also come to the awareness that the Lord Jesus has glorified God in that same work and that on that basis we are made pleasant. How versatile and great is the miracle of His work! It is indeed “most holy”.

The sin offering is about sins. Someone has sinned and comes with a sin offering to the priest, who offers it and eats it. Bringing a sin offering speaks of acknowledgment in God’s presence – “in the holy place” (Lev 6:26) – that the Lord Jesus had to die for that sin. Eating the sin offering means identification with the sin that the other has committed.

To point out the sin that another has committed is one thing; to identify with it is another. It is the awareness that it could have happened to me too. I am in no way better (Job 33:6; Gal 6:1). Ezra and Daniel confess this, each in chapter 9 of the book named after them (Ezra 9:1-15; Dan 9:1-19). They have eaten the sin offering. They themselves are innocent of the condition of the people, but they identify themselves with it and confess the sins of the people as their own. That is eating the sin offering.

Eating is the most perfect identification of the priest and the sacrificed animal representing the sin of the offeror. Christ is always both the Priest and the Victim. The action of the priest as he eats the sin offering, shows how Christ made sin His. This eating of the offering shows us the heart of Christ Who, when we sin, makes our cause His.

The priest did not commit sin. On the contrary, he has made atonement for it by the blood he has sprinkled. Yet he fully identifies with it. In this way Christ has also prepared the most perfect comfort for us. He Himself, Who is blameless and Who has worked atonement, has identified Himself with all our sins.

Now He is, because His one offering has been brought once and for all, active as Advocate with the Father in the case of sin. He works in connection with fellowship, not with atonement. There is nothing more to do in terms of offering or bloodshed. That work has been completely accomplished. On the basis of that work He now serves as Advocate.

The sin offering has a sanctifying effect. Everything it comes into contact with becomes holy. The work of the Lord Jesus for sin is perfect in its effect. Nothing in His whole work bears the character of decided holiness, of complete and perfect separation from God, so much as His bearing of sin. That God has judged Him, the Son of His love, when He is made sin is the clearest proof of how much God hates sin. Whoever sees this, will have a holy aversion to all things that have to do with sin and will want to live in complete holiness before God.

If blood from the sin offering comes on a garment, the garment must be washed with water (Lev 6:27). This shows the powerful effect of the blood on my behavior, as can be observed by others. If I suddenly realize again the meaning of the blood of Christ, which has been made sin for me, it will have influence on my life. More humility will be seen in my life. The water of the Word will cleanse my life of things that conflict with humility.

The flesh of the sin offering must first be cooked in order to be able to eat it. This can be done in an earthenware or bronze vessel. An earthenware vessel represents our body (2Cor 4:7). This, as an instrument used by sin, must be broken. Nothing of natural man may be linked to the work of the Lord Jesus. The bronze vessel speaks of what we have become after we have come to faith. Bronze speaks of the righteousness of God. Sin has stained it. The vessel must be cleaned. Scouring and rinsing in water speaks of cleansing through the Word of God (Eph 5:26).

When the anointed priest or people have sinned (Lev 4:6 ; 17), the blood of a sin offering is brought into the tent of meeting (Lev 6:30). In that case there is no one who can eat the sin offering, for all are guilty and therefore unfit to eat it.