Leviticus thru Deuteronomy (Sections 11-13)
Section 11 "He shall lay his Hand upon the Head of the Sin Offering."—Leviticus 4:29
Here we have an emblem of the way in which a sacrifice becomes available for the offerer. The same ceremony is commanded in Leviticus 4:4; Leviticus 4:15; Leviticus 4:24; Leviticus 4:33, and in other places: it is therefore important and instructive. The question with many souls is how to obtain an interest in Christ so as to be saved by him. Never could a weightier question be asked.
It is certain that this is absolutely needful: but alas! it has been fearfully neglected by many. In vain did Christ die if he is not believed in.
It ought to be attended to at once. The text gives us a pictorial answer to the question, How can Christ's sacrifice become available for me?
Let us learn,—
I. The Intent of the Symbol.
1. It was a confession of sin: else no need of a sin offering. To this was added a confession of the desert of punishment, or why should the victim be slain?
There was also an abandonment of all other methods of removing sin. The hands were empty and laid alone upon the sin offering. Do this at the cross; for there alone is sin put away.
2. It was a consent to the plan of substitution.
Some raise questions as to the justice and certainty of this method of salvation; but he who is to be saved does not so, for he sees that God himself is the best judge of its rightness, and if he is content, we may assuredly be so.
Substitution exceedingly honors the law, and vindicates justice.
There is no other plan which meets the case or even fairly looks at it. Man's sense of guilt is not met by other proposals. But this brings rest to the most tender conscience.
What if we trace the globe around, And search from Britain to Japan, There shall be no religion found So just to God, so safe to man.
3. It was an acceptance of the victim.
Jesus is the most natural substitute, for he is the second Adam, the second Head of the race; the true ideal Man.
He is the only person able to offer satisfaction, having a perfect humanity united with his Godhead.
He alone is acceptable to God; he may well be acceptable to us.
4. It was a believing transference of sin. By laying on of hands sin was typically laid on the victim. It was laid there so as to be no longer on the offerer.
5. It was a dependence—leaning on the victim. Is there not a most sure stay in Jesus for the leaning heart?
Consider the nature of the suffering and death by which the atonement was made, and you will rest in it.
Consider the dignity and worth of the sacrifice by whom death was endured. The glory of Christ's person enhances the value of his atonement (Hebrews 10:5-10).
Remember that none of the saints now in heaven have had any other atoning sacrifice. "Jesus only" has been the motto of all justified ones. "He offered one sacrifice for sins forever" (Hebrews 10:12).
Those of us who are saved are resting there alone; why should not you, and every anxious one?
II. The Simplicity of the Symbol.
1. There were no antecedent rites. The victim was there, and hands were laid on it; nothing more. We add neither preface nor appendix to Christ: he is Alpha and Omega.
2. The offerer came in all his sin. "Just as I am." It was to have his sin removed that the offerer brought the sacrifice: not because he had himself removed it.
3. There was nothing in his hand of merit or price.
4. There was nothing on his hand. No gold ring to indicate wealth; no signet of power; no jewel of rank. The offerer came as a man, and not as learned, rich, or honorable.
5. He performed no cunning legerdemain with his hand. By leaning upon it he took the victim to be his representative; but he placed no reliance upon ceremonial performances.
6. Nothing was done to his hand. His ground of trust was the sacrifice, not his hands. He desired his hand to be clean, but upon that fact he did not rest for pardon.
Come then, dear hearer, whether saint or sinner, and lean hard upon Jesus. He taketh away the sin of the world. Trust him with your sin, and it is for ever put away. Put forth now your hand, and adopt the expiation of the redeeming Lord as your expiation.
Anecdotes and Illustrations A poor blind woman in Liverpool, after her conversion, committed many hymns to memory. She was an occasional attendant upon the old Earl of Derby, the grandfather of the present earl. She repeated one of her hymns to him. The old earl liked it, and encouraged her to repeat more. But one day, when repeating the hymn of Charles Wesley, "All ye that pass by," she came to the words: The Lord in the day of his anger did lay Your sins on the Lamb, and he bore them away.
He said, "Stop, Mrs. Brass, don't you think it should be— The Lord in the day of his mercy did lay?"
She did not think his criticism valid; but it proved that she was not repeating her verses to inattentive ears, and other indications showed that the blind woman was made a blessing to the dying nobleman.—Paxton Hood's Life of Isaac Watts.
"When Christmas Evans was about to die, several ministers were standing round his bed. He said to them, 'Preach Christ to the people, brethren. Look at me: in myself I am nothing but ruin. But look at me in Christ; I am heaven and salvation.' "
It is not the quantity of thy faith that shall save thee. A drop of water is as true water as the whole ocean. So a little faith is as true faith as the greatest. A child eight days old is as really a man as one of sixty years; a spark of fire is as true fire as a great flame; a sickly man is as truly living as a healthy man. So it is not the measure of thy faith that saves thee—it is the blood that it grips to that saves thee. As the weak hand of a child, that leads the spoon to the mouth, will feed it as well as the strong arm of a man; for it is not the hand that feeds thee—albeit, it puts the meat into thy mouth—but it is the meat carried into thy stomach that feeds thee. So if thou canst grip Christ ever so weakly he will not let thee perish. . . . The weakest hands can take a gift as well as the strongest. Now, Christ is this gift, and weak faith may grip him as well as strong faith, and Christ is as truly thine when thou hast weak faith, as when thou hast come to those triumphant joys through the strength of faith.— Welsh. The Puritans speak of faith as a recumbency, a leaning. It needs no power to lean; it is a cessation from our own strength, and allowing our weakness to depend upon another's power. Let no man say, "I cannot lean"; it is not a question of what you can do, but a confession of what you cannot do, and a leaving of the whole matter with Jesus. No woman could say, "I cannot swoon"; it is not a matter of power. Die into the life of Christ; let him be all in all while you are nothing at all.
Section 12
"And when the People complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it;
and his Anger was kindled; and the Fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed
them that were in the uttermost Parts of the Camp."—Numbers 11:1
Rehearse the historical fact. Observe how the mischief began in the outskirts among the mixed multitude, and how the fire of the Lord burned in the uttermost parts of the camp. The great danger of the Church lies in her camp-followers and hangers-on: they infect the true Israel. Hence the need of guarding the entrance of the Church, and keeping up discipline within it. Grumbling, discontent, ungrateful complaining—these are grievous offenses again our most gracious God. We shall consider the subject in a series of observations.
I. A Dissatisfied Spirit causes Displeasure to the Lord. l. This we might infer from our own feelings, when dependents, children, servants, or receivers of alms are always grumbling. We grow weary of them, and angry with them.
2. In the case of men towards God it is much worse for them to murmur, since they deserve no good at his hands, but the very reverse. "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" (Lamentations 3:39; Psalms 103:10).
3. In that case also it is a reflection upon the Lord's goodness, wisdom, truth, and power. See the complaint in verses 4, 5, 6.
4. The evil lusting which attends the complaining proves its injurious character. We are ready for anything when we quarrel with God (1 Corinthians 10:5-12).
5. God thinks so ill of it that his wrath burns, and chastisement is not long withheld. See verse 33 of this chapter, and other parts of Scripture.
II. A Dissatisfied Spirit fancies it would find Pleasure in Things denied it.
Israel had manna, but sighed for fish, cucumbers, melons, onions, etc. But to set an imaginary value upon that which we have not—
1. Is foolish, childish, pettish.
2. Is injurious to ourselves, for it prevents our enjoying what we already have. It leads men to slander angels' food and call it "this light bread." It led Haman to think nothing of his prosperity because a single person refused him reverence (Esther 5:13).
3. Is slanderous towards God, and ungrateful to him.
4. Leads to rebellion, falsehood, envy, and all manner of sins.
III. A Dissatisfied Spirit finds no Pleasure for Itself even when its Wish is fulfilled. The Israelites had flesh in superabundance in answer to their foolish prayers, but—
1. It was attended with leanness of soul (Psalms 106:15).
2. It brought satiety—"until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you" (verse 20).
3. It caused death. He "slew the fattest of them" (Psalms 78:31.
4. It thus led to mourning on all sides. Kibroth Hattaavah, or, "the graves of lust," was the name of this station (verse 34).
IV. A Dissatisfied Spirit shows that the Mind needs Regulating.
Grace would put our desires in order, and keep our thoughts and affections in their proper places, thus—
1. Content with such things as we have (Hebrews 13:5).
2. Towards other things moderate in desire. "Give me neither poverty nor riches" (Proverbs 30:8).
3. Concerning earthly things which may be lacking, fully resigned. "Not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39).
4. First, and most eagerly, desiring God. "My soul thirsteth for God," etc. (Psalms 42:2).
5. Next, coveting earnestly the best gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31).
6. Following ever in love the more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31).
Helpful Notes
I have read of Caesar, that, having prepared a great feast for his nobles and friends, it fell out that the day appointed was so extremely foul that nothing could be done to the honor of their meeting; whereupon he was so displeased and enraged that he commanded all them that had bows to shoot up their arrows at Jupiter, their chief god, as in defiance of him tor that rainy weather; which, when they did, their arrows fell short of heaven, and fell upon their own heads, so that many of them were very sorely wounded. So all our mutterings and murmurings, which are so many arrows shot at God himself, will return upon our own pates, or hearts; they reach not him, but they will hit us; they hurt not him, but they will wound us; therefore, it is better to be mute than to murmur; it is dangerous to contend with one who is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).— Thomas Brooks.
God hath much ado with us. Either we lack health, or quietness, or children, or wealth, or company, or ourselves in all these. It is a wonder the Israelites found not fault with the want of sauce to their quails, or with their old clothes, or their solitary way. Nature is moderate in her desires; but conceit is insatiable.—Bishop Hall.
Murmuring is a quarreling with God, and inveighing against him. "They spake against God" (Numbers 21:5). The murmurer saith interpretatively that God hath not dealt well with him, and that he hath deserved better from him. The murmurer chargeth God with folly. This is the language, or rather blasphemy, of a murmuring spirit,—God might have been a wiser and a better God. The murmurer is a mutineer. The Israelites are called in the same text "murmurers" and "rebels" (Numbers 17:10); and is not rebellion as the sin of witchcraft? (1 Samuel 15:23). Thou that art a murmurer art in the account of God as a witch, a sorcerer, as one that deals with the devil. This is a sin of the first magnitude. Murmuring often ends in cursing. Micah's mother fell to cursing when the talents of silver were taken away (Judges 17:2). So doth the murmurer when a part of his estate is taken away. Our murmuring is the devil's music; that is that sin which God cannot bear: "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me?" (Numbers 14:27). It is a sin which whets the sword against a people; it is a land-destroying sin: "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer" (1 Corinthians 10:10).—T. Watson.
Losing our temper with God is a more common thing in the spiritual life than many suppose.—F. W. Faber.
Life is a field of nettles to some men. Their fretful, worrying tempers are always pricking out through the tender skin of their uneasiness. Why if they were set down in Paradise, carrying their bad mind with them, they would fret at the good angels, and the climate, and the colors even of the roses.—Dr. Bushnell.
I dare no more fret than curse or swear.—John Wesley. A child was crying in passion, and I heard its mother say, "If you cry for nothing, I will soon give you something to cry for." From the sound of her hand, I gathered the moral that those who cry about nothing are making a rod for their own backs, and will probably be made to smart under it.
Section 13
"For the Lord shall judge his People, and repent himself for his Servants, when
he seeth that their Power is gone, and there is none shut up or left."—Deuteronomy 32:36 To ungodly men the time of their fall is fatal; there is no rising again for them. They mount higher and higher upon the ladder of riches; but at last they can climb no higher, their feet slide, and all is over. This calamity hasteneth on. "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste" (verse 35). But it is not so with three characters of whom we will now speak; they are judged in this world that they may not be condemned hereafter (1 Corinthians 11:32). Of each of them it may be said, "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down" (Psalms 37:24).
I. The Lord's own Church.
1. A church may be sorely tried—"power gone, none left." By persecution the faithful may be cut off (Psalms 107:39). By removals, death, poverty, a church may be depleted to a painful extent (Isaiah 1:8-9).
Through the lack of a faithful ministry, there may be no increase; and those who remain may grow feeble and dispirited. By general falling off of hearers, members, etc., a church may be sorely distressed. Various circumstances may scatter a people, such as internal dissension, pestilent heresy, and lack of spiritual life. Where there is no spiritual food hungry souls find no home (Job 15:23).
2. But it may then cry to God.
If indeed his people, the covenant stands, and he will judge them.
If still his servants, the bond holds on his side, and he will repent himself for them. His eye is ever upon them, and their eye should be up to him.
3. He will return and revive his own church.
He who killed will make alive (verse 39).
He pities his children when he sees them broken down under their sorrows.
4. Meanwhile the trial is permitted— To find out his servants and drive out hypocrites (Isaiah 33:14). To test the faith of sincere saints, and to strengthen it. To manifest his own grace by supporting them under the trying times, and by visiting them with future blessing. To secure to himself the glory when the happier days are granted.
II. The tried Believer.
1. His power may be gone. Personally he becomes helpless. Bodily health fails, prudence is baffled, skill is taken away, courage sinks, even spiritual force departs (Lamentations 3:17-18).
2. His earthly help may fail. "There is none shut up or left." A man without a friend moves the compassion of God.
3. He may be assailed by doubts and fears, and hardly know what to do with himself (Job 3:23-26). In all this there may be chastisement for sin. It is so described in the context.
4. His hope lies in the compassion of God: he has no pleasure in putting his people to grief. "He will turn again, he will have compassion" (Micah 7:19).
Such sharp trials may be sent because—
Nothing less would cure the evil hidden within (Isaiah 27:9).
Nothing less might suffice to bring the whole heart to God alone.
Nothing less might affect the believer's future life (Isaiah 38:16).
Nothing less might complete his experience, enlarge his acquaintance with the Word, and perfect his testimony for God.
III. The convinced Sinner.
He is cleaned out of all that wherein he prided himself.
1. His self-righteousness is gone. He has no boasting of the past, or self-trust for the future (Job 9:30-31).
2. His ability to perform acceptable works is gone. "Their power is gone." "Dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).
3. His secret hopes which were shut up are now all dead and buried.
4. His proud romantic dreams are gone (Isaiah 29:8).
5. His worldly delights, his bold defiance, his unbelief, his big talk, his carelessness, his vain confidence, are all gone.
6. Nothing is left but the pity of God (Psalms 103:13). When the tide has ebbed out to the very uttermost it turns. The prodigal had spent all before he returned.
Empty-handed sinners are welcome to the fulness of Christ.
Since the Lord repents of the sorrows of the desponding, they may well take heed and repent of their sins.
Notes in Aid The church in New Park Street was sadly reduced in numbers, and from the position of its meeting-house there seemed no prospect before it but ultimate dissolution; but there were a few in its midst who never ceased to pray for a gracious revival. The congregation became smaller and smaller, but they hoped on, hoped ever. Let it never be forgotten that when they were at their worst the Lord remembered them, and gave to them such a tide of prosperity that they have had no mourning, or doubting, but more than thirty years of continued rejoicing.
Man's extremity is God's opportunity.
Extremities are a warrant for importunities. A man at his wit's end is not at his faith's end.
—Matthew Henry
Grandly did the old Scottish believer, of whom Dr. Brown tells us in his Horœ Subsecivœ, respond to the challenge of her pastor regarding the ground of her faith. "Janet," said the minister, "what would you say if after all he has done for you, God should let you drop into hell?" "E'en's (even as) he likes," answered Janet; "if he does, he'll lose mair than I'll do,"— meaning that he would lose his honor for truth and goodness. Therefore, the Lord cannot leave his people in the hour of their need.
"Every praying Christian will find that there is no Gethsemane without its angel."
He brings his people into a wilderness, but it is that he may speak comfortably to them; he casts them into a fiery furnace, but it is that they may have more of his company.—T. Brooks. A person who could not swim had fallen into the water. A man who could swim sprang in to save him. However, instead of at once taking hold of the struggling man, he kept at some distance from him until he had ceased struggling; he then laid hold of him, and pulled him ashore. Upon the people on the pier asking him why he did not at once take hold of the drowning person, he replied, "I could not attempt to save a man so long as he could try to save himself." The Lord acts thus towards sinners: they must cease from themselves, and then he will display the power of his grace upon them. So long as a sinner has a mouldy crust of his own he will not feed upon heavenly manna. They say that half a loaf is better than no bread; but this is not true, for on half a loaf men lead a starvation existence, but when they have no bread they fly to Jesus for the food which came down from heaven. As long as a soul has a farthing to bless itself with, it will foolishly refuse the free forgiveness of its debts; but absolute penury drives it to the true riches.
'Tis perfect poverty alone That sets the soul at large;
While we can call one mite our own We get no full discharge.