All, therefore, having been found pure, and fit for God's altar, it becomes the happy place of _Aaron's sons_ to send up before God the sweet savor of this most acceptable offering, as we read: "And the _sons_ _of Aaron_ the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. And _the priests_, Aaron's _sons_, shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar. But _his inwards and his legs_ shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn _all_ on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord" (vers. 7-9). The fat of the offering was God's peculiar part; no one could with impunity touch that; yea, the punishment for so doing was the same as for eating blood; i.e., it was as wrong and as daringly presumptuous for a man to intrude upon God's portion of the offering as it was for him to assume life in his own right, which latter was an open denial of the state of death and ruin in which he was by reason of sin. God, then, I say, claimed the fat. He alone could feed upon the inward excellency and peerless perfections of Jesus, just as in the case of the unmeasured ointment in Exodus xxx., where we see, as well as in the above cited passage, that the infinite mind of God could alone appreciate the infinite value of Christ. But we find _the head_ burnt in connection with the fat, showing us, I suppose, that both the hidden energies of the Lord Jesus and the seat of His understanding were equally suited to be a sweet savor unto God. Lastly, the inwards and legs were washed and burned upon the altar, showing us that the secret thoughts, purposes and counsels of the Lord Jesus, as well as the outward development of these in His _walk_, were perfectly pure and fit for the altar: and, in connection with this last point, one cannot help dwelling with comfort upon the marvelous contrast between the Lord Jesus and His poor people. How often may our _outward walk_, typified by "the legs," appear quite right in the eye of man, when, at the same time, perhaps, in the eye of God, our "_inwards_" may be full of gross impurity. But it is well for us that such was not the case with our great Head: in Him _all was alike_, for _all was pure_. May our hearts, dear Christian reader, enter more and more fully, under the teaching of the Spirit, into the intrinsic excellency of the Lord Jesus; and may we be enabled daily, standing at the altar before God, to send up in His presence the savor of all this!
As to the meat offering, we need not enter minutely into it. It was composed, as we know, of that which sprang from _the earth_, and such as aptly shadowed out "the Man Christ Jesus," the frankincense thereon marking the entire devotedness of all the actings of Christ's human nature to God His Father. Nothing was done by Him to meet man's eye, or man's approbation; nothing was done to produce mere effect; no, _all was directly before God_. Whether we trace the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, while, for thirty years, _He was subject_ to His parents at home; or while, for three years, He was engaged in public ministry amongst the Jews--all was alike: all showed forth the pure frankincense that marked Him, in all things, as God's peculiar and devoted servant. We may observe further that this meat offering was _baked_ with oil, and _anointed_ with oil; thus showing forth, I suppose, the incarnate Son of God, who was first "_conceived_ of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. i. 20), and then "_anointed_ with the Holy Ghost" (Matt. iii. 16; Acts x. 38).
We now come to speak of the sin offering, and may the Lord graciously refresh our spirits while dwelling for a little on the blessed principles unfolded therein. The sin offering is brought before us in Leviticus iv., from whence we may select one case for our present purpose. "If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people, then _let him_ bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. _And he shall bring_ the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head and kill the bullock before the Lord" (vers. 3, 4).