Numbers 28:1-40 - The Perfect System Of Sacrifice

a likeness mingled with distortion, as in the shadows cast upon a rugged slope by the rising sun. This is exactly what we do find, comparing the substance of the gospel with the shadows of the law. No human art could have constructed the Christian scheme from the fore-shadows which it threw, because no human skill could have allowed for the peculiarities of the Jewish dispensation. But, on the other hand, we can trace along the entire outline of the substance a correspondence to the shadow which cannot be due to chance. It is of course possible to admit the fact of this analogy, and to explain it by the assumption that Christianity itself was the creation of minds saturated with Jewish ideas, and habituated to the Jewish system of sacrifices. But if this had been the case, the correspondence had surely been more direct, and much less oblique than it is, much less subtle in parts and less unequal as a whole. It would seem as much beyond the practical powers of man to translate the types of the law into the substantial and consistent beauty of the gospel, as to reduce the irregularity and distortion of a shadow to the regular symmetry of the unseen human form. We have, therefore, in accordance with apostolic teaching, to regard the daily offerings, the sabbaths, the new moons, the sacred months and annual festivals of the Jews, as so many shadows which are of interest only as they in part resemble, and therefore in part illustrate, the body, the reality, which belongs to Christ, and so to us. Consider, therefore, with respect to this system as a whole—

I. THAT IT WAS DESIGNED TO CONSECRATE WITH BURNT OFFERINGS AND OBLATIONS THE WHOLE ROUND OF THE JEWISH CALENDAR . It formed a complete system, combining variety with regularity, under which every day by itself, every week in its seventh day, every month in its first day, every year in its seventh month and in its great festivals, was consecrated by the shedding of blood, by the acknowledgment that their lives were forfeit, by vicarious death, and by vicarious dedication of self to God. Even such is the pervading meaning and purpose of Christianity; that our whole life from end to end should be consecrated to God by the blood of Christ, offered for us on the one hand, and on the other dedicated to God by a voluntary and perfect self-surrender. As the Jewish year was hallowed by an endless round of sacrifice, so the Christian life is sanctified by a never-exhausted self-sacrifice—the self-sacrifice of Christ wrought for us on the cross, the self-sacrifice of Christ wrought in us by his Spirit.

II. THAT THE WHOLE SYSTEM RESTED UPON THE DAILY SACRIFICE , WHICH WAS NEVER OMITTED , TO WHICH ALL OTHER SACRIFICES WERE SUPERADDED . Not even the triumph of the passover or the affliction of the day of atonement affected the daily sacrifice. Even so in Christ does all religious life rest upon the hallowing of each day, as it comes and goes, by the blood of the Lamb. Whatever special observance may be given to sacred days and seasons, or reserved for times of special grace, yet such only is true religion which is daily renewed and daily practiced. And note that the daily use taking precedence of all additional observances testified even to the Jews of the underlying equality of all days as holy to the Lord. Since each day was essentially sacred, it followed that all distinctions of days were arbitrary and transitory. And this was undoubtedly what St. Paul desired to see realized in the Church of Christ ( Romans 14:5 , Romans 14:6 ; Galatians 4:10 , &c.;).

III. THAT UPON THE DALLY USE A SABBATIC USE WAS RAISED UP WITH EXTREME CARE ; not only the seventh day of every week, hut also the seventh month of every year, being made festal and marked by special sacrifices. This was in truth arbitrary to the Jewish apprehension, although it was mystically connected with the relation between God and the world ( Exodus 20:11 ), and historically associated with the deliverance from Egypt ( Deuteronomy 5:15 ); but it served to keep the Jew in mind of, and bring him into connection with, an order of things above and beyond the labour and gain and profit and loss of this world. Even so, while the sacredness of the sabbatic number (in days or months or years) is vanished in Christ, yet the meaning' of the number, the sabbath or rest of the soul in God, the rest from sin, from self, and from sorrow, is the dominant idea which we find in Christ first and last. This is his first invitation ( Matthew 11:28 ), and this his last promise ( Revelation 3:21 ).

IV. THAT TO THE DAILY AND SABBATIC USE WAS ADDED THE NEW MOON FESTIVAL WITH GREAT HONOUR IN THE WAY OF SACRIFICES ; and this although the festival was one of natural, and not of sacred, origin. This may have been partly from a wise caution lest superstition should usurp what religion left unoccupied, but more because the God of grace is the God of nature, and he who made the Church made the moon to rule the night. Even so it is the will of God that all natural turning-points and periods in our lives should be consecrated by religion and hallowed with the blood of Christ; for our whole body, soul, and spirit are his. Religion does not war against nature, but takes nature under her patronage. Whatever springs naturally out of our physical and social life (not being evil of itself) may be and should be connected with religious sanctions, and adorned with holy gladness as before God.

V. THAT TO THE DALLY , SABBATIC , AND NEW MOON USE WAS ADDED THE OBSERVANCE OF THE THREE FESTIVALS WHICH WERE ASSOCIATED AT ONCE WITH THE FACTS OF PAST DELIVERANCE AND OF PRESENT PLENTY . For the passover itself, which was mainly a commemoration, also marked the first beginning of the harvest; and the feast of weeks, which was essentially a harvest festival, recalled also the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Even so in Christ, besides the other elements of religion, the sanctification of daily life, the hallowing of natural changes and outward events, the ceaseless seeking for rest in God, there must be found prominently the devout and grateful celebration of the great triumphs of redemption in the past, and of the abounding blessings of grace in the present. And note that none of these may be absent without grievous toss. The new moon feasts, which seemed so wholly secular, and would not keep time with the sabbaths of Divine obligation, were as much honoured as the days of passover. And so a religion which does not blend itself with and twine itself about the secular joys and interests of our natural life is wanting in a most important point, and is not perfect before God.

Consider again, with respect to the ordered sacrifices—

I. THAT THE DAILY OFFERING , WHICH NEVER VARIED , WAS ONE LAMB . Even so the Lamb of God is the one sacrifice, εἰς τὸ διηνεκές , by which each day is sanctified—a continual burnt offering acceptable to God.

II. THAT THE LAMB WAS OFFERED BOTH MORNING AND EVENING . Even so the Lamb of God was in a manner doubly offered: in purpose and will "from the foundation of the world" ( Revelation 13:8 ), but in outward act only "in these last days" ( Hebrews 1:2 ), i.e; in the morning and the evening of the world.

III. THAT WHILE OTHER SACRIFICES WERE MOSTLY CONFINED TO THE MORNING HOURS , THE DAILY LAMB WAS OFFERED AT MORN AND EVE . Even so each day of life is to be sanctified by prayer at its opening and its close—prayer which is based upon the sacrifice of Christ.

IV. THAT THE LAMB , ALBEIT THE SUBSTANCE OF THE SACRIFICE , WAS NEVER PRESENTED WITHOUT ITS ACCOMPANYING MEAT AND DRINK OFFERINGS ; and these considerable in quantity and value. Even so, while we plead the sacrifice of Christ, which alone is meritorious, we must offer with it the tribute of good works, such as are the result and outcome (like the flour and oil and wine) of human toil and industry making the most of Divine gifts; "for with such sacrifices," when sanctified and sustained by the one offering, "God is well pleased" ( Hebrews 13:16 ). See above on Numbers 15:1-41 . And note that the flour, the oil, and the wine, which made up the meat and drink offerings, may be typical of Christian labour, Christian suffering (cf. Gethsemane, the oil-press), and Christian gladness respectively (see on Psalms 4:7 ; Psalms 104:15 ; Zechariah 9:17 ).

V. THAT THE SPECIAL OFFERING FOR THE SABBATH MORN WAS ALSO THE SACRIFICE OF A LAMB , ONLY DOUBLED . Even so there is nothing in the devotions of the Lord's day different from those of any other day, save that we are to seek God through Christ with redoubled ardour.

VI. THAT THE NEW MOON FEAST CALLED FOR A LARGER NUMBER OF BURNT OFFERINGS THAN THE ORDINARY DAY OR THE SABBATH . Even so days of natural joy and festivity need to be more carefully and earnestly dedicated to God by supplication and by self-surrender than days of secular work or of religious rest.

VII. THAT A SIN OFFERING WAS ADDED TO THIS FEAST , AS WELL AS TO THE GREAT FEASTS OF THE SUMMER SEASON . Even so there is almost always sin in times of excitement—not only of secular excitement, but of religious excitement too. There is always occasion in them to seek forgiveness for sins of ignorance and negligence.

VIII. THAT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES IN THE AUTUMN WAS ELEVATED BY A SPECIALLY ELABORATE RITUAL ABOVE ALL OTHER FEASTS ; possibly because it foreshadowed the incarnation (see on John 1:14 ), but probably because it marked the consummation of the year, and so was typical of the gathering together in one of all things in Christ, and of the fullness of joy in heaven ( Acts 3:21 ; Ephesians 1:10 ; 2 Thessalonians 2:1 ; Revelation 14:15 , compared with Revelation 15:3 ). Even so, whatever glories and gifts the gospel has for the present, its chiefest blessings are reserved for the end of all things.

IX. THAT THE CEREMONIAL OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES WAS ORDERED ON A SLOWLY DECREASING SCALE THROUGHOUT . Even so the law itself, like all things transitory and preparatory, was in its nature evanescent and doomed to dwindle. So again are all things ordered ,in the predestination of God, that the sabbatic number ("on the seventh day seven") may be finally fulfilled in the rest of heaven.

X. THAT IN ALL THESE SACRIFICES GOD SPAKE OF " MY OFFERING " AND " MY BREAD FOR MY SACRIFICES ." Even so all cur devotions and our worship are not ours, but God's. They are his because due to him; his because of his own do we give unto him; ours only because we are privileged to render them unto him. Here is the rebuke of all pride and self-esteem in what we offer unto God. "Nemo suum offert Dec, sod quod offert, Domini est cui reddit quae sua sunt" (Origen). On the typical significance of the three feasts see on Exodus 12:1-51 , and above, Exodus 9:1-35 ; Exodus 23:1-33 ; Leviticus 23:1-44 ; Deuteronomy 16:1-22 .