Hand on the Offering

Hand on the Offering

Lev. 1:4 

          This verse speaks of a Hebrew voluntarily bringing a bull without blemish to the tabernacle and offering him as a burnt offering.  Needless to say this bull represented our Lord Jesus Christ.  God directed Moses that in such case the worshipper should put his hand on the head of that bull.  This act was an acceptance of the fact of his need.  As a sinner like all of us he needed to be purged of his sin.  This act of laying on of the hand on the head of the bull was an acknowledging that he had no rightful entrance into God's presence.  This act was an identifying with the bull as a substitute for himself.  When he deserved to die for his own sin, his hand on the beast identified him as dying in his stead.  The laying on of the hand symbolically transferred his sin to the sacrificial bull.  This illustrates Isa. 53:6, which tells us that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 

          Jesus did for us what the bull could not do.  He took away our sin.  Animal sacrifice that could not take away sin covered sin until Christ should come and take it away.  This is a type of justification by imputation.  The death of Christ did not acquit the wicked.  Nahum tells us that God will not at all acquit the wicked.  Justification instead pardons the wicked sinner and accounts or imputes to him the complete righteousness of Jesus Christ. 

          There are some lessons we should learn in this.  Like the bull, the Hebrew would offer, must be without blemish, so Jesus was totally without sin.  Before God the Lord Jesus Christ was a complete satisfaction to Divine Justice.  I have heard people say that we were not saved by satisfying the law, but we were saved by mercy.  That is not really true.  It is only as Divine justice is satisfied in the death of Christ that He then can have mercy on us.  In the case of the Hebrew worshipper in verse 5, he was not through until the priest sprinkled the blood around about the altar.  In the Antitype Jesus not only died in our stead, but He performed the priestly duty for us as well.  We read in Hebrews that according to the will of the Father we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.  Hallelujah!