FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:1

In these messages we shall discuss peace as prophesied and developed in the Word of God. We shall first present Him who is our peace and the Prince of Peace. Then we shall see that this Prince of Peace can give peace to everyone who trusts in His blood. We shall see that there can be peace only where He is, and where He is not there can be no peace; and finally we shall look to the grand, consummated, glorious peace on earth when He shall come to rule and reign in righteousness.

The Whole Burnt Offering – Continued

From last lesson: Do not try to walk until you have learned to worship, and do not try to work until your walk is clean. That is God’s order. God is more interested in our worship than in our service. He knows that true worship will result in service, but service without worship is vain and void. Christians, in their zeal they do not realize that we can do more by prayer and worship in one hour than in a year of effort in the energy of the flesh.

This divine order is further illustrated in the five offerings. The burnt offering comes first. In it an animal was slain by the priest and placed upon the altar in the court of the Tabernacle. The characteristic of this offering was that it was called the whole burnt offering. While part of the other offerings was given to the priest and the offerer (they that served at the altar were “partakers of the altar”), not so with this first one. Not a shred of it was given to the priest or anyone else. It was to be burnt whole upon the altar. Every part of it was to be consumed. It represents the Cross of Calvary, the place where our redemption roots and grounds itself. The Cross is the foundation of all our redemption. That is why the Altar of Burnt Offering stood at the very entrance to the Tabernacle of the congregation. As the Israelite entered the door he met first the Altar of Burnt Offering. Until he stopped there, he could never go beyond. There was no approach to the laver or the table of shewbread or the golden candlestick, much less the Holy of Holies, until the priest had first stopped at the altar. Here the whole animal was slain and consumed. Here the blood was shed which formed the basis of everything which followed. Here upon the death of the innocent substitute rested every blessing of salvation. No wonder, then, that Satan should try to eliminate the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Cross! No wonder that infidelity levels all its attacks upon the blood and the need of an innocent substitute for the sin of man! Once the blood and the Cross are removed, everything else becomes powerless and vain. The Cross stands first in the plan of salvation.

I must needs go home by the way of the Cross,
There’s no other way but this;
I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of light
If the way of the Cross I miss.

The altar blocked the way into the Tabernacle and to go through the door meant to go by the Cross. How significant the words of the Lord Jesus when He said, “I am the door.” – John 10:7. That door opened to the Cross. He said, “He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door . . . the same is a thief and a robber.” – John 10:1. To enter the Tabernacle any other way but by the door is to eliminate the altar and the Cross. No! There is no salvation apart from the Cross and the blood.

This first offering was the whole burnt offering. Man added nothing to it, and man had no part in it whatsoever. What a picture of the Savior’s work! He must bear the sin of the world alone. No one could help Him. Even in the last dread hour God hid His face as the Lord Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; see also Psalm 22:1). In the work of salvation man has no part except to receive what Christ alone provided. See Him hanging there, forsaken by God and man, bearing the sin of a lost world in His own body on the tree, experiencing alone the infinite wrath of God upon sin. Well did Isaiah the prophet see this when he said, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me.” – Isaiah 63:3, and Peter, when he said, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” – 1 Peter 2:24.

Alone my Saviour bled and died
On Calvary’s rough and cruel tree,
That I, forever justified,
At peace with God might ever be.

No toil of mine could ought avail,
No help of mine would He receive,
Complete the offering He gave,
And all I do is just believe.

Christ is the whole burnt offering, dying on the Altar of the Whole Burnt Offering, to provide a ransom for sinners.

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from M. R. De Haan, The Second Coming of Jesus.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.