Consecration by Blood
By Horatius Bonar, 1867
"And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his
sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he slew it; and Moses
took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and
upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot."
Leviticus 8:22-23
By "the ram of consecration," is meant the ram by which
Aaron and his sons were consecrated, or set apart for the service of God.
The victim was selected by Moses, who was thus representing God. It was not
Aaron and his sons who chose the sacrifice; it was God who made the choice
for them, and presented the ram to them, that they might put their hands on
it, and in so doing, acknowledge it as God's appointed sacrifice, and accept
it as their substitute.
Thus, the transaction of sacrifice is here, as elsewhere,
shown to be twofold. Moses, as acting for God, exhibits one part, and
Aaron, as acting for the people, exhibits the other. Moses chooses; Aaron,
in Israel's name, accepts the choice. Moses presents the ram; Aaron, in
Israel's name, puts his hand on it, in token of laying sin upon it. Thus, in
one sense, God lays our sins upon the sacrifice; but, in another, it is
we who lay our sins upon it, when we bring them to it and confess them
over its head. It is this latter part of the great transaction that is so
fully brought out in the Book of Leviticus, and the other books relating to
sacrifice. For though, in one aspect, Aaron represents Christ, in another,
he represents, not Christ—but Israel, or the Church. This is especially the
case when his sons are associated with him, and when he places his hands on
the head of the sacrifice, and confesses sin upon it. He acts and speaks in
the name of the people, confessing their sin, and laying it on the Lamb of
God. He thus represents, not the Father—but the sinner accepting the
sacrifice provided by the Father. He represents, not Christ—but the sinner
bringing his sin to Christ, and taking him as his substitute and surety. The
Father's act in laying sin on Christ, and our act in laying our individual
sins on Christ—are two things not to be confounded, and neither of them to
be overlooked.
This personal dealing with the sacrifice, this putting
the hand on the head of the ram of consecration, as it was about to be
slain, is the first part of the great transaction; and it is that part which
represents the forgiveness of the individual thus personated by Aaron
and his sons. Thus, the beginning of the consecration is forgiveness—
forgiveness through death—the death of one selected by God to bear his sins.
There can be no consecration without forgiveness; and, upon forgiveness,
consecration follows forthwith, being, in fact, a continuation of the
sacrificial process through which the forgiveness is obtained.
This sacrificial process is very fully given us here.
There is, first, the selection of the victim.
There is, secondly, the transfer of the sinner's
sin to this selected victim.
There is, thirdly, the death of the victim.
There is, fourthly, the transfer of its death to
the sinner, by putting the blood upon him.
There is, fifthly, the sinner's new life after
this has been gone through.
There is, lastly, his entire consecration to God
in consequence of his whole man having thus died and risen.
1. The selection of the victim.
As, in all cases, the lamb or goat, on these great
public occasions, was to be chosen by Moses. In like manner, was our great
Sacrifice chosen by God. "Behold my servant whom I have chosen," is God's
message to us concerning him; and again, he says, "I have exalted one chosen
out of the people;" and, in the New Testament, he is called "the Christ, the
chosen of God" (Luke 23:35). The great sacrifice, the atoning sacrifice for
our sins, the lamb for the burnt-offering, is entirely of God's selection.
And in this of itself, we have the blessed assurance of its suitableness and
perfection.
2. There is the transfer of the sinner's sin to this
selected victim. Though, in one sense, this
is done by God, through that same eternal purpose by which the victim was
selected; yet, in another sense, and as a thing brought about, or becoming a
fact, in time, it is the sinner that does this, when he accepts the
sacrifice, and, putting his hand upon it, confesses his sin over it. Then
the actual transfer takes place; for, up until that moment, the sin
had been lying on the sinner. It is upon our acceptance of God's
sin-offering that the guilt, which had made us unclean in his sight,
passes over to the appointed Substitute, and leaves us clean. What he
asks of us is simply our sin, our guilt; no more. He is appointed to
receive and bear it. He beseeches us to transfer it to him, and to allow him
to bear it all. And why should there be unwillingness to allow of such a
transfer? Why should the relinquishment of condemnation be so slowly, so
reluctantly consented to?
3. There is the death of the victim.
According to the process described in our text, the transfer is made
while the victim is alive; and then, he having been loaded with our
transgressions, is led out to be slain. For as death was the due of our sin,
so must death be the due of him to whom our sin is transferred. On whomever
the guilt is found, on him must the penalty lie; and from him must that
penalty be exacted to the uttermost. The soul that sins, it must die.
Death, nothing less than death, must be inflicted wherever guilt
is found; for law must take its course, and righteousness must have its
satisfaction. The only thing that can remove guilt from us forever, is the
death of him to whom it is transferred. In no other place can guilt
be hidden, so as never to re-appear against us—but the grave. Death
pays the debt and exhausts the penalty; nothing short of death. Without that
shedding of blood, which is the means of death, and the evidence of its
having taken place, is no remission.
4. There is the transfer of this death to the sinner by
putting the blood upon him. The sinner's
death is first of all transferred to the Surety, who dies as the sinner's
substitute. Then the Surety's death is transferred back again to the sinner,
and placed to his account as if it had been his own. In confession,
we transfer our death to the Surety. In believing, we transfer his
death to ourselves, so that, in the sight of God, it comes to be reckoned
truly ours. This transference of the Surety's death to us, is that which is
set before us by the putting the blood upon us. For blood means
death—or life taken away; and the putting of blood upon us is the intimation
the death has passed upon us—and that death, none other than the
death of the Surety. The putting the blood upon us is the identifying of us
with him—his death with ours—so that thus we die with Christ—and we are
buried with Christ; and all in order, as we shall see, that we may rise
again with Christ. It is in this way that we become partakers of the baptism
with which he was baptized; not by being plunged in blood; not by our being
brought to the blood—but by the blood being brought to, or applied to us; by
having blood put upon us, as in the case of Aaron and his sons—to
signify that thus we were dead—dead with him who died for us—dead in virtue
of the transference of his death to us, by the sprinkling of the blood upon
our persons.
It was not Aaron who sprinkled the blood upon himself or
his sons. That would have meant that he was putting himself to death with
his own hand, as a self-murderer. He neither sprinkled the blood upon
himself, nor did he plunge himself in the blood; that would have been the
symbol of suicide, not of death by the hand of the law. It was Moses,
representing God, who sprinkled the blood. Aaron but presented himself in
the appointed place, put himself in the appointed position, and forthwith
the symbol of death was administered to him. God, by the hand of Moses,
sprinkled the blood upon him—as an intimation that the death of the
sacrifice had been transferred to him. It was by this baptism of blood,
beside the altar where the sacrifice had died, that symbolized to Israel
that which was not fully revealed until after years—the sinner's death with
Christ; and told him that the time was coming when he should be in reality
baptized into his death, made partaker of his death, that so he might also
be partaker of his burial and his resurrection.
It is God who sprinkles the blood of Christ upon the
sinner, and so transfers to him Messiah's surety-death upon the cross. And
what God asks of every sinner here is, that coming to the great altar of
sacrifice, even the cross of his Son, he would allow Him to transfer the
Surety's death, with all its everlasting benefits of pardon, and salvation,
and life, to him. O sinner, it is this that your God this day asks of you!
Not to do anything—but to let him do the whole. Not to put yourself to
death, either in symbol or in reality—but to allow him to reckon to you the
sin-bearing death of his almighty Son. Will you not consent to this, and, in
consenting, receive from his hand the baptism of blood, by which the great
death is made over to you, forgiveness sealed, and cleansing at once
received?
Remember that that which God calls cleansing can only be
accomplished by death. It is guilt that has made you unclean, and
that uncleanness can only be removed by that which removes the guilt from
between you and God. That guilt cannot be cancelled save by the death of the
sacrifice applied to you. The application of that death by the sprinkling of
the blood upon you is that which at once takes away your guilt, and makes
you wholly clean. Put yourself in the position which God asks you to do;
that is, believe the Father's testimony to the death of his Son. The
moment that you believe, the blood is sprinkled, the death is transferred,
you are counted as one who have died, and so paid the penalty—and you are
forgiven, accepted, clean!
5. There is the sinner's new life thus received through
death. Aaron and his sons are marked with
the symbol of death, and so accounted as dead men; yet they go away alive.
The stains of the blood are washed off at the laver, though the legal and
ceremonial effects of it remain indelible. They are thus represented as men
who have passed through death to a life beyond death—who are alive from the
dead. In other words, they are risen men; and as such, they go forth to the
service of God.
Just so is it now with the saints—God's kings and
priests. They have been baptized with Christ's baptism, and have thus died
with him. But having died with him, they also rise; and, as risen men, they
go forth to serve Him who has done all for them. "I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I—but Christ lives in me; and the life
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of him who loved me." Made
partakers of Christ's resurrection and Christ's life, they go forth to do
his will, in the strength of his risen life. It is as resurrection-men that
they serve him; as men, partakers even here of the power of resurrection
life, and who are drawing from that resurrection fountain daily treasures of
life, with which to labor for him who died for them and who rose again. If
you then are risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, and make
use of your risen life for duty, for temptation, for battle, for trial, for
suffering. It will be sufficient for every time of need.
6. There is the entire consecration of the whole man to
God, in consequence of his having thus died and risen.
The solemn act of consecration described in our text
brings out this very fully. The victim is called the "ram of consecration;"
and it is the blood of this ram sprinkled upon Aaron and his sons, which,
while it symbolizes their death and resurrection, represents their
consecration to God, and to his service, by that same transaction. That
which proclaimed them dead, in consequence of the applied death of the
sacrifice, sets them apart for holy purposes in God's house.
Thus it is that the death and resurrection of our true
ram of consecration, our better sacrifice, operate upon us. They "sanctify"
us, as the apostle's expression is, in the Epistle to the Hebrews—"Jesus
also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered
outside the gate." Thus we are "sanctified," or set apart, or consecrated,
by the application of the blood; and hence the name of "saints," or
"consecrated ones." God has thus taken special pains to show us that it is
by the application of Christ's death and resurrection to us that this
consecration takes place. It is thus, through the blood of sprinkling, that
we are separated unto God, as his true priests—fitted to do his work here on
earth, and hereafter more fully, more gloriously, in his kingdom. It is
through death and resurrection that we pass to consecration for priestly
service, in the temple and kingdom above.
But the ceremony described in our text is a peculiar one.
The body of Aaron was not plunged in blood; for the quantity of blood
is of no consequence; the blood was merely applied to three places of his
body; and by this, the whole man was consecrated. The tip of the right
ear was the first place, denoting that his hearing was now set apart for
God, and that he was to be ever in the attitude of one listening to God
alone—hearing no words but his, heeding no instructions but his. The
thumb of the right hand was the next place sprinkled, indicating the
consecration of all bodily skill, and energy, and power, to the service of
Jehovah, and telling him that that right hand and its skill were to be used
henceforth for no lower employment than the work of the God of heaven. The
great toe of the right foot was the third place touched with blood,
signifying that his feet were to be ever ready for priestly service, that
his limbs were to be employed for God, and their strength or swiftness
solely dedicated to bearing his burdens or running his errands. The whole
man, in all his faculties and powers of soul and body, was to be thus set
apart for God.
It is this complete separation unto God that is effected
by our participation in the death and resurrection of the Lord. In being
made partakers of his baptism, nailed to his cross, buried in his grave,
raised with his resurrection—we are totally consecrated to the service of
him who raised up Christ from the dead, and who has thus raised us up with
him, and made us sit with him in heavenly places. Our ears, our hands,
our feet, are thus wholly his; not our own, not the world's, not Satan's.
As those who have died with him and risen, we hear him always, and
listen for his words and commands, ready to put forth hands and feet, every
power and faculty of soul and body, in the service of him with whom we died,
with whom we are risen, and to whom we are thus solemnly set apart.
If the baptism of Christ, applied to us in believing, has
any meaning at all, it sets before us these things respecting
ourselves—first, we are wholly sinners, wholly guilty, subject to wrath and
death; secondly, we are wholly forgiven, in consequence of our Surety's
sin-bearing baptism of death for us; for in His death we are dead. Next, we
are wholly risen from death, in virtue of our Surety's resurrection; and
lastly, we are wholly consecrated unto God, through means of this death and
resurrection. The whole man, from head to feet, becomes a sacred thing,
dedicated to the service of the living God.
Our ears are thus set apart to God. And if so, how
wide open should they be to hear his voice; how thoroughly closed against
all sinful sounds. They are the ears of risen men, and should have no
sympathy with unholy words, or vain conversation, or earthly frivolities.
Our hands are thus consecrated to God; let us use them for him alone,
anxious not to profane the vessel thus set apart for the master's use. Our
feet are set apart for him; let us run the errands of no other master, nor
use our limbs in the service of the flesh, or the world, or the world's
king. As God's consecrated priests, his true Aarons, his true Levites, his
true Israel, let us reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin—but alive unto
righteousness through our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether we eat or drink, or
whatever we do, let us do all to the glory of God.
Follow the Master fully. Give him no divided heart. Serve
him wholly. Give him no half-and half service. Think of yourselves as alive
from the dead, as partakers of Christ's baptism, and death, and
resurrection, and act accordingly.
"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin,
as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those
who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body
to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master,
because you are not under law, but under grace." Romans 6:12-14.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is
your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will
be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and
perfect will." Romans 12:1-2.
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