SLAYING THE SACRIFICE – Charles Spurgeon
SLAYING THE SACRIFICE
“And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD.” Leviticus 1:5. You remember that last Lord’s Day we spoke of two things vitally essential to a true sacrifice and the first upon which we then enlarged was the laying on of the hands of the offerer upon the victim, by which he accepted it as his sacrifice, and made a typical transfer of his sin from himself to the victim. Now, the second essential thing, of which we are to speak this morning, is this—that the victim, thus bearing the guilt of the offerer, must be killed—its blood must be shed before the Lord. Nothing short of its death by violence would render it an atonement for the offerer—“he shall kill the bullock.” You will find this order continually repeated whenever a sacrifice is spoken of. As I said on the last occasion, I feel great satisfaction, in this time of my weakness, in being permitted to speak to you about essential things. It was always a stigma upon the character of Caligula that he gathered his warriors, fitted out his ships and, when the people of Rome looked for some great addition to the empire by the vast naval expedition, he simply anchored his vessels near the beach and bade his legions advance upon the shore and gather shells and pebbles—and carry them home as trophies of their undisputed conquest. He trifled where he should have struggled. He spent time and labor upon matters of no importance and neglected the weighty business of his kingdom. We shall not do so today—we have nothing to do with shells and stones! We have to do with matters worth more than gold or pearls—things essential to eternal life and vital to the salvation of the souls of men! Neither have I, this morning, a controversial topic upon which to debate before you. However important controversy may sometimes be, we are glad to be away from its strife and to consider a doctrine around which true Believers gather in hearty unity—a doctrine which must be taken for granted in the Christian Church! A doctrine which lies at the very root of the Truth of God and in the very heart of true religion! Without controversy, great is this mystery of godliness, that Christ, manifest in the flesh, must die for sin, or otherwise sin cannot be put away. You remember what the Greek said when he heard an old philosopher with hoary head and gray beard disputing upon how to live. “Goodness!” he said, “if at his age he is disputing upon that subject, when will he be able to practice his conclusions should he arrive at one?” Truly, I may say to you to whom I have so long ministered—if we are forever to be learning and never coming to a knowledge of the Truth of God, what will become of us? If we are to have nothing but questionable matters laid before us, when shall the time come for the actual possession and enjoyment of the blessings of the Gospel? At this hour my theme is such that I speak to you without diffidence or hesitation. In this case, “we believe and are sure.” Concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Sacrifice for sin, it was essential that He should die, for only through the blood which He shed on Calvary for human guilt can there be preached among men the remission of sins— “What can wash away my stain? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! This is all my hope and peace— Nothing but the blood of Jesus! This is all my righteousness— Nothing but the blood of Jesus!” May the Holy Spirit lay home the blood of Atonement to our consciences at this time to the glory of God and our own peace!
Concerning the killing and slaying of the offering, our first point is that it was ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. The pouring out of the blood of the victim was of the very essence of the type. The death of Christ by blood-shedding was absolutely necessary to make Him an acceptable Sacrifice for sin. “It behooved Christ to suffer.” He could only enter into the Presence of God with His own blood. He could not be the grain of wheat which brings forth much fruit unless He should die. Remember that although there were important matters about the victim, yet nothing would have mattered if it had not been slain. The Israelite brought an unblemished bullock, but the fact of its being unblemished did not make it an atonement for sin. No doubt many faultless bullocks and lambs still fed in the plains of Sharon. If the most perfect animal had gone away from the altar, alive, it would have effected nothing whatever by way of atonement. It must be unblemished in order to be an offering at all, but still, its perfections did not make it a sacrifice until it was killed. No matter what could be said of that bullock—it may have been the most laborious animal throughout all Israel; it may have dragged the plow to and fro, or even drawn the wagon loaded with the harvest—but that was nothing to make it a sacrifice for sin. It must die and its blood must be sprinkled upon the altar, or else the offerer has brought no acceptable oblation. All its life and its labor would not satisfy. Nor would it be enough to bring the bullock there and dedicate it to God. Some animals which had been dedicated to the Divine service were used in the drawing of the wagons which carried the sacred furniture through the wilderness, but they were not sacrifices, for all that, neither did they avail for the bearing away of sin. It was indispensably necessary that the bullock should be without blemish—it was necessary that it should be voluntarily dedicated to God—but if it had not been killed, there would have been no presentation of an offering according to the Divine Law, nor any easing of the conscience of the Israelite. And even so, Jesus must die—His perfect Nature, His arduous labor, His blameless life, His perfect consecration could avail us nothing without the shedding of His blood for many, for the remission of sin. So far from His death being a mere adjunct and conclusion of His life, it is the most important matter connected with Him! It stands in the foreground. It is the head and front of His redeeming work! We justly value Him for His example and for His living intercession—but in the business of Atonement, it is beyond all things necessary that we view Him as the Lamb slain! Now notice that this was expressly declared by God in the Jewish Law book in express words. Kindly turn in this Book of Leviticus to the 17th chapter, and there read in the 11th verse, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.” It is not the burning of the victim, it is not the flaying of it, nor the washing of it—it is the shedding of its blood—that is to say, the taking of its life, which makes it an atonement for sin. I need not quote another Old Testament text, because this is so completely to the point and so fully covers the whole of the ground. The atonement is not the animal itself, but the blood of the animal, which blood represents its life. As to the entire Scriptures, they teem with statements of this Truth. I will only call to your recollection a few prominent passages, to collect them all would be impossible. When a child gathers flowers in the spring meadows when they are all golden with the kingcups, he fills his hands once, but he is almost persuaded to throw away what he has gathered that he may pluck yet more from the inexhaustible store around him! So do I feel that what I now bring before you might fitly be exchanged for another selection, yes, for many such, if time did not fail us. In the Old Testament, one of the most instructive types of redemption ever given is that of the Passover lamb. When God was about to smite Egypt He promised to spare His people—and in order to their safety He bade each family take a lamb, kill it and sprinkle the blood upon the lintel and the two side posts of their door. Then they were to stay within the house till morning and the destroying angel would not touch so much as one of them. What is expressly said by God Himself about this passing-over? Hear the words and wonderingly drink in their teaching! “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” There was never a fuller type of the redemption of Christ, I hardly think one so full, as that of the passing-over of Israel through the blood of the paschal lamb! But the essence of that passing-over is displayed to us in this sentence—“When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” God’s eyes resting upon the evidence of a life having been taken instead of the sinner’s life, is the reason why He passes over the sinner so that he does not die! When Isaiah, the great evangelical Prophet, spoke concerning Him upon whom the Lord laid our iniquity, he mentions His death as the main cause of His glorious reward! The last verse of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah is the culminating point of the whole, and it runs thus—“Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul unto death.” It is a wonderful expression—it shows that Christ must die, or else He could not achieve the victory for us, nor share the spoil. He must pour out His Soul. He must relinquish life, must pour it out lavishly, as though He possessed much of it! He must make it flow like water gushing in a river from the smitten rock. This He must do voluntarily and without stint—“pouring out His soul unto death”—till none remained and the bottom of the vessel was reached in death. It is clear that if He had not done this, He had done nothing, for the victory comes to Him because of this—not because He kept His Soul free from spot, not because He preached righteousness in the great congregation! Not because of anything else which Jesus did was He rewarded—the victorious deed was that, “He poured out His soul unto death.” This is the verdict, not only of the Holy Spirit in the Inspired Prophecy, but also of all that dwell with God above, for they sing with sweet accord before the Throne of God—“A new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
In the New Testament the passages abound which set forth the doctrine upon which we are now speaking. Look at that passage in Hebrews 9:12. There we are told expressly, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” There is no remission by the life of Christ, no remission by the teaching of Christ, no remission by our repentance, no remission by our faith—apart from the shedding of the blood of Christ, by whom, alone, sin is put away! This is negative; but in this case the negative is as strong as the most positive statement could be, for if without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, then we see how all-important that blood-shedding becomes! If you desire a positive statement, a sentence rises to our lips at once—“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Observe, not the life, not the Incarnation, not the Resurrection, not the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus, but His blood, His death, the giving up of His life is that which cleanses us from all sin! This is that purging with hyssop of which David speaks when he laments his sin and yet looks to be made whiter than snow by the free pardon of his God. This Truth is the subject of all true Gospel preaching!
Do you not know how Paul puts it—“The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.” “For,” he says, “the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ Crucified.” It is not Christ in any other position, but Christ as Crucified! Christ as made a curse for us upon the tree—that is the first and most prominent fact that we are called to preach among the sons of men! “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace.” Take away this substitutionary death of our Lord and you have taken all away! Without the death of Jesus there remains nothing for us but death! Forget the Crucified One and you have forgotten the only name by which we can be saved! Oh, that all of you would trust in Him. “Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” My Brothers and Sisters, this is the cause of the saints being in Heaven! In the first chapter of the Book of the Revelation, verse 5, we have the doxology, which begins, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” Thus say all the glorified! Further on we are told concerning the saints, “They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them.” This is the true reading of the 14th verse of the last chapter of the Book of Revelation—“Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.” Thus the passport to Glory is the precious blood of Jesus! Access to God, either on earth or in Heaven, is only by the blood of the Son of God!
Now and then we meet with some squeamish person who says, “I cannot bear the mention of the word, blood.” Such individuals will be horrified this morning—and it is intended that they should be! Sin is such a horrible thing that God has appointed blood to wash it away, that the very horror which the thought of it causes may give you some notion of the terrible nature of sin as God judges it! It is not without a dreadful blood-shedding that your dreadful guilt could by any possibility be cleansed! Sin-bearing and suffering for sin can never be pleasant things—neither should the type which sets it forth be pleasing to the observer. On great days of sacrifice, the courts of the tabernacle must have seemed like a shambles, and fitly so, that all might be struck with the deadly nature of sin. If it is so, that the blood of Jesus is mentioned in the songs of Heaven, let it not be forgotten in the hymns of earth— “To Him that loved the souls of men, And washed us in His blood, To royal honors raised our head, And made us priests to God. To Him let every tongue be praise, And every heart be love! All grateful honors paid on earth, And nobler songs above!” The Church militant is called upon continually to commemorate the blood-shedding. So often as we gather to the Communion Table we may ask the question, “The cup of blessing which we bless—is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” At the sacred table we show the death of our Lord until He comes. He says to us in express words, “This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” He bids you remember the blood as you drink of the fruit of the vine, saying, “This cup is the new testament in My blood.” Take the blood away and the communion of the Lord’s Supper has gone—there remains nothing but the Popish “mass” which is so blasphemously called an unbloody sacrifice for the quick and the dead! Forget not that every person gathering to that table of communion is, if he is what he professes to be, a consecrated man and how comes he to be so but for this reason—“You are not your own, for you are bought with a price”? We are redeemed unto God by the blood of Jesus. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” It is the blood that makes you what you are—and the blood that permits you to enjoy what God has prepared for you—so that in every way you see the absolute essentiality of the death of the great Sacrifice.
Here let us further consider that death is the result and penalty of sin—“The soul that sins, it shall die.” “Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” “The wages of sin is death.” It was right that the Substitute should bear a similar chastisement to that which would have fallen upon the sinner. Our Savior did not endure annihilation, for that is not the meaning of death—neither the first nor the second death should be so explained. Jesus was not annihilated, but He bore the pain, the loss, the ruin, the separation, the overwhelming which is intended by death. He was even forsaken of God, so that He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The penalty was death and, therefore, Jesus was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. He laid down His life for us and became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross. The Law of God demanded death and death has fallen upon our great Covenant Head. “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” There is great comfort to my soul in this, for if the Lord Jesus has paid the capital sentence, nothing remains unpaid! “He that is dead is freed from sin.” That is to say, if the law has killed the man, it can ask no more of him—he must be free from further charge of guilt. When the criminal has died, he has suffered the last sentence of the law, and is now beyond its jurisdiction. Our Lord Jesus has died—the Just for the unjust, and as that which He has borne is nothing less than death, it must cover all that is due to sin— “He bore on the Tree the sentence for me, And now both the Surety and sinner are free.” Since Jesus has died unto sin once, He dies no more. Death has no more dominion over Him. He has borne the last and most far-reaching penalty of the Law of God and there can be nothing left upon the score. His Atonement was a complete redemption. If you were in debt and were bound to pay so much every month, you would be very grateful to a friend who should step in and pay several installments for you. But if one of more liberal spirit discharged the whole amount, your gratitude would be deep and overflowing! Let us rejoice that the Lord Jesus Christ has evidently, by His substitutionary Sacrifice, put away not a part and a portion of our sin, but the whole of it! By bearing death, itself, He has removed all our legal obligations and has placed us beyond the reach of further demands. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us.” Now we may sing to Him who has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west.
This death of Christ was also absolutely necessary for the clearing of the troubled conscience. An awakened conscience will never be quieted with anything less than the blood of the Lamb—it rests at the sight of the great Sacrifice, but nowhere else. A conscience smarting under a sense of sin is an unequalled fountain of misery. Let Conscience once begin to scourge the sinner and he will find it to be the most terribly tormentor out of Hell! I do not know whether the Prophet Isaiah was really sawn asunder by Manasseh, but we know that some of the saints suffered that torture. Yet, surely, a saw that should gradually cut a man in half from head to foot is a faint picture of what your conscience can do when it begins to operate upon the mind with all its cutting force! What a Divine Atonement that must be which calms the storms of an accusing conscience and gives the soul a lasting peace! Some may trifle with their consciences, but where God is at work, men dare not attempt it. The most important thing in the world to a sensible man is the condition of his conscience—if that is restless, he is in an evil case. Thomas Fuller, in his quaint way, tells us that he, one day, asked a neighboring minister to preach for him, when he called upon a short visit. “No,” said the other, “I cannot, for I am not prepared.” “But,” said Fuller, “though you are unprepared, I am sure you will preach well enough to satisfy my people.” His friend answered, “That may be true, but I could not preach well enough to satisfy my own conscience.” There’s the rub with a true man. We cannot live well enough to satisfy our conscience and we cannot pray well enough to satisfy our conscience! A really tender conscience is as greedy as the horseleech which cries, “Give! Give!”—it asks for perfection and, as we cannot render it by reason of sin—Conscience will never cease its outcries till it is quieted with the precious blood of Jesus Christ! Once let us see Jesus offered up upon the Cross for sin and our heart feels that it is enough! When God is well pleased, we may well be satisfied and get on our way enjoying peace with God from that time and forever.
Thus much, then, upon our first point—for many reasons it was absolutely essential that our great Sacrifice should die.
II. EFFECTUALLY PREVALENT
III. INTENSELY INSTRUCTIVE
IV. ENERGETICALLY INSPIRING