Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1772
“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. [ “Putting the Hand Upon the Head of the Sacrifice,” No. 1771. And Sermon #1780, “The Sprinkling of the Blood of the Sacrifice” continues the series.] 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?
“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!
I. 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.