The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IVMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IV
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
All, therefore, having been found pure, and fit for God's altar, it
becomes the happy place of _Aaron's sons_ to send up before God the
sweet savor of this most acceptable offering, as we read: "And the
_sons_ _of Aaron_ the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay
the wood in order upon the fire. And _the priests_, Aaron's _sons_,
shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood that
is on the fire which is upon the altar. But _his inwards and his legs_
shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn _all_ on the altar,
to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor
unto the Lord" (vers. 7-9). The fat of the offering was God's peculiar
part; no one could with impunity touch that; yea, the punishment for
so doing was the same as for eating blood; i.e., it was as wrong and
as daringly presumptuous for a man to intrude upon God's portion of
the offering as it was for him to assume life in his own right, which
latter was an open denial of the state of death and ruin in which he
was by reason of sin. God, then, I say, claimed the fat. He alone
could feed upon the inward excellency and peerless perfections of
Jesus, just as in the case of the unmeasured ointment in Exodus xxx.,
where we see, as well as in the above cited passage, that the infinite
mind of God could alone appreciate the infinite value of Christ. But
we find _the head_ burnt in connection with the fat, showing us, I
suppose, that both the hidden energies of the Lord Jesus and the seat
of His understanding were equally suited to be a sweet savor unto God.
Lastly, the inwards and legs were washed and burned upon the altar,
showing us that the secret thoughts, purposes and counsels of the Lord
Jesus, as well as the outward development of these in His _walk_, were
perfectly pure and fit for the altar: and, in connection with this
last point, one cannot help dwelling with comfort upon the marvelous
contrast between the Lord Jesus and His poor people. How often may our
_outward walk_, typified by "the legs," appear quite right in the eye
of man, when, at the same time, perhaps, in the eye of God, our
"_inwards_" may be full of gross impurity. But it is well for us that
such was not the case with our great Head: in Him _all was alike_, for
_all was pure_. May our hearts, dear Christian reader, enter more and
more fully, under the teaching of the Spirit, into the intrinsic
excellency of the Lord Jesus; and may we be enabled daily, standing at
the altar before God, to send up in His presence the savor of all
this!
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