Exodus by Elder Vernon Johnson

Exodus Chapter 29 Verses 10-14

:10 “And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. 11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. 13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.”

“And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.” In Lev. 16:21, 22 we are taught the significance of the laying on the hands upon the head of the animal as follow: “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” Thus, the laying on of the hands of the priests upon the hand of the sacrifice is to symbolically show the transfer of sins from the sinner to the sacrifice. Of course, this is illustrative of the transfer of the sins of God’s elect children from the elect children unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who as the lamb of God died for the sins of his elect children.

“And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” The bullock in the scriptures is a beast of burden and this slaying of the bullock symbolically represents that Christ bore the burden of the sins of his elect family and delivered them by his death.

“And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.” We are taught in the scriptures that the life is in the blood. This symbolically shows us that it took the blood of Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins.

“And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.” The fat of the animal was considered the richness of the animal as the fat was what gave the meat its flavor and the fat was also used in cooking by the people and in the making of other useful products such as soap, etc. Christ showed his great richness towards us when he suffered for us upon the cross to redeem us from our sins.

“But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.” Heb. 13:11 “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. 12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” Thus, Heb. 13:11-13 teaches us that the sin offering is a type of the perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ. The sin offering is illustrative as the word, sin, infers Christ’s offering of himself for the sins of his people.

Verses 15-18

:15 “Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. 16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. 17 And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. 18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”

Fire is often used as a symbol of God’s righteous wrathful judgment against sin. The burnt offering consumed the animal that was sacrificed.

“Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.” As with the sin offering, this was symbolic of the transfer of sins of the sinner unto the animal that was sacrificed, which represented in type the transfer of the sins of God’s elect family unto the one who was made to be sin for us, Jesus Christ.

“And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.” This is similar to the sin offering as the shedding of blood was necessary for the remission of sins: Heb. 9:22 “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Also, the ram is used in the scripture as a type of God’s people and thus, Christ was representing the people of God when he died for them on the cross.

“And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head.” This shows us that the ram had to be clean as a burnt offering. An unclean ram would not have been acceptable as a burnt offering. Again, the figure points us to Jesus Christ who was altogether without sin before God and it took one who was totally clean without sin to suffer God’s wrathful judgment for the sins of his people.

“And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.” The burnt offering was to illustrate Christ suffering on behalf of his people. The end result of that suffering was a sweet savour unto God. Likewise, we read of Christ in Heb. 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The end result of Christ’s suffering on the cross was the joy that he had redeemed his people from their sins.

Verses 19-22

:19 “And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. 20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. 21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. 22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration:”

The ram in the above passage is said to be the ram of consecration. The sacrifice of this ram was designed to symbolically consecrate or set apart Aaron and his sons for the work that they were to perform in their service to God and his people.

“And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.” Once again, this represents the transfer of the sins of God’s people unto the person of Jesus Christ who suffered and died for our sins at the cross of Calvary.

“Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.” Just as the sins of the Lord’s people was transfer to the Lord Jesus Christ so the blood of Christ is applied to the Lord’s people to cleans and consecrate them. This principle is taught us in 2 Cor. 5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

“And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.” Here we have illustrated both a cleansing and an anointing to consecrate Aaron and his sons. Typically this principle is taught us in Titus 3:4 “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” Therefore in the new birth our soul is cleansed by the blood of Christ and we are consecrated or set apart with the ability to worship and serve God and his people.