In the last message we saw that part of the trespass offering could become a burnt offering and the other part of the trespass offering could become a sin offering. You have to realize that these few chapters on the offerings are not written based only upon God’s requirement. Rather they are written also based upon our experiences. How can we know this? It is because one clause is repeated several times: “If he be not able.” Firstly God requires you to offer a bullock, but you are not able. Then God requires you to offer a ram. Still you are unable. Then God requires you to offer a kid of the goats, something smaller. But still you are not able. Nor are you able to offer a lamb. Perhaps you are not able even to offer anything from the herds or from the flock. Then God would ask you to offer just two little birds, either turtledoves or pigeons. But you cannot offer even these two things. Because you are unable to offer the least in the animal kingdom, God would allow you to offer just a tenth of an ephah of fine flour from the vegetable kingdom. So you can see that this portion is written according to the Lord’s requirements and also based upon our experiences.
According to the Lord’s requirements for any kind of propitiation or any kind of forgiveness, whether it is the unique sin in our nature or many sins in our conduct, there is the need of the blood to redeem you. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. This is the Lord’s requirement. But so many of us could not afford to offer a bullock or a ram or a lamb or even two little birds for the shedding of the blood. All we are able to offer is just a little flour of the vegetable kingdom.
These few chapters also show us that we as God’s redeemed people all have different sizes of our appreciation of the Lord Jesus. With the Lord Jesus Himself there is no difference in size. The book of Colossians shows us that the Lord Jesus is not only all-inclusive but also all-extensive. He is infinite; He is unlimited; He is eternal. Actually He does not have a size, because He is the very dimension of the entire universe. What is the length, the width, the height, the depth of the universe? All four of these dimensions are just Christ Himself. Christ is too high! Too deep! Too long! Too wide! He is immeasurable. This means He has no size. You can measure my size, but you cannot measure Christ’s size.
Our appreciation of the Lord and our apprehension of the Lord differs in size. How much you can apprehend of the Lord depends upon how much you can appreciate. Our appreciation differs. To one Christ may be a big bullock. To another Christ may be a ram. To another Christ may be a goat. To another Christ may be just a lamb. To many of us Christ is just two little pigeons or two little turtledoves. To the majority of the Christians Christ is just one tenth of an ephah of fine flour.
There is not only the matter of size and quantity. There is also the matter of quality. In the matter of the shedding of blood, none of the offerings has as much blood as a big ox. Surely two small pigeons do not have as much blood as a big ox. Neither does a lamb have as much blood as a big ox. And of course the fine flour has no blood at all. Whether Christ to you is a bull or a lamb or a turtledove or some amount of fine flour all depends upon your appreciation.
The majority of Christians mainly consider one aspect of Christ, that is, His humanity which is so fine and so good. When I was young I always appreciated Christ in the four Gospels. He was so fine, so gentle, so mild, so kind, so patient, so even.
In the four Gospels you could see such a man. Surely every reader of the four Gospels appreciates the man Jesus. No other biography or autobiography can present to you a character or figure such as the Lord Jesus. He is too fine and too good and too gentle and too kind and too merciful and too gracious! I believe all of us have always appreciated the Lord in this way.