We have seen that the priests needed to be clothed with the priestly garments outwardly and to be filled inwardly with nourishing food. Both the priestly garments and the priestly food signify different aspects of Christ.
Exodus 29:1 and 10 through 14 speak of the bull offered as the priests’ sin offering. The sin offering here is Christ making the way for our emptiness to be filled. This emptiness is a matter of inward hunger. If we are hungry, we are empty inwardly. The priestly garments typify Christ covering our nakedness. When we have Christ as our priestly garments, we are no longer naked. Instead, outwardly we have an expression of glory and beauty. This means that outwardly our nakedness has been covered, and now we have Christ to cover our nakedness. But we still need Christ to fill us inwardly. In order for our inward emptiness to be filled, Christ must be our sin offering.
The sin offering was not food for the priests. This offering was burned completely. Exodus 29:13 and 14 say, “And you shall take all the fat that covers the inwards, and the appendage on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat which is upon them, and burn them on the altar. And the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.” These verses speak of two different kinds of burning. The first burning, described in verse 13, is the burning on the altar of the fat, the appendage on the liver, and the kidneys. This burning produced a sweet savor that ascended to God for His satisfaction. It was like the burning of incense, a burning that was not for judgment or purification, but for God’s enjoyment. The Hebrew word rendered “burn” in verse 13 is a term used for burning incense (see verses 18 and 25). When the priests burned the incense as a sweet savor, that was for God’s satisfaction. God enjoyed the aroma of the incense. Regarding the sin offering, the inward fat and certain inward parts were burned for God’s enjoyment.
This burning satisfied God’s requirements, which are mainly of three categories: the requirements of His righteousness, holiness, and glory. God is righteous, God is holy, and God is full of glory. Thus, His righteousness, holiness, and glory all make demands of us. If we are short of God’s glory and do not match His righteousness and holiness, we fail to fulfill His requirements and therefore come under His condemnation.
It is the fat of the sin offering that satisfies God’s requirements. The fat of cattle comes out of the richness of the cattle. This typifies the sweetness and the richness of Christ’s perfection and satisfies the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory. The burning of the fat and the inward parts produces a sweet savor for God’s satisfaction; He is fully satisfied with it. Therefore, the first kind of burning related to the sin offering was for God’s satisfaction.
The second kind of burning, described in verse 14, was the burning of the flesh, the skin, and the dung outside the camp. These parts of the sin offering were burned with the fire of judgment. Hence, the second burning was a burning of judgment. It did not take place on the altar, but took place outside the camp, signifying abandonment and judgment. On the one hand, Christ was accepted as a sweet savor to God to satisfy all of God’s requirements; on the other hand, Christ was abandoned, condemned, judged, and burned outside the camp, outside God’s dwelling place and away from God’s people.