Jesus the burn victim

“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Gen. 22:2).

 

“But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” (Heb. 10:12).

 

Jesus was our burn victim. Then, He was beaten.

 

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.” (Isa. 53:5-7).

 

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.

And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.

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 savour unto the LORD.

And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.” (Lev. 1:2-10).

“And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.” (Lev. 4:33).

 

Jesus, the Son of God, is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. But, that body, mind, and soul are wrapped in scar tissue.

 

He was the red heifer.

“And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: and the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.... And he that gathered the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourned among them, for a statute for ever.” (Num. 19:5,6,10).

 

He was the great red heifer, burnt to ashes under the complete wrath of God against our sin. He was “full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.” (Isa. 51:20). His whole body sweat great drops of blood. He was full of wrath from God. “From the sole of [His] foot even unto [His] head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” (Isa. 1:6). “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” (Ex. 12:8).

 

“This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: and ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face.” (Num. 19:2,3).

 

“...one shall slay her before His face.” Was the Father watching when His Son poured out His soul on the cross? Yes, He forced Himself to watch His Son’s incineration under His divine wrath against sin, because He needed to die in the process. The Father needed to take part in the death to the sin experiment, together with His onlooking universe. He saw Satan’s taking full advantage of the Prince’s moment of greatest weakness. The anointed One was slain before His Father’s face, and we also slew His Anointed. We slew and burnt Them both; but we see only the Son burnt because He was the fullness of the Godhead manifested. His burning soul was the fullness, the fullest representation, of the Godhead.

 

But, this was necessary for the sinner’s atonement. “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (Heb. 2:10,11).

 

The Father can’t look upon us and not see sin. But, He could devise a plan to bring us back to His sight.

 

“For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him.” (2Sam. 14:14). His plan is to look away from our sin filled bodies, minds, and souls, and look upon His Son. Only in His Son does He see a Spirit of His Spirit, and also He sees His Son in the flesh of our flesh. The Father sees His Son's body wrapped in scar tissue because He was willing to accept the fires of total hell upon Himself. The Father can only look at a child of Adam if it has suffered the wages of sin, which is eternal extinction. Thus, sin is put away from the empire. But, in His infinite wisdom, He made His only Begotten human and then unloaded His torrential hatred of sin upon His Beloved. “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” (2Cor. 5:21).

 

But, for any redemption to be completed, we must also look upon that burn victim. We must see a Man burned over his whole body, mind, and soul. Then our arrogant sin will be squelched, forever stifled and extirpated. We will hate sin with a perfect hatred and rid ourselves of it. “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cor. 5:21).

 

The cross has an offense no less than the animal sacrificial offering did. It was the determined act of killing, and that of an innocent animal who knew nothing of the sin it was dying for. Does God hate sin that much? Does He also hate sinners? No, He doesn't hate sinners; but He hates the way sin completely alters the mind and heart and character of His perfect creations. Yet, even if He loves His children, He will destroy His ruined creations as He has destroyed them in the past.

 

He destroyed His strong antediluvian race.

 

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.” (Gen. 6:5-7).

 

He cut off the descendents of the man after His own heart, David whose name means Beloved.

 

“And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.” (Eze. 21:25-27).

 

He razed the city of His resting place while staying with us, Jerusalem and the gleaming white temple.

 

“Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.” (Eze. 21:14,15).

 

“Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these [lying words].

For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;

If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

But go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel.

And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;

Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.” (Jer. 7:4-15).

 

Does God hate sin? He hates it so much that He will one day obliterate it. That future obliteration was signified by the red heifer and all of the Old Testament burnt offerings. But, Satan is so taken back by that disposition of God toward his wicked works, that he riles up every sinner who is proud in his lukewarm morality. The whole religion of Wicca is such a proud, lukewarm morality. And not surprisingly, it detests the Bible and all of its substitutionary sacrifices. Papal Christianity is another institution that hates the daily sacrifice (Dan. 8:11), that is, the death of Christ and His constant heavenly presentation of His death as He mediates before His Father. The Papacy sought for 1260 years to reinstate the old, cold, lifeless image of that sacrifice and to burn people instead, people who trusted in the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lamb of God because He was taking away their sins, its guilt and its power over them.

 

Yes, God will destroy sin and every sinner who determinedly refuses to seek divine help for the remedy of sin. But, before He would bring utter retribution against sinners, He would give them a respite from that eternal death. He would deviate all of His just wrath against sinners, landing it all upon His Son. He valued Adam’s children more than His own beloved Son, who had infinitely bound Himself to His Father’s heart. God had more love for the human race than He had for His only begotten Son.

 

After all that He did to the charred Son of His bosom, whose childlike soul is forever affected by the knowledge of infinite wrath that He had never known in His Father, everyone who disdains His offer of forgiveness and salvation from hell will be deserving of that fate. But, just before that fate comes, He will give the world one last opportunity to learn about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

 

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14).

 

The world will vividly, inescapably, witness the character of Jesus in His people, their words, their preaching, and their lives. This will be God’s last call to a world of sinners. It will be Noah’s last yearning appeal before entering the ark and the door going shut.

 

“And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” (Gen. 7:15,16).

 

The burden of the ark was shut in; and simultaneously, the wicked were shut out.

 

Such a waste! For 120 years Noah did and said everything he could to turn people away from rebellion to the voice of God’s Spirit and to invite them into the safety of the ark. That was 120 years of the Spirit of Jesus striving with them.

 

“And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Gen. 6:3).

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1Pet. 3:18-20).

 

But, Jesus would only destroy the world by water after offering them His grace. And He could only offer His grace because He would have all of that destruction fall on Him one day. In short, God could only destroy because He was first destroyed. He was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8).

 

Jesus must be our sacrificial burn victim, slain for our sakes, then He received back again with His Father, and standing before Him to ever make perpetual intercession for us.

 

“And one shall say unto Him, what are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.” (Zech. 13:6).

We have a Friend for a mediator before God.