# 11. The Attributes of a True Sin Offering
A single action or event often involves, for better or worse, a family, a nation, an empire. Who can count the effects or consequences of the rise or fall of a Caesar, a Hannibal, a Napoleon? A single victory, like that of Zama or Waterloo; a single revolution, like that of England or America, sometimes shapes the fate of the world. Neither actions nor events can be fully understood except through their effects and influences on every person and thing they touch. The relationships, connections, and critical dependencies in which people and actions stand are often so numerous and varied that it is rarely, if ever, within human power to calculate the consequences or the value of even one of the most significant actions in a lifetime.
Who could have estimated, or who can estimate, the moral or political consequences of the sale of Joseph to a band of Ishmaelites — of Moses being placed in a basket of reeds on the Nile — of David’s anointing as king of Israel — of the division of the twelve tribes under Rehoboam — of Judas’s betrayal, Stephen’s martyrdom, Paul’s conversion, Constantine the Great’s rise to power, Julian’s apostasy, the crusades against the Turks, Luther’s Reformation, the revival of learning, or any of the great movements of our day? How difficult, then, is it to estimate the rebellion of Satan, the fall of Adam, the death of Christ, in all their consequences for the destiny of the universe!
Before a remedy for sin could be devised or understood, knowledge of its effects on God and humanity, on time and eternity, on heaven and earth, is an essential prerequisite. But who possesses this knowledge, or what uninspired person can attain it? At best, we know only in part; and therefore, can only partially explain anything. How difficult, then, to form a satisfactory view of sin and its remedy — of Adam’s fall and Christ’s death!
However, it would greatly help our understanding of Christ’s death, and illustrate the nature and purpose of sin offerings, if we could gain accurate and biblical views of sin in its necessary consequences, or in its prominent effects on the universe. Indeed, some knowledge of these aspects of sin is essential to our understanding and appreciation of the wisdom, justice, and grace of the Christian system. It is not enough to hold vague and indistinct ideas of its tendencies, or of the attitudes it holds toward God, ourselves, and others: we must have clear and definite views of the relationships in which God stands to us, and we to Him and to one another, and how sin affects us all in these relationships; for it will be conceded without debate that sin bears a unique aspect to each of us in all these relationships.
God stands in various relationships to the intellectual and moral creation. He is our Father, our Lawgiver, and our King. Now His feelings as a Father, and His character as Lawgiver and sovereign, are equally involved in the effects and aspects of sin. The influence of sin on us is also varied and multifaceted. It affects the heart, the conscience, the whole soul and body of a person. It alienates our affections, and even causes hatred in our minds toward both God and man. As an old saying goes, "We hate those we have injured;" and having offended God our Father, we are, for that very reason, filled with enmity against Him. It also burdens and pollutes the conscience with guilt and fear, enslaves the passions, and brings about the destruction of the body. It alienates people from one another, weakens authority, and destroys the usefulness of the law; and if not subdued, would ultimately overthrow God’s throne and government. If not restrained and put down, it would fill the universe with anarchy and disorder — with universal misery and ruin.
To avoid going further into details, it may be observed on the premises already before us: — 1st. That every sin wounds the affection of our heavenly Father — 2nd. Insults and dishonors His law and authority in the eyes of His other subjects — 3rd. Alienates our hearts from Him — 4th. Burdens our conscience with guilt and fear — 5th. Separates us from society through morbid selfishness and disregard for others — 6th. Leads to new violations and habitual disobedience — And 7th. Subjects us to shame and contempt — our bodies to the dust, and our persons to eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord.
Not as a full account, but rather as an example of the loss sustained and the harm caused by our transgression, we have made these seven points. These only serve to show how many aspects sin must be considered in before we can form a just estimate of a suitable and sufficient sin offering or remedy.
Now, as far as we have been able to trace the tendencies and effects of transgression in the above list, we must find in the sin offering a remedy and an antidote that fully addresses all these aspects; otherwise, it will be completely worthless and ineffective in the eyes of enlightened reason, as well as in the righteous judgment of God, to atone for sins, to remove them, and to prevent their recurrence.
Do we need to prove that man himself cannot provide such a sin offering? Do we need to ask again Micah’s question — "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Will repentance for the past and future amendment restore things as they were; raise the dead; repair lost fortunes, and restore broken health? Will tears, groans, and agonies honor a violated law, uphold a righteous government, vindicate the Divine character, and prevent future and further offenses? Have they ever done it? Can they ever do it? Surely, we will be excused for not trying to prove that we have neither a tear, nor a sigh, nor an agony, nor a lamb, nor a kid of our own making to offer to the Lord, even if such a sacrifice could meet all the demands of the case!
Every transgression, even the smallest, the eating of a forbidden apple, subjects the offender to destruction. One sin, by one man, has involved the whole human race in death. The life of the offender is demanded in the very mildest terms of offended justice. Hence, in the law of the typical sin offerings, we find it written: "The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."[1] But such blood, such lives as the law required could not, Paul and common sense being the judges, take away sin. They could only foreshadow a life and a blood that could truly, justly, and honorably atone for it. Thus, the death of Christ is forced upon our attention by the law, by the prophets, by the necessity of the case, with enlightened Reason presiding, as the only real, true, and proper sin-atoning offering. It does, indeed, meet not only the seven particulars above, but all others that have occurred to the human mind; and thus secures the union and harmony of things on earth and in heaven, in the unbreakable bonds of an everlasting brotherhood.
- "In bringing many sons to glory," it soothes and delights the wounded love of our kind and gracious heavenly Father—
- "It magnifies and makes honorable" His violated law and insulted government—
- It reconciles our hearts thoroughly and forever to God, as an undeniable proof and pledge of His wonderful and incomprehensible love for us—
- It effectively relieves our conscience by "cleansing us from all sin," and produces within us a divine serenity, a peace and joy "unspeakable and full of glory"—
- It also reconciles us to our fellow humans, and fills us with brotherly affection and universal kindness, because it makes us all one in faith, hope, and joy, as joint heirs of immortality and eternal life—
- It is the most effective guard against new violations of the divine law, and supremely deters sin by revealing its evil nature and terrible consequences; showing us, in the person of God’s only begotten and well-beloved Son, when acting as a sin offering, the impossibility of escaping the just and retributive punishment of offended and indignant Heaven — and
- It is a ransom from death, a redemption from the grave, such a deliverance from the guilt, pollution, power, and punishment of sin, as greatly elevates the children of God above all they could have attained or enjoyed under the first covenant. It presents a new creation to our view; — new heavens, new earth, new bodies, new life, new joys, new glories. He who conquered death by dying, who now sits on the throne, says, "Behold, I make all things new." "He has become the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him."
Let no one imagine that in this example of the aspects in which sin and sin offerings must be considered before we can rationally judge the necessity, suitability, and sufficiency of Christ’s death, we have attempted to present a full view of these aspects. We are not capable of the task. Life is too short, and our opportunities too limited, to learn all the effects of transgression on ourselves, on God’s throne and government, and on His other subjects. We only intend to give a sample of the points to be met in a proper sin offering. These put it beyond the reach of all human, all angelic, all created mediators, victims, or sacrifices to atone for sin. As far as we can understand this amazing subject, we are more and more deeply convinced that nothing less than the voluntary sacrifice of the Son of God could remove sin; and make it both just, merciful, honorable, and safe, on the part of His God and Father, to forgive and save one of His rebellious race. Nor would it then have been just, according to our understanding, to have forced Him to bear our iniquities, or to suffer the just for the unjust; to inflict on an innocent person the punishment of our offenses; but it was both just and kind on the part of our heavenly Father to accept the voluntary surrender of His Son as a willing sacrifice for our sins. "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
- "The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." 1: Lev. 17:11.