Do We Have a Trespass Offering?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Do We Have a Trespass Offering?

[Study Aired at Indianapolis, IN Conference September 27, 2020]

The answer to the above question is, “Yes, we do,” and as with all the other offerings, this offering is also Christ, but not in the sense of the burnt, meat, peace and sin offerings. Christ Himself is all the first four of the five offerings, and in and through Christ we also offer ourselves up with Him as a sweet-smelling savor offering to the Father:

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

2Co 2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

If Christ died for our sins, which He certainly did, why is Paul exhorting us to present our bodies a sweet savor living sacrifice to be crucified with Christ?

Here is the answer to that question:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for youand fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

In what church at any time have you ever heard a sermon on “that which is behind, [that which is lacking] of the afflictions of Christ”? I am 73 years old and have been in the ‘Bible belt’ of the U.S. most of my life, and I have never heard such a sermon in any of the many churches I have attended over the years.

Why does Paul exhort us to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice? He does so to “fill up what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ.” However, notice why and for whom Paul is filling up in his body those afflictions of Christ which are lacking. He tells us he is doing this “for His body’s sake which is the church.”

Knowing this adds great spiritual weight to these words Christ uttered when He appeared to His disciples in a locked room “the same day” in which He was resurrected from the dead. His appearance with the wounds of His crucifixion scared his disciples to death, so He calmed their fears with these incredibly profound words:

Joh 20:19  Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:20  And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 

Exactly what had the Father sent Christ to do? The scriptures are very clear what the Father had given Christ to accomplish, and “as [His] Father sent [Him] even so [He] has sent us”:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

How was Christ to accomplish that goal? That question is answered in equally clear words:

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

So, Christ is still in the process, through us, of accomplishing the mission His Father gave Him to accomplish, which is “that the world through Him might be saved”. There is one thing, as we will see, which a spotless, sinless Savior needs for us to be capable of accomplishing that mission to fill up what is behind of His afflictions.

Contrary to what is taught in the churches, Christ did not become a sin offering by being nailed to the cross. He was “made sin” by being “made of a woman, made under the law, made flesh” which flesh is itself “corruption” and which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”:

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, [“made sin” 2Co 5:21]

2Co 5:21  For the man who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (ACV)

Flesh is sinful “corruption”, and Christ was given of His Father to be “made sin” by being “made flesh”, but it was not given Him to “know sin”, as it is given to us as “His body which is the church”. Though we are all “shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin” (Psa 51:5), Christ still identifies with us to the extent that He says we are Him:

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Christ even calls us “Jesus of Nazareth”:

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest

Therefore it is by living His life of dying daily within each of us, that Christ fulfills the trespass offering, even though He Himself “knew no sin” (2Co 5:21).

This is such an important and integral part of the plan of God that there is only one “living sacrifice” of all the sacrifices mentioned in the Old Testament. That one “living sacrifice” is given to “bear the sins of the people with Him”. The Lord has seen fit to give us just one “living sacrifice” in all of the offerings which are listed in the law of Moses, and that one “living sacrifice… with the Lord’s goat… bears upon him all the iniquities of the children of Israel”:

Lev 16:21  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:
Lev 16:22  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.

It is also “for His body’s sake which is the church” that the scapegoat is offered as a living sacrifice:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:  

Christ’s body is called ‘the church’, and ‘the church’ is also known as “the temple of God”:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

In Leviticus 16 Christ is called “the Lord’s goat”, and it is He who is physically crucified as a sin offering for the sins of the people, while we, the scapegoat are offered as a living sacrifice “before the Lord to make an atonement with [Christ, filling up what is behind of His afflictions] and [we are] let… go for a scapegoat into the wilderness”:

Lev 16:9  And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

The scapegoat, along with “the Lord’s goat”, bears the sins of the congregation, and the scapegoat is offered along with Christ, “filling up what is behind of His afflictions” on the day of atonement to atone for the sins of the people:

Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

At “this present time”, the blood of Christ is not cleansing the court that is outside the tabernacle or the temple. At this present time, it is only being applied to “His body which is the church. That is the meaning of:

Lev 16:15  Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering [Christ our head], that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:
Lev 16:16  And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
Lev 16:17  And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
Lev 16:18  And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the [Lord’s] goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.
Lev 16:19  And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
Lev 16:20  And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, [After the death and resurrection of Christ and His Christ] he shall bring the live goat:
Lev 16:21  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:
Lev 16:22  And the [scape] goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

Lev 16:29  And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:

That is why we are told in the book of Hebrews:

Heb 13:10  We [the living sacrifice, the scapegoat] have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

This is the reason John, in the book of Revelation, tells us:

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of Godand the altar, and them that worship therein.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

We are the temple of God, and we are the living scapegoat sacrifice. All of this is what Paul is telling us when He says:

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Then Paul tells us that is what he himself has done in following his own admonition to us, but this time he is inspired to reveal to us the fact that Christ’s afflictions can only be filled up through us, and he tells us what is the significance of us offering our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church

What we are being told is that we are this scapegoat, which is the only sacrifice which is “presented alive before the Lord”. What we are also being told is that this “living sacrifice” is not offered until after the tabernacle and the altar have been reconciled to God:

Lev 16:20  And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:

Rom 11:15  For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

We are plainly told that we “are the temple of God” and we are very clearly told that in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) we have an altar at which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, because the Lord has given them all to be ‘carried about with different and strange doctrines and with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied with those strange doctrines’.

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
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.
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

It is only Aaron, an Old Testament type of Christ, our high priest, and His sons who are permitted to eat before the golden altar in the holy place within the tabernacle/temple.

Lev 6:16  And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.

Being the scapegoat, who “with the Lord’s goat” makes an atonement for the people”, we are in the very next verse encouraged to be that “living sacrifice… going unto Him without the camp, with the Lord’s goat…” bearing His reproach, “upon [us]… bearing all the iniquities of the people”:

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

Lev 16:22  And the [scape] goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

I hope this helps you to see how we have a trespass offering. It is through the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generations… Christ in you the hope of glory, that we are given through Him to become a trespass offering as a scape goat savior, and to fill up Him who fills all in all:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his bodythe fulness of him that filleth all in all. 

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

It is through “Christ in you the hope of glory” that we are this scapegoat, sin offering on behalf of “Him who knew no sin”.

Other related posts