The wood offering: the humanity of Christ

I want to keep to the offerings but the one that's on my heart today is not one that's in the book of Leviticus, it's actually in the book of Nehemiah. So we'll look first please at Nehemiah chapter 10. The book of Nehemiah chapter 10 verse 20-34.

And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites and the people for the wood offering to bring it into the house of our God after, if you've got to excuse me, my eyes are not too good and I don't read that good. I'll have to get a little bit closer. After the houses of the fathers, after the house of our God, after the of our fathers at times appointed and we'll leave that there.

I'm not going to read anymore, you'll excuse me for my reading capability is a little bit dim. Chapter 13, one more verse. See if I can get the light right on and we'll be okay.

Verse 31. And for the wood offering at times appointed and for the firstfruits remember me oh, remember me oh my God for good. Now we trust God will bless to us the reading of his precious word.

I want to speak about the wood offering. I'd love to get a show of hands of who's all heard someone speak on the wood offering. I'm not going to do it, but I guarantee if I went around you, you would be like I was for many years.

I never heard of it. The first time I heard anyone speak of the wood offering was at a Portage Conference Bible study and Sidney Maxwell and another brother just mentioned the wood offering and it's the first time I'd ever heard of it. And I've searched and searched and searched and I found very little in documented on the wood offering.

I've asked and asked and and a few of my brethren were able to give some considerations and but many had never even heard of it. So here we are on a very important subject. We're going to speak about a subject that is vital to the function of the offerings, the wood.

And I want to look at the wood offering in relation to the person of Christ. Just a little bit over the offerings in the tabernacle for those who are young in the faith or who may not have heard too much about it. There are many offerings in your Bible.

The names of the offerings are varied. And for example, we had the one offering there that had five associated with it under the Nazirite. The offering for the Nazirite, there were five associated offerings.

And you'll find over 20 names for offerings through your Bible. Some we don't hear too much. I love their brother Bill.

I really appreciated his ministry. And he talked about the heave offering and the wave offering, generally associated with the peace offering. Now in the offerings, there are those that are voluntary offerings, free will offerings, Thanksgiving offerings, gift offerings, sweet savor offerings.

And if we just take the book of Leviticus, the first five chapters, we find that we've got the offerings in two sets. We have the first three offerings are sweet savor offerings. And the last two, they are not sweet savor offerings.

There's a sin offering in chapter four and the trespass offering that goes over into chapter six. We have three main altars associated with the tabernacle. There is a golden altar that is inside the holy place, just on the outside of the curtain from the holiest of all, where is situated the ark of God.

Outside in the courtyard of the tabernacle, we have the brazen altar on which burnt offerings are offered to God. Then outside the camp in a clean place, where the ashes were from the altar were placed, was where the offering was burned. Now it's important to understand that when we're dealing with the burnt offering, it's not a question of sin.

The burnt offering is all for God. It is interesting to notice that the word that's used in the Hebrew for the burning on the brazen altar is the thought of the burning of incense. It is a slow, gentle burning.

You may recall in Exodus chapter 29, we learn of the lamb that's going to be offered in the morning. With it, there's going to be a meal offering. With it, there's going to be the drink offering.

They were offered a burnt offering, a meal offering, and a drink offering in the morning. In the evening, there was another lamb. There was a burnt offering, a meal offering, and a drink offering.

Child of God, worship is not just for a Sunday morning. If your worship is limited to a Lorsday morning, God is being limited in what he's receiving from us. Worship is a 24-7.

Wherever you went about the tabernacle, you would see the smoke arise to heaven. The fire was burning on the altar, and there they were in their place. The wood was placed on the altar, and the burnt offering and its parts was placed on it, and the meal offering was burnt upon the burnt offering, and the drink offering was poured out, and there was a sweet savor rising to heaven.

But then we come to chapter four, and we've been reminded today chapter four is much different from chapter 16. In chapter four, it's a sin offering dealing with the individuals in Israel who have sinned, and they're coming to make things right with God. And in chapter four, I did notice with interest that in the offering for the people, the insides were taken, and it was with them all, and were placed upon the brazen altar.

And only for the common people, it says that there was a sweet savor rising to God. Even in the sin offering, there's a sweet savor rising to God. And outside the camp, the animal was taken, all that was left of the animal apart from the insides, taken out to a clean place.

And the word for fire there, the word for burning there, is a consuming flame. Child of God, upon the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary, the consuming flame of the wrath of God poured upon him, as he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, as God made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all. So we have the various offerings.

Now, the one other offering, we heard about numbers 19 today, and you've got the red heifer. We could go to Elviriges 14, and you've got the leper. You have all these various offerings for the various conditions.

But you come to Elviriges chapter 16, and you have the day of atonement. And you have the bullock taken. You have that which is for the priest.

Then you have two goats taken, which are the key issues on the day of atonement. And the lot's cast, and one is chosen for the Lord's lot. And upon the other, the priest, he lays his hand on the head of the goat and imputes upon the goat the sins of the people.

Then that goat is taken. The one that's left is going to be slain. The one that's taken is led out into the wilderness, and listen to what the Bible says, to a land not inhabited.

Child of God, can I be very careful saying this? The Lord Jesus went out into the darkness of divine abandonment as a bearer of sin. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That he may bring you and I into eternal fellowship with himself and with his Father. I always like to make a cautionary note here, because I hear some people say, and very fervently, of course, that what must it have been for the Lord Jesus to be forsaken by his Father? I don't know what Bible these people are reading.

It's not in my Bible. I'm sorry. Someone told me that's semantics done, sire.

Well, my Bible is full of semantics, then. In John chapter 1, the only begotten Son, which is in his eternal dwelling place, the bosom of the Father, and he never left it. He never left it.

But as a bearer of sin, the Lord Jesus knew the absolute abandonment of God against sin. There's just a rough outline of some of the... I could go the whole meeting on it. You know, I didn't check my time, and Brother Carl will be chastising me.

I need you to give me a throat cut. I asked Terry Topley last year. I can't read that clock, so... And I asked him to check his watch.

He said he'd check his calendar. So, Terry's not here today, so I'm safe. But I don't know what time I got up.

It's fifth. It's twelve after three. I should be done by just after half past, I think.

I got up at three. I'll be done at half past. You make sure you tell me.

Just go. I'll be okay. Al's a good friend of mine.

We love each other, and I like to go down to Ankeny. If you've got a spare weekend, I'd love you to go to Ankeny. Through the week and knock some doors with him.

He'll love you to go. Now, I want to speak about the wood. What does the wood speak about? Well, some suggest, and it's very nice.

Now, let me say one thing first. When you're looking at types, be very careful that you don't come up with an ironclad interpretation of a type. It's this, and it's nothing else, because you may land in trouble.

So, one of my beloved brethren, he suggested it was the devotion of Christ, and that's beautiful, and it's probably, in a sense, correct. Another of my dear brethren, he suggested it was John 19, because only John tells us that Jesus bore his cross. He bearing his cross.

Now, young folks, you check John's gospel very carefully, and you'll find that the Lord does a lot of things himself. I got this from my brother, Alec Dreiber. I never forgot it.

The Lord does a lot of things himself in John's gospel. Chapter 6, he's feeding the multitude. Chapter 12, he's looking for the ass that was lost.

In chapter 10, he's giving up his life, and in chapter 19, he's bearing the cross. Think of those various things, but what was brought to my mind and my attention was really the thought of Hebrews 2, verse 14, and there the Hebrew writer tells us that we are flesh and blood, and he himself likewise took part of the same. The Lord Jesus took part of the same.

The humanity of Christ is a fundamental teaching of our faith. Let's look at 1 John 4, and you'll see what John thinks about it. Think of better light here.

Verse 2, hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Read verse 3, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.

Now just where you're in 1 John, look over at chapter 2 and verse 14. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same knoweth hath not the Father, and he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father. You'll get the same idea in 2 John, verse 7, about the Lord Jesus come in the flesh.

It's a fundamental doctrine that the babe in Mary's arms was the eternal Son of the eternal God. Now the gospel of John, probably a lot of John's epistle, the epistle to the Colossians, and many other writings, were basically written that we might appreciate this, that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Son of the eternal God. That's what the Lord Jesus was teaching in John chapter 8, that he was the Son of God.

And he finishes up at the end of the chapter, before Abraham was, I am. You know what they tried to do to him? They tried to throw stones at him. I think chapter 10, they tried to do the same.

Chapter 4 of Luke, they tried to throw him over the brow of a hill, because he demonstrated he was something they did not believe he was. And the deity of Christ is an important doctrine that has been assailed by the enemy down through the centuries. And in Paul's day, there were people who were teaching that Jesus was not the eternal Son of God.

Now there used to be a group in Scotland. I don't know if it ever got to this country. It wasn't among the assemblies, but I guess we used to be with them.

And they did not believe in the eternal Sonship of the Lord Jesus. Probably based on Psalm 2, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And it's various quotations and acts in Hebrews.

But John chapter 1 teaches us very clearly, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And we wholeheartedly state today that the Lord Jesus Christ was God.

I've maybe said this before, that when you come to Genesis chapter 1, you'll find that the word God in the beginning, God is a word that gives the idea of three persons. We've got the singular and the plural in our grammar. And I was never good at grammar, so don't come and talk to me on grammar.

It's not my strong point. But I do understand that when someone speaks of something in the singular, it's one. And when they speak in the plural, it's two or more.

But I am told that in the Hebrew, and I'm not a Hebrew student, I have to read this. But I used to have good eyes, and I could read, and a little bit mental acuity that I could understand English. It's the only language I understand.

But I am told that the Hebrew language has got a singular, a dual, and a plural. Now, if you have a Mr. Newbery Bible, which every Bible student should have, you'll find that Mr. Newbery puts three little marks just at the right-hand side of the word God. And then if you turn to the preface in the Newbery Bible, you will find that the three little marks speak of the plural.

And if you get two little marks, it speaks of two. And if you get one little mark, it speaks of the singular. In the beginning, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

And you will find that the whole of the deity throughout your Bible is involved in creation. It's not my subject. I'm not going through it.

Just take Colossians chapter one. The Lord Jesus is shown there to be the designer, and the creator, and the maintainer of the universe. We were just talking today about the Lord Jesus in Matthew 17.

I was suggesting I couldn't see a lot of insects and flies around the altar in the tabernacle. Could you? It'd be a mess. Do you know what the Lord did in Matthew 17? He made a fish swim through the waters and find a hook that he had told Peter to throw in the water and to grab a coin on its way or he had already had it and keep it in its mouth and grab hold of that hook.

The Lord guided a fish and he didn't probably see Peter where he was. The Lord that could control an animal. He could get on a coat that had never been ridden.

He could be in the wilderness and there's no animals came in and tried to eat him. God could close a lion's mouth when Daniel was thrown in a den. He was the one who was the controller, the maintainer of the universe, and he could look after the insects and stop them polluting the holy things.

And so we have the beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus as the wood. Now I'm not too far looking for the Lord Jesus as the wood because in Psalm chapter one, he's like a tree planted by the rivers of waters. And there he is.

He bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf shall not wither and he's going to prosper. And it's a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus.

Isaiah 53, he's going to grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. I was thinking the other week of a Psalms chapter two, as the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

It's a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus as a tree. If you want to look on him as a branch, you get Isaiah 4, the branch of Jehovah. Jeremiah 23, the righteous branch.

And in the book, the last book of your Bible, Zechariah, you'll find him as my servant, the branch and the man whose name is the branch. And so in many scriptures, and there's others, the Lord Jesus is looked upon as a, as a tree or that which is from the, from the tree. And so I want to look on the, the wood that's used in the, in the tabernacle on the altar as a picture of the Lord Jesus.

I've been looking lately at the temple, Solomon's temple in first Kings and chronicles. And there's five trees in that temple. And this is now I'm just passing this on.

I know it's a little bit sidetracked, but there's young people here. Listen, you only study about Christ. Let me tell you something in Luke chapter 24, the Lord Jesus spend at least two hours telling a couple about what the old Testament scriptures, Moses and the prophets spoke of him.

He's sitting down a little bit later with his disciples in the room. And he says, when I was with you, I taught you from the scriptures, from the, from, from, from Moses and from the Psalms and from the prophets, things concerning myself. And he showed his whole life throughout the old Testament scriptures.

You know, many times I sit down and I just wonder where he started and where he stopped. And I started thinking maybe he did stop at Solomon's temple and show the, those trees, the cedar tree and the third tree, the palm tree, the, the, the olive tree and the algae tree. And he showed them all.

And you know, if you want to go over them and I'm not doing it, they all speak of the Lord Jesus. Now the humanity of the Lord Jesus therefore is fundamental. And the deity of the Lord Jesus is fundamental.

One other thing on the importance of the deity of Christ. In chapter eight, the Lord defends his deity. In chapter five, he defends his deity.

In fact, in John chapter five, there's a sevenfold witness that the Lord Jesus gives to his deity, to the fact that he was the son of God. And he uses himself, but he says, if, if I give witness concerning myself, my witness is not true, but later on, he's going to say his witness is true. Then there's the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

There is another that testify of me and his testimony is true. Then he gives the testimony of John, John the Baptist. Then he gives the testimony of the father.

And you think of the, the visible testimony of the father in Mark one, you think of the testimony and Luke nine on the mountain top. In Mark one, he spoke there in banks. There's the, the quiet privacy seclusion on the mountain top.

My beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And he says, the works that the father gave me, they testify of me. And he says, the scriptures testify of me.

And finally he says, Moses testified of me. And the Lord gives a testimony to his deity. And John teaches us if you deny the son, you deny the father.

You know, again, going back through John, I love John's gospel. There's so much about the person of Christ in it. In chapter five, if you, if you don't honor the son, you don't honor the father.

Later on. He says, if you, if you receive the son, you receive the father. If you believe the son, you believe the father in chapter 14 to the disciples.

He says, if you know me, you know, the father, if you've seen me, you've seen the father in chapter 15. If you hate me, you hate the father. And here in first John two, if you deny me, you deny the father, the Lord Jesus at test time and time and time again to his relationship with the father.

And yet men try today to deny his deity. But child of God, there were those who deny today his humanity. And John takes issue.

And he says, if you do not teach and believe that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, you're an unsaved man. You're not of God. Now there's many things John says.

No, also John says, if you don't love your brother, you're not of God. Well, I, I, I often say, and I don't know, you could correct me if you don't like it. Now the different words used for love.

You understand that the Bible tells us to love your brother, but there's someone we find difficult to like, you know what I mean? There are people I love to be with. I love to be in their company. I have a friend back home and we talk almost every day.

My wife gets on to me and his wife gets on to her to him too, I guess. But our discussion is on the scriptures. We talk about the word of God.

I wonder what your conversation is. Did you hear the ministry of her brother? What's your occupation? I want to ask you a question. I asked this the other day in another place, but I want to ask you it.

Are you ready for it? You are, you answer it before you and God. When you got up this morning, before you came to the gathering, what were your thoughts about the Lord Jesus? Were you thinking of him at all? Okay, you were busy. The meeting started early.

You had the children to look after, breakfast to make. I know. What about yesterday? Oh, I know, you got home from work in the meeting at night and you were tired.

What about last week? Do you know there are people who come to a Bible study and the first time they hear the passage read, it's when the brother opening the Bible study reads it. And we wonder why things go wrong. We wonder why we have feelings against other brothers and sisters.

Child of God, and I speak to my own heart because I can fail so easily. I know my own weakness. If I'm occupied with Christ, I won't be occupied with self.

The Bible says that Moses was the meekest of all the great men of the air. Now a meek man never gets upset because you see, he's not occupied with self. He's not taken up with his own things.

And so circumstances do not control his feelings. You and I are people that are subject to the weather. On a dull day, we feel down.

On a bright day, we feel up. But the man who's truly meek before God in a spiritual sense, he's occupied with the Lord Jesus and he's not occupied with himself. As the Lord moved through the scene, men spoke against them.

The Pharisees and the priests, they conspired against them. They laid traps against him. They tried to ensnare him.

But he moved on in silent dignity. The humanity of Christ was foretold a way back in Genesis chapter three. And we're told about the seed of the woman, the little bruise, the heel of the serpent.

Now there's two genealogies that are important. Matthew, I've got two minutes, and then I'm getting down. I told you I need a calendar, not a watch.

There are two genealogies in Matthew and Luke, and they're important. You know, sometimes when we're doing the Bible study and we say, well, we'll do the book of Matthew. Well, we're starting chapter two.

When we're doing the book of Luke, miss out the last part of chapter three. We don't do that. You will find that in Matthew, generally brethren will tell you, and they're right, Matthew speaks of the king.

Well, Matthew is going to give you the line of Joseph. So from Solomon, we come right through to Joseph, the son of Jacob. But when we come to Luke, it's entirely different.

It's no longer Solomon, the son of David, but it's Nathan, the son of David. And we come down to Joseph and it's suggested that really the name that's given is the father-in-law of Joseph, because the line in Luke chapter three would be the seed of the woman. It would be the humanity of the Lord Jesus.

And so in Matthew, we have the royalty, the dignity. A way back in your Bible, we will find in the days of Jehoiakim, the man who cut and burned the scroll that was given him by the prophet. The right to sit upon the throne was removed.

And Joseph is a man who had the right to sit upon the throne and he's a carpenter. The Lord Jesus will restore that right. He will come again.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors. Psalm 24. And the king of glory shall come in.

Who is the king of glory? Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. Child of God is coming again, not only with respect to the rapture, but for a future day when he's going to come with his saints, when he's going to establish his kingdom, his enemy will be defeated and he shall reign from shore to shore.

I'd love to go on on the thoughts of the humanity of Christ. I don't know if we'll get time again when we're here. You think of the wood offering.

It's not the lowliest. It's fundamental. There could be no offering without the wood.

There could be no death of Christ without his humanity.