Weekly Pursuit – Week 3 of January
Verses:
Lev. 1:4 “And he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him, to make expiation for him.”
Excerpts:
The offerer was not only to bring the offering but also to lay his hand on the offering. In the Scripture, the laying on of hands always signifies identification, union; it does not signify substitution. To lay our hand on the offering means that we are one with the offering and take the offering as being one with us. By laying our hands on Christ as our burnt offering, we are joined to Him. We and He, He and we, become one. Such a union, such an identification, indicates that all our weaknesses, defects, shortcomings, and faults become His and that all His virtues become ours. This is not exchange—it is union.
We may realize that we are altogether unqualified and hopeless. This is our actual situation. But when we lay our hands on Christ, our weak points become His, and His strong points, His virtues, become ours. Furthermore, spiritually speaking, by such a union He becomes one with us and lives in us. As He lives in us, He will repeat in us the life He lived on earth, the life of the burnt offering. In ourselves we cannot live this kind of life, but He can live it in us. By laying our hands on Him we make Him one with us, and we make ourselves one with Him. Then He will repeat His living in us. This is to offer the burnt offering. (Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 3)