The stain of sin may be deep, but the power of redemption is deeper.
Moses said unto Aaron, "Take thee a bull calf for a sin offering, and
offer it before the Lord" (Lev. ix. 2). Not indeed that the blood of
calves could take away sin.
"Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain."
But that was the Old Testament way of setting forth the great fact of
redemption. The offering of the bull calf was a picture of the sacrifice
of Jesus. For as we read in Hebrews ix. 11, "Christ having come a high
priest of good things to come, not through the blood of goats and
calves, but through His own blood, entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us." This is the hope and plea
of every poor sinner. "The blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanseth us from
all sin."
And as a sacrifice, the bull calf _could not be redeemed_. The
first-born of man might be redeemed, as also the firstling of any
unclean animal; but not so the firstling of an ox. It was a _clean_
animal, and its blood must be sprinkled upon the altar (Num. xviii. 17).
In this way it shadowed forth the sacrifice of Christ, of whom it was
said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." As our Divine Isaac He
came to Mount Moriah, but there was no ram found there to take His place
as the sacrifice. He alone was a perfect offering. He alone was clean;
and therefore He alone as the Great High Priest offered Himself as the
victim. He poured out His soul unto death. And it is to this Saviour
that all you young people must look. "Neither is there salvation in any
other: there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved." Looking unto Jesus, loving Him, and resting on
Him--that is the way we enter into life. "Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world."
This is the second lesson we learn from the Bible imagery of the calf.
Sin is followed by sacrifice. The molten calf gives place to the calf
that was slain.