The Offering of the Purification For Sin Offering (Leviticus 8:14-17).
‘And he brought the bull ox of the purification for sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull ox of purification for sin offering.'
Having sanctified the tabernacle and it contents, and having put the priestly garments on Aaron and his son's, and having anointed Aaron with oil to inaugurate the priesthood, Moses now commenced the offerings and sacrifices to seal the occasion.
The first stage was the purification for sin offering. In order to be initiated all must first be purified from their sins. This is the first stage for all of us. And it was so for Aaron. If we would be become God's priests, anointed to serve Him, we must commence with being purified, in our case through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:10).
The bull ox was brought forward, and Aaron and all of his sons laid their hands on it. By this they united themselves with the bull ox and it became their representative. It may be that they confessed their sins over it, but in fact confession of sin is only specifically linked to guilt offerings and to the live goat on the Day of Atonement, never to the purification for sin offerings, although the latter were certainly in recognition of having sinned.
‘And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it.'
Aaron then slew the bull ox, and Moses would catch the blood in a basin. We may also assume that they skinned the bull ox and cut it in pieces. Moses then took the blood and with his finger applied it to the horns of the altar, thus purifying the altar, and poured the blood at the base of the altar, sanctifying it and making atonement for it. It would seem clear from the fact that the altar which has just been sanctified (Leviticus 8:11) needs to be sanctified again, that the bringing of the bull ox and the slaying of it has in some way affected the altar. It is becoming as one with the sacrifice and the offerers, and needs to be purified and atoned for so that it can offer the offerings. Thus the purifying of the altar and the making of atonement for it includes the purifying of those involved at this stage, and the making of atonement for them. Their sin is seen as being in some way transferred to the altar, which was then purified so that the sin was neutralised.
The altar was in a way seen as the gateway to God. In Ezekiel's heavenly temple the only thing actually commanded to be built is the altar (Ezekiel 43:18). It was through that earthly altar (in the relatively diminutive second temple) that the heavenly temple could be accessed. The heavenly temple was God's own dwellingplace, never intended to be built on earth. It descended from God and finally returned to God, and is depicted in Revelation as the place from where He dispenses His blessings and judgments, and from which will flow the rivers of living water (Ezekiel 47:1-12; compare Revelation 22:1-5; John 7:38).
‘And he took all the fat that was on the innards, and the covering of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it on the altar.'
All the fat and the innards, including the vital parts, were now burned on the altar. The procedure follows that of the purification for sin offering for the priest described in Leviticus 4:3-12. The fat is the choice part of the offering, and the vital parts represent the soul of the animal, its vital life. All are offered to God in homage and worship. They are not to be partaken of even by the priests.
‘But the bull ox, and its skin, and its flesh, and its dung, he burnt with fire outside the camp, as Yahweh commanded Moses.'
Then all that remains of the bull ox is taken outside the camp and burned in a clean place, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. All that Moses did was precisely as commanded by Yahweh. This was because these remains were so holy that they could not be burned on the altar, and could not be allowed to remain in the camp. They were passed on to God in His own place in the wilderness, in ‘a clean place', a place not contaminated by any aspect of His living and dying creation.
Thus was Aaron, along with his sons, purified with the type and shadow that pointed forwards to the coming of Jesus Christ Who, as the holiest of the holy, came as God's purification for sin offering, an offering made once-for-all for them and for the whole world, an offering so holy that He had to be offered outside Jerusalem. Without His first offering for sin, and our response to it by spiritually laying our hands on Him, we could not even begin to approach God.
Purification is thus foundational and central to the whole ceremony. It is ever so. If we would serve God we too must be purified, and be kept continually pure, and this purification is only possible through His blood. He offered Himself up as a sacrifice for our sins so that He might make purification for sins (Hebrews 1:3), and when we are open to Him and come to Him the blood of Christ through the eternal Spirit will purge our consciences from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14), and from then on as we continue walking in His light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, will go on cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:7). But if we refuse His light there is nothing left but darkness.