Leviticus 4:4

It must be the largest offering. No option was allowed. He must bring this victim, and no other… He had broken Jehovah's command, so the high priest must bring the animal Jehovah named before Him to the appointed place. There he must kill it before Him, with his hand laid on its head. That hand was the token of transferring the guilt to the victim — how precious for the sinner!

Look at the differences in the way these sins are met. They show that the greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility, the greater the sin… The whole congregation was affected, for the anointed priest stood in relation to the whole camp.

To put the hand on the head means in Scripture identification. It is to say, "I identify myself with you." It was done in the case of the burnt offering. So the offerer identified himself with the value of the sacrifice… In the sin offering, Christ identifies Himself in grace with sin. That is, with everything in us that is offensive to God. It is transferred to Him.

When a Jew brought his burnt offering, the point was that the acceptance of the victim should pass to him… In the sin offering the opposite appears: the offerer's evil was charged on the victim… So the victim, when offered for sin, did not as such rise up before God. If the sin passed to the victim, then the victim must be dealt with in judgment to the very end.

The death of the victim follows at the offerer's hands: priestly work has not yet begun… This shows that the death of Christ was our act. Not that we are morally one with those who killed Him — although that is true, and most important in its place. Rather, our sin made His death necessary… It is "before the Lord." That shows that the necessity on the other side was a divine one, coming from the holiness of the divine nature.

The act of laying on hands charged sin to One "who knew no sin," but was "holy, innocent, unstained," and whose very nature hated all sin. At the same moment, it credited perfect righteousness to a man who was by nature a cruel, fierce and self-willed murderer.

If I claim "Christ died for sinners" for myself, I have, as it were, my hands on the head of the victim. That is how my acceptance is declared to me. People sometimes confuse this with what Isaiah says: "the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." But the hand of the offerer could not be Jehovah's hand. And however long ago that precious Sacrifice was offered, I can by faith consent to it as offered for me.