“The Peace Offering”
[Leviticus 3:1-17]
February 28, 2010 Second Reformed Church
We come this morning to the third offering: the Peace Offering.
Let us remember what we have already seen:
We first looked at the Burnt Offering and saw that God’s Law required blood to be shed and an animal to be devoted in its entirety to the fire to make atonement – reconciliation – between the person bringing the offering and God.
We saw that Jesus fulfilled the Burnt Offering by living a Perfect Life under God’s Law and giving Himself to be sacrificed on our behalf, taking on God’s Wrath and crediting us with His Perfect Life, so we could be right with God. The Burnt Offering was an offering for atonement and concerned the consecration of one’s life and living.
Then we looked at the Grain Offering and saw that God’s Law required that grain – either as fine flour, unleavened bread, or toasted grain – be offered with oil, salt, and frankincense. We said that this was a thanksgiving offering, showing that one understands that everything we have comes from God, that God has chosen a people for Himself and set them apart to be holy unto Him. We also saw the obligation to support God’s Work, as only a small portion of the grain, oil, and salt were burned – the rest was for the sustenance of the priests.
We saw that Jesus fulfilled the Grain Offering in being the Bread of Life. Jesus fulfilled the Grain Offering by offering Himself as the True Heavenly Bread. He is made of Perfect Flour. And all those who believe and “eat” of Him will live forever. He sets us apart and makes us holy through the oil through which He has called us to be His and through the salt of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.
Now we turn to the Peace Offering, and at first glance, it may seem to be no different from the Burnt Offering, but there are significant differences that make this a different offering:
As we have seen before, God in His Mercy allows for people of different means to bring different animals. In the case of the Peace Offering, one could bring a bull or a cow or a lamb or a goat, depending on what one could afford. However, notice that one could bring a male or a female. For the Peace Offering, God did not require that the animal be male.
Like the Burnt Offering, God required that the animal be without blemish – it could not be sick, injured, or deformed. The person who brought the animal to be sacrificed was to lay hands upon it, symbolically transferring their sin to the animal, and then, that person was to slit the throat of the animal in the doorway of the tent of meeting. Then Aaron’s sons – the priests – would collect the blood and throw it against the sides of the altar – just like in the Burnt Offering.
But, then, we have another difference: although the priests skinned and dismembered the animal, only the fat surrounding the intestines, the kidneys and their fat, the fatty lobe off of the liver, and – in the case of the lamb or goat – its tail, were burned on the altar as “a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”
Why? Because the rest of the animal was eaten by the family who brought the animal in the sanctuary in the presence of the priests. They were not allowed to bring any of the animal home; it was cooked and to be eaten there as a holy feast of thanksgiving, symbolizing the friendship and fellowship that God has made between humans and Himself.
All of the animal except for the fat and the blood was to be eaten by the family. The fat and the blood was offered up to God. Now, if an animal was killed or died in some other manner than in being offered to God, the people were still not allowed to eat the fat or the blood, but the fat could be used for other purposes.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, You shall eat no fat, of ox or sheep or goat. The fat of the animal that dies of itself and the fat of the animal that is torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account may you eat it. For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the Lord shall be cut off from his people. Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people” (Leviticus 7:22-27, ESV).
“If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood” (Leviticus 17:10-12, ESV).
Fat was not to be eaten by humans because it was the richest part of the meat, and it was to be offered to God alone as a sacrifice, or, in certain cases, it could be used for other uses, but never for food. And the blood was never to be eaten, because the life is in the blood, and blood is only to be used for atonement – redemption – for becoming reconciled to God.
The Peace Offering takes the person from being reconciled to God – in the Burnt Offering – to being a friend of God – to being one who may fellowship with God – enter into His Presence and not only live, but rejoice. This we find through Jesus Christ in His fulfilling of this offering:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2, ESV).
“Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands – remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. But now in Jesus Christ you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Sprit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:11-22, ESV).
The Lord’s Supper, which we will celebrate next week, Lord willing, is one way in which we who have been reconciled to God and given His Peace join together with Him in friendship and fellowship. As we receive the bread and the cup, we partake of the fat parts and the blood of Jesus, symbolically, and He meets with us spiritually, yet in reality, and we look forward to that day when we will be with Him, face-to-face, when the Bride shall join together with her Groom in eternity.
Jesus told a parable about that day:
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid not attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:2-14, ESV).
And John saw a vision of the day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, when Jesus and His Church are united in Eternity: “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’ – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
“And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God’” (Revelation 19:6-9, ESV).
Through Jesus’ fulfillment of the Peace Offering, we have a taste of what it will be like to be with Jesus, in perfect friendship and fellowship, joined together with Him as a Bride to her Groom.
So let us understand, as the author of Hebrews tells us, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22, ESV). Blood must be shed, or we cannot be made right with God.
Also, in the offering of the fat to God, let us understand that our best is always to be given to God. Whether it be in offering our things or our time or our talents, God deserves and expects that His people will given Him their best.
And as we look forward to that final day when Jesus Returns and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is our present reality, let us recognize that we have been made friends with God now through Jesus. We have fellowship with God – with the Trinity – now – in the reading and preaching of the Scripture and through the sacraments. Let us not neglect fellowshipping and seeking out the friendship of our God and Savior and Bridegroom.
So let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for showing us that there is no forgiveness except through the blood and that You deserve the best parts of all things in thanksgiving for what You have done through Jesus Christ in reconciling us to You. We thank You for the Gift of Salvation and for making us not merely servant, but friends and family through Your Son. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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