Let us turn then to God's word
once again in the book of Leviticus and the 7th chapter Leviticus
chapter 7 and reading at verse 11 and we read through to verse
15 Leviticus chapter 7 verses 11 to 15 and this is the law of the sacrifice of
peace offerings which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer
it for a thanksgiving then he shall offer with the sacrifice
of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil and unleavened
wafers anointed with oil and cakes mingled with oil of fine
flour fried. Besides the cakes he shall offer
for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving
of his peace offerings. And of it he shall offer one
out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord. And he shall be the priest that
sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings, and the flesh of the
sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten
the same day that it is offered. He shall not leave any of it
until the morning. There were of course many sacrifices
that were prescribed under the Levitical law Here we have the
Lord of the Sacrifice of Peace offerings, but there were also
to be burnt offerings, and sin offerings, and trespass offerings. But this particular offering,
which we've just read, is clearly associated with the whole idea
of a Thanksgiving in verse 12, if he offered it for a thanksgiving. It might be that the person who
is coming to present the peace offering desires to express his
thanksgiving to God because he had recovered from some sickness,
or maybe he'd been preserved in some journey, or maybe the
nation would come and desire to return thanks to God because
there'd been deliverance from captivity. The sacrifice is clearly
associated here then with the whole idea of thankfulness, of
gratitude to the Lord. Now remember how in the 107th
Psalm we have mentioned of the various
situations of life. It's a psalm that deals quite
specifically with the whole idea of God's providences. And it's interesting to observe
what's said there in the psalm. Psalm 107 and verses 21 and 22. Oh that man would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. So much has been said previously
of the manifold providences in all the various circumstances
and situations of life. The dear is the psalmist desiring
that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful
work. And verse 21 he says, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices
of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. That is sacrifice, the sacrifice
of thanksgiving. And this is what we have here
in the peace offering. It is a sacrifice of thanks if
he offers it for a Thanksgiving. Now, it might be such an offering
as the man had vowed and promised that he would make, if God should
grant a recovery from his illness. Or it might be that he was simply
offering it in a very spontaneous fashion. It could be either way.
As we see from verse 16, if the sacrifice of his offering be
a vow, he made a promise and he is fulfilling that promise,
or a voluntary offering. He is simply acting now in a
very spontaneous fashion. There is some variety then associated
with this sacrifice, this peace offering, but it is clearly something
that is associated with the whole idea of praise, of thanksgiving,
an expression of gratitude to God, a manifestation of real
fellowship with God. And so we read in verse 5, the
flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving
shall be eaten The same day that it is offered, he shall not leave
any of it until the morning. The flesh of the sacrifice of
the peace offering is something that the man is to feast upon. This is the first thing that
I want us to consider with regards to the peace offering. That it is a feast. It's food. It's food for the offerer. Benjamin Wills Newton in his
little book on the Levitical offerings says that this is the
only sacrifice that the offerer was really permitted to have
an interest of partaking in. He was to share something of
what was being offered. He was to feed upon it himself. It's an expression then of his
fellowship with the God that he is coming now to worship. We know that with regards to
the burnt offering, which was the basic sacrifice that was
to be made, the burnt offering, that was to be consumed, totally
consumed upon the altar. It's spoken of here in the very
first chapter of the book of Leviticus, the burnt offerings. And there, in verse 9, we read
he is inwards and his legs shall he wash in water and the priest
shall burn all on the altar. To be a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. There we have the idea of the
wrath of God on the altar of sacrifice. How the animal is
consumed, burnt up, and burnt up by the holy wrath of God. And it typifies in a remarkable
fashion of course the great work that the Lord Jesus Christ himself
accomplished. All these Levitical sacrifices
point to Christ. Here he is set forth in types
and figures, and how Christ has made that great sacrifice in
Isaiah 53. that remarkable chapter which
gives such a detailed prophecy concerning his sufferings and
there in verse 10 if we read the alternative reading in the
margin it says when his soul shall make an offering for sin
when his soul how Christ's soul how the totality of his human
nature his body and soul all that he was as a man was given
and consumed by the wrath of God as he bore that dreadful
punishment that was due to the sins of his people. Christ has
once suffered for sin, said Peter, the just for the unjust. Here he is, the substitute, the
Holy One, the Righteous One, made sin for his people. made
that great burnt offering and so consumed by God's wrath there
upon the cross, the fulfilment of the burnt offering. Well,
as the burnt offering then is setting before us that aspect
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, what of the peace offering
that we're considering here in the seventh chapter? Well, it
sets before us the effect, the effect, the outcome of what Christ
has done, the application. Here we have something of the
sinner's experience. The sinner is able to partake
of these things. The sinner is one who is able
to feed upon this sacrifice, the flesh of the sacrifice of
his peace offerings for thanksgiving, shall be eaten the same day that
it is offered. He shall not leave any of it
until the morning of the offerer. He is five then here to come
and to partake of part of that that is being sacrificed. There
is food for the offerer. There is also here food for the
priest. Because the man doesn't of course
present the sacrifice himself. It was the priests, the sons of Aaron
who were to serve in that particular office. They must bring their
sacrifices to the door of the tabernacle and it was for the
priests to serve God there at the brazen altar and to make
the sacrifice. In verse 34 We read these words, the wave
breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children
of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings and
have given them unto Aaron the priest and to his sons by a statute
forever from among the children of Israel. There is that part
of the peace offering then, the shoulder and the breast that
is given to the priests. Now, there's a sense, of course,
in which before he becomes the priest, it is presented to God,
whom the priest is serving and representing. At the end of verse 14, for example,
we read how the blood of the priest's offering is to be taken
and to be sprinkled. They were to take the blood,
they were to sprinkle it. It's presented to God. And likewise the heave offering,
that shoulder was heaved up as it were, held up. It was a presentation
being made unto God before He became the priests. Verse 32, the right shoulder
shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the
sacrifices of your peace offerings. It's held up, it's heaved up
and as it were presented to God before ever the priest is able
to partake of it. Likewise with the breast. It
was waved waved before God, presented unto God. Verse 13, His own hands shall
bring the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the fat with the
breast it shall he bring, that the breast may be waved for a
wave offering before the Lord. And the priest shall burn the
fat upon the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons. It's right before God, it's in
that sense presented to him, but then the priest, they partake
of it. There's a sharing here, you see.
There's the idea of a meal and a feasting. This is the priest,
who has his portion of the peace offering, but then also there
is that food that belongs unto the Lord. There is that part
of the sacrifice that is for the Lord. In a sense, as I said,
the priest is God's representative and the offerer is to acknowledge
that part of his sacrifice belongs to the priest, it belongs to
God in that sense. But there was also that part
that must be actually burnt upon the brazen altar. There was a
certain portion that was to be consumed as with the burnt offering. And it is there in that portion
that we read in chapter 3 because that also speaks of the peace
offering. In chapter 3 verse 3, He shall
offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made
by fire unto the Lord. Again you see there is that which
is consumed on the brazen altar. It's an offering made by fire
unto the Lord. The fat, that cover of the inwards,
and all the fat that is upon the inwards and the two kidneys,
and the fat that is on them which is by the flanks, and the coal
above the liver with the kidneys, it shall he take away, and air
and sun shall burn it, from the altar upon the burnt sacrifice. There is that part then that
is only for God. It is God's own portion of the
sacrifice. The priest doesn't have this
part. It belongs exclusively to God. And not only that, of course,
also there's the blood. There's the blood. In verse 11 there in chapter
3, the priest shall burn it upon the altar, it is the fruit of
the offering made by fire unto the Lord. And then again in verse 13 we
read of the sons of Aaron sprinkling the blood thereof upon the altar
round about. So all the fatty part of the
sacrifice is the food of the offering that's God's, and also
the blood is God's. There is then this sharing, this
partaking of the various parts of the sacrifice, the offerer
has his portion that he is to partake of, the priest, and God's
also. It's the idea then of a feeding
and a feasting. It's the consequence of what
Christ has done. By that sacrifice of himself
has he not made provision for his people? Is there not a salvation
that the sinner is bidden to come and to partake of? Is there
not a feast of fastings? Isaiah certainly speaks of such
in his book, that feast that the Lord God himself has made
for his children, and that gracious invitation that is given that
they are to come and they are to partake of all these things
that God in his mercy has granted to his people. A feast in this
mountain, a feast of fattening says the prophet. All gods would
entertain sinners, God would feed sinners and not only feed
them but himself he would feast with them. There's that lovely
hymn of Ann Stills, I know it's not in Gadsby, but it's a lovely
hymn concerning that feast that God has provided for the sinner.
Ye wretched, hungry, starving, poor, behold a royal feast where
mercy spreads a bounteous store for every welcome guest. How God, you see, lays up for
the sinner then a provision in Christ, the great antithesis
of that that we have here in the book of Leviticus. The peace
offering then was a feast as well as a sacrifice. At 15th
verse, the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving
shall be eaten the same day that it is offered. He shall not leave
any of it until the morning. But having sought to demonstrate
that there is a feeding and a feasting there, let us come to the fundamental
point with regards to the book of Leviticus. And that of course
is the figure that we have set before us. verse 11, this is
the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which he shall offer
unto the Lord. Leviticus in the Old Testament
is very much a gospel book. We know that Moses is associated
very much with the giving of the law of God. The law came
by Moses. But let us not think that there
is nothing of gospel in the books of Moses. The first five books
of scripture, the Pentateuch, these are the books of Moses.
And the Jews refer to the first five books as the Torah, the
law. But is there not a sense when
we come to Leviticus that we see our law abounds with gospel
in his book Commenting and Commentaries. A valuable little book by Mr
Spurgeon in which he makes remarks on the various Bible commentaries
that were so readily available in his own day and of course
He makes remarks on many of the finest of commentaries from the
period of the Reformation and the Puritans. But there's that
book by Dean Law, Henry Law, Dean of Gloucester, and Law's
book is called The Gospel in the Pentateuch, and he deals
with the great gospel types that we find in these first five books
of the Bible. And in remarking on Law's books,
the Gospel in the Pentateuch, a typical Slavonic statement,
he says Law abounds in Gospel. Henry Law abounds in Gospel.
Well, is it not true that when we come to a book like Leviticus,
we have to see that though this is in the Law of Moses, it's
a Gospel book. It's full of Christ. Here we
have remarkable typology. When Christ said to the Jews,
search the scriptures, these are they that testify of me.
Of course Leviticus is included in that. What we have here in
the peace offering, surely we recognise this is a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the person of Christ. and the great promise of his
coming into the world. In the prophecy of Isaiah, words
that we are often familiar with at this time of the year, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. Isn't that one of the names that
he's given to the Lord Jesus Christ? He is the Prince of Peace. He's Solomon, David's son, who succeeded him
in the kingdom. Solomon, his name means peace.
And Christ is of course the greatest son of David. He is the true
Prince of Peace. Again, Micah tells us, this man,
this man, or the man Christ Jesus, this man shall be the peace. And that was the message, of
course, that was proclaimed by the angels at his birth, peace
on earth, goodwill towards men. Oh, what a peace it is. There
was peace on earth, really, at the time of Christ's birth. As
we said on other occasions, there was then politically the great
Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. How the Roman legionaries ensured
that there was peace and order in every part of the empire,
there was political peace. But that peace that Christ came
to bring was not political peace. He says to the Roman governor
Pontius Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world. Christ
has come to bring spiritual peace. Christ has come to reconcile
the sinner to God, the sinner who is in that state of enmity
and alienation, separated from God. Christ in his very person then
is peace. And though Christ his peace in
that great work that he has accomplished. There in his epistle to the Colossians,
see how the Lord Jesus is spoken of by Paul. There Paul speaks of what Christ
has accomplished by that work upon the cross, that great sacrifice
that he has made to satisfy the wrath of God. There in Colossians 1 verse 20,
having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to
reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked work, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight."
Oh, this is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has made peace.
He has made peace through the blood of his cross. He has answered all God's holy
wrath This man is the priest. He is the propitiation for our
sin. He is not only dealt with the
matter of that guilt that attaches to the sinner who is the transgressor,
but he also answers before God, that God who is angry with the
wicked. All there is peace now, you see, between God and the
sinner because of the sacrifice. that the Lord Jesus Christ has
made, He is the peace offering. He is the antitype of what we
have here, the law of the sacrifice of the peace offerings. It's
all fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And are we not here also
reminded of the substitutionary aspects of that work. Again we have it in the portion
that we read there in the third chapter. See what he said with regards
to what the offerer is to do with his peace offering. In verse 2 of chapter 3, he shall
lay his hand upon the heads of his offering. Verse 2 and again
in verse 8 and again in verse 13 because we have of course
the various sacrifices that they could bring, the animals they
could bring to sacrifice as peace offerings. He could bring of
the herds or of the flocks, he could bring a lamb or a goat
and whatever he bring, whatever animal he is to lay his hand
upon the head of his sacrifice. And that of course suggests the
whole idea of substitution, the imputation of sin. The sin of
the offerer is transferred, as it were, by the laying on of
the hand, transferred now to the sacrifice. And the animal
is offered in his place, in his room, And in his stead he sets
before us the whole idea of substitutionary atonement, it's Christ in the
sinner's place. That's what Christ has done,
is it not? He has come to be the surety
of his people. He has stood for them in their
law place, made under the law. And in his life he has answered
the Lord of God. He has fulfilled it, obeyed it,
in all its precepts, wrought a righteousness. But then also
in his death he is their substitute. He suffers and bleeds and dies
in the room and in the stead of the sinner. And it's prefigured
here, you see, when the man comes and brings his sacrifice and
lays his hand upon the head of the animal that is to be sacrificed.
Christ has suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust,
to bring us to God. But then also how interesting
it is to observe the place, the place where the sinner comes
with his sacrifice. The guy there in that second
verse of chapter three, He shall lay his hand upon the head of
his offering and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. And Aaron's sons, the priests,
shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. He brings it to the door, the
door of the tabernacle. Or does it not remind us of Christ,
who is that door, Christ who is that only way of access, that
only way whereby we can obtain entrance to God. No other way. No other way. It is Christ only
who is the way of salvation. How exclusively He speaks of
these things. I am the way, the truth and the
life. He says no man cometh unto the
Father but by me. I am the door. By me if any man
enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. And again Paul to the Romans
says therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ
by whom also we have access by faith into this Christ where
in we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God we have access
by faith by faith in Jesus Christ and by faith in Jesus Christ
alone Christ is here you see in the type of the peace offering.
He is the substitute. He is the only way of entrance
and access. He is the door whereby we come
into the very presence of God. Can we not also discern something
of his resurrection on the third day? We read in verse 15. Now the sacrifice
was to be eaten the same day that it was offered. Verse 16. But if the sacrifice of his offering
be a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day
that he offereth his sacrifice, and on the morrow also. The remainder
of it shall be eaten, but the remainder of the flesh of the
sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. That's not
to be eaten. after the third day. That's not to be eaten. And we're reminded, are we not,
of Christ rising again on the third day? His body sees no corruption
at all. Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, he says in the psalm. Nor suffer my body to see corruption.
He rises again and sees nothing of corruption
when he is laid in the tomb. There is a resurrection then
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is Christ set before us
in the type of the peace offering and all the detail that is involved
with regards to the sacrifice and the manner of the feeding
and feasting upon the sacrifice. And then, as I said at the outset,
it is really a type of communion with God, a type in which we
see thanksgiving. Some, you know, refer to the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper as the Eucharist, a thanksgiving.
It is a thanksgiving in that sense, but we emphasize more
particularly the idea of our communion. We call it a service
of communion. There's a sharing. There's a
feeding. Of course the Lord Jesus Christ
when he instituted that supper it was at the feast of the Passover. And the Passover lamb of course
was sacrificed. And Christ is the great antitype
of that Passover lamb. And with the Passover lamb there
was to be that feeding, they were to partake of the lamb that
they sacrifice. And so too with this peace offering. There is a sharing between the
offerer, between the priest and God himself. all have their portion,
all have their part and God's part, God's portion is that rich
part, that fatty part, those inward parts as we see there
at the beginning of chapter three and no man not the offerer neither the priest
was permitted to take those parts that were exclusively God's portion. Here in the 7th chapter, verse
20, the Lord speaks to Moses saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of
sheep, or of goats. And the fat of the beast that
dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts,
may be used in any other use, but ye shall in no wise eat of
it. For whosoever eateth the fat
of the beast of which men offer an offering made by fire unto
the Lord, even that soul that eateth it shall be cut off from
his people. Moreover, ye shall eat no manner
of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beasts, in any of your
dwellings, whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of
blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people." The
fat and the blood, these things belong exclusively to God. And so at the end of that portion
that we read in chapter 3, "...it shall be a perpetual statute
for your generations throughout all your dwellings that ye eat
neither fat nor blood, that's God's fortune. And how important
it is, the importance of the inward path, how it sets before
us that which is real in religion, all true desire for God, where
does it spring from? It springs from so deep within
us, that's God's fortune. The sacrifice of God The broken
spirit, says David, the broken, the contrite heart, thou wilt
not despise. We need to come then and from
that deep within us we need to seek to express something of
our desire towards God, our longings towards Him. All my desire is
before this, says the Psalmist, and my groaning is not heard
from thee. to have that real fellowship
with God. We don't just want the externals
of religion, but we want that which comes from the very depths
of our souls, and we want to give that to God. We want to
know that our communion with Him is a real communion, that
this God is our God, that we are His children. All the sacrificing of the peace offering, and all
that it sets before us, of the great work that the Lord Jesus
Christ has accomplished, and not only the work, but the consequence,
the result, the outcome, that there can be for the sinner a
blessed partaking, of these things, of feeding upon all that Christ
is and all that Christ has done. The flesh of the sacrifice of
his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that
it is offered. Oh the Lord, help us then to
come as we anticipate now, the Church coming together around
the table and there that we might truly be those who in a spiritual
manner are enabled to feed upon Christ who is our great peace
sacrifice. May the Lord grant his blessing
for his namesake. Let us join together in the singing
of hymn number 125. The tune is Boylston, number
12. or wash away the sin. But Christ,
the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of
nobler name and richer blood than they. Oh, the blood of peace on weary
shoulders slain Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash
away the stain But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, takes all our
sins away, a sacrifice of noble name and richer blood than vain. My fate would lay her hand on
the dead of night, While like a penitent I stand, and there
confess my sin. My soul looks back to see the
burdens out it's there when hanging on the accursed tree. and hopes of guilt was dead. Believing we rejoiced to see
the curse removed. We bless the Lamb with cheerful
voice and sing His bleeding love. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make His face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee. give thee peace. Amen. Mm-hmm. Thank you. Yeah. Yes, I didn't mean to interrupt,
but it turns out that the prayers are meant to be. Yeah. Yes. Sorry, I didn't mean to
push you away.