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Scripture Reading: Lev. 7:11-21, 28-34
IV. Presenting Christ as the peace offering to the Father:
E. The enjoyment of the peace offering:
1. The offering priest’s portion:
а. One cake out of each of the following as a heave offering unto Jehovah — Christ in His humanity as nourishment in ascension to the serving one — Lev. 7:14:
1) Unleavened, perforated, thin cakes mingled with oil — Christ living a crucified life mingled with the Spirit and easy to be contacted and received — v. 12a.
2) Unleavened, hollow wafers anointed with oil — Christ living a humble life under the anointing of the Spirit — v. 12b; Phil. 2:7-8.
3) Cakes of fine flour saturated and mingled with oil — Christ living a fine human life saturated and mingled with the Spirit — Lev. 7:12c.
4) Leavened bread, signifying the sinfulness of the offerer and the offering priest as a reminder to them — v. 13.
b. The right thigh as a heave offering unto Jehovah — the power of Christ in ascension for the strengthening of the serving one — vv. 32-34.
2. The priesthood’s portion — the breast as a wave offering before Jehovah — the love of Christ in resurrection for nourishment to all the priests — vv. 30-31, 34.
3. The offerer’s portion:
а. The flesh of the cattle — the supply of Christ — vv. 15-18:
1) Of the peace offering for thanksgiving (of emotion) — good for eating for one day — v. 15.
2) Of the peace offering for a vow or a freewill offering (of the will) — good for eating for two days — vv. 16-18.
b. Cakes of all four kinds as described in 1), 2), 3), and 4), under 2a — Christ in His humanity as food to His offerer — vv. 12-13.
4. The congregation’s portion — vv. 19-21:
а. The flesh of the cattle — the supply of Christ for nourishment.
b. Under the condition of cleanness — 1 Cor. 5:8-11, 13b.
In this lesson we want to continue our fellowship concerning the enjoyment of the peace offering. We have seen that God’s portion of the peace offering is mainly of two things: the blood and the fat. We have to realize that these two things are of great significance. This is because the Bible reveals that our relationship with God is always based upon three of His attributes: His righteousness, His holiness, and His glory. According to the whole Bible, the relationship we have with God must be based upon or built on these three divine attributes.
The whole book of Romans is constructed with these three elements, or attributes. The first section of Romans is concerning justification, and justification is according to God’s righteousness. Then the second section of Romans covers the matter of sanctification, and sanctification is by the holiness of God. The third section of Romans concerns glorification. We have been justified, we are now being sanctified, and some day we will be glorified with God’s glory. Romans is constructed with God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory because it is a book that shows us the real relationship between God and us. This relationship is based upon and built on God’s righteousness for justification, God’s holiness for sanctification, and God’s glory for glorification. When these three things of God are taken care of in a good way, then there is no problem in our relationship with God.
All the offerings in their reality are for our relationship with God, so in these offerings, the crucial items to God are the blood and the fat. The blood meets the requirements of God’s righteousness and holiness, and it also maintains God’s glory. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The cleansing power of the blood keeps God’s glory from being insulted by sin. Instead of expressing God in His glory, man expresses sin and his sinful self. Hence, man falls short of God’s glory. This falling short of God’s glory and expression is sin. The blood cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7) and thus maintains the glory of God.
Then there is the need of the fat on the positive side to satisfy God’s desire unto God’s glory. The fat is to satisfy God’s desire, whereas the blood is to meet His requirements. The fat signifies Christ’s inward riches for God’s satisfaction according to His glory and up to the standard of His glory. God’s satisfaction issues in God’s glory. This implies that the fat fulfills God’s purpose. The fat is the inward riches of the cattle offered as a sacrifice, and this signifies the riches of the inward life of Christ. This life satisfies God the Father and fulfills God’s eternal purpose.
Also, this life has the abundance of riches, which preserves the inward functions, typified by the liver and the kidneys. The inward functions are all preserved, protected, and covered by the riches of life. According to our own experiences, we can realize this and testify to this. If we are short of the riches of life, our inward functions become rough, numb, and dull. The more riches of life we have, the more our inward functions become so tender, fresh, new, and living. This shows us that the riches of the inward life of the Lord Jesus preserved His inward functions for them to be so tender and fresh to the Father. This all satisfies the Father’s desire unto His glory.
Thus, we can see that by the blood and the fat of the peace offering, God’s requirements are taken care of, and God’s desire is satisfied. Then nothing insults God’s glory, but instead God is expressed in His glory. Actually, the blood and the fat should be the essential elements of our service today, with the blood taking care of all God’s requirements and the fat taking care of God’s desire unto His glory.
Leviticus 7:12 through 14 says, “If he presents it for a thanksgiving, then he shall present with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil and saturated cakes of fine flour mingled with oil. With cakes of leavened bread he shall present his offering with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving. And from it he shall present one out of each offering as a heave offering to Jehovah; it shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings.” Out of the many cakes offered, one of each kind had to be set apart and heaved unto God as a heave offering. This became the portion of the serving priest.
All the cakes are types of Christ in His humanity, and these became a heave offering to Jehovah. This shows that Christ in His humanity becomes nourishment in ascension to us, the serving ones.
The unleavened, perforated, thin cakes mingled with oil signify Christ living a crucified life mingled with the Spirit and easy to be contacted and received (v. 12a). The thin cakes were easy to eat, meaning that Christ is easy to be contacted and received. If a cake is too thick, it is hard to eat. These cakes were also perforated, pierced through. This indicates the dealing of the cross and signifies the crucified life.
The four Gospels show us that the Lord’s life on this earth was “full of holes.” His life was a perforated life, a crucified life. He was living a life that was always pierced through by some sufferings. Furthermore, the four Gospels show us that Christ was easy to be contacted and received, as typified by the thinness of the unleavened cakes. These cakes were mingled with oil, signifying that Christ was mingled with the Spirit.
The second kind of cake was the unleavened, hollow wafers anointed with oil (v. 12b). The Lord in His human life on this earth was very hollow, which means that He was poor in spirit; He was humble (Phil. 2:7-8). He lived such a humble life under the anointing of the Spirit. The mingling of the Spirit was within Him, and the anointing of the Spirit was upon Him.
In the four Gospels we can see these two aspects of the Lord Jesus’ life. His life was on the one hand mingled with the Spirit. When He was twelve years old in the temple, we can see the mingling within Him but not the anointing upon Him (Luke 2:40-52). But in Luke 4 we can see the anointing. In verse 18 the Lord quoted from Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me...” By reading the four Gospels, we can see that some instances of the Lord’s life show a life mingled with the Spirit, and others show a life under the anointing of the Spirit.
The fine flour always signifies the Lord’s fine and balanced human life. It was so even; it was not coarse or unbalanced. His human life was composed of and was constituted with the element of fine flour. These cakes of fine flour were saturated and mingled with oil (Lev. 7:12c). Being saturated is deeper than being mingled. You may have something mingled, and yet it may not be saturated. The anointing is without, the mingling is within, and the saturating is the soaking and penetrating of the oil into the fine flour. This shows us how detailed the Bible is. The anointing, mingling, and saturating tell us that the Lord’s human living on this earth was not only outwardly under the Spirit but also mingled with the Spirit to the extent that His whole human element was saturated and soaked with the Spirit.
Leviticus 7:13 says, “With cakes of leavened bread he shall present his offering with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving.” The leavened bread here according to typology is a reminder that both the offerer and the conducting priest are still sinful.
The portion of the offering priest was also the right thigh as a heave offering to Jehovah (vv. 32-34). The right side in the Bible always indicates the highest position. The right thigh as a heave offering signifies the power of Christ in ascension, the power of the One who is in the highest position, seated at the right hand of God.
Resurrection mainly refers to life. Ascension refers to power. On the day of resurrection, the Lord breathed the Spirit into the disciples; that was the Spirit of life (John 20:22). Then on the day of Pentecost in His ascension, He poured out the Spirit of power, which was symbolized by the mighty wind (Acts 2:2). The Spirit of life is breath, and the Spirit of power is the mighty wind. The breath gives life, and the wind is powerful. The day of resurrection was a day of breath, a day of life, but the day of Pentecost was a day of wind, a day of power.
The right thigh was offered as a heave offering. This indicates the power of Christ in His ascension for the strengthening of the serving one. Therefore, the two main portions for the enjoyment of the priests who conduct the offering are the cakes for their nourishment and the right thigh for their strengthening. This means that in our service we need the nourishment and the power. We need the cakes and the right thigh. We need the cakes typifying the crucified human life of Jesus, the humble human life of Jesus, and the saturated human life of Jesus as our nourishment for our service, and we also need the right thigh to empower us for our service.
The priesthood’s portion refers to the portion for the body of the priests. The word priesthood has two meanings. It means the priestly service, the priestly ministry, and also the priestly body, the corporate body of priests. Here the priesthood refers to the priestly body.
The priesthood’s portion, the portion for the whole body of priests, was the breast as a wave offering before Jehovah (Lev. 7:30-31, 34). For the heave offering, the preposition is unto; that is, it is heaved unto Jehovah. For the wave offering, the preposition is before; that is, it is waved before Jehovah. The Lord Jesus was before the Father in His resurrection and unto the Father in His ascension. The breast as a wave offering before Jehovah signifies the love of Christ in resurrection for nourishment to all the priests. Since we are the priests, we can enjoy Christ’s love in His resurrection, the love in life. Of course, love is not a matter of power in ascension. Love is a matter of life in resurrection.
The flesh of the cattle signifies the rich supply of Christ as our nourishment (vv. 15-18).
The meat of the cattle of the peace offering for thanksgiving was good for only one day (v. 15). It could last only one day because the motive of this offering was shallow. It was presented out of the offerer’s emotion, so it did not last very long. Our experience testifies of this. Sometimes we offer something to the Lord out of our emotions, but within a short time it disappears.
The meat of the cattle of the peace offering for a vow or a freewill offering (of the will) was good for eating for two days (vv. 16-18). The peace offering for thanksgiving was something emotional, whereas the one for a vow was something of the will and was stronger and deeper. We need to help the saints to realize that an emotional offering is good, but it does not last too long. We need to go deeper to present a freewill offering. Because He is the Lord and we are His redeemed, we should do something in a voluntary way. There is no emotion involved here but something strongly motivated from our will. This offering can last for two days because it is stronger.
The four kinds of cakes that we have described above signify Christ in His humanity as food to His offerer (vv. 12-13). They are the portion of enjoyment to the offerer. The more we offer, the more food we have.
The congregation’s portion for their enjoyment was the flesh of the cattle, signifying the supply of Christ for nourishment, under the condition of cleanness (vv. 19-21; 1 Cor. 5:8-11, 13b). The entire congregation enjoyed the meat of the cattle, but they did not have a share of the cakes. The condition for the entire congregation to enjoy, to participate in, the peace offering was that they had to be clean. First Corinthians 5 points out that today we are keeping the real Feast of Unleavened Bread. We need to keep this feast without any leaven, that is, without any sinful things. Whoever is living in sinful things should be cut off from the fellowship of the church, the Body. Such ones have no share in the enjoyment of the peace offering. This strongly indicates that today any saint who is still involved in sinful things cannot have the fellowship of the Lord’s table. He has to be cut off from the fellowship of the Body.
