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Scripture Reading: Lev. 3:1-5, 6-7, 11, 12, 16; 7:11-13
IV. Presenting Christ as the peace offering to the Father:
А. The peace offering being the center of the basic offerings:
1. From God’s side based upon:
а. The burnt offering — Lev. 1.
b. The meal offering — Lev. 2.
2. From our side based upon:
а. The trespass offering — Lev. 5.
b. The sin offering — Lev. 4.
B. The required peace offering:
1. An ox from the herd — 3:1.
2. A sheep from the flock — v. 6.
3. A lamb — v. 7.
4. A goat — v. 12.
C. The peace offering for thanksgiving — 7:12-13:
1. With unleavened cakes mingled with oil.
2. With unleavened wafers anointed with oil.
3. With cakes of fine flour saturated and mingled with oil.
4. In addition, with leavened bread.
Focus: When the problem of our trespasses and sin is solved by Christ as the trespass offering and the sin offering, and when God and we are satisfied with Christ as the burnt offering and the meal offering, we can offer Christ to God the Father as the peace offering for our mutual enjoyment in peace.
The presentation of Christ as the peace offering to God the Father as seen in Leviticus can be fulfilled in reality at the Lord’s table meeting. In this presentation there are four main parties: God, the offerer, the serving priest, and the congregation of cleansed people. The peace offering is for the satisfaction of all four parties. The fat and the inward parts of the offering were God’s portion (3:3-5). The flesh, the meat, of the offering along with four kinds of cakes were the portion of the offerer (7:12-13, 15-18). The four kinds of cakes and the right thigh as a heave offering were the portion of the serving priest (vv. 14, 32-34), and the wave breast, typifying Christ as love in resurrection, was for all the priests (vv. 30-31, 34). Finally, the congregation’s portion was the flesh of the cattle under the condition of cleanness (vv. 19-21).
This shows that as long as we come to the meeting, we can enjoy Christ as the portion common to all the saints. But if we offer Christ in the meeting and function as a serving priest, we enjoy a special portion. When we open up our mouth and function in the meeting, we are the serving priests presenting Christ to God the Father for His enjoyment and our enjoyment. Without this worship of the Father in the Lord’s table meeting, the presentation of the peace offering to God cannot be fulfilled.
We have to stress one point, which all the saints at the Lord’s table should know. This point is that there is no place other than the Lord’s table meeting where the fulfillment of the peace offering can be accomplished. The fulfillment of the peace offering must be in the Lord’s table meeting. After we eat the bread and drink the cup, the Lord takes the lead to come to the Father with all of us. He declares the Father’s name to us and sings hymns of praise to the Father through us and with us (Heb. 2:12). At the same time, we offer Him as the peace offering to the Father. Then we and the Father, including all the serving ones, the offerers, and the congregation, enjoy Christ as the peace offering in a mutual way, not only in the presence of God the Father but also with God the Father.
There are five basic offerings in the book of Leviticus: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. The peace offering is in the middle, with two offerings before it and after it. Thus, it is the center of the basic offerings. It would be helpful to read the book entitled Christ as the Reality to see in more detail the significance of the five basic offerings in the book of Leviticus and the relation of the peace offering to the other four offerings.
From God’s side the peace offering is based upon the burnt offering (Lev. 1) and the meal offering (Lev. 2).
From our side the peace offering is based upon the trespass offering (Lev. 5) and the sin offering (Lev. 4). The peace offering is the center of the basic offerings. From God’s side, you have the burnt offering and the meal offering for the satisfaction both to God and to man. The experience of the peace offering is based mainly upon the burnt offering and the meal offering. Then from our side, the peace offering is based upon the trespass offering and the sin offering. On our side, there is the need of the trespass offering and the sin offering to take care of our trespasses and our sin. Then we can have peace with God.
The required peace offering was either an ox from the herd (3:1), a sheep from the flock (v. 6), a lamb (v. 7), or a goat (v. 12). Here we have to tell the saints that Christ in Himself is the same, but Christ in our experience becomes different. Some experience Him in a rich way as a great ox, some experience Him as a sheep, some experience Him in a little way as a little lamb, and some even experience Him in a lesser way as a goat. The differences in the peace offering are not in Christ Himself but in our experience of Him. We offer Christ according to the measure and depth of our experience of Christ.
The peace offering is for our thanksgiving to the Father (7:12-13). Because we are grateful to God the Father, we offer something of Christ as the peace offering to Him. We offer Christ as either an ox, a sheep, a lamb, or a goat with unleavened cakes mingled with oil. This is very meaningful. These unleavened cakes were thin cakes with holes. This means that they were easy to partake of and enjoy. The peace offering was also offered with unleavened, hollow wafers anointed with oil and with cakes of fine flour saturated and mingled with oil. The fine flour mingled with oil signifies Christ’s humanity mingled with the Spirit. Christ’s humanity mingled with divinity becomes a cake for our satisfaction.
When we offer the required peace offering for our thanksgiving, we need to add these cakes and wafers, which signify our experiences of Christ. This means that we have to experience Christ in these three ways: Christ as the unleavened cakes mingled with oil, with the Spirit; Christ as the unleavened wafers anointed with oil, with the Spirit; and Christ as the cakes of fine flour saturated and mingled with oil, with the Spirit.
In addition to these cakes, the offerer also presented the peace offering to God with leavened bread. The leavened bread indicates that the presentation of Christ as the peace offering is initiated by us. Regardless of how spiritual we are, anything initiated by us has the element of sin, the element of leaven.
Leviticus 23 speaks of the Feast of Pentecost, in which two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven were offered to God (v. 17). These two loaves signify the two parts of the church as the Body of Christ, the Jewish part and the Gentile part, offered to God on the day of Pentecost. The two loaves were baked with leaven because both parts of the church are still sinful. In Christ Himself there is no leaven, but because we initiate this kind of thanksgiving offering, we bring in something unclean. This should help us to see that we should not have any trust in ourselves. Even in offering the peace offering for our thanksgiving toward God the Father, we are not clean, because we are still in the flesh.
The focus of this lesson is as follows: when the problem of our trespass and sin is solved by Christ as the trespass offering and the sin offering, and when God and we are satisfied with Christ as the burnt offering and the meal offering, we can offer Christ to God the Father as the peace offering for our mutual enjoyment in peace.
The peace offering can be offered only after two things take place. First, on our side the problem of our trespasses and sin should be solved by Christ as our trespass offering and as our sin offering. Second, God and we should be satisfied with Christ as the burnt offering and the meal offering. The burnt offering was fully for God, and the meal offering was for both God and man. When God and we are satisfied with Christ as the burnt offering and the meal offering, we can offer Christ as our peace offering for our mutual enjoyment in peace.
