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Scripture Reading: Lev. 3:1-17; 7:23, 25-27, 33
IV. Presenting Christ as the peace offering to the Father:
E. The enjoyment of the peace offering:
1. God’s portion:
а. The blood — Lev. 3:2, 8, 13, 17; 7:26-27, 33:
1) To satisfy His righteous requirements.
2) To maintain His holy position.
3) To keep His glory — cf. Rom. 3:23.
b. The fat — Lev. 3:3-4, 9-10, 14-17; 7:23, 25, 33:
1) The inward riches for His satisfaction according to His glory.
2) The protection of the inward parts.
c. The two kidneys — the most tender of the inward parts — 3:4, 10, 15.
d. The appendage on the liver — vv. 4, 10, 15:
1) The additional inward riches.
2) The covering of the inward part.
e. The fat tail of the sheep or the lamb — the additional riches — v. 9.
f. A satisfying fragrance made by fire from offering items b through e as food to God — vv. 5, 11, 16.
In the previous lesson we saw the portions of the peace offering. In this lesson we want to begin to fellowship about the enjoyment of the peace offering. For this lesson we need to read all of Leviticus 3. I feel that we need to help the saints to read this chapter very carefully, and we need to ask them to pay their full attention to two things: the blood and the fat. We have seen that the appendage on the liver is also God’s portion from the peace offering. The appendage is a part of the fat. In addition to this, there are the two kidneys and the fat tail. Actually, the fat tail is additional fat (v. 9).
In this lesson we want to cover God’s portion of the enjoyment of the peace offering. God’s portion first is the blood (vv. 2, 8, 13, 17; 7:26-27, 33). The fat is for God, and the blood is also for God. Men were not allowed to eat the fat or to drink the blood. Leviticus 3:17 says, “It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places that you shall not eat any fat or any blood.” This verse strongly charges that no fat or blood should be taken by anyone.
The blood satisfies God’s righteous requirements. God needs the blood. God desires to have fellowship with His chosen people, but He is righteous. His righteous requirements will not allow Him to have fellowship with His chosen people as long as they have sins. Therefore, the blood is required. We may say that our sin or our sins require the blood, but actually, it is not so accurate to say this. The most we can say is that our sin or our sins need the blood to solve their problem. But the requirements are not on our side; the requirements are on God’s side. God’s righteous requirements need the blood. So the blood first satisfies God’s righteous requirements.
Righteousness is a condition, whereas holiness is a position. The blood is needed to satisfy God’s righteousness, and it is also needed to maintain God’s holiness, God’s holy position. If God came to fellowship with us sinners without the blood, this would overthrow His position. He is the holy God, and His position is altogether holy, separated from anything common.
The requirements of God’s righteousness, God’s holiness, and God’s glory all need to be met. Glory is the expression of God in His dignity. God’s righteous condition should be satisfied, God’s holy position should be maintained, and God’s glory, that is, His expressed dignity, should be kept. The blood of Christ satisfies God’s righteous requirements, maintains God’s holy position, and keeps God’s glorious dignity, so the blood is God’s portion.
The fat is also God’s portion (vv. 3-4, 9-10, 14-17; 7:23, 25, 33). The fat signifies the inward riches for God’s satisfaction according to His glory. This corresponds with the revelation in the New Testament of the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8). Also, in John 10:10 the Lord said that He came that we may have life abundantly. The fat signifies the abundance of life.
According to the record of Leviticus 3, the fat is upon the inward parts. Thus, we may say that the inward riches are the covering for and the protection of the inward parts. The inward parts of the peace offering signify the inward parts, the inward being, of Christ (Phil. 1:8). The four Gospels show us what was within the Lord Jesus while He was living, walking, and working on this earth. By reading the four Gospels, we can realize that the Lord’s thought, His desire, His intention, His love, His likes and dislikes, His emotions, and all the things within Him were very tender and very rich toward God and in the presence of God. By reading the biography of the Lord Jesus in the four Gospels, we can realize that within Him were the rich and tender inward parts. All His inward parts are very tender, very rich, and very precious.
In the Lord’s table meeting, after the remembrance of the Lord, we should offer the Lord as the peace offering to the Father. What we offer should include, or comprise, the inward parts of Christ. Now we need to consider whether we offer an objective peace offering or a subjective peace offering. In other words, do we offer something produced merely by God or produced by ourselves? According to the typology, the peace offerings were offered by the producers. They produced the cattle and the other items of their offerings. This shows that we have to labor on Christ as the good land.
Of course, according to the Old Testament, some people did not labor but bought something to offer. They took advantage of others’ labor. But these offerings that were bought were not as sweet as those produced by the people’s labor. The best and sweetest offerings are those produced by ourselves. If I do not labor on Christ, yet I offer the Christ you labor on, this is not so good. I must offer what I have labored on. I must offer what is produced by my labor, and you must offer what is produced by your labor.
The fat on the inward parts offered to God should be something produced by us. In other words, if we do not have the kind of tender, rich, and precious intention, will, desire, and purpose in our daily life that Christ had, it will be hard for us to present Christ to the Father in this way at the Lord’s table meeting. If in our daily walk we are really one with the Lord in our intention toward the Father, in our concept, in our thoughts, in our likes and dislikes, in our desire, in our intent, and in our purpose, then these things become our experience. Then we are really one with the Lord in His inward parts toward the Father. If this is the case, we have the reality of the inward parts and the fat upon the inward parts of the peace offering when we come to the Lord’s table meeting.
Those in the Pentecostal movement care only for their power, their revivals, and for something great. Nearly everything with them is rough and outward. For the most part, they do not care for the inward parts of Christ, the inward being of Christ, as typified by the kidneys and the fat upon the inward parts. In the Pentecostal movement there is nothing hidden, nothing covered. But when we read the four Gospels, we can see that the life of Jesus was very much an inward matter. Within Him the divine riches were concealed, hidden. If we are outward like those in Pentecostalism, we will not have the inward parts when we come to offer the peace offering.
Now we need to consider what the two kidneys signify (Lev. 3:4, 10, 15). Of all the inward parts, the kidneys are among the smallest. Furthermore, the kidneys are the most tender of the inward parts. This indicates that we need some small yet most tender things within us toward God the Father. Within us God does not want big things. Within us the Father wants small things that are very tender and precious. The kidneys are protected by the fat, which means that the small yet tender and precious things within us toward the Father are protected by the inward riches.
What we are speaking of here is altogether based upon our experiences. If we do not have the rich experiences of life, we cannot have the small, tender, and precious things within us toward God the Father. With the inward parts, which are so sweet to the Father, the size means nothing, but the quantity does. The more fat there is, the better. With the life of the Lord Jesus in the four Gospels, there were the riches, the abundance in quantity, but there was no greatness in size.
An illustration of this can be seen in John 7. In this chapter the Lord’s brothers in the flesh told Him to go into Judea and manifest Himself to the world (vv. 3-4), but the Lord responded by saying, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready” (v. 6). Such an instance shows us the tenderness, the preciousness, and the riches of life within the Lord. His life was not one of a great work, a great career, or a great activity. Although He was the Son of the almighty God, He was willing to be limited in not doing anything. His brothers in the flesh challenged Him to manifest Himself publicly, to do something great to make a name, but He said that His time had not yet come. He liked to be small. In His life with the Father, there was an inward restriction. This shows us the kidneys of the peace offering offered to the Father with the smallness, the tenderness, and the preciousness.
No human word can adequately express this revelation, but this instance in John 7 shows us the Lord’s inward being as typified by the kidneys of the peace offering with the fat around them. If we are great, spiritual giants according to the way of today’s Christianity, we will not be able to offer the fat with the two kidneys. If we read the four Gospels to see the life of Jesus, we can see His inward being as typified by the inward parts of the peace offering. We can see that His inward being was rich in life with something tender and small, yet so precious to God the Father. This fully corresponds with our experiences. This indicates that strength and power signified by the thigh do not satisfy the Father. The Father desires the inward parts of Christ signified by the fat and the kidneys.
The appendage on the liver (Lev. 3:4, 10, 15), not the liver itself, was offered to God as the additional inward riches and the covering of this inward part. I believe that the liver was not required because it was not as small as the kidneys. The appendage on the liver is thinner than the fat surrounding the other parts. Of course, an appendage cannot be that thick. This means that the liver is not only bigger than the kidneys but also not as greatly protected by the fat. But regardless of how thin the appendage is, it is still the fat, and the fat is required as God’s portion. This shows that we must have the riches of life to protect and to keep our experiences of the inward parts of Christ, which are so precious to God the Father. Within us we may have some experiences of the inward being of Christ, but we may not have that much of the riches of life. The appendage on the liver is thin, but it still functions as the additional inward riches to cover the liver.
The fat tail of the sheep or the lamb was also God’s portion of the peace offering as additional riches (v. 9). With the sheep or the lamb, the riches of life as the fat tail are outside of the inward parts. This indicates that the sheep or the lamb, according to the fat, is better than the ox because the ox’s fat tail is not accepted. It is not tender enough.
The fat, the kidneys, the appendage on the liver, and the fat tail all indicate the riches of life inwardly with the tenderness, the smallness, and the preciousness. If we want to do a great work, make a great name, or have a great success right away, there can be no inward parts in our offering to God. In other words, there can be no riches stored, concealed, or hidden inwardly. There can be nothing small, tender, and precious for God the Father.
I do not have the human language to adequately express this, but I would repeatedly refer you to the life of the Lord Jesus in the four Gospels. The life in the Gospels is sweeter and more tender than the life revealed in Acts. The life in the Gospels has more fat and inward parts. I am not depreciating the life in Acts, but nothing can compare with the life of the Lord Jesus Himself revealed in the Gospels. The life in the Gospels is richer, more tender, more precious, and yet smaller. Which do you appreciate more — the three thousand saved on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 or the three disciples on the high mountain with the Lord Jesus in Matthew 17? Do you want to be among the three or merely among the three thousand? Pentecostal preachers would prefer the three thousand. But what happened with the three thousand was not even as high in a certain sense as what took place with the five thousand who were fed by the Lord in the Gospels (Matt. 14:14-21). This shows that in the Gospels there are more inward parts with more fat.
The portions of the peace offering that are God’s portion become a satisfying fragrance made by fire as food to God (Lev. 3:5, 11, 16). It is a satisfying fragrance made by fire from offering the fat, the kidneys, the appendage on the liver, and the fat tail. These four items burned by fire produced the fragrance, and this fragrance was food to God (vv. 5, 11, 16). This was God’s enjoyment of the peace offering. Whether or not we can offer such a peace offering depends upon our daily walk.
