Leviticus 3 and 7
THE Lord Jehovah is emphatically called the GOD OF PEACE. He gave His only begotten Son to make peace between guilty sinners and Himself. We have not now to seek terms of reconciliation, or to make search for an acceptable offering, for God has provided all in the “Lamb without spot;” who is now, preached by the Holy Ghost as having made peace through the blood of His cross.” The Lord Jesus is both the Offering and Offerer, for He gave Himself for our sins― He “offered Himself without spot to God”―He is the infinitely acceptable Peace-offering, and therefore the everlastingly efficacious Peace-maker. Immanuel is most truly the Panics OF PEACE, whose entrance into this world was celebrated by the multitude of the heavenly host, singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and ON EARTH PEACE, good-will toward men.” How wonderful that God the Judge of all, the holy and just God, should be the Author, and sole source of peace to the conscience of the sinner and ungodly! But so it is. The Son of God delighted to make known the “gospel of peace,” and to dispense glad tidings of good things to the distressed and guilty sinner; and all His ways were but the overflowing of a full cup of peace to all believers― “Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.”
None could make peace with God, but the Holy One of God― “the man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts”―and He alone could satisfy all the demands of divine justice, and the sternest requirements of perfect holiness, by virtue of what He Himself was. The unspotted and undefiled Saviour—God manifest in the flesh, infinite as to capacity, perfect as to purity, within and without, ―the Eternal Life which was with the Father―was able to offer to God an all-sufficient ransom, and drink up all the suffering and wrath our sins justly merited at the hands of God. And this He did (which none other could) when He offered Himself “once for all” without the gate. It was there the Peace-offering was killed, there the blood was sprinkled, and there the fat, &c., (the inward richness and value of the victim,) was tried by fire, duly estimated, and found to be a sweet savor (a savor of rest) unto the Lord. The unalterable tale of redeeming love, that Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, was there told out. From that fountain of living waters, all the ransomed myriads drink eternal blessings. From that altar they learn the new song, and, in the perpetual remembrance and ceaseless apprehension of its everlasting value, they will sing before the throne, “Thou art worthy, for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood,” &c. It is in the midst of the throne of heaven that the Lamb slain is now known―accepted and glorified at God’s right hand. After having offered one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down. Rejected by earth, He was welcomed in heaven, highly exalted, and crowned with glory and Honor. Hence the narrative of the Peace-offering concludes “a sweet savor unto the Lord.” Here God can rest concerning His people, and here the soul of a believing sinner rests also, as we sometimes sing,
“Here we rest, in wonder viewing
All our sins on Jesus laid;
And behold redemption flowing
From the sacrifice He made.”
God is now, therefore, “preaching peace by Jesus Christ” ―an already accomplished peace―both to Jews and Gentiles: peace by faith, through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Rom. 5:1,)―peace with God, who justifies from all things through what Christ has done (Acts 13:39); peace in the heart and mind, because God declares that the blood of (the offering) Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin-it once and forever purges the conscience, which nothing else can do (Heb. 10:2).
Peace, peace,
O how sweet a thing is peace!
Blessed it is thus to know God in the slain and unblemished offering! It is not a question of attainment on our part, but a past transaction, a settled fact, known to faith, that Christ has made peace, and that God has accepted it with delight on our behalf: it was most truly a sweet savor unto the Lord.
In the burnt-offering, all the offering was consumed upon the altar, because it represented Jehovah’s righteous Servant wholly, unceasingly, and unreservedly, surrendering Himself unto God, even unto death, that by the obedience of One many might be made righteous. Not so, however, the peace-offering; but, as we have seen, God had (so to speak) His part, the worshipper fed on his part, while the wave breast and heave shoulder afforded food for the priests; thus showing us, very blessedly, the position of fellowship with God and with one another which the accomplished peace of the Lamb slain has introduced us into. Oh, to be able, by the Holy Ghost, to realize more of this true fellowship! What unfathomable depths of love are here! The far off made nigh by the blood of Christ! What a nearness! What an intimacy of holy union. Infinite love providing a perfect offering to establish an everlasting covenant of peace between God and sinful men. Hence the Spirit’s pledge, “Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” Happy those, who, in the clear consciousness of having believingly laid their hands on this all-sufficient Offering, can say,
Peace with our holy God,
Peace from the fear of death,
Peace through the Saviour’s precious blood,
Sweet peace, the fruit of faith!
It is well to observe, that fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and with one another, is the result of the accepted Peace-offering; and that fellowship consists in the true estimate of this peace. It is entirely spiritual, and its experimental enjoyment is the communion of the Holy Ghost, who takes of Christ’s and spews unto us. It is God, and Christ, and the purged worshipper, finding rest and satisfaction in the Peace-offering―thinking of, estimating, and enjoying the work of peace together. This is fellowship. God is glorified, and the sinner saved. Sin is blotted out, and the sinner justified. All is peace. “Mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” God finds peace in the offering touching our sins; He rests peacefully toward us in the sweet-smelling savor. Christ sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied; not one is lost of all that the Father gave Him. At His own supper with His disciples, the very Sacrifice for sin, the Offerer, the Priest who entered into heaven by His own blood, gave thanks, and dipped with His disciples in the same dish: and, doubtless, when we assemble in His precious name, thus to remember Him, He not only says to us, “PEACE be unto you,” while chewing us His hands and His side, and welcomes us with, “Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved;” but He Himself, in the unchangeableness of His own perfect love, cannot but dip with us again in the dish, and take peculiar delight in the glorious character of the peace He has made. Well might He say to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I GIVE unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you.” Wondrous peace! God and Christ and the believer feeding together, finding refreshment and rest in the same blessed fountain, secured forever through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant.
May we have grace, beloved, to eat the Peace-offering as purged and welcomed worshippers: and know the joy of feeding on Him who rose again from the dead on the third day.