Chapter 3:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Exodus Numbers
Leviticus 3
The
peace-offering, the communion of saints, based on what
Christ was and did
The peace-offering now
presents itself to our notice. It is the offering which
typifies to us the communion of saints, according to the
efficacy of the sacrifice, with God, with the priest who
has offered it in our behalf, with one another, and with
the whole body of the saints as priests to God. It comes
after those which presented to us the Lord Jesus Himself
in His devoting Himself to death, and His devotedness and
grace in His life, but even unto death, and the testing
of fire, that we may understand that all communion is
based on the acceptability and sweet odour of this
sacrifice; not only because the sacrifice was needed, but
because therein God had all His delight.
I have already remarked
that, when a sinner, that is a guilty person, approached,
the sin-offering came first; for the sin must be borne
and put away that he might approach as qualified to do so.
But, being cleansed and clean, he approaches; and so here,
according to the sweet savour of the offering of God, the
perfect acceptability of Christ, who knew no sin, but
consecrated Himself in a world of sin to God, that God
might be perfectly glorified—and His life also, that
all that God was in judgment might be also glorified—glorified
by man in His Person; and hence infinite favour flow
forth on them that were received and that came by Him.
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay
down my life that I might take it again." He does
not say here, because I have laid it down for the sheep;
that was rather the sin-offering. He speaks of the
positive excellence and value of His act; for in this Man
wrought all perfectness. In this all the majesty and
truth, the righteousness against sin, and love of God
were infinitely glorified in man, though much more than a
man, and, where poor estranged man had got by sin, in Him
who was made sin for us. "Now is the Son of man
glorified, and God is glorified in him." "By
man came death, by man came also the resurrection from
the dead." The evil which Satan had wrought was
infinitely more than remedied, in the scene where the
ruin was brought in; yea, by the means through which the
ruin was effected. If God was dishonoured in and by man,
He is a debtor in a certain sense to man in Jesus for the
full display of His best and most blessed glory: though
even this be all His gift to us, yet Christ making
Himself man has wrought it out. But all that Christ was
and did was infinitely acceptable to God; and in this we
have our communion—not in the sin-offering [
1]. Hence the peace-offerings follow
here at once, though, as I have remarked, the sin-offering
came first of all where the case of application arose.
The identification
of the offerer with the victim
The first act in the case
of the peace-offering was the presenting and killing it
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and
sprinkling the blood, which formed the basis of every
animal offering, the offerer being identified with the
victim by laying his hands on his head [
2].
The fat, God's
food of the offering
Next, all the fat,
especially of the inwards, was taken and burnt on the
altar of burnt-offering to the Lord. Fat and blood were
alike forbidden to be eaten. The blood was the life, and
necessarily belonged essentially to God; life was from
Him in an especial manner; but fat also was never to be
eaten but burnt, and so offered to God. The use of this
symbol, fat, is sufficiently familiar in the word. "Their
heart is fat as grease." "Jeshurun waxed fat
and kicked." "They are enclosed in their own
fat, with their mouth they speak proudly." It is the
energy and force of the inward will, the inwards of a man's
heart. Hence, where Christ expresses His entire
mortification, He declares "They could tell all His
bones; and, in Psalm 102, "By reason of the voice of
my groaning my bones cleave to my skin."
Jehovah's delight
in Jesus
But here, in Jesus, all
that in nature was of energy and force, all His inward
parts, were a burnt-offering to God, entirely sacrificed
and offered to Him for such a sweet savour. This was God's
food of the offering, "the food of the offering made
by fire unto Jehovah." In this Jehovah Himself found
His delight; His soul reposed in it, for surely it was
very good—good in the midst of evil—good in the
energy of offering to Him—good in perfect obedience.
If the eye of God passed,
as the dove of Noah, over this earth, swept by the deluge
of sin, nowhere, till Jesus was seen in it, could His eye
have rested in complacency and peace; there on Him it
could. Heaven, as to the expression of its satisfaction,
whatever its counsels, was closed till Jesus (the second
and perfect Man, the Holy One, He who offered Himself to
God, coming to do His will) was on earth. The moment He
presented Himself in public service, heaven opened, the
Holy Ghost descended to dwell in this His one resting-place
here, and the Father's voice, impossible now to be
withheld, declares from heaven, "This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Was this object (too
great, too excellent, for the silence of heaven and the
Father's love) to lose its excellence and its savour in
the midst of a world of sin? Far otherwise. It was there
its excellency was proved.
If He learned obedience by
the things which He suffered, the movement of every
spring of His heart was consecrated to God. He walked in
communion, honouring His Father in all—in His life
and in His death. Jehovah found continual delight in Him;
and above all, in Him in His death: the food of the
offering was there. Such was the great principle, but the
communion of our souls with this is further given to us.
The fat being burnt as a burnt-offering, the consecration
to God is pursued to its full point of acceptance and
grace.
The peace-offering
eaten by the priests, the offering priest, the offerer
and his friends
If we turn to the law of
the offerings, we shall find that the rest was eaten. The
breast was for Aaron and his sons, type of the whole
church; the right shoulder for the priest that sprinkled
the blood, more especially type of Christ, as the
offering priest; the rest of the animal was eaten by him
who presented it, and those invited by him. Thus there
was identity and communion with the glory and good
pleasure—with the delight—of Him to whom it was
offered, with the priesthood and the altar, which were
the instruments and means of the offering, with all God's
priests, and among those immediately taking part.
The same practice existed
among the heathen; hence the reasoning of the apostle as
to eating things offered to idols. So, alluding to the
sacrament of the Lord's supper, the purport of which is
strongly associated with this type, "Behold Israel
after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices
partakers of the altar?" And this was so much the
case, that in the desert, when it was practicable (and
the analogous order needful to maintain the principle was
established in the land), no one could eat of the flesh
of any animal unless he first brought it to the
tabernacle as an offering [
3]. We indeed should eat in the name of the
Lord Jesus, offering our sacrifices of thanksgivings, the
calves of our lips, and so consecrate all we partake of,
and ourselves in it, in communion with the Giver, and Him
who secures us in it; but here it was a proper sacrifice.
God and the
worshippers have the same subject of delight
Thus then the offering of
Christ, as a burnt-offering, is God's delight: His soul
delights and takes pleasure in it; it is of sweet savour
with Him. Before the Lord, at His table so to speak, the
worshippers, also coming by this perfect sacrifice, feed
on it also, have perfect communion with God in the same
delight in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, in Jesus
Himself thus offered, thus offering [
4] Himself—have the same subject of
delight as God, a common blessed joy in the excellency of
the work of redemption of Jesus. As parents have a common
joy in their offspring, enhanced by their communion in it,
so, as filled with the Spirit, and themselves redeemed by
Him, the worshippers have one mind with the Father in
their delight in the excellency of an offered Christ. And
is the Priest, who has ministered all this, the only one
excluded from the joy of it? No; He has His share also.
He who has offered it has part in the joy of redemption.
Further, the whole church of God must be embraced in it.
The joy of the
Redeemer
Jesus then, as priest,
finds a delight in the joy of communion between God and
the people, the worshippers, wrought and brought about by
His means—yea, of which He is the object. For what
is the joy of a Redeemer but the joy and communion, the
happiness, of His redeemed? Such then is all true worship
of the saints. It is joying in God through the means of
the redemption and offering of Jesus; yea, one mind with
God; joying with Him in the perfect excellency of this
pure and selfdevoted victim [
5], who has redeemed and reconciled them, and
given them this communion, with the assurance that this
their joy is the joy of Jesus Himself, who has wrought it
and given it to them. In heaven He shall gird Himself,
and make them sit down to meat, and come forth and serve
them.
The joy of the
redeemed
This joy of worship
necessarily associates itself also with the whole body of
the redeemed, viewed as in the heavenly places. Aaron and
his sons were to have their part also. Aaron and his sons
were ever the type of the church, not as Christ's body (that
was wholly hidden in the Old Testament) but viewed as the
whole body of its members, having title to enter into the
heavenly places, and offer incense—made priests to
God. For these were the patterns of things in the heavens,
and those who compose the church are the body of heavenly
priests to God. Hence worship to God, true worship,
cannot separate itself from the whole body of true
believers. I cannot really come with my sacrifice unto
the tabernacle of God, without finding necessarily there
the priests of the tabernacle. Without the one Priest all
is vain; for what without Jesus? But I cannot find Him
without His whole body of manifested people. The interest
of His heart takes them all in. God withal has His
priests, and I cannot approach Him but in the way which
He has ordained, and in association with, and in
recognition of, those whom He has placed around His house,
the whole body of those that are sanctified in Christ. He
who walks not in this spirit is in conflict with the
ordinance of God, and has no true peace-offering
according to God's institution.
Communion interrupted by defilement
of heart
But there were other
circumstances we must remark. First, none but those that
were clean could partake among the guests. We know that
moral cleansing has taken the place of the ceremonial.
"Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken
unto you." God has put no difference between us and
them, having purified their hearts by faith. Israelites
then partook of the peace-offerings; and if an Israelite
was unclean, through anything that defiled according to
the law of God, he could not eat while his defilement
continued.
Christians then, whose
hearts are purified by faith, having received the word
with joy, alone can worship really before God, having
part in the communion of saints; and if the heart is
defiled, that communion is interrupted. No person
apparently defiled has title to share in the worship and
communion of the church of God. It was a different thing,
remark, to be not an Israelite, and not clean. He who was
not an Israelite had never any part in the peace-offerings;
he could not come nigh the tabernacle. Uncleanness did
not prove he was no Israelite (on the contrary, this
discipline was exercised on Israelites only); but the
uncleanness incapacitated him from partaking, with those
that were clean, in the privileges of this communion; for
these peace-offerings, though enjoyed by the worshippers,
belonged to the Lord (chap. 7: 20, 21). The unclean had
no title there. True worshippers must worship the Father
in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. If worship and communion be by the Spirit,
it is evident that those only who have the Spirit of
Christ, and also have not grieved the Spirit (and thus
rendered the communion, which is by the Spirit,
impossible by the defilements of sin) can participate.
The leavened cakes
offered with the peace-offering a recognition of the evil
in man
Yet there was another part
of this type which seemed to contradict this, but which
indeed throws additional light on it. With the offerings
which accompanied this sacrifice, it was ordered (chap. 7:
13) that leavened cakes should be offered. For though
that which is unclean is to be excluded (that which can
be recognised as unclean), there is always a mixture of
evil in us, and so far in our worship itself. The leaven
is there (man cannot be without it); it may be a very
small part of the matter, not come in to the mind, as it
will be when the Spirit is not grieved, but it is there
where man is. Unleavened bread was there also, for Christ
is there, and the Spirit of Christ in us who are leavened,
for man is there.
True worship and
communion inseparable from Christ's perfect offering
There was another very
important direction in this worship [
6]. In the case of a vow, it might be eaten
the second day after the burning of the fat—Jehovah's
food of the offering; in the case of thanksgiving-offering,
it was to be eaten the same day This identified the
purity of the service of the worshippers with the
offering of the fat to God. So is it impossible to
separate true spiritual worship and communion from the
perfect offering of Christ to God. The moment our worship
separates itself from this, from its efficacy and the
consciousness of that infinite acceptability of the
offering of Christ to God—not the putting away of
sins, without that we could not approach at all, but its
intrinsic excellency as a burnt-offering, all burnt to
God as a sweet savour [
7] —it becomes carnal, and either a form,
or the delight of the flesh. If the peace-offering was
eaten separately from this offering of the fat, it was a
mere carnal festivity, or a form of worship, which had no
real communion with the delight and good pleasure of God,
and was worse than unacceptable—it was really
iniquity.
When the Holy Spirit leads
us into real spiritual worship, it leads us into
communion with God, into the presence of God; and then,
necessarily, all the infinite acceptability to Him of the
offering of Christ is present to our spirit. We are
associated with it: it forms an integral and necessary
part of our communion and worship. We cannot be in the
presence of God in communion without finding it there. It
is indeed the ground of our acceptance, as of our
communion.
Worship in the
flesh
Apart from this then our
worship falls back into the flesh; our prayers (or
praying well) form what is sometimes called a gift of
prayer, than which nothing often is more sorrowful (a
fluent rehearsal of known truths and principles, instead
of communion and the expression of praise and
thanksgiving in the joy of communion, and even of our
wants and desires in the unction of the Spirit); our
singing, pleasure of the ear, taste in music, and
expressions in which we sympathise—all a form in the
flesh, and not communion in the Spirit. All this is evil;
the Spirit of God owns it not; it is not in spirit and in
truth; it is really iniquity.
Degrees of
spiritual energy in worship
There was a difference in
the value of the various kinds of this offering: in the
case of a vow it might be eaten the second day; in the
case of thanksgiving only the first. This typified a
different degree of spiritual energy. When our worship is
the fruit of unfeigned and single-eyed devotedness, it
can sustain itself longer, through our being filled with
the Spirit, in the reality of communion, and our worship
be acceptable—the savour of that sacrifice being
thus longer maintained before God, who has fellowship
with the joy of His people. For the energy of the Spirit
maintains His joy in His people in communion acceptable
to God. When, on the other hand, it is the natural
consequence of blessing already conferred, it is surely
acceptable as due to God, but there is not the same
energy of communion.—The thanks are rendered thus in
communion with the Lord, but the communion passes away
with the thanksgiving really offered.
Note we also, that we may
begin in the Spirit and pass into the flesh in worship.
Thus, for example, if I continue to sing beyond the real
operation of the Spirit, which happens too often, my
singing, which at the beginning was real melody in the
heart to the Lord, will terminate in pleasant ideas and
music, and so end in the flesh. The spiritual mind, the
spiritual worshipper, will discover this at once when it
happens. When it does happen, it always weakens the soul,
and soon accustoms to formal worship and spiritual
weakness; and then evil, through the power of the
adversary, soon makes its appearance among the
worshippers. The Lord keep us nigh to Himself to judge
all things in His presence, for out of it we can judge
nothing!
True worship: the
expression of the excellency of Christ
It is good to bear
strongly in mind this expression, "which pertain to
Jehovah" (chap. 7: 20); the worship, what passes in
our hearts in it, is not ours—it is God's. God has
put it there for our joy, that we may participate in the
offering of Christ, His joy in Christ; but the moment we
make it ours, we desecrate it. Hence what remained was
burnt in the fire; hence what was unclean
must have
nothing to do with it; hence the necessity of
associating it with the fat burnt to Jehovah, that it may
be really Christ in us, and so true communion, the giving
forth of Christ, on whom our souls feed, towards God.
Let us remember that all
our worship pertains to God, that it is the expression of
the excellency of Christ in us, and
so our joy,
as by one Spirit, with God. He in the Father, we in Him,
and He in us, is the marvellous chain of union which
exists in grace as well as in glory: our worship is the
outgoings and joy of heart founded on this, towards God,
by Christ. So, as Himself ministering in this, the Lord
says, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in
the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee."
He surely is in joy and knows redemption is accomplished.
May we be in tune with our heavenly Guide! He shall well
conduct our praises, and agreeably to the Father. His ear
shall be attentive when He hears this voice lead us. What
perfect and deep experience of what is acceptable before
God must He have, who, in redemption, has presented all
according to God's mind! His mind is the expression of
all that is agreeable to the Father, and He leads us,
taught by Himself, though imperfect and feeble in it, in
the same acceptableness. We have the mind of Christ.
Worship
accompanied by service
The "calves of our
lips" is the expression of the same Spirit in which
we offer our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto God, proving what is His good and perfect
and acceptable will: such our worship, such our service,
for our service should be in a certain sense our worship.
Fat and blood
forbidden to be eaten
There is added to the
directions of this sacrifice a commandment to eat neither
fat nor blood. This evidently finds its place here,
inasmuch as the peace-offerings were the sacrifices where
the worshippers ate a great part. But from what we have
said, the signification is evident; the life and inward
energies of the heart belonged wholly to God. Life
belonged to God and was to be consecrated to God; to Him
alone it belonged or could belong. Life spent or taken by
another was high treason against the title of God. So as
to fat—that which characterised no ordinary
functions, as the movements of a limb, or the like, but
the energy of the nature itself expressing itself—belonged
exclusively to God. Christ alone rendered it to God,
because He alone offered to God what was due; and hence
the burning of the fat in these and other offerings
represented His offering Himself a sweet savour to God.
But it was not less true that all belonged to God and
belongs to God: man could not appropriate it to his use.
Use might be made of it in the case of a beast dying or
torn; but whenever man of his will took the life of a
beast, he must recognise the title of God, and submit his
will, and own the will of God as alone having claim.
[1] Though the
perfect offering for sin is the basis of all; we should
not without it have the thing to have communion in, and
this point was carefully guarded in the type of the peace-offering—it
could not be acceptably eaten but in connection with what
was offered to God (see chap. 7). Only it is communion in
the joy of the common salvation, not special priestly
delight in what Christ was for God.
[2] The exceptions to
this rule are sin-offerings of the day of atonement, and
the red heifer, which confirm the great principle, or
fortify a peculiar portion of it. The sprinkling of the
blood was always the priest's work.
[3] Life belonged to
God. He only could give it. Hence, when allowed to be
taken in Noah's time, the blood was reserved. There was,
of course, no eating connected with death before the fall
(unless the warning not to bring it in), nor allowedly
before Noah. Hence, as life belonged to God, death had
come in by sin, and there could be no eating of what
involved death, no nourishment by it, unless the life (the
blood) was offered to God. This being done, man could
have his living nourishment through it. It was indeed his
salvation through faith.
[4] Offering has a
double character distinguished in Greek by prosphero and
anaphero, in Hebrew by Hikrib and Hiktir. Christ offered
Himself without spot through the eternal Spirit to God;
but, having done so, God laid the iniquity on Him, made
Him to be sin for us, and He was offered up on the cross
as an actual sacrifice.
[5] This expression,
in a measure, brings in the meat-offering.
[6] It may be well to
remark that the peace-offering supposes fellowship in
worship, though many principles are individually
applicable.
[7] We may add of
Jesus with the Father, and that in connection even with
His laying down His life, but this is not our direct
subject here (see John 10: 17). But there, note, it is
not done as for sinners, but for God.
Chapter 3:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Exodus Numbers
This version of Darby's Synopsis of the Old Testament is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1995 by L. Hodgett. Used by permission. The files of the Synopsis found on this site may not be reproduced without permission from L. J. L. Hodgett, Stem Publishing. A special thanks to L. J. L. Hodgett and Stem Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Darby's Synopsis of the Old Testament.
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