(Leviticus 3, 7)

 

The peculiar feature in the
peace offering is that it is that upon which God Himself feeds; it is not
merely an offering, but food of the offering. In chapter 7 we find that the
remainder of the peace offering was eaten by the worshiper, excepting the
wave-breast and heave-shoulder, which were the priests’. These three things,
then, we observe concerning the peace offering:The blood is sprinkled and the
fat burned for a sweet savor; the wave-breast is for Aaron and his sons, and
the heave-shoulder for the offering priest; the rest is for the worshiper to
feed on, as an occasion of joy and thanksgiving before Jehovah.

 

Christ is not only here
represented as the perfect burnt offering wholly given up to God in death for
His glory, but also as an offering on which we feed; not only is He God’s
delight, but He is that of which we can partake with Him. He is the subject
matter of communion. The communion is between all saints, the worshiper, the
priest, and God. Not only do we see the sacrifice offered to God opening a way
of access to Him (as in the burnt offering and others), but we find the Lord
takes delight in communion with us about it.

 

The first thing to be observed
in the peace offering is the complete and absolute acceptance of the sacrifice,
so that the Lord speaks of it as His food, that in which His holiness could
find intrinsic satisfaction. The inwards were presented for a sweet savor (as
Jesus); they are tried and examined by fire, and found to be food for God
Himself. The fat represents the spontaneous actings of the heart. The richness
of an animal is its fat; we judge of its healthy vigorous state by this.

 

As the slain one, Jesus is that
on which we must feed. He says, "The bread that I will give is My flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world. . . Whoso eateth My flesh, and
drinketh My blood, hath eternal life" (John 6:51, 54). We feed on Jesus as
having given His life unto death. And here is that which not only satisfied the
justice of God, but also is esteemed, fed on by Him as His delight.

 

In the work which He did, Jesus
was God’s delight; and in this we too have a portion. It is the common food of
those assembled as worshipers to feast on before Jehovah. But if any were
unclean who fed on this sacrifice, they should be cut off from the people (Lev.
7:20). It was only as clean persons they could meet thus with Jehovah. It can
be only as those already cleansed and accepted, that we can have this common
delight in the Lord Jesus, given as a common object of communion and enjoyment
between God and us, and with one another. In this act, our worship is not
simply as coming to inquire about our acceptance; but, having already access,
it is to rejoice with God about the sacrifice, knowing the fruits of it.

 

Often our worship has not
sufficiently this character in it. We have intercourse frequently with God
about our anxieties, our failures, our evil condition; but if this is all, we
come very far short of the privileges that belong to us. Our religion should
not be altogether a religion of regrets; but rather we are called to joy and
rejoice, through the Spirit, in the perfectness of all that Christ has done;
not merely joy because wrath has been intercepted, but there is that in Jesus
which draws out constant love and delight from the Father, and we too are
introduced into the place of communion with the Father about Him. Now, if we
are associated in this worship, we are there as being clean, for no unclean
person is able to partake of it.

 

It is most important to see that
we have no real delight of which the source and spring is not Jesus. So
satisfied is God, and so cleansed are we, that we can come thus to enjoy the
communion resulting from what Jesus has done, and as the priest, He feasts with
us now in the holy place. Where two or three are gathered together, there is He
in the midst of them, as the one who has sprinkled the blood, to feast even
now, while we are waiting for that day, when in person He shall be present with
us to eat and drink in the Father’s kingdom. He said once, "With desire I
have desired to eat this passover with you, before I suffer." He
was not content without this last memorial of His love to them and association
with Him. While the expectation was present with Him of the time when He would
drink it new in the kingdom of God, He desired them to have continual
remembrance of Him:"This do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of
Me."

 

The offering was to be eaten the
same day, or at the latest, on the second day; it was not to be kept longer.
This marks the communion to be necessarily spiritual, and only to be had in
communion with the sacrifice of Christ, not in nature. If it be the willing
state of the soul itself through grace, this may be kept up a longer time;
where it is thanksgiving for actual benefits, there is not the same power in
it. It is only in the Spirit that we can have this communion with God. If the
flesh comes in, all is spoiled; it must be burned with fire. The worshiper must
eat his portion in connection with the burnt offering and the priests’ portion.
If eaten apart from these, having, as it were, from that separation lost the
virtue communicated from the others, it becomes an abomination; and the soul
that eats must bear his iniquity. Thus we shall continually find that joy in
the Lord is apt to degenerate into that which is merely natural. For instance,
if Christians in gladness of heart come to seek the Lord in communion, the
Spirit is present; they forget all grief; the communion between their souls and
God is within the veil, and there is no sorrow there; but if they are not very
watchful, their joy degenerates. It overlasts what is spiritual, and becomes
joy in the flesh. The real test and power of this is its connection with the
sacrifice offered.

 

In believers, there will be
differences in the power of this communion. Those who rest most simply in the
sacrifice and blood of Jesus will have the most power of sustaining it.
"Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in
the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 20, 21). As we walk in the
Spirit, we shall have power to continue in this holy fellowship and joy; but
the earthly vessels are not competent to bear all the glory. There is always a
tendency for the flesh to slip in. We may get full of our joy, and proud
through it, or at least lose a sense of our dependence, and this at once opens
a door to all the folly of our evil nature. After Paul had been in the third
heaven, so that he knew not whether he was in or out of the body, we find he
was in danger of being puffed up. What was the remedy? Any thing that mended
the flesh? Not at all, but a messenger from Satan to buffet him. There is no
mending the flesh; but we know this is not the place or condition in which we
shall always be, for He "shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is
able even to subdue all things unto Himself’ (Phil. 3:21).

 

(From "On the Offerings,
and the Consecration of the Priesthood," in Collected Writings, Volume
19.)