Friday, January 10, 2020

Offerings of Peace

Leviticus 3:1-17 
1 “When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. 2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of meeting; and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. 3 Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire to the Lord. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; 5 and Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire, as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. 6 “If his offering as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord is of the flock, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offers a lamb as his offering, then he shall offer it before the Lord. 8 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of meeting; and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar.
    9 “Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as an offering made by fire to the Lord, its fat and the whole fat tail which he shall remove close to the backbone. And the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 10 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; 11 and the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
    12 “And if his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the Lord. 13 He shall lay his hand on its head and kill it before the tabernacle of meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. 14 Then he shall offer from it his offering, as an offering made by fire to the Lord. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 15 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; 16 and the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is the Lord's.
    17 ‘This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’ ”

The offering for peace was used to sprinkle the altar with blood, having been chosen to be perfect and killed at the entrance to the meeting place of the tabernacle.  This offering was made by fire, whether bull or lamb or goat to be pleasing to the Lord.  This does not mean that God needed burning flesh of itself to please Him, but the sacrifice of something of worth given to Him willingly and as a shadow of God’s own sacrifice of His Son to come.  The Christ is perfect and sacrificed Himself where God meets us, whose blood sprinkles us (Hebrews 12:24, 1 Peter 1:2) as no fleeting and repeating sacrifice could ever do to appease God’s wrath on our sin.  Romans 5:1 and 1 Peter 1:18-19 remind us that we have peace with God in Christ forever because we ourselves have been sprinkled with the blood of His sacrifice for us.  We need no other yearly sacrifice to appease Him, for He died once forevermore for His people.  This peace has no fear of eternal punishment (1 John 4:17-19), which enables us to love Him who first loved us without doubt or fear.  This is God’s peace offering of His Son for us.  

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