II. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE PEACE OFFERING TO THE BURNT OFFERING AND THE MEAL OFFERING
A. The Peace Offering Is Based upon God’s Satisfaction in the Burnt Offering
The peace offering is based upon God’s satisfaction in the burnt offering. The peace offering which God and we enjoy today is based upon Christ’s being the burnt offering. This is indicated by Leviticus 3:5 and 6:12. Speaking of the peace offering, 3:5 says, “Aaron’s sons shall offer it up in smoke on the altar upon the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering by fire of a satisfying fragrance to Jehovah.” Here we see that the burnt offering is a base for the peace offering to be received by God. With the burning of the burnt offering as the basis, God receives the peace offering.
B. The Peace Offering Is an Issue of the Enjoyment of God and Man in the Meal Offering
The peace offering is an issue of the enjoyment of God and man in the meal offering (7:37). On the one hand, the peace offering is based on the burnt offering; on the other hand, the peace offering is an issue of the enjoyment of the meal offering.
This is not a matter of doctrine but of experience. If we would enjoy Christ as peace in a practical, daily way, we must first take Him as our burnt offering to satisfy God. Then we must feed on Him as the meal offering, enjoying Him as our food. Immediately Christ will become our peace offering. I believe that we all have experienced this.
Although we have experienced Christ as the offerings, we may not have had the knowledge of the pictures in Leviticus. In presenting these pictures, Leviticus uses a number of technical terms. Many of us have experienced Christ without knowing these technical terms. One of these terms is burnt offering. In the morning, we may pray, “Father God, I love Your Son, and I would like to offer Him to You.” We enjoy Christ so sweetly and present this Christ to God to make Him happy. This is to present Christ to God as the burnt offering.
After presenting Christ to God as the burnt offering, we may say, “O Lord, You are my daily supply. Without You I cannot live.” This is taking Christ as the meal offering, as the life supply. Meal offering is the technical term for life supply.
When we take Christ as the burnt offering and as the meal offering, we have peace. We have the sense that something within us is joyful and that we are right with God and acceptable to Him. Earlier you might have had a problem and thus were not at peace with God, but now there is no problem, and you are at peace. This is the enjoyment of Christ as the peace offering. We all may have this experience and enjoyment every day.
III. DIFFERENT KINDS OF PEACE OFFERING
In Leviticus we see that there are different kinds of peace offering. Just as the burnt offering is of different sizes, so the peace offering is of different kinds.
A. Not Due to Christ but Due to the Different Conditions of the Offerers’ Enjoyment of Christ
The fact that the peace offering is of different kinds is not due to Christ but is due to the different conditions of the offerers’ enjoyment of Christ. Sometimes we enjoy a large Christ. At other times something happens, perhaps some disturbance in our family life, that limits our enjoyment of Christ. This does not mean that Christ has become smaller; it means that the condition in which we enjoy Christ has become narrow and small. Satan seeks to limit our enjoyment of Christ and to narrow the condition in which we are enjoying Christ. Therefore, we must learn to overcome all kinds of situations, even praying in our “private room” (Matt. 6:6) in order to avoid interruptions, so that we may be in a better and higher condition to enjoy a larger Christ.
(Life-Study of Leviticus, Chapter 17, by Witness Lee)
