Christ in all the scriptures
The Law of the sacrifice of peace offerings Leviticus 7v11-34
We remind ourselves that Jesus is the fulfilment of the peace offering: He is the Prince of Peace-Isaiah 9v6; at His birth the angels of heaven announced, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward man"-Luke 2v14; in His death He "made peace through the blood of His cross"-Colossians 1v20; at His resurrection the first word He declared to the faithful was "Peace be unto you"-John 20v19 and 20 v26; of 21epistles in the New testament, 18 begin with the salutation, "Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ" (or similar)-Romans 1v7, 1st Cor. 1v3, 2nd Cor. 1v2, Galatians 1v3, Ephesians 1v2, Philippians 1v2, Colossians 1v2; 1st Thess. 1v2, 2nd Thess. 1v2, 1st Timothy 1v2, 2nd Timothy 1v2, Titus 1v4, Philemon 1v3, 1st Peter 1v2, 2nd Peter 1v2, 2nd John 1v3, Jude1v2, Revelation 1v4. In Christ God extends peace to all believers, that tranquillity of assurance that the enmity is over, that peace and harmony will be their portion eternally. In the words of Isaiah 32v17, "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever". What great news to a world in interminable conflict!
The law of the peace offering views grateful people approaching the Lord in the good of peace with God. More is said about this offering than any other. We begin by observing that the law of the peace offering is the culmination of all the offerings as stated in chapter 7v37. This is important, for in coming to God in fellowship (which is the purpose of the offering), we come recognising that our peace with God, our communion, our harmony with Him, is based on the fulfilment of all the other offerings. In the burnt offering, the whole of life devotion of Christ to God; in the grain offering, His whole of life perfection; in the sin and trespass offerings, His effective work to remove sin and its guilt: all of these have resulted in our state of tranquillity before the Lord. Without all of these aspects of the one offering of Christ, there could be no peace with God.
Offering for thanksgiving 7v11-15 We note this is called the "sacrifice of peace offering", and the "sacrifice of thanksgiving", reminding us of the cost of our redemption. Paul wrote, "He made peace through the blood of His cross"-Col. 1v20. A redeemed people should be a thankful people, unlike the godless world in which we live. A trait of our unconverted days was that we were unthankful"-Romans 1v21. Jesus observed that out of ten lepers who were cleansed, only one returned to give Him thanks, so that even when saved we can be unthankful. The hallmark of faith is of a grateful people who express their gratitude in word and in deed. Paul said, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift". Scriptures are full of expressions of thanksgiving for the grace of God in Christ: Psalm 92v1;103v1; 104v1; 105v1; 106v1; 107v1v8v15v21v31; 111v1; 118v1 to mention but a few. We draw near with our peace offering with unleavened cakes mingled with oil (the INCARNATION, when humanity and deity were combined-Luke 1v35); unleavened wafers anointed with oil (the ANOINTING for public service-Luke 3v22; 4v18; Acts 10v38); cakes mingled with oil of fine flour, fried (the CRUCIFIXION-the intense heat of the cauldron as He suffered the brutal death of the cross-Colossians 1v20, to which we have already referred. As we draw nigh to God, in the good of reconciliation, we bring with us the wonder of the incarnation, the beauty of perfect service, and the enduring of deep suffering. Thus we share communion with God and all His people (1st Cor. 1v9).
The peace offering may also be offered with leavened bread (v13), although it is thought this was not offered on the altar, but only as the portion of the priests with the heave shoulder of the animal (7v14-15) and with the wave breast part of the offering (23v16-18). The well known expositor Campbell-Morgan explains, "The Peace offering is supremely the symbol of communion based on reconciliation. It is the offering which symbolises two sides to a great transaction; one of those is that of God, and the other is that of man. God and man are at peace. The Godward side can only be symbolised by that which is unleavened, free from all evil, separated from everything that tends to corruption. On the other hand, there remains in man much of imperfection. This is symbolised by the leavened cakes (Morgan)
The portion of the flesh of the peace offering enjoyed by the priests was the heave shoulder and the wave breast of the animal. this symbolises the nature of priestly service being that of strength and affection. The restrictions on eating the portions of 1/2 days at the most was to ensure that the offerings were fresh. The Lord wants our offerings to Him to be fresh-refer Numbers 18v12; Nehemiah 10v37, only the best for God. All of this of course is the opposite of mindless ritual; our appreciation of God should be with all the strength we can muster, and with affection and the freshness of true thanksgiving.