And, assuredly, it heightens the enjoyment of every true priest to know that God (to use the language of our type) has had His portion ere he gets the breast and the shoulder. The thought of this gives tone and energy, unction and elevation, to the worship and communion; it unfolds the amazing grace of Him who has given us the same object, the same theme, the same joy with Himself. Nothing lower--nothing less than this could satisfy Him. The Father will have the prodigal feeding upon the fatted calf, in fellowship with Himself. He will not assign him a lower place than at His own table, nor any other portion than that on which He feeds Himself. The language of the peace-offering is, "It is meet that _we_ should make merry and be glad,"--"Let _us_ eat and be merry." Such is the precious grace of God! No doubt we have reason to be glad, as being the partakers of such grace; but when we can hear the blessed God saying, "Let _us_ eat and be merry," it should call forth from our hearts a continual stream of praise and thanksgiving. God's joy in the salvation of sinners, and His joy in the communion of saints, may well elicit the admiration of men and angels throughout eternity.
Having thus compared the peace-offering with the burnt-offering, we may now briefly glance at it in connection with the meat-offering. The leading point of difference here is, that in the peace-offering there was blood-shedding, and in the meat-offering there was not. They were both "sweet savor" offerings; and, as we learn from chap. vii. 12, the two offerings were very intimately associated. Now, both the connection and the contrast are full of meaning and instruction.
It is only in communion with God that the soul can delight itself in contemplating the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Ghost must _impart_, as He must also _direct_, by the Word, the vision by which we can gaze on "the Man Christ Jesus." He might have been revealed "in the likeness of sinful flesh,"--He might have lived and labored on this earth,--He might have shone amid the darkness of this world in all the heavenly lustre and beauty which belonged to His Person,--He might have passed rapidly, like a brilliant luminary, across this world's horizon,--and all the while have been beyond the range of the sinner's vision.
Man could not enter into the deep joy of communion with all this, simply because there would be no basis laid down on which this communion might rest. In the peace-offering, this necessary basis is fully and clearly established.--"He shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about." (Chap. iii. 2.) Here, we have that which the meat-offering does not supply, namely, a solid foundation for the worshiper's communion with all the fullness, the preciousness, and the beauty of Christ, so far as he, by the gracious energy of the Holy Ghost, is enabled to enter thereinto. Standing on the platform which "the precious blood of Christ" provides, we can range, with tranquilized hearts and worshiping spirits, throughout all the wondrous scenes of the manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Had we naught save the meat-offering aspect of Christ, we should lack the title by which, and the ground on which, we can contemplate and enjoy Him therein. If there were no blood-shedding, there could be no title--no standing-place for the sinner. But Leviticus vii. 12 links the meat-offering with the peace-offering, and, by so doing, teaches us, that, when our souls have found peace, we can delight in the One who has "made peace," and who is "our peace."
But let it be distinctly understood that while in the peace-offering we have the shedding and sprinkling of blood, yet sin-bearing is not the thought. When we view Christ in the peace-offering, He does not stand before us as the bearer of our sins, as in the sin and trespass offerings, but (having borne them) as the ground of our peaceful and happy fellowship with God. If sin-bearing were in question, it could not be said, "It is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord." (Chap. iii. 5, comp. with chap. iv. 10-12.) Still, though sin-bearing is not the thought, there is full provision for one who knows himself to be a sinner, else he could not have any portion therein. To have fellowship with God, we must be "in the light;" and how can we be there? Only on the ground of that precious statement--"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from _all_ sin." (1 John i.) The more we abide in the light, the deeper will be our sense of every thing which is contrary to that light; and the deeper, also, our sense of the value of that blood which entitles us to be there. The more closely we walk with God, the more we shall know of "the unsearchable riches of Christ."