Source: http://brackenhurstbaptist.co.za/all-is-well/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 14:11:55+00:00

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God’s first commandment to us—to all of us—is that we have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3). In other words, God commands us to worship Him and Him only. But not only are we to worship the true God only; we are also to worship the true God only in the way in which He commands us. That is why the Lord gave to us the book of Leviticus.
The book of Leviticus is God’s instruction manual for how we are to worship Him. If we follow His instructions, He will receive our worship as a sweet smelling aroma. In other words, He will be pleased. That is an amazing thought: that the Creator of the Universe can receive pleasure by how we respond to Him!
The God who is completely self-sufficient, and who therefore does not need anyone or anything, has also revealed to us that He is pleased when we worship Him in the way in which He tells us to. Wayne Grudem has written, “God does not need us for anything, yet it is the amazing fact of our existence that He chooses to delight in us and to allow us to bring joy to His heart.”1 This is precisely what the book of Leviticus reveals. And think about it: If God is pleased then we too will experience pleasure.
This is the way it always works when it comes to pleasing those we love. I have a vivid memory from childhood of visiting my mother, with my father and my siblings, while she was in hospital one Mother’s Day, and taking gifts we had purchased for her. Though it was so many years ago, I can recall clearly the pleasure she took in receiving those gifts from her children, and the joy that I myself felt at seeing her pleasure. Those who love God are likewise filled with pleasure when they please Him.
What a wonderful truth: We can experience pleasure as God receives pleasure!
But there is something else that we must also consider. As we study the book of Leviticus we soon realise that the book is filled with instructions about worship, which involve offering sacrifices on an altar. Of course, we do not do this. Are we then disobeying God? No, for the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all that these sacrifices taught. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. . . . For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1, 4).
Only the sinless Son of God could take away our sins, and this is precisely what God was teaching the children of Israel over many centuries of sacrificial offerings. It was because He who was without blemish was sacrificed by the Father on the altar for all who would believe on Him that we do not offer animal or grain sacrifices today.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ has come to earth, died for our sins and risen again, there is no need to offer such sacrifices in worship.
We might then ask a very honest and fair question: If we do not offer sacrifices, are we truly worshipping God according to His Word? Of course, the answer is a resounding yes!—that is, if we are offering our worship through the Lamb of God who was offered on our behalf. This is what the writer to the Hebrews meant when he wrote, “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat” (Hebrews 13:10).
But since there is no need to offer actual animal and grain sacrifices, what is the value of studying this seemingly complicated and detailed book? Well, for one thing “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore we study this book because it is beneficial to us in some way. As we study Leviticus, it is true that there is much to “discard” in practice (e.g. the sacrifices), but there is also so much that must be embraced in principle. Let me try and illustrate this for you.
On Christmas morning, many of us unwrap gifts and often the floor is covered with wrapping. The children play and the parents at some point will begin to clean up. But as they collect the wrapping paper they will be careful not to discard anything valuable that might be hidden in the paper. This is how it is with the book of Leviticus (as well as with much of the Old Testament). You see, we can discard the sacrificial system (because the New Testament tells us to, see Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 8-10; etc.). But we want to be careful that we do not discard some valuable principles in the process. There are many such principles that we are to embrace and to practice when it comes to worshipping God.
As we study the Peace Offering of Leviticus 3 we need to look for the valuables that remain, which will help us to worship and enjoy God.
Let me say from the outset that this offering was “a joyous occasion which represents the living communion and fellowship between the worshipper and God. It … celebrates the bond between God and his people.”2 Therefore, the “valuable” that we do not want to discard is this: Those who have been saved by the grace of God are to celebrate that salvation.
When God saves us we immediately become the recipient of His gracious shalom. We experience peace with God and are exposed to the privilege of enjoying the peace of God (see Romans 5:1-2; Philippians 4:7). In other words, we can join the songwriter in singing, “It is well with my soul.” And that truly is something to celebrate.
In this study, we will consider this offering under several headings, with the goal of being equipped to see that, despite the believer’s circumstances, he has plenty of reason to celebrate that indeed all is well.
This offering was to come from the heart. It was an offering that was made in response to God’s goodness. It was a recognition and celebration of God’s manifold blessings in one’s life. It may have been in response to some recent deliverance, or in response to a recent particular blessing, or merely as a celebration of the overall display of God’s goodness. Regardless, it was a response of thankfulness. It was not rash offering but a thoughtful one. And this should mark our worship.
There is some debate as to what to call this offering, because the term translated “peace” is a broad one. Therefore the peace offering has been called, among other descriptions, a fellowship offering, a sacrifice of wellbeing, a sacred gift of giving, a shared offering and a communion sacrifice.
The word for “peace” is related to the term shalom, which in the Jewish culture meant far more than the cessation of hostilities. It included fullness of blessing and comprehensive well-being. Wenham says of this term, “Peace in Hebrew means more than absence of war. True peace means health, prosperity, and peace with God, i.e., salvation.”3 In other words, it meant that all was well between one’s soul and the Sovereign.
This offering therefore was a means of celebrating the reconciliation that enabled sinners to be in a harmonious relationship with God. That is why this offering is usually termed in modern translations as the Fellowship Offering.
Fellowship, says Harris, “includes the ideas of health, wholeness, welfare, and peace. It is reflected in the common Jewish greeting of ‘Shalom!’”4 Fundamental to this offering was the element of gratefulness of fellowship with God. It was because of this that the offering was a celebratory one. We will see more about this below.
One might make a freewill offering as he was moved by thankfulness for a particular blessing from God (Leviticus 7:11-12; 7:16; Psalm 116:16-17; 1 Chronicles 21:21-26). The peace offering also accompanied the making of a vow to God (Exodus 24:1-5; 1 Samuel 1:19-28). It could also be offered just because one felt like doing so. This is why it was termed a “freewill” or “voluntary” offering. As one contemplated God’s overall goodness, he might respond with a sacrificial gift (see 2 Samuel 24:25).
But there were also occasions in which God required peace offerings. These occasions included the Feast of Weeks (23:19-20), the completion of the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:17-20), and the installation of the priests (9:18, 22).
There was always the danger of twisting this offering into a careless, cheap celebration. The children of Israel were no different than you and me (1 Corinthians 10:1-14) and so there was always the danger that one might make this offering without due consideration or contemplation of God. We see this in both Exodus 32:6 and in Proverbs 7:14ff.
Let us be careful that we give due consideration to the holy goodness of God before we flippantly offer that to Him that which He will reject (see Amos 5:22).
Many today speak much about the need for “spontaneity” in worship, but God says otherwise. In fact, the book of Leviticus teaches us that our worship is to be planned because it is prescribed. Our worship is to be regulated, even “regimented” by God’s revelation in His Word. We see this here as God reveals just how the people were to celebrate His goodness in this particular offering. We will observe in these verses that, as with the other offerings, there was both form and freedom.
It is important that we understand this when it comes to our worship; especially when it comes celebratory worship.
For example, God commands that everything in worship is to be done “decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40) and has revealed controls that enable us to obey this command. Some of those controls are the public reading and preaching of Scripture and the singing of truth. But God also gives to us the freedom to use different Bible translations, to use various musical instruments, to sing with different pitches, and to express ourselves in various ways. We must pay attention to the revealed prescriptions, but we also must not quench the Spirit when it comes to legitimate freedom in our practice of these prescriptions.
We see these controls in the three major sections of this chapter, where God reveals that the Peace Offering could come from cattle (vv. 1- 5), sheep (vv. 6-11) or goats (vv. 12-16). Let us briefly note the sequence of events that took place in this offering.
First, a suitable animal was selected. In this instance, it could be either male or female (vv. 1, 6; and assumed in v. 12) could be offered in this sacrifice. This allowed for greater opportunity to engage in this celebratory offering due to fewer restrictions.
God wants us to celebrate Him and with Him! In fact, it would seem that God is both inviting us and assisting us to make celebration doable. Are we utilising our opportunities?
Second, observe that, regardless of the animal selected for sacrifice, it was to be unblemished animal (vv. 1, 6; and assumed in v. 12). It had to be brought to the priest, before the altar, to be sacrificed. This would remind the worshipper of his own lack and therefore of God’s grace to him. (see 22:21, where “unblemished” is qualified by “perfect”).
One way in which we will grow in our appreciation of God’s salvation and therefore in responsive celebration is by contemplation of how blemished we are. As we loathe our condition we will increasingly love God’s salvation. We will rejoice that, by God’s grace, indeed, all is well!
Third, the offerer would then lay his hand on the sacrifice (vv. 2, 8, 13). As we saw with the burnt offering, this act pictured one leaning his whole weight upon the substitutionary sacrifice in the sinner’s place. This is very instructive.
If there will be fellowship with God, there must be a recognition that a violation of our relationship with Him has taken place. After all, by definition, “reconciliation” implies that a wrong has been done. Of course, the wrongdoer is man, not God. We live under a death sentence (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Death must take place for justice to be satisfied. (It is worth noting that there can be no peace without justice.) But since we are blemished, we need an unblemished sacrifice to die in our place. We need to be able to transfer, as it were, our sins onto the sacrifice as our substitute. This is what this prescribed action pictures for us.
Fifth, after slaughtering the animal the priests collected blood and threw it on the altar (vv. 2, 8, 13). Of course, this was to publicly demonstrate that a life had been forfeited (see 17:11) in order for atonement to take place.
We must see the oft-neglected truth that there can be no peace or fellowship with God apart from atonement. Fellowship with God comes through the shedding of blood. Our world may find this discomforting, but it is not negotiable. Without the shedding of blood—and without us appropriating that blood—there can be no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). Salvation is gory and gruesome, but only because sin is so ghastly and so repulsive to God.
Sixth, the priest then took the prescribed body parts and burned them on the altar. Note that, in this, as in all other sacrifices, the only part that the worshipper played was to confess his need to make a sacrifice (thereby confessing his depravity and dependence upon God), to identify with the sacrifice, and to kill it. In other words, salvation was (and is) of the Lord.
Now, with reference to what was offered to God, note what He required. First, He required the fat that covered the entrails (vv. 3, 9, 14). Second, He required the two kidneys and the liver (or the fat attached to it, vv. 4, 10, 15). With reference to the sheep, the fatty tail reaching to the spinal column (v. 9). In fact, there was a special breed of fat-tailed sheep raised in Palestine whose tails could weigh as much as 7-22 kg! In short, and generally speaking, all the fat on the animal was to be offered to God (cf. v. 17).
A couple of things should be noted with reference to this seemingly strange “gastronomic” meal required by God.
For example, why did God want all the fat? The answer seems to lie in the fact that, in the Bible, fat is a picture of blessing. It did not have the negative connotation that it has today (see, for example, Genesis 27:28, 39; 32:15; 45:18; Psalms 36:8; 63:8; Jeremiah 31:14).
The picture seems to be that of offering to God the blessing that He Himself had bestowed (see 1 Chronicles 29). The worshipper who appreciated God’s great salvation responded by offering to the Lord his best. And so it is always to be. God holds the claim on the worshipper to receive the best (see 1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17, 23-24).
We can learn from this that, when we reflect properly upon the reconciliation that we enjoy with God through our Peace Offering (the Lord Jesus Christ), we will respond with feeling. Is there a more glorious experience than being made right with God through His gracious forgiveness of our sins? No wonder that our gut is moved with such gratitude that both a joyful and an emotional response result.
The seventh element of this offering is God’s response to it. As the worshipper followed these prescribed instructions v. 5 informs us that such an offering was a “sweet aroma to the LORD.” It can be assumed that, whether the peace offering was a sheep or a goat, it was also a pleasing aroma to God.
One cannot read these words without thinking of the sacrifice of God’s Son and how this was the sweetest aroma to the Father (Ephesians 5:1-2). The basis of our peace with God is Christ, our Peace Offering. We will see this more clearly later.
Before we move to the next point in our study, let us briefly note that this was a continual statute. In v. 17 God informed Moses that, throughout the long history of old covenant Israel, they were forbidden to eat fat or blood. This prohibition, it seems to me, was due to the atoning value of blood and the exclusive ownership of God. God gave blood as an atonement for man and in response believing man was to offer his best to God.
We can see, then, that the peace that comes from God to believing man (believing enough to lay hold of the sacrifice) is a peace that is rooted in the atonement. If all is well, we need to give God all (see Romans 12:1-2).
As I trust we are beginning to appreciate, there is a cost to worship. It does not come cheap. Peace with God has a purchase price—both to God and to those who believe God. We see this again in this offering.
First, it cost the one being worshipped. Being right with God—having peace with God—is costly. Someone has to pay the price of death if we will be reconciled to God. And God is the one who paid the price. Note that ultimately these animals belonged to God (Psalm 50:10)!
We are reminded of the first sacrifice by which God’s wrath was appeased in the Garden (Genesis 3:21). That was costly to God. And yet, of course, this pointed to the ultimate cost of God’s dear Son (Romans 8:32; Revelation 13:8, etc.).
Second, there was a cost to the worshipper, who had to provide the animal to be sacrificed. That was not cheap, particularly in those days. Similarly, celebration is costly. The joy of the Lord comes at a price.
Clearly there was an economic cost borne by the worshipper (see, for example, the burnt, grain and peace offerings in 1 Chronicles 21). The peace that we have with God did not come without a cost to Him, but neither can it be accepted and enjoyed without cost to us.
Primarily, there is the cost of self (though, to be fair, when you consider this properly, you will conclude that it really is no cost at all!). The cost of self is practically seen in some of the following (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5): familial cost (see Luke 14:25-33); financial cost; relational cost; and employment/career cost.
Though the details of the peace/fellowship offering have been described there is one more aspect to this offering that is essential for its proper observance. And this is to be found in the last chapter of this first worship manual in Leviticus.
Leviticus 7:11-36 records some further details about the peace offerings. There is a longer section (vv. 22-27) which expands the prohibition on eating blood and fat and there is a section which deals with the portion of the peace offering which is reserved for the pay of the priesthood (vv. 28-36). But in vv. 11-21 there is instruction that bread is also to be offered alongside of the animal sacrifice. Some of the bread is reserved for the support of the priesthood but what of the rest?
1 Samuel 11:15—So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
An insightful illustration of this is found in Exodus 24:1-11, where we read of the ratification of God’s covenant with His people. In the chapters preceding this, especially chapter 19, God revealed Himself in such glory that the people were frightened. They felt a sense of dread in the presence of a holy God. And, of course, this was the right response, for sin places us at enmity with God. To be in a position of hostility to God—and, more importantly, to have Him hostile toward us—is a fearfully dreadful place to be.
But when both God and the children of Israel ratified the covenant (with blood, v. 8), they did so in the context of burnt and peace offerings (v. 5). This was followed by a shared meal between God and the representatives of the people (vv. 9-11).
What did they eat and drink? No doubt, they ate and drank of the peace offerings. Hostilities had ceased by the sprinkling of the blood, and for this reason the God of Israel did not lay His hand on them. The natural response was to celebrate! And therefore followed a communion meal.
Note that the food that the people consumed was that which belonged to God. The sacrifice belonged to God but He graciously shared it with His priests and with His people. Clearly this points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was both sacrificed in our place and then given to us for us to “eat,” to appropriate, to daily feed upon (see John 6:51-58). The victim on the altar became the food at the Table. Though this may be a bit simplistic, we can say the blood saves us while the body sustains us.
By virtue of God’s grace we have atonement through the Lord Jesus Christ, on whom we have laid our hands and whom we have killed—as our representative. And this sacrifice was well-pleasing to the Father. The result is that hostilities have ceased and we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We certainly are to celebrate this daily “from our kidneys,” but we celebrate it weekly as a community of faith around the Lord’s Table. Our union and communion with God are celebrated in community with one another.
Because we have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and because Christ was offered by God as the burnt offering on our behalf, we celebrate with thanksgiving the fellowship with God that we are blessed to enjoy (see Revelation 3:20).
Let me highlight one more lesson from this communion meal.
It seems clear from passages such as Leviticus 7, Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 12 and others that the worshipper who expressed his gratitude to God through a peace/fellowship offering did so with others in mind. That is, they generously shared with others from what they offered in celebration. Let me put it another way. Their celebration of grace overflowed into a disposition of generosity. Generosity was the evidence of gratitude.
And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. At that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days—fourteen days.
As we contemplate that all is well we will find ourselves more willing to share with those who have less than we do. From the provisions God gives to us we with gratitude will give to others. And why not? After all, such a gracious God can be trusted to resupply (see Philippians 4:17-19).
This peace offering was not offered in a liturgical vacuum. That is, there was a deliberate order to these offerings. This peace offering was literally conditioned on the offering of the burnt sacrifice. And, of course, that offering spoke of atonement (1:4). It was because of that offering that all was truly well.
But not only does it follow the burnt offering, it is actually offered on the burnt offering. Verse 5 makes this clear.
In my studies I found it interesting that the peace offering was always offered in the context of the burnt offering—not only after it was offered, but while it was burning. There is a wonderful lesson here for us. You see, daily, in the morning and in the evening, the burnt offering was made by the priests. Therefore the peace (or, fellowship) offering was always resting on atonement.
In other words, there was always opportunity to celebrate fellowship with God. And the same is true for us who live on this side of the cross. In fact, our opportunity is even more favourable.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our Atonement, always lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). The fires on this Altar will never go out and so we can boldly come to the throne of grace and confess our sins, knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. In other words, fellowship is offered to us moment by moment and therefore we can face life—even in the midst of our failures—with the worldview that all is well. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
Andrew Bonar captures the essence of this peace offering when he writes, “The chastisement of my peace is laid upon Him; therefore I am come this day, laden with benefits, to give thanks because I enjoy the blessing.”15 Believer, lay hold of this blessing!
A cross-centred life is the path to a life of celebration. As we contemplate our sin and the cost of forgiveness, we will appreciate in a greater way the privilege of fellowship and communion that we have with God. May God grant us the grace to experience this wellness and to respond in glad and celebratory worship that it is well with our soul.
Believer, celebrate the wondrous truth that it is well with your soul!

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