Leviticus 3.
EACH of these first three chapters is about something, or some One given to God, and in all of them we read the same comment from Him: “[it is] an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.”
Chapter 11, as we have seen, is the story of Jesus devoting Himself to the death of the cross.
Chapter 2 tells of the living Jesus, what He was as a Man, and how He was tried, but was always the same,—
“Unmoved by Satan’s subtle wiles,
Or suffering, shame and loss.”
What then can this chapter tell? All three are one general subject, because the expression, “And the Lord spake unto Moses,” which always marks a change, only comes in to begin the fourth chapter. This chapter is the expression of thanks giving and praise to God from the ones for whom Jesus died. It was closely connected with the burnt offering (verse 5), which we read about in the first chapter but this chapter brings into view the Lord Jesus’ words in Luke 22:1919And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19).
“This do in remembrance of Me,” and 1 Corinthians 11:23-2523For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. (1 Corinthians 11:23‑25). We shall find much more to hold our attention, and attract our hearts in the seventh chapter about the peace offering, but some things we must notice here.
Seeing that what is the subject here, although it is the adored Lord Jesus giving up His life upon the cross, yet it is our (believers’) thoughts about Him, guided by the Holy Spirit in the main, and with the Word of God for our knowledge. So the offering might be either male or female, the latter typifying that which is not the highest expression of the One that is meant. It must be “without blemish,” however, and the blood and the inward parts, including the fat, the strength or sample of all the animal are burned on the altar. We are not told here, but in the seventh chapter, that the flesh, except these offered parts, was eaten by the offeror, and those whom he invited to share with him.
This chapter’s theme is the Lord Jesus offered up, and giving His life on the cross; but as the first chapter gives us God’s estimation of it, and man has no share in that, here we have the redeemed ones having their share of joy in the same Person in the same act, namely, dying on the cross. There is this to be noticed, that while God wanted to show, I think, that there were three sources of delight to Him in this world—first, the Lord’s giving Himself up to die, laying down His life that He might take it again; second, the pure and altogether lovely human nature of Jesus, and third, the praises of His people on account of the death of the cross; yet as to the last one, He could only, so to speak, show the place, or the purpose He had, when we have seen the sin-hearing side of the dying of Jesus because all those who were to share in the peace offering, had been sinners, and must needs have known their sins charged to Jesus, as the victim on their account. This much fuller account of the peace offering we reach in the seventh chapter.
ML 12/17/1922