JEHOVAH'S PORTION IN THE SACRIFICES.
JEHOVAH reserved to Himself specific portions of the sacrifices, and these, under no consideration whatever, could be partaken of by men. This fact opens up an important inquiry, both as to the value of these portions in their symbolic character, and as to the reason why man was not permitted to partake of them. The two portions reserved by Jehovah were the fat, and the blood, of the sacrifice. We open our Bibles, and find divine instruction on this matter from the early chapters of Genesis to the detailed revelations respecting sacrifice of the Mosaic era, and also in the history of Israel under her kings, and in the testimony of the psalms and the teaching of the prophets; hence in all the writings of the Old Testament. And as the New Testament, with one voice, speaks of the spiritual signification of the types of the Old Testament, the whole Bible testifies to those portions in the sacrifice which were exclusively for divine use.
The fat and the blood of the sacrifice are spoken of as the bread of Jehovah: "My bread, the fat and the blood" "All the fat is Jehovah's," was Mosaic teaching; and again and again, in the injunctions referring to the modes of sacrifice, the command occurs to remove the fat from the rest of the offering, and to burn it for a sweet savor to Jehovah. In like manner, the blood of the sacrifice was exclusively dedicated to Jehovah, and by sprinkling, anointing, and outpouring, was presented to Him.
The altar was the table, as it were, upon which the fat was placed, where it was consumed by the fire, and thus, symbolically, Jehovah partook of that part of the sacrifice which was His "bread." In the same way, by means of the altar, the blood was offered to Jehovah. It was disposed of differently from the fat, being thrown upon the sides of the altar, placed upon its horns, or poured out at the bottom of it.
We will now look a little into the meaning of the fat. First, "the fat" was the network of fat which covers the inward parts of the animal. We have not to suppose general plumpness which is easily recognized in the creature, but, on the contrary, a part of the creature which is unseen. This fat figures the health and inward vigor of the creature, and it was specifically offered to Jehovah from the days of Abel. It was placed upon the altar, and as it was consumed it arose as a sweet savor to Jehovah—that is to say, the inward vigor and excellence of the sacrifice, by being burned, ascended wholly to Jehovah—every part of it went up to Him. The idea of the consuming by fire of the sweet savor offering is quite distinct from the burning of the sin offering. The former was a delight, as it were; the latter was the opposite—it was destruction We feel at once in the application of the figure to Christ and His sacrifice, how perfect this figure is. There was in the Lord an unseen excellence which God alone could note. There were many, many beauties in His ways of love and mercy which man could and did see, but the root of all was His own essential character and perfection. On occasions, God the Father opened heaven over Him and testified: " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased "; and when the sacrificial death of the blessed One was in view, we learn that in a peculiar way the Father loved Him because He laid down His life.”
Again, in His sacrifice of Himself He fulfilled the will of God. Thus the hidden excellence of His nature was a sweet savor to His God, and His death with all its suffering was an offering, wholly ascending in its perfection to His Father.
Under the law, the worshipper coming to Jehovah was prohibited from partaking of the fat of Jehovah's offerings, and, in like manner, there are in Christ's sacrifice excellencies in which no mere man can spiritually participate, and which must forever be the sole delight of the Father. The priest, who offered the sacrifice, became, in certain instances, possessed of a particular portion of the sacrifice; thus, the right shoulder, the breast, or the skin of the victim, were acquired by him for himself while offering the sacrifice to Jehovah. The right shoulder signifies the strength; the breast, the love; the skin, the beauty of the offering sacrificed. Among the priests of God, who rejoice in the sacrifice of Christ once offered, some have exalted thoughts of the power of Christ the Savior, some of His love, and others of His moral beauties, as they worship God the Father through His Son; but of the secret of His being—"no man knoweth the Son but the Father.”
The blood of the sacrifice, like the fat, was exclusively dedicated to Jehovah. A very different instruction, however, meets us in this case. Instead of an intrinsic excellence being shadowed forth, the power of the death of the victim to magnify divine justice, is presented. From the first the blood was associated by God with the life of the creature, and, again and again, the instruction of the Mosaic age in respect to it was "the blood is the life." The blood of the sacrifice was the life taken from the offering, which stood in the stead of the offerer in his approach to Jehovah. This was sacred to Jehovah, and was received by Him upon the altar. The fat expressed the perfection of the victim, the blood expressed propitiation effected by the victim. The fat ascended by the fire of the altar in sweetness on high, the blood effected atonement on earth on the altar for the guilty. Jehovah expressly said, "The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." We observe Jehovah does not say that the fat—the excellence of the victim—makes an atonement, but the blood—that is, the life of the victim given up—the blood upon the altar, of the perfect offering. The death of the victim in sacrifice—"upon the altar"; not death merely, but life yielded up to God upon the altar.
No one in Israel was allowed to partake of blood. "Thou shalt not eat the blood" was repeated in a variety of ways, while the penalty of so doing was death. Life had been given by God; but sin had entered the world, and death by sin; and death had passed upon all men, for all had sinned; and the only way of man back to God was by the door of death. Such death could not be man's own, which would be but the penalty of his transgression, but the death of a pure and perfect Substitute, who should make atonement on his behalf.
The blood given by Jehovah upon the altar to man, in order to make atonement for man, expresses Jehovah's own satisfied requirements on account of sin. The atonement was first made, and then man derived his benefit from it. First of all, God Himself was appeased and propitiated; after that came the reconciliation of man to God. Can we not see a divine fitness in this? By sin death entered into the world; by death sin was atoned for. Death is the wages of sin: death upon the altar proclaimed the due of sin satisfied according to God. "Having made peace through the blood of His cross," we read, and we find a remarkable likeness in the words to those already quoted from Lev. 17. The peace was made by God, and by means of the blood of His Son. And the words are express—"the blood of His cross"; the altar, as it were, is specified, and the atonement is defined as the work of the cross. Upon the basis of the peace established by the atonement, God reconciles.
Our thoughts should be directed to God's own glory in the sacrifice of His Son, and we should keep God's glory in the sacrifice before our minds as the principle of all others of prime importance. It is true that much of current religion would thus be put aside; but, since every man must give account of himself to God, let each seek in the first place to be in line with God's thoughts respecting sacrifice, for right thoughts of sacrifice lie at the root of right views of the Gospel of God.