The more closely we contemplate the offerings, the more fully do we see how that no one offering furnishes a complete view of Christ. It is only by putting all together that anything like a just idea can be formed. Each offering, as might be expected, has features peculiar to itself. The peace offering differs from the burnt offering in many points, and a clear understanding of the points in which any one type differs from the others will be found to help much in the apprehension of its special import.
Thus in comparing the peace offering with the burnt offering we find that the threefold action of flaying, cutting it into its pieces, and washing the inwards and legs is entirely omitted; and this is quite in character. In the burnt offering, as we have seen, we find Christ offering Himself to and accepted by God, and hence the completeness of His self-surrender, and also the searching process to which He submitted Himself had to be typified. In the peace offering the leading thought is the communion of the worshipper. It is not Christ as enjoyed exclusively by God, but as enjoyed by the worshipper in communion with God. Therefore it is that the whole line of action is less intense. No heart, be its love ever so elevated, could possibly rise to the height of Christ’s devotedness to God or of God’s acceptance of Christ. None but God Himself could duly note the pulsations of that heart which throbbed in the bosom of Jesus, and therefore a type was needed to set forth that one feature of Christ’s death, namely, His perfect devotedness therein to God. This type we have in the burnt offering, in which alone we observe the threefold action above referred to.
So also in reference to the character of the sacrifice. In the burnt offering it should be “a male without blemish”; whereas in the peace offering it might be a male or female, though equally without blemish. The nature of Christ, whether we view Him as enjoyed exclusively by God or by the worshipper in fellowship with God, must ever be one and the same. There can be no alteration in that. The only reason why a female was permitted in the peace offering was because it was a question of the worshipper’s capacity to enjoy that blessed One who in Himself is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13).
Again, in the burnt offering we read, “The priest shall burn all”; whereas in the peace offering a part only was burnt, that is, the fat, the kidneys, and the caul. This makes it exceedingly simple. The most excellent portion of the sacrifice was laid on God’s altar. The inward parts, the hidden energies, the tender sensibilities of the blessed Jesus were devoted to God as the only One who could perfectly enjoy them. Aaron and his sons fed upon the wave breast and the heave shoulder (see Lev. 7:28-3628And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 29Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the Lord shall bring his oblation unto the Lord of the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 30His own hands shall bring the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the fat with the breast, it shall he bring, that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the Lord. 31And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'. 32And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. 33He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for his part. 34For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel. 35This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord in the priest's office; 36Which the Lord commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, by a statute for ever throughout their generations. (Leviticus 7:28‑36)). The breast and the shoulder are emblematical of love and power, strength and affection. All the members of the priestly family in communion with their head had their proper portion of the peace offering. And now all true believers constituted by grace priests unto God can feed upon the affections and the strength of the true Peace offering, can enjoy the happy assurance of having His loving heart and powerful shoulder to comfort and sustain them continually. There is much force and beauty in verse 35: “The breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.” It is the privilege of all true believers to feed upon the affections of Christ — the changeless love of that heart which beats with a deathless and changeless love for them. “This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord in the priest’s office; which the Lord commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them by a statute forever throughout their generations” (Lev. 7:35-3635This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord in the priest's office; 36Which the Lord commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, by a statute for ever throughout their generations. (Leviticus 7:35‑36)).
All these are important points of difference between the burnt offering and the peace offering, and when taken together they set the two offerings with great clearness before the mind. There is something more in the peace offering than the abstract devotedness of Christ to the will of God. The worshipper is introduced; and that not merely as a spectator but as a participator — not merely to gaze but to feed. This gives very marked character to this offering. When I look at the Lord Jesus in the burnt offering I see Him as One whose heart was devoted to the one object of glorifying God and accomplishing His will. But when I see Him in the peace offering I find One who has a place in His loving heart and on His powerful shoulder for a worthless, helpless sinner. In the burnt offering the breast and shoulder, legs and inwards, head and fat, were all burnt on the altar — all went up as a sweet savor to God. But in the peace offering the very portion that suits me is left for me.
Nor am I left to feed in solitude on that which meets my individual need. By no means. I feed in communion — in communion with God and in communion with my fellow-priests. I feed in the full and happy intelligence that the selfsame sacrifice which feeds my soul has already refreshed the heart of God; and moreover that the same portion which feeds me feeds all my fellow-worshippers. Communion is the order here; communion with God; the communion of saints. There was no such thing as isolation in the peace offering. God had His portion and so had the priestly family.
Thus it is in connection with the Antitype of the peace offering. The very same Jesus who is the object of heaven’s delight is the spring of joy, of strength, and of comfort to every believing heart; and not only to every heart in particular, but also to the whole church of God in fellowship. God in His exceeding grace has given His people the very same object that He has Himself. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1). True our thoughts of Jesus can never rise to the height of God’s thoughts. Our estimation of such an object must ever fall far short of His, and hence in the type the house of Aaron could not partake of the fat. But though we can never rise to the standard of the divine estimation of Christ’s Person and sacrifice, it is nevertheless the same object we are occupied with, and therefore the house of Aaron had the wave breast and the heave shoulder.
All this is replete with comfort and joy to the heart. The Lord Jesus Christ, the One who was dead but is alive for evermore, is now the exclusive object before the eye and thoughts of God; and in perfect grace He has given unto us a portion in the same blessed and all-glorious Person. Christ is our object too — the object of our hearts and the theme of our song. “Having made peace by the blood of His cross,” He ascended into heaven, and sent down the Holy Spirit, that other Comforter, by whose powerful ministrations we feed upon the breast and shoulder of our divine Peace Offering. He is indeed our peace; and it is our exceeding joy to know that such is God’s delight in the establishment of our peace, that the sweet odor of our peace offering has refreshed His heart.
This imparts a peculiar charm to this type. Christ as the burnt offering commands the admiration of the heart; Christ as the peace offering establishes the peace of the conscience and meets the deep and manifold necessities of the soul. The sons of Aaron might stand around the altar of burnt offering; they might behold the flame of that offering ascending to the God of Israel; they might see the sacrifice reduced to ashes; they might in view of all this bow their heads and worship; but they carried naught away for themselves. Not so in the peace offering. In it they not only beheld that which was capable of emitting a sweet odor to God, but also of yielding a most substantial portion for themselves on which they could feed in happy and holy fellowship.
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 before 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 Leviticus 7:1212If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. (Leviticus 7:12) 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 Spirit 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 luster 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” (Lev. 3:22And 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. (Leviticus 3:2)). Here we have that which the meat offering does not supply, namely, a solid foundation for the worshipper’s communion with all the fullness, the preciousness, and the beauty of Christ, so far as He by the gracious energy of the Holy Spirit is enabled to enter thereinto. Standing on the platform which the precious blood of Christ provides, we can range with tranquillized hearts and worshipping 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 7:1212If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. (Leviticus 7:12) 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” (Lev. 3:55And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. (Leviticus 3:5), comp. with Lev. 4:10-1210As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. 11And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, 12Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt. (Leviticus 4:10‑12)). 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 1). The more we abide in the light, the deeper will be our sense of everything 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.
It is most needful to be established in the truth that we are in the presence of God only as the partakers of divine life and as standing in divine righteousness. The Father could only have the prodigal at his table clothed in the best robe and in all the integrity of that relationship in which He viewed him. Had the prodigal been left in his rags or placed as a hired servant in the house, we never should have heard those glorious words, “Let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Thus it is with all true believers. Their old nature is not recognized as existing before God. He counts it dead, and so should they. It is dead to God — dead to faith. It must be kept in the place of death. It is not by improving our old nature that we get into the divine presence, but as the possessors of a new nature. It was not by repairing the rags of his former condition that the prodigal got a place at the Father’s table, but by being clothed in a robe which he had never seen or thought of before. He did not bring this robe with him from the far country, neither did he provide it as he came along; but the father had it for him in the house. The prodigal did not make it or help to make it; but the father provided it for him and rejoiced to see it on him. Thus it was they sat down together to feed in happy fellowship upon the fatted calf.
I shall now proceed to quote at length the law of the sacrifice of peace offering, in which we shall find some additional points of much interest — points which belong peculiarly to itself: “And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings. And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten; but the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear His iniquity. And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire; and as for the flesh all that be clean shall eat thereof. But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from His people. Moreover, the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the Lord, even that soul shall be cut off from His people” (Lev. 7:11-2011And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. 12If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. 13Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings. 14And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord, and it shall be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. 15And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. 16But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten: 17But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. 18And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity. 19And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof. 20But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. (Leviticus 7:11‑20)).
It is of the utmost importance that we accurately distinguish between sin in the flesh and sin on the conscience. If we confound these two our souls must necessarily be unhinged and our worship marred. An attentive consideration of 1 John 1:8-108If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8‑10) will throw much light upon this subject, the understanding of which is so essential to a due appreciation of the entire doctrine of the peace offering, and more especially of that point therein at which we have now arrived. There is no one who will be so conscious of indwelling sin as the man who walks in the light. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” In the verse immediately preceding we read, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Here the distinction between sin in us and sin on us is fully brought out and established. To say that there is sin on the believer in the presence of God is to call in question the purging efficacy of the blood of Jesus and to deny the truth of the divine record. If the blood of Jesus can perfectly purge then the believer’s conscience is perfectly purged.
The word of God thus puts the matter; and we must ever remember that it is from God Himself we are to learn what the true condition of the believer is in His sight. We are more disposed to be occupied in telling God what we are in ourselves than to allow Him to tell us what we are in Christ. In other words, we are more taken up with our own self-consciousness than with God’s revelation of Himself. God speaks to us on the ground of what He is in Himself and of what He has accomplished in Christ. Such is the nature and character of His revelation of which faith takes hold, and thus fills the soul with perfect peace. God’s revelation is one thing; my consciousness is quite another.
But the same word which tells us we have no sin on us tells us with equal force and clearness that we have sin in us. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Every one who has truth in him will know that he has sin in him likewise, for truth reveals everything as it is. What then are we to do? It is our privilege so to walk in the power of the new nature that the sin which dwells in us may not manifest itself in the form of sins.
The Christian’s position is one of victory and liberty. He is not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but also from sin as a ruling principle in his life. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.... Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof....For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:6-146Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:6‑14)). Sin is there in all its native vileness; but the believer is dead to it. How? He died in Christ. By nature he was dead in sin; by grace he is dead to it. What claim can anything or any one have upon a dead man? None whatever. Christ died to sin once, and the believer died in Him. “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.” What is the result of this in reference to believers? “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Such is the believer’s unalterable position before God! so that it is his holy privilege to enjoy freedom from sin as a ruler over him, though it be a dweller in him.
But then, if any man sin, what is to be done? The inspired apostle furnishes a full and most blessed answer, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)). Confession is the mode in which the conscience is to be kept free. The apostle does not say, “If we pray for pardon, He is gracious and merciful to forgive us.” No doubt it is ever happy for a child to breathe the sense of need into his father’s ear to tell him of feebleness, to confess folly, infirmity and failure. All this is most true; and, moreover, it is equally true that our Father is most gracious and merciful to meet His children in all their weakness and ignorance; but, while all this is true, the Holy Spirit declares by the apostle that if we confess, God is faithful and just to forgive. Confession, therefore, is the divine mode. A Christian having erred in thought, word, or deed, might pray for pardon for days and months together and not have any assurance from 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) that he was forgiven; whereas the moment he truly confesses his sin before God it is a simple matter of faith to know that he is perfectly forgiven and perfectly cleansed.
There is an immense moral difference between praying for forgiveness and confessing our sins, whether we look at it in reference to the character of God, the sacrifice of Christ, or the condition of the soul. It is quite possible that a person’s prayer may involve the confession of his sin, whatever it may happen to be, and thus come to the same thing. But then it is always well to keep close to scripture in what we think and say and do. It must be evident that when the Holy Spirit speaks of confession He does not mean praying. And it is equally evident that He knows there are moral elements in, and practical results flowing out of confession which do not belong to prayer. In point of fact, one has often found that a habit of importuning God for the forgiveness of sins displayed ignorance as to the way in which God has revealed Himself in the Person and work of Christ, as to the relation in which the sacrifice of Christ has set the believer, and as to the divine mode of getting the conscience relieved from the burden and purified from the soil of sin.
God has been perfectly satisfied as to all the believer’s sins in the cross of Christ. On that cross a full atonement was presented for every jot and tittle of sin in the believer’s nature, and on his conscience. Hence, therefore, God does not need any further propitiation. He does not need aught to draw His heart toward the believer. We do not require to supplicate Him to be faithful and just when His faithfulness and justice have been so gloriously displayed, vindicated and answered in the death of Christ. Our sins can never come into God’s presence, inasmuch as Christ who bore them all and put them away is there instead. But if we sin conscience will feel it, must feel it; yea, the Holy Spirit will make us feel it. He cannot allow so much as a single light thought to pass unjudged. What then? Has our sin made its way into the presence of God? Has it found its place in the unsullied light of the inner sanctuary? God forbid! The Advocate is there, Jesus Christ the righteous, to maintain in unbroken integrity the relationship in which we stand. But though sin cannot affect God’s thoughts in reference to us, it can and does affect our thoughts in reference to Him. Though it cannot make its way into His presence, it can make its way into ours in a most distressing and humiliating manner. Though it cannot hide the Advocate from God’s view, it can hide Him from ours. It gathers like a thick, dark cloud on our spiritual horizon, so that our souls cannot bask in the blessed beams of our Father’s countenance. It cannot affect our relationship with God, but it can very seriously affect our enjoyment thereof.
The reader will bear in mind that the subject treated of in the text leaves wholly untouched the important and most practical truth taught in John 14:21-2321He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:21‑23), namely, the peculiar love of the Father for an obedient child and the special communion of such a child with the Father and the Son. May this truth be written on all our hearts by the pen of God the Holy Spirit!
What, therefore, are we to do? The word answers, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” By confession we get our conscience cleared; the sweet sense of our relationship restored; the dark cloud dispersed; the chilling, withering influence removed; our thoughts of God set straight. Such is the divine method; and we may truly say that the heart that knows what it is to have ever been in the place of confession will feel the divine power of the apostle’s words, “My little children, these things write I unto you, THAT YE SIN NOT” (1 John 2:11My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1)).
Then again, there is a style of praying for forgiveness which involves a losing sight of the perfect ground of forgiveness which has been laid in the sacrifice of the cross. If God forgives sins He must be faithful and just in so doing. But it is quite clear that our prayers, be they ever so sincere and earnest, could not form the basis of God’s faithfulness and justice in forgiving us our sins. Naught save the work of the cross could do this. There the faithfulness and justice of God have had their fullest establishment, and that, too, in immediate reference of our actual sins as well as to the root thereof in our nature. God has already judged our sins in the Person of our Substitute, “on the tree”; and in the act of confession we judge ourselves. This is essential to divine forgiveness and restoration. The very smallest unconfessed, unjudged sin on the conscience will entirely mar our communion with God. Sin in us need not do this; but if we suffer sin to remain on us we cannot have fellowship with God. He has put away our sins in such a manner as that He can have us in His presence, and so long as we abide in His presence sin does not trouble us. But if we get out of His presence and commit sin, even in thought, our communion must of necessity be suspended until by confession we have got rid of the sin. All this, I need hardly add, is founded exclusively upon the perfect sacrifice and righteous advocacy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, as to the difference between prayer and confession as respects the condition of the heart before God and its moral sense of the hatefulness of sin, it cannot possibly be over-estimated. It is a much easier thing to ask in a general way for the forgiveness of our sins than to confess those sins. Confession involves self-judgment; asking for forgiveness may not, and in itself does not. This alone would be sufficient to point out the difference. Self-judgment is one of the most valuable and healthful exercises of the Christian life, and therefore anything which produces it must be highly esteemed by every earnest Christian.
The difference between asking for pardon and confessing the sin is continually exemplified in dealing with children. If a child has done anything wrong, he finds much less difficulty in asking his father to forgive him than in openly and unreservedly confessing the wrong. In asking for forgiveness the child may have in his mind a number of things which tend to lessen the sense of evil he may be secretly thinking that he was not so much to blame after all, though to be sure it is only proper to ask his father to forgive him; whereas in confessing the wrong there is just the one thing, and that is self-judgment. Further, in asking for forgiveness the child may be influenced mainly by a desire to escape the consequences of his wrong, whereas a judicious parent will seek to produce a just sense of its moral evil, which can only exist in connection with the full confession of the fault — in connection with self-judgment.
Thus it is in reference to God’s dealings with His children when they do wrong. He must have the whole thing brought out and thoroughly judged. He will make us not only dread the consequences of sin — which are unutterable — but hate the thing itself, because of its hatefulness in His sight. Were it possible for us when we commit sin to be forgiven merely for the asking, our sense of sin and our shrinking from it would not be nearly so intense, and as a consequence our estimate of the fellowship with which we are blessed would not be nearly so high. The moral effect of all this upon the general tone of our spiritual constitution and also upon our whole character and practical career must be obvious to every experienced Christian.
The case of Simon Magus in Acts 8 may present a difficulty to the reader. But of him it is sufficient to say that one “in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity” could never be set forth as a model for God’s dear children. His case in nowise interferes with the doctrine of 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). He was not in the relationship of a child, and as a consequence not a subject of the advocacy. I would further add that the subject of the Lord’s prayer is by no means involved in what is stated above. I wish to confine myself to the immediate passage under consideration. We must ever avoid laying down iron rules. A soul may cry to God under any circumstances and ask for what it needs. He is ever ready to hear and answer.
This entire train of thought is intimately connected with and fully borne out by two leading principles laid down in the law of the peace offering.
In Leviticus 7:53 we read, “He shall offer for his offering leavened bread.” And yet at verse 20 we read, “But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the Lord having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from His people.” Here we have the two things clearly set before us, namely, sin in us and sin on us. Leaven was permitted because there was sin in the worshipper’s nature. Uncleanness was forbidden because there should be no sin on the worshipper’s conscience. If sin be in question communion must be out of the question. God has met and provided for the sin, which He knows to be in us, by the blood of the atonement; and hence of the leavened bread in the peace offering we read, “of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings” (vs. 14). In other words, the leaven in the worshipper’s nature was perfectly met by the blood of the sacrifice. The priest who gets the leavened bread must be the sprinkler of the blood.
God has put our sin out of His sight forever. Though it be in us it is not the object on which His eye rests. He sees only the blood, and therefore He can go on with us and allow us the most unhindered fellowship with Him. But if we allow the sin which is in us to develop itself in the shape of sins, there must be confession, forgiveness and cleansing before we can again eat of the flesh of the peace offering. The cutting off of the worshipper because of ceremonial uncleanness answers to the suspension of the believer’s communion now because of unconfessed sin. To attempt to have fellowship with God in our sins would involve the blasphemous insinuation that He could walk in companionship with sin. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (1 John 1:66If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (1 John 1:6)).
In the light of the foregoing line of truth, we may easily see how much we err when we imagine it to be a mark of spirituality to be occupied with our sins. Could sin or sins ever be the ground or material of our communion with God? Assuredly not. We have just seen that so long as sin is the object before us communion must be interrupted. Fellowship can only be in the light, and undoubtedly there is no sin in the light. There is naught to be seen there, save the blood which has put our sins away, and brought us nigh, and the Advocate which keeps us nigh. Sin has been forever obliterated from that platform on which God and the worshipper stand in hallowed fellowship. What was it which constituted the material of communion between the father and the prodigal? Was it the rags of the latter? Was it the husks of the far country? By no means. It was not anything that the prodigal brought with him. It was the rich provision of the father’s love — the fatted calf. Thus it is with God and every true worshipper. They feed together in holy and elevated communion upon Him whose precious blood has brought them into everlasting association in that light to which no sin can ever approach.
Nor need we for an instant suppose that true humility is either evidenced or promoted by looking at or dwelling upon our sins. An unhallowed and melancholy mopishness may thus be superinduced; but the deepest humility springs from a totally different source. Whether was the prodigal a humbler man when he came to himself in the far country or when he came to the father’s bosom and the father’s house? Is it not evident that the grace which elevates us to the loftiest heights of fellowship with God is that alone which leads us into the most profound depths of genuine humility? Unquestionably. The humility which springs from the removal of our sins must ever be deeper than that which springs from the discovery of them. The former connects us with God; the latter has to do with self. The way to be truly humble is to walk with God in the intelligence and power of the relationship in which He has set us. He has made us His children; and if only we walk as such, we shall be humble.
Before leaving this part of our subject I would offer a remark as to the Lord’s supper which, as being a prominent act of the church’s communion, may with strict propriety be looked at in connection with the doctrine of the peace offering. The intelligent celebration of the Lord’s supper must ever depend upon the recognition of its pure thanksgiving character. It is very especially a feast of thanksgiving — thanksgiving for an accomplished redemption. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:1616The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16)). Hence a soul bowed down under the heavy burden of sin cannot with spiritual intelligence eat the Lord’s supper, inasmuch as that feast is expressive of the complete removal of sin by the death of Christ. “Ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Cor. 11:2626For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:26)).
In the death of Christ faith sees the end of everything that pertained to our old creation standing; and seeing that the Lord’s supper shows forth that death, it is to be viewed as the memento of the glorious fact that the believer’s burden of sin was borne by One who put it away forever. It declares that the chain of our sins which once tied and bound us has been eternally snapped by the death of Christ and can never tie and bind us again. We gather round the Lord’s table in all the joy of conquerors. We look back to the cross where the battle was fought and won; and we look forward to the glory where we shall enter into the full and eternal results of the victory.
True we have leaven in us; but we have no uncleanness on us. We are not to gaze upon our sins, but upon Him who bore them on the cross and put them away forever. We are not to deceive ourselves by the vain notion that we have no sin in us, nor are we to deny the truth of God’s word and the efficacy of Christ’s blood by refusing to rejoice in the precious truth that we have no sin on us, for — “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” It is truly deplorable to observe the heavy cloud that gathers round the supper of the Lord in the judgment of so many professing Christians. It tends as much as anything else to reveal the immense amount of misapprehension which obtains in reference to the very elementary truths of the gospel. In fact, we know that when the Lord’s supper is resorted to on any ground save that of known salvation, enjoyed forgiveness, conscious deliverance, the soul becomes wrapped up in thicker and darker mists than ever. That which is only a memorial of Christ is used to displace Him. That which celebrates an accomplished redemption is used as a stepping-stone thereto. It is thus that the ordinances are abused and souls plunged in darkness, confusion and error.
How different from this is the beautiful ordinance of the peace offering! In this latter, looked at in its typical import, we see that the moment the blood was shed God and the worshipper could feed in happy, peaceful fellowship. Nothing more was needed. Peace was established by the blood; and on that ground the communion proceeded. A single question as to the establishment of peace must be the death-blow to communion. If we are to be occupied with the vain attempt to make peace with God we must be total strangers to either communion or worship. If the blood of the peace offering has not been shed it is impossible that we can feed upon the wave breast or the heave shoulder. But if on the other hand the blood has been shed then peace is made already. God Himself has made it, and this is enough for faith; and therefore by faith we have fellowship with God in the intelligence and joy of accomplished redemption. We ‘taste the freshness of God’s own joy in that which He has wrought. We feed upon Christ in all the fullness and blessedness of God’s presence.
This latter point is connected with and based upon another leading truth laid down in the law of the peace offering. “And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.” That is to say, the communion of the worshipper must never be separated from the sacrifice on which that communion is founded. So long as one has spiritual energy to maintain the connection the worship and communion are also maintained in freshness and acceptableness; but no longer. We must keep close to the sacrifice in the spirit of our minds, the affections of our hearts, and the experience of our souls. This will impart power and permanency to our worship. We may commence some act or expression of worship with our hearts in immediate occupation with Christ, and before we reach the close we may become occupied with what we are doing or saying, or with the persons who are listening to us, and in this way fall into what may be termed “iniquity in our holy things.”
This is deeply solemn and should make us very watchful. We may begin our worship in the Spirit and end in the flesh. Our care should ever be not to suffer ourselves to proceed for a single moment beyond the energy of the Spirit at the time, for the Spirit will always keep us occupied directly with Christ. If the Holy Spirit produces five words of worship or thanksgiving, let us utter the five and have done. If we proceed further we are eating the flesh of our sacrifice beyond the time, and so far from its being accepted it is really an abomination. Let us remember this and be watchful. It need not alarm us. God would have us led by the Spirit and so filled with Christ in all our worship. He can only accept of that which is divine, and therefore He would have us presenting that only which is divine.
“But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten” (Lev. 7:1616But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten: (Leviticus 7:16)). When the soul goes forth to God in a voluntary act of worship, such worship will be the result of a larger measure of spiritual energy than where it merely springs from some special mercy experienced at the time. If one has been visited with some marked favor from the Lord’s own hand, the soul at once ascends in thanksgiving. In this case the worship is awakened by and connected with that favor or mercy, whatever it may happen to be, and there it ends. But where the heart is led forth by the Holy Spirit in some voluntary or deliberate expression of praise it will be of a more enduring character. But spiritual worship will always connect itself with the precious sacrifice of Christ.
“The remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings, be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.” Nothing is of any value in the judgment of God which is not immediately connected with Christ. There may be a great deal of what looks like worship, which is after all the mere excitement and outgoing of natural feeling. There may be much apparent devotion which is merely fleshly pietism. Nature may be acted upon in a religious way by a variety of things, such as pomp, ceremony and parade, tones and attitudes, robes and vestments, an eloquent liturgy, all the varied attractions of a splendid ritualism, while there may be a total absence of spiritual worship. Yea, it not unfrequently happens that the very same tastes and tendencies which are called forth and gratified by the splendid appliances of so-called religious worship, would find most suited aliment at the opera or in the concert room.
All this has to be watched against by those who desire to remember that “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:2424God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)). Religion, so-called, is at this moment decking herself with her most powerful charms. Casting off the grossness of the Middle Ages, she is calling to her aid all the resources of refined taste and of a cultivated and enlightened age. Sculpture, music, and painting are pouring their rich treasures into her lap in order that she may therewith prepare a powerful opiate to lull the thoughtless multitude into a slumber, which shall only be broken in upon by the unutterable horrors of death, judgment, and the lake of fire. She, too, can say, “I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows....I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed by bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon” (Prov. 7). Thus does corrupt religion allure by her powerful influence those who will not hearken to wisdom’s heavenly voice.
Reader, beware of all this. See that your worship stands inseparably connected with the work of the cross. See that Christ is the ground, Christ the material, and the Holy Spirit the power of your worship. Take care that your outward act of worship does not stretch itself beyond the inward power. It demands much watchfulness to keep clear of this evil. Its incipient workings are most difficult to be detected and counteracted. We may commence a hymn in the true spirit of worship, and through lack of spiritual power we may before we reach the close fall into the evil which answers to the ceremonial act of eating the flesh of the peace offering on the third day.
Our only security is in keeping close to Jesus. If we lift up our hearts in thanksgiving for some special mercy, let us do so in the power of the name and sacrifice of Christ. If our souls go forth in voluntary worship, let it be in the energy of the Holy Spirit. In this way shall our worship exhibit that freshness, that fragrance, that depth of tone, that moral elevation which must result from having the Father as the object, the Son as the ground, and the Holy Spirit as the power of our worship.
Thus may it be, O Lord, with all Thy worshipping people until we find ourselves, body, soul and spirit, in the security of Thine own eternal presence, beyond the reach of all the unhallowed influences of false worship and corrupt religion, and also beyond the reach of the various hindrances which arise from these bodies of sin and death which we carry about with us!
It is interesting to observe that although the peace offering itself stands third in order yet the law thereof is given us last of all. This circumstance is not without its import. There is none of the offerings in which the communion of the worshipper is so fully unfolded as in the peace offering. In the burnt offering it is Christ offering Himself to God. In the meat offering we have Christ’s perfect humanity. Then, passing on to the sin offering, we learn that sin in its root is fully met. In the trespass offering there is a full answer to the actual sins in the life. But in none is the doctrine of the communion of the worshipper unfolded. This latter belongs to the peace offering, and hence, I believe, the position which the law of that offering occupies. It comes in at the close of all, thereby teaching us that when it becomes a question of the soul’s feeding upon Christ it must be a full Christ looked at in every possible phase of His life, His character, His Person, His work, His offices. And furthermore that when we shall have done forever with sin and sins we shall delight in Christ and feed upon Him throughout the everlasting ages. It would, I believe, be a serious defect in our study of the offerings were we to pass over a circumstance so worthy of notice as the above. If the law of the peace offering were given in the order in which the offering itself occurs, it would come in immediately after the law of the meat offering; but instead of that, the law of the sin offering and the law of the trespass offering are given, and then the law of the peace offering closes the entire.