Series: Exodus
Title: Christ our Peace
Text: Ex 29: 22-46
Date: May 17, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
Every sinner in this world
wants to be happy. But we will never find true happiness in ourselves, in this
world, in our circumstances or in our religious deeds. We can change our circumstances. We can fill up our hands with this world. We can become religious—even in true
religion. But you and I being sinners
can never make ourselves truly, lastingly, happy in this world.
True happiness is to have peace with God. Only God can give us peace with God. Peace with God is in Christ Jesus alone. But only Christ can fill up our hands with
Christ and make us willing to come to God our Father offering only Christ alone.
When Christ does this for his people God our Father and his child have peace
and therefore communion one with another in Christ Jesus.
In Exodus 29, we see
three requirements that must be met in order for a sinner to have peace with
God.
One, our old man
of sin must die. Our sins must be punished. We saw this in the sin offering which typified Christ made sin for his people. He bore the wrath of God unto death. By Christ, the old man of sin in every elect
child of God was crucified before God. Our
sins are put away forever by Christ’s one sacrifice.
Two, we must give to God
complete obedience in order to be accepted of God. The burnt offering was a sweet savor to God. It was all burned on the altar for God alone. It typified the Lord Jesus giving God our
Father complete obedience in whom God’s elect have acceptance with God.
Also, we must be sanctified
and consecrated, made willing to come to God in Christ alone. It is not enough for Christ to do a work FOR
us because we have a depraved sin-nature.
Christ, through the Holy Spirit, must do a work IN us. We saw this typified in the ram of
consecration. After the ram of
consecration was slain in place of the priests, its blood, along with the anointing
oil were applied to the priests. It typifies
Christ Jesus whose blood is applied by the Holy Spirit by whom we are sanctified
and consecrated to God.
Today, we see the result of this work typified.
Proposition:
When Christ’s blood is applied in a sinner through the Holy Spirit then we are
made willing by Christ’s power to come to God with Christ alone as our Peace offering
to God.
Christ is the one offering God will receive. When we come to God with Christ only then we find
Peace with God. The result is communion and
fellowship with God our Father and his Son Christ Jesus.
Subject:
Christ our Peace
Divisions:
1) Christ in the offering God required 2) It is Christ who fills our hands with
Christ 3) In Christ we have peace, communion/fellowship with God our Father and
his Son Jesus Christ forever.
CHRIST IN THE OFFERING
Exodus 29: 22: Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the
rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the
liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right
shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration. 23: And one loaf of bread,
and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened
bread that is before the LORD:
In
the burnt offering the entire animal was consumed in the fire; it all went to
God alone. But in this peace offering, part
went to God and part to the priests. But
here God provides detailed instructions concerning the parts of the body that
are to be burned unto him. Notice the
word “fat.” “All
the fat is the Lord’s” (Lev 3:16).
In our culture the word “fat” is looked upon negatively. But in tribal cultures—such as Israel—fat is
a sign of prosperity. If a man’s
children were skinny then people would feel sorry for them. But if a man’s children were called “fat” it
would be a compliment because it signifies prosperity. In
the old testament, “fat” represents the absolute best
Genesis
4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings
of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to
his offering:
Pharaoh promised Joseph,
Genesis 45:18: And take
your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good
of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
Numbers 18:12: All the best
of the oil [the fat of the oil], and all the best of the wine [the fat of the
wine], and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto
the LORD, them have I given thee.
God required the “fat” with these inward parts be his
part, burned upon the altar, because it represents Christ who is the absolute
best. Christ’s
perfection through and through, in his inward parts, is the perfection in whom
alone we have peace with God. The right
shoulder represents power and glory—Christ is the Power and Glory of God.
Then we see Christ in the unleavened bread. This will later be called the “meat offering.” This
meat offering portrays sinners perfect in the sight of God by the merits of
Christ.
It
was not a bloody sacrifice but it had to be offered in connection with a blood
sacrifice. That was the difference in
God receiving Abel and rejecting Cain’s offering. Cain brought no blood with his meat
offering. He was saying that he did not
need to be justified by Christ. But in this
meat offering there was bread made from fine flour, thoroughly sifted. Nothing in the flour was rough or uneven just
like Christ our Sanctification
. One part was baked of unleavened bread. Leaven is a symbol
of evil and hypocrisy. Christ was
without sin
Another cake was
anointed with oil even as Christ was anointed of the Holy Spirit beyond all his
fellows.
Christ said, "The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor" (
Luke 4:1,14,18).
In
the meat offering we see Christ our Bread from heaven: holy, righteous, without
sin. Nothing moved Christ from his
purpose: not satan’s tempting, men’s rejections or men’s compliments
. In his
character, the God-man Mediator is perfect, even, complete, without sin, holy, undefiled,
separate from sinners.
Circumstances had no effect upon
him. Sorrow did not bring him down; praise
did not puff him up
. These things cannot be said of any
of his disciples.
No matter how wise or good we may deem a brother there are sins,
infirmities, and humiliating weaknesses.
Christ alone could declare, “I do always those things that please [the
Father].” (Jn 8: 29).
The Father declared it from heaven on two different occasions, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (
Matt. 3:17;
17:5).
So the fat of the inward
parts, the right shoulder and the meat offering of unleavened bread made from fine
flour and oil speaks of Christ the absolute Best. He is the Holiness and Righteousness of those
sanctified by the free and sovereign grace of God. Christ is the Power and Glory of God, the
Bread of Life, the one offering God will receive from a sinner.
CHRIST FILLS OUR HANDS
WITH CHRIST
Exodus 29: 24:
And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and
shalt wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. 25: And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn
them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD:
it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 27: And thou shalt sanctify the
breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the
heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the
consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that
which is for his sons: 28: And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute
for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and
it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of
their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD.
Here, Moses typifies Christ our
Mediator. It was Moses going between God
and the children of Israel like as Christ is the one and only Mediator between
God and his chosen Israel. Moses filled
the hands of the priests with the offering God required. How are sinners made willing to come to God
only in the person and work of Christ Jesus the Lord? Christ fills our hands with Christ. God the Father said of our risen Redeemer,
Psalm 110:3: Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness
from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Our hands are full of sin by nature. Our will is in
bondage to our sin nature. Therefore, sinners
will come to God with every other sacrifice but not the one offering God will
receive—Christ Jesus the Lord alone. But when Christ has emptied our hands
then in irresistible power he makes us willing to lay hold of him through faith
Then Moses put his hands upon the hands of
the priests and they waved the offering east, west, up, and down signifying this
offering came from God and they offered it with thanksgiving and praise back to
God alone. Not only does Christ have to
put Christ in our hands, it is by Christ that we thank God with our wave
offerings of thanksgiving and praise. We
see a spiritual fulfillment of this in the apostle Paul. Christ put himself in Paul’s hands, along
with the work God would have Paul to do.
Therefore, Paul made a wave offering by giving all the glory and
thanksgiving to Christ when he said,
1 Timothy 1:12: And I thank
Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry;
There is nothing good in our
lives except what comes from God: all saving goodness (Eph. 1:3-6; 1 Cor. 1:30),
all spiritual goodness, all providential goodness (Rom. 8:28), and all eternal goodness. We do not deserve it and we did not earn it. Christ, along with all good and perfect gift,
comes from God and all belongs to God. All
is given us in and by Christ Jesus our Peace Offering. Knowing this we must, with willing hearts, we
give all back God again through Christ our Peace.
1
Corinthians 4:7: For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory,
as if thou hadst not received it?
After putting himself in our
hands, after making us acknowledge that all came to us from God in and by
Christ, then Christ himself presents our offering to the Father and God receives
us. God said to Moses, “And thou shalt
receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering,
for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the
LORD.”
Then the fat of the inward
parts, the right shoulder, and the unleavened bread was burned entirely upon
the altar and the smoke arose up to God a sweet savour before the LORD. What a
picture of grace! It pleased God to give
his only Son, Christ Jesus our sin-offering, our burnt-offering. He gave himself to be burned in our room and
stead on the cursed tree. Then it
pleases God to give his only Son to each one for whom Christ died. Christ fills our hands with the one offering
God will receive. He makes us offer the
wave offering of thanks. Then Christ
presents us to God a sweet-smelling savour in and by him and God receives us as
a sweet-smelling savor. It is all of God
our Savior who dwells in our midst.
Zephaniah
3:17: The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will
rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee
with singing.
Do not miss this good news! Christ our Peace shall never be taken from
those he has made priests by his blood. We
see this typified in verses 27-28 when God declares that when the children of
Israel brought their wave offering in the future, the shoulder shall be for God’s
priests forever—"And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave
offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the
consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his
sons: And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute for ever from the children
of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from
the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their
heave offering unto the LORD.”
From then on, every time the
children of Israel brought their peace offerings, Aaron and his sons were to be
given the breast and the shoulder for their part. Every sanctified child of God shall forever
have the love of Christ’s heart (the breast) and
the power of Christ’s arm (shoulder).
And like as that was the priest’s portion forever, so Christ is our
portion forever.
CHRIST IS OUR PEACE AND
COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER
Exodus 29: 31: And thou shalt take the ram
of the consecration, and seethe his flesh in the holy place. 32: And Aaron and his sons shall eat the
flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 33: And they shall eat those things wherewith
the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger
shall not eat thereof, because they are holy. 34: And if ought of the flesh
of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt
burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. 35: And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and
to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee: seven
days shalt thou consecrate them. 36: And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for
a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast
made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. 37: Seven
days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall
be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy. 38: Now this is that which thou shalt
offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. 39: The
one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at
even: 40: And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth
part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for
a drink offering. 41: And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do
thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the
drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the
LORD. 42 This shall be a
continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak
there unto thee. 43 And there I will
meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified
by my glory. 44: And I will sanctify
the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: 45: I will sanctify also
both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office. And I will
dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know
that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,
that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.
The picture here
is that God the Father and each sanctified child of God are brought together in
communion and fellowship in and by Christ.
God the Father’s part was Christ from off the altar. The priest’s part was eaten by the door. This shared
feast between the Father and his priests typifies the fellowship we have with
God our Father in Christ our Peace Offering. It pictures living upon Christ in whom
we have communion/fellowship with God the Father in his Son Christ Jesus.
Joh
6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you.
The apostle John said,
1 John 1: 1: That
which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of
life; 2: (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear
witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and
was manifested unto us;) 3: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto
you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
God reserves Christ and this fellowship strictly for
his elect, for Christ’s redeemed, for those the Holy Spirit sanctifies and consecrates
through faith—"And they shall eat those
things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but
a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy. And if ought of the flesh
of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt
burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.” Christ is holy—set apart—for
his people and his people holy—set apart—for him—a stranger shall not eat
thereof.
Since Christ is holy and living upon him is a holy
thing—none shall be left for tomorrow. We
must partake of Christ today. We are not
to wait until tomorrow. He gives us
Bread for today, grace for today. The Lord would have his people feast
with him daily upon Christ in the holy place. Christ is delightful to God and is delightful
to you. Therefore, you must feed on Christ
in communion with God, in the place of holy fellowship, which is Christ the
Tabernacle, the Door! There is no sustenance for our inner nature anywhere
except upon the Lord Jesus, but, blessed be his name, he fills us full, and
gives strength which is equal to our day.
John
6: 54: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day. 55: For my flesh is meat indeed, and my
blood is drink indeed."
When God sanctifies, consecrates, and brings us into
fellowship with him then it is perfect in Christ. We see it in that this ceremony went on 7
days/perfection—"And thus shalt thou do unto
Aaron, and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee: seven
days shalt thou consecrate them. And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a
sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast
made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. Seven days
thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an
altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.”
Hebrews 13: 10:
10 We have an altar, whereof they have
no right to eat which serve the tabernacle…15: By him therefore let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving
thanks to his name.
Not only is our sanctification, consecration, and
communion perfect in Christ, it is continual and shall go on forever—"Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the
altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou
shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: And
with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin
of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and
shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according
to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire
unto the LORD. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your
generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD:
where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the
children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.”
Christ is
our continual sin-atoning sacrifice. He is our continual burnt offering of
acceptance. Christ is our continual peace-offering
and meat offering in whom we have communion and fellowship with God and give
God all the glory and praise. It is only
in Christ that holy God will meet with a sinner and speak to us because we are
sanctified by God’s glory, Christ Jesus his Son.
Our sanctification and consecration is all
of God and his people know it and give him all the glory—"And I will
sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify
also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office. And I
will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall
know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of
Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.”
Sinner, we can change our circumstance
in search of happiness. But true
happiness is having Peace with God in Christ our Peace! May God bless and sanctify his people and
bring us into this fellowship with God in Christ.
Amen!