The Table of God: The Peace Offering Text: Leviticus 3:1-5
Introduction: A Meal with God
We moderns, particularly we evangelicals, have a bad habit of treating the Old Testament like a dusty attic. We know there are some valuable heirlooms up there somewhere, but we are mostly intimidated by the clutter. And no book seems more cluttered to the modern mind than Leviticus. It feels distant, strange, and frankly, a bit bloody. We are a people who buy our meat in sterile plastic packages, far removed from the realities of life and death. But Leviticus forces us to confront these realities head-on. It is a book about worship, and true worship is never sterile. It is about life and death, sin and grace, separation and communion.
The first two offerings in Leviticus, the burnt offering and the grain offering, deal with consecration and tribute. They are about dedicating ourselves wholly to God and acknowledging His provision. But the third offering, the peace offering, is something different. It is unique. It is a celebratory meal. It is the only one of the sacrifices where the worshiper himself gets to eat a portion of the offering. This is not primarily about atonement for sin, though that is presupposed. This is about fellowship. This is about communion. This is about being invited to sit down and eat at God's table, in His presence.
Our age is starved for fellowship. We have a thousand digital friends and yet we are desperately lonely. We long for peace, but we look for it in political treaties, personal affirmations, and therapeutic platitudes. But Leviticus tells us that true peace, true shalom, is not found horizontally between men until it is first established vertically between man and God. And that vertical peace is not an abstract feeling; it is a covenantal reality, sealed with blood and celebrated with a meal. The peace offering was God's way of proclaiming His intention to renew fellowship with sinful humanity. It was a tangible, edible, glorious picture of the gospel.
Therefore, we must not read this chapter as a mere historical curiosity. This is not just for the priests in the tabernacle. This is for us. This is a detailed blueprint for what happens every time we come to the Lord's Table. This is the grammar of communion. If we want to understand what it means to have peace with God, we must understand the statutes of the peace offering.
The Text
'Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he is going to bring near one from the herd, whether male or female, he shall bring it near without blemish before Yahweh. Then he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash the blood around on the altar. From the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys. Then Aaron’s sons shall offer it up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.'
(Leviticus 3:1-5 LSB)
Peace Has a Prerequisite (v. 1)
We begin with the conditions of the offering.
"'Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he is going to bring near one from the herd, whether male or female, he shall bring it near without blemish before Yahweh.'" (Leviticus 3:1)
The first thing to notice is that this offering is for "peace." The Hebrew word is shelamim, which is related to the more familiar word shalom. But shalom is not just the absence of conflict. It is not a ceasefire. Shalom is wholeness, completeness, flourishing, and vibrant well-being. It is the state of all things being as they ought to be. This is what man lost in the garden, and this is what God is restoring through sacrifice. This offering is a foretaste of that final restoration.
Unlike the burnt offering, the animal for the peace offering could be male or female. This points to the broad, inclusive nature of this fellowship. Peace with God is available to all His people. But the one non-negotiable condition is that the animal must be "without blemish." It must be perfect, whole, and unmarred. Why? Because it is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice that makes peace between God and man cannot be flawed. A blemished sacrifice cannot heal a broken relationship. Peter tells us we were redeemed not with perishable things, but "with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:19).
This is the central problem that every other religion and every secular philosophy fails to solve. How can a sinful man have fellowship with a holy God? You cannot simply waltz into His presence. You cannot come on your own terms. Peace requires a perfect mediator, a spotless substitute. Before you can sit at God's table, a perfect sacrifice must be offered on your behalf. There is no communion without consecration, and there is no consecration without a spotless lamb.
Identification and Atonement (v. 2)
Verse 2 describes the worshiper's personal involvement in the sacrifice.
"Then he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash the blood around on the altar." (Leviticus 3:2)
This is a profoundly personal act. The worshiper brings his own animal. He lays his own hand on its head. This laying on of hands is an act of identification. It is a formal transfer. The worshiper is saying, "This animal stands for me. Its death will be my death. Its acceptance will be my acceptance." This is the doctrine of substitution made visible. It is not enough to have a vague, general appreciation for sacrifice. You must personally lay your hand on the head of the Lamb. You must confess that you are the sinner who deserves to die, and that He is the substitute who dies in your place.
Then, the worshiper himself slits the throat of the animal. This was not a task outsourced to a professional. The man who sought peace had to feel the tremor of the dying animal. He had to see the cost of his sin and the price of his peace. We must never forget that our peace with God was purchased at a terrible price. It is not cheap grace. It is bloody grace. It cost the Son of God everything.
After the slaughter, the priests, Aaron's sons, take the blood and splash it around the altar. The life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11), and the blood is presented to God. This is atonement. The blood covers the sin that would otherwise prevent fellowship. This act at the altar makes the meal possible. So it is with us. The blood of Jesus, sprinkled on the heavenly altar, is the only reason we can draw near to God. We have peace with God only "through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:20).
God's Portion (v. 3-5a)
Next, we see which parts of the animal are designated as God's portion, offered up on the altar.
"From the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys. Then Aaron’s sons shall offer it up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering..." (Leviticus 3:3-5a)
This is a very specific list. God claims the fat and the internal organs, specifically the kidneys and the liver. In the ancient world, the fat was considered the richest, best part of the animal. To give the fat was to give the best. God does not want our leftovers. He does not want our half-hearted, begrudging service. He requires the best of what we have. "The soul of the diligent," Proverbs says, "shall be made fat" (Prov. 13:4). A rich, wholehearted devotion is what God desires.
The internal organs, like the kidneys and the liver, were seen as the seat of the emotions and the will. They represented the innermost being of a person. So, when God claims the fat and the entrails, He is claiming the richest portion and the deepest affections. He is saying, "If you want to have fellowship with Me, you must give me your best. You must give me your heart." This is what the first and great commandment is all about: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deut. 6:5).
Notice that God's portion is offered up "on the burnt offering." The peace offering rests upon the foundation of total consecration. You cannot have fellowship with God (the peace offering) until you have first surrendered everything to God (the burnt offering). Our communion with God flows from our consecration to God. You cannot treat God like a casual acquaintance with whom you share a meal now and then. He is the Lord of the universe who has bought you with a price, and fellowship is a gift He gives to those who have first given themselves entirely to Him.
The Divine Satisfaction (v. 5b)
The verse concludes with God's response to this offering.
"...it is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh." (Leviticus 3:5b)
This phrase, "a soothing aroma," appears throughout Leviticus. It does not mean that God has olfactory senses that are pleased by the smell of burning meat. It is an anthropomorphism, a figure of speech to describe divine satisfaction. It means that God is pleased. He is satisfied. He accepts the offering. The relationship is restored. The grounds for peace have been fully met.
This is a picture of the Father's satisfaction with the sacrifice of the Son. When Jesus cried out "It is finished," the work was done. The debt was paid. The Father was satisfied. Paul picks up this very language and applies it directly to Christ: "And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma" (Ephesians 5:2).
Because of Christ's perfect sacrifice, the Father is not angry with us. He is not begrudgingly tolerating us. He is pleased with us. He looks upon us, clothed in the righteousness of His Son, and He is satisfied. The aroma of Christ's sacrifice has ascended, and in Him, we are accepted. This is the foundation of our peace. Our peace is not based on our performance, but on His perfect, once-for-all, soothing-aroma sacrifice.
Conclusion: The Fellowship of the Meal
So what happened to the rest of the animal? The fat was burned on the altar for God. A portion of the meat went to the priests. And the rest? The rest was taken by the worshiper, and he would hold a feast. He would eat it with his family and friends in the presence of the Lord. God ate His portion from the altar, and the worshiper ate his portion in the courtyard. They were sharing a meal together. This is the heart of the peace offering. It is table fellowship with the Almighty.
This is precisely what we do when we come to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is our Christian peace offering. It is a fellowship meal, where we celebrate the peace that Christ has made. The altar was God's table in the Old Testament, and this communion table is Christ's table in the New.
On that table, we see the symbols of His "without blemish" sacrifice. We lay our hands on Him by faith, identifying with His death. We remember the cost, the shedding of His blood which makes our peace possible. And in this meal, we have communion with Him. He is the host, and we are His honored guests. He dines with us, and we with Him (Rev. 3:20).
This is why Paul warns the Corinthians so sternly about coming to the table with divisions and bitterness. To do so is to misunderstand the very nature of the meal. It is a peace offering. You cannot celebrate horizontal peace with God while you are in a state of vertical war with your brother. That is a contradiction. That is to eat and drink in an unworthy manner (1 Cor. 11:27-29).
Our peace, our shalom, our wholeness is found here. It is found in a perfect, spotless sacrifice. It is found in a personal identification with that sacrifice. It is found in giving God our best, our innermost being. And it is consummated in a meal, a glorious feast of fellowship with the living God, made possible by the soothing aroma of His Son. This is the peace that passes all understanding, and it is offered to you freely today.