p. 5 | The Peace-Offering by Stephen Nelson Haskell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jun 13, 1912

The Peace-Offering

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

(Concluded)

S. N. HASKELL

THERE was another feature of the typical peace-offering which every one should consider who wishes to experience the abiding peace of the antitypical peace-offering. The two cheeks of each peace-offering were given to the priest. Deut. 18:3. The great antitypical Prince of Peace could say, "I gave . . . my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." Isa. 50:6. And to the one who would enjoy the peace that the world can neither give nor take away, he says, "I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. 5:39. Job, who the Lord said was "a perfect and an upright man," could say, "They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully." Job 1:8; 16:10. The child of God is often asked to bear reproach and shame.

Unleavened cakes anointed with oil were eaten with the peace-offering. The unleavened bread indicated sincerity and truth, and oil is used as an emblem of the Holy Spirit, which brings peace to the heart. 1 Cor. 5:8. Leavened bread was also eaten with the peace-offerings of thanksgiving. After Abraham had received the promise that Sarah should have a son, two angels visited the patriarch as "he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day." No doubt remembering the promise, and in token of thanksgiving, Abraham at once prepared a peace-offering for them of unleavened bread and flesh, and they ate of it, and immediately confirmed again to Abraham the promise of a son. Gen. 18:1-10.

There was one rigid restriction in the eating of the peace-offering. The flesh was all to be eaten either upon the first or second day. The command was very plain: "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." Lev. 7:18. If one ate of the flesh upon the third day, it indicated that he counted the Antitype of his peace-offering still dead upon that day. On the other hand, the one who refused to eat the flesh upon the third day, and burned in the fire all that was left, showed his faith in a risen Saviour. In the warm country of Palestine the body would begin to decay upon the third day. Of Lazarus Martha said, "By this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days." John 11:39. But the psalmist, in prophesying of the resurrection of Christ, said, "Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." Ps. 16:10. David knew the Saviour would live the third day. Those who lived near the Lord saw the light that was reflected from the typical service. The eyes of even the disciples were so blinded by sin and doubt that they could not comprehend the light that flashed from the sacrificial offerings. Just as the moon, reflecting the rays of the sun, gives sufficient light to guide one safely through the night, so the light of the great antitypical Lamb of God reflected from the Levitical laws and sacrificial offerings was sufficient to lead the people safely unto the kingdom of God.

There are many to-day who long for peace, and claim to feast upon God and his Word day by day; and yet they stumble along in darkness, because, like the one in the type who ate of the flesh the third day, thus signifying that he believed the Lord still dead on the third day, they go through life mourning as if the Lord of life and glory were still lying dead in Joseph's tomb, instead of being alive in heaven at the right hand of the Father, ready to send light and help to every trusting follower here upon the earth. The message he sends to us from the heavenly sanctuary is, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore." Rev. 1:18.

Christ is our peace. Eph. 2:14.

Type

Lev. 3:1: Without blemish. Lev. 7:29, 30: Fat separated from the offering. Fat a type of sin. Ps. 37:20. Lev. 7:31: The fat burned. Lev. 7:32: The shoulder the priest's portion. Lev. 7:31: "The breast shall be Aaron's and his sons." Deut. 18:3: The two cheeks given to the priest. Lev. 7:15-17: Flesh could be eaten the first and second days. Lev. 7:18: None of the flesh to be eaten the third day.

Antitype

1 John 3:5: No sin in Christ. 2 Cor. 13:5: "Examine yourselves, . . . prove your own selves." Matt. 25:41: Sin and sinners burned. Isa. 9:6; Luke 15:5: The government shall be upon Christ's shoulder. Isa. 40:11: He shall carry the lambs in his bosom. Matt. 26:67; Isa. 50:6: They spit in the Saviour's face. 1 Cor. 15:3, 4: Christ in the grave the first and second days. Matt. 28:6; Luke 24:21-23: The third day the angel over the empty tomb said, "He is not here: for he is risen."

Portland, Maine.