In this lesson we want to continue our fellowship concerning presenting Christ as the peace offering to the Father in the Lord's table meeting. In particular we want to see the significance of the portions of the peace offering as seen in Leviticus.
A portion of the peace offering is presented to God from the ox (Lev. 3:3-5). This portion is the fat upon the inwards, the inner parts, of the cattle. All the fat upon all the inwards must be for God. The two kidneys and the fat on them is for God, as well as the caul (net) above the liver. All this fat and these tender parts within the cattle must be burned to God as His food to satisfy Him and to please Him.
These items refer to the sweetness and the tenderness of the inward being of Christ. The inward being of Christ can be appreciated only by God. We do not have that much ability in our apprehension. In our apprehension we cannot perceive that deeply. Only God has such an appreciating ability. In Matthew 11:27 the Lord Jesus said that "no one fully knows the Son except the Father." When He said this, a number of people, including the disciples, were around Him. They saw Him, but they could not perceive what was within His inward being. No human being can fully perceive what is in the Lord's inward being. Only God can fully evaluate it, appreciate it, enjoy it, and apprehend it.
Leviticus does not say that the heart is offered to God for His portion. Instead, it emphatically mentions the kidneys and the liver when speaking of the portions of the peace offering which are God's portion. There is no fat around the heart. If there were, that would be terrible. Of course, the heart is a vitally crucial organ, but the liver and kidneys are very tender and very sensitive. This is a picture of what is within Christ which is invisible, or unseen, to human eyes. Only God can perceive what is there.
The fat always indicates sweetness and tenderness. The softest, sweetest, and most tender part in the cattle is the fat, which becomes food to God through burning. The best part of the cattle for burning is the fat. It would be against the "medical law" for the priests to eat the fat. It is altogether unhealthy for us humans to eat fat, but it is altogether healthy to God. We cannot digest the fat, but God can. Fat gives us trouble, but fat does not give any trouble to God. The divine digestion is different from our human digestion.
This shows us how marvelous the Bible is. They did not have the benefit of modern science in the days of the Old Testament, but God established a dietary ordinance for the priests according to His medical law. Modern science, of course, has discovered that fat is not good for the human body. But in the Bible, this principle was there already. God kept all the fat away from the priests.
Many of the Chinese eat all the fat. They treasure the fat and give it to the people whom they respect. But the Jews in the Old Testament offered all the fat to God, and God could digest it. This is very meaningful. Because many of the Chinese do not know God, they give the wrong thing to the wrong persons. But the Jews in the Old Testament knew God according to the Scriptures, so they offered the right thing to the right person, that is, God. The fat of the cattle must go to God.