We shall begin this message by considering some of the details of the peace offering described in Exodus 29. Verses 19 and 20 say, “And you shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram. And you shall slaughter the ram, and take of its blood, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the big toe of their right foot; and you shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.” Here we see that the blood of the ram was put upon the priests’ ear, thumb, and big toe. This indicates that the organs used for hearing, working, and walking all need to be cleansed. Those who would be priests of God must learn to listen to Him. Then they will be able to work and walk according to what they hear from Him. As priests, we must have ears, hands, and feet that have been cleansed by the redeeming blood. We must learn how to listen to our Master, to our God, how to do what is required to serve Him, and how to walk according to His way in serving Him.
The greater part of the blood, according to verse 20, was sprinkled upon the altar. This sprinkling of the blood no doubt implies redemption. The shedding of blood requires the death of a certain living being. Here the sprinkling of the blood indicates that a living creature, a ram, has been slain. Regarding the sprinkling of the blood and the anointing oil, verse 21 says, “And you shall take of the blood which is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons’ garments with him; and he shall be holy, he and his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.” Both the blood and the anointing oil were sprinkled upon the priests’ garments. The blood implies termination and redemption, and the anointing oil implies germination, a new beginning. Whatever is terminated by the blood and redeemed by it is then germinated by the anointing oil. The priests as terminated, redeemed, and germinated ones could have a new beginning. As a result of this new beginning, they could be priests serving God.
Even after Aaron and his sons had been terminated, redeemed, and germinated, their hands were still empty. They had been given a new beginning, and they could now serve God. However, they had nothing with which to serve Him. We all need to be impressed with this very important matter. It was at this point that the Lord gave Moses detailed instructions concerning the second ram. Verses 22 and 23 say, “And you shall take from the ram the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the inwards, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat which is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of the filling of hand; and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is before Jehovah.” Here we read of the inward parts, the right shoulder, and the bread, the cake, and the wafer. If we read carefully verses 22 through 28, we shall see that there were two shoulders, or thighs, the right and the left, and two breasts, the right and the left. The thighs and the breasts were four major parts of the second ram, in addition to the inward parts, used for the peace offering.
Verses 24 and 25 say, “And you shall put the whole upon the palms of Aaron, and upon the palms of his sons; and wave them as a wave offering before Jehovah. And you shall take them from their hand, and burn them on the altar upon the burnt offering for a sweet savor before Jehovah; it is an offering by fire to Jehovah.” Now the priests had something to fill their hands, something to offer to God. These parts of the peace offering were burned on the altar as a sweet savor to the Lord. This was a further satisfaction to God. We have seen that the entire ram of the burnt offering was burned for God’s satisfaction. Now part of the peace offering is also burned for this purpose. As we shall see, this indicates that God is eating Christ, feasting on Christ, with His priests.