The Peace Offering: Celebrating Communion with God
Nick Owens, September 21, 2025
“The Peace Offering: Celebrating Communion with God”
Leviticus 3:1-5, 17 & 7:11-18, 28-36
One of the most elaborate feasts I’ve ever been to happened about 10 years ago when Erin and I were in seminary in Philadelphia. It was at the wedding of two friends of ours from grad school. After the marriage ceremony at the beautiful and historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philly, we went, not far away, to the reception at this amazing location somewhere in center city Philly, I forget the name of the place.
We get out of the car and there is red carpet and doormen in suits with white gloves. We go inside and there are waiters and servers likewise nicely dressed with white gloves – the first room we were in – it’s amazingly beautiful – there’s a banquet – cheeses, fruits, all sorts of different hors d’oeuvres and meats. We’re there hanging with everyone else from the wedding and then after 30 mins they usher us into the main room – I’m thinking – man that was just the appetizer room – this is awesome!! We are led into a beautiful upstairs dining hall that overlooked the Philadelphia skyline. Here we enjoyed a 5 course meal, or maybe it was 7, honestly, I lost count after 4. Now, Erin and I have been to some nice weddings and this one probably already would have topped the charts, but in addition this one had something that no other wedding I’ve ever been to since has had… There was a desert room, yes that’s right, not a desert platter or section, a room dedicated to deserts.
The whole night had an energy and joy to it. People were tearing it up on the dance floor. I remember seeing a few professors from my seminary. And one or two in particular who normally were pretty serious and scholarly types, and where were they? Out dancing on the floor with everyone else. It was a night that could be described with one emotion – JOY!
There’s something so right and fitting about celebrating an event like a wedding with a joy-filled feast. I’ve been to all sorts of weddings, some that clearly cost a lot of money like this one in Philly, others that were far simpler and smaller – but all of them I could describe as a joy-filled feast.
And I think that makes sense – because at a wedding we are celebrating a relationship – we recognize the significance and the joy of the union between a husband and wife in the covenant relationship of marriage. And so we celebrate, we feast, we experience JOY!
And even though the large celebration with all the family and friends only happens once, or perhaps a few times in the life of the couple at the BIG anniversaries – the couple doesn’t celebrate their union just once. Assuming they are continuing to grow in their relationship, they will continually celebrate their union. Just as you don’t tell your spouse “I love you” only once, you tell them again and again, you don’t just celebrate your covenant union once – Ideally, you celebrate it regularly –
On your anniversary, you probably share some kind of special meal together. You celebrate birthdays; you go on a date night. You share special meals, the occasional night away to enjoy your covenant union. You enjoy each other.
Now, – When we were just reading Leviticus ch. 3 and 7 – Was your dominant emotion Joy? Oh man, I just love the Peace offering, I’m so excited we’re talking about the peace offering! Probably not. And that’s ok, this is to be expected because Leviticus is foreign to us – its laws and instructions are ancient, some appear strange, and many are overly detailed and the details don’t track with us.
This morning I’d like to try and help us uncover what’s going on in these instructions about the peace offering….. because if we understand the peace offering the way God meant for us to think of it and imagine it – I think we’re meant to smile, we’re meant to feel joy, because of what this offering means and what the LORD was communicating to his people through this offering and these instructions.
We said last week – this book – Leviticus – seeks to answer the question – how is it that a sinful person can draw near to God? How can we draw near in relationship with God?
Because God, who again and again speaks in this book, tells us in this book what kind of relationship he wants with us.
And we see in the various offerings that the book of Leviticus opens with – different aspects of the relationship God wants to have with us, different aspects needed in our relationship with God
This morning, as we think about this text, let ‘s begin by considering what the peace offering tells us about the goal of the relationship God wants with us, and then we’ll consider some of the details about this offering and how they help to accomplish that goal.
So – first – What’s the goal of the relationship God wants with us – The goal is Communion with God.
God, when he made humanity, made us that we glorify him and enjoy him forever. He made us for a relationship where we, as his creatures, would share in his love, and know him as our God, and enjoy him forever.
And this is the greatest thing we lost when humanity turned from God and sinned. This is what we confessed using the words of the Westminster shorter catechism just a few minutes ago.
No matter who you are and what you believe, we all experience hardships, struggles, suffering in this broken world. And the catechism names those things. We experience, in its words, the “miseries” in this life; And in the end we die. There’s nothing we can do to stop it, there’s nothing we can do to keep tragedy and suffering away, there’s nothing we can do to ensure and keep those we love from death and in the end we will lose everything when we die.
But there’s actually something more tragic that’s true of life in this broken world than the sufferings and troubles we face. There’s something deeper and more central to what a human being is that we lost – something worse than physical death – the greatest loss, is the loss of communion with God.
And this is why the Peace Offering is the high point, the climax, the goal of the sacrifices and offerings we see in Leviticus, because in the Peace Offering God’s people celebrated communion with God. They celebrated their covenant union with the LORD. They celebrated that all was well with God, that the relationship was whole.
We said last week that a helpful way to think about the sacrifices and offerings in Leviticus is that they are relationship enablers. And because of this, the different offerings teach us about a few different aspects in a relationship with God.
As we will see next week, in Leviticus 4 and 5 – there are specific sacrifices and offerings that are meant to deal with sin and guilt, these relationship enablers do the repair work when sin has broken the relationship between the people and God.
Last week when we looked at Leviticus 1 and 2 – we specifically focused on the foundational offering – the burnt or ascension offering – here the people are set apart as those who are fully devoted to God.
The peace offering followed the foundational offering we looked at in ch. 1 and the tribute offering of Lev. ch. 2 – if you look at your bulletin – ch. 3 v. 5 of our passage explicitly says – “Aaron’s sons shall burn it (that is the Peace offering) on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire;
You might think of it this way – an ice-cream sundae isn’t a meal. It might be the best part of the meal, the greatest part, but it follows after the meat and potatoes. Likewise, the Peace offering doesn’t happen by itself, but rather follows after the ascension offering.
You see – Once atonement has been made, once sin has been dealt with, once the worshipper has been set apart as one devoted to God – as the offering of the ascension offering was totally burned up and consumed…. On that basis the worshipper could celebrate fellowship with God – peace and wholeness with God – union and communion with God.
And as we can see, especially in ch. 7 – the peace offering, unlike the ascension offering of ch. 1, which was totally burned up – the peace offering, is the only sacrifice that the worshiper was allowed to eat.
Which means in the peace offering the worshipper shares a meal with God – They eat and feast in God’s presence. They celebrate communion with God.
And all of this comes from God’s instructions, his word to his people.
You see, God is graciously saying to his people through this offering – I want you. I want you to have the joy of knowing me; I want you to be restored to wholeness in relationship with me; Your greatest need, the very thing you were made to do – I want to give that to you – I want you to come and eat. I want you to come and feast in my presence – and as you feast, as you savor the food, as you feel nourished and full of life as you partake of the sacrificial meal – I want you to know that all is well….and that – You are mine, and I am yours.
Do you feel the joy of that? The grace? The gift? The peace offering shows us the goal of the relationship God wants with us. God wants us to share in his love and rejoice in our covenant relationship with him. That’s the goal.
But 2nd – Let’s look at some of the details of this offering and how they accomplish that goal.
If you noticed what I had printed in the bulletin, whether you have your Bible or bulletin out, that would be helpful. You’ll notice that the Peace offering, like the other offerings, are discussed in multiple places. So there are some instructions we find in ch. 3 and additional instructions in ch. 7.
Let’s think about this in 2 parts – why one might make this offering, and how they were to do it.
First – Why – The peace offering was the only optional offering – you didn’t have to do it. But we see in ch. 7 three different reasons why someone might make a peace offering.
So look at ch. 7 starting at v. 11 – Lev. 7:11 “And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the LORD. 12 If he offers it for a thanksgiving (that’s one reason), then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil.
Then if you jump to ch. 7 v. 16 we read – 16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering (that’s a second reason) or a freewill offering (that’s the 3rd reason).
Let’s think about each briefly –
Thanksgiving offering – Here the person bringing the offering is coming to praise God for some specific act of deliverance. Psalm 107 – that we’re going to sing as our closing song today – is a Psalm that speaks this offering – Someone is in a situation where they are stuck, or trapped, where they need God to deliver them – stuck in sin, stuck in sickness, stuck in oppression – they cry out to God – and God delivers them. To praise and celebrate God’s rescue, God’s deliverance – such a person could bring a peace offering of thanksgiving to God.
Second – A Vow offering – here the reason is because God answered prayer about an extremely important thing in a person’s life – God had been faithful in answering prayer and the worshipper had promised by making a vow to bring this offering when God answered their prayer. An example of this is Hannah in 1 Sam 1. Hannah’s song in 1 Sam 2 – a beautiful song of God’s faithfulness and grace – is an example of the kind of response of praise that people would bring as they brought the peace offering for a vow.
Finally, A freewill offering – This is for no reason in particular – here is the open door for a worshipper to come, whenever they want and for whatever reason that they just want to enjoy their God and bring a peace offering because they love him and they are full of joy that they belong to this God who is so overwhelmingly good and faithful.
In all of these situations – scholars suggest that as this offering was being done, perhaps as the hand was laid on the animal before killing it, or as the animal was roasting on the fire – the worshipper who brought the sacrifice would give testimony – would proclaim why they were bringing this offering – how they had experienced God’s goodness, his faithfulness, his deliverance in their life. And all who were present would hear and be reminded afresh – this is our God – he is good and faithful and we are his people.
These are the kinds of reasons why someone would bring this offering.
But let’s also briefly look at how this offering was carried out.
A number of details in these two chapters have to do with specifics about this sacrifice is carried out – Some of the details are very similar to what we saw last week and what we see in other sacrifices – such as the worshipper laying their hand on the animal, pressing upon the animal, identifying with the animal; the Killing of the animal; the priests throwing the animal’s blood on the sides of the altar.
But one difference compared to last week is this emphasis on not eating the fat or the blood.
For example we read in ch. 3 starting at v. 3 –
3 And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the LORD, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 5 Then Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
Then jumping to the end of the chapter – Lev. 3:17 we read – “ ‘This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.’ ”
We hear “the fat” and we think, gross, that’s the part I usually cut off anyway. But in the Bible “the fat” is used consistently to speak of the very best parts – the OT speaks of “the fat” of the land – meaning the best parts of the land, it speaks of evil people “eating the fat”- meaning consuming the best parts themselves.
Hear what one OT scholar says about this instruction – he writes,
“should an Israelite child ask why the fat and blood were never eaten, a parent could explain as follows:
The fat is the very best part and therefore belongs to the one most worthy of honor: the LORD. We honor him at the tabernacle by burning this part up to him and honor him at home by not eating it. The blood represents the animal’s life, which belongs to the LORD. He allows us to use it to make atonement for our own lives, giving it back to him on the altar, but not to eat it as though it belonged to us. We honor [God’s] lordship over all life when we refuse to eat meat with the lifeblood in it.”
The way this offering was performed underlined and focused attention on God as the one worthy of all honor, the one who gives life, who gives the gift and makes the way for people to experience communion with him.
This relationship between God and his people is not like the relationship of husband and wife – two equals – the God who calls us to know him is the LORD, the Creator of all things, the author of salvation – he is to be honored above all.
But there’s one more detail I want us to notice – one additional significant detail about the way this offering was performed that helps us to see how this offering was meant to show the people the goal of their relationship with God – communion with him.
- 7 starting at v. 28ff notice the instructions about how the animal is divided up for this feast –
Lev. 7:28 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 29 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the LORD shall bring his offering to the LORD from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 30 His own hands shall bring the LORD’S food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the LORD. 31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. 32 And the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings. 33 Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. 34 For the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel.
Ok, we’ve already said that the best parts go to God. But here we read of specific parts of the sacrifice that are to be given to the priests.
But then notice what the text says in ch. 7 v. 15ff
15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. 16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten. 17 But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire.
Now, let me ask a question – How much meat do you think you can eat in a day? If you sacrificed a cow – how much could you eat in a day, or at most 2 days if it was a vow or freewill offering? Not very much.
If you’re anything like me, I first read this very individualistically – as in – I bring this offering, I eat with God, ok there’s some priests there so I guess they eat too – But that’s not what’s happening.
As all writers on this text agree – these would have been communal feasts. Not just you. Not even just you and immediate family. But likely way more people, people from your clan or tribe, others included like the poor.
Basically – Imagine something like the block party, only combined with a worship service where you are hearing testimonials of how the Lord is good and generous and has worked in a person’s life and has answered prayer – and as you celebrate, you celebrate communion with God with God’s people.
You see – in celebrating peace and wholeness with God you are also meant to celebrate peace and wholeness with others!!
This is the Peace offering! It is a joy-filled feast!
And this offering – like all sacrifices in Leviticus point us forward to Jesus – Through whom we experience the ultimate peace offering – because in him we have communion with God.
Jesus – the one who came to live, to die, to rise again – did all this so that he could make peace, – Peace with God – as he dies for us, his life for ours, as we are made right with God by faith in him, we read in Romans 5 – Having been justified by faith – we have peace with God. The relationship has been restored. In the Son we can know and experience God’s love, by the Spirit.
But it’s not just peace with God – it’s peace with one another. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus also made peace among those who belong to God through him – we have peace with each other – made part of one new humanity through Jesus, fellow brothers and sisters who have been brought into God’s family to share in Christ together.
He is our life, he is our peace, he is the one we honor, he is the one who nourishes us – he says – come – take and eat – my body was broken for you. Come and drink, my blood was poured out for you.
Of all the offerings and sacrifices we see in the Leviticus, the Peace offering is the one that connects most clearly to the Lord’s Supper –
At this table – we celebrate the fulfillment of what the peace offering pointed to. all these things – we celebrate our sharing in Christ together as his body. As those who have been made one through Christ. We celebrate and partake of the same bread and cup because Christ is our peace and has made us whole – if you are a believer in Jesus this morning – as you come forward to partake of this meal – look around – recognize and see one another, take notice, smile, rejoice in the people that our God has gathered together to share and feast at his table.
This morning as you come to this table, come and celebrate and honor Jesus – who gave himself body and blood, who held nothing back, that we might be brought in and be restored to wholeness of relationship with our God – honor him and rejoice in the gift of life he has given you.
As you come to this table – recall that in the Peace offering – the one coming to make a sacrifice came proclaiming what God had done in their life –
Paul writes – in 1 Cor 11 that “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death” – As you come forward that act of coming and taking the bread and the cup is like a proclamation – you are saying in this action – Jesus died for me – I have been bought by God; I am his, and he is mine.
And together as God’s people we are saying – WE are His. And He is OUR God.