So turn in your Bibles this morning to Leviticus chapter 3. Leviticus chapter 3. Our study resumes at verse one. Just to set this up, thus far in our study of the first two chapters of Leviticus, we've looked at God's instructions concerning the offering of burnt offerings, either from one's herd or flock, or in the case of those who had neither, they could bring birds, certain kinds of birds, turtle doves, pigeons, And those could be generally purchased in and around the temple area. I don't know that this was true during the early stages of the tabernacle, but birds were usually in fairly good supply. So if you were really poor, you could bring your birds to be sacrificed. We've also looked at the variety of options that the Lord gave the Israelites for making grain offerings. Unlike burnt offerings, grain offerings had no atoning significance but were simply representative of one's commitment to the covenant that God had made with his people. You'll recall from last week's study that these grain offerings were to be seasoned with salt. Salt, of course, was something that was intended to convey the permanence of the covenant, given that salt is a wonderful preservative. And not only that, it adds flavor to whatever it's put on. And so It was a way of symbolizing the permanence and the blessedness of the covenant that God had been willing to make with the Israelites. This brings us to another type of offering. This time we're talking about the peace offering. Read with me as I begin at verse 1 of this third chapter. Here we read, now, if his offering is the sacrifice of peace offerings, if he's going to offer out of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slay it at the doorway of the tent of meeting. and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood around on the altar. From the sacrifice of the peace offerings, he shall present an offering by fire to the Lord, the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that's on the entrails, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys." Now, let's just stop here for a minute. because this sounds a little like the burnt offerings that we've already discussed. But there are some differences that we need to take into consideration. First of all, the offerings here are referred to as peace offerings. Now, what does that mean and how are these offerings different from those burnt offerings that were intended to signify atonement? Well, first of all, the peace offering was an entirely optional sacrifice. The peace offering was an offering that one could bring whenever he or she felt like bringing it. There was a mandatory peace offering that was to be made at Pentecost. We'll read about that over in chapter 23, I believe. But it could also be brought whenever one felt compelled to bring it. Now, what did it represent? Well, if you jump over to Leviticus chapter 7, in verses 12 and following, you'll note that this particular offering could be brought as a confession offering, a free will offering or a gift, or to fulfill a vow. If you're taking notes this morning, let me give you six ways that this offering differed from the burnt offering and the grain offerings. Just jot these down as you're able. Number one, the animal sacrifice in the peace offering could be either from the herd or the flock, but it could not be a bird. So this is a way that it's different from those other offerings. Now, why couldn't it be a bird? Well, we're going to see in just a minute, this offering was actually also a meal. And if you brought a bird, it's kind of hard to share a bird with the Lord, with the priests, and then have enough left for yourself, especially a single bird. Now you can see if you brought livestock, if you brought a sheep or a goat or something of that kind, a cow, then everybody could enjoy the parts of the feast that were theirs to enjoy. So in this case, no birds. Number two, the offering could be male or female. It didn't matter in this case. It's just whatever you decided to bring for one of the three reasons that I just listed, you could do that. Number three, the offering was shared by God. who received it for its intended purpose. It was also shared by the priests and the offerer. The burnt offering, you'll recall, was the Lord's alone. Remember, the burnt offering was completely consumed on the fire, and there would be nothing left over for either the priests or anyone else. Most of the grain offering was for the priests, We learned about that in the last couple of times that we've looked at this passage. But the peace offering was shared by everyone. Each would enjoy their own appointed portions of whatever it was that was offered in sacrifice. Number four, as I mentioned a minute ago, the peace offering could serve those three unique purposes, which the burnt offering didn't necessarily serve. The burnt offering, again, was an atoning offering. It was meant to signify God's atoning work through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, did it work? No, no. Hebrews 10.4 is very clear. It was never possible for the blood of bulls and goats to have ever atoned for sin. What does that mean? Does that mean that God failed? Does that mean that God instituted a failed system from the get-go? Absolutely not. It means what we've always known it to mean. It means that the sacrifice itself was a foreshadowing. a picture, a type of the ultimate sacrifice that God would provide in his own son. And it was all symbolism. It was all to signify the one who would come and make absolutely perfect atonement on behalf of his people. So, number five, unlike the burnt and or grain offerings, there was a meal associated with this one. The others, not so much. If you're wanting to equate the grain offering with a meal, it did serve to feed the priests in a limited way, but that would have been more of a snack. than a meal, right? Number six, according to Leviticus 7.13, the Thanksgiving peace offering included leavened bread. So you could bring leavened bread if you so desired and enjoy it with this particular peace offering. Again, the reason that you could bring leavened bread and you couldn't in the other feasts is because this offering was not There was no atoning overtones in this particular offering. So it was okay to kind of bring whatever you brought as it is. Okay. Now, there's also another thing that's unique about the peace offering, which is the mention of some very particular parts of the sacrifice's body in verses three and four. First, we have the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that's on the entrails. Next, we have the two kidneys with the fat that's on them, the loins and the lobe of the liver, all of which is to be removed with the kidneys themselves. You'll recall from our previous study that Moses referred to the fat as the suet or the fat portions. These were to be burned as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, as he describes again in verse 5. Fat back in the day was considered the choicest part of the meat. I know that runs contrary to what we believe today. Most often we want to trim all the fat off because once the fat goes in here, it usually appears here, right? Right. So back then though, the fat, if you could get a piece of fat, You were on top of the world, right? But in this case the fat was to be reserved for God simply because it was the choicest part of the cut In burning fat, you know, how many of you love to grill? How many of you love the smell of meat grilling right? You know what? You're smelling you're smelling the fat The fat is what burns and comes down into the coals and creates this aroma. The meat itself is aromatic as well, but not like the fat. When that fat starts burning, it's, you know. pleasing thing to the senses. And once again, we're not talking about God having a real nose with real olfactory receptors in his nose, and he's not pleased by this and unpleased by the other thing. That's not what we're talking about. Again, we're talking all about symbolism. We're talking about the willingness of one to come with the best portions of the meat and offer those up to be burnt on the altar to the Lord. This is likened unto God's reception of his son's sacrifice on Calvary. It pleased him. that his son would die for the sins of his people. And so we have that portrayed in these fat portions. And really, where are the best pieces of fat found? It's in these places, around the kidneys, around the loin, around the liver, the lobe of the liver, and so on and so forth. Verse six, but if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord is from the flock, Here we're differentiating it from the herd. He shall offer it, male or female, without defect. If he's going to offer a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the Lord, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the offering and slay it before the tent of meeting. And Aaron's son shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. From the sacrifice of peace offerings, he shall bring an offering by fire to the Lord, its fat, the entire fat, tail, "'which he shall remove close to the backbone "'and the fat that covers the entrails "'and all the fat that's on the entrails "'and the two kidneys with the fat that's on them, "'which is on the loins and the lobe of the liver, "'which he shall remove with the kidneys. "'Then the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar "'as food, an offering by fire to the Lord. "'Moreover, if his offering is a goat, "'then he shall offer it before the Lord "'and he shall lay his hand on its head "'and slay it before the tent of meeting "'and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood "'around the altar. From it he shall present his offering entrails in the two kidneys with the fat that's on them, which is on the loins and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys. The priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as food, an offering by fire for a soothing aroma. All fat is the Lord's." Now, you might be wondering at this point, why does Moses always repeat himself? I mean, couldn't he have just shortened this by saying, and if you're going to offer this kind of animal, do it just like you did the other one? No, again, this goes to the very important fact that God is a God of impeccable detail. He's not going to leave anything out. He's not going to leave anything to doubt. He's not going to leave anything to questioning. He's going to tell you over and over and over again exactly how this is to be done because He wants them to understand that He is a precise God. He is an exacting God. And remember, all this is pointing to Christ Himself. I've told you before, and I'll say it again in this context, we are members of a group of individuals known as Christians who are also the most narrow-minded people on planet Earth. It's true. Anytime that you stand in the face of so many thousands of religions, so many millions of differing opinions and ideas on how God can be approached by mere mortal man, anytime you say, there's only one way and His name is Jesus, you are making the most precise statement imaginable. There's only one name under heaven that's been given among men by which we must be saved, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Buddha can't do it. Muhammad can't do it. Confucius can't do it. Joseph Smith can't do it, right? It's Christ and Christ alone. And this is why we get so much pushback. We live in a pluralistic world where everybody wants their own path to God. Everybody wants to insist that all roads lead to God. Everyone wants to insist that all men are by nature good, even though Paul says that's not the case at all. that God loves everyone in the same way as he loves his own. That's not true either. And yet we continue to have to struggle against these ideologies because the narrow-minded nature of the gospel is just not tenable to people. It's not palatable. They don't want that. They want to be the captain of their own souls, and they want to make their own way to God, but it'll never work. There's only one way. His name is Christ, and that's why there's so much specificity here. This is the way. Don't deviate. We'll read elsewhere as we go through the Old Testament. We've read it already in several places. Do not turn to the left or right. Don't deviate from my prescribed plan. And yet we see people doing it, and what happens? Right? God's serious about these things, and he's most serious about what's portrayed in these sacrifices. Now, you might have caught on, well, pastor, you just said that these aren't salvific sacrifices. They're not, but they still portray Christ. How? We'll see in just a minute. Just put a bookmark there, just hang on. We'll get to that in just a minute. The offering that's being made, though, here is said to be food to the Lord. Once again, we have an anthropomorphic expression. God doesn't need food. God doesn't eat. He doesn't have a mouth to eat with. He doesn't have taste buds to taste with. God is spirit. Remember that. Now, Christ who came as God in the flesh and dwelt among us, he very much had those things, but that's not what we're talking about. We're simply talking again about the symbolism. This is something that's pleasing to God as food is pleasing to us. That's why these comparisons are often made. Now, let me ask you this. Did the Israelites believe? Or better, did God intend for the Israelites to believe that He was in need of physical sustenance? No. They never would have said that. They never would have really imagined that God's eating whatever's on the altar. They would have been the first to tell you this is merely symbolic. This is a foreshadowing of that which is to come. This was simply symbolic of one's fellowship with the Lord in the peace offering. Now remember, in Moses' day, as it is even today, the very best way that you can express a desire to live at peace with one another is to do what? What do we do as one of the greatest catalysts to our peace and well-being and unity in this place? What? We eat together. Food. What was it? Napoleon sent an army travels on his stomach. The church of God comes together for meals. We'll do it this afternoon down in the fellowship hall. One of the most blessed times we enjoy together is when we're breaking bread together. One of the best ways you can demonstrate your desire to be at peace with someone is to invite them to dinner and to sit with them and talk with them and enjoy food. Food is good. We Baptists seem to have a corner on that market. Praise God. But in making these kind of offerings, they're expressing their desire to live peaceably with God and with one another. That's the whole purpose of these meals. And we're going to be talking more about this when we get over to Chapter 7. But I don't want to go too far with that this morning. Now, let's just stop. for another minute here and think about something else. I hope you're able to see Christ in all of this. I hope you're able to see the glorious foreshadowings of the relationship that believers enjoy with the Lord on the basis of Christ's own sacrifice. First, his sacrifice satisfied the wrath of the Father. Remember that. The sacrifice of Christ satisfied the wrath of the Father while at the same time served as a pleasing aroma to Him. Remember what God the Father said of the Son in Matthew 3.17 at His baptism. Remember what He said? This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Why was the Father pleased with Jesus? Was it because Jesus had been obedient? Because he had lived a exemplary life before all men? Well, no, that's not it at all. And people might recoil against that and say, well, wait a minute, God wasn't pleased that Christ lived a perfect life? No, he wasn't pleased with that. Why? Jesus could have done no other. He's God of very God. He's God in human flesh. He's Emmanuel, God with us. He didn't have to do anything to impress His Father. He didn't have to do anything to stay in His Father's good graces. He's God of very God, so His very existence was a pleasing thing to God, but not because He could live an exemplary lifestyle. The thing that pleased God about His Son was the work that He would do on Calvary's cross. Now, how do we know that? Well, this should bring into sharper focus passages like Isaiah 42.1. Remember Isaiah 42.1, Messianic prophecy. The Lord says, behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. And again, you have to understand just how unheard of that would have been to a predominantly Jewish audience. What do you mean he's going to bring justice to the Gentiles? That's unthinkable. Oh, He's going to make them Jews. No. He's going to bring justice to them in His death. Even more poignant, look at Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. And again, I bring all these passages to bear because there's still this pervading opinion that Christ's death was kind of a bummer for God. that God arranged things just so, and see, this is one of the dangers of rampant dispensational thought. God created the world and put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They messed everything up, and God says, oh, no. What do I do now? And so he goes through all these iterations of different covenants, making more plans with how to save man. Man blows every one of them, so he's like, what do I do now? Then it dawns on God. Guess I'm going to have to go down there and take care of this myself. Son, come here. You're going on a mission. And he sends Jesus to the earth, and the whole time God's like, man, I really don't want to do this. But it's the only thing that'll work. Is that how it happened? Now remember, according to Revelation 13, 8, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. Before Adam and Eve were Adam and Eve, before there was ever a Garden of Eden, before you and I ever came to be, God had His plan, His redemptive plan marked out step by step by step by step. And it always included the necessity of the death of His only Son. Now, think about that. And let's read Isaiah 53, 9 and 10. His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death. He was buried in a rich man's tomb. Remember Joseph of Arimathea? Because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth, but the Lord was pleased to crush him. It pleased the father to crush his son. Process that for just a minute. Putting him to grief, if he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands. The pleasing aroma, the fat portions, the best choice portions of the meat that were offered as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Those things typify the Lord himself. But wait, there's more. What about the portion of the sacrifice enjoyed by those who administered it, the priests, as well as those who offered it? This is also a foreshadowing of Christ. Have you ever seriously considered why Jesus chose of all things to refer to himself as the bread of life? You ever thought about that? Have you ever thought that this might be in direct correlation to the peace offering? The meal? Have you ever stopped to think that Christ's offering of Himself and subsequently saying that if you won't have me and eat my flesh and drink my blood, you'll have no part of me because I am the bread of life? Jesus is hearkening back to those meals. This is a foreshadowing, not only of Christ's substitutionary death, this is a foreshadowing, folks, of the Lord's table. John six, go ahead and turn there. Don't take my word for it. Jesus is making this abundantly clear in John chapter six, beginning at verse 26. Remember, he's just fed the 5,000, which is probably more like 15,000 given all the other people besides men who were there. John 6, 26, Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life. which the Son of Man will give you, for on him the Father God has set his seal. Therefore they said to him, what shall we do so that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. So they said to him, what then do you do for a sign that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. There's that other connection to bread. God is always using food as a way of conveying the opportunity that they have for peace with Him, His sustenance of them, His providence for them. Our fathers ate the man in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it's my father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, always give us this bread. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst." Now, as we should expect, some of Jesus's disciples, those who had the ears to hear and thus the ability to recognize the truth underlying the symbolism here, they believed. These are the ones who said, Lord, always give us this bread. You know, when we pray in the Lord's prayer, so-called, Give us this day our daily bread. We're not just talking about food, material food. We're echoing the prayers of these people. Of course, give me enough to sustain me physically, but more importantly, give me that bread. Give me that bread from heaven that is you. What was the reaction of the unregenerate Jews, though, those who couldn't understand? Verse 41, the Jews were grumbling about him because he said, I'm the bread that came down out of heaven. They were saying, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say I've come down out of heaven? Jesus answered and said to them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the man in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I'm the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I give for the life of the world is my flesh." Then the Jews began to argue with one another saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of the man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever. And again, all this is vividly portrayed in Luke 22. Whenever we partake of the Lord's table, we are remembering, per Jesus' command to remember, we're remembering His offering of Himself as the bread of heaven, as that which alone is able to sustain us, that which alone is able to bring peace to our souls. I hope that puts a new spin on the Lord's table for you. We're hearkening all the way back to Leviticus chapter 3. When these meal offerings were made, they were meant to convey something that would yet happen way in the future. And the pinnacle of all of this, where this came to a perfect head in the fulfillment of it, was Jesus' offering himself, and then symbolically offering himself to anyone who would partake as the bread of life. It's unmistakable. Now, that said, don't overlook or gloss over the fact that this offering is called the peace offering. Thus far, we've made note of that, but we've never really said what that means. You know, at first I thought, this is kind of odd. If the offering spoken of here could be made as a confession offering or a free will offering or a way to fulfill a vow, okay, that's all well and good, but what does that have to do with peace? It's not clear, really, what that has to do with peace. It wasn't until I connected the dots that this designation of peace offering made any real sense. Because what's the primary result of Christ's atoning work on the cross? Some people would say, well, okay, the primary benefit of Christ's atoning work on the cross was that I don't go to hell. It's not it at all. Okay, so the primary work that Christ did in atoning for my sins was to secure a place for me in glory. Nope. The primary benefit of Christ's atoning work on the cross is that you and I can finally and forever be at peace with God. That's the primary benefit. And remember what we said when we talked about having peace with God. It goes beyond that. Not only do you have the peace with God, you have the peace of God. And not only that, you have the indwelling God of peace. Do you understand that? Again, the primary benefit of Christ's atoning work was to give us peace. Just as an aside, if you want to do a really beneficial study along these lines, I'd have you start at Ephesians 2. We make a big deal out of Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, and rightfully so, wonderful passage. But just keep reading it, verse 11. Ephesians 2, verse 11. I think Paul perfectly captures everything that we've just been talking about. He says, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands, remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. How sad is that? Do you realize if you're here this morning without Christ, that's a description of you? You're without hope. Well, you know, I can still hope that God is fair, and that he'll rack and stack my good and my bad works, and I'm a good person, and my good works are gonna outweigh my bad works, and God, in all the fairness that he can muster, is gonna say, okay, you can come in. That's not how it works, folks. I've said before, you don't want a God who's fair, even though he is. But what does fairness demand? Fairness demands that no one is saved. Why? Because according to Romans 5, 12, we are all in sin. According to Ephesians 2, in the first part, we are all dead in trespasses and sins. We're alienated from God. We are the children of wrath, just like the rest. That's not a very commendable picture, is it? Outside of Christ, you are hopeless. You'll never make it apart from Christ himself. We need to come to grips with that. Here we have the word, but. Love that word. But now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace. Did you get that? He is your peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them, another peace word, both in one body to God through the cross, by it, having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." Do you see how much damage is done when we neglect such wonderful truths? And I'm not talking about damage being done in terms of the peace that we might or might not enjoy with one another and with God. I'm talking about the damage that's done doctrinally and theologically when we insist, as many professing believers do today, that Christians and Jews are two separate groups of people. You see how insidious that is? You see how that flies in the face of what Paul's saying here? Crystal clear. Paul is making a case here that when Christ died, He not only brought us peace with God, the peace of God, and the God of peace, but He also tore down the dividing wall that did exist between Jews and Gentiles and made all of us who belong to Him one people. Enough of this talk about Israel. and how they should be some special group of people to us. Look, everybody should be special to you, right? It's almost like the whole Black Lives Matter thing and how people lost their minds when someone would dare suggest, no, wait a minute, all lives matter, right? Pray for the peace of Israel while you're praying for the peace of Texas and the peace of the United States. and the peace in Lebanon, and the peace in wherever you can think. We've been so convinced that there's still this dividing wall. Paul says it's broken down. How many people of God does God have? One. One faith, one baptism, one spirit, one body. Why do we insist that, oh, but I hear what you're saying, but you know, he kind of does have two people. No, he doesn't. You know what the people who claim to be Israelites right now, the Jewish people, you know what they get for their rejection of Christ? Hell. The same hell that you get when you reject Christ. I know, don't tell John Hagee on me. You know, don't tell on me and call John Hagee or write him and say, well, my pastor says you're nuts. I didn't say that. Although theologically he is. Because anyone who would dare suggest that the Jews don't even need the gospel, he said that. The Jews don't need the gospel. They're automatically God's chosen people. Well, Paul would disagree. Not only here, but we've seen in countless places. How about we do this? How about we worship God in spirit and in truth? And we love him and adore him and magnify him and glorify him on the basis of the singular work that he has done to bring all of his people together, whether Jew, whether Gentile, whether Greek, whether barbarian, whether Scythian, whether slave, whether free men, we are all one in Christ. I know it sounds harsh when I say don't pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Here's a, pray for the salvation of those people. It's coming, by the way. We read back in Romans 11, there will be a time when there will be a massive remnant from among these unbelievers, these Christ deniers. God will gloriously save a bunch from their number. And at that point, what does Paul say? At that point, all Israel will be saved. All Israel made up of who? All of us. Right? Okay, rant off. This brings us to the last verse of this third chapter. And this also goes to what Jesus said about the Lord's table. Moses says it's a perpetual statute. Throughout your generations in all of your dwellings, you shall not eat any fat or any blood. Oh no, this means I can't eat steak. I can't eat a steak that's marbled with fat. I can't eat bacon. No, the Lord would never be that cruel. That's not what's being spoken of here. He's saying as long as these sacrifices continue, the fat belongs to God. If you happen to get a little piece of fat in your meat, you're not gonna go to hell for that, right? He's not making a rule that's about eating here. He's, again, symbolizing the finished work of Christ and how it pleased God to put him to death and how that was a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It's just a reminder. that since this offering represented or foreshadowed God's provision of his own spotless lamb, this correlates perfectly with what Jesus said in Luke 22, 19 at the end of his presentation of what would become the Lord's table. What did he say? Do this in remembrance of me. Till when? Till he enjoys it with us in glory. Remember what he said to them? He said to his disciples, I will not eat of this or drink of this ever again until I enjoy it with you in glory. We're to be doing this in remembrance of him until that glorious day. Well, Lord willing, our study will resume next time at chapter four. I think until then I've given us all enough to think about. If you don't think of anything else about what we've looked at in chapter 3, just marvel at God's provision of a peace offering, which even at this early stage in redemptive history would point to the peace that we have with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. And also remember all the important aspects here. These are things commanded by God to symbolize what would happen to Christ. It wasn't that God said, oh no, what am I gonna do? God's perfect plan of redemption has been in place since before the foundation of the world. It's just that now he's opening up the aperture to the Israelites, teaching them step by step by step what it all means. Did they have a perfect picture? No, no. But how blessed are we to have the ability to interpret the old in the light of the new, right? Remember the old expression, what's in the old concealed is in the new revealed? Don't ever underestimate that. Always go from the old to the new to get your interpretation. Sadly, there are a lot of people who do just the opposite. They read a New Testament passage and then they'll go back to the Old Testament and try to find a proof text for it. Not always the best thing to do, unless you're trying to understand the old in the light of the new.