Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1)
Message Eleven
Experiencing Christ as the Peace Offering for the Body of Christ
Scripture Reading: Lev. 3:1-5; Rom. 15:33; John 14:27; Eph. 2:14-17; 4:3; Col. 1:20-22; 3:15
I. The Triune God is a God of peace—Rom. 15:33; 2 Thes. 3:16; Gal. 5:22:
A. God is the God of peace—Rom. 15:33; 1 Thes. 5:23; Heb. 13:20:
1. Our Father is the God of peace, who has a peaceful life with a peaceful nature—Rom. 15:33; 1 Thes. 5:23.
2. Because we have been justified by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ—Rom. 5:1.
3. The peace we enjoy is God Himself—John 14:27; Phil. 4:7, 9.
B. The New Testament speaks about both the peace of God and the God of peace; the peace of God and the God of peace are actually one—Phil. 4:7; Heb. 13:20.
C. The peace of God is the God of peace infused into us through our fellowship with Him—Rom. 16:20; Phil. 4:9; John 14:27.
D. In the world we have affliction, but in Christ we have peace—16:33:
1. Our heart is troubled because we are in the world, and the way for this trouble to be resolved is for us to enter into Christ by believing into Him—14:1.
2. In 16:33 there are two realms: the physical realm (the world), where all the troubles are, and the divine and mystical realm of the pneumatic Christ, where the peace is.
II. Due to man’s fall, among mankind there are many ordinances, customs, habits, and ways to live and worship, all of which have divided, scattered, and confused mankind; there are partitions between every nationality and race, and thus among the human race there is no peace, only enmity, discord, and war—Eph. 2:14-15; cf. Psa. 46:9; Isa. 2:4; 9:6-7; 11:6-9; Micah 4:3; Zech. 9:10.
III. Because there can be no peace in the universe without Christ, the Peacemaker, we need Christ as our peace offering—Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 1:20; Lev. 3:1-17; 7:11-38:
A. The peace offering typifies Christ as the Peacemaker—3:1-5; Eph. 2:15.
B. As the fulfillment and the reality of the type of the peace offering, Christ is our peace; through Him and in Him we have peace with God and with one another—v. 14; Col. 3:15; 1 Thes. 5:13b.
C. Apart from Christ we cannot have peace with God or with others; we can have such peace only through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ—Rom. 5:1; 12:18.
D. In the Body life and for the Body life, we need Christ as our peace—Eph. 2:14; 4:3; Col. 3:15.
IV. Christ is the peace offering for the Body of Christ as revealed in Ephesians—2:14:
A. Christ, who accomplished full redemption for both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, is Himself our peace, our harmony:
1. When Christ was crucified as the peace offering, His death abolished, annulled, the different ordinances of human life and religion—vv. 14-15.
2. The differences among the races and the differences of social rank have been abolished.
3. By Christ’s abolishing in His flesh the separating ordinances, that is, by His slaying the enmity, and by His creating the Jewish and the Gentile believers into one new man, peace was made between all believers.
4. In one Body both the Jews and the Gentiles were reconciled to God through the cross; we were reconciled to God not only for the Body of Christ but also in the Body of Christ—v. 16.
5. Peace is possible only when everything contrary to God’s economy has been terminated—Col. 1:20; 2:14-15; 3:15.
6. Through the blood of Christ we have been brought near both to God and to God’s people—Eph. 2:13, 18-19.
B. In resurrection Christ came as the Spirit to preach peace as the gospel; the Christ who died as the Peacemaker, shedding His blood in order to reconcile us to God, came to us as the life-giving Spirit, even as the preaching Spirit, to preach the gospel of peace—v. 17; Col. 1:20; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a; John 20:19, 21, 26; 14:27; 16:33.
C. In the Body life we should keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace—Eph. 4:3:
1. Christ abolished on the cross all the differences among mankind due to ordinances, and in so doing, He made peace for His Body; this peace should bind all believers together and thus become the uniting bond of peace—2:15; 4:3.
2. If we remain on the cross in our practice of the church life, the peace that Christ made on the cross will become the uniting bond in which we keep the oneness of the Spirit—Matt. 16:24; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:15; 4:3.
3. The uniting bars of the tabernacle signify the mingled spirit—the divine Spirit mingled with the regenerated human spirit—to become the uniting bond of peace; in our experience the uniting bond of peace is the cooperation of our spirit with the uniting Spirit, the crossing Spirit—Exo. 26:26-29; Eph. 4:3.
D. In order to engage in spiritual warfare, we need to have our feet shod with the firm foundation, the establishing, of the gospel of peace—6:11, 14-15:
1. Christ made peace for us, with both God and man, on the cross, and this peace has become our gospel—2:13-17.
2. This gospel of peace has been established as a firm foundation with which our feet may be shod; being thus shod, we will have a firm footing so that we may stand to fight the spiritual warfare—6:11, 14-15.
E. “Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly”—Rom. 16:20:
1. God promises that He will crush Satan under the feet of those who live the church life, showing that the crushing of Satan is related to the church life—v. 20.
2. Dealing with Satan is a Body matter, not an individual matter—Eph. 6:10-18.
3. It is only when we have a proper local church as the practical expression of the Body that Satan is crushed under our feet—Rom. 16:1, 4, 20.
V. Christ is the peace offering for the Body of Christ as revealed in Colossians—1:8, 20-22; 2:19; 3:15:
A. For God to reconcile all things to Himself is to make peace unto Himself for all things; this was accomplished through the blood of the cross of Christ—1:20.
B. We have been called to the peace of Christ in one Body—3:15.
C. No one who is independent of the Body has real peace; dependence on the Body brings in genuine peace—Gal. 6:16.
D. For the Body life we need to allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate, to adjust, and to decide all things in our hearts in our relationship with the members of His Body—Col. 3:15:
1. The Greek word for arbitrate can be rendered “umpire, preside, be enthroned as a ruler and decider of everything.”
2. If we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, this peace will settle all the disputes among us; then we will have peace with God vertically and with the saints horizontally—1:20; 3:15.
3. Through the arbitration of the peace of Christ, our problems are solved, and the friction between the members of the Body disappears; then the church life is preserved in oneness and sweetness—vv. 12-15; Rom. 12:4-5, 18; 14:19; Heb. 12:14.
4. The arbitrating peace of Christ is Christ working within us to exercise His rule over us, to speak the last word, and to make the final decision—cf. Isa. 9:6-7.
5. If we stay under the ruling of the enthroned peace of Christ, we will not offend others or damage them; rather, by the Lord’s grace and with His peace, we will minister life to others.
6. In the church life we need to be at peace in everything, in every way, and with everyone; for this we need the Lord of peace to give us peace continually in every way—Heb. 12:14; 1 Thes. 5:13; 2 Thes. 3:16; Rom. 12:18; 14:19; Mark 9:50; 2 Tim. 2:22; James 3:18; Matt. 5:9.