Leviticus 3:3

Notice that the LORD had His part first. That part was the inward worth and excellence of the victim. He alone knew, or could measure, the real worth and inward energy and affection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This point matters. We may be sure that those who walk in fellowship with the Father seek His glory and His things first. Others make it their rule to attend to the things of God only after they have done their own things. They know little of communion, even if they know peace.

The fat, then, was God's portion. So it must not be neglected. It must not be left until the morning, but offered at once. God must have His part before His people had theirs. This is the secret of all blessing. Give the Lord the supreme place. Think first of what is due to Him, and lose sight of everything else until He has it.

The fat, especially that which covered the inwards, was, as verse 3 says, the Lord's. Fat signifies the energy of the inward will. When the will is opposed to God, set up against Him, Scripture calls that sin. The very fact that we have an independent will of our own is sin.

In that sacrifice, as in the sin offering, the greatest stress fell on the fat, especially the fat of the inward parts. Aaron's sons were to burn it on the altar as the food of the fire offering, a sweet odour to Jehovah. The fat stood for the inner excellence and energy of what was offered in sacrifice to Jehovah. So it was not for the priests to use. It was an odour of rest to Him who alone could fully value it in the One the sacrifice pictured.

The kidneys are the seat of the feelings. The fat is the expression of human will in the energy of life. Both are here seen offered to God. Both surely speak of Him who came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him.

The part offered up to God was the fat within — all the energy of a perfect will, which was not lacking, but willingly offered up to God. "The caul above the liver" was possibly the diaphragm, which separates the lungs from the liver. We might call the organs above it the nobler ones, as distinct from those connected more with earth. It was removed and burned, as though suggesting there could be no such distinction in the holy life of our Lord. With Him there was no separation between sacred and common.

Aaron's sons were to burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering. That is to say, the burnt offering is the foundation of the peace offering. So this eating of the sacrifice was not like ordinary eating. Eating joined them to all the sweet savour of the sacrifice before God, and to all the value He set on that sacrifice.

Jehovah's portion was the food, or bread, of the offerings made by fire, all of which were a sweet savour to Him. This is His own statement, expressing His satisfaction in Christ, of whom the sacrifice was a picture — the holy One, whose innermost feelings were perfect in God's eyes.

Here again, see the falling away from the truth of Christ. Some find in this burning of the fat "the offering up of our good affections to God in all our prayers and praises," or, far worse, "the putting to death of our corrupt affections and lusts." No. It was neither our good offered up nor our bad put to death. It was the inward energy of Christ Himself, the perfect and lasting ground of communion for God and His family.