And, assuredly, it heightens the enjoyment of every true priest to know that God (to use the language of our type) has had His portion ere he gets the breast and the shoulder. The thought of this gives tone and energy, unction and elevation, to the worship and communion; it unfolds the amazing grace of Him who has given us the same object, the same theme, the same joy with Himself. Nothing lower--nothing less than this could satisfy Him. The Father will have the prodigal feeding upon the fatted calf, in fellowship with Himself. He will not assign him a lower place than at His own table, nor any other portion than that on which He feeds Himself. The language of the peace-offering is, "It is meet that _we_ should make merry and be glad,"--"Let _us_ eat and be merry." Such is the precious grace of God! No doubt we have reason to be glad, as being the partakers of such grace; but when we can hear the blessed God saying, "Let _us_ eat and be merry," it should call forth from our hearts a continual stream of praise and thanksgiving. God's joy in the salvation of sinners, and His joy in the communion of saints, may well elicit the admiration of men and angels throughout eternity. Having thus compared the peace-offering with the burnt-offering, we may now briefly glance at it in connection with the meat-offering. The leading point of difference here is, that in the peace-offering there was blood-shedding, and in the meat-offering there was not. They were both "sweet savor" offerings; and, as we learn from chap. vii. 12, the two offerings were very intimately associated. Now, both the connection and the contrast are full of meaning and instruction. It is only in communion with God that the soul can delight itself in contemplating the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Ghost must _impart_, as He must also _direct_, by the Word, the vision by which we can gaze on "the Man Christ Jesus." He might have been revealed "in the likeness of sinful flesh,"--He might have lived and labored on this earth,--He might have shone amid the darkness of this world in all the heavenly lustre and beauty which belonged to His Person,--He might have passed rapidly, like a brilliant luminary, across this world's horizon,--and all the while have been beyond the range of the sinner's vision.