29The Israelites, all the men and women, whose heart moved them to bring material for all the work, which the LORD had commanded through Moses to be done, brought a freewill offering to the LORD. Exodus 35:29

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, O LORD, for it is good. Psalm 54:6

 4When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools, Pay what you vow. Ecclesiastes 5:4

14I shall pay my vows to the LORD,
         Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. 
    15Precious in the sight of the LORD
         Is the death of His godly ones. 
    16O LORD, surely I am Your servant,

Psalm 116: 14-16

 14"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
         And pay your vows to the Most High; 

Psalm 50:14

 16O LORD, surely I am Your servant,
         I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid,
         You have loosed my bonds. 
    17To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
         And call upon the name of the LORD. 

  4Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace will have no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, everlasting and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this."

"Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build a Temple of the Lord (Ist Cor. 3:16 is plural). It is he who will build the Temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be Harmony (peace in Hebrew)."

"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey...He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."

"Bring the fattened calf and let us kill it."

"My oxen and my fatted calf have been butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet."

  15When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"16But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;17and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'18"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'19"Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'20"Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'21"And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'22"And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'23"And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled 24'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"

"For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom (verses 27-30)."

"It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them."

"He came and preached peace to us who were far away. "(Eph. 2:17).

 26Jesus 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.27"Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal."28Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?"29Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."30So they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?31"Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'"

  32Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.33"For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."34Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread."35Jesus 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.36"But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe 37"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.38"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.39"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.40"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

Words to the Jews

  41Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven."42They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?"43Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among yourselves.44"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.45"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.46"Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.47"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.48"I am the bread of life.49"Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.50"This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.51"I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." 52Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"53So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.54"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.55"For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

  56"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

  57"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.58"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."

“The bread which I now give you is My flesh for the life of the world.” Verses 33, 55,57. “The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.....My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed"

A. All peace offerings, whether presented as a thanksgiving, supplication, or vow were to be offered on top of the burnt offering on the altar, thus indicating that these sacrifices of praise, petition, or vow were for people in fellowship with God. The burnt offering meant total consecration for the worshiper and now we see some components of total consecration (i.e. praise, petition and vows before the Lord). It cannot be overlooked that even in the burnt offering there was the idea of "atonement" albeit limited in scope (Lev. 1:4). What this tells us is that any worship to God must be grounded on atonement (i.e. praise goes on top of the burnt offering). For Christians, our worship must be built on top of the sacrifice of Christ. The only way possible for mortals to find acceptance and be able to offer God fitting worship is through the access Christ provided at the cross.

B. Peace Offerings gather up the many meanings of peace: not only the end of warfare and hostility but also mental, physical, and spiritual health. But true peace is an end to the enmity between man and God found only in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross.

C. God loves the peace offering. Whereas in pagan rituals humans gave a feast for God in the biblical peace offering that order is reversed. God now will host mortals at His banquet. As soon as the sacrifice was presented to God, God takes control. The very word to pre-sent means just that. That animal belongs to God. The host of the meal was God Himself and the animal had to be eaten in God's house. All of this strikes at the popular notion that mortals can make God happy by "giving" Him something. That is excluded here in every fashion. Here, God is doing the giving and invites the worshiper to His great feast.

D. In Leviticus 17:11 we are told that "all life is in the blood" and as such all life belongs to God. Thus, this prohibition reminded Israel of two important things. (1) God's claim on humans is for "their best" (2) only life is valuable enough (a life for a life) to depict the grounds of atonement with God as a life was spilled out and the blood yielded up the death of another. Thus: "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:26)?" To treat the "blood of the covenant" as a common or "unholy things" is offensive, the writer of Hebrews warns us. Such an offense exposes the perpetrators to a much more severe punishment than what came of those who "rejected the Law of Moses." "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (V.31 NIV)." Yes it is tantamount to "[insulting] the Spirit of grace" (Heb. 10:29 NIV). Modern believers ought to be careful and not under value the blood of the Biblical sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of the One to which these offerings pointed.

E. None of the Peace Offering was to remain until the 3^rd day presumably to prevent decay. But this provision should have told Israel about the anti-type which was to come, Jesus Christ. Psalm 16:10 affirms that God would not let the "Holy One see decay" for He was to be raised from the grave on the third day.