The Drink Offering

by Toms, A. F. | Category: General | Mar 1974

"Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deut. 6:5). So ran the law of God, and doubtless there would be many godly Israelites who would approximate to its requirements and sincerely love the Lord. But love must have a means of expressing itself and in Numbers chapter 15 God made provision for the freewill offerings of His people, through which they were able to express the love of their hearts and appreciation of God's goodness to them. These offerings were not compulsory. They might be brought to God's altar at any time, as prompted by the heart of the offerer. That God valued them highly we can see from the detailed provision which He made for them.

There were three classes of offerings which might be brought as a burnt offering or a peace offering and each was accompanied by a meal offering and a drink offering. If the offering was a lamb the meal offering was one-tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with a quarter of a hin of oil, and the corresponding drink offering was a quarter of a hin of wine. The quantity of oil in the meal offering and wine in the drink offering increased to one-third of a hin in the case of a ram and to half a hin with a bullock. In each case the amount of oil and wine was the same. A hin measured about 3.7 litres. When the sacrifice was burning upon the altar and its sweet savour ascending to God, the drink offering was poured out upon it.

Christ as the Drink Offering

The stipulated quantity of wine was all poured out upon the altar, telling of the complete surrender of the Lord Jesus to His God and Father when "He poured out His soul unto death". "Wine that maketh glad the heart of man" speaks of joy, and doubtless in the drink offering we get a glimpse of the deep joy which the Lord Jesus experienced in the doing of His Father's will. His obedience

to the Father and the joy which sprang out of it are very closely associated in His words in John 15:10,11,

"If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled."

If His death upon the tree was His supreme act of obedience, as we understand it to be, then in that obedience His joy was full and complete. "I delight to do Thy will, 0 My God". It was not merely that He resigned Himself to it. No, it was something far higher than that. His holy soul delighted in it. It was His joy to do the Father's will, even when that will led Him to the untold suffering of the Cross.

The drink offering was the final part of the freewill offering and the whole of it was made by fire unto the Lord. The fire of affliction which consumed the offering of the Lord Jesus only served to bring into clearer view His implicit obedience to His Father and the deep and holy joy which filled His soul, "who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God". Like His servant who followed later, He overflowed with joy in all His affliction, and the outpouring of that joy is beautifully depicted in the pouring out of the drink offering.

Spiritual Sacrifices

Let us now consider its teaching as it concerns our offering to God when we are gathered together to worship Him. There is no doubt that the finest hour in the life of a disciple of the Lord Jesus is when in the company of God's worshipping people he partakes of the table of the Lord. "Bring an offering" said the psalmist, "and come into His courts. 0 worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness" (Psa. 96:8,9). Our time of worship will be greatly enriched if each one comes prepared, with some precious thoughts of Christ to offer, some fresh appreciation of His Person and worth which has been gathered in the secret place in communion with Him. As the emblems are partaken of, and Christ brought vividly before mind and heart, a deep joy fills the heart, produced by the working of the Holy Spirit. Is not this the drink offering aspect of our worship as we pour out that joy before the Lord, and "worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus"? We capture something of what David had in mind when he wrote, "I will offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD" (Psa. 27:6).

The offering varied according to the ability of the offerer to give. It might be a lamb that he brought to God's altar, or a ram or even a bullock, but in each case it was a freewill offering expressing his love to the Lord, and his appreciation of His goodness, and accompanying the animal was the varying amount of wine for the drink offering. Our joy in Christ will vary according to our appreciation of His worth and work, but what we have, let us pour it out unto the Lord. It will have cost us something. "Sacrifices of praise" are produced at some measure of sacrifice, and the more it costs us the more our worship will be enriched. And the more also, we believe, will God be glorified, for we remember He said, "whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth Me" (Psa. 50:23).

Poured out as a Drink Offering

There is a third aspect of our subject to which the apostle Paul twice alludes when he refers to being himself poured out as a drink offering. From the Roman prison he wrote to Timothy, "I am already being offered (Gr. poured out as a drink offering, R.V. margin), and the time of my departure is come" (2 Tim. 4:6). Did he see his martyrdom approaching? Perhaps he realized that his departure would come by means of the executioner's sword and he would truly be poured out as a drink offering. But surely his words have a deeper significance than that. His whole life had been one of complete surrender to the Lord. "I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls" he wrote to the Corinthians. Notice the gladness emphasized again. That was the character of the man. Nothing was held back. And now he was facing his final outpouring. The language he uses is significant when we remember that the final act of sacrifice was the pouring out of the drink offering upon the burnt offering and the meal offering which were already being consumed upon the altar.

There were no regrets in the heart of this spent servant. On the contrary a deep and holy joy filled his soul. "If I am offered (Gr. poured out as a drink offering, R.V. margin) upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all: and in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice with me" (Phil. 2:17,18). The Philippian disciples in their love to the Lord had presented themselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, and in association with this sacrifice of themselves, and as a result of it, they ministered as in priestly service, the gospel of God (see Rom. 15:16). Upon their sacrifice and priestly service (for that is the meaning conveyed by the Greek word leitourgia) Paul now poured himself out as a drink offering. Could there be a higher expression of his love to the Lord? What a delightful contemplation as he now calls upon the Philippians to share in the joy of his outpouring.

In Paul's case it was certainly an offering made by fire unto the Lord. But he who had been shown from the beginning how many things he must suffer for His Name's sake, had learned to measure all suffering against the eternal glory which was to be revealed. "As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing" was no vain boast on his part, and the joy of the Lord which had been his strength through all the years of his service, he continued to pour out unto the Lord until the executioner's sword transported him into His presence where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.

Toms, A. F. | Mar 1974
General