Christ in all the scriptures The grain offering

 Christ in all the scriptures

The grain offering    Leviticus 2 part 1

The KJV translates the Hebrew word minchah as the meat offering, but this is in the ancient sense of the word, when meat was used to describe food.  There is no meat content to this second major offering, but it is considered by many as the "food of the burnt offering".  This is because it was only ever offered on top of the burnt offering to enhance the flame and emit a pleasant aroma to offset some of the unpleasant smells from burning flesh.  This is the second major aspect of the one offering of Christ, and it compels our attention.  From this point on we shall refer to it as the grain offering.  The burnt offering of chapter 1 prefigures Christ in the devotion of His sacrificial death.  The grain offering of chapter 2 prefigures the perfection of His life lived out to the glory of God, before death and through death, and beyond death.  Both are absolutely complimentary-a perfect life could only condemn me (it took a blood sacrifice to save me); yet even a devoted sacrifice would have been futile without the perfection of the life.  Thus the portrayal of Christ in Leviticus 2 is the sinless perfection of His life which qualified Him to become a perfect sacrifice.  Note the importance of this offering, v3 "...it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire", the same is repeated in v10.  Holiness is the main theme of Leviticus, and when God calls something holy, He means it is is acceptable to His holy character.  When He calls something "most holy", He means it compels our special attention.  The sinless perfection of the life of Christ is a thing most holy unto the Lord and calls for our close scrutiny.  God considers the details of the life of His Son with the highest regard, and He wants us to do the same.  The scriptures abound with the beauty of His perfect life, particularly the Gospels and the letter to the Hebrews.  We can find here some lovely pictures of a life lived out to the glory of God.  The words of the immortal hymn by the late Wylie McLeod captures the thoughts of this more than anything else: 

"A perfect path of purest grace, unblemished and complete; was thine thou spotless Nazarite, pure even to the feet.  Thy stainless life, thy lovely walk; in every aspect true.  From the defilement all around no taint of evil drew.  No broken service Lord was thine, no change was in thy way; unsullied in thy holiness, thy strength knew no decay.  The vow was on thee thou didst come, to yield thyself to death; and consecration marked thy path and spoke in every breath.  Morning by morning thou didst wake, amidst this poisoned air; yet no contagion touched thy soul, no sin disturbed thy prayer.  Thus Lord we love to trace thy course, to mark where thou hast trod; and follow thee with loving eye, up to the throne of God".   

This is the subject matter of Leviticus 2.  Three times this offering is presented as a memorial-v2, v9, v16.  We will never be allowed to forget the perfection of a life wholly untainted by the corruption of the world in which He lived.  

FINEST FLOUR  "His offering shall be fine flour..."This points to the perfect humanity of Christ.  Fine flour is the basic constituent for making bread, cakes, biscuits, and all kinds of staple food.  It is fundamental to life; Christ is declared to be the "bread of life", necessary for the sustenance and well-being of humanity.  Fine flour is refined by multiple siftings yielding consistent evenness of texture, removing all impurities, all foreign objects, and all lumps.  We know from Exodus 29v2 that the flour was of the wheaten crop, the best of the grain crops.  Nothing but the best to symbolise Christ!  His humanity was perfect, no impurities, no inconsistency, perfect balance of all His attributes.  Some men are noted for their strength, others for their meekness, again some for their compassion.  He held all qualities equally--as with mercy, so with justice; as with love of righteousness, so with hatred of lawlessness; as with devotion to God, so with compassion to mankind.  He was God and He was man in perfect harmony; not sometimes God and other times man, but God and man at all times.  He was the finest of the fine flour, displaying the perfect blend of true human qualities, and Divine attributes-- full of grace, and yet full of truth, all in perfect balance.  His perfect, sinless humanity, is under attack today in many different guises and God would have us acknowledge the immaculate, impeccable, irreproachable, indispensable, and inscrutable Christ.  It is a vast scripture wide subject, too big to unfold here.  All of us are somewhat biased, even prejudiced, and unbalanced in our thinking and attitude.  We have strong points and weak points; He had no strong points for He had no weak points.  He was the finest of the fine flour, perfectly balanced in all attributes, absolutely consistent at all times.  Note there are no quantities mentioned, so unlimited in scope, except the offeror was only to take a handful.  The depth of the knowledge of Christ is unfathomable and we can only take our portion.  God enable us to grow and increase the size of our hand!

FRESH OIL  "And he shall pour oil upon it...".   We have established before, that the oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, and points to the life of Christ being, at all times, under His control.  Scripture is clear that the Spirit of God was His inseparable, if invisible, companion throughout His life.  The chapter re-iterates this time and again, and we can find scripture reference for each occurrence:

v1 "...he shall pour oil upon it"; this points to the incarnation, His unique birth.  The Spirit was the originator of His conception and development in the womb...Matthew 1v18-20, "...that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost".  Again, Luke 1v35, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God".  This was His initiation into this world.

v4, "...unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil..." (see also v5); Exodus 29v2 says "tempered with oil"-same Hebrew word which is from a root "to overflow", it just means thoroughly mixed throughout.  This points to His whole demeanour in life which was totally in harmony with the Divine Spirit.  Matthew 4v1, "Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil"; Mark 1v12, "And immediately the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness"; Luke 4v1, "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness"; Luke 4v14, "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee...". He preached in the inspiration of the Spirit, Luke 4v18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...".  His activity in the Spirit was unlimited-John 3v34, "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him".  He interpreted the future work of the Spirit-John 7v39, "But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given for that Jesus was not yet glorified".  On the cross of Calvary, it was through the eternal Spirit (cognisant of the eternal Divine plan, and in respect to the Divine will) He offered Himself without spot to God), Hebrews 9v14.  On resurrection ground, He taught His disciples the ways of God-Acts1v1-2, "...of all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day He was taken up, after that He, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen.  From conception to birth, from birth to death, and through death to resurrection and ascension He was subject to the sweet influences of the Divine Spirit whom He served with gladness.

v4, "...unleavened wafers anointed with oil...".  His title is Christ, literally "the anointed one", His title as Messiah.  There were three offices in Israel that required anointing; the office of prophet, priest, and king.  All three were anointed in public recognition into highest service.  Christ, and only Christ, fulfils all three, and untold blessings are yet to be revealed as Christ is presented as the Anointed One to the wondering world.  The anointing of Christ  is recorded in all four gospels, making it an important event-refer Matthew 3v16, Mark 1v10, Luke 3v22, and John 1v32-33.  According to the Blue Letter Bible the anointing was "the consecration of Jesus to the Messianic office, and furnishing Him with all the powers necessary for its administration".  The purposes of God and the eternal kingdom are in His hands.  Luke 4v18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord".  Acts 4v27, "For of a truth against thy holy child (servant) Jesus, whom thou hast anointed...".  Acts 10v38, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him".   Hebrews 1v9, "...thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows".

FRAGRANT FRANKINCENSE   The oil was to be mixed with the flour, but the frankincense was poured on the mixture only when the offering was on the altar.  Uniquely, the frankincense was all for God, while the residue of the offering was shared with the priests.  We have come to understand the frankincense to symbolise a fragrance that arose from the burning of the offering.  This was to be a memorial unto the Lord of a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord.  Only the Lord can appreciate the fragrance of a life that was lived at all times to please Him.  In contrast to the putrid stench that arose to God from even the most religious of men (Isaiah 1v5-6; 1v13-14; 65v5; Proverbs 21v27; Amos 5v21-23; Micah 6v6-8), the pleasing aroma of frankincense from the beautiful life of Christ brings pleasure to God (Isaiah 53v10; Matthew 3v17; Mark 1v11; Luke 3v22; John 8v29; Ephesians 5v2.)  As a boy, as a man, as a servant, as a sacrifice, on the throne now, Christ brings pleasure to God that will outlast time.  The stench of sin will be forever gone, the fragrance of Christ will permeate eternity.