Leviticus Jesus In The Meal Offering Look At The Book! Leviticus Jesus In The Meal Offering

Jesus In The Sacrifices All sacrifices in the old covenant point to Jesus and His great sacrifice for our sins. One of the least obvious of those sacrifices was the meal offering – also called the meat offering, cereal offering, or grain offering. It is rich in symbolism, pointing to a life lived in absolute sanctification and thanksgiving before the Lord.

The Particulars Of The Grain Offering Found in Leviticus 2 Involved a gift of grain flour in some fashion Of wheat or barley as the usual grains. Fine flour – finely ground. Mixed with olive oil Other ingredients*

A Portion Given To The Lord From the whole offering, a memorial portion was given to God. Lev. 2:2, 9 – “He shall then bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and shall take from it his handful of its fine flour and of its oil with all of its frankincense. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke as its memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord…. The priest then shall take up from the grain offering its memorial portion, and shall offer it up in smoke on the altar as an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Methods For The Offering Could be offered to God as raw flour – the memorial portion coated with oil and burned up, the remainder given to the priests. (v. 1) Or could be offered as baked cakes (v.4) Or as cakes on a griddle (v. 5) Or as cooked in a pan (v. 7) Or as parched grains (v. 14)

Other Ingredients Added Added was frankincense Added was salt (covenant) Matthew 5:13 – “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”

Ingredients Forbidden Leaven Honey Representation of corruption? Matthew 16:6 – “And Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

The Most Holy Nature Of The Offering Leviticus 2:3 – “The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons: a thing most holy, of the offerings to the Lord by fire.” Leviticus 6:16-18 – “What is left of it Aaron and his sons are to eat. It shall be eaten as unleavened cakes in a holy place; they are to eat it in the court of the tent of meeting. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their share from My offerings by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it; it is a permanent ordinance throughout your generations, from the offerings by fire to the Lord. Whoever touches them will become consecrated.’”

Speaks of Complete Sanctification/Dedication John 15:7 – “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 4:32-34 --But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”

Eating The One Most Holy Thing Matthew 4:4 – “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” A sacrifice of holiness Of consecration Of sanctification

Jesus As The Grain Offering Hermeneutical thought: How difficult was this sacrifice to make at the time God ordered it? Grain is a gift that comes directly from God. Remember these were nomadic shepherds, who God converted to become stationary farmers. The became dependent upon God to provide everything they had/needed. God’s good will was indispensable to their life.

How Do We Perceive Grace? James 5:7 – “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.” Matthew 6:11 – “Give us this day our daily bread…..”

James 4:13-16 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

The Greatness Of The Sacrifice Fine flour was COSTLY – the best. Amount is great – either 3.5 pints or 3.5 quarts according to who you consult. It was a sacrifice which gave of the worshiper’s finest to God out of a sense of thanksgiving.

Attitude In Action Mark 12:41-44 --And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

2 Corinthians 8:1-4 “Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints….”

God Returns To Us Great Blessing 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 -- “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”

Jesus The Bread Of Life John 3:16 – The priceless gift given by God. John 6:35 – “Jesus 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.” As God fed the priests through the grain offering, so He feeds us with heavenly bread!