In the first chapter of Leviticus
we read last week of the three burnt offerings, one of the herd,
one of the flock and then also the turtle doves and young pigeons
and how they all pointed to Christ but how in their threefold aspect
they also pointed to the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And in the second chapter in
Leviticus, we read of a rather different type of offering, that
which is called the meat offering, or the bread offering. Leviticus
chapter two, verse one says, And when they will offer a meat
offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he
shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon. And he
shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests. And he shall take
there out his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil
thereof, with all the frankincense thereof. And the priests shall
burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering
made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. And the remnant
of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons, It is a
thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord, made by fire. And when any will offer a meat
offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he
shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon. A meat
offering. But as I say, the translation
in the English here of meat gives the impression in modern times
of meat as in the flesh of an animal. Whereas this offering,
as it says, was made of fine flour. It's more of a bread offering. And we read in the scriptures,
both in Leviticus and Exodus and elsewhere, of two sorts of
offerings, meat offerings and drink offerings. of bread offerings
and drink offerings which obviously point us to those two aspects
of Christ's death which we remember today in the drinking of wine
and the eating of bread. Those two aspects remembered
in his offering up on the cross of both his body and his blood,
the bread and the wine. And we remember his offering
of his body and his blood in that remembrance feast, that
remembrance supper in which we eat the bread and drink the wine. There is this remembrance, this
memorial which is pointed at in this passage several times
when it speaks of this meat offering being burnt, the memorial of
it. And the priest shall burn the
memorial of it upon the altar to be an offering made by fire
of a sweet savour unto the Lord. Here is an offering which you
will remember And when you remember, you will remember that it speaks
of the offering of the body of Christ. As the drink offering,
likewise points to the shedding of his blood. Joel speaks of
these two offerings in chapter 2 verse 14 where he says, who
knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind
him, even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord
your God. A meat offering and a drink offering.
Well here in chapter 2 of Leviticus we consider the meat offering,
the bread offering, the body of Christ. offered up under God. And the first thing we note about
this offering which is quite remarkable and notable here is
that it was offered, it was burnt up but it was also divided and
part of it was consumed by the priests. Some of this bread,
some of this fine flour, this bread made of fine flour was
burnt up, the memorial of it was burnt and offered up as a
sweet savour unto the Lord. But the rest was consumed by
the priests. And in this we see the union
between the people of God and their Saviour. We see the union of the body
of Christ that the body of Christ when the scriptures speak of
his body or speak of the temple of his body is not Christ alone
but he is the head of his body and his people are the members
of his body and through his death they are united together never
to be separated and there is this union between him and his
people depicted by his body, which is pictured by the offering
up of the meat offering and pictured by the bread. This is my body
broken for you. When Christ was slain, And when
he was made to be sin for his people in their stead, and when
the judgment of God in fire poured down upon him for what he was
made to be, he felt in his body the wrath of God. He felt himself
to be burnt up by God's fury against sin. But the consequence
of his being offered up, the consequence of the body of Christ
as it were being destroyed, being sown in the soil, laid in the
grave, placed in the earth, dying as a seed dies in the ground,
is that from that seed sown in death, life sprang forth. and a people sprang forth from
in him, rising with him from the grave, rising up as the shoots,
the first fruits of a seed sown in the ground, rise up and spring
forth from the soil and rise up under heaven. And that people
rose up from his death and rose up as part of his body, as the
fruit grows from the sowing of the seed. It is part of that
seed, but it only comes forth when the seed is sown and dies
in the ground. There is a union, a union with
Christ and His people. Christ speaks of these offerings,
this meat offering, this drink offering, all pointing to Him.
when he speaks of himself as the bread of life and the water
of life. In John, John chapter six, he
says, then said, John chapter six we read, then said they unto
him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. If you want life, life like you've
never known before, everlasting life, life of equality and order
unlike what people call life in this world, if you want to
live forever then you need to eat of the bread of life and
to drink of the water of life. For he that cometh under Christ
and eats that bread shall never hunger. And he that believeth
on the Son of God shall never thirst. Have you come under Christ? Have you eaten of that bread?
Have you drunk of that water? Have you believed on the Son
of God? who laid his life down as an
offering for sin. Did he lay his life down for
you and your sin? Well he is both the meat offering
and the drink offering of his people. His flesh is meat indeed
and his blood is drink indeed. Eat of his flesh and you will
never hunger. Drink of his blood and you will
never thirst. But you will only eat and you
will only drink if you see your need. Do you hunger and do you
thirst? Do you see a need of a meat offering
for your sin? Do you see a need of a drink
offering for your sins? Do you see a need for righteousness? Because behind this offering,
as with all the offerings depicted, is the need for righteousness. We are unrighteous by nature,
full of sin. The first man, Adam, having sinned
and we, as his descendants, having sinned in him. We are full of
sin, not only do we commit sins, but our very nature is sin. The reason we commit sins, the
reason we rebel, the reason we disobey, the reason we disobey
our parents, the reason we disobey authority, the reason we shake
our fist at God, the reason we serve ourselves, the reason we
bring glory unto ourselves, the reason we tread on our neighbour
who gets in our way, the reason we respond in anger when we are
frustrated at others, The reason we lust after evil, the reason
we seek money, the reason we sin, is because we are full of
sin. God's judgment is not simply
over our heads because of what we've done, but God's justice
and judgment roars out against us because of what we are. What
we do is because of what we are. We are unrighteous. We are sin. And we need to be righteous. Do you know your need? Or are you full of apathy and
carelessness? Do you wander through life as
though you're a pretty good person? And as though perhaps if you
die God should look upon you and weigh up your good and your
bad and see that overall you've been better than you've been
bad. If that's how you look upon yourself you're blind. blind
to what's within, blind to the state of your heart, blind to
reality, blind to the righteousness of God and the holiness of God
and how far off you are from His purity and holiness, that
even your righteousnesses, even those things you think you do
well, are so far off the standard, so far off the glory of God. They're full of sin. Even what
you do that you think is good is motivated by a selfish motive
and therefore is full of sin. You have a need. A need of righteousness. A need of righteousness which
is why Paul so loved the gospel. knowing the impact of the Lord
that exposed his lack of righteousness he so rejoiced in the gospel
because therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed
here in the gospel he looked and beheld a meat offering a
bread offering offered up for him and a drink offering he beheld
the body and the blood of Christ offered in his place and he saw
in that body the righteousness of God that righteousness which
God by his grace God by the Spirit had made Paul to hunger and first
after when Paul saw the barrenness of his heart, when Paul saw the
iniquity within, when Paul discovered the unrighteousness within, that
even the good that he would, he could not do, when he cried
out in desperation, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver
me from this body of death? Who will deliver me from the
sin within? When Paul saw his desperate state
and how he had nothing to offer unto God in himself, all he was
was sin. Even though he, as a religious
man, a Pharisee, thought he lived and served God, he discovered
that it was all a sham, all full of sin, all for self-glory. Everything he did where he professed
to be worshipping God, he was really doing for his own glory. And isn't that the case? You
who are religious. You who are brought up in religion. You who have a zeal for these
things, but without knowledge. Oh, you speak of serving God.
You speak of doing this and doing that in his name. You say in
your heart, Lord, Lord, I've done this in thy name and that
in thy name. But all's for your own glory. All's because you feel good about
yourself in what you've done. And you are blind to the iniquity
within. You look on others. and see others
fall and see others sin and see others do heinous things and
say, how could they do that? How could a man do that? I could never do that. And yet
you could. Should God take the hedge about
from around you and leave you to what you are, you would do
the worst. because within you there is no
righteousness there is none that doeth good there is none that
seeketh after God there is none that is righteous no not one
within you there is sin and you have a need of righteousness and by the gospel the spirit
of God is sent to give his people a hunger and a thirst after righteousness. A hunger for the bread of life. A thirst for the water of life. A hunger and thirst after righteousness. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Are you hungering and thirsting
after righteousness? not just righteousnesses not
simply to live and do a certain way but are you hungering and
thirsting after that within you righteousness which if you had
you would bring forth righteousnesses rather than bringing forth the
sins that in your natural state you do It's not the deeds you
need to stand before God, it's the righteousness within. Which is why it is said of this
offering, this meat offering, this bread offering, this picture
of Christ and his body, that it shall be of fine flour, fine
flour, the finest, depicting righteousness without
blemish. And righteousness which is in
the flour, in the bread, which is divided between that which
is offered up unto the Lord as a sweet savor, and that which
is consumed by the priests. This righteousness is in both
the offering and within the people. And you need this righteousness
within, within. We need to eat of the bread of
life. But for whence does this fine
flour come? This picture of the bread of
life, well the flour comes from the wheat. That wheat which grows
up, which is then cut down, harvested, cut down and crushed until fine
flour is brought forth. It's crushed. There can be no offering up,
no burning of this flower until it's crushed, till the wheat
has been cut, until the wheat has been crushed. When Christ was taken and offered
up by the Jews into the hands of the Roman authorities, and
when they cried out, crucify him, crucify him, and he was
taken away and nailed to that cross and lifted up. He, as it
were, was cut down. And when he was lifted up under
the wrath of God, when the sun went dark, he was crushed. Crushed under
the millstones, as it were. crushed under the hand of God
and made into fine flour. Fine flour. Not only was he fine flour in
his death, the fineness depicts the perfect humanity of Christ. Here was a man unlike any man.
Here was a man, made a man, made under the law, who because he
was righteous within, because from the day he was born, the
righteousness of God was within him, everything he did was perfect. He was made under the law but
the law could find no fault in him. He magnified it, he honored
it, there was nothing in him that the law could condemn because
he was the righteousness of God. Here God puts his son on display
and manifests his righteousness and says there's my son, there's
the man, behold the man. When Pilate displayed him before the
people. He rightly said, behold the man,
because this was the man, the righteous man, God's fine flower,
the meat offering. There was not one spot or blemish,
one reason for the law to find fault in this man. yet because
he went to that cross and stood in the place of his people and
God made him a substitute in their place and he was made to
be sin that they should be made the righteousness of God because
he bore their sin because he was made sin he was crushed and
he was burnt oh he is fine, he is excellent, he is preeminent,
he is perfect, have you been given a sight of the glorious
nature of Christ, the glorious person of Christ, what an offering
is Christ the son of God, God's blessed son, the beloved, oh the one, that the Father had
to give. And when any will offer a meat
offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he
shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense upon it. Fine flour, from that wheat, a corn of wheat as it were, thrown
into the ground, which died, that in his people it might bring
forth much fruit. As John says in chapter 12, except
the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it brings forth
much fruit. And when Christ died, his death
brought forth much fruit. All his people died in him, and
all his people rose with him. And they rose, united unto the
bread of life, eating the bread of life, being made the righteousness
of God in him. Which is why this meat offering,
this fine flour, was consumed, the remnant was consumed by Aaron
and his sons. it is because Christ died that
he could bring forth much fruit in his people. The offering shall
be of fine flour and he shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense
thereon. Oil oil like the anointing oil
that was poured down upon Aaron's head and the anointing that was
poured upon the king like King David and the anointing that
is poured upon the son of God's head by his father by God. Christ the anointed one This
offering is anointed, there's oil. There's the grace of God
poured down upon him. He's covered in the grace of
God, covered in the oil. And as this oil, as this offering,
as this bread offering is covered in oil, so it is eaten by that
people. Not only do they consume the
offering, but they consume the oil which is upon it. the grace
when they receive of the bread of life they receive of the grace
of God and the only way they receive of the bread of life
is by the grace of God you'll never eat this flour you'll never
eat this bread except it has oil upon it as God made known
His Son, the Bread of Life unto you. If He has, then by His grace
He has opened your eyes to see and opened your ears to hear. His offering shall be of fine
flour and He shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon. Frankincense. that wonderful
perfume that brings forth such an aroma a sweet smell that frankincense
that reminds us of the birth of Christ when the wise men brought
gifts and one of the gifts was frankincense because this man
born this babe born in Bethlehem is the head of the church, the
head of the body, the son of God. And he and his church are
perfumed with a wonderful aroma. The bride and bridegroom are
beautiful. glorious, without spot, without
blemish, wonderful. In the Song of Solomon we see
the love of the bride to his bridegroom, we see the love of
Christ to his church, we see the beauty of both the bridegroom
and the bride, the beauty. And in chapter 3 and verse 6
we read of the coming of Christ. We read this description. Who
is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? Behold his bed, which is Solomon's. Freescore valiant men are about
it of the valiant of Israel. Who is this that cometh out of
the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and
frankincense? those perfumes given unto Christ
at His birth along with the gold because this righteous, holy,
perfect Son of God is a beautiful smelling Saviour of His people
and His church, His bride united unto Him is covered with the
same perfume When His people eat of that bread of life, they
consume the oil and they consume the aroma of the frankincense. They are one with their Savior. As God looks upon Christ and
is well pleased in His Son, He looks upon His people in Him
and looks upon the church. and sees this church, this glorious,
perfect, righteous people perfumed with frankincense and anointed
with oil, full of grace and full of the fullness of God and full
of the offering of Christ in their place. who as a burnt offering,
an offering made by fire, is a sweet savour unto the Lord. A sweet savour. For this meat
offering, this bread, this flour, was not only consumed by the
priests, but the memorial of it was offered up upon the altar
to be an offering made by fire. of a sweet savour unto the Lord. Now with regard to what is offered
by fire, what we note here is that there's no mention with
this offering as there is in the offerings in the previous
chapter, there's no mention of blood. This is not an animal
here. who's slain and the blood is
shed, but the focus here is upon the bread, the meat, the flour. There's no blood, there's just
the offering. And the burning of the offering.
It's not the drink offering we're looking at, but the meat offering.
And the focus is upon the body. The focus here is upon what Christ
offered when he offered up his body. His blood was shed to wash
away the sins of his people. He bore their sins in his own
body on the tree and shed his blood to wash away those sins. But he also offered up his body,
which was made sin, singular, in their place, as an offering
for their sin, that in Him they should be made the righteousness
of God. This is about righteousness within. The character, the person, the
being. It's about taking away what we
are, sin, and making us in Christ to be righteousness. It's not about the blood. It's
about the body. The body. and that sin needed
to be burnt by fire God cannot forgive sin it cannot be washed
away it must be burnt and when Christ was offered up in the
place of his people when he was made to be sin in those hours
of darkness he knew the heat of the fires of God's wrath he
was burnt but when he was burnt he was a sweet savour unto the
world but we've noted that this offering
is not just offered but is consumed by the priests And when we consume
the fine flour, not only do we experience the reality of being
made to be the righteousness of God in Christ, not only do
we experience the grace of God depicted by the oil, not only
are we experiencing and made to be perfect and righteous in
Christ, a beautiful, sweet smelling bride of the Son of God, not
only is the frankincense upon us, But we also know something
of the burning of fire. As we journey below here, eating
of the bread of life, as we hear the gospel of Christ and feed
on his word, and through it feed on him, as we consume Christ,
as we feed on him and drink of his blood, we know the fires
of trial. We know the fires of temptation. We know the fires of persecution,
we know the fires of the heat of the midday sun, we know what
it is to be tried because we're one with our Master, we're one
with our Saviour and we'll know something of what He experienced,
not all but something. As we eat of the bread we'll
know what it is to feel the fire. We'll know what it is to feel
the hatred of man against us. We'll know what it is to feel
the flesh within us warring against the spirit. To feel the old man
warring against a new man. We'll feel the fire. But praise
God, that like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, like those three
men in Daniel's day, when we're walking through the fire, when
we're in the fiery pit, the fiery furnace, when everything seems
against us, when all strength seems to fail, when we wonder
how we can stand another day, when everything seems against
us, and we cry out unto our God, we'll know that he has never
left us nor forsaken us because with those men in that fire there
was one as the king looked on and beheld as the son of man
one as the son of God in the midst with his people because
the head cannot be divided from the body. The bread is one. The meat offering is one. And where the body is, the head
is also. And where the head is, the body
is also. He's risen, he's in glory, so
are we in him. So are his people in him. He's
at the right hand of the Father, so are His people. The Father
looks upon His Son in love as He looks upon His people. The
Father looks upon His Son and says, I am well pleased in Him.
And He looks upon His people in Him and says, I am well pleased
with them in Him. Everything that is Christ's is
theirs. Where He is, they are. and where
they are in their earthly sojourn here below, He is there with
them. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. He's always with
His people, no matter what fire there is round about. And with
them, in them, they in Him are made to be an offering. made
by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. You can never be separated
from your Saviour. O child of God, if you know this
Saviour, if you're eating of the bread of life, if God by
grace has given you to eat of Him, then you will never be separated. Never. Because you are one. The remnant was consumed by the
priest, you are one. That offering is within. As John makes clear in his gospel,
the unity of the branch and the vine, the unity of the vine with
the branches, we're one with Him. We're one with our Saviour,
He's in us and we're in Him. We cannot be separated. The bread
of life is given to us to eat of. When Christ offered himself,
he said, he said of his offering to his disciples, he said, this
is my body, broken for you, take ye, eat all of it, eat ye all
of it. He gave them a memorial, a remembrance
by which to remember him, but their taking of that bread literally
was not that, but it pictured that reality. that his body would
be broken, his body was broken for them and they were to eat
of his body, they were to be one with him and they would never
hunger and never fast because they the hunger and thirst after
righteousness will be given to eat of the bread of life and
to drink of the water of life. Christ teaches us how to pray
And when he teaches his disciples how to pray, he says to them
to pray, give us this day our daily bread. And every day our
cry is unto God, give us this day our daily bread. And our
daily bread is Christ. It's not religion. It's not works. It's not going to the meetings.
It's not reading the scriptures. It's not doing this good work
before others. It's not saying this and doing
this. Though all those things may be
a fruit of it, but our daily bread is Christ. That offering, offered up of
fine flour, with oil poured upon it, and frankincense thereon,
which was offered as an offering made by fire of a sweet savour
unto the Lord. What an offering. An unleavened
offering. There's nothing to add to this
offering. It's perfect, it's righteous. It's fine flour, you
will add nothing. Nothing. Only the salt to speak
of the preservation. Because if you're in Christ,
then God will keep you. He will keep you as the soul
to this earth. He will keep you. This earth
is only kept because Christ has his people whom he will bring
to hear this gospel for their sakes that he should deliver
them from it. but in Christ you have everything,
nothing to add, not your works, not your will, not your way,
no leather, he's perfect, he's fine flour, fine flour. Oh, do you know him? Oh, have
you got a hunger and thirst after righteousness? Have you eaten
of the bread of life?