THE FIRST three offerings in Leviticus are called the voluntary offerings — they speak of worship. The second of these is the meat offering and in this we have the blessed Lord Jesus presented as the One who came down into this world to glorify God as Man.
The meat offering is presented in several ways, but it was always of fine flour, either mingled or anointed with oil (sometimes both), and always unleavened. Like the burnt sacrifice, it was also “an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord,” but in it we do not have flesh nor do we have the shedding of blood for, it does not make atonement. It speaks of every moral grace in the Lord Jesus as a Man.
Frankincense was put on it and it was placed in the hands of the priest, who burned a portion as a memorial of it upon the brazen altar with all the frankincense, after which the remainder was eaten by Aaron and his sons.
The Lord Jesus was a perfect Man as well as God, and the great attack of the enemy is to deny the deity of Christ because He became a man. However, we notice that the meat offering is the only one of the offerings which is spoken of as most holy. We have fallen human natures, but the Lord Jesus’ humanity was holy. “That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke l:35. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” and, unlike us, He could not sin. He was tempted, as we know, but the holiness of His nature only repelled evil. God knew perfectly that His beloved Son was all this, nothing less; but He allowed Him to be tempted in the wilderness in order to demonstrate before all that Jesus was the holy One of God.
How God delights to honor that blessed One! And we who know Him as the One who loved and gave Himself for us delight to do the same. This is what makes the truth revealed in the offerings so precious they tell forth the glories of the Peon and the work of God’s beloved Son.
The fine flour speaks of the perfect evenness in His walk and ways down here. In Jesus no one moral grace shone out more than another — all was perfection before God. He came to display the heart of God, and this He did perfectly. How different with us, for while some may have outstanding characteristics such as kindness, generosity, faith, or uprightness, how often we lack in other virtues. But every moral grace was found in the Lord Jesus and He was perfect in all.
How wondrous the glories that meet
In Jesus, and from His face shine,
His love is eternal and sweet,
’Tis human, ’tis also divine!
His glory—not only God’s Son—
In manhood He had His full part—
And the union of both joined in one
Form the fountain of love in His heart.
ML-05/16/1971