The meal offering thus represented the perfect humanity of Christ that was empowered by the Holy Spirit, fragrant to God, free from any human sinfulness or natural sweetness and laid down at Calvary.

The meal offering is an appendix to the burnt offering for it was never offered alone but along with the blood sacrifice of the burnt offering.

The translation "meat" in the KJV meant solid food as opposed to liquid in 1611. What we call meat today was called flesh in the seventeenth century.

The offerers had to prepare the offering at home and then bring it to the tabernacle. Here is a lesson for all believers. We ought to prepare at home by study and meditation upon the Saviour during the week and bring or sacrifice of praise on a Lord’s day morning. Brothers and sisters ought to bring their worship that is vocal and silent.

The fine white flour typified the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus in whom there was no unevenness or coarseness.

For flour to be made, it has to undergo all the crushing of the mill stones and symbolises the trials that the Lord went through as He moved amongst men with all their hatred vented towards His holy person. He was the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As He healed the sickness and disease of men, He felt all the burden of it in sympathy.

Only the best was used to typify Christ -

Fine flour

Burnished (polished) brass (Ezek. 1:7).

Fine twined linen

Pure frankincense

Male of the first year

Pure gold

Precious stones

Refined Silver

We read of Moses that he was the meekest man of earth. He had that one feature in prominence but the Lord simply said "I am meek". He was perfectly meek not simply meeker than other men or that He had that attribute in greater measure than other virtues. All the fruit of the Spirit was seen in equal and perfect fullness.

It can be said of believers that some are more loving than patient, more self controlled than loving, longsuffering but not joyful, they have a lot of faith but not much patience. As we become more and more like Christ we shall become more balanced in our character.

A missionary in India was once teaching the Bible to a group of Hindu ladies. Halfway through the lesson, one of the women got up and walked out. A short time later, she came back and listened more intently than ever. At the close of the hour the leader inquired, "Why did you leave the meeting? Weren't you interested?" "O yes," the Hindu lady replied. "I was so impressed with what you had to say about Christ that I went out to ask your driver whether you really lived the way you talked. When he said you did, I hurried back so I wouldn't miss out on anything."

Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

The white sweet smelling frankincense is the life and prayers of the Lord Jesus as He walked in dependence upon God His father.

Frankincense could not be eaten by man and was only put on the part that was burnt up to God.

There were excellencies in Christ that only the Father could truly appreciate and say in Matthew 3:17 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

The fire brought forth the fragrance of the frankincense and so too all the trials and sufferings of the Lord Jesus brought out what was always in Him. No matter what trial He went through, sweet incense ascended up to His God and Father. The more pressure that was put upon Him the sweeter He was. Even in Gethsemane, He would heal the ear of Malcus and cry out on the cross "Father forgive them".

How ourselves as believers who say all kinds of cruel and unkind things when under pressure.

Each hand is of a different size and the apprecation of each believer of the person and work of Christ varies according to maturity. On a Lord's Day morning, we are to bring our handfull of flour in the sense we meditate upon th eSaviour during the week and bring our thoughts of Him in worship to the Father.

The memorial was a token that the whole had been given to God.

This was the portion that God enjoyed. It typified His delight in the Son of His love whose life was such a sweet savour that He said, "this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased"

God got His portion of the meal offering and so too did the priests.

God would have His people appreciate the lovely character of His beloved Son for all are priests.

We eat the Lord Jesus and abide in Him by reading the Scriptures and praying to Him. We learn more about Him and become like Him.

The phrase "most holy," as applied to a Levitical sacrifice, was a technical expression indicating those portions of an offering (whether a grain, fellowship, sin, or guilt offering) which were to be eaten only by qualified members of the priesthood.

The meal offering baked in the oven typifies the hidden sufferings of our Lord Jesus.

The Lord did not just heal by His power from a distance or without any real feeling for those whom He healed but he entered sympathetically into all their sorrows and sufferings.

This typifies the Lord Jesus in His incarnation as One who was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

The incarnation was not a subtraction but an addition. The Son of God did not cease to be God or loose any of the attributes of deity. He eternally added humanity to His nature and there is a Man in the glory.

Indivisible, eternal and incomprehensible.

The Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) failing to penetrate the mystery of the divine and human natures of Christ, offered four precautions that would protect the Christian from error when contemplating this mystery.

1. Attribute true and proper divinity to Christ.

2. Attribute true and proper humanity to Christ

3. Do not so mingle the human and divine that you end up with a being neither human nor divine.

4. Do not dissect Christ so that there are two persons in one being.

There is a story about King George V of Britain. Once he paid a visit to the city of Leeds. Elaborate preparations were made for his coming. Excited crowds filled the streets to wave and cheer. There was a large elementary school in Leeds with a playground which ran alongside the railway line. His Majesty agreed to wave to the boys and girls as the royal train passed by on the last day of his visit. The boys and girls with their teachers, crowded to the playground wall overlooking the railway. Presently from a long tunnel, the royal train slowly emerged and gradually drew alongside the playground. Then the king came outside the royal coach and stood on a small platform where they could all see him. He wore no crown or purple robe, but was dressed in a plain suit, just like an ordinary man. From his jacket pocket he plucked a bright handkerchief with which he waved to the cheering children. All too soon the train glided by and disappeared. Then the cheers subsided into silence, except for one little girl who sobbed bitterly, so much so that one of the teachers asked her, "Why are you crying like that dear?" The little girl sputtered through her tears, "I wanted to see the king and I only saw a man!"

People who came to see Jesus saw only a man. He lived like a man and he died like a man. It is through eyes of faith alone that we see him as King of Kings, Lord of Lords. (J. Sidlow Baxter).

This typified the Lord’s anointing at the banks of the Jordan. The Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. Just as Noah’s dove only found rest in the Ark, so too, in the OT, the Spirit of God came upon men for service and left them on account of sin but at last the Spirit of God could come upon the perfect Man to dwell and be at home.

All that the Lord Jesus did was by the power of the Spirit of God though He was God that Son with all the power of deity, He set the example as the perfect dependent Man.

D.L. Moody, from all accounts, was a Spirit-filled man. His life was a wonderful example of what God can do with a man who completely yields to the Spirit. Many peoples lives were touched by his preaching and led to the Lord. When he was at the height of his ministry a group of pastors met in Philadelphia to discuss plans for a city-wide evangelistic campaign. Among the decisions to be made, they had to select an evangelist. Quite a number of men were solidly in favor of inviting Moody, and they were talking of the wonderful things God was doing through him.

One of the opposition spoke up and somewhat sarcastically said, "To hear you talk, one would think that D.L. Moody has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit." "No," said one pastor wisely. "We do not intend to create that impression. But I am convinced that the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on D.L. Moody." So it should be with us.

Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famed C.H. Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked, "Gentlemen, let me show you around. Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?" They were not particularly interested, for it was a hot day in July. But they didn't want to offend the stranger, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway, a door was quietly opened, and their guide whispered, "This is our heating plant." Surprised, the students saw 700 people bowed in prayer, seeking a blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the auditorium above. Softly closing the door, the gentleman then introduced himself. It was none other than Charles Spurgeon.

Our Daily Bread, April 24, 1999

The pan here was a flat plate or griddle to bake upon. This typifies the open sufferings of the Saviour, which were seen by men.

The open hostility against the Lord grew from the time they sought to cast over the hill at Nazareth until the spat upon Him, tore out His hair, lashing him, scourging him, crowning His head with thorns, and crucifying Him.

The difference here is that the offering has to be broken into pieces. When God and man examined every part of the Lord’s life, it was found to be perfect.

We see this in the four gospels which parts the Lord’s life into four complementary views and as each gospel is divided into chapters, verses, phrases and words, in each detail we see the glory of the Saviour.

The oil was poured onto the pieces until they were saturated. The whole life of the Lord was completely filled by the Spirit of God.

The word for frying pan here means a vessel with walls much like a cauldron. What was fried in it was partly hidden and partly seen.

Here is typified the deepest sufferings of the Lord Jesus at Calvary from the hands of men and of God. There was the smiting, spitting, scourging, shame and crucifixion but also in three hours of darkness when no eye could gaze upon the Lord as He bore our sins and was utterly forsaken of God.

He had to endure the contradiction of singers against himself." He had to endure" the reproach of them that reproached God." What had He not to endure? He was misunderstood, misinterpreted, abused, maligned, accused of being mad, and of having a devil. He was betrayed, denied, deserted, mocked, buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, cast out, condemned, and nailed between two malefactors. All these things He endured at the hand of man, together with all the unutterable terrors which Satan brought to bear upon His spirit; but let it be, once more, emphatically repeated, when man and Satan had exhausted their power and enmity, our blessed Lord and Saviour had to endure a something compared with which all the rest was as nothing, and that was the hiding of God's countenance—the three hours of darkness and awful gloom, during which He suffered what none but God could know. C H Macintosh

No mention is made of frankincense.

These stand in contrast to one another. The leaven corrupts whereas salt preserves. Honey when burnt looses its sweetness whereas frankincense yields its incense.

Leaven is always a symbol of sin in the Bible.

God forbade the offering of leaven with the meal offering, which speaks of Christ in His perfect humanity. In Him is no sin.

Leaven pictures hypocrisy (Luke 12v1)

Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees pictures false doctrine (Matt. 16v6-12; Gal. 5v9)

Leaven of Herod pictures worldly compromise (Mark 8v15)

Leaven pictures immoral behaviour (1 Cor. 5v6-8).

There was no hypocrisy in Jesus, no false teaching, no compromise with this evil world, no immoral behaviour of any kind. He was perfect in all His ways.

Honey mainly represents sweet words –

Warnings are also given about too much honey –

Proverbs 25:16 "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it."

All that the Lord did was for the glory of God

Here honey then represents primarily the sweet words of men which when tested by the fire of affliction can turn sour.

It represents the glory of man.

When our Lord was crucified the first words He uttered were "Father forgive them". How unlike the best of men who like Paul lost their temper and called the High Priest a whited wall.

Or like Peter who rebuked the Lord for speaking about His death.

Cf. Matthew 16:22 "Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee."

Literally, "God be favourable to Thee..."

The first fruit was grain that had not passed through the mill and made into flour like the other meal offerings.

The first fruits typify the Lord Jesus in resurrection glory.

The Lord Jesus quoted part of this verse in Mark 9:49.

Though salt is symbolic of a number of things in the Bible, here the covenant of salt represents what it is permanent and eternal.

The New Covenant by which we receive our blessings is an eternal one. The Lord Jesus is guarantee of all God’s promises.

The first fruits view Jesus as the Man in the glory. He has taken that perfect humanity to heaven.

The Lord Jesus is the last Adam for there will be no more Adams but He is called the Second Man for there are going to be millions of men made like unto Him.

C H Mackintosh eloquently puts it, "Hence it is that we suffer so much from vacancy, barrenness, restlessness, and wandering. Did we but enter, with a more artless faith, into the truth that there is a real Man, at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens—One whose sympathy is perfect, whose love is fathomless, whose power is omnipotent, whose wisdom is infinite, whose resources are exhaustless, whose riches are unsearchable, whose ear is open to our every breathing, whose hand is open to our every need, whose heart is full of unspeakable love and tenderness towards us—how much more happy and elevated we should be, and how much more independent of creature streams, through what channel soever they may flow!…There is nothing the heart can crave which we have not in Jesus. Does it long for genuine sympathy? Where can it find it, save in Him who could mingle His tears with those of the bereaved sisters of Bethany? Does it desire the enjoyment of sincere affection? It can only find it in that heart which told forth its love in drops of blood. Does it seek the protection of real power? It has but to look to Him who made the world. Does it feel the need of unerring wisdom to guide? Let it betake itself to Him who is wisdom personified, and who of God is made unto us wisdom." In one word, we have all in Christ."

The Green ears signify that He was cut off in the midst of His years as a young Man of 33 ½ years. Yet there was fullness in His life that eternity cannot unfold.

The fire suggests all the sufferings the Saviour went through at the hands of men.

He Himself was the green tree, and unbelieving Israel was the dry. If the Romans heaped such shame and suffering on the sinless, innocent Son of God, what dreadful punishment would fall on the guilty murderers of God’s beloved Son?

There was a fullness and maturity in Christ.