THE FINE FLOUR:

This was obtained by the patient, laborious grinding of the kernels, or grains of wheat. The Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as "The CORN OF WHEAT" in John 12;24. The wheat in those days was ground in a hand mill. It still is in some of the villages of India. The mill consisted of two heavy, circular stones, about a half metre in diameter and about 125 mm thick. The nether or lower stone is stationary, while the upper stone is rotated by the miller. It is so shaped and fitted to the nether stone that it rotates without the use of an axle. The upper stone had a hole right through it into which the grain was fed. It also had a smaller shallow hole near the outer edge, into which a stick was placed, that served as a handle and was used to rotate the upper stone. As mentioned earlier, the stones were shaped to each other in such a way as to enable the upper stone to be rotated at quite a speed, yet without using an axle.

The mill was usually operated by two women, sitting opposite sides of the mill facing each other. Each had one hand on the handle, and they would operate the mill hour after hour, and in India it is customary for the women to sing as they grind. The grains were fed into the central hole a little at a time and coming in between the heavy stones and repeatedly ground. It finally fell from the outer edges of the mill as fine flour..

Please forgive this detailed description of the mill and the milling process, but we will now see it's significance.

THE FINE FLOUR speaks to us of the fineness, evenness and purity of the perfect life and character of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is repeatedly said to be FINE FLOUR, meaning that there were no lumps or anything coarse in the flour.

We see this perfectly in the life of Christ; there was nothing coarse, uneven, or out of character in His life. He was ground in the mills of poverty, hardship, affliction and rejection, but all only brought out the perfect evenness of His character.

The mill, as we have seen, operates with a constant circular motion, and the inner surfaces of the stones are very abrasive. The rotation first crushes the grain, and the abrasion grinds it finer and finer. Solomon in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes states that life too is a constant circuit. He saw it in the winds, he saw it in the water and the rain, and he saw it also in the history of man. Thus day follows day in seemingly endless succession. There are some things in life that are very crushing and abrasive. Perhaps there is nothing more so than poverty. Over the seventeen years of my ministry in India, I have constantly observed this. However in the lives of most people there poverty utterly degrades them and brings out what is worst in them. . The poor people often make poverty an excuse for all kinds of sin and uncleanness. Of course this is not so of all the poor people in India, I have seen some notable and beautiful exceptions to what we have just stated. I have been to the homes of some of the poorest, & found everything clean, and their lives showing something of the dignity that is proper to those who are children of God.

How different it was with the blessed Lord Jesus! As He passed through the grinding of the mills of poverty, it only brought out what was in Him, namely all that was clean, holy and pure. It seemed to enhance His dignity. In His case, the crushing and the grinding were not to remove from Him anything that was coarse or objectionable, but rather to bring into display His absolute inner perfection and holiness.

The poverty that the Lord Jesus experienced was of an extreme kind. He was born in a stable, and a manger was His cradle. He grew up in the home of a peasant carpenter. From boyhood until the age of thirty years, He faced the daily grind of long hours of hard work, yet never once was He known to complain.

It would seem from the Gospel accounts that somewhere during those thirty years Joseph died, leaving Him, as the eldest son of the family, the heavy burden of providing for the needs of His widowed mother, and the half dozen of His brothers and sisters. It would seem that after He left His home at the age of thirty years, to fulfill the commission given to Him by His Father, He never could regard the house at Nazereth as home again. His natural brothers scorned and rejected Him, and sided with the world against Him, ( John, 7;3-8). To one who professed that he would follow Him, the Lord said that He had no-where to lay His head, ( Matt. 8;20.) I have been welcomed into some very poor homes in India, and often the host has apologized for the humbleness of the dwelling. It was always a comfort to tell him that his home was much better than the one the Lord had, because He had none. Yet never did He complain!

When He needed a coin to teach a lesson, He did not have one and had to be shown a penny. When Peter unwisely committed Jesus to pay the Temple tax, He sent him to catch a fish in whose mouth he found a coin, showing that the Lord Himself did not have the money to pay the tax.

Traveling in India one is constantly accosted by beggars, who almost always will have a handful of coins, which they rattle back and forth to attract attention. It is plain that the Lord of heaven and earth, became poorer than the beggars in India's streets, yet never did He beg or complain. He showed a sweet contentment with the lot that the will of God had chosen for Him.

Our blessed Savior suffered hardship such as defies one's understanding, and experienced the bitterness of being misunderstood by all, even by His own mother. He endured manifold afflictions, yet the crushing effect of His trials, (similar to the ground grain), only brought out the absolute fineness and evenness of His character.

In our Lord Jesus, every trait of His character was in perfect balance. He was mighty, yet meek. Usually men of great personal power are quite arrogant, but not with our Savior. He had such power as could call back people from the dead, even Lazarus who had been buried for four days, yet He became obedient unto death Himself. In Him courage was blended with kindness. He stood alone against the robber-merchants in the temple courtyard, yet lifted fallen women to a life of holiness. He became angry, yet never lost His temper. He loved with all His heart, yet never allowed His love to carry Him beyond the boundaries of righteousness. He said to the poor guilty woman who was taken in adultery, "neither do I condemn thee", but He upheld the just demands of His own holy law, by bearing the punishment that she deserved, Himself, when He hung on the cross.

Most of us know some really lovely people, but there is usually something that seems to spoil them, and we often think that if only this feature, or that feature were not there, then they would be much more attractive. But in our Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing to spoil Him, "He is altogether lovely", (Song of Songs,5;16.) I sometimes ask people, "If you could change the Lord Jesus in any way, what would you want to change"? The answer is always, "Nothing". He is the true FINE FLOUR. Such flour is soothing to the touch When I was a small boy, when my mother was baking cakes, I would often put my hand into the bowl, (while she was not looking), just to feel the smoothness of the flour, and let it run through my fingers.

The Apostle John in his First Epistle, chapter one , verse one, speaking of the "Word of Life", says, "Which we have contemplated, and our hands have handled." In His risen and ascended state, Jesus said to His disciples, "Handle me and see for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me having", (Luke,24;39.) The more that we, by faith, are able to touch and handle our blessed Master, the more precious He becomes.

THE OIL.

To return to the meal offering, the worshipper was to pour oil on this fine flour. The "oil" suggests to our minds the person of the Holy Spirit, whose grace and fullness permeated and saturated the whole of the perfect life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, (Luke 2;35). The tiny form within Mary was said by the angel to be "of the Holy Spirit", (Matt.1;20). He was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism, (Luke 3;22). Right through His whole life He was "full of the Holy Spirit". He was "driven by the Spirit", "led by the Holy Spirit", and did all that He did in the "power of the Holy Spirit", and through the "eternal Spirit", offered His spotless life to God, (Heb.9;14). Thus we see the meaning of the oil poured out on the fine flour.

THE FRANKINCENSE:

To the fine flour and oil, the worshipper was to add frankincense. Frankincense is the resin or gum of a tree that grows in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It is obtained by scratching the bark of the tree. I have read that the best frankincense is never obtained from the first scratching, this is inferior. But that which is obtained from the third scratching is the finest quality. Once the resin sets it becomes very hard almost rock-like. This is then crushed and reduced to powder and when sprinkled on a fire it produces an overwhelmingly sweet fragrance.

The frankincense, and the way it is obtained, in the type is full of spiritual meaning for us. It suggests the perfection of every human grace that was found in our Lord Jesus Christ as He grew up here. He was truly DIVINE, yet perfectly HUMAN. He was MAN as God intended man to be. What God lost through the fall of Adam, He found in all it's perfection and fullness in the MAN Christ Jesus, the Son of Man. Let us refer to Luke once again; he brings this out throughout his Gospel. He presents Christ to us as a baby, as a boy, and as a man. He was perfect in every stage of His development. Some of the graces seen in Him were, dependence, obedience, submission, compassion, courage, dignity, meekness, humility and affection..

All of these human graces, and many more were found in all their perfection in Christ, and brought joy , delight and satisfaction to the heart of God His heavenly Father. The hymn writer has written, "In Thee all human graces blend, And to Thy father did ascend as incense rare. Fragrant to Him Thou ever art, Source of rejoicing to His heart. Most sweet and fair". These graces were brought out as He passed through suffering as the scratching would suggest. This is what we see typified in the frankincense.

SALT:

To each oblation salt was added. The characteristic of salt is that it savors, or brings out the taste of every food to which it is added, and it is used from ancient times also as a preservative to keep foods from corruption, that are subject to decay.

I suggest that it represents the graces of holiness and sincerity of our Lord Jesus that were ever present, and evident. His presence was a rebuke to evil, without His publicly rebuking it., as John the Baptist did. His absolute sincerity, and His perfect holiness exposed the evil that was present in others. Just as the light dispels darkness, so evil men, who "loved darkness rather than light", could not abide His presence. As well as this, He had the ability to bring out all that was best in His own disciples, as we see in Peter, Nicodemus, Thomas and all whose lives were affected by Him. The salt was added to each oblation, they were not to "suffer the salt of the covenant of...God to be lacking", verse 13. God never breaks His covenant, never goes back on His word, nor did the Lord Jesus ever shrink , or turn away from doing the will of God, or from keeping His promises. Thus when we offer to God our appreciation of Christ and His perfect life, we are always to be reminded of this aspect of His character.

QUANTITIES:

We now notice that in regard to the ingredients, no measure or proportion was mentioned. This would suggest to our hearts that what these things portray in the person of Christ, were beyond measure. But no matter what quantity was made, only the handful of the fine flour and the oil was offered. The handful was just what the person was able to grasp. It follows the pattern of the burnt-offering, that is, the more the person grows, the larger his hand will be, and he will be able to grasp more of these precious truths. This means that God accepts from me only that which I have really grasped in my own soul of the beauty and glory of the life and person of Christ. We may read, or memorize what others have said or written, and from those things compose a beautiful response that may seem to be worship, but it is only what I have personally grasped and made my own through meditation, the reading of the scriptures, and personal communion with the Lord Jesus, that is acceptable to God.

We notice that though only the handful of the flour and oil was offered, yet all of the frankincense was to be offered. . This is something like the fat of the burnt-offering, it was not for the enjoyment of the offerer, but wholly for the pleasure of God. The fragrance of the graces of Christ are so rich, so sweet, so overwhelming, so all pervading, that only our great God and Heavenly Father is able to fully comprehend and appreciate it.

THE FOOD OF THE PRIESTS:

After the handful had been burnt on the altar, the remainder was given to the priests and was to be eaten by them. The fact that the handful, the memorial was burned, reminds us that it was the sufferings through which the Lord Jesus passed, whether in His life, or when hanging on the cross, that made the sweet odour to ascend to God.

The remainder being given to the priests, would teach us that whenever any of us offer to God audible praise or worship in the assembly of His people, then others are enriched also, since what we offer makes them think about the One whom we worship. What a rich and holy diet this is then, as we feed on what Christ is, for thus He will be lived out in our lives. What we eat becomes part of us, gives us strength and sustains the life of God in us, enables us to walk and to witness. All this is used by God, through the Holy Spirit's power, to conform us to the image of Christ, (2 Cor.3;18, & John 7;57.) Thus God will be able to find His pleasure in us as He found it in Christ. It was not only the priest but also his family who ate the residue of the oblation, showing that not only ourselves, but also our families are to be fed on this rich and holy diet. We are to share these things and thoughts with our children, so that from their earliest days they may begin to appreciate and to love our Lord Jesus Christ.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF PREPARATION:

From verse four to ten we learn that the oblation could be prepared and presented in different ways, but always with the same ingredients. Here we are told that whether cakes or wafers were offered, all must be unleavened. Verse eleven also warns that neither leaven or honey was to be included in any oblation.

LEAVEN

represents the principle of sin in the flesh. Leaven is like yeast, (though I am told that one is a bacteria and the other is not), it works unseen and puffs up, or inflates the dough that is made of the other ingredients. It is called in 1 Cor. 5;8, "the old leaven", i.e. that which is related to the "old man" the "old nature", and it is said to be the "leaven of malice and wickedness", and the opposite to "sincerity and truth". As we have seen in the previous chapter, the Lord Jesus was not indwelt by the nature of Adam, in Him was no sin. The flesh is abhorrent to God, and He has condemned it.

We also notice that a distinction is made between what is mixed or mingled with oil, and what is anointed with oil. That which is mingled with oil is to show that the Lord Jesus, of whom it speaks, was saturated or permeated in every part of His being by the richness and power of the Holy Spirit. Being anointed with oil, as we have already referred to, is a more public thing., something witnessed by others. One is the inner power, fullness and richness of grace; the other is outward manifestation of the grace, power and enabling of the Holy Spirit, in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is significance also in the different means used in the preparation of the different forms of oblation.

THE OVEN:

. First the oven is used, (verse four). The heat of the oven is intense, yet what takes place inside is hidden from human view. It refers to the sufferings through which the Lord Jesus passed in His spirit. The life of the Lord Jesus was a life of suffering from the cradle to the grave.. Not all were physical sufferings. Some were deep inner sufferings that could not be seen outwardly. We read in Hebrews 2;18, that "He suffered being tempted". Temptation gives a certain pleasure to us, because of our sinful nature, but it brought pain to the heart of the Lord Jesus. That is why it says in Mark chapter one, that the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. It was as if He was unwilling to go. It was not that He feared Satan, but that He hated sin and did not wish to be confronted with it. The temptations of the Devil caused Him inner suffering. When healing the deaf man in Mark 7;34, He groaned; that groan was the expression of inner sufferings which He felt when He saw the terrible physical effects that sin had wrought on His creatures. This is like the oven.

THE PAN:

Other aspects of His sufferings were more outward, as when He went to the tomb of Lazarus and wept there. When the Jews saw Him weep they said, "Behold how He loved him". These kind of sufferings are suggested in the pan in which the oblation was baked. The pan is a shallow vessel where the heat is likewise intense, but all that takes place there is open to the view of man. The sufferings that He experienced at the hands of man , cruel and horrible as they were, were all open to the gaze of men. All of these sufferings brought out His faultless perfection. When the soldiers drove the nails through His hands and His feet, which would have caused terrible pain, yet it drew from His lips that beautiful prayer, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

THE CAULDRON: ( A.V. FRYING PAN:)

The third vessel is the cauldron, which is a deep vessel, in which things are usually boiled for a long time. A vessel that is partly open, and in which the heat is intense. This category of sufferings was perhaps manifested when the Lord Jesus cried, "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour..." (John 12;27. ) Then again in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are given, as it were, a glimpse into the boiling cauldron. When He began to be amazed and oppressed in His spirit, and He said to His disciples, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death", ( Mark 14;34.) His grief was so intense, and His agony of soul and anguish so great, that the disciples were overcome with the sleep of grief. These sufferings were viewed by but a few of His disciples, and were so deep that even they could not understand or enter into them. In it all the perfection of the Lord Jesus shone out so beautifully. Hating sin, shrinking in horror from the prospect of His being made sin. ) He did not shrink from the physical suffering, terrible though He knew it would be ! He turned not away back, but gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. He hid not his face from the shame and the spitting, (Isaiah 50;5 & 6.) Nevertheless His holy soul did recoil from that which was most abhorrent to Him , that was when on the cross, He, ( who knew no sin ), was made sin for us, so He prayed, "Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me!, yet in the grace of His perfect obedience He prayed, "Nevertheless, Thy will be done!" Thus we see the fulfillment of the type of the oblation prepared in the cauldron.

THE FIRE:

However when the oblation was prepared it still had to be burned on the fire. It was the consuming fire of God's holy wrath, judgment and death, that made the sweet savor of the offering to rise and to fill the nostrils of God.

HONEY:

Verse eleven tells us that honey was never to be burned with any offering that was presented to the Lord. Honey suggests mere human sweetness. Such sweetness is usually only superficial, and often assumed as a kind of show, to impress others. It tries to make the individual popular with others, so that they might comment, "What a nice person he or she is". But if you had to live with that person, you would probably him or her to be quite the opposite. I have met some Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, and nominal Christians, who seem on casual acquaintance to be very sweet and nice people, but such sweetness is not acceptable to God, and they can only come to Him, as we have all had to do, as lost and guilty sinners, through the person and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There was none of this mere natural sweetness in our Lord Jesus. There was no pretense, no outward show with Him. Never did He seek popularity with men, but daily walked before God, seeking to please Him only, " doing always those things that please the Father", ( John 5;41 & 8;29. ) There was no honey in His sacrifice!

OFFERED WITH EVERY SWEET SAVOR OFFERING:

It is stated in other passages, especially in chapter 23 of Leviticus, that the oblation was to be offered with every sweet savor offering ; this would teach us that whenever we participate in worship, we cannot think of His precious atoning death, without the remembrance and appreciation of His beautiful life. That life was an offering from it's very beginning.

THE FIRST-FRUITS:

The last two verses of our chapter teach us about the first-fruits. This again speaks to us about Christ. He is spoken of thus in the fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians, verse twenty three. He is also called " The Firstborn of all creation", and the " First begotten from among the dead, ( Rev. 1;15.) He is the first-fruits of a great harvest that our God is reaping as a result of His death, burial and resurrection.

GREEN EARS OF CORN:

Green ears of corn were to be offered, and these would remind us of the fact that the Lord Jesus never reached old age, but was taken away in the midst of His years as we saw earlier. Though green, yet they were to be full ears: there was no blight, nor mildew, no deformity in Him, He was a perfect man, the only perfect man. Man as god intended man to be.

These ears were either roasted in the fire, or the corn was beaten out of them. This again reminds us of the different kinds of suffering through which the Lord Jesus passed throughout His perfect life. As with the other oblations, the oil was poured on to the corn, speaking once again of the anointing, filling, and empowering of the Holy Spirit in the life of our Lord Jesus. Frankincense was also added, and again only the handful was burned on the altar; the rest was given to the priests as their portion and their food.

SOME FIRST-FRUITS OFFERED BUT NOT BURNED:

In verse twelve of our chapter we are told of some first-fruits which were offered unto the Lord, but they were not to be burned. These first-fruits were the result of the blessing of God on the labors , sowing and harvest of the covenant people of God. These offerings would correspond to the material things which we offer to God. These offerings were are a sweet savor, as we are told in Phil.4;18, and though given to God, they are used by His servants for the meeting of their needs, and the spread of the Gospel, the carrying on of the work of the Lord, they are "Holy Things", as we shall see in another chapter.

LATER REFERENCES:

In Lev. 6;14-18, several of the details that we have considered are repeated; this is in keeping with the divine principle of witness, and the repetition is confirmation of the authority and importance of what has already been stated.

However in that chapter, the holiness of the meal offering and the way that the priests were to regard and to handle it are emphasized. Also the fact that the remainder of the offering, what remained after the handful was burnt on the altar, was to be eaten by the priests in a holy place

The oblation is also spoken of several times in chapter 21 of Leviticus, as the "Bread of God", and the "Bread of His offerings". This is indicating that God finds satisfaction and delight in the memorial of the holy and fragrant life of Christ, and in our appreciation of Him. But for us, this bread not only satisfies, but strengthens and sustains. Thus the priests were to eat the meal offering, suitably prepared, in a holy place, in the court of the tabernacle.. This was to strengthen them and sustain them in their service as they assisted the worshippers each day in the presentation of their offerings.

This would seem to suggest that as we gather to remember the Lord Jesus in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and to worship, there we receive the richest and deepest thoughts of Christ, and we are to feed on such at that time. These thoughts will be suggested to our minds and hearts, as we listen to the audible worship and the praises offered to God by fellow believers.

It often happens , where believers are gathered to the name of our Lord Jesus alone, and where there is no control or supervision by man, but the leading of the Holy Spirit, that as the believers are engaged in worship, that a brother will rise and read a short passage from the scriptures, and bring out from that passage rich and precious thoughts of Christ. This stimulates the hearts of the saints and moves them to worship. Such thoughts will not be teaching, or exhortation, and certainly not rebuke, ( that is not the time or place for such ministry ), but it causes the believers to think, and fills their minds with that which will satisfy and strengthen them in their life of service to God. It is in this way that we are to feed on the oblation in the holy place.

We see in Lev.6;18, that it is the males among the children of Aaron who are to eat of the oblation. The reason for this would seem to be that it was the males who carried on the priestly service. I normal circumstances it is still so in the assemblies today. It is not that the sisters are not to worship, indeed they are, but in the assemblies of God's people they are twice commanded in the New Testament to be silent. Much true worship is silent; often the deepest emotions that are stirred within us cannot be expressed in words., and in this way the sisters being silent in their worship greatly enrich the atmosphere of the meeting.

In our days these principles are being constantly challenged, and in the formal churches women are clamoring to be "ordained" as priests. The motive of many seems to be that they want the men to know that the women are as good as the men. This is acknowledged and I will gladly admit that many are even better than the average man, both spiritually and in their understanding of the word of God. The sisters are not in any way inferior to the brothers, but they are different in their place and ministry. We cannot fault the ordering of God, and we should never seek to interfere with what God has commanded in His word.

May these few thoughts, drawn from this beautiful second chapter of Leviticus, enrich and encourage my brothers and sisters in their knowledge and worship of God.

C E Wigg