Leviticus 2
‘When anyone offers a grain Offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it. He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. The rest of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire.
‘And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. But if your offering is a grain offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.
‘If your offering is a grain offering baked in a covered pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. You shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord. And when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. Then the priest shall take from the grain offering a memorial portion, and burn it on the altar. It is an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. And what is left of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire.
‘No grain offering which you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the Lord made by fire. As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma. And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.
‘If you offer a grain offering of your firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire, grain beaten from full heads. And you shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it. It is a grain offering. Then the priest shall burn the memorial portion: part of its beaten grain and part of its oil, with all the frankincense, as an offering made by fire to the Lord.
"We now come to consider the Meat Offering, which presents in a very distinct manner “the man Christ Jesus.” As the burnt offering typifies Christ in death, the meat offering typifies Him in life. In neither the one nor the other is there a question of sin-bearing. That is to say, sin-bearing is not prominent. Of course, where there is atonement sin must be in question. In the burnt offering we see atonement but no sin-bearing, no imputation of sin, no outpoured wrath on account of sin. How can we know this? Because it was all consumed on the altar. Had there been aught of sin-bearing it would have been consumed outside the camp (comp. Lev. 4:11-12 with Heb. 13:11).
But in the meat offering there was not even a question of blood-shedding. We simply find in it a beauteous type of Christ as He lived and walked and served down here on this earth. This one fact is of itself sufficient to draw the spiritual mind to the close and prayerful consideration of this offering. The pure and perfect manhood of our blessed Lord is a theme which must command the attention of every true Christian. It is to be feared that great looseness of thought prevails in reference to this holy mystery. The expressions which one sometimes hears and reads are sufficient to prove that the fundamental doctrine of incarnation is not laid hold of as the word presents it. Such expressions may very probably proceed from misapprehension as to the real nature of His relations, and as to the true character of His sufferings; but from whatever cause they arise, they should be judged in the light of holy scripture and rejected. Doubtless many who make use of those expressions would recoil with just horror and indignation from the real doctrine contained in them, were it put before them in its broad and true characters, and for this reason one should be sorry to attribute unsoundness as to fundamental truth where it may merely be inaccuracy of statement.
There is, however, one consideration which should weigh heavily in the estimation of every Christian, and that is, the vital nature of the doctrine of Christ’s humanity. It lies at the very foundation of Christianity, and for this reason Satan has diligently sought from the beginning to lead people astray in reference to it. Almost all the leading errors which have found their way into the professing church disclose the satanic purpose to undermine the truth as to the Person of Christ. And even when earnest, godly men have sought to combat those errors, they have in many cases plunged into errors on the opposite side. Hence therefore the need of close adherence to the veritable words which the Holy Spirit has made use of in unfolding this profound and most sacred mystery. Indeed, I believe that in every case subjection to the authority of Holy Scripture and the energy of the divine life in the soul will prove effectual safeguards against every complexion of error.
It does not require high theological attainments to enable a soul to keep clear of error with respect to the doctrine of Christ. If only the word of Christ be dwelling richly and “the Spirit of Christ” be in energy in the soul, there will be no room for Satan to thrust in his dark and horrible suggestions. If the heart be delighting in the Christ which scripture unfolds, it will assuredly shrink from the false Christs which Satan would introduce. If we are feeding upon God’s reality, we shall unhesitatingly reject Satan’s counterfeit. This is the best possible way in which to escape the entanglements of error in every shape and character. The sheep hear His voice and follow Him:
“for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:4-5).It is not by any means needful to be acquainted with the voice of a stranger in order to turn away from it, all we require is to know the voice of the good Shepherd. This will secure us against the ensnaring influence of every strange sound. While therefore I feel called upon to warn the reader against strange sounds in reference to the divine mystery of Christ’s humanity, I do not deem it needful to discuss such sounds, but would rather seek through grace to arm him against them by unfolding the doctrine of scripture on the subject.
There are few things in which we exhibit more failure than in maintaining vigorous communion with the perfect manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 whatever channel 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 divine mind and the divine affections have found a perfect object in “the man Christ Jesus,” and surely if there is that in the Person of Christ which can perfectly satisfy God, there is that which ought to satisfy us, and which will satisfy us in proportion as by the grace of the Holy Spirit we walk in communion with God.
The Lord Jesus Christ was the only perfect man that ever trod this earth. He was all perfect — perfect in thought, perfect in word, perfect in action. In Him every moral quality met in divine, and therefore perfect proportion. No one feature preponderated. In Him were exquisitely blended a majesty which overawed, and a gentleness which gave perfect ease in His presence. The scribes and the Pharisees met His withering rebuke, while the poor Samaritan and the woman that was a sinner found themselves unaccountably yet irresistibly attracted to Him. No one feature displaced another, for all was in fair and comely proportion.
This may be traced in every scene of His perfect life. He could say in reference to five thousand hungry people, “Give ye them to eat,” and when they were filled He could say, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” The benevolence and the economy are both perfect, and neither interferes with the other. Each shines in its own proper sphere. He could not send unsatisfied hunger away, neither could He suffer a single fragment of God’s creatures to be wasted. He would meet with a full and liberal hand the need of the human family, and when that was done He would carefully treasure up every atom. The selfsame hand that was widely open to every form of human need was firmly closed against all prodigality. There was nothing stingy nor yet extravagant in the character of the perfect, the heavenly Man.
What a lesson for us! How often with us does benevolence resolve itself into an unwarrantable profusion! And, on the other hand, how often is our economy marred by the exhibition of a miserly spirit! At times, too, our stingy hearts refuse to open themselves to the full extent of the need which presents itself before us, while at other times we squander through a wanton extravagance that which might satisfy many a needy fellow-creature. Oh! my reader, let us carefully study the divine picture set before us in the life of the man Christ Jesus. How refreshing and strengthening to the inward man to be occupied with Him who was perfect in all His ways, and who in all things must have the preeminence!
See Him in the garden of Gethsemane. Here He kneels in the profound depths of a humility which none but Himself could exhibit, but yet before the traitor’s band He exhibits a self-possession and majesty which cause them to go backward and fall to the ground. His deportment before God is prostration; before His judges and accusers unbending dignity. All is perfect. The self-emptiness and the self-possession, the prostration and the dignity, are all divine.
So also when we contemplate the beauteous combination of His divine and human relations, the same perfectness is observable. He could say,
“How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?”And at the same time He could go down to Nazareth and there set an example of perfect subjection to parental authority (see Luke 2:49-51). He could say to His mother, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” And yet when passing through the unutterable agony of the cross He could tenderly commit that mother to the care of the beloved disciple. In the former case He separated Himself in the spirit of perfect Nazariteship to accomplish His Father’s will, while in the latter He gave expression to the tender feelings of the perfect human heart. The devotion of the Nazarite and the affection of the man were both perfect. Neither was permitted to interfere with the other. Each shone with undimmed luster in its proper sphere.
Now the shadow of this perfect man passes before us in the fine flour which formed the basis of the meat offering. There was not so much as a single coarse grain. There was nothing uneven, nothing unequal, nothing rough to the touch. No matter what pressure came from without, there was always an even surface. He was never ruffled by any circumstance or set of circumstances. He never had to retrace a step or recall a word. Come what might, He always met it in that perfect evenness which is so strikingly typified by the fine flour.
In all these things, it is needless to say, He stands in marked contrast with His most honored and devoted servants. For example, Moses, though the meekest man in all the earth, yet he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. In Peter we find a zeal and an energy which at times proved too much for the occasion, and again a cowardice which shrank from the place of testimony and reproach. There was the assertion of a devotedness which when the time for action arrived was not forthcoming. John, who breathed so much of the atmosphere of the immediate presence of Christ, exhibited at times a sectarian and an intolerant spirit. In Paul, the most devoted of servants, we observe considerable unevenness. He uttered words to the high priest which he had to recall. He sent a letter to the Corinthians, of which at first he repented, and afterward repented not. In all we find some flaw save in Him who is the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.
In the examination of the meat offering, it will give clearness and simplicity to our thoughts to consider, first, the materials of which it was composed; secondly, the various forms in which it was presented; and, thirdly, the persons who partook of it.
As to the materials, the fine flour may be regarded as the basis of the offering, and in it we have a type of Christ’s humanity wherein every perfection met. Every virtue was there, and ready for effectual action in due season. The Holy Spirit delights to unfold the glories of Christ’s Person, to set Him forth in all His peerless excellence, to place Him before us in contrast with all beside. He contrasts Him with Adam, even in his very best and highest state; as we read,
“the first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47).The first Adam, even in his unfallen condition, was of the earth, but the second Man was the Lord from heaven.
The oil in the meat offering is a type of the Holy Spirit. But inasmuch as the oil is applied in a twofold way, so we have the Holy Spirit presented in a double aspect, in connection with the incarnation of the Son. The fine flour was mingled with oil, and there was oil poured upon it. Such was the type, and in the Antitype we see the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, first conceived and then anointed by the Holy Spirit (comp. Matt. 1:18,23 with Matt. 3:16). This is divine! The accuracy which is here so apparent draws forth the soul’s admiration. It is one and the same Spirit which records the ingredients of the types and gives us the facts in the Antitype. The one who has detailed for us with such amazing precision the types and shadows of the Book of Leviticus, has also given us the glorious subject thereof in the gospel narratives. The same Spirit breathes through the pages of the Old and those of the New Testament, and enables us to see how exactly the one corresponds with the other.
The conception of Christ’s humanity by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin unfolds one of the most profound mysteries which can possibly engage the attention of the renewed mind. It is most fully set forth in Luke’s gospel, and this is entirely characteristic, inasmuch as throughout that gospel it would seem to be the special object of the Holy Spirit to unfold, in His own, divinely-touching manner, the Man Christ Jesus. In Matthew we have the Son of Abraham — the Son of David. In Mark we have the divine Servant — the heavenly Workman. In John we have the Son of God — the eternal Word, the Life, the Light, by whom all things were made. But the great theme of the Holy Spirit in Luke is the Son of man.
When the angel Gabriel had announced to Mary the dignity which was about to be conferred upon her in connection with the great work of incarnation, she, not in a spirit of skepticism, but of honest ignorance, inquired,
“How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? “It manifestly seemed to her that the birth of this glorious Person who was about to appear should be according to the ordinary principles of generation, and thus her thought is made the occasion in the exceeding goodness of God of developing much valuable light in reference to the cardinal truth of incarnation. The angel’s reply to the virgin’s question is unspeakably interesting, and cannot be too closely considered.
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).From this magnificent passage we learn that the human body into which the eternal Son entered, was formed by the power of the Highest.
“A body hast thou prepared Me” (comp. Psa. 40:6 with Heb. 10:5).It was a real human body — real flesh and blood. There is no possible foundation here on which gnosticism or mysticism can base its vapid and worthless theories; no warrant for the cold abstractions of the former, or the misty fancies of the latter. All is deep, solid, and divine reality; the very thing which our hearts needed, the very thing which God has given. The early promise had declared that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head, and none but a real man could accomplish this prediction — one whose nature was as real as it was pure and incorruptible.
“Thou shalt conceive in thy womb,”said the angelic messenger,
“and bring forth a son.”And then lest there should be any room for an error in reference to the mode of this conception, he adds such words as prove unanswerably that the flesh and blood of which the eternal Son took part, while absolutely real, was absolutely incapable of receiving, of retaining, or of communicating a single taint. The humanity of the Lord Jesus was emphatically “that holy thing.” And inasmuch as it was wholly without taint it was wholly without a seed of mortality. We cannot think of mortality save in connection with sin, and Christ’s humanity had naught to do with sin, either personally or relatively. Sin was imputed to Him on the cross, where He was made sin for us.
But the meat offering is not the type of Christ as a sin-bearer. It foreshadows Him in His perfect life here below, a life in which He suffered, no doubt, but not as a sin-bearer, not as a substitute, not at the hand of God. Let this be distinctly noted. Neither in the burnt offering nor in the meat offering have we Christ as a sin-bearer. In the latter we see Him living, and in the former we see Him dying; but in neither is there a question of the imputation of sin nor of enduring the wrath of God on account of sin. In short, to present Christ as the sinner’s substitute anywhere else save on the cross is to rob His life of all its divine beauty and excellency, and to displace the cross altogether. Moreover, it would involve the types of Leviticus in hopeless confusion.
I would at this point solemnly admonish my reader, that he cannot be too jealous in reference to the vital truth of the Person and the relations of the Lord Jesus Christ. If there be error as to this, there is no security as to anything. God cannot give the sanction of His presence to aught that has not this truth for its foundation. The Person of Christ is the living — the divine center round which the Holy Spirit carries on all His operations. Let slip the truth as to Him, and you are like a vessel broken from its moorings, and carried without rudder or compass over the wild watery waste, and in imminent danger of being dashed to fragments upon the rocks of Arianism, Infidelity, or Atheism. Question the eternal Sonship of Christ, question His deity, question His unspotted humanity, and you have opened the floodgate for a desolating tide of deadly error to rush in. Let no one imagine for a moment that this is a mere matter to be discussed by learned theologians — a curious question, a recondite mystery, a point about which we may lawfully differ. No; it is a vital, fundamental truth, to be held in the power of the Holy Spirit, and maintained at the expense of all beside — yea, to be confessed under all circumstances, whatever may be the consequences!
What we want is simply to receive into our hearts by the grace of the Holy Spirit the Father’s revelation of the Son, and then our souls shall be effectually preserved from the snares of the enemy, let them take what shape they may. He may speciously cover the trap of Arianism or Socinianism with the grass and leaves of a most plausible and attractive system of interpretation, but directly the devoted heart discovers what this system attempts to make of the blessed One to whom it owes everything, and where it attempts to put Him, it finds but little difficulty in sending it back to where it manifestly came from. We can well afford to do without human theories; but we can never do without Christ, the Christ of God, the Christ of God’s affections, the Christ of God’s counsels, the Christ of God’s word.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son, a distinct Person in the glorious Trinity, God manifest in the flesh, God over all, blessed forever, assumed a body which was inherently and divinely pure, holy, and without the possibility of taint — absolutely free from every seed or principle of sin and mortality. Such was the humanity of Christ that He could at any moment, so far as He was personally concerned, have returned to heaven from whence He had come, and to which He belonged. I speak not here of the eternal counsels of redeeming love, or of the unswerving love of the heart of Jesus — His love to God, His love to God’s elect — or of the work that was needed to ratify God’s everlasting covenant with the seed of Abraham, and with the whole creation. Christ’s own words teach us that
“it behooved Him to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day” (Luke 24:46).It was necessary that He should suffer in order to the full manifestation and perfect accomplishment of the great mystery of redemption. It was His gracious purpose to bring many sons unto glory. He would not abide alone, and therefore He as the corn of wheat should fall into the ground and die. The more fully we enter into the truth of His Person, the more fully do we apprehend the grace of His work.
When the apostle speaks of Christ’s being made perfect through suffering, it is as the Captain of our salvation that he contemplates Him, and not as the eternal Son who, as regards His own abstract Person and nature, was divinely perfect and could not possibly have aught added to Him. So also when He Himself says,
“Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected” (Luke 13:32),He refers to His being perfected in the power of resurrection, as the Accomplisher of the entire work of redemption. So far as He was personally concerned He could say, even on His way forth from the garden of Gethsemane,
“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matt. 26:53-54).It is well that the soul be clear as to this, well to have a divine sense of the harmony which exists between those scriptures which present Christ in the essential dignity of His Person, and the divine purity of His nature, and those which present Him in His relation with His people and as accomplishing the great work of redemption. At times we find both these things combined in the same passage, as in Hebrews 5:8-9:
“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him.”We must, however, bear in mind that not one of those relations into which Christ voluntarily entered, whether as the expression of divine love to a lost world, or the Servant of the divine counsels — not one of those could possibly interfere with the essential purity, excellency, and glory of His Person. The Holy Spirit came upon the virgin, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her, and therefore that holy thing which was born of her was called the Son of God. Most magnificent unfolding, this, of the deep secret of Christ’s pure and perfect humanity, the great Antitype of the fine flour mingled with oil!
And here let me observe that between humanity as seen in the Lord Jesus Christ and humanity as seen in us there could be no union. That which is pure could never coalesce with that which is impure, that which is incorruptible could never unite with that which is corruptible. The spiritual and the carnal, the heavenly and the earthly, could never combine. Hence therefore it follows that incarnation was not Christ’s taking our fallen nature into union with Himself, as some have attempted to teach. If He could have done this, there would have been no need of the death of the cross. He needed not in that case to feel straitened until the baptism was accomplished, the corn of wheat did not need to fall into the ground and die. This is a point of grave moment. Let the spiritual mind ponder it deeply. Christ could not possibly take sinful humanity into union with Himself. Hear what the angel saith to Joseph in the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel,
“Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”See how Joseph’s natural sensibilities as well as Mary’s pious ignorance are made the occasion of a fuller unfolding of the holy mystery of Christ’s humanity, and also of guarding that humanity against all the blasphemous attacks of the enemy!
How then is it that believers are united to Christ? Is it in incarnation or resurrection? In resurrection, assuredly. How is this proved?
“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone” (John 12:24).At this side of death there could be no union between Christ and His people. It is in the power of a new life that believers are united to Christ. They were dead in sin, and He in perfect grace came down, and though Himself pure and sinless was made sin — “died unto sin” — put it away rose triumphant over it and all pertaining to it, and in resurrection became the Head of a new race. Adam was the head of the old creation, which fell with him. Christ by dying put Himself under the full weight of His people’s condition, and having perfectly met all that was against them, rose victorious over all and carried them with Him into the new creation, of which He is the glorious Head and Center. Hence we read,
“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17).
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6).
“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30).
“And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:13).Passages might be multiplied, but the above are amply sufficient to prove that it was not in incarnation, but in death that Christ took a position in which His people could be quickened together with Him. Does this seem unimportant to the reader? Let him examine it in the light of scripture. Let him weigh all the consequences. Let him view it in its bearing upon Christ’s Person, upon His life, upon His death, upon our condition by nature in the old creation, and our place through mercy in the new. Let him consider it thus, and I feel persuaded he will no longer regard it as a light matter. Of one thing at least he may rest assured, that the writer of these pages would not pen a single line to prove this point did he not consider it to be fraught with the most momentous results. The whole of divine revelation so hangs together, is so adjusted by the hand of the Holy Spirit, is so consistent in all its parts, that if one truth be disturbed, the entire arch is injured. This consideration should suffice to produce in the mind of every Christian a holy caution lest by some rude touch he mar the beauteous superstructure. Every stone must be left in its divinely-appointed place, and unquestionably the truth as to Christ’s Person is the keystone of the arch.
Having thus endeavored to unfold the truth typified by the fine flour mingled with oil, we may remark another point of much interest in the expression,
“He shall pour oil upon it.”In this we have a type of the anointing of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. The body of the Lord Jesus was not merely formed mysteriously by the Holy Spirit, but that pure and holy vessel was also anointed — for service by the same power.
“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-22).The anointing of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit, previous to His entrance upon His public ministry, is of immense practical importance to everyone who really desires to be a true and an effectual servant of God. Though conceived as to His manhood by the Holy Spirit, though in His own proper Person God manifest in the flesh, though embodying in Himself all the fullness of the Godhead, yet, be it well observed, when coming forth as man to do the will of God on the earth, whatever that will might be, whether preaching the gospel, teaching in the synagogues, healing the sick, cleansing the leper, casting out devils, feeding the hungry, or raising the dead, He did all by the Holy Spirit. That holy and heavenly vessel in which God the Son was pleased to appear in this world was formed, filled, anointed, and led by the Holy Spirit.
What a deep and holy lesson for us; a most needful and salutary lesson! How prone are we to run unsent; how prone to act in the mere energy of the flesh! How much of that which looks like ministry is only the restless and unhallowed activity of a nature which has never been measured and judged in the divine presence! Truly we need to contemplate more closely our divine meat offering, to understand more fully the meaning of the fine flour anointed with oil. We need to meditate more deeply upon Christ Himself, who though possessing in His own Person divine power, nevertheless did all His work, wrought all His miracles, and finally offered Himself without spot to God, by the eternal Spirit. He could say,
“I, by the Spirit of God, cast out devils.”Nothing is of any value save that which is wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit. A man may write, but if his pen be not guided and used by the Holy Spirit, his lines will produce no permanent result. A man may speak, but if his lips be not anointed by the Holy Spirit, his word will not take permanent root. This is a solemn consideration, and if properly weighed would lead to much watchfulness over ourselves and much earnest dependence upon the Holy Spirit. What we need is thorough self-emptiness, so that there may be room left for the Spirit to act by us. It is impossible that a man full of himself can be the vessel of the Holy Spirit. Such an one must first be emptied of himself, and then the Spirit can use him. When we contemplate the Person and ministry of the Lord Jesus, we see how that in every scene and circumstance He acted by the direct power of the Holy Spirit. Having taken His place as man down here, He showed that man should not only live by the word, but act by the Spirit of God. Even though as man His will was perfect — His thoughts, His words, His acts, all perfect — yet would He not act save by the direct authority of the word, and by the direct power of the Holy Spirit. Oh! that in this, as in everything else, we could more closely, more faithfully, follow in His steps. Then indeed would our ministry be more effective, our testimony more fruitful, our whole course more entirely to the glory of God.
The next ingredient in the meat offering demanding our consideration is the frankincense. As has been remarked, the ‘fine flour was the basis of the offering. The oil and frankincense were the two leading adjuncts, and truly the connection between these two latter is most instructive. The oil typifies the power of Christ’s ministry; the frankincense typifies the object thereof. The former teaches us that He did everything by the Spirit of God; the latter that He did everything to the glory of God. The frankincense presents that in the life of Christ which was exclusively for God. This is evident from the second verse,
“And he shall bring it [the meat offering] to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.”Thus was it in the true meat offering — the Man Christ Jesus. There was that in His blessed life which was exclusively for God. Every thought, every word, every look, every act of His, emitted a fragrance which went up immediately to God. And as in the type it was the fire of the altar that drew forth the sweet odor of the frankincense, so in the Antitype the more He was tried in all the scenes and circumstances of His blessed life, the more fully was it manifested that in His manhood there was nothing that could not ascend as an odor of a sweet smell to the throne of God. If in the burnt offering we behold Christ offering Himself without spot to God, in the meat offering we behold Him presenting all the intrinsic excellence and perfect actings of His human nature to God. A perfect, a self-emptied, an obedient Man on the earth doing the will of God, acting by the authority of the word and by the power of the Spirit, had a sweet odor which could only be for divine acceptance. The fact that all the frankincense was consumed on the altar fixes its import in the simplest manner.
It now only remains for us to consider an ingredient which was an inseparable adjunct of the meat offering, namely salt.
“And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.”The expression, “salt of the covenant,” sets forth the enduring character of that covenant. God Himself has so ordained it in all things that naught can ever alter it, no influence can ever corrupt it. In a spiritual and practical point of view, it is impossible to over-estimate the value of such an ingredient.
“Let your conversation be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.”The whole conversation of the perfect Man exhibited the power of this principle. His words were not merely words of grace, but words of pungent power; words divinely adapted to preserve from all taint and corrupting influence. He never uttered a word which was not redolent with frankincense and seasoned with salt. The former was most acceptable to God, the latter most profitable for man.
Sometimes, alas! man’s corrupt heart and vitiated taste could not tolerate the pungency of the divinely-salted meat offering. Witness, for example, the scene in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-29). The people could bear Him witness, and wonder at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth, but when He proceeded to season those words with salt, which was so needful in order to preserve them from the corrupting influence of their national pride, they would fain have cast Him over the brow of the hill whereon their city was built.
So, also, in Luke 14, when His words of grace had drawn great multitudes after Him, He instantly throws in the salt by setting forth in words of holy faithfulness the sure results of following Him.
“Come, for all things are now ready.”Here was the grace. But then,
“whosoever...forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be My disciple.”Here was the salt. Grace is attractive; but “salt is good.” Gracious discourse may be popular, but salted discourse never will. The pure gospel of the grace of God may at certain times and under certain circumstances be run after by the multitude for a while, but when the salt of a fervid and faithful application is introduced, it will soon thin the benches of all save such as are brought under the power of the word.
Having thus considered the ingredients which composed the meat offering, we shall now refer to those which were excluded from it.
The first of these was leaven.
“No meat offering which ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven.”This ingredient is used throughout the inspired volume, without so much as a single exception, as the symbol of evil. In Leviticus 23 of our book, which will be noticed in due course, we find leaven admitted in the two loaves which were offered on the day of Pentecost, but from the meat offering leaven was most sedulously excluded. There was to be nothing sour, nothing that would puff up, nothing expressive of evil in that which typified the Man Christ Jesus. In Him there could be nothing savoring of nature’s sourness, nothing turgid, nothing inflated. All was pure, solid and genuine. His word might at times cut to the quick, but it was never sour. His style never rose above the occasion. His deportment ever exhibited the deep reality of one walking in the immediate presence of God.
In those who bear the name of Jesus we know too well, alas! how leaven shows itself in all its properties and effects. There has been but one untainted sheaf of human fruit, but one perfectly unleavened meat offering, and, blessed be God, that one is ours — ours to feed upon in the sanctuary of the divine presence in fellowship with God. No exercise can be more truly edifying and refreshing for the renewed mind than to dwell upon the unleavened perfectness of Christ’s humanity, to contemplate the life and ministry of One who was absolutely and essentially unleavened. In all His springs of thought, affection, desire and imagination there was not so much as a particle of leaven. He was the sinless, spotless, perfect Man. And the more we are enabled by the power of the Spirit to enter into all this, the deeper will be our experience of the grace which led this perfect One to place Himself under the full consequences of His people’s sins, as He did when He hung upon the cross. This thought, however, belongs entirely to the sin-offering aspect of our blessed Lord. In the meat offering, sin is not in question. It is not the type of a sin-bearer, but of a real, perfect, unblemished Man, conceived and anointed by the Holy Spirit, possessing an unleavened nature and living an unleavened life down here, emitting ever to God-ward the fragrance of His own personal excellency, and maintaining amongst men a deportment characterized by grace seasoned with salt.
But there was another ingredient as positively excluded from the meat offering as leaven, and that was honey.
“For ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire” (vs. 11).Now, as leaven is the expression of that which is positively and palpably evil in nature, we may regard honey as the significant symbol of that which is apparently sweet and attractive. Both are disallowed of God; both were carefully excluded from the meat offering; both were unfit for the altar. Men may undertake like Saul to distinguish between what is vile and refuse and what is not, but the judgment of God ranks the delicate Agag with the vilest of the sons of Amalek. No doubt there are some good moral qualities in man which must be taken for what they are worth. “Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is convenient,” but be it remembered it found no place in the meat offering, nor in its Antitype. There was the fullness of the Holy Spirit; there was the fragrant odor of the frankincense; there was the preservative virtue of the salt of the covenant. All these things accompanied the fine flour, in the Person of the true meat offering, but no honey.
What a lesson for the heart is here! yea, what a volume of wholesome instruction! The blessed Lord Jesus knew how to give nature and its relationships their proper place. He knew how much honey was convenient. He could say to His mother, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?” And yet He could say again to the beloved disciple, “Behold thy mother.” In other words, nature’s claims were never allowed to interfere with the presentation to God of all the energies of Christ’s perfect manhood. Mary and others too might have thought that her human relation to the blessed One gave her some peculiar claim or influence, on merely natural grounds.
“There came then His brethren [after the flesh] and His mother, and standing without, sent unto Him, calling Him. And the multitude sat about Him; and they said unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren without seek for Thee.”What was the reply of the true Meat Offering? Did He at once abandon His work in order to respond to nature’s call? By no means. Had He done so, it would have been to mingle honey with the meat offering, which could not be. The honey was faithfully excluded on this, as on every other occasion when God’s claims were to be attended to, and instead thereof, the power of the Spirit, the odor of the frankincense and the virtues of the salt were blessedly exhibited.
“And He answered them, saying, Who is My mother, or My brethren? And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother” (Mark 3:31-35).How important to see in the above beautiful passage that doing God’s will brings the soul into a relationship with Christ, of which His brethren according to the flesh knew nothing on merely natural grounds. It was as true with respect to those brethren as any one else that
“except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”Mary would not have been saved by the mere fact of her being the mother of Jesus. She needed personal faith in Christ as much as any other member of Adam’s fallen family. She needed to pass out of the old creation into the new by being born again. It was by treasuring up Christ’s words in her heart that this blessed woman was saved. No doubt she was highly favored in being chosen as a vessel to such a holy office, but then, as a lost sinner she needed to rejoice in God her Saviour like any one else. She stands on the same platform, is washed in the same blood, clothed in the same righteousness, and will sing the same song, as all the rest of God’s redeemed.
This simple fact will give additional force and clearness to a point already stated, namely, that incarnation was not Christ’s taking our nature into union with Himself. This truth should be carefully pondered. It is fully brought out in 2 Corinthians 5:
“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:14-17).There are few things which the servant of Christ finds more difficult than to adjust with spiritual accuracy the claims of natural relationship so as not to suffer them to interfere with the claims of the Master. In the case of our blessed Lord, as we know, the adjustment was divine. In our case it often happens that divinely-recognized duties are openly neglected for what we imagine to be the service of Christ. The doctrine of God is constantly sacrificed to the apparent work of the gospel. Now, it is well to remember that true devotedness always starts from a point within which all godly claims are fully secured. If I hold a situation which demands my services from ten till four every day, I have no right to go out to visit or preach during those hours. If I am in business, I am bound to maintain the integrity of that business in a godly manner. I have no right to run hither and thither preaching, while my business at home lies at sixes and sevens, bringing great reproach on the holy doctrine of God.
A man may say, I feel myself called to preach th
