Life
Lessons From Leviticus? (Part 3)
The Grain Offering
A Sermon
by Jim Hammond from Leviticus 2
For
More In This Series
Focus:
The Old Covenant Grain Offering is a shadow picture that
teaches Christians (those in the New Covenant relationship with God) how
to worship God in reality through Jesus in faithful covenant
service.
This blue box that I’m
standing behind this morning, represents the altar in Leviticus.
I will attempt to show you some of the shadow pictures that are
presented in Leviticus this morning.
I’m about to ask you to
do something I’ve never asked you to do before.
Don’t look at your Bibles during the scripture reading of
Leviticus 2. Instead I want
you to watch me as I do something I’ve never done before.
Hopefully you will enjoy this.
Certainly you will remember this, as we hear the details about
the recipe for a grain offering. First
let me put on something. (I put on a cooking apron that has a picture of
a turkey on the front with smoke rising above it with the caption
“Burnt Offerings”). Now
that I’m wearing an unofficial priestly vestment, (I hope to show you
the more official priestly vestment from Leviticus when we get to that
description) we are ready for the reading.
Leviticus 2:1-16
(NIV)
1“‘When
someone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering is to be of
fine flour.
[Place a BOWL of flour on the “altar”, FLUFF THE FLOUR]
He is to
pour oil on it,
[FAKE POUR bottle of Olive OIL]
put incense
on it
[FAKE SHAKE the bottle of anointing oil representing the
INCENSE]
2and
take it to Aaron’s sons, the priests.
The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil,
together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on
the altar, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
[Light the LIGHTER and wave it under the flour mixture]
3The
rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most
holy part of the offerings made to the LORD by fire.
4“‘If
you bring a grain offering baked in an oven, it is to consist of fine
flour: cakes made without yeast and mixed with oil, or£
wafers made without yeast and spread with oil.
[Pull out the WAFERS]
5If
your grain offering is prepared on a griddle,
[Pull out the GRIDDLE]
it is to be
made of fine flour mixed with oil, and without yeast.
[CRUMBLE the wafers into the griddle]
and pour
oil on it; it is a grain offering. 7If
your grain offering is cooked in a pan,
[PAN]
it is to be
made of fine flour and oil. 8Bring
the grain offering made of these things to the LORD; present it to the
priest, who shall take it to the altar. 9He shall take out the memorial portion from the grain offering and
burn it on the altar as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to
the LORD. 10The
rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most
holy part of the offerings made to the LORD by fire.
11“‘Every
grain offering you bring to the LORD must be made without yeast, for you
are not to burn any yeast or honey in an offering made to the LORD by
fire.
[Pull out the “No YEAST”, “NO HONEY” signs]
12You
may bring them to the LORD as an offering of the firstfruits, but they
are not to be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma. 13Season
all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the
covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your
offerings.
[SPRINKLE SALT, in it, on it, over my shoulders]
14“‘If
you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, offer crushed
heads of new grain roasted in the fire.
[Pull out the POPCORN, box and package of popcorn]
15Put
oil and incense on it; it is a grain offering. 16The
priest shall burn the memorial portion of the crushed grain and the oil,
together with all the incense, as an offering made to the LORD by fire.
[Pull out the HAMMER and hammer THE POPCORN then light and
wave LIGHTER under the offering again]
Now let’s slow all this
down. As you can see the
details are numerous and the recipe is specific.
(All of the above was done frantically in just over two minutes
while the scriptures were read.)
I.
The Grain Offering
The Hebrew word for this grain offering is Minhah.
In Leviticus this becomes the technical term for the
grain offering. But this
word is used elsewhere with a much broader understanding for the word.
In nonreligious uses of the word, Minhah meant
“Tribute”. It was a
tribute paid by a vassal king to his overlord, the reigning king.
So from this use alone, you get the idea that the worshipper is
paying tribute to his king! What did this tribute mean?
It was an offering of good will toward your King, and your
tribute meant you would remain faithful.
You aren’t planning on rebelling against him.
Jacob sent a tribute (minhah) to his brother Esau, then
later to his son Joseph when he had become prime minister of Egypt.
A. The Surface Meaning = A
Covenant Tribute
The grain offering then was a kind of tribute from
the faithful worshipper to his divine overlord.
It meant, “God, You are My Lord.”
When a treaty was made in those days, the conquered nations were
expected to bring their tribute to the conquering King.
This is the covenant framework behind the scenes of this Old
Covenant ceremony. Israel
had vowed to serve Yahweh as their covenant King.
They entered into covenant with God.
This was the regular tribute made to their overlord, the Lord
God. It is an expression of
their fidelity.
King James renders minhah here in the
translation “meat offering.”
But the reason the King James Version translates it this way is
that back when it was translated “meat” could mean simply “food”
without necessarily meaning meat. What
is in view here however is a meatless offering, an unbloody offering, an
offering of grain, or cereal, or bread.
We won’t call it a cereal offering because this word makes us
think of Kellogg’s, or Captain Crunch.
This Grain Offering was a way of paying tribute.
This offering accompanied all burnt offerings and was a gift of
thanks to God that followed the burnt offering (you will discover this,
for example, in Numbers 28).
B. The Recipe:
Step One: Prepare
the GRAIN (Make sure you do NOT mix any Yeast or Honey
).
In Leviticus 2 three kinds of grain offerings are
described: (1) with fine flour, (2) baked cakes or wafers, and (3)
roasted kernels.
Fine flour is easy to come by today.
It is made by machines and bought in stores.
But fine flour took a lot of hard work to grind in that day.
Step Two: ADD OIL
& Salt
In all three kinds there was to be NO yeast, and NO
honey, but SALT in each, you will hear more on this later. Today we have healthy foods saying NO SALT ADDED.
With the grain offering it wasn’t healthy unless you added
SALT.
Step Three: ADD
Incense (on the memorial portion only)
Perhaps the ingredient that throws you is incense.
You would never consider putting incense in a loaf of bread you
planned on eating. The word
here is the word that is translated in some translations Frankincense,
an aromatic spice from a tree. These
ingredients were cooked into cakes, wafers, or roasted grain, and
brought to the priests along with some incense (crushed frankincense).
The priests took a portion of the offering called the “memorial
portion” and put ALL the incense on the memorial portion and put the
memorial portion on the altar as an offering to the Lord.
Is that edible? Don’t miss what’s going on here.
The priest pinches off a portion of the dough, or a piece of the
bread, or a handful of the grain, with the oil and puts on the memorial
portion only, ALL of the Frankincense.
Notice ALL the incense is burned on that portion (none of the
incense is eaten) see “All” (verse 2).
This offering then emitted a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
The point of the Frankincense is the pleasing aroma, not the
taste.
Step Four: SERVE
Serve who?
God is served the memorial portion by burning it on the altar.
The priests are served the regular portion.
The remaining portion then is served to the
priests, but they also stand in for God.
The offering is unto him.
C.
The Fulfilled Meaning = Christ and Our Service made Acceptable
Through Him
Let us now look at the New Covenant REALITY
of the Old Covenant Grain Offering SHADOW (Hebrews
10:1f.)
Fine Flour—crushed grain (cf. 14)
I’m reminded of Jesus words:
John 6:35
(NIV) 35Then
Jesus declared, “I
am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he
who believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:48 (NIV) 48I am the
bread of life.
John 12:24
through John 12:28 (NIV) 24I
tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and
dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many
seeds. 25The man
who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in
this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever
serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My
Father will honor the one who serves me.
27“Now
my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this
hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father,
glorify your name!”
Then
a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it
again.”
OIL—crushed olives
God’s presence and anointing. He is the anointed one.
At Gethsemane, “the olive press” Jesus was pressed till he
sweat drops of blood. The
anointed bread of life, is anointed with the Oil of God’s presence.
He was crushed for our iniquities till that anointing was
squeezed out from him to bless us so that we might receive his
anointing. The Spirit of
God could not come upon us until Christ offered himself, till he was
crushed for our iniquities.
INCENSE—crushed frankincense
There is something interesting about Frankincense.
It emits a pleasant aroma only when it is crushed, broken, or
bruised. When you are
crushed, broken, or bruised, what aroma is emitted from your life?
I think of three things from the New Testament.
1) The gift brought to Christ as a baby;
2) The very expensive
aromatic spiced perfume that Mary of Bethany used to anoint Jesus before his death (just like the Frankincense on the
memorial portion placed on the altar, Jesus was anointed before going on
the altar of the cross); and 3) the fragrance of Christ Paul mentions.
2
Corinthians 2:14-15 (NIV) 14But
thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ
and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge
of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are
being saved and those who are perishing.
The ALTAR —His
sacrifice/offering
NO YEAST—No
sin was found in Him
Why was there no yeast allowed in the grain
offerings? Yeast is a
bacterial fungus that grows in bread.
As the Biblical saying goes, a little leaven leavens the whole
lump of dough. From this
principle yeast, therefore, became an appropriate symbol for sin because
a little sin influences the whole lump, or whole person, or even whole
group. Yeast grows in bread
dough just like it grows in life. A
little yeast can affect the whole loaf, just as a little sin can ruin a
whole life, or even corrupt a whole church.
NO HONEY—No
corruption (fermentation)
ADD SALT—preservative
of Covenant
“salt of the covenant” God’s
Preserving promise. His
promises are good. They
last. His covenant
preserves us, keeps us from destruction and decay, and flavors us.
Leviticus
2:13 (NIV) 13Season
all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the
covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your
offerings.
Numbers
18:19 (NIV) 19Whatever
is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD
I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is
an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your
offspring.”
2
Chronicles 13:5 (NIV) 5Don’t
you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of
Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?
The Memorial
Portion serves our covenant God as we “Remember” the Covenant
Part of the grain offering was to be burned. This
was the memorial portion. The
remaining portion was food for the priests.
The offerings helped support the priests.
The memorial portion is called this because God and the
worshipper “remember” the covenant.
We now participate in a new memorial offering, communion or the
Lord’s Supper, which includes bread.
Who eats this bread? The
priests do! But this time the New Testament makes it clear that in the
New Covenant EVERY Christian is a priest.
We are the priests of the New Covenant that offer our service to
God and to men (1 Peter 2:5, 9).
1
Peter 2:5 (NIV) 5you
also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a
holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV) 9But you
are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his wonderful light.
The Priests-- Eat
the bread
What does the bread represent? (Christ)
We eat communion bread “to remember”.
Who are the priests now?
We are. We eat the
bread. What do priests do?
They serve God and Man. They
help bridge the gap between God and man.
We are new covenant priests with a job!
Serving God and Man. We
help people find God. We
take God’s gospel good news to the people.
The Cross is the center of the Gospel.
How is a cross made? It
has a vertical beam and horizontal beam.
Christ, our chief priest, brought God and Man together because of
the cross. At the cross the
vertical relationship intersected the horizontal.
God’s love came vertically down and intersected horizontal
relationships in Jesus. Now,
as a result, our relationship has changed on both planes, on the
vertical plane and the horizontal plane. Which beam is longer?
The vertical. Which relationship has top priority for priests?
We serve God before we serve men.
When there is a conflict it is no contest, we must choose to
serve God rather than men. But
God wants us to serve both planes.
We are told to take up the cross.
Both a vertical beam and a horizontal beam are needed for a
cross. We are to SERVE God
and Man. How do we do this? Allow the memorized verse from last week to serve as an
answer to this.
II. We Must Offer Ourselves
Romans
12:1 (NIV) 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your
bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your
spiritual act (“Service” NASB) of worship.
How do we SERVE God and
Man? We must get back up on
the Altar in worship. What
kind of worship is this? This
is the minhah tribute. It
is a daily tribute. It is a
regular tribute of faithfulness.
The Altar Illustration
(While climbing onto the Altar) God asks us to put
ourselves on the Altar. Each
day when you get up the first thing you do is get up on this altar. You spend time with God.
You offer yourself to God in worship and dedication.
Jesus said he who tries to save his life will lose it, but he who
loses his life for my sake will find it.
Real living is found on this altar of sacrifice.
This is true worship. When
you go off to work, you face your peers and perhaps some coarse jesting,
or profanity. When that
influences you and the wrong thoughts and words are coming to you, in
effect one foot is coming off the altar and you are about to step away
from it. GET BACK UP THERE!
That’s what this verse is saying.
When you don’t feel like loving the unlovely, and you feel like
taking revenge when you suffer wrong, GET BACK UP THERE!
It is only by a real connection with the sacrifice of Christ,
that you can offer yourself as a minhah offering.
Only if the memorial portion is real for you, then the rest of
the lump (yourself) can be offered as an acceptable sacrifice.
Only when you have the love of Christ filling you to the point of
yieldedness to him, are you on that altar.
Do you need to get rid of some yeast this morning?
Do you need to repent and allow Christ’s sacrifice to cleanse
you? With confession he
does just that by the power of the cross, then you can GET BACK UP
THERE!
Dear Lord, the altar is not a pleasant place.
I’m not naturally inclined toward climbing up here.
I find myself regularly climbing down, walking on my own.
But I love you, and I want to worship you.
I thank you for voluntarily taking on the cross for me. Because you have done that I want to offer you myself as a
living sacrifice. I want to
serve you and serve those you love.
There are lost people out there that need to smell the fragrance
of life that is found in Christ. Help
me to be that fragrance. I
realize it isn’t going to be easy, but I’m climbing back up on the
altar of sacrifice and presenting you myself as a tribute of praise to
you. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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