A Perfect, Balanced Man
(The Meal Offering)
by Austin Funk
Preface
I used to think that the five basic offerings in Leviticus were the most boring sections in the Bible. I’m not a Jew, I’m a New Testament believer. Why should I even care about these offerings? There could actually be many answers to that question, but one answer that I like comes from the apostle Paul in Colossians 2:17, when he says that Old Testament festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths are a “mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” Paul, several times, gives us windows into the Old Testament when he quotes verses or passages from the Old Testament in his New Testament letters. He reveals a part of the Old Testament that was written as a picture of Christ. And how many things therein are shadows and pictures of the real thing, Christ! Therefore, today, we get to explore in the Word what a Christ we have, even in the Levitical offerings!
In the beginning chapters of Leviticus, there are five basic offerings: the burnt offering (chapter 1), the grain offering (chapter 2), the peace offering (chapter 3), the sin offering (chapter 4), and the guilt offering (chapter 5).
As we dig into these five basic offerings, we will see how significant each ingredient is and how meaningful the order of presentation of the offering is and how relevant it is who gets to participate. We will look at how some offerings are similar and how some are different from all the others, and in that, we will see many rich and specific aspects of Christ, so that at the end as we put these pictures together we will see a profound and full picture of Christ and all that He is. No offering “furnishes a complete view of Christ. It is only by putting them all together” can we have such a grand view and rich taste of our Christ (Mackintosh, 1861).
Chapter 2: A Perfect, Balanced Man
The complete and perfect humanity of our Lord is something that demands the undivided attention of every Christian. Many of us know, intellectually, that Jesus Christ was and is a man, but do we have fellowship in our day to day with such a Man? Do we know Him, in our experience and our living as a perfect Man? In the description of the meal offering in Leviticus chapter 2, we can see an emphasis on the perfect manhood of Christ. As in the burnt offering there is a picture of Christ’s death, here we see details of Christ’s living. Although there is great significance in each of the ingredients used in this offering, I will only be discussing the fine flour and the oil. It is absolutely incredible how carefully God wrote out, in considerable detail, all of the ingredients in Leviticus to perfectly shadow the life of our Lord in the gospels. C.H. Mackintosh says it even better: “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 type, 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” (Mackintosh, 1861).
The first ingredient worthy of our marveling is the fine flour. This is the main component of the meal offering. It wasn’t mixed, or coarse, but fine flour. This ingredient in this picture of Christ shows us that there was nothing uneven or unequal about our Lord. He met every situation and every circumstance, with a perfect, balanced reaction, and “in that perfect evenness which is so strikingly typified by the fine flour” (Mackintosh, 1861). Having this thought in mind, the gospels take on a new and rich light. This perfect evenness gives a certain flavor to every interaction the Lord had in His life on earth. Take, for example, the Lord in the garden of Gethsemane. How could he exhibit such profound humility in prayer at one moment and then exhibit such great power by sending the battalion falling to the ground at the next? Or how could He be so clear, at twelve years old, to say that He “must be about [His] Father’s business,” yet go with his mom and dad back to Nazareth as a perfect example of parental submission? How could the Lord be so strong as to say to His mom, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” but at the end of His life consider her so tenderly as to arrange for His most beloved disciple to care for her? He could only do and say such things because He is the fine flour, perfectly balanced and even. In His life, He could be so high and exclusively focused on the Father’s will and yet still give attention to meet the needs of the people around Him. Not even the most honorable men in the Bible could display such balance. Even Moses, being the meekest man on the whole earth (Num. 12:3), spoke out of line. Peter, at times, demonstrated too much zeal and vigor, and yet also found himself hiding, claiming he didn’t even know the Lord. And the arguably most influential of all the disciples, the apostle Paul, at times, may have displayed great unevenness. In one instance Paul is recounting what he said to the high priest (Acts 23:5) and in another he is repenting or regretting his writing in his first letter to the Corinthians and then “repents not” later on. But we see in the Lord, a perfect equal and unwrinkled man, who not once had to take back what He said or retrace a single step.
We have to realize that such a Man dwells within us. We have all that we need in Christ. When our hearts long for affection, who better to turn to than the One who “told forth [His] love in drops of blood” (Mackintosh, 1861). When our hearts crave genuine sympathy, why not go to the One who shared in the tears of Mary and wept over the death of her brother? When we long for guidance and wisdom, we can turn to the One who is wisdom personified (1 Cor. 1:30). If the Father can be deeply satisfied in this perfect Man, how much more can we be satisfied and have all of our needs met in Him.
Next in the offering, we have the oil. In the description of the offering, the offerer is to mix oil in with the fine flour and also pour oil over it. The oil typifies the Spirit, and here we see the Spirit in the life of Jesus in a twofold way. First, the mixing of the oil typifies the incarnation of the Lord, conceived by the Holy Spirit. Second, the pouring typifies the anointing of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit. He was not only formed and conceived by the Spirit, but he was also anointed for service by the Spirit. “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:21-22). The anointing of the Lord as He enters into His public ministry and service to the Father is so important to the Christian who desires to serve and to actually have an effect on God’s eternal enterprise. All the miracles, the teachings, the healing, casting out demons, even the offering of Himself, was done by the Spirit. Everything He did, He did by the Spirit.
This type we see in the anointing of the oil is so meaningful. If anyone would like to actually help God accomplish His goal and further what He is doing, he or she needs to have the anointing of the Spirit. Nothing of God’s plan can ever be furthered without the involvement of the Holy Spirit. Too often we try to muster up our own effort and abilities while the Lord would say, “That’s good, but I am waiting to be involved. I am waiting for you to involve Me.” Nothing is of any value to the Lord unless it comes from the Spirit. Mackintosh puts it very clearly, “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!” If we could make our decisions in the presence of the Lord, if we could allow the Spirit to direct our walking, our writing, our working, then there could be a real partnership to share in with the Lord and His work.
May our realization of Him as a Man bring us to this point that Mackintosh describes: that “our gaze at Him [would be] more intense that we shall have no heart for the attractions of the scene around us, nor yet for the ten thousand petty circumstances in our path which would fret the heart and perplex the mind! May we rejoice in Christ in the sunshine and in the darkness; when the gentle breezes of summer play around us, and when the storm of winter rage fiercely abroad; when passing over the surface of a placid lake, or tossed on the bosom of a stormy ocean. Thank God ‘we have found Him’ who is to be our satisfying portion forever! We shall spend eternity dwelling upon the divine perfections of the Lord Jesus. Our eyes shall never be averted from Him when once we have seen Him as He is” (Mackintosh, 1861).