You tested my heart, you searched me by night; you purified me – you found nothing. Psalm 17:3
An Israelite could voluntarily bring a grain offering to God. They baked this offering at home and transported it to God’s sanctuary in a vessel. The priest took a handful of the grain offering, brought it to the brazen altar of burnt offering, and burned it as a sweet aroma for God. The rest was eaten by the sons of Aaron in the holy place.
In the imagery of the Old Testament, the grain offering speaks of the holy life and suffering of the man Jesus Christ. It is not about his death on the cross at Golgotha, because the grain offering was an offering in which no blood was shed. Accordingly, this sacrifice is not said to have atoned for sins.
Just as an Israelite prepared the grain offering and brought it before God, we may focus on the perfect life of the Lord Jesus on earth and present to God the glories we have found in Him. In doing so, we ourselves will receive pleasure and joy, just as the priests gratefully ate part of the grain offering (Lev 6:9).
Components of the grain offering
The grain offering consisted of four elements: Fine flour, oil, frankincense, and salt. The fine flour is a picture of the fact that the Lord Jesus became truly human and was always balanced in his entire nature and behavior. The converted criminal on the cross testified: “This man has done nothing unseemly” (Luke 23:41). The oil points to the Holy Spirit who begot Jesus in the womb of Mary, who permeated the whole life of Christ and who proved effective in his ministry (Mt 1:20; Lk 1:35; Acts 10:38). The incense speaks of the fact that everything the Lord did was a fragrant aroma for his Father (cf. Mt 3:17). Salt protects against putrefaction and makes it clear that Jesus was not influenced by evil, but lived “apart from sinners” (Heb 7:26).
Leaven, which stands for evil in its effectiveness, was not permitted in the grain offering, because Christ, the true grain offering, knew no sin; there is no sin in Him, and He did no sin (1 Cor 5:7; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:22). Honey was also not to be used, which speaks of purely human kindness. For this “sweetness” did not guide Christ, but He always lived in complete dependence on His Father. Thus He did not do something simply because His siblings or His mother wanted Him to, and He rejected the merely emotional tears of the daughters of Jerusalem (Mt 12:46-50; Jn 2:4, 5; Lk 23:28).
When we worshipfully spread out before God what we have found in the life of Christ, our offering of praise will only be pleasing if we have before our eyes the glories of His person: that He was blameless as a true man, that He always walked in the Spirit, that He always had the pleasure of God, that He lived completely separated from the world, that evil never worked in Him, and that He did not act merely based on feelings.
Three possibilities
After the dough was prepared, it was exposed to heat while baking. In translation, this means that the Lord Jesus, the perfect man, was tested in His life. This is not about God’s judgment during the three hours of darkness on the cross, but about all the other afflictions Christ endured. The Lord Jesus was tested a thousand times, and in everything, only perfection came forth. Nothing in his deeds, words, or thoughts was reprehensible (cf. Ps 17:3).
An Israelite had three options for baking the grain offering: in the oven, in the pan, or in the bowl. The largest offering could be prepared in the oven; there was not so much room in the pan and even less in the bowl. We also see a comparable, graduated division into three parts in the burnt offering, which is closely linked to the grain offering (Lev 1:3, 10, 14). It becomes clear that the level of appreciation for Christ varies. The fathers in faith, the young men and the children (cf. 1 John 2:13-21) bring sacrifices of different sizes. But if Christ, as He was revealed in the Scriptures, moves our hearts, then our worship is always pleasing to God!
Oven-baked goods
The text mentions several details about oven-baked goods: cakes and flat cakes are explicitly called pastries, and it distinguishes between mixing the dough with oil and anointing it with oil. Figuratively, the text presents clear ideas about the life and suffering of Christ, and it recognizes and appreciates differences in the Spirit of God’s dwelling and work in the man Jesus Christ.
The baking took place in the oven in secret: It concerns Christ’s sufferings, which cannot be readily recognized. We think, for example, of how terrible it must have been for Him to be challenged to legitimize Himself as the Messiah through a divine sign after the miraculous feedings of the 4,000 and the 5,000 (Mt 15:32-16:4; Mk 8:1-13; Jn 6:1-13, 30, 31). Or what must He, in whom there was no leaven of sin, have felt when the Jews noted that they were not born of fornication, apparently alluding to the fact that Jesus’ mother Mary had already become pregnant during the time of betrayal (John 8:41)?
Pan
Fewer details are mentioned about the preparation in the pan than with the oven-baked goods. There is no mention of the “anointing”. However, the pastry could be broken into pieces and spread out on a pan’s large surface. This concerns the obvious sufferings of Christ, which can easily be “broken out” of Scripture and viewed. So it must have pained the Lord greatly when the Pharisees claimed that He would cast out demons through the chief of the demons (Mt 12:22-31). This was a direct attack on the One anointed with the Holy Spirit and acting in His power. His rebuking response afterward testifies to the “salt” of his holiness (Mt 12:32-37).
When the Jews once asked the blasphemous question: “Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”, the Lord answered and said: “I have no demon, but I honor my Father” (John 8:48, 49). Even in this precarious situation, He spread “incense” to the glory and joy of His Father by calmly testifying to the truth.
Bowl
Regarding the preparation in the bowl, it mentions only that the grain offering was to be made from oil with fine flour; it does not mention mixing or anointing with oil. The pastry was also not broken into individual pieces but baked whole in the open vessel. When Christians offer spiritual sacrifices, they do not always understand the hidden details of the Lord’s beauty and suffering. They think more generally of what He suffered. But we also find this in Scripture. For example, Hebrews 12:3 says, “Consider him who endured such great opposition from sinners against himself.” We admire that the Lord Jesus endured the obvious (though not described in detail here) opposition of sinners with grace. He was and remained “fine flour made with oil”, even when He was tested by the fiery heat of human rejection, when ungodly sinners spoke against Him with harsh words (cf. Jude 15).
Food for priests
We focus on the holy life of Christ and, to the best of our understanding, offer worship and thanksgiving for it. We do this both personally and together in the gatherings of the faithful. When we come before God as a holy priesthood, we remember that our God is a consuming fire, as the altar fire shows. In the exercise of priestly service, God receives His portion, though that comes first, and our souls are nourished as well. As priests, we eat the grain offering in the holy place, enjoy what God enjoys, and share fellowship with Him in it. That is something great!
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