Under the new covenant our sacrifices are not like what they were under the old. We do not offer up burnt offerings,sin offerings, and trespass (or guilt) offerings; however, blood sacrifices are needed for atonement according to the law. Grain offerings many times were done alongside burnt offerings. In this teaching I shall show how Christ fulfilled the grain offering ceremonial law of sacrifice. Yet we still have sacrifices to make in our lives.
— Ceremonial Aspects (flour, oil, frankincense, and salt)
Lev. 2:1:: 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.
The grain offering is a voluntary offering, unlike the sin or guilt offerings.
Lev. 2:2:: the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma (Eph. 5:2). Christ went to offer himself voluntarily, saying not my will but thy will be done.
Notice next the difference between cooking in a pan vs. a covered pan:
Lev. 2:5:: if your offering is a grain offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil.
Lev. 2:7:: if your offering is a grain offering baked in a covered pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.
marḥešeṯ (mar-kheh’-sheth) is a sauce pan or stewpan, a cauldron. NKJV uses frying pan.
It would appear that cooking in a covered pan could include leaven, however, verse 11 shows that all grain offerings must be devoid of leaven.
Lev. 2:11:: 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.
The reason given is that no burning of leaven or honey can be in any offering to the LORD by fire. I will come back to the idea of honey a bit later on. Apparently if you mead or roll bread while cooking it can minimize or stop the fermentation process. While yeast might still be present you avoid fermentation which is often represented by crusted bread. However, this is not the whole process because the meaded,cooked flour still needs to be put into the fire.
The priest scoops up the flour mixture from the frying pan with three fingers and puts it in the fire. The frankinsence is burned on top of the mixture placed there by the priest. If done correctlty, then there is never any leavening (rising) in the finisthed product.
So this is the spiritual process. If we happen to have leaven in our lives, which is probable since we are born again flesh and blood beings and that sin nature is still in us. God will simmer us in the frying pan so we will not ferment. Fermentation represents sin and we do not want any born again, spirit-filled believer to ferment. When we crust it is like the flesh appearing which is sinful. Rather, the Lord kneeds us and rolls us up in the frying pan of life. When ready our high priest places us into the fire. Done properly we have no leavening so Satan has no hold on our lives throught the firey trials and tribulations that can come our way. Can you now see that the process of refinement is extremely important.
1 Pet. 4:12:: Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you
This is the same reason we see Daniel and the three Hebrew youths not burned in the oven. It is like the three fingers of the priest placing the unleavened dough into the fire. Have you ever considered why the fires of life do not seem to affect some people to a great extent? Here is a secret of the kingdom. The youths did not eat the choice meats at Nebuchadnezzar’s royal court, they did not bow down the the idol the king made of himself, and they did not get burnt in the fire!
Lev. 2:13-16:: 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.
I want you to also notice there is a slightly different process for firstfruits:
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. 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.
Remember also, the three wise-men from the east. They brought gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankinsense to the Christ child. These are costly gifts for a king but let’s not forget frankinsense was often used in a grain offering.
Firstfruits is taken from the ear of barley, while it is still green. That makes sense, because the grain has not yet become fully ripe.
Salt is a preservative and adds to taste. We read in Matthew:
Matt. 5:13:: You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
We, as believers in Yeshua’s atoning blood of the covenant, need to be seasoned with salt so we preserve what is good and add flavor to life. But most importantly so we can provide God proper sacrifices of our lives.
Firstfruits in our lives can be offered as a rather small offerings before the full harvest comes in. Christ himself is our firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20,23) because he is the first born from the dead. He was raised from the dead on the feast of first fruits day. James 1:18 speaks of us as a type of firstfruits of his creatures. There are firstfruit people spoken about in Revelation (Rev. 14:4) and in Thessalonica (2 Th. 2:13-some manuscripts). Firstfruits does reflect the first of it’s kind. I am not going into depth on firstfruits here, just saying our lives can be a firstfruit right now before actually being raised from the dead.
— Yeshua as the bread of life
The first thing to notice when it comes to Yeshua is that he is an offering from God himself.
John 6:32-35:: Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Yeshua wanted to remind us of the offering that God himself gave the children of Israel in the wilderness. The idea that he was calling himself the true bread from heaven does not negate the value of the manna. Truth embodies not only name and semblence but also a nature.
To the Galatians Apostle Paul said: when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods (Gal. 4:8). They might even appear as gods unto us but their nature is fallen, reprobate, even evil.
Demons or devils might resemble God. Lucifer himself is often known as the morning star (shining one or light bearer) but he is not the bright morning star. Truth is a precious commodity for which Yeshua spoke to Pontius Pilot (John 18:38).
But even with the manna given to the children of Israel and fallen from heaven there were stipulations. There were to gather a certain portion for each person. Those that gathered to much shared with those who gathered too little. On the 6th day of the week they were to gather twice as much and baked and boiled it for the day and for the Sabbath day. Some did not listen and leftover manna for the next day and some went our on the Sabbath to look for manna. For it was also a test from the LORD to see if they would walk according to his law (Ex. 16:4). This lesson is not a teaching on the law, nor even on what God provides.
Manna from heaven appeared after the morning frost evaperates but it does not last very long after sunlight melts the manna. There was no need to add oil or frankincense. It is also interesing that Lev. 16:31 said the manna wafers tasted like honey. Honey was not allowed to be burnt in grain offerings because it might also ferment. Honey was in essence supplied by the Lord in the manna. Israel itself was to be a land flowing with milk and honey.
Lessons from manna suggest we should share such that there is equality and that we need a sabbath day of rest to worship the Lord and remember his provisions for the week.
Most importantly, remember that Christ is the firstfruits of all who have fallen asleep under his covering. While manna was stored in the ark of the covenant true manna is given by Christ alone.
References:
https://biblehub.com/q/why_ban_honey_in_leviticus_offerings.htm