Albert Leckie explores the significance of the meal offering in Leviticus 2, emphasizing how it represents the perfect life and service of Jesus Christ. He highlights the various ways the offering can be presented, each reflecting different aspects of Christ's nature and ministry, such as His divine conception, anointing by the Holy Spirit, and His holy, incorruptible nature. Leckie underscores that while the meal offering was for God, it also serves to nourish the priestly family, symbolizing the fellowship believers have with God through Christ. The sermon draws parallels between the components of the offering and the life of Jesus, illustrating how He was both a servant to God and a source of sustenance for His people. Ultimately, the message calls for a deeper appreciation of Christ's intrinsic worth and the call to present our lives as offerings to God.

The book of Leviticus and chapter 2 verse 1 and when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord his offering shall be of fine flour and he shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon and he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests and he shall take there out his handful of the flour thereof and of the oil thereof with all of 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 savour unto the Lord and the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire and if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering bacon in the oven it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil and if thy oblation be a meat offering bacon in a pan it shall be a fine flour unleavened mingled with oil thou shalt part it in pieces and pour oil thereon it is a meat offering and if thy oblation be a meat offering bacon in the frying pan it shall be made of fine flour with oil and thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the Lord and when it is presented unto the priest he shall bring it unto the altar and the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof and shall burn it upon the altar it is an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord and that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire no meat offering which you shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering of the Lord made by fire as for the oblation of the firstfruits you shall offer them unto the Lord but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet savour 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 and if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire even corn beaten out of full ears and thou shalt put oil upon it and lay frankincense thereon it is a meat offering and the priest shall burn the memorial of it part of the beaten corn thereof and part of the oil thereof with all the frankincense thereof it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord now we shall observe this evening that in the meal offering as the world should read of Leviticus chapter 2 we have presented to us the perfect life and service of Jehovah's perfect servant as we read down this chapter we observe that there were five different ways in which the meal offering might be offered from verse 1 to 3 we discover that the Israelite might take a handful of flour of oil of salt and all the frankincense and give it to the priest who in turn would place it upon the altar that it might ascend as a sweet savor unto God the first mode is a handful of flour oil salt frankincense uncooked placed upon the altar by the priest and ascending to God as a sweet savor then from verse 4 to 7 we have three ways in which a cooked meal offering might be offered to the Lord in verse 4 the Israelite might cook a meal offering in his tent and having cooked it in his tent or his home bring it to the priest who in turn placed it upon the altar then in verses 5 and 6 the Israelite might yet offer another kind of cooked offering this time cooked in a pan maybe the margin of your Bible gives the word pan as a flat plate or a slice and thus he might cook it on a flat plate in his home and then bring that cooked offering to the priest who would in turn place it upon the altar then in verse 7 it may be cooked in yet another way this time in a frying pan and having been cooked in a frying pan in the home taken to the priest who in turn would place it upon the altar now there are four ways in which it could be offered a handful uncooked or a meal cooked in either of three ways in an oven on a flat plate or in a frying pan with the fifth mode of offering from verse 14 to the end of the chapter and this time the Israelite might bring to the priest green ears of corn dried or parched by the fire even corn beaten out of full ears lay frankincense there on give it to the priest who in turn would place it upon the altar green ears of corn parched by the fire even corn beaten out of full ears placed upon the altar by the priest and ascending into the nostrils of God as a sweet savour now we shall observe this evening that all of this in a delightful way directs our heart to the person of our blessed adorable Lord Jesus now the verses that I've omitted are these in verse 11 we discover there were two prohibitions God prohibited the offering of any leaven or any leaven or any honey with an offering and then in verse 12 there was this restriction as for the oblation of the first fruits you shall offer them unto the Lord but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet savour the prohibition is in respect of the oblation of the first fruits that had to be offered to the Lord but must not be placed on the altar for a sweet savour now what exactly was the oblation of first fruits we need to turn to chapter 23 to learn what the oblation of first fruits was this refers to the offering on the day of Pentecost when those two wave logs bacon with leaven were waved to and fro before the Lord and because of the presence of leaven in the oblation of first fruits then that oblation must not touch the altar verse 13 we have a must if in verse 11 we have two prohibitions in verse 13 we have a must thou shalt not suffer the salt of the covenant thy God to be lacking in any or all of thine offerings that comprehends the whole chapter we think first of all of the component parts of the meal offering we discover that the component parts were four there was flour oil salt and frankincense you will discover as you read through God's Word when anything is described for us in a fourfold way there is this invariable rule this invariable law that three of the descriptions are similar and one is altogether different perhaps the example that comes to our mind immediately is that of the four Gospels our New Testament begins with the four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John the first three Gospels have been termed the synoptic Gospels because of their striking similarity in Matthew and Mark and Luke our blessed Lord is seen so to speak through the same eye these Gospels are strikingly similar and have been rightly termed the synoptic Gospels but the fourth Gospel the Gospel according to John is altogether different and altogether unique that we saw in a special way last evening as we thought of the burnt offering but you go back to the Old Testament you remember that God rained down upon the children of Israel in the wilderness of sin the manna the corn of heaven and perhaps you will remember that the manna was described in Exodus chapter 16 in a fourfold way it was small it was round it was white and it tasted like cakes made with honey the first three descriptions pertain to sight how the manna looked its appearance it was small it was round it was white but the fourth pertained to its taste it tasted like wafers or cakes made with honey and no doubt we all remember well the fourfold description given us of Naaman the leper he is described for us in a fourfold way he was great he was honorable he was mighty but the fourth description is this he was a leper and maybe some of you will recall that in the Old Testament we have four different anointings there was the anointing of the prophet the priest and the king and then that peculiar and altogether different anointing the anointing of the leper the leper was anointed as was the prophet and the priest and the king his was a peculiar and a different kind of anointing but it was anointing just the same we can understand how our Lord Jesus was anointed as prophet priest and king but what of this anointing of the leper well our Lord Jesus was never leprous in himself in any way of that we can be assured but he had a unique anointing you remember that he was anointed in the house of Simon the leper speaking of his identification with Israel in his leprous condition now I think I've said enough to make the that when we have anything described in a formful way there is this invariable law three descriptions are similar and the fourth is altogether different now what is the unique component part of the four in connection with the meal and friend the unique component part is the frankincense we shall see in a few moments that the Israelite or the priest he might partake of the flower of the oil and of the salt but not the frankincense the priestly family could partake of the flower the oil and of the salt but says God not the frankincense all the frankincense must be laid upon the altar for me all the frankincense is mine and we shall try and observe in a few moments the significance of the fact that God claimed for himself all the frankincense now having said that we shall try and learn what is meant by the flower the oil the salt and the flower of course directs attention to the holy manhood of our blessed Lord Jesus I want to speak just for a few moments in connection with his holy manhood this is a truth that is being assailed today but we need to have established in our minds that while the manhood of God's Son was perfect his manhood was unique there have been there has been in this world three different kinds of manhood until sin entered there was innocent manhood since that sin entered there has been fallen manhood but when Mary brought forth the firstborn and swaddled him and laid him in a manger she introduced into this world a kind of manhood the world had never seen before it wasn't innocent manhood our Lord Jesus was not possessed of innocent manhood oh I know that Judas said I have betrayed the innocent blood but these are not the words of inspiration these are the words of Judas of course the Spirit of God inspired the writers to have these words included in the Word of God but these words of Judas were not necessarily inspired and in any case Judas might have been thinking that at least Jesus was innocent of the charge that was laid against him well let us observe this evening that the manhood of Jesus was not innocent manhood now I'll tell you why innocent manhood is capable of sinning Adam was created of God an innocent man possessed of innocent manhood but he said innocent manhood is capable of sinning but God's Son was never possessed of innocent manhood and I want to repeat what I said here was it on Saturday that I don't believe that Jesus didn't sin nor do I believe that Jesus wouldn't sin I believe with all my heart that Jesus couldn't sin his was not innocent manhood nor was it fallen manhood we have all partaken of fallen manhood since that sin entered into the world mankind has partaken of fallen manhood but God's Son never partook of fallen manhood if he had he could not have been our Savior what kind of manhood was his? his was holy manhood asked the angel to marry that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called Son of God brethren let's never forget that the manhood of Jesus was neither innocent nor fallen it was holy impeccably holy the manhood of God's Son this flower we're told had to be fine flower we're not surprised of course that it had to be fine for it speaks to us of our Lord Jesus Christ but what is the significance of this? it seems to suggest to me that this had to be flower that was inherently fine not flower that had to be made fine it was the finest of the flower not flower that was made fine through crushing but flower that was in itself inherently fine and in that respect our blessed Lord Jesus differs to every other man or woman invariably with you and me circumstances make us the trials and difficulties of the journey bring out features of Christ in us help to produce features of Christ in us but let us remind our hearts of this that circumstances never made Jesus the trials of the pathway for God's Son never produced anything in him every trial of the pathway only served to bring out a fineness that was there inherently oh let us grasp it my brother my sister this evening circumstances never made God's Son circumstances only served to bring out a fineness that was inherently there usually with you and me the older we grow the more Christlike we become the circumstance of the pathway served to produce that but that was never true of our Lord Jesus he was inherently fine and of course the idea in fine flower is this that its texture was even and how we love to think of our blessed Lord Jesus in this respect it has been beautifully pointed out that when we think of God's Son we never think of him as being possessed of an outstanding characteristic an outstanding feature we never think of God's Son as being outstanding in any one virtue or any one grace if we think of Abraham we say well Abraham was outstanding for his faith if we think of Moses we say Moses was outstanding because of his meekness if we think of John we think of John as being outstanding for his love and his perfection but we never think of our Lord Jesus Christ in that way for the simple reason that no one grace outshone another if it was faith it was perfect if it was meekness it was perfect if it was love it was perfect the texture was even no outstanding feature in connection with our blessed Lord Jesus now all of this and more we can think of in connection with the fine flower then of course there was oil and as you read this offering Leviticus chapter 2 you will discover that the oil was applied in three different ways in verses 4 and 5 we have a meal offering mingled with oil in verse 4 we have a meal offering anointed with oil and then when you come down to verse 6 we have a meal offering broken in pieces and oil poured thereon and the idea in the oil being poured thereon is this that here we have a meal offering completely saturated with oil and thus the oil was applied in three ways mingled anointed and saturated now all of this has an undoubted significance and I need not to mention here in Stretford that oil in the scriptures always speaks to us of the Holy Spirit of God and in what sense do we think of our Lord Jesus in relation to the spirit as a meal offering mingled anointed and saturated with oil I would suggest this evening that the meal offering mingled with oil directs our attention to his divine conception that he was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God now I want just to spend a moment or two considering the fact and truth of his divine conception this is yet another of the precious truths in relation to the person of Christ that is being assailed today now I want to repeat once more any man or woman that denies the virgin birth of Christ is not Christian the virgin birth of Christ was essential because of his deity and I want to repeat here again this evening that if Christ was not virgin born then he was but the child of Jewish peasants and born out of wedlock and that we could never conceive of for one moment he was virgin born he was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God you remember that the first predicted utterance connected with our Savior is this to Adam or to the woman God is her to say the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head and that's the first prediction about that coming one was this that he should be the seed of the woman the son of man it is true but only the seed of the woman right down through the ages every godly mother in Israel trusted that she might be the mother of that promised one but none of them understood what was meant by this that that promised one must only be the seed of the woman Mary didn't understand it for when the angel said to Mary thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son said Mary how can this be seeing I know not a man asked the angel to Mary Mary I want to unfold to you this wonderful secret this amazing truth his divine conception Mary the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee production the power of the highest shall overshadow thee protection that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God there we have the blessed fact and truth of his virgin birth born of a woman yet conceived of the Holy Spirit of God scripture is not only eloquent with regard to what it does say but will regard to what it doesn't say you will discover as you read in God's Word that this idea of squabbling is only brought before us on three occasions we read this word in the book of Job chapter 38 again in the book of Ezekiel chapter 16 on the other occasion in Luke's gospel chapter 2 and this affords us a delightful study in Job chapter 38 we're reminded of the majesty of our blessed Lord that it was he who when this world was but a vast watery waste he swaddled the deep in bands of dense darkness oh the majesty of God's Son when this world was but a vast watery waste he swaddled it in swirling bonds of thick darkness coming down into this world conceived of the Spirit of God born of a woman that same blessed one was himself swaddled by a handmaid in Israel and laid in a manger for the one that was sometimes saying oh come let us adore him his amazing condescension in Ezekiel chapter 16 Ezekiel is given to appreciate the reason for Jerusalem's abomination and the reason for abomination was this there had been failure in her nativity what was the failure says Ezekiel chapter 16 when she was born she was neither cleansed salted nor swaddled but cast out into the open field to the loathing of her person there had been serious omissions in her nativity born neither cleansed salted nor swaddled but cast into the open field when it comes to the birth of God's Son into this world in Luke chapter 2 where he was like these then Mary brought forth the firstborn child swaddled him and laid him in a manger no mention of cleansing was this an omission this was completely unnecessary he was born holy forthwith he was swaddled no need of cleansing divinely conceived that holy one which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God later in the chapter read of Mary offering the birds for his cleansing but no mention is made offering the birds for her cleansing but no mention is made of his cleansing he was holy born he was divinely conceived never allow anyone to deny you or argue out of the important fact and truth of the virgin birth of Christ that he was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God the meal offering mingled with oil then verse 4 we have the meal offering anointed with oil it's not difficult to understand what is meant by the meal offering anointed with oil why should the Lord Jesus in Luke chapter 4 as he quotes from Isaiah in reference to his baptism the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor his being anointed of the spirit refers to his being anointed with a view to service this took place on the occasion of his baptism when coming up out of the water the Holy Spirit descended in bodily formed as of a dove it was then he was anointed I love John's presentation of that wonderful event John makes it clear that the one who come up out of the water was the Lamb of God see the Lamb of God come up out of the water the spirit descended like a dove and the voice that was heard from heaven was the voice of the Father thou art my beloved son in thee I am well pleased everything that bespeaks complacency a lamb a dove and the voice of the Father then he was anointed with a view to his service one could say more in connection with that anointing but really time doesn't permit then we have the offering saturated with oil in verse 6 the meal offering broken in pieces and oil poured on each several part this reminds us of the life of our Lord Jesus from beginning to end a life always under the complete control and guidance of the Holy Spirit of God conceived of the Spirit of God led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness led by the Spirit of God in the wilderness coming out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit of God casting out demons by the Spirit of God and finally offering himself through an eternal spirit without sport unto God the meal offering saturated with oil a man here under the control and guidance of the Holy Spirit of God the next component part is the salt the salt speaks of his incorruptible holy nature salt is the great preservative and this reminds us of the fact that our blessed Lord Jesus was possessed of an incorruptible and a holy nature and we observed that this must of salt is seen against the two-fold prohibition no honey no leaven but there must be salt honey is one extreme leaven is another extreme but salt is the great balancer now we love to think of our Lord Jesus in this way in him there was no honey and in him there was no leaven but there was the salt that that speaks of his incorruptible holy nature now when we have honey and leaven brought together the idea is this honey speaks of sweetness and leaven speaks of bitterness I know that honey doesn't always speak of human sweetness there are occasions when it cannot refer to that for instance they gave to our risen Lord in Luke chapter to the floor broiled fish and in honeycomb and he partook of the broiled fish and in honeycomb and in that he found delight but of course scripture must be always studied in its context when honey and leaven are brought together the idea is that of human sweetness and human bitterness I love to think of giving to our risen Lord in Luke chapter to the floor the honey and the broiled fish in this way honey is the product of industry the fish that's brought out of the deep and I want to say to you young men this evening particularly in your worship this is that in which our Lord still finds delight that that's the product of spiritual industry and that that you've brought out of the deep the great tragedy today is this so many of our young men are not reading the scriptures and have lost the art of being spiritually industrious in the things of God my dear brethren our Lord finds delight in that that's the product of spiritual industry and that that we can bring out of the deep by the help of the Spirit of God but we come back to Leviticus chapter 2 the honey speaking of human sweetness our Lord Jesus was never characterized by this nor was he affected by it why said Peter in Matthew's gospel as the Lord Jesus had indicated he was going to Jerusalem there to be killed pity thyself Lord this shall not be unto thee pity thyself Lord be it far from thee this shall not be unto thee well the Lord Jesus know that these words of Peter were words of purely human sentiment and human sweetness how did he reply get thee behind me Satan thou art an offense unto me thou savorest not the things that are of God but the things that are of man he's on his way to be crucified the daughters of Jerusalem they follow him willing and lamenting well the Lord Jesus know that the tears of these daughters of Jerusalem were tears of human sentiment tears of pure emotion and nothing more certainly not tears of repentance to them he said weep not for me but weep for yourselves in him there was no honey nor was I'm affected by that that honey represents human sweetness but if there was no honey neither was there 11 if the honey speaks of human sweetness the leaven speaks of human bitterness how glad we are that this was absent from the Lord Jesus you remember the occasion in John chapter 2 when he purged the temple he made a whip of small cards and he drove out the oxen but he did not go amok as someone represent the Lord on that occasion in the temple he did not go amok with that scourge of small cards he said to those who sold the birds who sold the doves carry these things hence you see if that had been you and me our zeal would have degenerated into bitterness and we would have gone amok but not the same in Luke chapter 9 he's approaching the villages of Samaria and they wouldn't receive him said the sons of thunder shall we call down fire out of heaven and consume them as Elijah did? Lord we could do this Elijah did it surely we can do it ah said the Lord Jesus you know not what manner of spirit you're of in Matthew chapter 14 gathered before him were the five thousand hungry people the disciples said the time is now passed send the mortgages away that they may buy for themselves victuals I said the Lord Jesus we can't send them away and he bade them sit down and remember how he fed them with the loaves and fishes but notice what he did he blessed the loaves and fishes then he said to his disciples give them to eat that's not what we would have done we would have said to the disciples now you wanted to send them away just you sit back and watch me feeding them I know the Lord Jesus didn't do that he graciously handed it to the disciples that they in turn might feed the hunger multitude and there's a lesson dear brethren in this for you and me all too often with us love and affection degenerates into pure sentiment and on the other hand anger with you and me which at first might be righteous all too easily degenerates into bitterness but the Lord Jesus was never characterized by these things no honey no leaven now the frankincense that that God claimed for himself I wonder what this speaks of I want to suggest dear brethren this important thought that while the Lord Jesus served men he was never the servant of men he was the servant of Jehovah everything that our Lord Jesus did was primarily for the pleasure and the satisfaction of him whose servant he was you remember the language of Paul in Galatians chapter 1 do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ thus as Paul in my service I don't serve to please men I serve to please Christ and I would say to all of our hearts this evening that the moment we begin to seek in our service to please men that moment we cease to be the servant of Christ as we serve Christ we must always to please him and while God's Son served men he was never the servant of men in the sense of serving them to please them every service that he performed was primarily for the pleasure of the one whose servant he was does this not remind us of the language of Isaiah chapter 42 behold my servant whom I hold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth brethren that's the frankincense he was God's servant God's elect whom God upheld the one in whom God's soul found delight and because everything that he did was primarily for the pleasure of his God God says I want all the frankincense for everything it does is primarily for my pleasure I believe that's the thought in the frankincense having dealt with that just for a few moments we'll think of the five modes of offering now there are different ways in which one could tackle this but I want just to give a little line that might remain in our hearts and minds we think first of all of the handful a handful of the flowers of the oil of the salt and all the frankincense was placed on the altar and ascended as a sweet savor into the nostrils of God I would suggest dear brethren that this is what we do particularly on the Lord's morning we take our handful and in a priestly way we present it to God in worship the hand speaks of capacity the bigger the hand the bigger the capacity the bigger the hand of the Israelite the greater the meal offering placed upon the altar might I suggest dear brother dear sister should it not be the case with so many of us that our prayer ought to be Oh God for bigger hands Oh God for a greater capacity to appreciate the wonders the glories of the known son I'm afraid so many of us on the Lord's morning I speak to my own heart our hands are very small our appreciation of God's son is so very poor sometimes the Lord would have to say to us as he said to Philip Philip have I been so long time with you and you have not known me perhaps we've been saved for a number of years and yet our knowledge of the Lord is so very poor and meager our hands are so small Oh that we might more and more go in for a deeper appreciation of God's son that we might have a greater capacity to present him in all his wondrous beauty to the heart of his father the meal offering uncooked of course with regard to the person of Christ suggests to us what Christ is in himself in his intrinsic what what he was in himself although apart from the circumstances of pathway his own intrinsic worth of that we cannot state a speech but you notice what happened here after the handful was placed on the altar what was left the remnant became the food of the priestly family and thus they actually fed on the same meal offering that had been placed on the altar the handful for God the remnant for the priestly family reminding us of this tremendous truth that God has called you and me into fellowship with himself to share with him the pleasure and the delight that he is found in his own son what a fellowship dear brethren into which we have been called to share with God the pleasure and the satisfaction that he has found in his son scripture is brim full of this line of teaching you remember on the occasion of his baptism God is her to say thou art my beloved son in thee is all my delight at the baptism it's what he was to God what thou art to me and in thee is all my delight but in the occasion of his transfiguration the voice from the excellent glory is her to employ different words not thou art but this is not in thee is all my delight but hear ye him this is my beloved son hear ye him at his baptism what he was to God on the occasion of his transfiguration what God intends him to be to you and me George chapter 6 he's the bread of God the bread that has satisfied the heart of God and he's the bread that God has given you and me to eat the same bread feeding on the same bread how wonderful 1st Peter chapter 2 he is God's elect and precious I says Peter unto you who believe is this preciousness he's precious to God and God intends that he should be precious to us God says I want the handful and you can have what remains sharing with God in all the pleasure that he has found in his own son now the oven that's for the cooked meal offering you notice the different vessels the oven the flat plate and the frying pan they're all different while the meal offering was cooking in the oven it was completely enclosed it was altogether hidden from view for the oven is a vessel when anything is cooking in it it is completely enclosed and altogether hidden from view what does this refer I would suggest dear brethren that this refers not to Calvary as it is sometimes presented not to the hours of darkness not to his abandonment for while Calvary perhaps might be involved in the meal offering what is emphasized is his holy life and service what then is the other I would suggest this evening that the oven refers to the first 30 years of his life those 30 years of his life about which so little is said in God's word when he was growing up before God how do I arrive at that you notice that this meal offering cooked in the oven could be cooked in two ways it could be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil mingled with oil or anointed with oil how did those first 30 years of his life begin a meal offering mingled with oil his divine conception how did those 30 years end wafers anointed with oil anointed for service and in between we have those 30 years about which so little is said in God's word the meal offering cooked in an oven well if this to the difference here when it's the mingling it's unleavened cakes mingled with oil when it's the anointing it's unleavened wafers anointed with oil now there's difference between cakes and wafers the word is thick cakes or wafers thin cakes those 30 years began with thick cakes that was his life as it was lived before God those 30 years ended with wafers thin cakes anointed as he went out to serve men to serve God in the interest of men ah brethren there's a principle here thick cakes Godward and thin cakes manward indicating that he was always greater than he was always greater to God than he could ever be in the esteem of man I'm afraid with you and me oftentimes it's rather different we can be such hypocrites guilt of such false piety that we can appear in the eyes of our fellow men what we know we aren't in the sight of God but never so God's thick cakes Godward and thin cakes manward greater to his God than he could ever have been in the esteem of man then verse five and six we have the meal offering cooked on a flat plate the word is that the flat plate differs from the oven in this respect that while the meal offering was being cooked in a flat plate it was altogether exposed to view this right and his family could see the meal offering be cooked on this slice or this flat plate and if the oven speaks of the first 30 years of his life I would suggest that the meal offering cooked in the flat plate speaks of his three and a half years of public service seen and witnessed by men you notice that it was this particular offering that was parted in pieces and oil poured on each several part is that not what men did my dear brethren during the three and a half years of his public service they parted him in pieces they analyzed his every word his every deed if perchance they might find one flaw one sin one discrepancy but that they could never do one day he stood before the Sanhedrin and he challenged these men which of you convicted me of sin here were men and if they could have convicted our Lord Jesus of one sin gladly they would have done it they'd scrutinize his every word his every deed they ransacked his records to discover in him there was neither flaw sin no discrepancy that he was a man whose every movement and every word was always under the control of the Holy Spirit of God God is at many good servants many of certain faithful and serve them well my brother my sister God has it only one perfect servant and here he is a man who served God without any flaw or any discrepancy as we sang in one of the opening hymns no broken service Lord was thine thy strength knew no decay I remember in fact I never think of this verse but I think of occasion a good number of years ago when the case was up of giving gifts to various servants no matter which servants name was mentioned somebody knew something about that servant and thought that he shouldn't be sent a gift and after some time had been spent no servant was going to get any gift my dear father said on that occasion brethren if we knew everything about everybody we wouldn't give anything to anybody that's true God has had many good servants but only one perfect servant and here he is Jehovah's perfect servant the verse 7 the meal offering cooked in a frying pan now the frying pan differs from the oven and it differs from the flat plate here we have a vessel with walls that's the idea in the frying pan while the meal offering was cooking in the frying pan it was partly exposed and it was partly enclosed the walls partly enclosed it but because it was because it wasn't an oven it was also partly exposed it could be seen now what does this refer I want to suggest that this refers to the experience of God's Son in the Garden of Gethsemane we remind our hearts that the world never saw what happened there but what this world did not see heaven saw there were those legions of angels not only interested spectators but awaiting one word of his bidding and who have come to his assistance I would suggest that here we have in the frying pan the experience of God's Son in the Garden of Gethsemane now we have the meal offering the first fruits the green ears of corn dried by the fire even corn beaten out of full ears I would suggest that this refers to the those 40 days wherein God still found infinite pleasure and infinite light in this blessed one between his resurrection and his being caught up how do we arrive at this green ears of corn parched by the fire parched by the fire of course undoubtedly refers to Calvary it was there he was parched by the fire but notice what was parched by the fire green ears of corn now what's the thought in green ears of corn this is corn that is cut down before it has reached its maturity cut down while it is still green now let me point this out before the flood the man who lived longer than any other man was Methuselah he lived for 969 years after the flood the man who lived the longest was Heber and he lived for 464 years after Babel the man who lived the longest was Ru he lived for 239 years in the wilderness we'll learn in Psalm 90 the was this the days of our years are three score and ten notice how continually man's years are being halved what age was our Lord Jesus when he was cut off why says the Psalm 102 he was cut off in the midst of his days and when but 30 years and a little more our Savior was cut off at Calvary that's the green ears of corn think of it but 30 years and more parched by the fire on Calvary's cross cut off in the midst of his days but here's a remarkable thing though these ears were green these ears were full green ears of corn parched by the fire even corn beaten out of full ears ah this is important though these ears were green these ears were full that's an unusual thing full before the freaks the maturity reminding us of this tremendous truth that though God's Son was cut off in the midst of his days so to speak while the ears were yet green there was a fullness in that life a fullness that eternity shall never all in for the life that he lived is going to be a perpetual memorial to the heart of our God that's brought before us in Leviticus chapter 2 and though his was but a brief visit to this world in which we live yet there was a fullness in that blessed life that eternity itself shall never never all unfold let us pray