The Life History Of God’s Priest (05)

Job 1: 5 is our point of meditation. Job was a kind of priest before God; he knew certain principles of pleasing the LORD. We continue our meditation on the life history of God’s priest. Our text is still Leveticus 8.

25: He took the fat [of the ram of ordination], the fat tail, all the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver…

26: Then from the basket of bread made without yeast… took a cake of bread, and one made with oil, and a wafer; he put these in the fat potions and the right thigh

27: He put these in the hands of Aaron… as a wave offering.

30: Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments.

   In our meditation, we consider the underlined phrases in out text.

                                 

                                                 Bread made without yeast.

     Bread is made or baked with yeast or what is called leaven. Such bread is sweet and tickles the taste buds of the tongue. This is the bread the world is in love with. But, here, as shown to us,this is without leaven or yeast. My pastor, Rev Olabode aways gives the children snack called cheeseball as an examlple of the big lie and falsehood that man calls life. Throw that ball into the mouth and see it melt without giving you any satisfaction of being full.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the type of bread. He is the bread which “my Father sent.” Again, “I am the bread that come from heaven.” Further down the gospel, He identifies His body as the bread (Luke 22: 19).

 And He took [unleavened bread for it was during the feast of unleavened bread, verse 7] and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them [the disciples], saying, “This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.. . . .”   “. . . [The] bread which we brake,” says Paul, the apostle in First Corinthians 10: 16, “is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” The following verse continues, “For we being many are one bread, and one body…”

      Now this bread is without yeast. Yeast causes bread to rise. It gives the bread a false size. It signifies corruption and falsehood. In the gospel it always means false religious doctrines – leaven or yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. In the Pauline writings, it stands for insincerity, deceit, malice, falsehood and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5: 8). And my, these are violently against the nature of the living God.

                              Bread processing

       Processing of bread starts from harvesting of wheat, beating it to remove chaff; grinding it to fine powder in the mill [remember that milling machine had not been invented; it was a slow, tedious but thorough job]. The powder is made into dough after taking much pounding and is baked in the oven. These speak of spiritual grooming and journey that may take hard and mysterious routes. It shows the patience required to make a son, a priest. The Lord Jesus went through the gruesome processing from one stage to another, until, He, the bread was baked and given to the church also called His Body.

                                                         The Bread of life

          There are many types of bread, but we are concerned here with the bread from heaven, free of corruption and,  it is bread that gives the eater energy of the eternal. Eternal life is a spark gained through eating of the heavenly bread, this bread of life; it has the ability to permeate the soul and the body, bringing or creating immortality.

                                                   Immortality that comes from the Bread

              The entire purpose of the gospel is this – immortality. All  the miracles of Christ, His wise and witty sayings and His out-of-the-ordinary life would all be without purpose if He had not lived to fulfill and accomplish this singular purpose: to abolish death and bring immortality to light. He came for this – to overcome death and show immortality as attainable through Him, through eating Him (1 Timothy 1: 10). God has His own nature which is eternal and His dwelling place - which is in and among mankind – must have the same life which is immortality. God is the only one that has immortality; He is the only one that is not dependent. In Him all things cohere. Even angels are not immortal. This makes man born from heaven, the one that has partaken in eating the body of Christ to come to immortality, a nature foreign to angels though they covet it. Immortality is not only of perpetual existence, but it is a life that cannot diminish in intensity of expression [that fadeth not away], a life foreign and strange to decay and disintegration [incorruptible]. It is God’s own nature being ministered to man.

                                                     Oil of preservation

         One other phrase in our text is bread made with oil. It signifies the presence of the Holy Spirit. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them. . . anoint him with oil…( James s: 14). The presence ensures the flow of gladness like “oil” [oil of gladness] in the righteous as represented in the Lord Jesus (Hebrew 1: 8).

                                                 The Body, the Church and the Bread

       The Body is the Bread. The body of Christ is bread broken for us. Every partaker of the bread has become part of the body of Christ. This body is the church of Christ. We here think about the mystical body of the Lord and not of the accretion and conglomerates that call themselves church – mystical because it belongs to only the initiates [brought or co=opted in by the Spirit of Christ]. Any initiate, any part of this Body has learned to recognise and give due honour to the Body, especially in spirit as oppose to geographical locations. As we learn to “discern” the body, we remain in spiritual ascendancy. This is done by staying away from hurting, spiritually, the body. Achan failed to discern the body and put the entire church in the wilderness in trouble. The church is the supreme council of God on earth. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Mathew 18: 20). it speaks of men and women that have grown to wear or represent His name. This body has the power to forgive sins, to release from sin or hold up to sin; it has the power of the attorney. It has the ability to do the mind of the Father. In its strong expression on earth, the ``heavenlies`` are cleared of the rulers of darkness and the wicked spirits in high places. We talk of the Body which is not only praying but whose glorious and holy representation of the presence of the Lord on earth sets the ``heavenlies`` in commotion. Again, we are not thinking about the gifted individuals in the Body, but of the Living Body, the church of God whose mere existence on earth sets the heavenlies in commotion and activities. This takes place when the Body is full of the Head, “unto the measure of the stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4: 13).                

   Lord, we thank you for the gift of life, the gift of righteousness and the leading of your Holy Spirit. We are submitted fully to the Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, that He may lead us more and more towards You, that we may grow up to be that Body, the church, which is the fullness of Christ, who fills all in all. Amen.