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.
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