¹ And when any will offer a ‘meat [meal or grain] offering’ unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: ²  And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all 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: Leviticus 2:1-2 (KJV)

In the KJV Bible, we have what is called the “meat offering.” Meat was the old English word for food, grain, or meal. But there is no animal meat in this offering at all. This offering is bloodless while in all the various animal offerings of the Priest of Israel animals had to spill their blood and die. (See also http://www.artlicursi.com/articles/part-4-15-blood-seen-hebrews

The essence of the meat or meal offering was a bread as the staff of life. This theme is the key to our understanding. In the Old Testament you find people making meal offerings, often in the form of three loaves of bread. In ‘the holy place’ of the Tabernacle, there was the “table of showbread” that specified 12 loaves.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” saying; whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (Jn. 6:35). He was indicating that He Himself is to be our spiritual food. We as grace believers are to feed upon His indwelling “Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus,” being in continual communion with Him, feeding upon the truth of His written words that He said are ‘spirit and life’ (Jn. 6:63).

Now consider further what ‘the meat [grain] offering’ represents. It is a description of ‘humanity’ as God intended it to be. The only perfect form of humanity is found in Jesus Christ — the perfect, unsullied, spotless, the God-pleasing humanity of the Lord Jesus. The “fine flour” in our text speaks of the perfect humanity of incarnated Jesus… who died and rose from the dead to be “the Life-Giving Spirit” (cf. 1Cor. 15:45) now ‘in’ our “spirit of man” where we are ‘one spirit’ with him (cf. 1Cor. 6:17).

The good news is that Jesus Christ died for us in order that He might live His life in us and through us. Christ living “in you” (cf. Col. 1:27) is the very essence of “the mystery (Grk. musterion, secret)” (Col. 1:25-27) that was first revealed to the Paul for us Gentiles today. He in us is the basis and some total of the genuine Christian life. We are partakers of Christ’s divine life that today, since the resurrection, includes His perfect human life and experience as our experience (cf. Rom. 6:3-4).

Note below that Jesus of Nazareth’s human lineage traces to King David via Mary. Jesus’ sacrificial death was according to “the Spirit of holiness” which was accepted by God as the All-Sufficient Payment “for the sins of the world.” That acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself was seen accepted by the fact of His “resurrection from the dead.” We see this in the verse below.

³ Concerning his [God the Father’s] Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the [human] seed of David according to the flesh [His humanity born of Mary]; ⁴ And DECLARED TO BE THE SON of God with Power, according to the spirit of holiness, By The [His] Resurrection from the dead: Romans 1:3-4 (KJV)

The fact is that we as grace believers possess Jesus’ perfect humanity in our spirit This includes all that He now is by His resurrection. Thus, His perfect humanity [“fine flour”] is in our spirit, available to us with power for living a righteous human life. This is what the “meat [meal] offering” was looking toward. It was looking toward us — for we can say with Paul,

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, … (Gal. 2:20a).

³ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized [set] into Jesus Christ were baptized [set] into his death? ⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: [so] that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:3-4 (KJV)

¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in [union with] Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

So, there was the 2^nd element in the “meat [fine four] offering.”

The 2^nd element of the “oil” (Olive Oil) Biblically represents the indwelling “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2a). We cannot be a new creature without His life empowering us to live by His life now as our new life. It is only the power of “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” His cross liberated us from the Old, the Power of “sin in the [our] flesh” (Rom. 8:2-3), even while we yet live in sin-laden flesh bodies … until the Rapture. At the Rapture we will have the exchange of our ‘corruptible body’ for our ‘incorruptible spirit-body.’

²⁰ For our conversation [Old English for ‘citizenship’] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: ²¹ Who Shall Change Our Vile Body, That It May Be Fashioned Like Unto His Glorious Body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Philippians 3:20-21 (KJV)

We now have the total life of the resurrected Christ in us as us. By His perfect humanity and His divinity, with the power of the “the [oil of] Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” we can live our daily lives unto the Lord as a sacrificial offering that is seen of Him as a “sweet savour unto the LORD.”

¹¹ No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: … Leviticus 2:11a (KJV)

“Leaven” in the Bible is indicative of the corruption of ‘sin.’ The meat (meal) offerings were to be of ‘Fine Flour and Oil’ – Without “Leaven.”  This means our self-aggrandizing good or religious works are not acceptable to the Lord and neither is any added human sweetness.

Christ’s Cross-work which was on our behalf was and offering of His sinless life as The Fine Flour that produced ‘the Oil’ of His “Spirit of life.” This alone is the ALL-SUFFICIENT offering that has forever pleased the Father.

Thus, all our human religiosity is unacceptable… tainting our offerings as a stench. Membership in the religious organizations and denomination of man are of no benefit, neither is there any benefit in their rites, rituals, wrote prayers, taking of vows, or any such religious external activity. Our salvation is internally derived by faith in Christ. Thus, Paul wrote;

¹⁸ While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 (KJV)