In this post, we’ll look at applications to the grain offering which was discussed in my previous post. It certainly had meaning for the Israelites in their day and has meaning for us today as well.

Once Israel reached Canaan, God’s promised land to them, they would go from being a nomadic people traveling from place to place and never settling down to actually becoming settlers with houses and land. Rather than having to always buy grain, they would now grow it. They would be dependent upon God for their grain. In the past, the Nile watered their fields. Now it would be rain which was controlled by God. We, too, are dependent upon God for our day-to-day provisions (Mt 6:11; Ja 4:13-16).

Israel would be dependent upon God’s spiritual necessities as well. “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Dt 8:3). Their blessings were now dependent upon their obedience to God (Dt 28:1-6).

For us today, Christ is a type of Grain Offering. He stated he was the true bread from heaven which gives life to the entire world (Jn 6:32-33), he is the “bread of life” (Jn 6:35), and he was the bread which came from heaven (Jn 6:42). He stated, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).

In my previous post, we talked about the grain offering having a “memorial part” which was placed on the altar, and a “most holy part” which was given to the priest. Christ was both the “memorial part” by offering himself to die on the cross for us, as well as the “most holy part” by us partaking of him—by identifying with him through receiving His Holy Spirit and becoming like him as we mature in the faith, a process of sanctification.

The grain offering was one of the types of offerings to sustain the priests. Likewise, our financial offerings sustain our pastors. Paul told us, “Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” (1Co 9:13-14).

The grain offering also demonstrates the principle of sequence. The burnt offering was first: to atone for an individual’s sinful state and to symbolize that the one making the offering was offering themselves to God. That applies to us today also. Second, the grain offering was an act of worship. We can add nothing to our atonement sacrifice because it is not based upon what we do; yet, we can add to our worship and have more freedom in how we do it. We come to God as we are; there is nothing we can do to make ourselves presentable to Him. Only after we come can the Holy Spirit make improvements in our lives. He promises that we, too, can have the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16). Pretty neat promise, isn’t it? What about you? Want to be more like Him. Will you offering your grain offering to Him today and begin a remarkable journey of growth with mind changing potential?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens