The meal offering typifies Christ in His human living. The emphasis of the burnt offering (ch. 1) is on Christ’s living for God, being obedient to God even unto death (Phil. 2:8), implying His living but emphasizing His death. The emphasis of the meal offering is on Christ’s human living and daily walk, implying His death but emphasizing His living (see note Lev. 2:13^1a). The burnt offering emphasizes that Christ is the righteousness of God (1 Cor. 1:30; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21), whereas the meal offering emphasizes that Christ is righteous before God (1 John 2:1).

Fine flour, the main element of the meal offering, signifies Christ’s humanity, which is fine, perfect, tender, balanced, and right in every way, with no excess and no deficiency. This signifies the beauty and excellence of Christ’s human living and daily walk. The fine flour of the meal offering was produced out of wheat that had passed through many processes, which signify the various sufferings of Christ that made Him “a man of sorrows” (Isa. 53:3).

In contrast to the burnt offering, nothing of the animal life, but only the vegetable life, is seen in the meal offering. As a type of Christ, the vegetable life indicates the produce, the propagation, and the increase for the supplying of life to people.

The oil of the meal offering signifies the Spirit of God as the divine element of Christ (see note 1 Pet. 3:18³). In the meal offering the oil was mingled with the fine flour (vv. 4-5) and poured upon it (vv. 1, 6, 15) to anoint it (v. 4), signifying that the Spirit of God as Christ’s divinity was mingled with His humanity (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35) and that the Spirit was poured upon Him (Matt. 3:16; John 1:32) to anoint Him (Luke 4:18; Heb. 1:9). This is a picture of the two aspects of Christ’s experience of the Spirit of God.

The frankincense in the meal offering signifies the fragrance of Christ in His resurrection. That the frankincense was put on the fine flour signifies that Christ’s humanity bears the aroma of His resurrection (cf. Matt. 11:20-30; Luke 10:21). As portrayed in the four Gospels, Christ lived a life in His humanity mingled with His divinity and expressing resurrection out from His sufferings (cf. John 18:4-8; 19:26-27a). Christ was always filled with the Spirit and saturated with resurrection (Luke 4:1; John 11:25).

Part of the flour and oil and all of the frankincense of the meal offering were God’s food (vv. 9, 16). This signifies that a considerable portion of Christ’s excellent, perfect, Spirit-filled, and resurrection-saturated living is offered to God as food for His enjoyment. This portion is so satisfying to God that it becomes a memorial. The remainder of the offering, consisting of fine flour and oil but no frankincense, was food for the serving priests (vv. 3, 10).

Whereas the burnt offering is God’s food for His satisfaction (Num. 28:2), the meal offering is our food for our satisfaction, a portion also being shared with God. Proper worship is a matter of satisfying God with Christ as the burnt offering and of being satisfied with Christ as the meal offering and sharing this satisfaction with God (cf. John 4:24 and note John 4:24⁴).

All meal offerings were offered by fire on the altar (vv. 4-9), signifying that Christ in His humanity offered to God as food has gone through the testing fire (Rev. 1:15). The fire in Lev. 2 signifies the consuming God (Heb. 12:29), not for judgment but for acceptance. The consuming of the meal offering by fire signifies that God has accepted Christ as His satisfying food.

The preparing of the meal offering in an oven, in a pan, or in a pot (vv. 4-5, 7) signifies different kinds of sufferings experienced by Christ in His humanity.

A perforated cake, related to the verb to pierce. The perforating, or piercing, of the cakes signifies one kind of Christ’s sufferings in His humanity (John 19:34, 37; Rev. 1:7).

The mingling of fine flour with oil in the meal offering (vv. 4-5) signifies that Christ’s humanity is mingled with the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18b) and His human nature is mingled with God’s divine nature, making Him a God-man. Christ is both the complete God and the perfect man, possessing the divine nature and the human nature distinctly, without a third nature being produced. Through the divine mingling Christ’s humanity has been uplifted to the highest standard. In His divinity Christ has the divine attributes, and these divine attributes are expressed through, with, and in His human virtues. This is the excellence of Jesus Christ.

In the meal offering the oil and the fine flour are mingled and cannot be separated. Hence, to eat the fine flour is to eat the oil. The picture in Lev. 2 indicates strongly that the way for us to be nourished with Christ’s humanity, and thus to experience His human living, is by the Spirit (John 6:51, 57, 63).

The cakes of fine flour are the largest kind of meal offering and signify the stronger experience of Christ in His humanity by the mature believers. Wafers are hollow and easy to eat. They signify Christ in His humanity experienced and enjoyed by the younger believers. Christ as the meal offering is available as food to God’s people of all ages.

The meal offering could be in the form of flour mingled with oil (vv. 1-2) or in the form of a cake (v. 4). The former signifies the individual Christ and also the individual Christian. The latter signifies the corporate Christ, Christ with His Body, the church. The individual Christ has become the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), signified by the cake (1 Cor. 10:17). This indicates that eventually Christ’s life and our individual Christian life issue in a totality — the church life as a corporate meal offering. Such a life is a life of humanity mingled with the Holy Spirit and which has the Holy Spirit poured upon it, a life with salt and frankincense but with no leaven or honey (see note Lev. 2:1⁴, note Lev. 2:11^1a, note Lev. 2:11², and note Lev. 2:13^1a). Both forms of the meal offering — the individual Christ and the corporate Christ, the church life — are food for God’s satisfaction and our nourishment.

That the meal offering was broken into pieces signifies that Christ’s humanity is perfect but is never kept whole; it is always broken. This breaking signifies another kind of suffering that Christ passed through in His humanity. Cf. note Lev. 1:6².

That the meal offering was without leaven (vv. 4-5) signifies that in Christ there is no sin or any negative thing (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:22; Luke 23:14; cf. 1 Cor. 5:6-8).

That the meal offering was without honey signifies that in Christ there is no natural affection or natural goodness (Matt. 12:46-50; Mark 10:18).

Salt functions to season, kill germs, and preserve. In typology salt signifies the death, or the cross, of Christ. The Lord Jesus always lived a life of being salted, a life under the cross (Mark 10:38; John 12:24). Even before He was actually crucified, Christ daily lived a crucified life, denying Himself and His natural life and living the Father’s life in resurrection (John 6:38; 7:6, 16-18; cf. Gal. 2:20).

The basic factor of God’s covenant is the cross, the crucifixion of Christ, signified by salt. It is by the cross that God’s covenant is preserved to be an everlasting covenant (cf. Heb. 13:20 and note Heb. 13:20², par. 2).

The meal offering of the firstfruits of new grain signifies the fresh enjoyment of Christ in His resurrection (John 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:20). The crushing of the grains signifies being dealt with by the cross of Christ.