Leviticus 2:1-2 says, “When anyone presents an offering of a meal offering to Jehovah, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. Then he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests, and he shall take from it his handful of its fine flour and of its oil with all its frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as its memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire, a satisfying fragrance to Jehovah.” The items that indicate the Trinity in these verses are the meal offering, Jehovah, the oil, the priest, and the fire. The Trinity is involved with the meal offering in a very subjective way.
The meal offering typifies Christ the Son as the food to satisfy God and man. The meal offering was served mainly as the priests’ food, but a part of the meal offering was also burned on the altar as an offering by fire for food to God. Thus, the meal offering was food for both God and man. The meal offering typifies Christ mainly in His humanity, because the main ingredient of the meal offering was fine flour, which signifies Christ’s humanity. Christ as a man with all His perfect and complete virtues is food to God and to those who serve God.
The oil typifies the Spirit, the divine element of Christ as the offering. Christ as a man was full of the Spirit. The oil was added to the meal offering in at least three ways. Verse 1 says that the oil was to be poured on the meal offering. Verse 4 says that the oil was to be mingled with the cakes of the meal offering, and verse 5 says that the oil was to be mingled with the fine flour of the meal offering. When the oil was poured, it covered the outside of the offering; and when the oil was mingled with the offering, the oil came into and saturated the offering. This shows that the Spirit was poured upon Christ, and the Spirit was mingled with Him and saturated His human element. Christ as a man was thoroughly mingled with and saturated by the Spirit. When Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s human element was mingled with the divine element of the Spirit (Matt. 1:18). The Spirit was poured upon Christ later, when He began to minister at the age of thirty (3:16). At that time, the Spirit anointed Him (Luke 4:18).
As in the type of the burnt offering, in the type of the meal offering Jehovah is God the Father as the Receiver of the offering, the priest typifies Christ the Son, the serving One, and the fire typifies God as the accepting agent. The fire and water are agents because they act upon the offering but are not part of the offering. The oil is an element because it is a basic constituent of the offering.
Leviticus 3:1-3 says, “If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings...he shall present it without blemish before Jehovah...Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood on and around the altar. And from the sacrifice of peace offerings he shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah.” Verse 11 says, “It is the food of the offering by fire to Jehovah.” Leviticus 7:11-12 says, “This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one shall present to Jehovah: If he presents it for a thanksgiving, then he shall present with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil and saturated cakes of fine flour mingled with oil.” The crucial items indicating the Trinity in these verses are the peace offering, Jehovah, the priest, the fire, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the unleavened cakes, the oil, the unleavened wafers, and the saturated cakes of fine flour mingled with oil.
The peace offering typifies Christ the Son as the peace between God and man. In order for someone to become the peace of two parties who are at enmity, much is required. Christ became the peace between God and man by being many things and by accomplishing many things. As in the types of the other offerings, Jehovah is God the Father as the Receiver of the offering, the priest typifies Christ the Son, the serving One, and the fire typifies God as the accepting agent.
The sacrifice of thanksgiving signifies Christ the Son for the offerer’s thanks to God. In addition to the ordinary, general peace offering mentioned in Leviticus 3, a particular kind of peace offering, one for thanksgiving, is described in Leviticus 7. When the children of Israel wanted to make an offering to God because they had a thanking heart, they made an offering of thanksgiving that was part of a peace offering. The general peace offering was only an animal from the herd (3:1) or from the flock (v. 6), but the peace offering for thanksgiving was accompanied by a meal offering.
Three kinds of meal offerings accompanied the peace offering as a sacrifice of thanksgiving: unleavened cakes, unleavened wafers, and saturated cakes of fine flour mingled with oil. The unleavened cakes typify Christ the Son as the pure and clean food. Christ’s humanity is without sin, wrongdoings, faults, or defects and is perfect and pure. Cakes may be thick, but wafers are thin and easy to eat and digest. Therefore, the unleavened wafers typify Christ the Son as the pure and clean food that is easy to eat and digest. Certain experiences of Christ are difficult, but more often Christ is easy to eat and digest. In our experience Christ is both a cake and a wafer. Because the oil again signifies the Spirit as the divine element of the meal offering, the saturated cakes of fine flour mingled with oil typify Christ the Son as food saturated and mingled with the element of the Spirit. The cakes were saturated with the oil, and the fine flour was mingled with the oil. As we have seen, this denotes Christ’s divine conception by the Holy Spirit, in which divinity mingled with His humanity and saturated His being.
Christ as the peace offering is for Christ to be the co-enjoyment of God and man in peace for fellowship. The peace offering is not only for peace but also for enjoyment. This is not individualistic enjoyment but co-enjoyment and fellowship. Christ is able to be such an offering for our peace, co-enjoyment, and fellowship through the involvement of the Divine Trinity.