The more we raise Christ and grow Christ, the more we shall have Him as the animal life and the vegetable life in the church meetings. Then we shall be rich in spiritual groceries, for we shall have Christ as the bull for a sin offering, as the lamb for a burnt offering, and as the grain that produces life and supplies life.
In the church meetings we need to forget the past religious and traditional practices. No longer should we pray in a traditional manner. Rather, our prayers need to be transformed. This means that in our prayers we should make mention of Christ as the bull for a sin offering, as the lamb for a burnt offering, and as the grain for a meal offering.
Regarding Christ as the animal life, the cattle, God requires only one bull and two lambs. However, we need to have a reserve, a flock, of Christ. If we do not have a reserve of Christ as the animal life, how shall we be able to continue offering Christ as the bull for a sin offering and as the lamb for a burnt offering? Therefore, although we cannot raise many Christs, because Christ is uniquely one, nevertheless in our experience we can raise Christ as a herd and as a flock so that we may have the reserve that will enable us to offer Him to God continually.
Regarding the food offered to Him, God is not greedy. He does not eat without limitation. Of the cattle, the animal life, He requires only two lambs. Concerning flour, He requires only the tenth of an ephah, that is, one omer. According to Exodus 16, an omer was the measure of each one’s daily portion of manna. Therefore, God actually does not require very much in quantity. We should not think that God’s eating has no limitation. On the contrary, God wants you to offer Him an omer of flour. However, you still need to have a reserve. It is not possible to grow Christ as wheat in a short period of time. For this reason, we need a reserve of both grain and flour. Even if we have a large quantity of grain, not enough of this grain may have been ground into flour. Then we shall not have the adequate amount of flour for a meal offering. We need a reserve not only of grain, but also of flour.
Verse 40 says that the tenth of an ephah of fine flour was mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil. We would find it difficult to eat bread without some kind of oil. Usually we put butter on our bread. In like manner, God’s eating of flour also requires oil. We have seen that the flour, or wheat, typifies Christ as the life supply and as the life-producing One. But what does the oil typify? The oil here typifies Christ as the anointing Spirit. Christ is the olive tree that produces the oil which typifies the life-giving Spirit.
Recently in Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament I read a portion about the historic Christ and the pneumatic Christ. The historic Christ is the One who lived on earth. But after His resurrection the historic Christ became the pneumatic Christ. The term pneumatic Christ does not denote a spiritual Christ; rather, it refers to Christ as the Spirit, as the pneuma. A number of writers agree in saying that in the Epistles of Paul Christ is identical to the Spirit, especially insofar as Christian experience is concerned. Thus, we should not think that it is a false teaching to say that Christ is the life-giving Spirit.
Some Bible teachers have pointed out that olive oil is a type of the Holy Spirit of God. This understanding, however, is only partially right. The olive oil not only typifies the Holy Spirit of God, but also typifies Christ as the Spirit. Christ as the Spirit is not separate from the Holy Spirit. No, these two are one Spirit.
In Exodus 29 Christ is the bull, Christ is the lambs, Christ is the flour, and Christ is also the olive oil. It would not be logical to say that the bull, the lambs, the flour, and the wine are Christ but that the oil is something other than Christ. All these categories of things are types of Christ.
Many teachers of the Bible try to separate the Holy Spirit from Christ. They insist on holding the traditional teaching of three separate Persons in the Trinity. According to this teaching, Christ the Son is separate from the Holy Spirit. Those who hold to this concept ignore the revelation in the Bible, expressed both in types and in plain words, that Christ is the life-giving Spirit.
Our concern is not for tradition or systematic theology. We care only for the facts of the Scripture and for spiritual reality. In Exodus 29 there are six items of groceries, three of the animal life and three of the vegetable life. We should not say that the three items of the animal life and two of the vegetable life are types of Christ but that the third item of the vegetable life is a type of the Holy Spirit, not of Christ. No, the oil here typifies Christ as the Spirit. According to the Bible, it is not heretical to teach that Christ is the Spirit. On the contrary, it is heretical to deny it.
The bull, the lambs, the flour, the olive oil, and the wine are all different aspects of Christ. If you consider your experience, you will realize that when you offer Christ as the sin offering, the whole situation between you and God becomes clear. Then in you Christ will be a lamb, obedient to God and meek in the presence of others. He will also be flour for the producing of life and the supplying of life. At the same time, He, the anointing One, will move within you. Christ Himself is the bull, the lamb, the flour, the olive tree producing oil, and the wine.