Good Morning.
He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. (Leviticus 2:2)
As I shared with you in the previous devotion, the meal offering, in Hebrew, is called the מנחה minchah. Even though this offering did not involve the slaughter of an animal, it was not considered to be less important than the others. That’s pretty interesting considering that the two main ingredients – flour and oil – were very common food articles. However, these were not natural products but were the result of toil and labor. Yes, the flour came from barley or wheat and oil came from olives, still, the flour was the result of work, as was the oil.
Thus, the meal offering presented on the altar represented the consecration of man’s labor or his work in the service of God. Yes, that’s right — God does accept our works when they offered in the right way and for the right thing. As James teaches us, our works are evidence of our faith in action. Without righteous works, our faith is considered dead (James 2:20). And so, while it is necessary that blood be shed for the remission of sin (as evidenced by the blood of bulls and goats etc), it is also appropriate that our works be dedicated to God. When we follow the prescribed protocol when approaching the Holy One, we see that He expects and receives our good works.
In the beginning, Cain presented an offering from the fruit of the ground, in other words, he brought an minchah offering. However, as we know, it was rejected. The Bible says that Abel “also brought of the firstlings of his flock” and his offering was accepted. But did you know that the offering presented by Abel and accepted by God was a minchah or meal offering? That is why he Bible says he “also brought” not “instead brought.” In other words, Abel understood that the blood of the lamb had to be acknowledged as the agent of forgiveness and redemption if our works were to be considered acceptable to God.
Thus, from the beginning, the Bible has taught that faith is what God is looking for in His people — faith in the blood of the Lamb. But also, from the beginning, we are taught that genuine faith provokes proper action, or if you will, works. Because of our faith, we do the things God tells us to do and He considers them acceptable — not for the forgiveness of sin but as evidence that our sins are forgiven. Let’s put it this way: where works are concerned, we do what God says, not in order to be saved but because we are saved. Our good works are our minchah offering made acceptable because the Lamb has been sacrificed on our behalf.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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