Blood, Bread, & Oil

“This is the ceremony you must follow when you consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams with no defects. Then, using choice wheat flour and no yeast, make loaves of bread, thin cakes mixed with olive oil, and wafers spread with oil. Place them all in a single basket, and present them at the entrance of the Tabernacle, along with the young bull and the two rams. [Exodus 29.1-3]

Today, I felt like I was looking at the big picture of this passage of scripture. It was almost strange, but at the same time comforting and reassuring - it felt like true understanding.

As I read about the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests, it occurred to me that three main "ingredients" played a great part in today's reading: blood, bread, and oil.

So what do blood, bread, and oil represent? That's easy, right? 

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. The blood of bulls and goats was necessary to redeem mankind. This temporary "fix" was made permanent when Jesus offered His own blood as a once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin.

But what does bread have to do with anything? Bread is mostly indicative of the Word of God. I find it intriguing that God would require bread from His people. But, is that not exactly what Jesus did in quoting God's Word? "It is written..."

Then there is the oil. Oil is mostly agreed upon as representative of the Holy Spirit. There are numerous references today of the oil being mixed with or spread upon the bread. And, that makes perfect sense as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit will always agree and work together. They may indeed have separate uses at times, but they work perfectly well together.

What is really cool though is toward the latter part of today's OYCB reading where incense and oil are mixed. Incense represents prayer - the book of Revelation makes that clear. So, prayer (incense), mixed with the Spirit (oil) sounds a whole lot like what the Apostle Paul described as "praying in the Spirit."

I don't know what caused this perspective in my reading today, but it makes me see the importance God saw in recording these scriptures!

Father, thank You for allowing me to have a different perspective on these details and protocol for worshiping You found in the Old Testament. These things I have discussed today have obviously always been there, but it's like my mind just could not see them with such continuity as today. Thank You!