What connections exist between Numbers 28:20 and New Testament teachings on sacrifice? Verse in Context “Include with them a grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah with each bull and two-tenths with the ram.” (Numbers 28:20) Snapshot of the Old-Covenant Picture • Passover week required not only blood offerings (bulls, ram, lambs) but also a precise grain offering. • Fine flour: sifted, free of grit—symbol of purity. • Mixed with oil: constant OT image of consecration and the Spirit’s presence (Exodus 29:7; 1 Samuel 16:13). • Exact measures: three-tenths for a bull, two-tenths for a ram—God-given precision stressing complete obedience (Leviticus 2:13). How Numbers 28:20 Points Forward to Christ • Purity fulfilled—Jesus’ sinless humanity: “He committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). The fine flour foreshadows that flawless life. • Spirit-anointed Messiah—oil prefigures Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.” • Passover context—Paul ties the whole feast to Christ: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). • Precise sufficiency—Hebrews 10:10: “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” God’s exact standard is perfectly met in Him. New-Testament Echoes of the Grain Offering • John 6:35—Jesus, “the bread of life,” offers sustaining fellowship just as grain offerings were food for priests (Leviticus 2:3). • Ephesians 5:2—Christ “gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering.” The aroma language mirrors the grain offering burned on the altar. • Hebrews 9:23-26—earthly sacrifices were “copies,” but Christ entered the true sanctuary with His own blood. • 1 Peter 2:5—believers now “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ,” a direct carry-over from grain-offering imagery. Living Out the Fulfillment Today • Gratitude for the finished work: no more measuring ephahs—His one sacrifice covers every demand (Hebrews 10:14). • Spirit-filled obedience: as the oil permeated the flour, believers are to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). • Daily self-offering: “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1); our consecrated lives echo the continual grain offering. Takeaway Numbers 28:20’s fine-flour-with-oil offering, situated in Passover worship, foreshadows the sinless, Spirit-anointed, perfectly sufficient sacrifice of Jesus. The New Testament declares that His once-for-all offering completes what the grain offering only previewed and invites believers into Spirit-empowered, continual worship through lives wholly offered to God. |
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