Jesus the Bread of Life: Part 1

So I was reading the second chapter of Leviticus yesterday to pick up from the day prior of reading. And I like to start out reading the Bible by asking the Holy Spirit to point me in the direction He would like me to write about. So as I began reading about the grain offerings in the second chapter, I came across and interesting verse that reminded me of the image of Jesus as the bread of Life.

‘No grain offering, which you bring to the Lord , shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven or any honey as an offering by fire to the Lord . As an offering of first fruits you shall bring them to the Lord , but they shall not ascend for a soothing aroma on the altar. Every grain offering of yours, moreover, you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.

Leviticus 2:11‭-‬13 NASB

Now Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice had in some way fulfilled every sacrifice that was required in the Old Testament. So looking at the requirements for the grain sacrifice, one of them specifically was that there would be no leaven in the sacrifice and there would always be salt included in the offerings.

If we look at the symbology of salt and leaven, it can give us a clue into the nature of Jesus. Let’s look at leaven.

How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Matthew 16:11‭-‬12 NASB

Jesus made a correlation of false teaching with leaven. So with Jesus, as taking on the role of the grain offering, had to be without false teaching. He had to be the truth and the full truth without a hint of falsehood. And He was when he proclaimed that He was the way, the truth, and the life.

Now let’s take a look at the second part of the grain sacrifice. The grain sacrifice had to be offered with salt. So let’s see what Jesus has to say about salt.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:13‭, ‬15‭-‬16 NASB

So looking at the teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, we can see that there is a correlation with light and salt. If salt becomes saltless and if you hide the light, they are saying the same thing. But we actually get a look into what the salt is and what the light is. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” So there is a correlation between light and good works. Now we know that salt is interchangable with light in this teaching so salt is also correlated with good works. Now we know that Jesus as the grain offering had to be full of truth and full of good works, which of course Jesus was.

Now there is more to say about Jesus being the bread of life, but I want to end this blog post here so that we can meditate on this aspect of Jesus. I will be writing a part 2 on Jesus as the bread of life later.

Hope you guys enjoyed this blog post! If you did, make sure to share with your friends and family. Jesus is the way!