The Feed Mill

Today’s Bible Reading: Leviticus 24-25

Today’s Devotional: Leviticus 24:1-9

The oil and the showbread

Tucked away here in these 9 verses towards the end of the Law. God has finished giving the instructions for how they were to relate and interact with him and one another so that they may come before a Holy God and may continue to live in His promises. God has given instructions on how the individual priest is to approach Him and then how he is to live amongst the people. Then we’ve seen how God has made available times of the year for all the people to come together as one people to Worship and spend time with Him, and what it is that all national gatherings were to be about and focused on. Worshiping God and fellowshipping with Him in corporate setting. And all of this was to be centered around and focused on the work done in the Tabernacle, then later in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Leviticus 24:1-9 God switches from the annual calendar and the priests annual responsibilities to the daily and weekly calendar and the day to day responsibilities.

Oil in scripture is a picture of the Holy Spirit, and the oil is to be clear, not tainted with an impurities from ourselves or the world around us. And is kept in a continuous supply, the priests actions were not to cause the supply to stop, the illumination of light in our lives is to be continuous.

Bread in scripture speaks of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit provides key illumination which allows for the revelation of God’s Word in our lives. The showbread in the text literally means “bread of the face”, the presence of God.

For the Christian the center of our relationship with the Lord is driven by and focused on the daily out pouring of the Holy Spirit fresh and new every morning and the Word of God sitting continuously before us as we go about God’s specific calling upon our lives. In the Oil and Bread being placed we see the Lord’s general will for each of our lives it is to be constantly filled with a fresh daily outpouring of the Holy Spirit which will illuminate the Word of God and the character of God in our life. And God’s will for the showbread once a week was then to be consumed together, in fellowship with one another, God’s will is that the individual believers will gather corporately and that their gathering will be centered around the Holy Spirit illuminating God’s Word and character in their lives corporately. That they will be an effective body within the community and strengthened corporately for every good thing the Lord has given.

The Holy Spirt, the Word of God, and fellowship with others in the body of Christ in order partake of the same nourishment in close physical proximity with one another, not when the Bread is delivered to your individual house but that when we come together physically and corporately the Word of God then being the center of our fellowship and the Holy Spirit dividing illuminating the Word of God now corporately, a continuation of what the Holy Spirit has done individually in the lives of believers throughout the week.