Leviticus 6:8 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Verse nine adds, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. God spoke to Moses and told him to command Aaron and his sons, who were the priests, concerning the burnt offering. Though the priest represented God to the people, they were still under God's command, just as preachers are today. This offering was to be a daily offering, just as we are to offer ourselves as a daily living sacrifice to God. Verse ten continues, And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. The priest was even to dress in a particular way, wearing the garments that he wore at any service at the altar, and then remove the ashes from the altar. This was basically a housecleaning job. We today do not have to dress in a particular way when we come into God's presence, but we do have some house cleaning to do everyday. We need to remove all the things from our lives that get between God and us. Verse eleven states, And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. After the priest removed the ashes from the altar, then he was to change out of his priestly garments. The priest was then to dispose of the ashes in a clean place. Matthew Henry says that the ashes were still representative of the sacrifice to God and were to be treated as such. Verse twelve adds, And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire on the altar was to never go out. It was the responsibility of the priests to keep the fire going so that the daily sacrifices might be made. It is our responsibility today as followers of Christ to make sure that the fire of the gospel never goes out. We must feed the flame daily. Verse thirteen continues, The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. This was simply a reemphasis that the fire on the altar was to never go out. The fire of the altar was to be ever ready at anytime for a sacrifice, just as we are to be ready at anytime to offer our lives as a sacrifice to God. Today, being a Christian is a twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week calling. Verse fourteen declares, And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar. God now goes into the specifics of the way the meat offering was to be presented. Once more, we need to follow God's directions when we are serving Him. We cannot just do what we want and then claim that we were doing it for God. Verse fifteen adds, And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto the LORD. Only a portion of the meat offering was to be burned. Verse sixteen continues, And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. The rest was to be eaten by Aaron and his sons, the priests, with unleavened bread in the tabernacle of the congregation. God was making provision for them, but that did not mean that they were to skimp on the amount burned because they knew the rest was going to be theirs, We today need to realize that as followers of Christ that everything that we have belongs to God, and we should never skip on what we give to do His work. Verse seventeen says, It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. Then verse eighteen adds, All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy. Only the male descendants of Aaron were to eat of the leftovers from the offerings, because they were the priests. Today, any Christian, whether male or female, is a part of the priesthood of God. We can come freely to God at any time.
No comments:
Post a Comment