Keeping Aglow
LEVITICUS 6:8-13 NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
The Burnt Offering
8 The Lord said to Moses: 9 “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. 10 The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. 11 Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. 12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. 13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.
HOW TO KEEP THE SPIRITUAL FIRE BURNING ON THE ALTER
It is absolutely necessary that every Christian today should know how to keep the spiritual fire burning especially amidst the current challenges. We need to stand firm knowing that the God in whom we have believed is a faithful God. He who began a good work in us will accomplish it so we need to do our part and that is to keep the fire burning.
There are two revelations in the text above;
- That we can access God through the atoning blood; today we know that our toning blood comes from Jesus Christ himself who shed his blood for us.
- God’s standard for his people is summed up in one word-‘Holiness’
The message to keep the fire burning is repeated for emphasis including V9; V12; V13
Question:
Having accessed God through Christ’s atoning blood of the Son, and the Lamb of God, how should we live before God?
We realize it is one thing getting into the family of God through faith in Christ Jesus but it is another thing living before God in such a way that you can say that by the Grace of God you are living a holy life.
Through Moses God gave Aaron and his sons, the priestly family a command to;
To place burnt offering on the altar of God. The altar gives us an idea of Jesus Christ who placed himself as a sacrifice. We need to put the good things as our form of worship but even the bad ones as a form of surrendering them to God.
The priests to put on linen. This is symbolic of having rest and not striving in the flesh to perform the priestly duty.
The priest to remove the ash from the fire and place it beside the fire and to take it away to allow the burning process
To take off the clothes he was wearing as he took out the ash from the altar to the outside. This reminds us that as children of God that we have to differentiate between holy and unholy.
The priest carrying the ashes away from the camp was a picture of Jesus carrying away our sins.
SOME LESSONS:
There is need for us to depend entirely on the Holy Spirit and not the flesh. If anything, we can do a lot of things in the flesh but what pleases God is that which is from the Spirit.
Removing those things that hinder the burning process; Ash is a natural result of burning something and it has to be removed. Is there anything in our lives that hinders the glow on God’s altar? Normally these are the works of the flesh like pride, immorality, lies, Sorcery, and the like.
We must be able to differentiate between holy and unholy. Our God is holy and so we must also be holy. God never commands us to do anything without giving us the enablement or means to do.
Jesus in this case is the one who is carrying away our sins. The bible speaks of those whose sins are covered as blessed. This hiding is not by ourselves as a sense of pretending or hiding but Jesus covering our sins with his own blood
Psalm 32:1-2 New International Version
1Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.2 blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
Therefore how can we keep the glow?
- We must start well, start at Calvary with Jesus.
Matthew 11:28 New International Version
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
When we start with Jesus we must be born again and become new creatures because in Jesus we gain our spiritual sight. In Him we have a new heart in Christ because he alone can give us a new heart. In Him we die and have a new beginning. We must not have a false start. A false start spiritually means you start where you should not start.
We must proceed well,
With the Holy Spirit not making the mistake of the Galatian church who started well with the Holy Spirit and ended in the flesh, the started well and diverted to legalism.
Christianity is not following a set of rules and commandments. Those rules and commandments are good but Christianity is fellowship with the Father because the blood of the Son has set me free and the Holy Spirit dwells in me. Being a new creature in Christ by the grace of God.
Proceed with the Spirit of God and continue with the word of God because it is important, it is a mirror to you and tells you what is to be removed.
End well
In the story of the talents, Mattew.25:14-30 the two workers who performed well with their talents were given some increase and a complement, ‘well done good and faithful servant’. That is a good ending. We all long to hear these good words of the Master saying ‘well done good and faithful servant, now enter the rest of your Master.’
Paul ended well, 2 Timothy 4:7-8 New International Version
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
The Lord wants us not only to start well, not only to proceed well but to finish well.
