THE LAW OF THE BURNT OFFERING

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Seth A. Ofei Badu

Main Readings: Leviticus 6:8 – 13, Romans 12: 1 - 8

Laws in the Old Covenant should be treated as principles in the New Testament because they proceed from the same God. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were required to follow the law unquestionably. Those of us who are bought into the New Covenant through the sacrifice of Jesus ought to examine the dictates of the law to discover the mind of God behind them and excel the conduct of the Old Covenant people by applying the principles in His service. The burnt offering was a gift offering to God which was completely burnt with fire. It pre-dates the law, in that Abel, Noah and Abraham all successfully made such sacrifices to God. Through Moses God specified how He would like it to be done, and enshrined it in the law. Two key legal observances were:

a.       The sacred fire must be stoked continually with fresh firewood
b.      The ashes must be regularly removed to make way for fresh offering and firewood

Associated observances include the following:

a.       The burnt offering is placed in order on the burning firewood every morning
b.      It shall be kept on the altar all night
c.       The priest should be in priestly garments when he takes the ashes from the altar, but must be in other garments when disposing of the ashes to a clean place
d.      The fire on the altar must never go out, meaning the fire is kept burning when the ashes are being removed

Now the New Testament principles to be derived from this law:

                                 i.            The fire represents the Holy Spirit who indwells and imparts gifts to all those who accept Christ
                               ii.            The firewood represents the set of activities by which we keep His presence in us ablaze (relevant) through putting His gifts to use
                              iii.            The burnt offering represents us, who must offer ourselves as living sacrifices (See Romans 12:1)
                             iv.            The ashes represent the unusable elements in us (the sacrifice) and our efforts (the firewood) that are revealed by the fire, such as bad, outmoded and irrelevant habits and practices (e.g. the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21). These when not removed before the next firewood is placed can make the fire burn with less and less efficiency
                               v.            The priests again represent us when we are fully committed to the things of God even to the peril of our very lives (See 1Peter 2:5,9, Rev. 1:6; 5:10 cf. Numbers 25:13)
                             vi.            That the priest must be in priestly garments to remove the ashes means that getting rid of the ashes is a sacred duty which must be observed as such; moreover if we are the priests, then it means another person cannot take out our ashes for us. We must do it ourselves, after the fire (Holy Spirit) has revealed them.
                            vii.            The ashes are taken away from the side of the altar in non-priestly garments to signify the fact that we must not glorify attachment to the ashes, since their presence temporarily makes us un-priestly!

                          viii.            The ashes are taken to a clean place to signify that as priests, our dealing with our shortcomings revealed only by the Spirit, we must not be occasion for contamination or humiliation.

Conclusion
The Holy Spirit has been given to us the Gift of God. As new creatures of the new birth through Christ, it is only operations in us make us truly better and better. We must work hard at cooperating with Him to reap the benefits of His living in us. We must keep working with the gifts he has placed in us such as can be found in Joel 2:28, Romans 8: 6 – 8, 1 Corinthians 12: 8 – 11, fanning them constantly into greater flames. While doing so, we must also take care to deal with our numerous shortcomings that only the Holy Spirit points out and graciously helps us to remove with dignity. His fire in us, the Gifts of the Spirit, will therefore burn more efficiently and we will be continuously prepared for greater uses of the Lord.

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