Leviticus 6:1-30 (NLT)
1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
2 “Suppose one of you sins against your associate and is unfaithful to the LORD. Suppose you cheat in a deal involving a security deposit, or you steal or commit fraud,
3 or you find lost property and lie about it, or you lie while swearing to tell the truth, or you commit any other such sin.
4 If you have sinned in any of these ways, you are guilty. You must give back whatever you stole, or the money you took by extortion, or the security deposit, or the lost property you found,
5 or anything obtained by swearing falsely. You must make restitution by paying the full price plus an additional 20 percent to the person you have harmed. On the same day you must present a guilt offering.
6 As a guilt offering to the LORD, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value.
7 Through this process, the priest will purify you before the LORD, making you right with him, and you will be forgiven for any of these sins you have committed.”
8 Then the LORD said to Moses,
9 “Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on top of the altar until the next morning, and the fire on the altar must be kept burning all night.
10 In the morning, after the priest on duty has put on his official linen clothing and linen undergarments, he must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar.
11 Then he must take off these garments, change back into his regular clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean.
12 Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offerings on it.
13 Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.
14 “These are the instructions regarding the grain offering. Aaron’s sons must present this offering to the LORD in front of the altar.
15 The priest on duty will take from the grain offering a handful of the choice flour moistened with olive oil, together with all the frankincense. He will burn this representative portion on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
16 Aaron and his sons may eat the rest of the flour, but it must be baked without yeast and eaten in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.
17 Remember, it must never be prepared with yeast. I have given it to the priests as their share of the special gifts presented to me. Like the sin offering and the guilt offering, it is most holy.
18 Any of Aaron’s male descendants may eat from the special gifts presented to the LORD. This is their permanent right from generation to generation. Anyone or anything that touches these offerings will become holy.”
19 Then the LORD said to Moses,
20 “On the day Aaron and his sons are anointed, they must present to the LORD the standard grain offering of two quarts of choice flour, half to be offered in the morning and half to be offered in the evening.
21 It must be carefully mixed with olive oil and cooked on a griddle. Then slice this grain offering and present it as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
22 In each generation, the high priest who succeeds Aaron must prepare this same offering. It belongs to the LORD and must be burned up completely. This is a permanent law.
23 All such grain offerings of a priest must be burned up entirely. None of it may be eaten.”
24 Then the LORD said to Moses,
25 “Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the sin offering. The animal given as an offering for sin is a most holy offering, and it must be slaughtered in the LORD’s presence at the place where the burnt offerings are slaughtered.
26 The priest who offers the sacrifice as a sin offering must eat his portion in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.
27 Anyone or anything that touches the sacrificial meat will become holy. If any of the sacrificial blood spatters on a person’s clothing, the soiled garment must be washed in a sacred place.
28 If a clay pot is used to boil the sacrificial meat, it must then be broken. If a bronze pot is used, it must be scoured and thoroughly rinsed with water.
29 Any male from a priest’s family may eat from this offering; it is most holy.
30 But the offering for sin may not be eaten if its blood was brought into the Tabernacle as an offering for purification in the Holy Place. It must be completely burned with fire.
The fire had to remain through the night and beyond. This was the priest’s job: to ensure that the smallest remaining remnant of the sin’s sacrifice was turned to ash. Even then, though, he had to don common clothing and remove the ashes from the city limits, separating it from any casual contact. These were what might be considered small-time stuff, surely nothing heinous enough for the death of a ram. And yet it wasn’t what seemed necessary or justifiable from a human standpoint that mattered. To be right with the Holy One required purity that only the burning of flesh could attain. This consequence of sacrifice was to be a cleansing, but also a deterrent from ever engaging in the transgression at all. There was, though, the need for a continual fire and uninterrupted service of the priesthood to keep the people from the corrupting effects of sin’s infections. Where there was the smallest of transgression, a burning must take place.
In this day of grace that the Lord has made for us, a sacrifice has been offered once and for all in Christ. For what we might consider to be the smallest to the greatest of sins, there is an offering already made for their removal, far from any possibility of staining separation from God’s presence. There is, though, a need for a continual fire of priestly service, where the flesh that would yet have a corrupting influence is kept in an ash state, far from any place of residence. The keeping and stoking of the flame of the Spirit is the role of His servants, with a powerful effect of not only freedom from sin’s condemnation, but even its committal at all. Though there is no longer a need for the physical fire and the smell of burning flesh, for there to be the walk of life in the freedom from the error of the flesh, there must be a walk in the Spirit and its fire that removes all past and future transgressions from those who would know the favor of the Holy One.