In the 6th chapter of Leviticus,
from verse 8, we read the following. Leviticus 6, verse 8. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, 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. 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. And he shall put off his garments,
and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without
the camp unto a clean place. 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 shall ever be burning upon the altar, it
shall never go out. The fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar, it shall never go out. Here in chapter six of Leviticus,
we see the commencement of a new section in this book of Leviticus. We've seen in the earlier chapters,
five different offerings set forth before the people. We've seen the burnt offering,
the meat offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and
the trespass offering. which range in their imagery,
their picture and their meaning from the burnt offering through
to the trespass offering. From that offering which respects
that which is inward, unforgivable, the very nature of man, sin within
which must be destroyed and burnt with fire. Through to that which
comes out of man, proceeds from man, the trespasses, the deeds
which he does, and the deeds which the congregation as a whole
do, deeds which others do, by which a man is defiled. Should
he not confess what he's seen of others, and should he have
contact with others and be part of their sin. The burnt offering through to
the trespass offering. Offerings which range from that
which is inward to that which is outward. In which we see the contrast
between the flesh and the blood. between sin which is within,
which is what we are, which must be destroyed and burnt with fire,
and sins which we commit, which flow forth from us, which must
be forgiven through the shedding of blood. The range of the offerings
encompass the range, the richness, the depth, of the sufferings
of Christ for his people. And in the midst of the five
offerings, the burnt offering, the meat offering, the peace
offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering, in the
center is the peace offering, which is the fruit, the result
of all of these. That ultimately, Christ, in offering
himself up as that one sacrifice for sin forever, brought his
people unto, he brought his people unto peace with God his Father.
As their burnt offering, as their meat offering, the offering for
the flesh, as their peace offering, as their sin offering and their
trespass offering, he brought them to peace, to peace with
God. But having set forth the richness
of these five offerings, the trespass offering which is concluded
at the start of chapter six, this book takes another turn
and it moves on to the laws of these offerings, the instructions
to the priesthood with regard to how these five offerings must
be offered. They've been set forth and instructions
have been given to the people for the offerings that they should
bring. But now Moses is instructed to give instruction regarding
these offerings and certain important facts regarding how they should
be offered. And he commences in verse 8 of
chapter 6 to deal with the burnt offering. The burnt offering. And the great fact that stands
out about the burnt offering which is stressed in these few
verses is the nature of that which burns it. There is an altar
here which is aflame, ablaze continually. The fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar, it shall never go out. It is forever burning. God's fury, his anger with sin, with the fallen corrupt
nature of man is an eternal wrath. It has no beginning and no end. He hates sin. He always has hated
sin. He always will hate sin. The fire of his wrath, his fury,
his hatred of sin shall ever be burning. It shall never go
out. you who are full of sin, you
who from the day you were born have spoken lies, have deceived,
have sought your own pleasure, your own glory, have turned your
back on God, you who are full of sin cause the fires of God's wrath.
to burn against you with an everlasting hatred of that which you are. God's fires, God's wrath, God's
fury cannot be quenched. There is nothing that you and
I can do to take away this sin. The fire shall never be burned
upon the altar. It shall never go out. This is made clear unto us throughout
the Scriptures, throughout the Word of God, from Genesis to
Revelation. God's eternal hatred of sin,
of rebellion, of the iniquity of man, of the wickedness of
man, made plain. In Genesis, when Adam fell, God threw him out of the garden
and set a flaming sword at the entrance to the garden. That
man could never get back in there except he passed by through a
flaming sword. when the wickedness of mankind
increased through the generations such that in the days of Noah
wickedness was over the whole world God was so moved against
that wickedness that he's poured down his judgment upon the world
and in that day he did it with the storms of the rains which
flooded the entire world and destroyed all mankind except
Noah and his house. But he has promised that he will
never send a flood like that upon this world again. But there
is coming, there is coming a day at the end of time when this
world will be no more. and when the stars of the firmament
above will be rolled up like a scroll and when this world
will be burnt with fire because the fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar it shall never go out from the beginning of time until
the end God has made it clear He hates sin He hates wickedness
and it will be burned. In Deuteronomy 32, God spake
of His anger against the enemies of Israel and of what He would
do to them. For a fire is kindled in mine
anger, He says, and shall burn unto the lowest hell and shall
consume the earth with her increase. and set on fire the foundations
of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them. I will spend mine arrows upon
them. They shall be burnt with hunger
and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction.
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them with the poison
of serpents of the dust. Oh the fury, oh the magnitude
of God's wrath against sin and of God's wrath against the wickedness
of men and of any who set their hand against God's people and
set their hand against His anointed, the Son of God, His own Son in
whom His people are found. God is angry with the enemies
of his people, because his people are one with his son. And if
anyone says one thing against one of God's little children,
if they touch them, if they beat them, if they bruise them, if
they scoff them or mock them, they do so to his son. And God
is jealous for his son. And his anger against those who
hate his son is an eternal anger, eternal wrath, an everlasting
fire. For this is what sin is. This
is what your sin and my sin is. It is not merely a disobedience
to certain instructions, certain commands. is not merely a going
away from God and seeking after this and seeking after that but
ultimately all sin at its heart is a hatred, a despising, a trampling
underfoot of the Son of God. And God's love for his Son is
so great that his hatred of that which despises and hates his
son is equally great. The magnitude of God's wrath
against sin is measured by the magnitude of God's love for his
son and for his people in his son. It is because God loves
His Son that the fires of His wrath will not go out against
the enemies of His Son. And it is because God loves His
people with an everlasting love, an unquenchable love, an unfathomable
love, that He hates that which hates them. And sin is a hatred
of God's Son and His people in His Son. Yes, this fire shall
ever be burning because the love of God for His Son and His people
shall ever burn. He will never take away His love
from any of His people who are found in Christ. The fire shall
ever be burning upon the altar, it shall never go out. These
fires are never quenched, never quenched. Now we read earlier from Exodus
in chapter three of that wonderful image, that wonderful picture
of the fires of God's wrath and of the glory of God, and the
majesty of God, and the majesty of God as seen in His Son, when
Moses was brought unto the mountain of God under Horeb, and beheld
a bush which burned, but was never consumed. Exodus 3 and
verse 1 says, Now Moses kept the flock of Jephro his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside
of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even the Horeb.
And the angel of the Lord appeared under him in a flame of fire
out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And
when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto
him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he
said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet,
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he
said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he
was afraid to look upon God. Oh, what a sight. What a wondrous
sight. What a fearsome sight. Moses
was afraid to look upon God. He was instructed to take the
shoes from off his feet for here he was alone in the mount and
here he beholds a bush burning with fire and yet it's not consumed. What a sight, what a picture
of the glory, the majesty, the holiness of God and of both God's
fury with sin that brings forth the fire. and his eternal righteousness
and holiness that in Christ cannot be consumed. The fire will never be quenched. Moses here led the flock in the
backside of the desert. and led that flock to the mountain
of God. And here he's seen as a picture
of God's shepherd leading his people through a desert unto
the mountain of God where he beholds the glory of God. Now there's nothing in a desert
for a flock of sheep. There's nowhere for them to feed.
There's nothing for them to go there for. And yet, in the mountain of God,
in this bush, in this fire, they have all that they need. For
here this people are brought, as it were, through their mediator,
through Moses on their behalf, unto a burnt offering, unto a
sight of the Lord Jesus. in the midst of the fires, suffering
for them, eternal wrath because of their sin, but eternal wrath
because of God's everlasting love for them. There's no beginning
nor end to these fires. This account in Exodus is right
near the start of the Bible, like I said, of Genesis also. And of many other places we read
of the fires of God's wrath, right through the scriptures,
right up until the last book in the scriptures in Revelation,
where we read of death and hell being cast into a lake of fire,
the second death. The Word of God begins with the
fires of God's wrath against sin. And it ends with the fires
of God's wrath against sin. Because it begins with the love
of God for His people in Christ. And it ends with the love of
God for His people in Christ. Christ says in Revelation, I
am Alpha and Omega. the beginning and the end. He
is from everlasting unto everlasting. He is without beginning, without
end. He ever was and ever will be.
And as the eternal God, God's love is set in His Son throughout
eternity. And God's fury is upon all the
darkness outside of His Son throughout eternity. God's glory, His majesty, His
righteousness, His wrath is seen at the start, the middle and
the end of all the scriptures, throughout all time, throughout
all eternity. Because the love of God cannot
be quenched. The love of God in the light, the hatred of God, the fury of
God, the wrath of God and the fires of God that pour upon the
darkness can never be quenched. Which is why when the light came
into the darkness, when Christ himself came into this world,
as John speaks of him, the light shining in the darkness, when
the light came into the darkness of this world, He spake unto
the darkness of the world, in no uncertain terms, when He said,
I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by Me. When He spake the Gospel, when
He preached the Gospel, when He declared that life is in Him
alone, and when He declared plainly, as no one else has ever done
so plainly, that outside of Him, outside of Christ, outside of
God's burnt offering, Christ Himself, as He offered Himself
upon the altar of God's wrath, outside of Him, there is nothing
but the fires of hell. You'll find more references to
hell and the everlasting judgment of God against sin and the fires
of God's wrath from Christ's lips, then you'll hardly find
from anyone else. Read the Gospels. Read the Gospels. Why does Christ speak so much
of hell? Because he's making plain to
a world in darkness, a world full of sin, to you and I, that
outside of him There is darkness, sin, death, and hell, and fires
that cannot be quenched. But in him, and in his gospel,
there is the love of God without beginning and without end. Christ said in Mark chapter 9
verse 42, and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones,
one of these people, if you offend one of my children, one who has heard my gospel and
followed me, one who I have chosen and loved from before the foundation
of the world, one for whom I have suffered and died, if you offend
one of these little ones that believe in me, Whosoever offend
one of these little ones, it is better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And
if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, for it is better for
thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into
hell, into that fire that never shall be quenched, where their
worm die if not, and the fire is not quenched. How Christ connects the fires
of hell, which cannot be quenched, and being cast into those fires,
and that which deserves to be cast into those fires, with offending
one of his little ones. Your greatest rebellion against
God is when you despise his son and you despise his son when
you despise those little ones that follow him. Or you may know
someone that speaks of Christ and you may mock them and scoff
at their religion You may follow the teachings and the bedazzlement
of science in the age in which we live. And you may believe
the lies of science and the world around you that ridicule God. and ridicule the gospel and ridicule
those who follow Jesus Christ. Ridicule those who declare plainly
that God created this world in six days. Ridicule those who
say that there is an end to come, that this world will be judged.
Ridicule those who say that after death there is judgment and you
will stand before Almighty God and give an account for your
deeds. You may ridicule those who believe in an Almighty God
and believe on His Son and believe in that Son who died for sinners. You may ridicule those who believe
that Christ died and rose again from the dead. You may ridicule
what they preach, what they believe and how they live. You may ridicule
all that they are. But when you despise them, And
when you offend them, and when you mock them and scoff them,
you take your hand and you shake it at their master. You revile
the Lord Jesus Christ. You revile the Son of God. You mock and scoff the Son of
God and it's better for you when you do that, that a millstone
were hanged around your neck and you were cast into the sea. Because if that's how you end
your life, offending God's children and despising God's Son, you
will enter into a place called hell. where the worm die if not,
and the fire is not quenched. Christ has declared that unto
you. Those are his words, not mine. Those are his words, not
the words of a preacher. Those are his words, not the
words of religion. Those are his words. The Son
of God has declared that there are fires upon an altar that
will not go out. And if you offend Him and His
people, you will fill them. But Christ did not come into
this world to condemn, but He came as a burnt offering for
His people. He came to declare under His
people salvation. Salvation accomplished, salvation
finished, salvation complete. He came to declare that He Himself
for them would take those fires, would take the fires from the
altar and He would lay Himself upon the altar. and be burnt
in their place. And he would come and declare
unto them, that like that bush which Moses beheld, that though
he would be burnt, and though he would swallow up the wrath
and the judgment, and though he would deliver them, from ever
feeling one lick of one flame of God's wrath, though he would
deliver them from all judgment and bring them to peace with
God, he himself, like the bush, would not be consumed. Yes, Christ took the wrath of
God for his people. He was, He is their burnt offering,
laid upon that altar whose fires never go out. Oh the magnitude of what Christ
suffered upon the cross for His people. He was laid upon an altar
whose fires never go out. 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. The fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar, it shall never go out. When Christ was nailed to a cross
and lifted up to die God laid upon Him the sins of all His
people and He made Him as the burnt offering to be the sin
of the world He made Him to be their sin in their place and
when God laid that upon Him and made Him to be sin the light
of the sun was taken away for three hours and Christ entered
into the darkness. He who is the light of God, He
who is the light of God, who came into this darkness of this
world, took the darkness upon Himself, took the sin, and was
burnt under God's anger. He entered into the night, into
the night where the fires burn. into the night where the fury
of God goes forth because in glory when we will be with Christ
forevermore there is no judgment no anger no fury because we're
in the light there we're in the day there but in the night God's
fires forever burn And when Christ died upon the cross, when he
hung there in the hours of darkness, the free hours, he was in the
night. He was the burnt offering. It is the burnt offering because
of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning. all through those hours of darkness
all through the night Christ suffered and what he suffered
in three hours was eternity compressed into time. In three hours Christ
experienced the eternal burning of God's wrath against sin for
all his people. He experienced eternity in a
span of time. The light of the sun was taken
away all the earth was dark because Christ entered into the night
and in the night in those hours there was an eternal, an eternity
of wrath poured out upon Christ. Those fires which shall burn
forever, burnt forever upon Christ in those hours. But at the end... when Christ
had paid the price to the uttermost, as the everlasting God, as the
God without beginning and end, he could take eternity, he could
take that which is everlasting and put it upon himself in time
and take it away. Oh, we cannot comprehend this.
This defies understanding. This is past finding out through
human intellect. But it's what Christ did. He
is the burnt offering because of the burning upon the altar
all night until the morning, until the morning. And very early
in the morning on the third day, The women came to the tomb and
he found him not there. And the angel said unto them,
why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, he
is risen. He was burnt in the night, but
when the morning came, he and his people arose victorious. Victorious. Oh, the sorrows he
passed through. as their offering. The sorrows
of death compassed me, the psalmist writes. And the floods of ungodly
men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed
me about. The snares of death prevented
me. In my distress I called upon
the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his
temple. and my cry came before him, even
into his ears. That's where Christ was, in the
night, in the darkness, encompassed by the sorrows of death, encompassed
by the sorrows of hell. He cried out under his guard.
Who did? Christ did, the Son of God, the
everlasting, the one without beginning and end, the I AM, who Moses met with at the burning
bush. God said unto him, I am the God
of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob, I am. When God then sent Moses to deliver
his people, Moses said, what shall I say unto them? Behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto
them, the God of your fathers have sent me unto you, and they
shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am have sent me unto you. Now that I am is Christ himself. I am the bread of life. I am
the way, the truth, and the life. I am. I am God. I am thy saviour. I am the one
without beginning and end. I am the eternal God who took
the eternal wrath of God. Those fires you've seen upon
this bush, I am the one who can consume them. I am the one who
will deliver you. I am the one who will deliver
my people from Egypt. And when Christ the burnt offering
was offered up in the night, When He rose in the morning,
I Am led all His people forth out of the captivity of Egypt,
out of this world, out of oppression, out of the jail, out of sin,
out of death, out of hell. He led them forth across the
waters into that promised land, flowing with milk and honey,
which Moses led that people into in a figure, but which in reality
Christ led all his people into. He took them three days journey
into the wilderness, three days through his cross, through the
grave, into the tomb and out of the tomb. And on the third
day he rose again from the dead. And those fires upon that altar,
which will never go out, fell upon Christ and not them. Fell upon Christ and not them.
Oh, what a people. What a people delivered, what
a salvation. Did he do it for you? Did he
deliver you? Did he endure the hours of God's
wrath, the flames of God's wrath for you? Oh what a people he
delivered, sinners, the worst, children of wrath, schemers,
deceivers, those with filthy garments, those who are unrighteous. And yet he took them as brands,
plucked from the burning, and led them forth into a land flowing
with milk and honey, into glory forevermore. Zechariah 3 we read, of this
people as figured, as pictured by Joshua the high priest, these
people, these sinners, these nothings. We read in Zechariah
3, and he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the lord and satan standing at his right hand to resist him
and the lord said unto satan the lord rebuke thee oh satan
even the lord that have chosen jerusalem rebuke thee is not
this a brand plucked out of the fire now joshua was clothed with
filthy garments and stood before the angel Is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire? This one clothed with filthy
garments? This Joshua here a representative
of all the people of God? Because in type and figure Joshua
here. is a picture of the Joshua, the
Lord Jesus, who took upon himself the filthy garments of all his
people, and endured the wrath of God for them, and was plucked
out of the fire for them. And they in him, with their filthy
garments, were plucked out of the fire because he, Christ,
was their burnt offering, and he endured it for them. Did he endure it for you? Did
he endure it for you? There comes a day, as we have
said, when this world will be burnt up with fire. When the
heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. When all the world,
men, women and children will stand before Almighty God and
will answer for what they are or what they have done. and they
will be divided into two, the sheep on one side and the goats
on the other, that flock, the sheep that Moses in figure led
forth in the wilderness unto the mountain of God, they will
be divided from the goats, the wicked, those who have offended
Christ and his little ones. and they will be cast into death
and into hell. And death and hell will be cast,
as Revelation 20 verse 14 tells us, into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Now
what of you? Do you still shake your fist
at Christ and his little ones? Do you still despise God's burnt
offering, his son, and despise the altar, and despise the holy
ground on which these things are set?
Do you walk by a burning bush with the feet still upon your
shoes, apathetic, cold and heartless, turning aside, setting these
things forth for another day. Do you despise Christ and his
little ones? Does death and hell and a lake
of fire stand before you and you shut your ears to it and
you shut your eyes to it and you shut your heart and mind
to it and you walk backwards to it with a hardened heart? Or has God by his gospel led
you before an altar upon which there is a fire that forever
burns and shown you a savior an offering laid upon it who
endured those fires to deliver sinners such as you and I. Has God opened your eyes and
opened your heart and shown you your need of this offering and
said, there's my son, whose love is so boundless and so great
for sinners, so everlasting, that he endured the everlasting
wrath of God, that he might set upon them the everlasting love
of God, a love which knows no beginning nor end. Do you know
the love of God, the love of Christ? a love whose fires for
his people, a love the fires of which shall ever be burning
and which shall never go out.