And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning on 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.
Leviticus 6:12 comes from God's instructions to the priests about the burnt offering — not how to bring it, but how to tend it. Why did this one fire have to burn without a break, and why did the priest have to feed it every morning?
The fire consumed what was laid on it. One writer explains what that burning showed about God.
The fire on the altar consumed the burnt offering, and the fat of the peace offering. It was the fitting expression of divine holiness. That holiness found proper material to feed on in Christ and His perfect sacrifice. That fire was never to go out. What showed the action of divine holiness had to be kept up without a break. Through the dark and silent watches of the night, the fire blazed on the altar of God.
What did that unbroken burning mean for the people who saw it?
The burnt offering went on without a break (Lev. 6:8-13). Its continual burning reminds us that the work of Christ is effective forever. Whenever an Israelite looked toward the altar during the whole year, he could see the glow of fire. It reminded him that the sacrifice was always before God. Our Lord's sacrifice is the same — of eternal value. There is never a time when what Christ has offered stops satisfying the holiness of God.
One writer pictures the priest at the altar early in the morning.
Rekindling the fire? No. That was never to go out (Lev. 6:12). What, then, was he doing? He was re-arranging the altar. He removed the ashes left from the evening burnt offering, put fresh wood on the fire, and laid the morning burnt offering on it. All night the fire had been burning, kept up by the evening burnt-offering. All night God had seen what was well pleasing to Him. The column of smoke rising through the night spoke to Him while the people in the vast camp were fast asleep. It spoke of the death of His Son, and of His self-surrender to God's will. That reminder was never to be absent from the eye of God. We rightly think of how that sacrifice has perfectly met our need. God thinks also of what it is to Him.
Every priest was expected to know this fire, and no worshipper could miss it.
There was a fire which everyone engaged in priestly service should have been familiar with. It was the one that burned continually upon the bronze altar. (Lev. 6:12-13.) It met the eye of everyone approaching from outside. The bronze altar was the first thing within the court. There could be no approach to God apart from the death of the victim upon this bronze altar. The fire also gives us a picture of the judgment of God. In Leviticus 1 the fire consuming the burnt offering only brings out more fully the sweet fragrance which God received from the death of the unblemished victim. This judgment of God, fully searching Christ on the cross, found only what God could delight in.
The verse ends by putting the fat of the peace offerings on this same fire. What sort of offering was that?
Apart from the Lord's claim on the fat and the blood, the peace offering was for shared joy, not at all for expiation. It was thanksgiving. It was not for Aaron and his sons like the grain offering. It was for the united joy of all who took part — the Lord, the priest, the offerer and his guests. But the Lord's portion was to be burnt on the burnt offering. So on an occasion of joy the link was clear with that deepest display of Christ's obedience right up to death.
The priest supplied fuel every morning. One writer asks what happens when we try to live on past devotion instead.
I remembered times when I had tried hard to revive old enthusiasm and past devotion to Christ and His service by dwelling on them. I was raking together the smouldering ashes of the past, and I found it all in vain. As I thought it over I said to myself again and again: it cannot be done. If the fire is to keep burning, it will not be by dwelling on the past, but by finding fresh fuel. The present and the future will be as joyful and vigorous as the past in no other way. The fire must have fresh fuel every day if it is to burn with a steady glow.
- Fire — the flame on the altar stands for God's holiness. In Christ's sacrifice it found something it could feed on with delight, not destroy.
- Never out — it burned through every night, so the offering was always before God. The value of Christ's work never lapses.
- Never relit — the priest cleared ashes, added wood, and laid the offering in order. He never started the fire; he only kept it burning.
- Never rivalled — this was the one fire in the courtyard, and the altar was the first thing anyone met. There was no way to God except through the death of the victim there.
- Never stale — the fat of the peace offerings went on this same fire, so shared joy rests on Christ's obedience to death. Joy like that needs fresh fuel daily, not yesterday's ashes.
A continual fire shall be kept burning on the altar it shall never go out.
Israel's camp had one fire that was never allowed to die. The law of the burnt offering ends by pointing not at the animal or the priest, but at the flame. God required it to burn day and night. Writers ask what that unbroken fire was meant to say.
The command is not given once. The same instruction returns again and again in a few verses. One writer treats that repetition as the point itself.
Notice, as I read these verses, how this continuity is emphasised and repeated. "It is the burnt offering, because of its burning on the altar all night until the morning" (verse 9). "It shall not be put out" (verse 12). "Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out" (verse 13). Why do these words occur over and over again? God repeats nothing in His word, except to press it more deeply upon our forgetful hearts.
So what was that flame? One writer answers from what the fire fed on.
The fire on the altar consumed the burnt offering, and the fat of the peace offering. It was the fitting expression of divine holiness. That holiness found proper material to feed on in Christ and His perfect sacrifice. That fire was never to go out. This showing of divine holiness in action was to continue without a break. Through the dark and silent watches of the night, the fire blazed on the altar of God.
What does a fire that never goes out say about the sacrifice it consumed? One writer answers.
The perpetuity of the burnt offering (Lev. 6:8-13), seen in its continual burning, reminds us of the eternal efficacy of the work of Christ. All year round, an Israelite could turn his eyes toward the altar and see the glow of the fire. It reminded him that the sacrifice was always before God. So is our Lord's sacrifice — of eternal value. There is never a moment when God's holiness stops resting satisfied in what Christ has offered.
The night hours belonged to this offering alone. One writer listens to what that smoke said, and to whom.
By day other sacrifices were burned on the altar as well. By night the burnt offering, with its grain offering, was the only sacrifice on the bronze altar. So God arranged that the self-surrender of the Lord Jesus, giving Himself up to do God's will in death, would always be before Him. This law hints, and the New Testament plainly teaches, how precious that act of the Lord was to God. The Lord Himself spoke of it as the ground on which the Father's love flows out to Him in a special way (John 10:17). Night after night that lone column of smoke went up toward heaven. Those keeping the charge of the whole congregation may have understood little about it. Yet there was a voice in it for God, to whom it went up. In the middle of midnight darkness and silence, it spoke to Him of that act of His Son, by which He would be for ever glorified. It was a secret then, known in any fullness only to God... All night to the morning it was burning, while the world was asleep.
Every fire in the sanctuary had one source. One writer turns that into a rule for worship.
In chapter 6:9, the point is — and a very important one it is — that the fire was to be burning always. As in Isaiah 6, all came from the bronze altar. There is no real prayer or praise, or anything of that kind, except in connection with the sacrifice of Christ... Take it as a rule: use no fire except from the bronze altar.
A fire that never goes out has to be fed. One writer found in that a lesson about his own devotion to Christ.
I remembered times when I had tried hard to revive old enthusiasm and past devotion to Christ and His service by dwelling on them. I was really raking together the smouldering ashes of the past, and I found it all in vain... If the fire is to keep burning, and if the present and future are to be as joyful and strong as the past, it will not come by dwelling on the past. It will come by finding fresh fuel. The fire must have fresh fuel every day if it is to burn with a steady glow.
- The fire is holiness. The flame on the altar showed God's holiness in action. It found its fuel in Christ's perfect sacrifice.
- The fire never dies. The command comes three times in a few verses. It marks a work whose value never fades, and a holiness never for a moment unsatisfied.
- The fire burns unseen. Through the night, while the world slept, the offering still spoke to God of His Son.
- The fire is the only fire. Praise and prayer that God accepts rise only in connection with that one sacrifice. No fire comes from anywhere else.
- The fire needs fuel. A fire that never goes out must be fed. Fresh fuel today keeps love for Christ glowing; raking over yesterday's ashes will not.