Leviticus 6:12',13 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.
This is so encouraging. This is concerning the burnt offering, which pictures a willing sacrifice of the life to the Lord. The Lord Jesus did this perfectly, but we also are commanded to offer ourselves a living sacrifice unto the LORD, even as He did. In our case, we understand that the altar is our hearts, where we continually offer up our lives as a living sacrifice to Him. The sacrifice is consumed by the fire, which signifies God's acceptance of the offering.
The beautiful thing is that the priest lights the fire, and the priest is commanded to make certain that the fire never goes out. Jesus is the antitype of the priest, and He is therefore charged of the Father to start the fire and to take every care to assure that the fire never goes out.
As such, as we attempt to live out our lives to Him, we can look back in daily gratitude that He lit the fire in our lives by saving us, and we can fully trust Him to continue and complete the work of sanctification in our lives; that is, we can know that as we direct our heart and affections toward Him that His blessing will keep us in the way and grant us to grow in Him, that the fire of love for Him in our hearts will never go out if we truly are His. That is so very encouraging.
Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your eternal saving and keeping power, and LORD God, Thank You for accepting us through Him. You are wonderful.
