The Continual Burnt Offering

Prepare: We dedicate, and God consecrates. We surrender, and He sanctifies.
Read: Exodus 29:38-46

The blood of Christ has cleansed us, and our past is gone. Sinful hearts are purified not by religious rites but by faith in Jesus Christ. We stand in the very righteousness of Christ and wear the garments of God's grace.

We have the Holy Spirit living within, and He enables us to minister. The priests were "marked" by the blood on the ear (hear God), the hand (serve God), and the foot (walk with God). The "continual burnt offering" morning and evening was a reminder of their complete and constant devotion to God. It speaks of the fact that the people needed a continual reminder that someone was needed to take their place, and that their sin merited death. Don't forget your daily quiet time with God.

Hebrews 9:26 brings out the truth. The Lord has dealt adequately with sin. Once at the end of the age, He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Verses 42-46 give us an explanation of what all this ceremony and ritual was intended to do. God used this holy system of ritual to dwell among His people. It is only ritual and symbolism; it has to be spiritually fulfilled. We make a mistake if we model church life on it or when we invent too many similar ceremonies and rituals. We are redeemed in order to worship God and be in constant contact with Him. There can be no meeting with God, no experience of His indwelling, until after one has accepted Christ as his Saviour after confessing his sins.

Respond: Walking in the light makes fellowship with God possible.