Beginning with this message, we will cover the laws of the offerings. The laws of the offerings are the ordinances and regulations of the offerings. For each offering there is a law, a regulation, an ordinance. The laws of the offerings appear to be quite simple. Actually, as we will see, something of deep and high spiritual significance is hidden in these laws.
Leviticus 6:9a says, “Command Aaron and his sons and say, This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall be upon the hearth on the altar all night until the morning.” This signifies that anything offered as a burnt offering must be put on the place of offering to be burned. This is something that worldly people cannot understand, for they are raised and educated to become something in the world. Worldly parents certainly do not teach their children to offer themselves to God to be burned.
By the Lord’s mercy and grace, our heart is different from the heart of the unbelievers. We know that the burnt offering indicates that we have a heart that is absolute for God in this age. We are not for anything else, and we have no other interest. Even though we encourage the young people to get the best education, education is not the thing we love. The young people may get the highest education, but they need to realize that on this earth we Christians will eventually be nothing but ashes. This will be the issue of our offering ourselves to God as a burnt offering and of our being burned.
I would like to say a word to the young people who have the heart to serve the Lord full-time. I must tell you that hardships await you and that there is no future for you on earth. You will have nothing earthly on which to rely for your security and for your human living. You may feel that you will be very useful to God, but in the end you will be ashes. Everyone wants to be somebody, but if you would serve the Lord Jesus full-time, you must prepare yourself to be nobody, even to be ashes. Are you willing to be burned? To be burned to ashes is a matter not of enjoyment but of suffering. The destiny of a full-timer is a life of suffering. What is offered to God as a burnt offering must be on the place of burning, not on the place of anything glorious or high. Eventually, the outcome of such a life, a life of suffering, a life without a future and without security, will be a heap of ashes.
Although we have no earthly security, I can testify that we have the Lord Jesus as our security. Christ is my security, even though He sometimes hides Himself from me in order to test me. As a result of my experience and learning, I can tell you that the best time to enjoy the Lord Jesus is when He is hiding from you. After seeming to disappear for a while, He will spontaneously appear to us again. This is often His way with us. Such a Christ is our real security.
The burnt offering’s being upon the hearth (firewood) on the altar all night until the morning also signifies that what is offered should remain at the burning place through the dark night until morning. “All night” means all this dark age. The age we are in is a dark night. The burnt offering should be burning continually through the whole night until the morning.
No matter how long the night may be, eventually there will be a morning, a sun rising. The real sun rising will be the Lord’s coming back, and we are waiting for this. However, we should not expect the Lord Jesus to come back quickly to spare us from the trial of the dark night. The more we ask Him to come quickly for this reason, the more He may delay His coming for our sake and for the sake of our passing through a longer dark night.
Recently I spoke a word to the full-timers in Taipei concerning sufferings and hardships. I told them to be prepared to have a life that will not be easy and to take a way that will not be smooth but rugged. We need to remain on the place of burning and be burned throughout the dark night until morning.
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