The Guilt Offering & Continual Fire

INTRO

In Leviticus, we’re plowing through a whole lot of offerings. So far, we’ve covered:

Leviticus 1 – burnt offerings

Leviticus 2 – grain offerings

Leviticus 3 – fellowship offerings

Leviticus 4 – sin offering (priests, community, leaders, common people)

Leviticus 5 – trespass or guilt offering

Remember God gave this manual to tell the Israelites how to engage in worship with Him. Recognize that you need forgiveness, which is only received through the sacrifice of Christ, our Atonement.

Israel, in this context, had been in Egypt for a long time and was now traveling through the desert. Nelson’s commentarysays, “Israel was a refugee nation traveling through the desert.”¹They didn’t really have homes as they traveled throughout the desert and they had no rules. So God gave them these regulations and required offerings to guide them. At the end of Leviticus 5, there was the trespass/guilt offering when a person was aware of his guilt or the guilt was suspected.

TEACHING

Leviticus 6:1–4: The Lord gave Moses instructions for guilt offerings. Remember, this was the manual for these Israelite refugees and was an ongoing conversation between Moses and God. Can you imagine the wilderness conversations? When the Israelites deceived a neighbor, they offended the Lord! The offender had to acknowledge he was wrong and return whatever he had stolen from the neighbor. God was giving the Israelites an outlet.

Leviticus 6:5: If an Israelite deceived or stole from his neighbor, he had to make full restitution! He also had to add a fifth to its value—20 percent on top of what was taken. This was to be done “on the day” he acknowledged his guilt! This happened to Zacchaeus (Luke 19:8). He was willing to pay back four times as much to those he had deceived or stolen from! When they recognized they were guilty, they had to give back whatever they had stolen plus 20 percent. We all have opportunities to go the wrong way. As an encouragement, let’s look at how Joseph responded when he had the opportunity to take what did not belong to him (Genesis 39:9; 1 John 4:20).

Leviticus 6:6–7: After restitution was made, there was more to be done. Rooker wrote, “Only after restitution had been made with one’s fellow man could it be sought with God (v.6)”²The American church can learn from this example! We need to go to our brother first when we have wronged him and make it right. Isn’t that what we’re instructed to do when partaking of communion (1 Corinthians 11:17–34)?

The priest served as an appraiser of sacrifices, “according to your assessment of its value.” The unblemished ram they were to bring as a guilt offering to the Lord was to be appropriate for the level of wrong they had done. They had to (1) return the item,

(2) add one-fifth of its value, and (3) make an appropriate guilt offering to the Lord. Sin always costs us more! The sacrifice makes atonement. The Israelite would be forgiven through the blood of the sacrifice. Praise the Lord! He gave them some structure.

Leviticus 6:8–13: We talked about the burnt offering in Leviticus 1. The fire had to be constantly burning and must not go out! This is going to be a theme as we continue in Leviticus. The priests had been anointed to do this work and they were to change their clothes before bringing out the ashes. When I picture revival, I think of fire and the Holy Spirit.

I want to walk through this image of fire in Scripture:

• Leviticus 9:24: An original fire on the altar from God. It was a perpetual fire that symbolizes perpetual worship. It represents a continual need for Christ, our Atonement, and reconciliation.
• Luke 3:16: John the Baptist said Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The fire is burning away the chaff, the guilt, and the sin. A lot of times the American Church doesn’t want to let the fire burn away the chaff in our lives. There’s freedom when the fire of God burns in our lives.
• Romans 12:1–2: Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. If you never allow the baptism of fire, you’ll be drowned by sin. The baptism of fire enables you to function in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• Jeremiah 20:9: If you don’t mention the message of God, it becomes like a fire in your heart, shut up in your bones.
• Psalm 39:3: My heart grew hot within me.

Five times in verses 8–13, the statement “the fire must keep burning; it must not go out” was recorded. Nelson’s commentary explained, “Perpetual fire symbolized the continual need for atonement and reconciliation with God, which was the purpose of the offering.”³

Leviticus 6:14–23: The Grain Offering (cereal, food offering) was explained.

Leviticus 6:24–30: The Sin Offering was explained.

CLOSING

When we acknowledge the guilt we feel when we’ve done something wrong, we sometimes allow the enemy to creep in and cause us to keep the guilt. But the blood sets us free! Steven Cole wrote, “Satan loves to come in and charge us of being guilty, and then we stay in that position of victim who’s fallen short.”

In Revelation 12:10, Satan is the accuser of the brethren. In Zechariah 3:1, Satan accused Joshua the high priest. We can’t live in this position of guilt! Jesus has set us free! If we hold onto the guilt, we’re saying Jesus’ blood is not enough.

2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” When we talk about being baptized in the Spirit and in fire, we’re talking about walking in freedom. These guilt offerings in Leviticus 6 brought freedom. But the Israelites had to make the guilt offerings every single time. We only have to do it once.