Daily Devotion | Leviticus 6:8–30 | 2026 January 23

Title: Daily Devotion

Scripture: Leviticus 6:8–30

Date: 2026 January 23

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Dear brothers and sisters, peace to you. By the grace of God, we come to a new day, and we come to study our Daily Devotion. Today the Scripture we are studying is Leviticus chapter 6, beginning from verse 8. Let us see whether we can speak all the way to verse 30. Let us pray first.

Lord, we thank You that You are willing to have mercy on us. You give to us the priestly office in these sacrifices, and You let us see how holy these offerings are, and how much carefulness they require. Lord, have mercy on us, grant grace upon us, and lead us so that we may live a holy life every day. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

Now let us look at chapter 6, verses 8 through 13. This passage speaks about the regulation of the burnt offering. If we divide the book of Leviticus, the first section is from chapter 1 verse 1 to chapter 6 verse 7. What is that section about? That section mainly speaks about how the Israelites are to offer sacrifices. These first six chapters mostly explain how the people bring offerings. And this explanation is from the perspective of the one who brings the offering.

You are the one who brings the offering, so what should you do? For example, you must slaughter the animal, you must prepare the sacrifice, you must know which parts are to be burned, and how you are to do it. All of this is explained from the perspective of the offerer.

But from chapter 6 verse 8 until the end of chapter 7, what is explained there is what the priest should do. Of course, there is overlap, but the emphasis is different. The earlier part emphasizes what the one who brings the offering should do. The later part emphasizes what the priest should do.

Now let us first look at what the priest should do when offering the burnt offering. How is the burnt offering to be handled? The burnt offering must remain on the altar, on the wood, from evening until morning, and the fire on the altar must be kept burning continually. That is, the fire on the altar must not go out. If it is about to go out, you must quickly add wood. This is the priest’s responsibility: to make sure the fire on the altar is always burning.

You cannot wait until someone brings an offering and then light the fire at that moment. Is it like that? No. The fire must always be burning. Ever since there was an altar, the fire has been burning continually. This is the first point. First we look at the details, and then we look at the meaning.

The second point is that the priest must wear special garments, linen garments. He has a linen tunic, and he has linen undergarments. And then what must he do? He must gather up the ashes and put them beside the altar.

This has a very practical meaning. Because there will be many ashes, right? If you do not gather up the ashes, the bronze altar will no longer be able to continue its work. So the ashes must be removed. This is something very practical.

Then what does he do? He takes off those garments and puts on other garments, and then he carries the ashes outside the camp, to a clean place. That is, the ashes must be taken outside the camp. This is the regulation of the burnt offering.

Then again it is emphasized that the fire on the altar must not go out. Every morning wood must be added, and the burnt offering and the peace offerings must be arranged on it. Verse 13 emphasizes again: on the altar there must be a fire kept burning continually; the fire must not go out. This is what the priest must do. The purpose of the priestly service is to make sure the fire on the altar never goes out.

So here I think we can read several meanings. The first meaning, of course, is that this points to Christ. The Lord Jesus, in His whole life, experienced all kinds of trials, and finally He accomplished this great salvation.

The meaning of the ashes being taken outside the camp is very clear. It points to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must go outside the camp to suffer. This suffering means that Jesus must be crucified outside the camp, because the ashes must be taken outside the camp. The Lord Jesus also went outside the camp, was crucified, and accomplished salvation.

So from verses 8 to 13, we can say that the Lord Jesus is the most beautiful burnt offering. He truly completed the commission God gave Him. Throughout His life, there was not a single moment when He was not tested by God. He fulfilled all the statutes and ordinances. Finally He was nailed to the cross and completed the offering of the burnt sacrifice, and He Himself became a pleasing and fragrant offering.

This points to Christ. Now what about us? For us, for every Christian and every brother and sister, the fire on the altar not going out tells us that trials in our life will never be lacking.

That is to say, our holiness will never reach a point where we no longer need trials. That is impossible. From the day we believe in the Lord, until the day we see Him face to face, our whole life must be burned by fire. Our life must be refined. All our life we must be in all kinds of trials so that our life may continually be shaped and completed.

So what is the concrete way this happens? It is that we must go outside the camp with Him. When we talked about the sin offering and the guilt offering, we especially mentioned the passage in Hebrews. That is, when we obey God’s statutes and ordinances, it is as if we leave the world. We obey God’s law, and it is like going outside the camp and being rejected by the world. And then we suffer there. This is the application for us.

I think many brothers and sisters may become very nervous when they hear this. They may think, “Pastor Chen says this in such a frightening way. He says our whole life must be burned and refined.” It sounds like great pain.

But brothers and sisters, actually it is not like that. Actually you should feel joy. Because the more we are refined, the purer we become. And the purer we become, the closer we are to God. And the closer we are to God, the more we can experience spiritual joy. So this is a joyful process, brothers and sisters.

Of course, from another perspective, it may also be a painful process, because you lose your old self. But inside there is much more joy. I hope brothers and sisters you can understand this point.

Our life is more and more suffering, deeper and deeper refining, and more and more abundant life. We experience deeper joy in being with God. This is something that, after reading many theological books, I feel they rarely mention: that there is joy that comes from regeneration.

This kind of joy is something that a person who has gone through refining can truly have. And this joy becomes the reason why he is willing to gladly accept refining. This joy — when our life becomes more mature, when we understand God’s Word more deeply, when we become closer to God — that kind of spiritual joy is really beyond words.

So do not always think that whenever I mention bearing the cross, I must shake my head. This dimension is very lacking in the theology of many traditional Chinese house churches, a theology that emphasizes poverty and suffering. This is really very regrettable.

In fact, when we are being refined, our spiritual life becomes more and more abundant. And in that abundance, one very clear expression is that the Spirit of God, the Triune God, dwells in us. And we possess endless joy. This joy becomes more and more full.

So brothers and sisters, do not feel sorrowful and say, “Why am I so miserable? Why must I go to the cross?” No. You will become more joyful. If you have never had this kind of joy, then perhaps your turning and repentance are not deep enough. So we ask God to have mercy on us and grant us true repentance.

This is very real, because God never lies. God never says, “I will make you poor and miserable, and burn you every day, and then only when you die I will give you happiness.” No, that is not what God does.

This highest joy, the joy of being with the Triune God, is something you will already experience during the refining process. This is certain. Many saints have experienced this. I, as a pastor, have also experienced this. And I hope you will experience it as well.

This is the burnt offering. Now what about the grain offering? How is the grain offering to be handled? The priest takes a handful with oil and frankincense and burns it. We have said before that first you offer the burnt offering, and then the remaining grain offering may be eaten.

Where is the grain offering eaten? It is eaten in the holy place, without leaven. It is eaten in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. Remember several characteristics. It may be baked or not baked, but the important point is that there must be no leaven. It is most holy, just like the sin offering and the guilt offering.

Verse 18 says that every male among Aaron’s sons may eat it, as a perpetual portion. And then there is a very important sentence: whoever touches these offerings shall become holy.

Here we can gain deeper understanding of the grain offering. Compared with before, we already know that flour can be offered. Now why must there be oil and frankincense? We have said before, from the perspective of Christ, that the Lord Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit throughout His life, and His whole life was full of fragrance.

When the grain offering is burned, it is very fragrant, because it already has frankincense. This prefigures that Christ’s life is without leaven, showing that Jesus Christ lived a holy life, without corruption, without any worldly leaven.

For us Christians, the application is still the same. First, we Christians should also follow Christ and live a life filled with this fragrance. This fragrance, according to Paul, is the aroma of Christ.

When we follow Jesus Christ and imitate Christ, there will be a fragrance from Christ upon us. Although Paul says it is the aroma of death, in fact it is the fragrance of life. We will display abundant life. We will have a beautiful heart of love for others. We will have rich humanity.

When others interact with us, they can sense that sweetness, that tolerance, that acceptance. They will not sense impatience, anger, or lust. This shows that our life is becoming more mature.

This is the fragrance that flows out of us when we interact with brothers and sisters and with other people.

Another thing we see here is God’s care for the priests. All the male priests may eat this portion, and this is their perpetual portion throughout the generations. This is God’s reward to the priests, because they do not farm and they cannot do other work. So they must eat the grain offerings brought by others.

You bring a bag, and I take a handful and burn it, and the rest becomes the priest’s. Why? Because this is what God gives to the priest as his perpetual portion. God takes care of the needs of the priests.

And this offering is not only about eating. This offering is holy. Whoever touches it shall become holy. Later, when you read the prophets, you will understand more clearly what this means. For now, remember this: in the holy place, after the handful is burned, the entire grain offering becomes holy.

Once it becomes holy, whoever touches it becomes holy. This shows how glorious the holy offerings are. To be set apart by God is a very great honor. To be separated by God and become holy is a very great honor. This shows that these offerings carry power.

When we read this, of course we immediately think of the Lord’s Supper. This is very clear. We do not need too much theology to make this connection.

What is this? When we Christians eat the body of the Lord Jesus in the Lord’s Supper, the body of Jesus Christ is like this grain offering, broken and given to us to eat. Whoever touches this holy thing, whoever receives the Lord’s Supper, is called holy.

When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, believing in His death and resurrection, and when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, each time our life receives cleansing again. This is God’s promise. This is God’s mercy and grace.

Every time through receiving the sacrament, through receiving the Lord’s Supper, our life can be united more closely with the Lord. Perhaps you cannot say which bite is especially holy, but when you continue to abide in Jesus Christ, obey His command, receive the Lord’s Supper, and live a holy life, you can truly sense that the life of Jesus Christ is flowing more and more within you.

We will receive the Lord’s Supper until the day we die, because this offering nourishes our life and makes us more abundant in Him.

But here it is very clear: there must be no leaven. Brothers and sisters, you must live a clean life. Do not touch corruption. Do not touch worldliness. Do not imitate the eating and drinking of the world, the flattery, the bribery, the taking and giving of bribes. Do not touch these things.

Live a clean life. Do not let yourself be defiled by worldly uncleanness, so that your life may grow more and more abundant. Otherwise, if we as priests eat the holy offerings and yet defile ourselves with the world, do we not provoke God’s anger?

Now let us look at verses 19 to 23. What does this section speak about? It speaks about the priest’s own grain offering. The first part spoke about the priest eating the offerings of others in the holy place. Now this part speaks about the priest himself offering a grain offering to God.

This grain offering you cannot eat. Verse 23 makes this very clear: you must burn it all. The offerings of others, you burn a handful and the rest is yours. But the offering you yourself bring, that will not work. That you must burn completely.

When Aaron is anointed, he and his sons must offer this offering. This regular grain offering — how is it offered? Is it offered only once, or every day? Here later we will read more clearly about the high priest’s service.

Here it is clear that when the priest begins his service, for seven days he must offer this grain offering. According to the regulation, one tenth of an ephah, about two kilograms of flour. Half in the morning, half in the evening, all must be burned.

This offering must be mixed with oil and prepared well. We mentioned before why there must be oil. Oil represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is not allegorizing wrongly, because holy anointing oil already signifies anointing and the work of the Spirit.

This offering must be baked, divided into pieces, and offered as a fire offering to the Lord. And the sons of Aaron who succeed him as anointed priests must also do this. It must be completely burned to the Lord.

So when the priest is serving, every morning and every evening he must burn this grain offering. Two kilograms of flour: one kilogram in the morning, one kilogram in the evening. He must continually burn this offering.

What does this grain offering mean? This grain offering represents what the priest earns through his service. It is like his income. And he must offer it to God every morning and every evening.

Do you notice that the regulations for the priest are stricter than for ordinary people? Aaron and his descendants must offer this fixed amount every morning and evening. This shows that because this is their food and their income, they must offer it to God.

This shows what? It shows that they acknowledge that everything they receive comes from God. The priest cannot say, “Oh, today only a few people came to offer sacrifices. Altogether there are only four kilograms of flour. If I offer two kilograms, how will I eat the remaining two?” No, that is not the idea.

No matter how much others bring, your offering is fixed. Morning one kilogram, evening one kilogram. What is this for you? This is an expression of faith.

Through this offering, the priest expresses, “Everything I eat comes from God. And I am willing to offer back to God what comes from Him.” He burns it all. He does not take it for himself. This expresses faith in God’s provision, and expresses that he is willing to rely completely on God’s supply. And at the same time it shows that he must live a holy life.

Of course the priest must live a holy life. Every day he is busy with the labor of sacrifice. So here, brothers and sisters, I want to remind us: are we willing to give what we have received back to God?

Tithing is the most basic thing in the church. The meaning of the tithe is exactly this. Why do you give a tithe? Because you acknowledge that everything you receive comes from God.

So you give a tithe, and at the same time you ask God to protect your work and your possessions. That is why when we pray for offerings, we usually pray two prayers. One is to ask God to remember the brothers and sisters, and the other is to ask God to take this offering and use it.

So brothers and sisters, giving the tithe expresses your gratitude to God for His provision. The offering is given by God. God supplies you, and you give it back to God. And at the same time you ask God to bless you.

So the tithe is an expression of the heart, an expression of offering the firstfruits. Of course, we say very clearly, it is not only the tithe. If we have much income, we should offer more, to help brothers and sisters.

Here what I want to emphasize is that when the priest offers the grain offering, he also does it by faith. He must offer two kilograms every day, to acknowledge that his supply comes from God.

Will the priest have weakness? Ha ha, I think when there are few people bringing offerings, he may also have weakness. But he must still do this, to show complete trust in God.

So for us it is the same. We must express complete trust in God. We must acknowledge that everything we have comes from God. We must ask God to have mercy on us and give us faith, so that in this process of offering we may more deeply understand and experience God’s heart.

Today we will stop here. We hope that through these priestly regulations we can think more deeply and understand God’s heart more clearly. Thank you, brothers and sisters.