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.

If you look to any bible study guide you can find meanings for ashes. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia it is a mark of grief, humiliation, penitence, mourning, and in one case worthlessness, insignificance or evanescence. I can see all that but what does the Word say about ashes.

Job 30:19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

The similarity of dust and ashes lead me to believe that it is a reversal of life, that sacrifice being reduced to ash, to our original state, literally being undone. I see scriptural support in that from Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

This verse gets us back to the alter, coming before the King, the Lord of hosts. That all ties together but what does it mean to be undone. As some put it, justification, just as if you never did it. Undone.

That is significant unto itself but what really is important is that the consuming fire “shall never go out.”

Justification can never be undone. Never.

If you see anything else, please share it.

Leviticus 6:11 And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.

In verse 10 we saw the priest put on Christ. Here in verse 11 he represents us as he picks up the ashes and goes outside the camp.

I am very interested to hear what you see in this contextual message from the Lord. First he puts on Christ and then he puts on humanity, us. Contextually you should be looking to actions of the representative forms and not the ashes, at least not yet.

Looking at the actions only, there is no instructions as to what to do with the ashes. There is no instruction to scatter or bury the ashes, just to carry them to a clean place. So let’s look at some scriptures that might help us understand these actions.

Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Go to a clean place is an encouragement to walk in righteousness and not in sin. Whether you do or do not walk in righteousness, it does not change the condition of the ash, it is still ash.

Shall we deal with the ash tomorrow? Verses 12 and 13?

OK, see you there.