Today's Favorite Verse: Leviticus 6:13

Today's Favorite Verse: Leviticus 6:13
"The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out."

I pondered on why the fire upon the altar should never go out. Is it because the whole sacrifice represents the sacrifice the Savior would make. All things point to Christ. He is the light of the world. I could see the importance of never letting that light or fire go out. Then I read in the Old Testament Student Manual and learned the fire represented the baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit.

"(14-19) Leviticus 6:13. Why Was the Fire on the Great Altar Never Allowed to Go Out?
The first fire on the first altar made under Moses’ direction was kindled by direct action of Jehovah (see Leviticus 9:23–24). It was the duty of the priest to keep this fire burning, symbolizing the continuation of the covenant which made the ordinance of sacrifice everlastingly valid. Also, as explained in Reading D-5, the fire symbolized the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, which is never extinguished."
(Old Testament Student Manual, "Leviticus 1-10: A Law of Performances and Ordinances, Part 1: Sacrifices and Offering")

“With the closing of the Old and the opening of the New Dispensation, the Feast of Pentecost ceased as an authorized time of religious worship. And it is not without significance that the Lord chose the Pentecost, which grew out of the final Passover, as the occasion to dramatize forever the fulfillment of all that was involved in the sacrificial fires of the past. Fire is a cleansing agent. Filth and disease die in its flames. The baptism of fire, which John promised Christ would bring, means that when men receive the actual companionship of the Holy Spirit, then evil and iniquity are burned out of their souls as though by fire. The sanctifying power of that member of the Godhead makes them clean. In similar imagery, all the fires on all the altars of the past, as they burned the flesh of animals, were signifying that spiritual purification would come by the Holy Ghost, whom the Father would send because of the Son. On that first Pentecost of the so-called Christian Era such fires would have performed their purifying symbolism if the old order had still prevailed. How fitting it was instead for the Lord to choose that very day to send living fire from heaven, as it were, fire that would dwell in the hearts of men and replace forever all the fires on all the altars of the past. And so it was that ‘when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.’ (Acts 2:1–4.)” (The Promised Messiah, pp. 431–32.)"
(Old Testament Student Manual Genesis-2 Samuel, Enrichment Section, Feast and Festivals, "(D-5) The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot, or Pentecost")

Day 3777