1.4 Fat, Kidneys, and Liver Burned on the Altar. Why?

Leviticus 9:10 (NIV)

On the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys and the covering of the liver from the sin offering as the Lord commanded.

Toby and I had to do some thinking about this verse this morning.  This is the account of the consecration of Moses' brother, Aaron, who was the first high priest.  Before he could perform his priestly duties, he had to offer a sacrifice for himself, a calf, whose blood was poured out at the base of the altar and whose hide and flesh was taken outside the camp and burned.  The fat, kidneys and a liver lobe was burned on the altar.  At first glance, it seemed so strange.  Why were the fat, kidneys and liver burned in the most holy place?

We talked about the Old  Testament sacrificial system, how that it had no real power to erase sin, but that it commuted the death sentence until the time that Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to pay for the sin once and for all.  The Bible says the soul that sins must die.  That was true at the beginning of time and it is true today.  The only way out of the death sentence (for all have sinned) is if Someone were to die in our place.

The sacrifice of animals could not do what Jesus did.  Until Jesus paid the debt on the cross, animals had to be sacrificed every year.  It was like the renewing of a yearly contract or like the paying of a mortgage.  The animal sacrifice gave the people one more year to live.  Hopefully, before the next sacrifice came due, the Redeemer would have come to pay the debt and cancel the system of animal sacrifice because as soon as the Redeemer paid the debt the sin was gone.  There would be nothing left to pay for.  That was Israel's hope.

But why the fat, kidneys and liver?

Toby and I agreed that these are hidden inside the animal.  Fat may represent self indulgence.  The kidneys and liver may represent inner impurity.  A verse came to mind:

Hebrews 4:12-13  The word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

The word of God is like Aaron's knife.  It cuts through the visible and exposes what is hidden inside of us.  The Word of God is Jesus, the Word who became flesh, the Savior who became sin for us and died in our place so that we may have eternal life. 

On one hand, it is comforting to know that everything in us is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.  It's good to know that we cannot fool God.  It's good to know that all our sin is under the blood of Jesus Christ and that our hidden impurities, our wrong motives, our evil subconscious, our misplaced dreams and aspirations are all exposed by the Word of God and on the altar to be destroyed forever by the blood of the Cross.

On the other hand, anyone who refuses to submit to being cleansed by the Redeemer will one day have his or her inner life exposed for all to see at the judgment seat of Christ.  Nobody can hide from God.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

The invitation to us is to crucify our "fat, kidneys and liver" today so that when we stand before the Judge tomorrow there will be no surprises and nothing left unredeemed.  The method for placing our fat, kidneys and liver on the altar of God is to allow the Bible, the Word of God to expose us and cleanse us from all iniquity, hidden or otherwise. 

It was an interesting verse today.  Toby and I would welcome any additional thoughts you may have because we are still scraping only the surface of what this verse might mean to us in today's world.