THE ALTAR:
Exodus 27:1 And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long,
and
five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall
be three cubits. 2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners
thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.
The unique pieces of furniture that Jehovah revealed to Moses, will now expand
the meaning of the court, the tent and all its contents. Entrance beyond the
door of the tabernacle brings us into the outer court containing the brazen
altar. The altar marks the beginning of spiritual life. Given by revelation,
the purpose for the altar was to offer a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord.
There were five specific offerings related to this altar and every one of them
is a picture of Christ’s nature, power, excellence, character, and perfect
obedience. The altar was made from shittim wood (human nature). It was overlaid
with Brass (copper) and was foursquare measuring 5 x 5 x 3 cubits. It was
actually the largest piece of furniture in the tabernacle, about 7 and half
feet high and four and a half feet wide. The altar was hollow with a brass
grated network situated about half way down. This is where the wood and
sacrifice was placed. In addition there were four brass horns on each corner
and other utensils for use in performing the duties of the altar. Pans,
shovels,basins, flesh-hooks and fire pans.
THE MEANING OF THE ALTAR:
The Brazen altar is a revelation about our human condition. The moment you step
beyond the gate, into the courtyard you discover what most in the world today
do not understand. Ever since that tragic day in Eden, mankind has been a
prisoner to the nature of flesh and corruption. Death was the consequence of
Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s command not to eat the fruit from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The spiritual communion Adam had enjoyed with God was broken and the earth was
cursed for his sake. The state of paradise was gone and the way of life was
closed. Adam (Individual and corporate) was sent forth from the garden to till
the ground from whence he was taken. Sin and death reigned over the creation
even on those who did not sin after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
them that
had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure
of him that was to come.
Without sin being washed from your life there is no fellowship with God.
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. That is why there
is a sacrifice upon the altar. That is why Jesus died on the cross. Each time
an Israelite brought an animal to sacrifice he was showing the perfect,
obedient, and royal nature of the Lord Jesus, as well as his divine, holy and
unblemished character offered up to God as a sweet savior instead of the stench
of our sins. With the blood of the sacrifice, applied throughout the tabernacle
according to the word of the Lord, fellowship and communion with God can be
restored. The entire worship of Israel moves from this brazen altar and
revolves around the blood that’s shed there. The blood is applied at various
times to the mercy seat, horns of the altar of incense, the tent and its
furniture, the priests and the people.
BRASS:
The altar was overlaid with brass (copper). Brass was not a pure metal and its
references are usually associated with judgment. The first mention of brass is
in association with Cain and his family…Cain was judged of God and sent out
from the presence of the Lord.
Genesis 4: 22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of
every
artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah
Leviticus 26:18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me,
then
I will punish you... and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as
brass:
Deuteronomy 28:23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass...
In these verses brass is used to show the human condition being hard and closed
to God’s plan. Hindering the entrance and experience of heavenly places.
Before Samson was able to rise up in the power of the Holy Spirit his fleshly
lifestyle brought him into spiritual captivity described in this verse as
fetters of brass.
Judges 16:21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and
brought
him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the
prison house.
In each case brass indicates the mixed and inferior nature of Adamic man with
God’s judgment upon him. The Philistine giant Goliath, was clothed in an armor
of brass. This is a type of the world, the carnal mind and the five senses of
the flesh. This would be opposite to putting on the armor of God described as
light in Romans 13.
1Samuel 17:5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was
armed
with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of
brass. 6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass
between his shoulders.
When David went out to meet Goliath in battle, King Saul, placed his armor of
brass upon him.
1Samuel 17:38 And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put an helmet
of
brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. The weight of this
was too much and hindered him from being free in battle. So he chose not go out
with the armor of brass. 39 And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he
assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go
with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
By revelation of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul wrote that we should put on the
whole armor of God.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to
stand
against the wiles of the devil.
Having the protection of faith and the sword of the Spirit is necessary to
overcoming the works of the flesh. However our warfare cannot be accomplished
in the same armor of the carnal man. If our spirituality is nothing more than
the tarnished judgment of natural man, then we will also be carrying something
to heavy to bear and unproven in defeating the enemy. The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal (through the natural mind or five senses) but mighty
through God. David only needed a stone to throw at the giant to defeat him
because he went out to meet Goliath in the strength of his faith and the power
of the Holy Spirit.
During the wilderness journey the people of Israel had sinned and spake against
God and against Moses, and were being afflicted of fiery serpents and many
died. It is significant that a serpent is revealed in Genesis as being directly
involved in the destruction of Adam and Eve. Now Israel was being bitten of
fiery serpents and many were perishing. God in answer to Moses’ prayer, told
him to hang a serpent made of brass upon a pole. All that looked upon this
serpent of brass would be healed of their affliction unto death.
Numbers 21:9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole,
and it
came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent
of brass, he lived.
In the same way the brazen altar with its sacrifice provides the healing from
all affliction to those who put their trust in its power. Jesus said that as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so shall the son of man be lifted
up from the earth. And if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must
the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life.
THE MEANING OF THE SACRIFICE:
God revealed the need to sacrifice an unblemished animal to atone for our sin
with its blood. Yet it was not because Jehovah desired the blood of bulls and
goats. It is written in Psalm 40: 6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire; What was the real meaning behind the slaughter of an animal? There
are many religions in the world today that still practice a ritualistic form of
animal sacrifice. Is this the same thing as Israel, was taught to do? The
scriptures declare that the blood of animal sacrifices were ineffective to take
away our sins.
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins.
Hebrews 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were
offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could notmake him that did the service
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; So if God did not desire sacrifice
and offering why did he reveal this to Moses? The animals chosen for sacrifice
were a type of Christ who was ordained from before the foundations of the world
to be a lamb of sacrifice.
Revelation 13:8 ...written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world.
Each offering was carefully revealed so that it foreshadowed the perfect
sacrifice of Christ Jesus, an unblemished human being who offered himself up
to God for us.
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?
Let us explore a few points of history recorded in the book of Genesis, to
expand upon the meaning of the altar and the sacrifice.
ABRAHAM AND ISAAC:
After waiting twenty-five years for God’s promise of a son, Abraham was
instructed to sacrifice Isaac his only son upon an altar. Abraham obeyed God,
taking Isaac and binding him to the altar and placing the wood of the burnt
offering upon him all the while trusting and knowing inwardly that God had a
plan to be revealed. Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried,
offered
up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten
son, When asked by his son Isaac (Hebrews 11:18 Of whom it was said,
That
in
Isaac shall thy seed be called:) where the sacrifice of the offering was,
Abraham, answered by revelation, God will provide himself a lamb for sacrifice.
Genesis 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My
father: and
he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but
where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them
together. 9 And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and
bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
With fire in his hand a knife in the other Abraham was ready to offer up his
only begotten son because the Lord had asked him to do so.
Hebrews 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from
the dead;
from whence also he received him in a figure.
But at no time was God ever intending to let Abraham harm his own child. God
having provided a substitute offering in the ram caught in the thicket of the
bush.
Genesis 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven,
and
said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine
hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him
up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name
of that place Jehovah Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the
LORD it shall be seen. Jehovah Jireh, The Lord is our provision. Abraham’s
obedience to Jehovah prophesied of God’s provision of the Lord Jesus Christ
(our substitute ram) who gave himself for us.
1Corinthians 5:7...For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Life
comes forth out of death.
Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every
clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
As Noah and his family came forth from the ark after the flood he builded an
altar and offered burnt offerings to the Lord. It is significant that after the
flood God revealed to Noah that it would be all right to eat the flesh of
clean animals because prior to this time God had commanded man to use herbs
and vegetables as food.
Genesis 9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even
as the
green herb have I given you all things.
In the epistle to the Romans, St. Paul, said that he that is weak in the faith
eateth vegetables only. Romans 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat
all
things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. But strong meat belongs to them who
are of full age. Why? At the time when God gave command to eat, there had been
no sin or death in the creation. The nourishment and life provided for Adam and
creation was in the provision of the ground of the earth.
Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing
seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the
fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every
beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that
creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb
for meat: and it was so.
The farming industry certainly testifies to the rich resource of food that
comes forth from the earth in abundance. But after the transgression and the
judgment of death, man’s life is sustained and nourished by the sacrifice of
another. So God gave us the power to eat meat in order to show that our life
comes forth out of a death. Just as an animal is killed to provide meat and
nourishment to our bodies and life so Christ, was slain and His life offered to
sustain and nourish our life. The sacrifice upon the altar is the gift of
God’s love toward us so that we will not perish in our sinful life.
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