Jesus - The Altar of Sacrifice

Introduction

As we began this series two weeks ago, I’d preached an overview concerning the Tabernacle. In doing so, it was important to go back prior to the giving of it, to the things that led up to it.

(The Plan)

It was a Conditional Covenant (Ex. 19-20, etc.)

After the Promise (Gen. 12:1-3)

After the Enslavement (Ex. 1)

After their Deliverance (Ex. 12)

God Offered a Covenant (Ex. 19:5-8)

God Dictated the Terms (Ex. 20:1-17)

(The Providence of God)

Carefully Considered (Ex. 20:1-17) - God knew man couldn’t keep the Law

Carefully Planned (Ex. 25:9;40)

Carefully Executed (Ex. 39:42-43)

Carefully Confirmed (Heb. 8:5)

(The Purpose)

It was an Illustration

That Demonstrates a Connection

Demands a Comparison

It was Imitative

It was Insufficient

It was Intermistic

One thing that I want you to see through this study, is I want you to see Jesus.

Because God was so specific concerning the Tabernacle, we can glean many things concerning Jesus through it.

Today we’re going to look at the first article of furniture in the Tabernacle - the Brazen Altar. (There are two altars - this is known as the ‘Brazen altar’ or the ‘Altar of Burnt Offering’ (Show the picture)

I have arranged an outline that I plan to use as we go through the Tabernacle. Remember, everything here is a type / shadow of the Christ to come, so we can certainly see various aspects of Jesus throughout it all.

The Brazen Altar speaks most (as I feel you most certainly will see) to the Salvation and Substitution found in the Cross of Christ.

That being said, we’ll look first at the Plan

I. The Plan

(The Construction & importance of it)

It’s Duality

The altar (like various things) was made out of two different substances. Gopher wood & brass

That leads us to it’s Inferiority

It’s Inferiority

When speaking of the Brazen altar, one thing that we note is that it lacked the beauty afforded other items.

It was not beautiful, but it was functional. brass is not near as beautiful as gold. It had no crown round about it.

Jesus did not attract people by His looks - but by His Power - which brings us to It’s Potency

It’s Potency

We see that the altar was given 4 horns. Horns in Scripture speaks of Power & Might

It’s Potency, next it’s Mobility

It’s Mobility

God made it for a mobile people. Remember, this was a Tabernacle in the Wilderness. The children were not in the Land of Promise yet, so God instructed them to build it with two staves to carry it by.

We see it’s Mobility

It’s Enormity

At 4x4x3 cubits, it was by far the largest item in the Tabernacle.

This speaks to the importance to man.

It’s Enormity

II. The Position

(Where it’s Placed and Why)

The Entrance

The first thing that you would encounter as you approach the Tabernacle - which therein is the Throne of God is the Brazen Altar.

There was only one door to the Tabernacle, and at that door, was the Brazen Altar.

It was the Path to God

God abode behind the Veil upon the Mercy Seat and to get to God, you had to pass by the Brazen Altar.

Which leads me to the next point, it was also the Prohibition to God

It was the Prohibition to God

Meaning, not only is it the path TO God, it is the entity that keeps people from God.

It was the Path and the Prohibition to God

III. The Purpose

(What is the function of it)

A Place where Blood Flowed

(Picture the fiery trials - the pain & torment associated; all consuming)

This was an extremely bloody place.

They would burn Sacrifices daily, on Sabbath days & Annually throughout the year.

The Sacrifices were consumed upon it.

The Blood was sprinkled upon it

Blood was poured out at the base of it

It was a place of

Pain

Torment

Loss

Grief

Fiery Consumption

This Alter was a Place where Blood Flowed

A Place where a Substitute Died

In one of the offerings - a burnt Sacrifice - that would take place at this altar, it says this: Leviticus 1:3–4 “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”

By placing the hand on the head, you were identifying that it was YOUR sins that was causing the death - and that animal was to be a substitute - to die in YOUR PLACE. Then YOU had to kill it, further demonstrating that your hands are guilty and another died in your place.

It’s a Place where a Substitute Died

A Place where Atonement was Made

Atonement (def) reconciliation, after enmity or controversy

There were several offerings that the COI could bring in order to be in a right relationship unto God.

For Sin & Trespasses

These were separate Sacrifices for separate reasons. Whether it was:

Sin offering: sin itself / Trespass offering: effect or guilt of sin

Sin offering: sin against God / Trespass offering: sin against man

Sin offering: wrong done / Trespass offering: right undone

The bottom line is, men need atonement for their sins & trespasses! They did in Moses’ day, and they still need it today!

Atonement was made for Sin & Trespasses

For Peace

It’s upon that altar where they would Sacrifice a Peace Offering.

This Peace offering was symbolic demonstrating that now that atonement had been made, there was peace between God and man as they would both partake in the offering together.

This Altar was used to bring Peace

For All

Lastly, This alter wasn’t just for some, in that some had to bring offerings and others didn’t - no ALL needed this altar and what it offered! From the High Priest to the common man - no one was exempt, and none were excused.

Atonement upon this altar was made for ALL!

IV. The Performance

(The NT Scripture / Story that corresponds with it)

The Cross of Calvary

The Altar is a Picture of the Atoning Word of Jesus upon the Cross. It pictures the fiery trials He endured as they led Him up Mt. Calvary. When they stripped Him, drove the nails into His hands & feet and raised Him up for the passers by to laugh & mock.

Read Joh. 19:17-30.

So some things that I want to point out is that:

The Plan (Construction) we see:

His Duality

This speaks to the dual nature of Jesus. (Joh. 1:1-5; 10-14)

Jesus was all God and all man at the same time. Yet in this form, although He was God, exuded not the Glory of God.

His Inferiority

Jesus was not beautiful, but functional

The Bible tells us: Isaiah 53:1–3 “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: And we hid as it were our faces from him; He was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

His Potency

Church, there’s Power in Jesus! There’s Power in the Cross of Christ!

Act. 4 demonstrates the Power of Christ! Acts 4:10–12 “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

Bro. M.R. DeHaan made this observation: He said that the horns on the four corners would have pointed to the 4 directions on the compass - being North; East; West & South - N.E.W.S. The Gospel is good NEWS and it needs to go in every direction!

The Mobility

(Speaking of the staves) Note also it was two pieces of wood that bore Salvation unto the Jews - and two pieces of wood that bore the Saviour for you and I!

The Enormity

Without Salvation you have nothing. It’s the most important thing there is to a person is whether or not their sins have been atoned for!

Notice the Spiritual Position of the Cross

The Cross is the Path to God

The picture is this: In order to get to God, you must go first by the Cross.

There is only one path to God - Jesus said: John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Larry King once asked Billy Graham this question. He said: “What about people of other faiths? The Jews & Muslims that don’t believe Christ?” Billy gave a very “PC” answer in saying “That’s in God’s Hands, I can’t be their judge”.

What he was afraid to say to a hell-bound Jew, I’m not - and neither should you be: Those of other faiths are on their way to a Devil’s Hell without Christ and the atonement found therein! There’s no two-ways about it! It is the only path to God!

The Cross is the Prohibition to God

Notice this: The first thing that you encounter at the Tabernacle wasn’t a priests confessional booth. It wasn’t a priest to confess your sins to or convince that you’re ‘good enough’. It was the Altar!

The words that I just spoke to you are true still (with different emphasis) John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Whether or not men will get to God is directly connected to what they do with Christ! It is in truth ‘The Entrance’ to God!

The Purpose (Function) of the Cross

A Place where Blood Flowed

All of this points to the Sacrifice that Jesus gave upon the Cross!

Psalm 22:13–18 “They gaped upon me with their mouths, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, And cast lots upon my vesture.”

Words cannot describe the torment associated with the Cross of Christ!

I read that portion speaking of the Crucifixion of Jesus, and if you’ll note it doesn’t go into great detail, but that’s why when we consider the illustration of the Brazen altar, we get a clearer picture as to the horror of it all!

A Place where a Substitute Died

John the Baptist said when He saw Jesus: John 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

Jesus 2,000 years ago became the Substitute for you and I. He became the one who would die in our place. The innocent for the guilty.

Incidentally, I want to take this passage from the OT prophet Isaiah: (Read Isa. 53:4-11)

A Place where Atonement was made

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”

Jesus made atonement for you and I (Atonement (def) reconciliation, after enmity or controversy)

You and I deserve Hell - But the Cross of Christ hath reconciled us! 2 Corinthians 5:19 “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

A Place that Brought Peace

Because of the Atoning Work of Christ upon the Cross, it has brought Peace between God and mankind.

Ephesians 2:15–16 “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:”

We’ve been afforded peace with God today. Not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but by His mercy

Conclusion

I think it appropriate to take a moment and thank Jesus for going through the Cross for you and I