The Bronze Altar

Intro

Last week we began a new series called Blueprint of Redemption. Over the next few weeks we are going to build out our blueprint here by adding an element of the tabernacle each week and showing how that element points to something Jesus did to secure our redemption. To buy us back so that God can dwell with us.

Last week we talked about the one gate of the tabernacle points toward Jesus as our only gate into the presence of God, because he is the only way, the only truth and the only life. We started to see even what many would call the “boring” section of the Bible God’s word is still pointing us to Jesus.

This week we are continuing on with the first thing that an Israelite would see when they stepped through the gate and into the tabernacle. and that is the bronze altar. We are going to look at this altar and see how the blueprints for an altar we dont need anymore that has been destroyed, point us to the one that we desperately need and will never be destroyed.

Exodus 27:1–8 CSB

“You are to construct the altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, 7½ feet long, and 7½ feet wide; it must be 4½ feet high. Make horns for it on its four corners; the horns are to be of one piece. Overlay it with bronze. Make its pots for removing ashes, and its shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans; make all its utensils of bronze. Construct a grate for it of bronze mesh, and make four bronze rings on the mesh at its four corners. Set it below, under the altar’s ledge, so that the mesh comes halfway up the altar. Then make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. The poles are to be inserted into the rings so that the poles are on two sides of the altar when it is carried. Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. They are to make it just as it was shown to you on the mountain.

As you step through the gate of the courtyard to approach the presence of God your eyes would immediately go to the altar that burned constantly day and night. with animals being sacrificed non stop. Everywhere in the camp you could see the smoke. The closer you got to the tabernacle you and after you made it through the gate and saw the altar there are three inesacapble truths that would be on display. the first is this

1. The Severity of Sin

There was no way around that truth for the Israelites. Everywhere they went they could look up and see the smoke of the altar. As they got closer they could smell the animals being burned on the altar, and as they entered the court of the tabernacle they could see the animals dying to cover the penalty of their sins. The wages of sin was death.

They had physical reminders they could look to, to remind of the severity of their sin.

For us today the wages of our sin is still death as Paul says in Romans 6:23 Our sin is just a severe as the Israelites. but unlike the Israelites who were reminded of the severity of their sin daily. that sin equals death. for us today we live in a society that does the opposite. We are surrounded by entertainment, social media, people and even churches that say your sin isn’t severe.

One of the worst traps we can fall into as Christian’s is to downplay the severity of our sin. because when we downplay the severity of our sin we are also downplaying the sacrifice of Jesus that paid the penalty for our sin.

If sin wasn’t a big deal adam and eve would have never gotten kicked out of the garden. If sin wasn’t a big deal there would have been no need for thousands of animas to die so their blood could be a temporary payment for it. If sin wasn’t a big deal Jesus wouldn’t have had to die.

There is no way you can accurately communicate the Gospel without saying the wages of your sin and my sin is death.

To down play the severity of our sin is downplay the sacrifice that Jesus made.

I wonder if we are so prone to buy the lie that or sin isn’t serious because we don’t have the physical reminders that the Israelites did. You don’t drive by a church and see the pastor outside killing and burning animals. If i did come into the office one day and I saw Pastor Jeff doing that outside Id probably just turn around and work from home that day.

but the reality is instead of the seriousness of sin and beauty of Jesus’ sacrifice being at the forefront of our minds we have chosen to let ourselves be decieved by the lie that the only sin that is severe is someone else’s sin.

The reality is we have a physical reminder we can look to, to remind us how serious our sin is and we choose not to look at it as often as we should. We have been given the Bible so we would understand how serious our sin is, so we would know there is a gate open for all to go through where the penalty for our sin has already been paid.

You cant have your eyes fixed on your phone and the message thats communicated through it that sin isn’t a big deal for 6 hours a day all week and then look at the Bible for 30 minutes on Sunday morning and expect to have a Biblical mindset on your sin and Jesus’ sacrifice. What you see first thing in the morning matters, where mind goes when its unoccupied matters. For those of us who have gone through the gate and realized Jesus is the only way. Just like you couldn’t step through the gate without imediately seeing the altar. We got to keep the sacrifice of Jesus at the forefront of our minds always. so it can affect everything else about us.

The altar reminds us of the severity of our sin but it also shows us

2. The Strength of the Sacrifice.

The altar was made of wood. Wouldn’t have been my first choice because fire and wood don’t typically mix but God told Moses as we read build it out of wood and cover it with bronze. The bronze gave the altar the strength to endure the fire that would burn continually day and night as the sacrifices were being offered to God.

no other metal that they had access to would have been able to withstand the high and constant heat. No other metal was strong enough. The Gold that all the other elements of the tabernacle except the basin were made out of wouldn’t have worked there was one metal strong enough.

Just like Jesus was the only one strong enough to be our perfect sacrifice. Had Jesus been less than God. He could not have bore the anguish the fires of testing he suffered on the cross. Had he been less than God he wouldn’t have been strong enough to be the spotless sacrifice for our sin. Just like he is the only gate he is the only sacrifice that was strong enough to be the once and for all sacrifice for us.

Hebrews 9:22–28 CSB

According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us. He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

These New Testament verses do what we have been doing show how Jesus is the completion of the model (the tabernacle) that was made to point forward to him.

The writer of Hebrews is reminding his readers that the sacrifices they grew up doing daily, and the sacrifice of the high priest yearly which started in the tabernacle. That had to happen so much because those sacrifices were not strong enough to bear the weight of all sin forever.

He points out if Jesus wasn’t truly a strong and worthy sacrifice he would have to be sacrificed over and over again. we would have to seek salvation and forgiveness over and over again. but that is not necessary because Jesus is the perfect strong sacrifice and like the bronze being the only metal that could cover the altar. Jesus is the only one strong enough to cover all sins of all people for all time.

Another detail in the tabernacle I found that points the fact that Jesus sacrifice was strong enough to cover us is that as we go through this series we will not find anything about a chair. There were no chairs in the tabernacle for the priests to sit down. Theres a reason for that. Cause if you will notice as we go through this series there is no break room for the priests. They don’t get a little room with a microwave and vending machine. No water cooler to gather around to talk about the game from last night. No bathroom to hide out in and watch tik tok to avoid getting back to work. Why is there no breakroom why are there no chairs. Because the priests never sat down and they never had a break when it was their shift because their work was constant.

Their work never ended. sacrfices had to constantly be made because the sin of the people was so great and the sacrifices couldn’t cover all their sins. but when we look to Jesus after he gave the ultimate sacrifice of himself on the cross and he ascended into heaven look at what we see in Hebrews 1:3

Hebrews 1:3 CSB

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

He purified our sins and then he sat down because his work was complete. Guys Jesus sacrifice it was enough. it was enough to cover all the stuff you did before you came to Christ and its enough to cover all the stuff you’ll do after. Jesus is sitting down right now he’s not getting sacrificed daily because the sacrifice was strong enough for you and for me. And if it is strong enough even for me. I know thats a strong sacrifice.

The last thing that the Israelites could have seen by looking at this altar that is true for us

3. Justice and Mercy Are Level in God’s Blueprint.

Remember these blueprints for the tabernacle that we are looking at were given by God. and God is precise. How many of you in here are precise when it comes to something like hanging a picture? you get out the tape measure the level, you measure distance from the celling and wall on all sides of the picture so its perfect? and how many of you eyeball it so you typically have to make several holes in the wall till it looks right? I typically am an eyeball it guy. I finally got around to hanging a decoration Alysa gave me for my birthday in my office. My birthday was in April. But to hang this decoration a big wooden carving frame of Neyland Stadium. It knew I had to use anchors so I knew I couldnt eyeball it. I had to get it right so I had the tape measure and the level cause I wanted to get it right and I didnt want to leave it to chance.

God doesnt eyeball it and when he gave the dimensions of each element of the tabernacle he wasn’t just throwing out numbers. They were each picked for a purpose.And he instructed the altar be made into a perfect square. To show that all equally have need and access to the sacrifice.

Perhaps to me where God shines through the most in this passage is the grate the sacrifices would rest on is half of the height of the altar 1 and half cubits which is 2.4 feet. We are going to see at the end of this series that the hight of the mercy seat on the ark of Covenant. where God’s presence was. Where he handed out mercy was also 1 and a half cubits. 2.4 feet.

That means before laser levels and perfect measuring tapes existed. God made sure that the place of judgement for sin was the exact same height as the place of mercy. Perfectly level. God’s Justice and mercy have the same dimensions.

Even in the second book of the Old Testament when people think God was meaner and more about justice than he is now. God made it known that His justice and His Mercy are of equal dimensions.

His justice demands that there is a penalty for breaking his law. That if he was to let our treason against the high king go he would be a king that is unjust. But his mercy provides a sacrifice to put away our sin, paying the penalty for our treason against him himself.

God is merciful and full of justice at the same time. Perfectly measured, perfectly level. In order for us to experience that mercy we had to have a sacrifice that pays the penalty so justice can be served. Because the wages of our sin is death. Thats when God stepped up and said I will pay the penalty myself with the blood of the only one who can my beloved son Jesus. and in that you will see that I am justice and I am also mercy. The picture isn’t crooked. One side of me is not higher than the other.

Your sin is severe but my sacrifice is stronger.

Conclusion

One last thing that I want to point out about the altar that applies to every one of is you could not move forward into the presence of God in the tabernacle without first giving the sacrifice. The altar was at the front for a reason, and the ark of covenant God’s presence was in the back for a reason.

Before you can enter the presence of God we have to accept the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. To try and go through the gate and then walk around the altar doesn’t work. All fire in the Tabernacle came from the altar. It was used for the candles and to light the incense that allowed the priests to approach God’s presence. If you have never accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and your still trying to enter God’s presence through prayer or ask him to be your light in the darkness then you have missed it.

You can believe in the teachings of Jesus without believing that his sacrifice was necessary or strong enough for you. and that is a scary place to be. But there is hope this morning.

Just like the fire of the tabernacles altar never went out signaling God is always accepting sacrifices always ready to forgive them. The fire is not out this morning for you. The one gate is open and the one sacrifice is strong enough to pay the penalty for your sins this morning will you accept it and experience redemption this morning or keep trying to get into God’s presence on your own.

The wages of your sin is death, but theres a sacrifice that’s stronger than your sin, And just as God will dole out judgment he is just as eggar to dole out mercy to you this morning if you would ask for it. If you’ve never done that today can be your day come down here and talk to me or pull me aside after service.

For those of us that have done that this morning I think we all need to ask ourselves why we treat sin that it isn’t severe, like it didnt put Jesus on the cross. What reminders are you giving yourself every day of seriousness of your sin and strength of Jesus’ sacrifice? are you allowing yourself and your kids to get bombarded with the message that sin isn’t a big deal all day everyday. Or are you choosing to daily look our ultimate reminder, better than any bronze altar, the very word of God. Where we find who God is and who we are.