We now leave the tabernacle with its
glorious colouring, and its more glorious teaching, and step out into the
court, to learn something more of the will and purpose of God. The whole of the chapter, with the exception
of the last two verses, is occupied with a description of the outer court of
the tabernacle, and one solitary object within it, namely, the brazen
altar. In the chapters of Exodus that
record the actual making of the tabernacle, we find one or two additions, as,
for example, the altar of incense, which is described for the first time in xxx. 1,
and in verse 18 of the same chapter we read for the first time of the
laver of brass that also stood together with the brazen altar, between the door
of the court and the door of the tabernacle.
It has pleased God, however, to leave in all its grandeur the brazen
altar as the one great essential feature, reserving for a later period the
additional laver.
The
brazen altar
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Job speaks of the vein for the silver and of
the iron that is taken out of the earth, and brass that is molten out of the
stone. Dr.Bullinger’s metrical version
reads, “And copper may be smelted out of the ore” (Job. xxviii. 2). Again, in describing the land of Palestine,
Moses says, “And from whose hills thou mayest dig brass” (Deut. viii. 9), which
also refers to copper. It is fairly
certain that the “brass” of Scripture is the metal we know as copper. Just as the silver sockets of the tabernacle
itself spoke of atonement, so the brazen sockets of the court would associate
that place with the great altar of sacrifice.
On the altar was offered the whole burnt offering, and it was called “an
altar most holy” (Exod. xl 10). This
altar was four-square, and had four horns, one on each corner. These horns served several related purposes:
(1) The blood of the sacrifice was placed upon the horns of the altar
with the finger of the priest.
(2) Sacrificial animals were bound with cords to the horns of the
altar.
(3) The horns of the altar appear to have been considered a place of
sanctuary. There is no definite
statement to this effect in Scripture, but it seems from three passages that
this was a custom from earliest times.
The latter appears from the case of the
murderer, “Thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die” (Exod. xxi.
14). Adonijah and Joab fled to the tabernacle,
“and caught hold on the horns of the altar”
(I Kings i. 50; ii. 28), although it availed them not, for no
sacrifice was known under the law for the sin of murder. Jeremiah uses the horns of the altar in a
tragic setting:
“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond:
it is graven upon the
table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars” (Jer. xvii. 1).
Sin took the place both of the law of God,
“the tables of the heart”, and of His offerings, “the horns of the altar”. Punishment for sin is symbolized by the
falling of the horns of the altar to the ground (Amos iii. 14). The ark and mercy seat within the holiest of
all, and the brazen altar before the door of tabernacle, are perhaps the two
most vital symbols in the whole structure.
The
new and living
way
Just as we have quoted the words “a new
and living way” with reference to the veil, so we must quote them again with
reference to the altar. The court of the
tabernacle, which is described in the same xxviiith chapter of Exodus,
surrounded the tabernacle itself on its four sides, and had one gate hung upon
four pillars. It was impossible to enter
into the tabernacle itself without passing the great brazen altar standing some
nine feet in breadth and length and some five feet high. Surely one might say that over the tabernacle
could have been written the mistaken quotation of Heb. ix. 22
once made in our hearing by a nervous Jewish boy, "Without shedding
of blood no admission". As a text it is garbled, but it nevertheless
expresses a most important truth.
Further, there could exist no two thoughts
in the mind of any child of Israel as to the purpose of the
altar. The Hebrew word mizbeach means “a place of slaughter”,
and the construction of the altar, and the articles that went with it, left no
doubt as to its purpose. “Pans to
received ashes”; they speak of fire. “Basons and flesh hooks”; they speak of sacrifice. The five great offerings detailed in Leviticus.i.-vii., the offering on the day of atonement, the
various offerings that formed part of the consecration of the priests, etc.,
etc., all were offered here. The great
altar standing alone in the court of the tabernacle was a type of the cross of
Christ. All the precious teaching
concerning the sacrifice of Christ, the offering of Christ, without spot, to
God, His being made sin for us, Who knew no sin, the shedding of His blood, and
its connection with forgiveness and peace, the bearing of the cross upon the
flesh and the world; all these blessed
features were concentrated in this great altar that stood midway between the
gate of the court and the door of the tabernacle. Its teaching lies at the dawn of human
experience. The provision of the coats
of skin for our first parents pointed to the same truth. A sacrifice that involved the shedding of
life’s blood was constantly before the eye and the mind of every
Israelite. This is a fundamental not of
dispensational truth merely, but of all truth.
If we
would reject those books of the N.T. that are committed to the necessity of a
sacrifice by the shedding of blood, we should have to set aside the four
Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s epistles to the Romans, Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, and Hebrews, the first epistle of Peter, and the first
epistle of John, as well as the book of the Revelation. We should have, as a matter of fact, a record
with neither beginning (Gospels), nor end (Revelation), foundation (Romans),
nor top-stone (Ephesians). The Law, the
Prophets, and the Psalms speak with one voice, that the way of the cross of
Christ is the one way back to
God. The blood of Christ is the pledge
of the new covenant (Matt.xxvi.28), and also the purchase price of the church
of God (Acts xx. 28). It is the basis of
propitiation (Rom. iii. 25), justification (v. 9), and communion (I.Cor.x.16). Redemption and forgiveness, access
and peace are ours through the same shed blood
(Eph. i. 7; ii. 13; Col. i. 20),
and by that precious blood the overcomers at the end shall prevail (Rev.
xii. 11). Christ’s one sacrifice for
sins, for ever, has been offered (Heb.x.12).
Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us (I Cor. v. 7). He has given Himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour (Eph. v. 2). Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many (Heb. ix. 28).
The various offerings that were offered
upon this brazen altar cannot be dealt with here. A fairly comprehensive study of them will be
found in the series entitled “Redemption” now appearing in our pages. It may be a point worth noting that we have
three spheres suggested in this tabernacle and its court:
(1) The
innermost, the holiest of all, entered by the high priest alone once every
year.
(2) The holy
place, where the priests ministered daily.
(3) The outer
court.
The fine twined linen of the outer court
speaks as loudly of righteousness as did the fabric of the tabernacle
itself. The silver hooks and brazen
sockets are both connected with atonement and sacrifice, and just as the veil
spoke of Christ, so too He can be heard saying, “I am the door”. From the innermost shrine of the tabernacle
to the outermost gate post of the court, it can truly be said, “Christ is all”,
and anything that enforces that lesson of the ages is fundamental in the last
degree. Without the altar and its
offerings that tabernacle would have stood unserved, unentered, empty. There would have been no ministering priests,
no sweet-smelling incense, no table of remembrance, no reconciliation, no
propitiation. Without the cross of
Christ and His great sacrifice “heaven itself” would never be entered by any
child of Adam. No single soul would ever
perform one act of service to the Lord, there would be no acceptance and no
fellowship, no forgiveness and no peace.
As we ponder these things and learn these
lessons from the brazen altar in Israel’s court, may we be able to say with
deeper reality than ever before:
"When I survey the
wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but
loss,
And pour contempt on all my
pride."
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