Understanding The Bible |
W. W. Rugh,
Bible Institute of Philadelphia
40 Page Printed Devotional Guide
1st Edition 1912
The Brazen Altar.
Exodus 27:1-8.
The Brazen Altar, or Altar of Burnt-offering, was made of heavy boards of
shittim or acacia wood five cubits square and three cubits high, and overlaid
with heavy plates of brass. To this covering of brass was added other plates of
brass made from the censers of the men who sought the priesthood in the
rebellion of Koran, Dathan, and Abiram. Numbers 16:32-40.
A grating or network of brass was placed in the midst, or halfway up the
Altar on the inside, and held firmly in place by the rings of brass which were
caught through the corners.
The horns on the four corners of the Altar, made of the same piece with
the altar, were overlaid with brass.
The covering of the Altar on the march was a purple cloth, upon
which were placed all the vessels of the Altar, and over it all was spread a
covering of badger skins. Then they put the staves into the rings so it could be
borne by the Levites, the sons of Kohath. Numbers 4:13, 14.
The position of the Altar was within the Gate of the
Court before the Door of the Tabernacle. Exodus 40:6.
Upon the Brazen Altar the Lord consumed the whole burnt-offerings, a part
of the meal-offerings, the fat of the peace-offerings, the fat of the
sin-offerings, the fat of the trespass-offerings, and parts of other special
offerings.
When the Tabernacle was first set up by Moses, and Aaron and his sons
consecrated unto their ministry as priests, then fire came out from before the
Lord, and consumed upon the Altar the burnt-offering and the fat. Leviticus
9:24. This fire was to be kept burning continually, except when the people of
Israel were on the march, and then they carried live coals in the fire pans.
Leviticus 6:8-13.
At this Altar the Lord thus met the people as they came under the Gate, and
judged them and their sins. As a holy God, He dealt with them according to His
holy law, but not on the ground of law but on the ground of grace, for His love
provided a substitute to be judged instead of the sinning Israelite. Had Jehovah
dealt with them on the ground of law, no Innocent lamb without blemish would
have received the stroke of God's wrath, but the guilty sinner himself would
have paid the penalty of his sin.
When an Israelite came to the Altar with a trespass-offering, or a sin-offering,
according to the word of His grace, the death of the offering answered for the
death of the guilty Israelite, and the acceptance of the offering meant the
acceptance and forgiveness of the one for whom the sacrifice was offered.
Leviticus 4 and 5.
Jehovah witnessed of His acceptance of a sin-offering or trespass-offering by
consuming the fat on the Altar with the burnt-offering. The result of the sinner
who believed the testimony of the ascending smoke was that his heart was filled
with peace and joy, in the assurance that he was delivered from the penalty and
guilt of his sins. Romans 5:1.
The Brazen Altar was one of the most important vessels of the Tabernacle. Apart
from its use there could be no acceptable approach into the holy presence of the
Holy One of Israel. It was called "an Altar most holy," and "whosoever toucheth
the Altar shall be holy." Exodus 29:37 R. V.; Matthew 23:19.
For us this Altar with all its appointed ministry is full of typical
significance. Every student of the word of God easily discerns that all the
offerings are type of Christ, but what is the Altar Itself a type of? The key to
interpreting its typical meaning, we believe, is this. The Altar was so built
that it could endure the devouring fire of God's wrath. The proof of this was
the fact that, about 490 years after it was built by Bezalel, Solomon offered a
thousand burnt-offerings upon it. II Chronicles 1:5, 6.
As such a vessel it is a type of Christ as the only One who was humanly and
divinely able to bear the wrath of God against sin and the sinner. The shittim
wood, Which grew In the dry barren desert about Sinai, is typical of Christ as a
man, who grew up before God as "a root out of a dry ground." Isaiah 53:2. There
was nothing in this sinful world to nourish the One who took upon Himself the
likeness of a man. Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:5-8. But Jesus ate "butter and
honey that he might know to refuse the evil and choose the good." Isaiah 7:15.
He fed upon the solid part of the word of God for nourishment,
and being sweeter than honey to His taste it satisfied His heart. Hebrews 5:13,
14; Psalms 119:103; 81:16.
But overlaying the boards were the heavy plates of brass, which made the Altar a
vessel abundantly able to endure the consuming fire. This brass suggests to us
the ability which Christ had to "endure the cross." This power to endure God's
righteous judgment against sin and the sinner was not human, but divine. Jesus
was God manifest in the flesh. God Incarnate. John 1:14; I Timothy 3:16. "In Him
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:9; 1:19. He was
filled with all the fullness of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit. He had the
mind of the Father, the love of the Father, and the faith of the Father.
Filled with the faith of God, Jesus was divinely able to endure the consuming
fire of God's wrath, which was visited upon Him on the cross. Hebrews 12:2, 29;
10:27, 31; Deuteronomy 4:24; 9:3; Isaiah 33:14.
The Altar is thus a type of our blessed Lord. He is the Altar, He is the
bleeding Lamb, and He is the High Priest offering up the Lamb. He is "all and in
all" to us. Colossians 3:11.
God's work of righteousness, in judging sinful Israel through His
appointed substitutes at the Altar, is typical of just what He did on Calvary
for every one who will believe His precious word.
When no one could
produce any righteousness acceptable to God, when all were shut out from the
presence of God, and every mouth stopped, God manifested His righteousness by
dealing with every man according to His holy law. But praise His name. He did
not deal with us on the ground of law, but on the ground of grace, for His love
provided a Substitute to be judged in our place, who by faith laid down His life
for us. Romans 3:21, 22.
Because of His love for us, Jesus was willing to be separated from the Father's
presence, that all who believe might come into the presence of our Father and
dwell there. This separation of Christ from the Father was what broke His heart
and wrung from His lips the heart broken cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?" Psalms 22:1; Matthew 27:46.
The death of Christ for us delivers every sinner who believes from the penalty
of our sins, and God's acceptance of Him as the One who died for us delivers us
from our guiltiness before God, for the acceptance of the offering meant the
acceptance of the one for whom the sacrifice was offered. The proof to us that
God accepted Christ as our Substitute is that He was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, and that He ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on
High. Romans 6:4; Hebrews 1:3.
By believing God's declaration concerning the death and resurrection of Christ
we are justified, or declared righteous before God. Romans 4:25; 5:1.
The measure of the Altar, five cubits long, and five cubits broad
suggests typically the thought of responsibility which Christ fulfilled
toward God and toward man, for He kept both tables of the law.
It was four-square, which speaks to us of weakness, for four is
the earth number, but the horns are symbols of power. Daniel 8:3-7. Christ was
"crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God." 2 Corinthians
13:4.
But the blood sprinkled horns certainly foreshadow the wonderful power of the
finished work of Christ, the work wrought for us on the cross, which is so fully
and clearly typified by the offering up of the sacrifices on the Altar.
They tell us of the joyful message of what Another has done for us, which
has power to save from the penalty, guilt and power of sin, and from the power
of Satan, every one who will believe it. Romans 1:16; 3:24; 6:6; 11; 1 John 1:7;
Ephesians 6:10-18; Revelation 12:11.
Three cubits high typifies the work of the Trinity on the cross. The
Father was on Calvary offering up His Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. 2
Corinthians 5:19; Hebrews 9:14.
The offerings consumed upon the grate in the center or heart of the Altar
suggests the fact that Christ made His soul an offering for sin. "He poured out
His soul unto death." Isaiah 53:10-12.
The purple covering reminds us of the tact that it was the King of the
Jews who was crucified for us, while the badger skin covering, which
protected the Altar and its vessels on the march, typifies the humiliation of
Christ, His humility which protected Him from all the defiling things of earth.
Isaiah 53:2, last clause; Philippians 2:8; 1 Peter 5:5, 6.
It was Jehovah Himself, the covenant making and covenant keeping God of
redemption, who opened the Gate, under which sin-cursed Israel might take the
first step toward Him. Then in righteousness and grace He met them at the Brazen
Altar, and there judged and put away all their sins, so that they might come
acceptably into His presence.
On Calvary God met us and righteously judged all of our sins, and reconciled us
unto Himself, having made peace through the blood of Christ's cross, so that
every believer may come acceptably into His holy presence. Much more than that,
the result, for every believer, of God's work of righteousness is
peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
Psalms 85:10; Colossians 1:20; Isaiah 32.17.
By W.
W. RUGH, Associate Dean, Bible Institute of Pennsylvania
1418 N. 16th Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
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2011-11-20