People Take Part In God's Worship At His Tabernacle Series

People’s Part in Worship at God’s Tabernacle

People take part in using the Alter

People are able to come into God’s presence in the Courtyard

People able to bring God oil for the lampstand

DBF Sunday Sermon, 2/23/03, Exodus 27

We in Dillingham are part of Bristol Bay, which is part of the South Central Region of Alaska, and part of Alaska, which is part of the United States of America, and part of North America.

We are connected to other people of differing areas by rules and laws that govern our nation, by nationality, culture and by many other factors.

It would be difficult to survive in Bristol Bay today without outside assistance in the form of groceries, clothing, and machinery.

In fact from what I have heard, it has always been somewhat difficult to survive in this region, and those that have managed have only been able to do so by continually working on subsistence.

Gathering the things that God made available in their proper seasons and times.

People here understand that blood is required to be shed for their existence. Without the blood of salmon, caribou, moose, wolf, beaver, otter, coyote, and other animals, life would be almost impossible.

It was the same in the time of Moses, and today we will walk with God as HE directs Moses to set of the man-ward side of the tabernacle.

The Courtyard was where common man would come to learn and be a part of the worship that God ordained to give Israel a view of what would come and give us a view of where we have come from.

Let’s walk with Moses today and glean for our lives as God directs the nation of Israel’s common worship and daily interactions with him, while pointing forward to Jesus Christ and our worship today.

People take part in using the Alter

Exodus 27:1-8 (KJV)

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. [3] And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. [4] And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. [5] And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. [6] And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. [7] And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. [8] Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

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…God again starts by commanding Moses that the nation will make an alter from the Hebrew word

mizbeach (258a); from H2076; an altar:—altar (349), altars (52), from the root word zabach (256d); a prim. root; to slaughter for sacrifice:—made (1), offer (12),

offer a sacrifice (2), offer to a sacrifice (1), offer sacrifices (3), offered (11), offered

sacrifice (1), offering (2), offering sacrifices (1), offers a sacrifice (2), sacrifice (47),

sacrificed (33), sacrifices (3), sacrificing (9), slaughter (3), slaughtered (3).

What do you bring to God’s alter in your life today? What sacrifice…offering…?

We see that the nation of Israel was commanded to make a Brazen Altar, let’s see what the purpose of it was.

The courtyard had two principal vessels: the laver and the altar of burnt-offering.

Here the vessels were made of bronze rather than of gold.

In the court before the tabernacle, where the people attended, was an altar, to which they must bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer them to God.

Here the sinner laid their hand on the offering to transfer their sinfulness to the sacrificed animal.

This offering was placed on the altar it was of wood overlaid with brass.

A grate of brass was let into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of which the fire was kept, and the sacrifice burnt.

It was made of net-work like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the ashes might fall through.

This brazen altar sacrifice was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins.