Laying It On The Altar Series

Now, that man could quit the meat packing firm, but Israel couldn’t quit it’s sacrifices. Sacrifices were required of them to cover their sins and to allow them to be in God’s presence. And each sinner was req’d to bring his sacrifice to the north end of the altar and there they (not the priests) were required to slay their own offering. (Leviticus 1:10-11)

So the 1st heavenly lesson God intended to teach His people at the altar was this:

Sin was a terrible thing.

And the cost of our sins calls for a horrible price - the death of a blameless creature to pay for our deliberate sin.

The 2nd truth God wanted to teach thru this altar was the foreshadowing of the death of Jesus for our sin. Remember – the tabernacle was an earthly illustration intended to teach heavenly truths.

Hebrews 9 teaches us that “When Christ came as high priest … he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made (in heaven)… He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11-12

So Jesus offered His blood for our sins… and there must be something about this altar in the courtyard of the tabernacle that teaches us about what Jesus that fateful day at Calvary.

The first thing we notice in Exodus 27 – is what the altar is made of.

Look again at Exodus 27:1 "Build an altar of acacia wood…” Exodus 27:1

Wood?

Now you’d think that’s kind of peculiar - for an altar to be made of wood.

Why? Because wood generally burns.

But – of course - God knew that so He instructed Israel to cover the altar with beaten bronze.

ILLUS: Several decades ago, scientists made a discovery. They found that if they took a wooden door and encased it in copper so that it was perfectly sealed that the door literally became fireproof. Wood won’t burn when it’s encased with certain metals… like bronze (an alloy usually made of copper and tin).

No other altar in Scripture was ever made of wood.

No other altar in the history of mankind was ever made of wood.

Except one.

Tell me: when Jesus died at Calvary… on what did He die? (the Cross)

What’s the cross made of? (Wood)

Literally, you could say, the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins was made on an altar of wood.

2ndly – the wood was acacia wood.

It’s a common wood found in the desert and like many desert plants it has a defense mechanism that protects it from predators: THORNS

The day Jesus was crucified we’re told the soldiers “…stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. Mt 27:28-29

Scholars don’t know what kind of thorns made up this crown … (the Bible doesn’t say) but frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if they had not been from an acacia tree.

The 3rd thing I noticed was that the Altar had 4 horns.

Exodus 27:2 tells us they were to “Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece…”