The Altar Of Sacrifice (Or Why Study The Tabernacle?) Series

Introduction

1. The Tabernacle would have been a wonderful place...

right at the center of camp...

all the Children of Israel camping around it in the specified locations...

The colorful cloths...

the gold and bronze furnishings...

the pillar of fire at night...

the pillar of cloud by day...

Knowing that God was with them...

what a powerful thing that must have been to be there...

2. I would like for us to approach the tabernacle and imagine what it must have been like...

I would like for us to enter the gate and participate in the events that would have taken place upon the altar of sacrifice...

And, as we study the wilderness tabernacle from thousands of years ago...

may God speak to us even today...

Read Text: Exodus 25:8

Why should we study the Tabernacle?1...

Well, let me give you just 4 reasons...although I’m sure that there are many more.

1. Well, for one thing...it’s in the Bible!!!

And if we consider ourselves serious students of God’s Word...

Then we must study the WHOLE Scripture...

And that includes the chapters on the Tabernacle...

by the way...The Creation Story only occupies 2 chapters in the Bible...

While the Tabernacle occupies 50 chapters in the Bible!!

So, simply by the preponderance of the coverage in the Bible..

we must study it!

It is found in covered in both the Old and New Testaments...

2. The Tabernacle is a portrait of Christ!

The Tabernacle is the story of God making His dwelling amongst us...

And that is the story of Jesus...

John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and DWELT AMONG US”...

3. The Tabernacle is also the portrait of the Christian...

1 Corinthians 3:16 says,

“Do you not know that you are a temple of God

and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

4. The Tabernacle is also the portrait of heaven!!

Hebrews 9:11-12 says,...

But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s "tent"—the true Holy Place—once and for all. (TM)

And Revelation 21:3 says, “The Tabernacle of God is among men, and ...God Himself shall dwell among them”

Layout of the Tabernacle

1. The Tabernacle was 150 feet long by 75 feet wide...

There is only one gate...

There is no other way to enter the Tabernacle...

there is no backdoor into the presence of God...

Jesus Christ said,

“I am the Way...No man comes to the Father except through Me”

...John 14:6

2. Interestingly, The gate faces East...

In other words, when God’s people came to worship God in His Presence...

Their backs were to the rising sun...

This would have been completely opposite from the way that the pagan sun worshipers of the day (and even today) who always faced East.

Ezekiel wrote, in Ezekiel 8:16...

God then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD,

and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar,

were about twenty-five men.

With their backs toward the temple of the LORD

and their faces toward the east,

they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

3. Within the fenced off area of the Tabernacle...

There are 6 pieces of furniture...

2 that are in the courtyard...

the Altar of Sacrifice...also called the Brazen Altar...

and the Brazen Laver...

3 items that are in the Holy Place...

The Table of Showbread...

The Golden Lampstand...

and the Altar of Incense...

And then 1 item within the Most Holy Place...

The Ark of the Covenant...

Over the next several weeks, we will study the various pieces of furniture within the Tabernacle...

their function...and their significance...

The Altar of Sacrifice

1. The altar was 7 1/2 feet square...

and 4 1/2 feet deep...

It was made of acacia wood, covered in bronze...

There was a grate upon which the animal was placed...

and 4 corner pieces...called “horns” in the Bible...

these corner pieces were used to tie the animal and hold it upon the altar...

2. The Altar of Sacrifice was Placed First

It was the first thing that the people would come to upon entering through the gate...

Before people could come into the presence of a Holy God...

they had to deal with the issue of their sin...

The same thing is true for us...

Before we can come into the presence of God...

we must admit our sin...

and we express our sorrow for our sin...

3. In the Wilderness Tabernacle... Animal Sacrifices were used to provide the blood debt required for the people’s sin...

Leviticus 4:27-29 says...

If a member of the community sins...he is guilty.

he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect.