Mon, 27 March, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. Five cubits was its length, and five cubits its breadth. It was square, and three cubits was its height. 2 He made horns for it on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its utensils of bronze. 4 And he made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down. 5 He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. 6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow, with boards.
This is our second time through the description of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The first time was God’s instructions on how to build them, and we are now in the description of how the Israelites complied with these instructions.
Between these two descriptions we have the episode of the golden calf, so it is very striking to see how God forgives the sin of the Israelites and consents to abide with them despite the golden calf.
In our passage today we see how the Israelites built the altar of burnt offering.
What do we learn from this?
The altar of burnt offering sat outside the tabernacle, where the ark of the covenant was. Although God is omnipresent, the ark was considered His special dwelling place, and so when the people came to the tabernacle, they were coming to the presence of God.
The altar sat between the people and the tabernacle, and only the priests could go beyond the altar to enter the tabernacle. People could approach God but only by coming to him by means of the altar and the priests who presented the offerings on behalf of the people.
God is forgiving of the sins of His people, as we see by the fact that God continued to abide with the Israelites after they built the golden calf, but only because of the death of a substitute and a mediator who will successfully plead for the people before God.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Why don’t we still have an altar where we sacrifice animals as a prerequisite to our worship of God?
All the offerings under the Old Testament sacrificial system pointed to Jesus Christ as the Substitute. He is the reality of which all the animal sacrifices were simply a picture. Jesus Christ died in the place of His people, completely paying for all of their sins, and forever abolishing all further animal sacrifice.
We don’t have an altar anymore because of the work of Jesus Christ.
