The Tabernacle: lesson seven

The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, “Tim my boy, watch out for the last days cause they’re going to be tough ones.(that might be how he would say it today) HE SAID in the second epistle of Timothy chapter three and verse one, “But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come.”
He didn’t say they might come or perhaps you might have to face it, perilous times, or there is a slight chance that perilous times might come….no, he said they will come. Then he goes on to list what men will be like when these times come and I believe he is speaking of these days just before the coming of the Lord. Let’s read what he says starting in verse two. “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3.unloving, unforgiving, slanderer’s, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,4.traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. 5. having a form of godliness but denying the power. And from such people turn away!” Is this not a picture that we see every time you turn on a TV set, look at the shocking events in Colorado just this Sunday…or read the morning paper or pick up a news magazine in the doctor’s office? Perhaps you have seen some of this right in your own home and I am sure that all those who have earned their living in a school in this city or anywhere else can say amen to this.
We are living in the last days! But all is not lost; the end is not yet and God has laid out a pattern for our living and we find it in His Word in typology as we look into the subject of the Tabernacle. And as we have been looking into the various aspects of the tabernacle furnishings, starting with God coming to man through Christ as pictured in the golden Ark of the covenant, in which were contained the two tablets of stone on which were the ten commandments written, the golden pot of manna, the bread from heaven and also Aaron’s rod that budded, God’s approval on the man He had chosen for the priesthood and all this was covered by the Mercy Seat with the two cherubim, their wings touching each other in unity as they faced each other in power and guardianship; it was upon the Mercy Seat that the Blood was applied to make atonement for sin. This was the only piece of the furnishings located within the Holy of Holies. The Ark was the first item that God told Moses to build after He had told them to bring an offering, a free will offering from their hearts so that He could come and dwell with them. Let me just say something here about the prosperity doctrine; the prosperity doctrine says give and you will get back, give and you will receive, it’s an almost get rich quick scheme. But we should give with only one motive in mind and that is because God asks us to. And we should do it freely, that should be our only motive; He asks us to give. It must be from our hearts. Yes He will bless us but that should not be the reason for our giving, to get rich…it’s because He asks.
God desires to live among His people and it was God who came to man first and foremost, not man coming to God but we shall see in this next portion of scripture tonight the provision that God has prepared for man to come to Him. For as we come God’s way from the Holy of Holies into the Holy Place we immediately enter the place where there is fellowship and communion at the Table of Shewbread and experience the light of the golden Candlestick in which we see Jesus and the church portrayed so beautifully. Where it is our responsibility to bring the oil for the light; the oil of course represents the Holy Spirit but we are to bring it. You may have the lamps and the stands and the wicks, but unless you have the oil…there can be no light. You must bring the oil, and allow it to burn in order to give off the light. The oil must burn in order to give light and heat. Remember the word from Exodus 27:20, “And you shall command the children of Israel, that they bring you pure olive oil beaten (or crushed or pressed just as Jesus was beaten and crushed and pressed) for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.” And that light from the Candlestick never, ever went out. It was the only source of light in the Holy Place. And then there was the wicks and we saw that they represent humanity yielded to God’s trimming and His correction. The trimming is not pleasant but it is painful for the moment but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. While there in the Holy Place we can find a place of prayer and offer up sweet incense unto Him. We can lay hold of the horns of the Altar and cry out to God in time of need. Now to tonight’s subject, “the Brazen Altar” and here is where we can see man coming to God. We see sinful man coming to a righteous and a holy God. We see man at the Brazen Altar. This may very well be the singular most important aspect of the study to date. Read Exodus 27:1-8.
1 “You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. 2 You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar. 6 And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. 8 You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.” What makes this altar so important is the Sacrifice. So why did I choose to go this route and start from the inner part, the Holy of Holies and work outward? Because God has made every provision so that He could meet with man at the Altar of sacrifice and there man can receive forgiveness of sins so that he can go in to the Holy place and enjoy fellowship and offer up spiritual sacrifices. Even into the Holy of Holies because now the Veil has been rent in two. We can enter into the very throne of grace. The Brazen Altar is where sinful man can identify with a Holy God, where repentance is made and where sins are forgiven. It is the first step in a walk with God. It was located just inside the gate, it was the first thing the people saw when they entered the court, the outer court and whether there was a sacrifice or not the smoke ascended continually because the fire never went out...it was a place of repentance and identification where sin was confessed and the sacrifice is accepted, where we identify with Christ. Some people stop here and go no further but the next step is the Brazen Laver and this is the place of sanctification and of daily cleansing. Our spiritual journey starts here at the Altar and we can enjoy the privilege of living in Him and serving Him as we now move forward into the place of prayer and fellowship. Remember the Brazen altar is the altar of repentance while the Golden Altar is the place of fellowship, of incense as we offer up prayer to Him. The further we go the closer we get to the Holy of Holies where we are hid with Christ in God. Look up Col. Ch.3:1-4.
So as I already stated the Brazen Altar represents our beginning with God, the place where God came down taking the form of a bond servant, a slave, where He clothed Himself with humanity and gave Himself for us. The Brazen Altar is a place called Calvary; in the Hebrew it was called Mizbeach which translated becomes “slaughter-place) and that is what Calvary was, a slaughter-place. God had to provide animal skins for Adam and Eve after they had sinned to cover their nakedness, their shame and that meant blood had to be shed, so that shedding of blood even in the Garden of Eden became a “slaughter-place” and these sacrifices upon the Brazen Altar are all a type of the sacrifice that Jesus made once and for all time sake on the cross at a place called Calvary. The worship that was accomplished in the tabernacle and moving forward from the Brazen Altar had all to do with the shed blood. The blood that was spilt at this altar was sinless blood I’m not talking about the blood of animals now, I am speaking allegorically, I’m speaking of the Blood of the spotless Lamb of Calvary as seen here in type. Moving from the Old to the New Testament and into the book of Hebrews ch. 9 vvs. 11-14, it says,
“ 11But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Let’s read it from the Amplified version, “Hebrews 9:11-14 (Amplified Bible)
“11But [that appointed time came] when Christ (the Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are to come. [Then] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with [human] hands, that is, not a part of this material creation,
12He went once for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of heaven], not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves [by which to make reconciliation between God and man], but His own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us).
13For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body,(A)
14How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who [a]by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent [b]divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God? “
Look up Romans 3:24-26. Aren’t you glad we don’t have to go back to that ceremonial cleansing; that the blood that flowed from Calvary once for all time avails for sin? And this was what was happening or was in danger of happening in that congregation that caused the epistle to the Hebrews to be written, little wonder for the strong warnings found there. That is why he tells more than once to “exhort one another daily” and “to provoke one another to love and good works.” Heb 10:24
It is our responsibility to encourage each other, to find someone, another Christian or someone who is not a Christian and encourage them and to lift that person up. Jesus was lifted up for us at the Brazen Altar; as typified there. It was His Blood that was shed on the cross that was shown in type here; only His blood can take away sin; only His blood can be the atoning sacrifice. Let us be glad and rejoice. Read John 1:29It’s all about the blood and only His blood could ever atone for the sins of mankind…the sacrifices on the Brazen Altar could only point to His sacrifice on the cross. Man had to come continually to this altar but when Jesus paid for our sins on Calvary He did it once for all time and eternity. He came down to my level when I couldn’t get up to His, with a strong arm He lifted me up and showed me what living’ is; He’ll come down to your level if you’ll open up the door, He’ll make your life worth living, that’s what He came down for.
Jesus came down from the Father and we have discussed the fact that He laid aside FOR A WHILE His Divine powers and humbled Himself …He became obedient unto death even death upon a cross…a death that was only for criminals and yet He gave Himself…the God of heaven gave Himself…can you say amen? Let’s praise Him tonight.