The Brazen Altar Of The Tabernacle

THE BRAZEN ALTAR OF THE TABERNACLE
By Michael D. O’Neal     Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church     Albany, Georgia

Scripture Reading: Exodus 27:1-8

Text: Exodus 26:30

Exodus 27:1 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.

Introduction: In case you have missed previous messages on the subject, let me say this morning that the Old Testament tabernacle is one of the types, or prophetic pictures, in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation through Him.

God commanded Moses:

Exodus 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

Paying special attention to the words “make” and “dwell,” please notice what God said in the New Testament about the birth of Christ:

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.

“and dwelt among us.”

The tabernacle was made for God to dwell among men. Jesus Christ was “made flesh” in John 1:14 “and dwelt among us.”

This is just one of many of the Old Testament passages that tells us of Jesus, as Jesus said:

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

John 5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

I believe one of Old Testament passages that testifies of Jesus is the one before us. This morning we are going to consider:

THE BRAZEN ALTAR OF THE TABERNACLE

The brazen altar speaks of Jesus and His salvation in the New Testament in that it speaks of:

I. A BROKEN LAW

Exodus 19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

A. The altar pointed to defilement

B. The altar pointed to death
1. A place of continual death
2. It measured 5 x 5, by the way, and that number (5) is often associated with death
in scripture (Gen. 5:5; Acts 5:5; Rom. 5; Mark 5; etc.)

C. The altar pointed to damnation

D. The altar pointed to deliverance

II. A BLEEDING LAMB

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

A. A substitute was provided

B. A sheep was pierced

C. The Savior was pictured

III. BLESSED LIBERTY

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Hebrews 9:14 How 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?

We are:

A. Liberated to live

B. Liberated to laugh

C. Liberated to leap for joy

D. Liberated to labor

E. Liberated to love

The difference:

The Old Testament lamb was the picture; Jesus is the reality!

Old Testament salvation was figurative; New Testament salvation is fulfilled!

The Old Testament altar and sacrifice was a shadow; The New Testament sacrifice of Christ is SUBSTANCE!