The Altar of Sacrifice

As you enter the eastern gate of the Tabernacle, your attention is immediately grabbed by the large Bronze Altar. Made of an incorruptible wood and overlaid with bronze, it stands elevated and strong in the center of the courtyard. It is accessible, and it is unavoidable. You walk up to it. You are so close you could touch it. You can smell the stench of blood…precious blood. Precious because isn’t yours. You walk around it…visit it’s four corners where on each lies a horn. And then you step back and behold its glory.

To behold the Bronze Altar, the altar of sacrifice, is to behold the cross of Christ. Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice was laid upon a wooden altar, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.” (Hebrews 10:10) This altar bears testimony that sin requires a payment but also that God has a plan. To come to this altar, repent of sin, accept the sacrifice is to obtain salvation. The Israelites made atonement daily. Christ, the perfect Lamb, did it once and for all. In Him our debt of sin is satisfied.

Just as clearly as Christ is seen in the sacrifice, He is also seen in every detail of the altar. The wood speaks of His humanity, the bronze the judgment He endured as He took our sins upon Him. As the blood covers the four corners of the altar, so His blood covers the four corners of the world. His sacrifice was for all. The horns secured the sacrifice to the altar; Christ was held to the cross by love but in doing so, secured our place in Heaven. He is the horn of our salvation! (Psalm 18:2) At the end, the priest pours out the blood at the base of the altar. “This is my blood covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) It covers. It atones. It is enough.

Still held captive by the altar, your knees begin to tremble. You can not walk any further into the tabernacle until you have bowed at this altar. You can not get any closer to God until you have knelt at the cross. Your sins are weighing heavy upon you. You can no longer stand. Falling to the ground you throw yourself upon the altar and cast your sins upon the Sacrifice. The fire consumes, the blood falls and you are forgiven.

As you turn from the altar you are changed…whether it is your first time or your fiftieth you can’t visit the cross and remain the same. It should have been you, but it wasn’t. The price has been paid. The sacrifice been made. “It is finished.” (John 19:30)