THE FIRST thing that met the sinner’s gaze when coming up out of the world into the court of the tabernacle, was the brazen altar, and this is what we have presented to us next.
“And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be four-square: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.”
The sinner could never approach God except through a sacrifice, and it was upon this altar of brass that the sacrifice was to be offered. It formed the meeting place between God and the sinner; for as long as the sinner is in his sins, God could only meet him on that ground, for man is a responsible being to God.
We remember how that the five pillars of the door spoke of grace going out to man in weakness; the length and breadth of the altar here is that of the grace of God. Who shall measure that? The height of three cubits remind us of three days, and may suggest the thought of life, out of death.
There were four horns, one at each corner of the altar. The horn is used as a symbol of strength and power, whether good or evil. When therefore the blood was sprinkled upon the horns, the whole strength of the altar which had been against the sinner is now exercised on his behalf.
As wood is capable of being scorched by fire, so He, in unspeakable grace, “became flesh” and suffered. “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His for more than the sons of men.” But brass can endure the fire, so He endured that most tremendous of a suffering, the full absolute trial the judgment of God, and endured it for us. Though the brass might glow in the terrible heat which tested its endurance, it did but shine the brighter for the fire. And blessed truth, the very fire of divine judgment itself could only bring out to view more fully His perfections.
Have you ever thought about that solemn cry which the Lord Jesus uttered upon the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” What mere man, a sinner, forsaken of God, would dare to ask why? His conscience would soon give him many, many reasons why God should righteously forsake him.
But here is One, a Man too, (blessed thought), who in the very midst of the all-searching fire of divine judgment, can in perfect integrity, ask, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Who but He, “the holy One of God,” could speak to even God Himself (though it was in deepest subjection) to say if there were any fault in Him, any ground or cause in His pure and spotless life, and Person, for forsaking Him?
And let us remember, dear reader, that these words were uttered at the very moment when “all the waves and billows” of God’s wrath were passing over Him, on account of our sin. It was “out of the depths” that He cried, such depths as no living man ever did or could come into and live. Yet even from there. He could say, “Why?” in conscious, yet meekest, perfection. Jonah, beneath the waves and billows of the ocean, only needed to cry for mercy (Jonah 2:2,32And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. (Jonah 2:2‑3)) but this blessed One had gone on His own free will, in obedience and love, to where mercy could not read Him!
ML-08/09/1970