THE BRAZEN ALTAR
Ex. 27:1-81And 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. 2And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. 3And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. 4And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof. 5And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. 6And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. 7And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. 8Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it. (Exodus 27:1‑8). There is no New Testament passage which tells us in terms the exact value of this vessel, but as the substance of all these shadows is Christ, it is not difficult to discern, in the two materials of which it is made, the twofold character of our Lord's person, divine and human.
The same will be seen in the gold and wood of other vessels, and the question at once rises, what is the difference between gold and brass (or copper, lit.), if both are types of that which is divine?
From the words of Heb. 9:55And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. (Hebrews 9:5), "cherubim of glory," (which cherubim in Ex. 25:1818And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. (Exodus 25:18), were made of gold), it seems clear that gold is used to express the divine in that connection, the glorious, the excellent, that which suited God in His own nature. The consistent uses of brass, where power and stability are wanted, lead us to see that character of the Divine in connection with it. So we find gold, and not brass, used inside the building; but the altar and laver outside are made with brass.
The altar is for the purpose of burning the sacrifices offered to God, and this material, copper, can endure the fire. Thus the vessel, standing immediately within the gate, tells of the Lord Jesus, to all who enter, as the One who could endure the righteous judgment of God. Now it is this that a guilty creature needs first to know as he enters the presence of God. The declaration of such a Christ is the simplest gospel message Christ for faith to trust. It is not a demand upon intelligence to search and understand a list of doctrines, but it is the plain glad tidings of One able to save, for He did bear the judgment of God. He was "very God and very Man," able to meet God according to God's nature and claims; and able also to meet the guilty in their deepest need. He "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power." He was "made of a woman," was "found in fashion as a man," "in the likeness of sinful flesh"—but "in Him is no sin,"—He "took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men," "for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." God prepared Him a body, Heb. 10:55Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (Hebrews 10:5), and sent Him into the world; "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," "God was manifest in the flesh," "the life was manifested," even "that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us." The Divine and the human were combined in Him, each was perfect, nor was either impaired by the other; God opened the heavens to declare "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He was "that holy thing" who could touch a leper and not be defiled; that obedient One also, who delighted in God's law, always doing those things that pleased God, John 8:2929And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8:29).
Only in such a person could capability be found to take up the entire question of sin, bear its judgment, and put it away; and this capability it is which the brazen altar specially presents to us. As a guilty one stands within the gate of the court, this is the testimony first in view; the person of an able Savior for his heart to rest upon by faith.
But in what way is this blessed heart-rest made ours? It is by faith alone, "not of works lest any man should boast." Then, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" "All that believe in Him," lit. "are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses," Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39). Faith in His work, "in His blood," cannot be absent where there is faith in Himself, though there may be but little knowledge—or none—of what that work is and includes.
It is not possible to believe in Him, and not believe in His work; while, on the other hand, how many are there who are directed rather to His work than to Himself, and who thus get but a poor sense of what it was He did? Are there not now multitudes whose feeble thoughts of Christ are the real reason of their want of peace, though they put faith in His blood? The fact is, the quality of a workman must come out in his work, whatever that work may be.
The Lord Jesus was the perfect and infinite worker, and that which He did was both perfect in quality and infinite in scope. Does a soul trust Him? Then by His "one offering He hath perfected forever"—perfection and infinity go together—"them that are sanctified," Heb. 10:1414For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14). A believer, sanctified as he is by the will of God, is, from the moment he believes, perfected for all eternity by the work of Christ on the cross, because it was Christ there, who offered up Himself. It was the one infinitely capable High Priest, and Sacrifice, and Sin-bearer, whose own perfection became the quality of the atonement He made, because HE made it. Everlasting punishment was righteously due to us; He in His infiniteness could, and did, meet the everlastingness of God's claim, and satisfy it once for all. So that "perfected," and that "forever," is the inevitable effect of His blessed work upon a trusting soul. The soul that trusts Him, His person, the now risen, ascended, and glorified Christ, is seen of God, and by God declared to be, "perfected forever." We little grasp it, we little measure what it includes and involves, but it is real, real not to the intelligent, and the ignorant left out, but to the ignorant as truly as to any; not to the wise and the mighty and the learned only, but to the unwise and unlearned and feeble equally, because it is all to faith of heart alone.
Who is it trusts that blessed person?
The altar of brass tells us of Him, the competent Savior, and he who believes on Him shall never be confounded.
There is a striking fact in the New Testament directly connected with this insistence upon faith on the person. It is this, there are fully 100 passages which connect faith with the person of Christ in the terms of a sentence; while there are but two that connect faith in direct terms with the work of the Lord Jesus. These two are, Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25), "through faith in His blood," and 1 Thess. 4:1414For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (1 Thessalonians 4:14), "if we believe that Jesus died." Surely this is an emphatic lesson from the Holy Spirit.
The following are the hundred passages which are referred to:—
In the epistle to the Romans which unfolds the great fundamental truths of the Gospel, justification from sins, and the judgment of sin, there is an opening statement setting out what "the gospel of God" is, Rom. 1:1-51Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: (Romans 1:1‑5). It is "the gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection of dead ones" (lit.) "by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name.”
The Spirit of God thus prefaces the doctrinal arguments by a guard, lest the study of them should at all interfere with the simplest sense of what God's gospel is. In the last chapter of the epistle He repeats this guard, chapter 16:25, 26. "Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ ... . according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.”
Again we are told the person is declared by God's command to all nations for the obedience of faith. This in no way undervalues the aim of the epistle at large, which is to unfold so much precious truth comprised in the death of Christ; but this unfolding is not to be allowed to interfere with the plain and simple gospel—believe on Christ. Faith on Him brings a soul into subjection to Him, and carries home to the heart the richest blessings God can give. It is not only pardon, but also reconciliation, life, acceptance, according to the value of the work of the cross; all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. What a lesson this feature of the epistle is, to any who would seek by argument to satisfy intelligence, instead of resting hearts on the Living One at God's right hand.
It is quite true that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself could be no Redeemer except through death. He distinctly says, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
Thus pardon, life, the knowledge of the Father, and the gift of the Holy Sprit, are intended to be the foundation gifts of grace to each believer. In John 17:2, 32As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:2‑3) Jesus, addressing the Father, declares that the life He gives is eternal life in order that the receivers might know Thee—the Father—the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou halt sent. While Gal. 4:66And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6), tells us, "because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts." These are the primary truths of personal grace.
The simplest form of gospel message, is the presentation of Christ as the one person on whom to trust; and this is the first great truth that confronts us as we enter by the gate of "holy place," and stand before the brazen altar.
This vessel is described to have a brazen net-work sunk halfway down, as I understand it, "that the net may be even to the midst of the altar." Such a provision makes the altar to contain the fire within it, and also the sacrifices. Many pictures show the grating across the top, with fire and offerings lying upon it. This latter way—certainly not found in the text—would prefigure an external or superficial bearing 'of judgment by our Lord Jesus.
It was not so. It was His actual bearing of judgment according to his inward capability of estimating it with God, that formed the essence of atonement. He could so meet God, and He did. "My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels," Psa. 22:1414I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. (Psalm 22:14). His was no mere death of a body of flesh and blood, the closing of a life on earth; it was that, but infinitely more than that. It was the peerless God-Man accepting the cup of everlasting punishment—our due—with full sense and measure of what that was, and voluntarily drinking it in obedience of heart, for God's glory and for our deliverance. The altar was "hollow with boards," and the network across it half-way down so that the burning was within it. No mind can measure, no tongue can tell, the full significance of the truth in the cross which such a burning foreshadows.
On the four corners of the network were four rings, through which the two staves were passed, for carrying the altar on the shoulders of the Levites during the journeys of the people. This directly connects the carriers with the network on which the fire lay. Surely this takes us to the way in which, as we travel, we should bear about in our bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus, 2 Cor. 4:10,1110Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:10‑11), not merely remembering the fact, but applying to ourselves the truth of the judgment of God dealing with Him, and with us in Him, at Calvary.
There were also four horns on the four corners of the altar. These were used in connection with some of the sin offerings, blood being sprinkled on them. This will be considered when examining those sacrifices.
It would seem also that in practice the sacrifices were sometimes bound to these horns, though there is no appointment in the law for such a use of them. Psa. 118:2727God is the Lord, which hath showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. (Psalm 118:27).
Adonijah found refuge at the horns of the altar, 1 Kings 1:5050And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. (1 Kings 1:50), an act which appears to mean, "instead of a substitute, I present myself." In his case the unconditional surrender was accepted and he was pardoned. But in the case of Joab, 1 Kings 2:2828Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. (1 Kings 2:28), who did the same, it was not accepted, for he had presumptuously slain two men with guile, and God had appointed, Ex. 21:1414But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. (Exodus 21:14), that such should not be allowed any mercy, "thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die." He was accordingly put to death.
The measure of the altar was 5 cubits square, and its height was 3 cubits. We have seen the number five in connection with the curtains of the court, that it was the measure of the linen carried by each of the pillars, giving the extent of the responsibility attaching to the pillar. But if we look at our own responsibility and how practically we have met it, is it not true that all our righteousnesses (fine linen) are as filthy rags? Have we not utterly failed to the full extent of our 5 cubits square?
Connect the measure of the altar with this, and then we have a figure of the Lord Jesus bearing the judgment of God, in the strict measure and to the full extent of our sinful failure. Surely it is through righteousness that grace reigns.
The 3 cubits of its vertical measure may be connected with a perfectness Godward, three being connected with the Trinity.
Before leaving the altar, observe Lev. 6:1313The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. (Leviticus 6:13), "the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar, it shall never go out." It was a permanent expression of the righteous judgment of God in the midst of the camp. But when the Lord Jesus bore that judgment, how marked was the contrast. Then, it was borne once for all, and quelled forever for God and for faith, though it abides for unbelief. Here is a test and evidence of the quality of His blessed person, His infinity, weighed as it were, in the scales against the eternal, and full satisfaction is found. A proper estimate on our part, of His person, would have precluded the idea that punishment was not eternal. Had a limited punishment only been due to us, a less victim would have sufficed to bear it and set us free.
But the word is clear enough, see Matt. 25:4646And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:46), Heb. 6:22Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:2), Mark 3:2929But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: (Mark 3:29), 2 Thess. 1:99Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2 Thessalonians 1:9), Jude 77Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7), where the original term is the same as is used for "eternal" life in every passage. Also "everlasting" in Jude 66And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6) is the same Greek word as in Rom. 1:2020For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20), where it is rendered "eternal." But if eternal judgment is denied, so also must eternal life be denied, and the eternity of God too.
We read in Ex. 20:2626Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. (Exodus 20:26), that they were not to go up to God's altar by steps; nothing that might suggest any approach to heathen corruptions, could be allowed. The height of the altar required some provision to enable the priests to lay the offerings "in order upon the wood that is on the fire." This has been often indicated by a slope of earth, put upon the east side towards the court gate.
Lev. 1:1616And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: (Leviticus 1:16), however, speaks of "the place of the ashes" on the east part, so that any such slope would probably be on the north side, leading direct from the place of killing to the altar. It should be remembered that enterers at the gate had no liberty to go to the altar, it was the exclusive work of the priests alone to put anything upon the fire of the altar.
To sum up the teaching of this first vessel, it gives us in figure:—
The person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the God-Man; chiefly in the character of the one competent to endure God's righteous wrath; Enduring it with Divine estimate of its extent of nature,—so meeting God upon His throne; Enduring it in the precise measure due to the guilty,—so meeting man in his need also; And, as carried on the march, connecting the believer in his daily life, with the death of the Lord under judgment, so that nothing else than the life of Jesus should be made manifest in his mortal flesh.