Exodus 27: The Altar of Burnt Offering Leads Us to the Cross

Introduction

This Sunday, October 4, at Église Vie Nouvelle Bruxelles, the message opens with a reading of Exodus 27:1-8 and then Exodus 38:8. The preacher, who speaks in Italian with a translation into French, focuses on a single object of the tabernacle: the altar of burnt offering, “the first thing you found as you came in.”

He warns that it would take weeks, even months, to go through the whole tabernacle. But one conviction guides the entire message: everything in the tabernacle speaks of God's love for the sinner, and its center is Jesus Christ.

From the bronze altar, he draws a single line: we cannot draw near to God without passing by the cross. And because God gave the best for you, he invites you to give him the best in return.

Message Outline

1. The Tabernacle, One Door to Enter

The tabernacle is the tent God ordered Moses to build during the journey through the wilderness, after the exodus from Egypt.
God made his people wander 40 years in the wilderness, “not because it took 40 years to get from Egypt to the promised land,” but because of disobedience.
“Tell me, wouldn't it have been easier to obey the Lord and arrive in the promised land right away?” Human beings have a problem: they want to see and touch things before they even have them.
For 40 years, the people were put to the test and had to learn “with the rod.” It would have been simpler to obey, to have faith and to start enjoying the promise already.
The tabernacle had only one entrance, just as there is only one way to heaven.
Jesus said it: “I am the door. If anyone enters in through me, he will be saved” (John 10:9). Whoever tries to enter some other way does not arrive.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
The preacher invites us to read the letter to the Hebrews, which explains the tabernacle: every object is a picture of Jesus Christ.
“Apart from shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). Everything centered on the blood of the lamb, and John the Baptist said of Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Those who believe in Jesus are cleansed of their sins. Yet we need to take hold of God's promises in order to live a continual cleansing of the heart by his blood.

2. The Fire of the Altar Must Not Go Out

His wife asked him a question: who lit the fire of the altar the first time? It was not Moses, it was not Aaron. It was God himself who lit it miraculously (Leviticus 9:24).
God commanded that this fire must not go out, neither by day nor by night (Leviticus 6:13). It is important that the fire keeps burning on God's altar.
“You are the Lord's altar.” We continually offer the Lord sacrifices of praise (Hebrews 13:15).
After the altar came the bronze basin where the priests washed, then, inside the tent, the holy place and the most holy place. The preacher leaves them for another time, for lack of time.

3. The Bronze Altar, a Picture of Calvary

The altar of burnt offering, made of bronze (some translations say copper), is “a type of Calvary.”
For years, many animals were sacrificed on it. The sinner who was aware of having disobeyed God's Word brought a lamb or another animal that God asked for.
He laid his hands on the animal, the animal was killed, and the sinner's sins passed onto it. It was the symbol of what God was going to do for all humanity.
The altar measured about 2.5 meters by 2.5 meters (about 8 feet square), with a height of about 1.5 meters (about 5 feet).
No one could go beyond the altar without having passed by it. “We cannot receive anything from the Lord until we have come through Jesus Christ.” It is essential that his blood washes your heart. Then you are part of God's people.
The altar had four horns, “and nothing in the Bible is the fruit of chance.” The horns speak of power, strength and the great salvation received in Jesus Christ. Psalm 18 says it: “Yahweh, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer!” Some translations speak of the “horn of my salvation.”

4. Kaphar: God Covers the Sinner

To speak of the sacrifice of atonement, the preacher pauses on a Hebrew word: kaphar, which means “to cover.” God covered the sinner.
According to him, this word appears 150 times in the Old Testament and is among the most important in the whole Bible.
Translators have rendered it with several words to express its depth: cover, atone, forgive, appease, wipe away, repair, reconcile, purify, cancel.
When the animal was sacrificed on the altar, the sinner received all these benefits. “If it was so important in the Old Testament, how much more today for us.”
We hear these words, we come to church, we read the Word. But it is important to make these truths real in our lives, because all of this represented Jesus' work of redemption for you.
“By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Imagine having to go to the temple to bring a sacrifice every time. “God made life easier for us.” Jesus paid once for all.

5. God Asked for the Best Because He Gave the Best

The animal offered had to be perfect, without defect. The Israelite could have told himself: why bring a good animal when I can get rid of the one that limps?
“What would you have done? Would you have offered the very best, or what is not of much use to you?”
If God asks for the best, he is not a selfish God. He is a generous God, who gave at great cost the best he had: his Son, the spotless Lamb, on the cross of Calvary.
The question becomes personal: how do we serve the Lord? The preacher invites each person to say it to the Lord, not to him: “Lord, I want to give you my best, because you gave your best for me on the cross of Calvary.”
Isaiah 53:5 describes this sacrifice: he was wounded for our sins, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment we deserved fell on him, and by his stripes we are healed. “Let us take it by faith this morning: we have healing in Jesus Christ.”

6. One Mediator

No one could draw near to God without first passing by the altar.
“God did not plan for saints, or even the Virgin Mary, to reconcile humanity.” There is one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5).
Do you want to draw near to God? You must pass through Jesus, through the cross, through the altar of burnt offering.
“There is nothing good we can do, nothing we can offer, to earn anything from the Lord.” We receive only by coming through Jesus Christ.

7. The Acacia Wood, the Bronze and the Cross

The altar was made of acacia wood overlaid with bronze. Those who have been to Israel have seen these trees: it is not the most beautiful wood to look at, they are all twisted.
The wood speaks of the humanity of Jesus. He came from his glory to live on earth with a body like yours. He humbled himself, he became a man.
The bronze speaks of righteousness, but also of strength and endurance.
Satan tried several times to turn Jesus away from the cross. Even before reaching it, he suffered so much that his sweat became like drops of blood (Luke 22:44). He held on to the end.
From the very beginning of his ministry, his mind was turned toward Jerusalem. He drew closer and closer, knowing what awaited him there: to be rejected by men and denied by his own.
Jesus' greatest pain was not the nails in his hands and feet, nor the crown of thorns. It was being made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), taking your place and mine on the cross.
The sins of humanity passed onto him. At that moment, God could not have communion with his Son, because he cannot have communion with sin. That is why Jesus felt loneliness and cried out: “why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
“Do you sometimes feel alone? Loneliness is terrible. But Jesus went through it before you. He did not need to go through it, but he did it for you.”
The preacher draws a parallel with Abraham, whom God asked to offer his son (Genesis 22): Abraham represents God the Father, Isaac represents Jesus going up to Calvary and offering himself for our sins.
Christ offered the sacrifice that satisfies divine justice. God cannot overlook sin: he judged it by laying it on Jesus, who became our deliverer.
For God's children there is no longer any condemnation, because we have been justified by faith (Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1). “We do not want to offend Jesus by looking for other ways.”
Every day, we want to live for him and please him: to be obedient children and to pass on this message of grace to those outside who do not yet have it. This grace is not only to be treasured, it is to be shared.

Key Takeaways

The whole tabernacle speaks of God's love for the sinner, and its center is Jesus Christ.
One door, one altar, one mediator: we draw near to God only by passing through the cross.
Kaphar, to cover: through the sacrifice of Jesus, offered once for all, God forgives, wipes away, reconciles and purifies.
God asked for an animal without defect because he gave the best, his Son. He invites you to give him your best.
Jesus took your place on the cross. The grace we have received is not only to be kept, it is to be shared.

Personal Application

Is there an area where you want to “see and touch” before obeying, at the risk of going in circles in your own wilderness?
Are you still trying to draw near to God through your own efforts or through other intermediaries, rather than through Jesus alone?
Is the fire of the altar still burning in your life? How can you offer a continual sacrifice of praise this week?
In your service for the Lord, are you giving him your best or what is not of much use to you?
Who around you can you share with this week what Jesus has done for you?

Verses Quoted

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the altar of burnt offering represent in the tabernacle?

It was the first thing you came across when entering the tabernacle. The preacher sees in it a picture of Calvary: the sinner laid his hands on an animal without defect, the animal was sacrificed and the sin passed onto it. Everything pointed to the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God, in our place.

What does the Hebrew word kaphar mean?

Kaphar means to cover. According to the preacher, the word appears about 150 times in the Old Testament and translators have rendered it as cover, atone, forgive, appease, wipe away, repair, reconcile, purify or cancel. The sinner who came by the altar received all these benefits.

Why must we come through Jesus to draw near to God?

No one could go beyond the altar of burnt offering without having come by it. In the same way, there is only one door and one mediator between God and human beings, Jesus Christ. Nothing we do can earn God's favor: we receive it by coming through the cross.