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The first major vessel on the way in from the outside in towards the presence of God was the large copper altar that stood first within the gate. As we look at its picture on the screen, you may care to read with me the text of Exodus chapter twenty seven, And you may care to decide in your own mind, how faithfully or otherwise we have interpreted the instructions. Exodus twenty seven and verse 1. And thou shalt make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be four square, and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof. The horns shall be of one piece with it, and thou shalt overlay it with copper. Now, in some translations, indeed the translation from which I am reading at the moment, which is the English Revised Version, the metal concerned is called brass, and con- consequence, this altar is frequently referred to in the literature as the brazen altar. I have been brought up so well and truly on the King James Version that, uh, when I not thinking, memory takes over, and I shall inadvertently call it the brazen altar, I'm sure, from time to time this evening, even though I know better. The metal concerned was not brass. Brass is an alloy. The Israelites didn't possess brass, as far as we know. They would have used copper. And of course, we know that there were smelting furnaces down in the southern Negev near Eilat, where they early learned to, to, uh, produce copper. Copper, of course, has a very high, uh, melting point and was the obvious metal to use on an altar to protect the wood from the fierce heat of the furnace that was used to burn the sacrifices. So then, thou shalt overlay it, says verse two, with copper. And thou shalt make its pots to take away its ashes, and its shovels, and its basins, and its flesh hooks, and its firepans. All the vessels thereof thou shalt make of copper. And thou shalt make for it a grating of network of copper. Those of you who have joined us without being present this afternoon may like to know that this vertical grating work is our interpretation of verse four. Not an internal horizontal fire grate, but a grating work vertical going round the altar. Thou shalt make for it a network of copper, and upon the net thou shalt make four copper rings in the four corners thereof. Here are our rings in the sides that you can see, and they are, as you perceive, to be put on the grating work, the network, which they could hardly have been put on that grating if the grating were inside the altar. Put on the grating outside so that the stays shall be able to go through those. Verse five: and thou shalt put it under the ledge, round the altar beneath. There is our ledge, the border, if you like, the misgeareth going round the outside, of course, of the altar, and the grating work coming up halfway and underneath it. Thou shalt put it under the ledge round the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar. And thou shalt make stays for the altar, stays of acacia wood, and overlay them with copper. And the stays thereof shall be put into the rings, and the stays shall be upon the two sides of the altar, in bearing it, hollow with planks shalt thou make it, as it has been showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it. So then, if we had been Israelites dwelling out somewhere outside the tabernacle enclosure in a distant place, and we found it in our hearts to desire to come nearer to God that we might find God personally and meet him. Then we would have come, of course, to the tabernacle and found this great wall, great and high, going round it, made of a linen screen of fine twined linen. This is the first dwelling place of God as recorded in Scripture, whatever others he may have had. But you will find, if you study the dwelling places of God in Holy Scripture, all of them have around a wall, great and high, meant, of course, to distinguish the holy from the unclean, and the holy from the secular. Even that last and supreme dwelling place of God, the New Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven, uh, prepared as a bride for her husband, of which it is said that the tabernacle of God is with men, that eternal city has around it a wall great and high for the express purpose that nothing that defileth shall enter therein. So as we come towards the dwelling place of God, we find this wall of spotlessly white linen, fine twined linen, glistening brilliant in the sun, to remind us of the awesome holiness and purity of the presence of Almighty God. Oh, what a beautiful thing purity is. You may learn it, uh, from lowly things. I mean, some gentlemen's shirts are white and some are whiter. Yes, and there is white that looks dull, but there is also a white that looks brilliant. Of such brilliant white were the tabernacle curtains made, dazzling like new fallen snow in the brilliance of their purity. Thank God for the wall. It was there to protect the cleanliness and the sacredness of all that was inside. Inside here are marvelously beautiful things, such as the mind of God could devise. God has a wall round to stop sin entering, lest sin defile and stro- destroy and make ugly the very things of God's presence, as it is made a hell of our earth. But then, while the wall went three sides round and a good deal of the fourth side, there was a gate. That gate too was made of linen, pure and white, and on it were colors. On another occasion, we shall come back to consider its significance. But this we may notice as we pass by, that God had colors put upon that gate, if for no other reason than this, that men might see it and see where the gate was. For this is a God who writes welcome across his tabernacle, and made it not only colorful so men could see it, but men should see its beauty and be attracted by it, and made it wide so that all might come who wish. Tonight we do wish, and in our imagination we come in with the Israelites or and come on our way to God. And the first great article we come across is this great altar standing here, the major vessel in the court, made of acacia wood and overlaid with copper. What then was its function? Well, it had two functions in Israel. Not to compare large things with small, let me point out to you that if you come to Britain or to Northern Ireland, for that matter, which happens to be at the moment a part of Britain, if you come to Northern Ireland, uh, as you approach the front door of the house, or perhaps when the door is opened and you step over the threshold, you will perceive a mat, and on the mat there is the word woven in it, welcome. Your hostess really wants you to come, but you have the the nous to perceive that while there's welcome on the mat, the mat's there for another reason as well. It's to remind you to have a look at your shoes, to see if there's any mud upon the shoes, because frankly, to tell you straight, just in case you come to Ireland, your hostess doesn't want your muddy boots on her carpet, she'll say. She's too much of a lady to say it to your face, uh, if you were to bring mud in from the street onto the carpet. But when you're gone, she might say, do you know those impossible Americans? They came into my house with mud on their boots on my new carpet. Ha ha, ruined it. So the mat is there to say welcome, but the mat is there to remind you, don't forget it, to look at your shoes, see if they're muddy, and if they are muddy, to wipe them, else you won't be welcome. Now, to compare great things with small, to enter the gate of God's presence, there was an altar. It will eventually say welcome, but first it will say, have a look, if not at your boots, at your heart and your way of life, and see if there be any iniquity in you. There is, isn't there? But all we like sheep have gone astray, and all have sinned in the past, and all do still in the present come short of the glory of God. Of another great tabernacle it is written, and it was true of this one, nothing that defileth shall enter there. It was therefore a reminder of sin, and served Israel in that respect daily. Another name for this great altar is the altar of burnt offering. The altar of the continual burnt offering, what is more. Every day of every year, morning and evening, there was offered a burnt offering on this altar, called therefore in Hebrew Tammiz, the perpetual offering, of which the regulation said the fire shall always be burning upon the altar. It shall never go out. Fit reminder to Israel that al- that offering totally consumed, twice a day, absolutely consumed, and altogether given for God. Fit reminder for Israel of the very first and the biggest commandment of the law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, thy mind, thy soul, thy strength, and then thy neighbor as thyself. How would you dare to come to God's presence if your heart was not constantly aflame with love for God. To come and eat his bread. But in your heart that God can read, not to be madly in love with God, but lukewarm, with the fire often going out, and only a little bit of life given to him. Heaven will not countenance such an, such an affront and an insult to Almighty God. And therefore, in those far off days, Israel, face to face with God's law that demanded a devotion and a love of that quality, the whole of heart, mind, soul, and strength to be given to God, Israel realized, of course, that they came abysmally short of that requirement, and were allowed, therefore, in God's mercy, to bring twice daily an offering in the stead of the children of Israel, and offer a burnt offering to be consumed for God, to make atonement, as the regulation says, for Israel's lack of devotion and obedience. All theologians present, please notice that the burnt offering is an offering that was offered to cover sin. It was given to make atonement. Why? Well, sometimes we think of sin as the n- nasty things we do, the negative things we do. That's a very lowly idea of sin, isn't it? Sin is the absence of the positive. It is not that you haven't stolen ten dollars from your grandmother today. It is not that you haven't murdered somebody. It is that you haven't loved the Lord your God positively with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength that constitutes you as one that has broken the biggest commandment. And for an offense against the biggest commandment, you will need an offering that does perfectly what you have failed to do. And the burnt offering, as later we shall see, is an offering that depicts our Lord not merely as someone who didn't do anything unclean. It depicts him as one who did love the Lord his God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength, and therefore did the will of God and made atonement for our wretched shortcoming. But as I say, if that altar therefore reminded Israel of Israel's inadequacy in sin, it at the same time spelled out God's welcome because there God made provision for Israel's sin, and they were allowed to bring animal sacrifices to take their place, to act as victims, to make atonement for them. On that basis, of course, Israel came also to that altar individually and as a nation from time to time to offer sin offerings. Sin offerings have to do with uncleanness. For sin is not only a breach of God's holy law and demands a penalty, which is death. Sin also defiles us. And therefore, in addition to the burnt offering, they offered their sin offerings to cleanse away the defilement of sin. That is the two, the difference between the burnt offering and the sin offering. And when sin was dealt with and its uncleanness removed, the altar also came, uh, became a place where Israel brought their peace offerings, and on the basis of them knew fellowship with God and fellowship with his priests and fellowship with one. That altar also was the source of Israel's worship. Before the fires of that altar and on the basis of the sacrifices there offered, the priest would come daily, taking the fire and taking it inside in his censer to offer the incense of Israel's praise and worship before the divine majesty. You couldn't possibly overrate the significance of this great, large, majestic, and important piece of tabernacle furniture. So when Israel brought their sacrifices to that altar, they were in fact forgiven. As Christians, we must not forget that. Leviticus states it explicitly. He shall lay his hands upon the head of the animal that shall be killed. The priest shall do as he had to do with the blood, and it shall be forgiven him. You say, how is that possible? For the blood of bulls and goats couldn't possibly have paid the price of sin, could it? No, they couldn't indeed. But they were tokens in advance of the great price that one day would be paid. Though Israel at the time would not have known that, except perhaps for a few privileged prophets. Yet that altar did teach Israel things about sin, didn't it? Some very elementary things. As Farmer Manasseh brought his wayward bullock down to the altar and saw its throat slit, being a, a Jewish gentleman, I dare say he pondered on the cost of sin, don't you? My, this bullock. How, you priest, do I have to give all this? When will we learn it? That sin is a costly thing. And then he had to stand by it and see his animals slaughtered and the blood shed and the body go limp in death and consumed in the fire. We learn that sin leads to death. Doesn't always seem that at the beginning, says James, doesn't it, does it? Like a sweet morsel that we roll under our tongue, but don't you be deceived, says James. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. All that the Israelite might have learned if he had paid attention to these copies of the heavenly thing. And learn, moreover, of the mercy of God, that while it condemned his sin, was prepared to provide the man with a way of forgiveness that would allow him eventual access to God. So the tabernacle, uh, altar and its offerings were for Israel a copy of things in the heavens. They were more. For us, they have become a shadow of the good things to come, which things have come in Christ. So now let us think together of the reality of which this was the shadow, namely Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, when you are considering a shadow and the reality to which it points, you will notice two things simultaneously. Between the shadow and the reality, there are many similarities. Remember the holiday brochure and the picture of the hotel, the palm tree, the sun up in the sky, and the swimming bath outside the back door, yes? Ah. Between that and the reality of the hotel that you eventually get to in the Bahamas, there are obvious and distinct similarities, aren't there? We hope so. I shall want your money back. On the other hand, of course, uh, uh, uh, in addition to the similarities, there are some tremendous and fundamental differences, aren't there? And we hope that even more so. The shadow is a bit of paper and ink on a color on a bit of paper. The hotel is a very different thing. It's a three-dimensional reality of concrete and brick and so forth. So it is when we come to compare these shadows with the reality that is our Lord Jesus. There are obvious similarities, but of course, necessarily, there are even bigger differences. And so tonight, let's turn to Hebrews ten and that familiar passage there written to contemplate some of the differences between the ancient sacrifices and the sacrifice of our Lord. Hebrews ten, and we shall work through verses one to eighteen and see if we can the flow of the argument. For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, they can never, with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. Our first duty is to stop and make sure that we have understood what that verb means, so that we can explain it to people. What does the verse mean when it says the ancient sacrifices could not make perfect them that drew near? Some would suggest it means that they were never forgiven because the blood of animals couldn't cleanse their conscience, but that's quite untrue, you know. The Old Testament says they were forgiven. Ah, and even King David wrote a lyric or two, didn't he, that were very popular at the time to announce that he had really been forgiven. Oh, the blessedness of the man whose sins are covered, to whom the Lord will not, uh, impute iniquity. Yes, they knew forgiveness. But they didn't know a heart made perfect, did they? You say, what's the difference? Well, let's just establish the fact first. How do you know, you say to this writer, uh, to the Hebrews, come on now, you're making some very fundamental criticisms of Judaism. What right have you got to make them? How do you know? And how are you able to assert so confidently that Israel never had, uh, their conscience made perfect? He'll say the answer to that is easy. You just watch them. They come one day, they come one year with a sacrifice, they confess their sins, the sacrifice is offered to God, the priest pronounces forgiveness, and they're forgiven. Marvelous. Next year, they come again, confess the sins again, offer the sacrifice, priest pronounce forgiveness, all is well, and then next year they come again. Why? Because their conscience was not made perfect. If it had once been made perfect, they would have ceased offering the sacrifice, wouldn't they? Ha. In England, most of us being poor, except the king and the queen, uh, you'll see, uh, many of us are obliged to obtain our houses on a mortgage. You wouldn't know about that here, being so rich. But we have to obtain our house on a mortgage, you'll see, and we pay a down payment of so many dollars, you'll see, and then month by month we have to go and pay the installments, you'll see. And here's a poor chap of twenty, and he's got about fifty years installments to pay, you see, and he pays the first one. You say you've got peace now, I suppose, haven't you? Well, he's up to date with his payments, that's it. But next month he'll have to make another payment, see, and another payment, then then later another. You'll see. So it goes on. Ah, when he's about seventy five and a half, the day comes when the last payment is paid. Then what do you suppose happens? The month after that, he's got so in the habit, you say, he comes and pays another one and offers it to... offers it to the man just to make sure, you know. Yeah, yeah, I couldn't sleep last night. I began to think, had I really paid? I got into the habit, you see. So you offer it all over again. No, you don't. I tell you, Englishmen aren't that sort. And... no, once the whole thing has been paid, they stop paying. That's what a conscience made perfect is. When the whole thing has been paid. You don't need to pay anymore. In that sense, David never had a conscience made perfect, did he? You'll see him next year, the Day of Atonement. There he was, paying again, offering another sacrifice. And you see, while he was forgiven for his personal sin by his personal sacrifices and in with the nation at the national sacrifices, uh... If you would have gone to him five minutes afterwards and said, David, I was reading that lyric of yours you wrote. That's a marvelous lyric, and I rather like the tune. We sing it all day long at home. Uh, you know, that one about, oh, the blessedness of the man whose sins are forgiven, you see. David, I have a suggestion to make. What about getting your, your harp thing there, and we'll come together, and we'll go down to the temple, and we'll go into the holiest of all, and, and you play your harp, and I'll sing the lyrics of the praise of God. What do you suppose David would have said? He'd have gone white in the face, wouldn't he? What? Go into the holiest of all? Of course not. What are you talking about? Oh, oh. Well, why couldn't he then? I thought he was forgiven. Ah yes, but his conscience was made perfect since the last sacrifice. He could have sinned again, couldn't he? Oh, what a marvelous savior we have. Please say, say amen to, because, as you'll see, the first big contrast is this, that what those sacrifices couldn't do, that the sacrifice of Christ does. One offering we're about to read, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. And as later we shall have occasion to remember, the way is open into the very holiest of all. For the writer observes then, of course, in verse three, that the ancient sacrifices, particularly those of the Day of Atonement, far from banishing sin from your memory and conscience, they had the opposite effect. They, in them, a remembrance was made of sin every year. We ought to notice that term carefully in passing, because we're going to meet it later on when the Holy Spirit reminds us that God has said, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. What does the term remember mean? Some people are heard to say, aren't they, that God's promise to the believer, I will remember their sins no more, means that when we trust the Savior, God blots out the memory of our sins from his, from his mind and, uh, completely forgets them. I don't think that's true myself. Sorry if I disturb you. Do you suppose that when we get home to heaven, we shall find the Father looking at his gracious Son and saying, what are those marks in his hands? Where did they come there? Can't think now. Do you suppose God will be at a loss to know why they're there? And will you? Oh, never to all eternity will God forget that his son died for our sins. And for all eternity we shall not want to forget anyway, shall we? We shall sing to him that loved us and loosed us from our sins in his own blood. Ah yes, forget is not to be understood in our, in the way of our common English. Forget is a semi-technical term. In ancient courts, the kings had off- an officer that they called the recorder or the remembrancer. His task was from time to time, if the king required it, to bring out the book of the records and search the records. And you'll see, if the king was getting suspicious of a, a Hayman or a somebody, he would get the remembrancer to get the big book out and hunt the records up under Hayman's name and see what Hayman had been a doing. And then the king would hold court, dragging up all the sins before his judicial throne, deciding perhaps that the man was guilty, pronouncing the sentence, and having the sentence executed. That's what Bible means by remembering sin. When we read in the book of the Revelation that Babylon was remembered before God, the immediate result is that Babylon is destroyed. In the Day of Atonement sacrifices, there was, in fact, a remembrance of sin made. That is, God assembled his people round here, and so to speak, the books were opened, and the whole horrible business of their sin and their guilt once more rose up before God, demanding its sentence, and the sentence had to be pronounced and would have fallen upon the people, but it was allowed to fall instead upon their sacrifice. That having happened one year, and the slate wiped clean, so to speak, next year, court was held again. And the sins were brought up before God as judge, and the guilt established, and the sentence declared, ordered to be carried out, and carried out upon the sacrifice. All the first big difference is this. Now, there is no more remembrance in that sense. God will never summon us before his judicial great white throne, there raise the question of the guilt and the penalty of sin, nor will he ever again pronounce the sentence and order its execution. Why not? Our blessed Lord has borne it, borne it all, and the thing is finished. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Or to use John's language, he comes not into judgment. Or to use the language of Paul, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. But look further and see the other differences. It is said in verse four and five, for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou didst prepare for me. Yes, how could those ancient sacrifices put away sins? They were but animals. What did the old animal know as it came kicking and trying to s- to, um, resist and was dragged unwillingly to the smell of blood that surrounded this altar, and was unwillingly slaughtered? What could a poor old animal know about sin? Because he's an animal, isn't he? And therein are we different from animals. You never saw an animal yet with a, with a bad conscience, did you? Not able to sleep at night for a bad conscience. That's a peculiarly human thing. And some people would say it's a curse of being human, that we have a conscience, a guilty conscience. And we've got to face it. There used to be a breed of psychologists and psychiatrists that would say that the way to cure people is to teach them that, after all, they're not responsible. That's no cure, is it? Because if you're not responsible, you're not really human. You've descended to being an animal, or worse, a cabbage, perhaps. And how is that a cure of your problem? God will not, uh, treat us like animals or cabbages, not even to save us will he do it. We are human, we are responsibility, responsible, we have sinned, and God will hold us responsible. Then how shall we do? Our sacrifice cannot be an animal. It must be a someone who, perfectly being responsible human, knows about sin and knows how God feels and is able to meet God intelligently about it. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. So said our Lord, I delight to do thy will, O my God. And what a perfect sacrifice he was. You and I, even now, after years of Christian living, have a very tiny concept of sin. So much so that sometimes we laugh at sins, don't we? Still. Here was a sacrifice that knew what God felt about sin, and saw sin as God sees it, was able to face God intelligently, understanding every drop of God's anger to its full. Ah, but there was more in it still. Animals, how could they do the will of God? They're machines, aren't they? Those all are biological machines. Huh? So a cow is, they say, very intelligent, but it's all worked by clockwork from its genes, and that's that. There are, of course, folks who want to tell us that we're biological machines and nothing more, aren't there? The secular humanists, for instance. Christ, when he came to offer sacrifice, wasn't just, was he, doing the payment for things negative. His life was positive. He came to do the will of God. He did that will perfectly, and that will included that he should offer himself, sinless though he was, for our sake. Then he did that will of God utterly and perfectly. Knowingly, deliberately, and freely. There was no compulsion in our Lord's self-sacrifice. Hear the words of our blessed Lord as he stood in Gethsemane's garden. Peter, do you imagine I couldn't call to my father and he would immediately give me twelve legions of angels? I could do it, and if I called, he would give. But with perfect freedom, he chose to do God's will and fulfill Holy Scripture, all for a sacrifice like that. Do you know it turned the stench of Calvary into a source of eternal fragrance for the heart of God? What a marvelous God that can take the rebellion of mankind with all its filth and ruination and malodor and make something beautiful of it via the sacrifice of. And then look again what the writer says, José. He says that every priest in Israel stands daily offering oftentimes the same sacrifice, which can never take away sins. But this man, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet. It has often been said, and rightly said, that in the whole of the tabernacle, among its various objects and furnitures, there was no seat. That is, there was no seat among the symbolic pieces of furniture. The priest, in the course of his duties, never sat down symbolically. Why not? Because the work was never finished anyway. It was inappropriate for any of them to sit down. Our blessed Lord, having offered one sacrifice for sins forever, has sat down. And marvelous. Uh. Psalm Psalm one hundred and ten verse one was much loved by early Christians. It's quoted all over the New Testament for all sorts of reasons, teaching the deity of Christ as it does, teaching his incarnation and ascension, but it is loved perhaps most of all by the New Testament writers for this, that it says the work of Christ of sacrifice is finished. He sat down at the right hand of God. But now the writer to the epistle has got to face an objection. His Jewish unconverted friends, or even some of his Christian friends, will say, but how can you be sure of this? And so the writer quotes the Old Testament and the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, which he finds in the book of Jeremiah, where God promises to make with Israel and Judah a new covenant. And quoting it, he says, and the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us, for after that he has said, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws on their heart and upon their mind also will I write them. And he says there, then their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. So under the new covenant, complete forgiveness of sin is actually written into the terms of the covenant. Now, what a blessed thing it is to take the cup of the covenant from the hand of the Lord Jesus, isn't it? As we do at every Lord's Supper, and hear him say, as he hands us individually the cup, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more forever. If that weren't good enough, then the writer makes a deduction. He says in verse eighteen, now where remission of these is, where you've got forgiveness of that order, there is no more offering for sin. Do you for sure see the point of the deduction? Look, says the writer, he's promised never to drag our sins up into court anymore. There is no condemnation, there will never be. And God has affirmed it. What follows from that? Well, you don't need to offer anything more, do you? There's nothing to offer something for anyway. But just to make sure, let's remind ourselves that the English word offering is ambiguous. It can mean one of two things. Offering can mean a thing. I take this animal and I offer it to you, and the animal is my offering. Offering meaning the thing offered. But offering can also mean, in English, the process of offering. There were the people offering their sacrifices. What are you doing? I am offering. It can mean then the thing offered or the process of offering. Which does it mean here? Well, there's no doubt about which it means here. It means the process, doesn't it? Listen to the argument. Every Israelite priest stands offering oftentimes. That's the process going on and on and on. He stands offering. But once you have been assured that your sins and iniquities will never be remembered anymore, you won't repeat the process, will you? You won't go on paying, go on offering. There is no more process of offering for sin. Oh God, give us the opportunity to tell millions in Christ that they don't have to offer either the Eucharist or anything else under the sun to get forgiveness of sin. With that, let us briefly review some of the technical details of this altar. It was made of two materials. It had a wooden frame, and there is a wooden frame in our model, and it has been overlaid with copper. Now, if we start from the functional, as we always ought to do, we shall perceive something obvious. The altar was made of wood, but by itself, wood would have been inadequate. It could not have withstood the violent heat and flames of the sacrifices. And so the wood had to be covered, and was covered with copper and doubtless sealed airtight, so that whatever the heat of the altar, the wood inside might char but would never catch light. The copper being to make the altar durable against the heat. I'm going to suggest to you that in the symbolism of this tabernacle furniture, when we come to higher levels of meaning, that the double metal of some of these furniture, the double materials, may well point us to the double nature of Jesus Christ our Lord. And if you say, but I can't stand that, for that's fanciful typology, well, don't stand it, my brother, my sister, forget you ever heard it, but I'm going to tell you nonetheless that to be a sacrifice for our sins, our blessed Lord had to have a dual nature anyway. And if you feel it's not typified by that, well, forget it then, uh, but please observe the fact he was. Do you see it became him, didn't it? Because the children partook of flesh and blood. He likewise took part of the same, genuinely human, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. How we praise him for becoming really one of us so that he might die. But then he had to be the son of God as well, didn't he? For how could a mere human, even though sinless, how could one mere single human being, even though sinless, face God and bear the punishment for the sins of a whole world. He was not merely human, was he? He was divine. And the centurion gave evidence of it. Eaten man though he was, he had watched thousands of men gasp their last on a cross. But when he watched Jesus and heard that he so cried out, he said, surely this was the Son of God. And we praise him yet, the Son of God, he loved me and gave himself for me. There were horns, as you'll see on the altar, you'll see them from where you sit here. They were of one piece with the wooden frame, and then they too were overlaid with copper. Among their functions was the function of being a refuge. So you will remember Adonijah, Solomon's half-brother, when he was in danger of being executed for treason, ran and caught hold of the horns of the altar. Altars in those far-off days could be places of sanctuary for those that were fleeing to escape premature execution, like the door knocker on the cathedral in the city of Durham in England, where I used to work. Um, that too was a place of sanctuary for people trying to escape too summary execution. In saying that, how it vividly reminds us of our blessed Lord, to whom we may flee for refuge, for the, to the hope set before us to escape the very judgments of God. The altar was provided with all sorts of instruments, so that when the priests came to officiate, the, the pieces of the sacrifice would be laid properly in order, so that they might burn efficiently. Other instruments were provided to be the basis of the service of worship inside. They too, in their way, speak to us, do they not, of our priestly function. Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord is both the basis of our worship and the basis of our evangelism for the people. More of that in a moment. There were stays, as you see them here, going through those rings, so that when the tabernacle moved, the altar could be carried. It was carried on the shoulders of the Levites. I've often thought about those Levites. What a privileged task they had to perform. I suspect, you know, when they were first inducted, they found it very interesting and treated it with awe, you know, picking up the altar. Oh, what a privilege to be able to take the altar and put it down at night within the reach of sinners and to stand by and see sinners coming and confessing their sin, and the priest coming and offering the sacrifice. Cool, you'd have given anything to do it, wouldn't you? You'd have lived in those far off days. What a privilege. But when you've carried the altar five thousand six hundred and twenty-seven days, and you've asked to carry it five hundred and sixty, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth day, becomes a bit sore on the shoulders, doesn't it? It would have been desperate if one day they'd left it behind, don't you think? You imagine the scene when at the end of a journey one night, the tabernacle is put up and the court's all arranged, and everybody's getting ready for the meal, and here comes an Israelite to the priest, and he says, priest, may I speak with you? Yes, I've done a sin. Yes, my son, and I want to bring a sacrifice. Uh, tell me what I've got to do. All right, says the priest, let's come to the altar. When he got there, it isn't there. Uh, where's the altar? Oh. Anybody seen the altar? Oh, says the Levite, oh. Oh, you know, forgot. Been playing football, you know, by that oasis, and we had to pack up and hurry, and I forgot it. Desperate, wouldn't it? You see, the altar didn't carry itself, it had to be carried. And now I speak really in parables, don't I? But would it be true to say that some Christian churches have forgotten the altar and left it behind. That if somebody came in their sins to them and said, how can I find forgiveness, wouldn't be able to tell them. What about your assembly? Huh. And the great doctrine of atonement. Who carries it in your assembly? If an unconverted person wanted to come and know how to be saved and how they could find forgiveness, would people send them to you? Or would you say, well, I, I don't really know what to say about this. You see, the great doctrine of atonement doesn't carry itself, does it? It is carried on the shoulders of men and women. On my shoulders and your shoulders. And what a privilege that is, isn't it? Whether in a formal meeting or over the garden fence when you're hanging out the linen or something, to be able to tell the neighbor and bring the altar right to her doorstep. And finally, we're told that it was hollow. Hollow with planks. It had no crown. The business of this altar was not glory, it was suffering. The altar inside, the golden altar has a crown, but not this one. This tells of death, and any crown that is relevant here would have been but the crown of fall. Thus, as we think about that altar, it leaves us a pattern of behavior, doesn't it? To let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself and became obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross. Our suffering will never atone for anybody's sin, but if we will be used of God to bring the great message of atonement near enough to men and women so that they might find the Savior and find forgiveness. Be assured of this. This will call us in our part to fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in our flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Only insofar as we are formed after the pattern of our Savior's obedience and death will we be effective evangelists in the world? Shall we pray? O Lord, the great story of the cross of Christ will take all eternal ages to explore. We thank thee now for this Old Testament illustration. Help us to grasp its significance with intellect, with imagination, and with grateful hearts. And help us who know the Savior and the assurance of forgiveness, yet to follow in the path of the man of Calvary, that we might bring the message of his gospel to the world at large, through that same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.