Chapter V THE BRAZEN ALTAR-A SHADOW OF THE CROSS Exodus 27: 1-8; 38:1-4 When the Israelite passed through the gate into the court of the tabernacle with his offering, he stood before an altar made of wood covered over with brass. Although the :five different offerings were presented to God here, yet this "brazen altar" was called by the Holy Spirit "the altar of burnt offering" (Exod. 3 8: 1) ; and the burnt offering was only one of the :five. We shall see the signi- ficance of this name in our study today and in our next lesson, which will have to do with the different offering5 required of Israel by her righteous God. The New Testament, especially the book of Hebrews, makes it very plain that this altar foreshadowed the cross of the Lord Jesus, and that the sacrifices offered thereon pictured in type His broken body and shed blood on Mount Calvary. This is what the Holy Spirit meant when He said, through the inspired apostle, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, arc burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Heb. 13: I 0-14). These wonderful words were addressed to Hebrew Christians who had left the temple worship, following the death and resurrection of Christ. The temple was still standing; and the nation of Israel, as a whole, still rejected [119]
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