120 T/.,,. T;/,,-,,,~tl, Christ as her Messiah. But the Hebrew Christians, having withdrawn from the temple worship because they realized that the Lord Jesus had come to fulfill the Mosaic Law and to put an end to all the ceremonies and ritual~ that had foreshadowed His coming into the world, these Hebrew Christians were being bitterly persecuted by the unbelieving Jews for their stand. That was the immediate occasion for the Epistle to the Hebrews-to establish the young Jewish believers in the faith, to encourage them in their persecutions, and to warn them not to return to Judaism, which system had crucified the Lord of glory. The Holy Spirit was proving, from the Old Testament Scriptures, that Christ is better than Judaism, which was only «a shadow of good things to come" (Heb. 10:1). Within a few short years after Christ died and rose again, God permitted the Jewish temple to be destroyed ; it was no longer needed to show forth the promised Re- deemer. He had already come! But until it was destroyed in 70 A. D. by the Roman emperor, Titus, the Christ- less Jews still offered the sacrifices in the temple, still continued with the empty ceremonies and ritual that had already been "done away" in the Lord Jesus. That is why, in the verses which we have just quoted from the thir- teenth chapter of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit said that "we have an altar"; that is, the cross of Jesus, "whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle." Those who rejected the Lamb of God had no part in the worship at the foot of His cross! The bodies of the animal sacrifices for the sin offering and the trespass offering were burned outside the camp of Israel; that is why the Lamb of God "suffered without the gate" of Jerusalem when He died upon the accursed tree. He came to ful:6.1 the law! Surely the Hebrew
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Chriman would not be ashamed or afraid to "go forth therefo re unto him without the camp" of the nation that had rej ected the only true and worthy Sacrifice! It would be a privilege thus to bear "his reproach." And for every trial suffered here, an abundant reward awaited the Christian in that "continuing city ... which hath founda- tions, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11: 10). My Christian friend of today, whether Jew or Gentile, are you willing to suffer shame and reproach and persecu- tion, if need be, for the Lamb of Calvary? I ask myself the same question. He became "a curse for us," bearing our reproach, even the sins of all the world. May He help us, by His grace, to rejoice in trial for His name's sake. It is a wonderful lesson that lies before us today. The cross of our Lord Jesus is our altar. The brazen altar of burnt offering was but a faint shadow of the cross. This was a part of the meaning implied by the Spirit of God when He wrote, saying that the law of Moses was "a shadow of good things to come." As we compare the description of the pattern of the brazen altar which God showed to Moses in the mount (Exod. 27:1-8) and the description of the finished altar (Exod. 38: 1-4) with the Holy Spirit's explanation of the meaning of this altar of sacrifice, as set forth in Hebrews and in other portions of the New Testament, we shall praise God, with enlightened hearts and minds, for the wonders of the meaning of Calvary. "An Altar of Shittim Wood" Covered with Brass Two materials went into the making of the altar of burnt offering: a very durable wood called "shittim wood," or acacia; and a complete covering of brass. Three other pieces of furniture, all in the tabernacle and all cov-
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