The Tabernacle
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124 The T 11benu1clt were given new hearts and changed lives on the basis of the cleansing, transforming blood of Christ. Not only was the brazen altar foursquare, offering equal opportunity to all; but it rested on the ground, within reach of all. It was only three cubits high. There was no ladder to climb, in order for man to place the vic- tim upon the altar; nor can the sinner reach heaven by any upward progress of his own. God had to come down to sinful man. He was Jacob's Ladder, the only Way to heaven and eternal life. There was no abatement of the penalty because of the worthiness of the Substitute--all was foursquare. He who knew no sin became our Sin-Bearer. From Him even His righteous Father turned His face away when He bore our sins «in his own body on the tree" (I Peter 2: 24). "The Horns of the Altar" At each of the four corners there was a horn or pro- jection, of one piece with the altar proper, even as God said to Moses, "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" (Exod. 27: 2). At least two significant facts were associated with the horns of the altar: there the innocent victim was doubt- less bound as the blood was shed; and the horns of the altar were a place of refuge in time of trouble. Psalm 118 was always the concluding anthem of the Jewish Passover Feast; and it is believed that this was the «hymn" which our Lord sang with His disciples at the Last Supper. Of course, we know that the Psalms were Hebrew poems, set to music, and used in the temple wor- ship. Now the significant fact is that Psalm 118 is without
doubt one of the Messianic Psalms. And in verse 27 we read these heart-searching words, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." Evidently the custom was to bind the animal sacrifice, pre- sented alive to God; to the horns of the brazen altar. And when the Holy Spirit applied the figure to our Lord, He used this familiar custom to show us that our heavenly Sacrifice was bound to the horns of the altar, as it were, by the cords of love--His own fathomless love! It was His love that led Him from heaven's glory to Calvary. When He set His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem and the altar, which was His cross, He knew the anguish of soul, the suffering and sorrow, that He was to bear for a guilty world. The love of Christ that passeth knowledge nailed Him to the accursed tree! The horns of the altar were sprinkled with the blood of atonement (Exod. 29:12); and Calvary's Cross was stained with the precious blood of our Lord and our God. The blood-sprinkled horns of the altar pointed to the four corners of the earth; the cross of Jesus towers above "the wrecks of time," inviting all men of all ages to look unto Him for eternal life. The cross of Jesus offers a world-wide remedy for a guilty world. To the horns of the altar the guilty fled for refuge; and to Christ the sinner flees for safety from the righteous judgment of God. Two men who lived in the days of David and Solomon stand out before us in striking con- trast-Adonijah and Joab. Both fled for safety to the horns of the altar. Adonijah was spared at that time, though afterwards executed for a later rebellion; whereas Joab was slain, even at the horns of the altar. (See I Kings
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