God’s Calvary, like this altar, is a promontory of grace jutting out in the sea of man’s sinfulness.
In God’s tour of His soon-to-be dwelling, He now takes us to the first—and largest—piece of furniture seen by anyone entering the sacred court. “You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze” (Ex 27:1-2). Although the word “bronze” is used here, the Hebrew word nechosheth means copper or bronze (a copper alloy), a fire-resistant metal that sheathed the acacia wood. Here we must make an important distinction. The journey from Egypt to Canaan began with the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Thus, in type, the children of Israel illustrate a redeemed people. But in actual fact, speaking of that generation, “The gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Heb 4:2). This is crucial to understand. A person like Moses can be a positive example but be used as a negative type. As the Lawgiver, he could not lead the people into rest; they needed a Joshua/Jesus to do that. Solomon, on the other hand, is a good type—of Christ in His kingdom glory—but is a poor example in his personal life. So the altar of sacrifice was a necessity for these people who metaphorically had been redeemed, but who in practice still needed blood shed in dealing with sin. Thus we read, “According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (9:22). Of course, Christ has once and forever paid that price now, but at this great altar we pause to carefully consider how awful sin must be!