A shadow of the true
The Brazen Altar
The first thing a worshipper met inside the gate was fire and blood. The brazen altar stood at the entrance of the court, and no one reached the tent beyond it without passing this place of sacrifice.
“And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.”Exodus 27:1
What it was
What it was. "And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits" (Exodus 27:1). It was built of wood overlaid with brass, square, with a horn projecting at each of its four corners, and a grate of network brass within it (Exodus 27:1-8). It had rings and staves so the Levites could carry it. This altar stood just inside the gate, first in the court, so that sacrifice was the first act of approach. Here the priests offered the burnt offerings and the many sacrifices the law required; the fire on it was to be kept always burning (Leviticus 6:13). The animal was slain, its blood applied, and the offering consumed by fire. The altar's brass, a metal associated in Scripture with judgment endured, fitted its work: it was the place where the penalty fell, where the substitute died in the sinner's stead, and from which the smoke of accepted offerings rose toward God.
The pattern and its meaning
The pattern and its meaning. The altar declared that sin costs life. An Israelite could not simply walk past it to the holy things beyond; the way to God led over the place of death. The whole sacrificial system rested on substitution: "for the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Leviticus 17:11). The worshipper laid his hand on the head of the offering, identifying himself with it, and the innocent victim died in his place. That this altar came first, before the laver, before the tent, before any golden furniture, fixed the order of approach forever: atonement precedes fellowship. No amount of washing or service or worship could come before the shedding of blood. The perpetual fire meant the need was constant and the provision constant. Day after day the smoke rose, a standing witness that God had made a way for guilty people to be received, but only through the death of a substitute.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. The brazen altar is the cross. Every lamb slain there pointed forward to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The New Testament makes the connection explicit: Christ "hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2), and by one offering He has "perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). The old altar required its fire to burn continually because its sacrifices could never finish the work; "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). They were shadows, repeated because incomplete. Christ's sacrifice was offered once, and it was enough: "but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). As the Israelite reached God only over the altar, so the sinner comes to God only through the death of Christ, who was made sin for us that we might be received. The first thing in the court is still the first thing in the gospel.
Questions people ask
Why was the altar the first thing in the court?
Because atonement comes before fellowship. The worshipper had to pass the place of sacrifice before reaching anything else, teaching that no one approaches God except by way of a substitute's death, fulfilled once for all at the cross.
Why was the altar made of brass?
Brass, or bronze, is associated in Scripture with judgment endured, as in the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness. The brazen altar was the place where the judgment due to sin fell on the substitute, so its metal suited its work.
If the sacrifices were repeated daily, did they take away sin?
Hebrews says plainly they could not; the repetition itself proved they were incomplete. They pictured and pointed to the one sacrifice of Christ, who by a single offering finished the work the old altar could only rehearse.