The Tabernacle in the Wilderness had two Altars – the Brazen, for Sacrifice; the Golden, for Incense – the positions of which are indicated upon the diagram overleaf. The corner to God from the outlying camp had to do with the Brazen Altar; the comer to God within the Holy Place, with the Golden. Outside the Holy Place, man needed Sacrifice; within, Incense. The sinner in his sins needs the blood of Jesus; the saint in the light needs the intercession and advocacy of Jesus.
Upon the Brazen Altar were sacrificed Burnt Offerings, Meat Offerings, and Peace Offerings, while the blood of the Sin and Trespass Offerings was poured out at its foot. The four classes of sacrifices, which are treated of in the early chapters of Leviticus, are summed up thus in Hebrews 10. “Sacrifice, and Offering, and Burnt Offerings, and Offering for Sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.”
Upon the Golden Altar it was forbidden that either blood or sacrifices should be offered; but therefrom rose up the sweet fumes of the divinely ordered incense.
The Brazen Altar pertained to the outer Court, and to the people of Israel generally. It was open to the gaze of all amongst the tribes who would approach God – the first object which met the eye of him who drew near. The Golden Altar, on the contrary, pertained to the Holy Place and the priests alone. It was hidden from the people by the outer veil, and gave forth its fragrance only upon behalf of those who served within the Tabernacle.
Christ's glories shine in both altars. His glories in connection with His sacrifice in the Brazen – His glories in connection with His intercession in the Golden. In the one altar we see Him upon the cross, meeting the sinner's need and bringing him to God. In the other, we behold Him maintaining the saint in spiritual things in that nearness into which the sacrificial blood has brought all who believe.
Sweet savor arose to God from each altar; within the Holy Place, the perfume of “perpetual incense before the Lord”; without “the fire ever burning.” Constant sweetness, ceaseless delight to God, ever the preciousness of Christ for His saints and for sinners.
The Israelite, with the guilt of his transgression not put away, stood before the Brazen Altar. At the foot of that altar the blood of the Sin Offering was poured out; and if not removed by fire his sins forever remained. Sinner, troubled about your unforgiven sins, occupy your soul with Christ as meeting every requirement of the just and the sin-hating God! You cannot meet the demands of God about your sins; not all the holy men who ever lived can satisfy God on account of their own sins; yours they can never bear or atone for. Fix your gaze upon Christ, His sin-bearing alone can relieve you of your guilt. His Person alone could fulfill the claims of divine holiness, and seeing His glory as the Sin-Bearer you shall obtain peace.
The Brazen Altar was made of shittim wood, overlaid with brass. Within its hollow center was a grate, or network. It was thus designed, in order both to endure and to contain the fire for the sacrifices. The shittim wood is the figure of the Lord's humanity; the brass shows to us His Divine nature whereby He endured the fire of God's wrath against sin; the grate in the midst of the altar supporting the fire teaches that the Lord in His own Person could sustain all that God's justice required.
Fire is the great emblem of divine testing in Scripture, “The fire shall try every man's work.” The fire of God tested Jesus, and brought out His perfections. The flame which devours wood renders gold only the more beautiful. The wrath of God against sin, endured by the sinless Sin-bearer upon the cross resulted only in glory to God. A firm step towards solid peace is made when we believe who Jesus is in relation to divine Justice. None save He could give what justice claimed; but He has glorified God in the fire, He has exhausted the flames, and now God regards all who look by faith upon His Son, with perfect satisfaction. Jesus has borne and ended the wrath of God against the sins of all who put their trust in Him. The fire of judgment is burnt out in His Person, the claims of God's holiness are magnified by Him upon Calvary.
The security of the believer rests upon the excellence of the Person of Christ. No Altar of Salvation is there for the sinner but the cross; no judgment freeing him from hell save Calvary. Of what punishment shall they be thought worthy, who, hearing of this Sacrifice, this Altar, offer to the Holy God the sacrifices of their doings, their works, upon the polluted altars of their own persons, or who go to saints or to angels for salvation?
Reader, believe God! Accept His love. Reject not His justice. Whoever will may draw near, and whoever draws near by the Altar and the Cross of Calvary shall find that God is magnified respecting the very sins the sinner dreads. Poor prisoner, dragged down to dungeons of despair, behold your judgment borne, and God glorified on your account by Jesus! “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.”
We now ask our reader, persuaded of the preciousness of the Altar of Sacrifice, to look at the diagram, page 18, remembering these words, “Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest.” Within the Holiest is your place. You are brought to God. You are sanctified, set apart, once and forever, by the spotless sacrifice; you are brought near to serve within the Holy place. And having been thus once brought near by the blood of a crucified Savior, you now need the constant service of the living Jesus; you need Him, as the incense altar sets Him forth.
The Golden Altar was put within the Holy Place, just outside the inner veil, separating the Holy from the Holiest. Like the Brazen Altar, it was formed of shittim wood, only its covering was of gold. It was not of the plain construction of the other altar, for around its top a crown of gold was wrought. Gold in Scripture is a figure of divine righteousness; hence this altar figures to us Christ's perfect humanity clothed with divine righteousness: its crown the exaltation of a risen Christ. Sweet perfume arose from this altar continually, “a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.” Within the Holy Place, nay, the Holiest, you as a priest, a servant of God in holy things, need the incense of the intercession of Jesus. When the priest of old trimmed the candlestick, he put fresh incense upon the altar; and ever as God's people give out their light for their Lord they need His intercession. The holiest of our service is in itself impure. The sweet savor of His past sufferings has satisfied the Holy God upon the behalf of all who trust in Him; the sweet savor of His present intercession maintains them in moral nearness to God as saints.
There is the constant sweetness of the savor of Christ's sacrifice rising up to God, day and night, ever the same. There is the perpetual incense of the Lord's intercession above, lasting throughout all the generations and all the journeyings of His pilgrims here below. Ever a perfect Savior for sinners; ever a perfect Intercessor for saints. And either for sinners or for saints, His work is always a sweet savor to God.
None other intercession save His avails, and to imitate His is a deadly sin. Of old, the sentence ran, “whosoever shall make like unto” the incense “to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.” Alas, for the spurious incense and its compounders, of which this day so proudly boasts; woe to the lying mixtures of priests, who imitate to the delusion of longing souls, the perfect, available intercession of Christ on high. Do these men indeed know their crime against the Christ of God. Prayers presented to God in virtue of a priestly office are as vain as the office which is supposed to give effect to them. “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man,” whoever he be, “availeth much,” and all believers ought to be intercessors, for all are made priests to God by Christ's blood; but it is Christ and Christ only, the Priest on high, the benefits of whose intercession, the fragrance of whose prayers, maintain God's people in their walk before Him. Cling, Christian reader, to Christ; it is His glory and His joy to bear you up, and to intercede for you as you journey heavenward.
By the Brazen Altar, the sinner has become a saint. By the Golden Altar, the saint is maintained in communion with his God.