God and His People Exodus 27

Exodus 27 and the Bronze Altar

Please turn with me to Exodus 27, Exodus 27. 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 horn on its four corners.

Its horns shall be of one piece with it and you shall overlay it with bronze. Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze.

You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath and the network may be midway up the altar and you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood and overlay them with bronze.

The poles shall be put in the rings and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. You shall make it hollow with boards as it was shown to you on the mountain so shall they make it. You shall also make the court of the tabernacle for the south side there shall be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, 100 cubits long for one side and its 20 pillars and their 20 sockets shall be bronze.

The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver. Likewise along the length of the north side there shall be hangings 100 cubits long with its 20 pillars and their 20 sockets of bronze and the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver and along the width of the court on the west side shall be the hangings of 50 cubits with their 10 pillars and the 10 sockets.

The width of the court on the east side shall be 50 cubits. The hangings on one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets and on the other side shall be hangings of 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets.

For the gate of the court there shall be a screen 20 cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets. All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver.

Their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze. The length of the court shall be 100 cubits, and width 50 throughout, and the height five cubits, made of fine woven linen and its sockets of bronze.

All the utensils of the tabernacles for all its service, all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court shall be of bronze. And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light to cause the lamp to burn continually.

In the tabernacle, a meeting outside the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we are so fortunate to encounter you in Christ that we are not to go to the tabernacle, that we're not to go to the temple, because as Gentiles, we would not be eligible to enter.

Father, we're thankful that wherever we go, we are in Christ's presence, and we can talk to you, we can listen to you, and we can be with you because of what Christ has done for us on the cross to die for our sin so that we may be made righteous in him.

We pray that as we read this text that you would teach us what it means for your people and what our responsibilities are in terms of how we encounter you. In Jesus' name, amen. As we have been covering this series on the tabernacle and the accessories that are related to the tabernacle, we are actually moving outward.

A few weeks ago, we covered the most holy place, the Holy of Holies, in which the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat would lie, and that's where the high priest would encounter the Lord from the Mercy Seat through the atoning sacrifice, and then we moved out a little bit more to the holy place, which is the tabernacle tent itself.

The tent would be the dwelling palace of the Lord in which God's people would encounter the Lord. However, that tabernacle, that tent, was very limited to only a select group of people, mainly the priests, and also the Levites would be the ones dealing with the carrying of these accessories of the tabernacle, but for most of Israel, the tabernacle was something they could only watch from a distance.

Today's text, however, opens up God's dwelling place to all of Israel, and the main point, the main question that this text asks us this morning is, well, how do God's people interact with the Lord who dwells among them?

How do God's people interact with the Lord who dwells among them? And this is a crucial question for us today because we live in a pluralistic culture where people claim that there are many valid, quote-unquote valid, ways to God, right?

They say as long as what you find is right for you, it's correct, right? And the only thing that they are not supportive of is any truth claim that claims to be the ultimate truth,.

Right?

One theologian accurately and also cleverly puts it, the only heresy in this culture is that there are heresies, right? If you disagree with any of these many options, then you're the heretic, right? You're wrong, and that is quite unfortunate for the world because when you consider who God is, he gets to decide how his people approach him.

That's the same way for even earthly leaders, right? We were singing about how God is the king, behold the king. Well, if he's the king, wouldn't it make sense that he decides how his people approach him?

I mean, we don't get to approach even our state governor our way the moment we try to approach him our way, we might get arrested by one of his guardsmen. It's not allowed. So what makes us think in our pluralistic age that it's okay to make our own way go with our feelings, how we approach God?

And this is also important for the church culture. If God is the true God, the true king who decides how his people approach him, then how we worship ought to follow how he tells us, how he reveals to us in his word.

It cannot be an entertainment, it cannot be a concert hall, right? It has to be according to his word, according to his ways, not according to our desires and feelings. So the first point is, how do God's people approach the holy God?

God's People Are Consecrated Through the Chosen Sacrifice

Well, God's people are consecrated through his chosen sacrifice. God's people are consecrated through his chosen sacrifice, verses one through eight. Unlike the previous artifacts, the bronze altar is actually found outside the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.

It's found, however, inside the courtyard, right? It's not just found anywhere among Israel, but in a very specific location outside the tabernacle. While the previous artifacts were accessible only to the priests, a very select few among Israel, right, Aaron's family and his descendants, this bronze altar was accessible to any Israelite because they would bring their own animal to sacrifice for their sin atonement, or even animal for peace offering, to have devotion with God.

And verse one starts with the material and dimensions of the bronze altar. You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits.

Similar to the ark, this altar is also made out of acacia wood, which is a lightweight yet durable wood. And the dimensions are in, are modern dimensions, right? 7 .5 by 7 .5 feet square, right, and then 4 .5 feet high.

So it had a square top, but it wasn't cubic. Verse two describes the structure of the altar. You shall make its horn on its four corners. Its horn shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze.

Now, horns we see right here on the four corners as described, held a very powerful symbol in the ancient world. In the ancient world, horns symbolized strength and power, right, and that's why when you see in prophetic visions, horns aren't always just literal horns, but rather empires or prince, leaders, right?

It symbolized the power. And Moses explains the role of the horns more in detail in Leviticus. And what would happen on the horn is, the priest would kill the animal and collect the blood, and in order to atone for the sin of the person who brought the animal, the priest would put the blood of the young bull on the horn of the altar.

And by doing this, the sinner would be made acceptable to God once again, right? He would be outwardly cleansed. Now, as we move farther away from the holy of holies, the most sacred location of the tabernacle, the material used becomes less precious.

The altar here is not of gold, like the mercy seat, but of bronze. Now, verse three introduces the five accessories necessary for the altar. Also, you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels, and its basins, and its forks, and its firepans.

You shall make all its utensils of bronze. The shovels were used for gathering ashes from the altar, because you don't want the ashes to stack up, right? And the basins were used for collecting the blood, which would be sprinkled on the altar.

Now, the importance of the blood has to be explained here. Unlike the pagan nations, the pagan nations didn't really want anything to do with the blood. They had other organs in mind for sacrifice. Unlike the pagan nations, the Lord Yahweh required Israel to offer up blood.

And this is because blood contained the life force of the animal, which exclusively belonged to God. God of life has the exclusive claim on all lives. The act of sprinkling the animal's blood on the altar symbolized returning that life back to God, the life giver himself.

The life of the blood would be the substitute for the sinner's life. Because whenever a sinner sinned against God, he was deserving of death. But God graciously offered up a means in which God would pass over his sin.

If another life was given on his behalf. And that life had to be acceptable to God. God wouldn't take just any life. He chose what was an acceptable substitute for that sinner's sin. And that's an important concept that we will see in the New Testament.

The life of the bull would substitute the sinner's life so that the sinner may be cleansed and remain in his covenant relationship with the Lord. That was the importance of the bronze altar. The forks were used to turn over the meat while it's being sacrificed.

Remember, not all the sacrifices in the Old Testament required complete burning of the meat. Some sacrifices, like the peace offering, after it was sacrificed, the meat could be enjoyed among the community.

It was a communal devotion to the Lord. It was a feast, right? In order to say thank you to God, they had a barbecue, right? And because of that, the forks were used to turn the meat over. The fire pans were used to keep the coals and embers inside, right?

And all of these accessories associated with the altar, the bronze altar, was also made out of bronze. They matched. Verses four to five detail the grate for the altar. The grate is what we see here. You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze, and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners.

You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath that the network may be midway up the altar. Now, it is speculated that the grate was used for grilling the sacrifice or even catching the falling embers.

And I have mentioned grilling a few times, and again, this is because some sacrifices required a community grilling in order to celebrate, praise, and give thanks to the Lord. It seems it was a big effort for the whole community to celebrate that way.

And this is important because for Christians, when we want to praise, give thanks, and celebrate the Lord, we do go to God's chosen sacrifice. And that's Jesus.

That's us.

Instead of killing a whole bull to offer up a sacrifice, a peace offering to the Lord, we actually approach God in thanksgiving and in praises in Christ, right? That's why Paul uses that phrase, in Christ, all the time.

It's a way of reminder that we can approach God, we can give thanks to God without having to kill an animal in Christ because Christ was the perfect sacrifice. Now, verses six to seven show how this altar must be transported.

And you shall make poles of the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. You shall make it hollow with boards as it is shown to you on the mountain, so they shall make it.

The poles we have pictured here with the rings as well. And the reason, and we see this theme of poles, of acacia wood, and going through the rings a lot. And this is because the physical things in the Old Testament showed the boundary of holiness.

Right?

In the Christian sense, holiness tends to be strictly spiritual, strictly inner. And that's right. But in the Old Testament, God used the physical phenomena to teach the spiritual reality by using poles to say this bronze altar also, although it is not the most precious altar like the mercy seat, it's still holy.

Because that's where the sin atonement happens. That's where other sacrifices happen. And it goes up to the Lord. And because of that, human hands couldn't just willy nilly touch it, right? It was holy unto the Lord.

Therefore, the Levites were to carry using the poles. Now, this altar, we don't have it anymore. And we haven't seen it, right? The temple has been gone since 70 AD. But the concept, the concept of the Lord providing an acceptable sacrifice as a substitute for God's people continues, right?

And that is precisely found in Christ. The text that Hezekiah read this morning from Hebrews 9 actually admits, right? The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctified them so that they are outwardly clean, right?

They're made outwardly clean, but internally, it has no effect, right? Internally, the conscience of guilt still continues. That's why verse 14 says, "'How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God?'.

We don't have the bronze altar anymore because there's no need for animal sacrifice for whenever we sin. We go to Christ. His blood, which is greater than any animal blood, all of the animal blood combined, is more than sufficient to cleanse you inside and out.

All you have to do is approach Him, confess to Him your sin, and you believe that Christ died for your sin on the cross and that blood which He shed, His life force given for your life is enough. That's how you're made clean.

God's People Worship in His Chosen Place

And we see the glimpse of that as early as Exodus 27 here. Second, where do God's people encounter Him? God's people must worship Him in His chosen place, verses nine through 19. God's people must worship Him in His chosen place.

From the bronze altar, we zoom out to the courtyard. The courtyard is the rest of this area that is surrounded by the white curtains and the gate screen. And this is important because, as I've mentioned before, only the priests were able to minister to the Lord inside this tent.

If you were not a priest, you had no business going in there, which begs the question, then how do God's people worship Him, right? And that's the purpose of the courtyard. In the courtyard, there's the bronze altar that we talked about, and in the courtyard, people would actually gather to worship the Lord.

Verses nine to 11 describe the longest sides of the courtyard, and I will summarize them here, right, for both north and south sides, right, the longest sides, the hangings would be 150 feet long, and they will both have 20 pillars, so these sticks are pillars, right, and on top of them, and they would be on bronze bases, right, bronze bases means the pillars are not just standing on the ground, they have base piece that's made out of bronze, and silver bands will be used to hook the pillars and hold the hangings securely, right.

Verses 12 to 15 describe the shorter sides, it starts with the western side, and then also the east side, which gets more detailed. The first part is the western side, verse 12, and along the width of the court of the west side shall be hangings of 50 cubits, and there are 10 pillars, and there are 10 sockets.

The western side is exactly the half of the north or the south side, right, so the length of the western side would be 75 feet in length instead of the 150 feet, like the north and the south side, and with that data, we actually have enough information to calculate the area of the whole courtyard, which is 11 ,250 feet squared.

This courtyard is rather large, and that's because this rectangular area would serve as a designated place of worship for Israel. Hundreds of people would gather to make sacrifices to the Lord. You can almost imagine like a line of people with their animals, you know, baaing and mooing, right, as they enter through the courtyard screen door to be sacrificed, right?

People would gather, and people inside would see the sacrifice happen, see the ugliness of sin, right, and then enjoy the cleansing, the consecration afterward with a feast. Now, the eastern side deserves more attention because it is the only entryway to the whole courtyard.

There are no back doors here, just one entryway, and verse 13 shows that the length of the eastern side is actually the same as the western side, right, so it becomes a rectangle, not a trapezoid. However, verses 14 through 15 show the differences of the eastern side compared to the western side.

The hangings on one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets, and the other side shall be hangings of 15 cubits and their three pillars and their three sockets.

So from each corner of the eastern side, you'll have three hangings with three pillars and three sockets, so here and here, right? So that is really different because the western side was all uniform, right?

There was no difference. Verses 16 to 17, oh, by the way, this length would be 22 .5 feet. We don't use cubits anymore, so I forgot to calculate that out for us. Verses 16 to 17 describe the entry point of the courtyard, so this is the colorful portion right here.

For the gate of the court, there shall be a screen, 20 cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets, so that's describing this area, and you can see even by the color, it is different.

So in between these 22 .5 feet of normal regular hangings of the courtyard would be the screen door, which would be intricately designed and made out of some of the most precious and expensive materials.

I've mentioned it in the couple of sermons before, blue and purple dye was expensive, right? It would require thousands of marine snail fluid to dye one row blue or purple. That's a lot of manpower, right?

So because of that, the fact that the screen door is especially designed this way showed its unique special position, right?

Its importance.

Moreover, the design of the screen is the same or very similar to the entryway to the tabernacle itself, and also even the entryway to the Holy of Holies. Of course, it doesn't have the cherubim like the Holy of Holies, but other than that, the design of blue, purple, and scarlet thread woven thoroughly would actually reflect that.

And verse 17 describes how the screen will be supported by the pillars and bands of silver just like the other hangings. And the Lord purposely designed the entryway to be outstanding because it was the only entryway for God's people to enter into his presence.

It was that special. And this section concludes with the summary of the description of the courtyard in verses 18 through 19 with the dimensions and the materials used. Now, the question is why so much special effort into building all of this, right?

Wasn't it enough just to have the tabernacle, right? And the reason is where people worship the Lord was particularly important among Israel. Where people worship the Lord was special. And this is because the ancient pagans often had something called household gods.

And those were little statues that each household would have and they would make offerings and they would worship, bow down before these household gods in the comfort of their own home. And this was problematic, right?

These household gods are idols. And the fact that you could worship them wherever you wanted, because you could fit them in your pocket, right? Whenever you wanted, you don't have to go all the way out to the courtyard, right?

A designated location to worship. And however you wanted, right? There's no set sacrifice that you give to the household god. No one will know even if you do it the wrong way. And that is significantly different from worshiping the true God.

The true God will not be controlled that way. The true God, he himself will choose how he will be worshiped, when he will be worshiped, and where he will be worshiped. The household gods, you get to do it.

You get to control how you worship it, when you will worship it, and where you worship it. And that begs the question, then who's truly the divine? You or that fake God? But the true God, the Lord, said, I will decide.

And he has designed the courtyard himself. And Israel had to build it according to his word, not their feelings or desires. And this is also very similar to the pluralistic culture we have today.

Right?

You do you.

You worship however you want, right? Whether you go to the mosque, Buddhist temple, Hindu temple, household idols, go to the forest.

You do you.

If you connect, quote unquote, connect with the divine, you just follow your heart. You get to choose, not God. However, this was not so for the people of Israel. They had a designated place of worship for them.

The location of worship was not dependent on the people, but God himself. The Lord gave the design. The Lord chose the materials. In fact, in order to approach the Lord, there was only one entryway. You couldn't even sneak in from the back if you were late.

And there was only one way to the courtyard, only one way to the Holy of Holies. And this is because worshiping the true God does not depend on the whims and inclinations of the worshipers, but the design and purpose of the deity who deserves worship.

People can worship fake gods however they want, wherever they want, and whenever they want. Not so with the true God. The Lord provides his way. And under the new covenant, the Lord's way is still one.

The way that he provides in the new covenant is not through the screen doors, but through a person. It is Jesus Christ, the son of God himself. He declares he is the way. He is the truth. And how is he the way to God?

How is he the only way to God? Well, as sinful people, we were never allowed to approach the Holy God however we wanted, whenever we wanted, or wherever we wanted. The biggest lie of our culture is that there are many ways to God.

And in order to approach the Holy God, our sin stood in the way. It was a wall blocking our way. And it was so vile and wicked that we all deserved eternity in hell. But God, in his mercy and love, sent his only son to take our sin and face the judgment that we deserved on the cross so that he would make a way to God, the father.

Jesus is the only way which God has provided to himself. There's no other way. Not Allah, not Buddha, none of the thousands of Hindu gods, only Christ himself. And also under the new covenant, Christ is the only designated location of worship.

Different religions have different designated sites. The Vatican City, the Mecca. For Christians, it does not matter where you are on earth or what building you are inside. Christians encounter God's presence only through faith in Christ.

On any given Sunday morning, believers in Africa worship the same God as believers in America through their faith in Christ. The buildings might look different. The weather will be different. Yet, they approach the same God in Christ.

Because they're found in Christ. They're saved in Christ. They worship in Christ. It is only through faith in Christ that the new covenant people worship God. No longer the courtyard in Christ. Only in Christ we worship the true God.

The Pure Oil and the Lamp That Burns Continually

Third, what is required of God's people? God's people must offer the purest to the Lord to perpetually experience his presence. God's people must offer their purest to the Lord to perpetually experience his presence.

Although this chapter started outside the tabernacle, it goes back inside to the tent once again. What holds the whole chapter together is how God's people interact with the Lord himself. And it's not just the priest.

It's not just the elite. But all of God's people who are involved in this chapter. And this portion details what all of Israel was responsible for. Verse 20, and you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light to cause the lamp to burn continually.

Inside God's dwelling place, every one of Israel contributed in order that the lamp here inside may burn continually. And we went over a few weeks ago what that lamp represented. The lamp symbolized God's watchful presence among his people, right?

Remember, they're in the wilderness. When the tabernacle's built, they're in the wilderness. It's dark outside. And you hear howling. You're scared there might be some ambush from the pagan nations around.

And I'm sure some of them are scared the Egyptians would come back, right? It's dark, you don't know what to predict. But as they're encircling the tabernacle, the tabernacle shines forth light through the lamp that is burning all night and all day.

Oh, God's still awake. God's still watching, right? The all-knowing eye does not blink. And that's what the lamp represented. Now, how does this lamp keep on burning? Well, God required not just a few, but all of his people to take part in providing for his protective presence among his people.

In this way, no tribe, no group of elites could take sole credit for God's watchful care among his people, right? The lamp symbolized that. All of God's people gave something in order for them to enjoy the symbolic presence through the lamp.

And what was required for the lamp? It was not just any oil. Mind you, they had all sorts of oil that was acceptable for burning, flax oil, animal fat, sesame seed oil. Those were all common oil. God required pure oil from pressed olives.

This was special because pure oil required extra steps to remove the impurities. Israel would collect a large number of olives, grind them with mortar and pestle, right? And they would meticulously strain out the oil so that only the clear, light oil remained.

I don't have to really show you what olive oil looks like. You probably have it in your kitchen. But it was pure. It was precious. It took a lot of effort. It was expensive. But that was the point. You didn't just give any oil to the Lord's lamp.

Everyone contributed the best, the purest for the Lord's lamp to experience his symbolic presence through that light that burned perpetually, right? It would teach Israel what kind of presence God showed among his people, right?

This finest oil would burn with the least amount of smoke and would burn brightly with the maximum amount of light. That's the type of light that Israel would have experienced. Only the purest for the highest God.

Now, verse 21, however, limits who gets to directly enter, right, minister in the presence of the Lord. In the tabernacle of meeting outside the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord.

It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel. Under the old covenant, only Aaron's family will tend to the lamp on behalf of Israel. Under the old covenant, there was an intermediary of class, an intermediary class of people, the priests, between the Lord and his people.

Now, it says a statute forever to the generations. And for some of us, the question might be, well, I haven't seen a lamp that's burning forever. Well, that's because Christ, as the high priest, fulfills the role of the Aaronic priesthood.

Christ did not have to be from the Aaronic priesthood to typologically fulfill that role, just as Christ did not have to be a real animal lamb to fulfill being the Passover lamb, right? Christ is the high priest who sustains the lamp that burns brightly in the world today.

And that lamp is his church. And we saw that in Revelation 1, 12, Christ is the son of God, son of man, who stands among the lampstands, the seven lampstands. Why? Because he is the source. He is the sustainer of that lamp.

He is the one that allows the light to shine brightly. And this has a couple implications for the church today. It means the church cannot disconnect from Christ and his word and expect to continue to shine brightly.

In fact, any denominations and any local churches that have divorced themselves from the Christ that the Bible teaches have lost all relevance in the world. It is no coincidence that the mainline churches who have accepted all sorts of liberal perversions in terms of sexuality and gender, right, homosexuality, transgenderism, they're dying away.

What they have to say has no impact in anyone's souls. What they have to say gains no attention from the world. You would think the world might celebrate with them, but why would they? It's not news to the world.

The sin of the world became the sin of the church. The world knew it first. The church, the mainline churches are just late to the party. Second, for the church that are faithful, that are shining brightly, it means everyone has something to contribute to shine brightly.

I'm not talking about money here. I'm talking about gifts that God has given you. You might think, oh, I don't know. I don't know if I'm gifted. Well, you are. If God has brought you here, you are here for a reason.

And you have something to give. Whether you're young or old, poor or rich, male or female, God uses you so that the lampstand, the church, the local church shines ever so brightly. It might, you might have the gift of evangelism.

You just want to share the gospel with others. You might have the gift of prayer. Maybe you're not as outgoing, but you want, you desire to pray, intercede. You might have the gift of teaching. You might teach the young people, students.

You might have the gift of service, hospitality. The list is endless. And it is not just one elite group of people who serves. It's everyone that makes the church the local lampstand that it is, right?

It is not dependent on the pastor. It is not dependent on the elders. It's dependent on Christ. And every single one of you sitting out there has something to contribute in order that the church keeps on shining brightly.

Let us pray. Father, we are so fortunate that you have blessed Faith Bible Church for the last 75 years to shine brightly in one of the darkest cities in the United States. And Father, we thank you for your blessings.

We thank you for your faithfulness. And we thank you for all the people you have brought here who made it possible for the Faith Bible Church to continue to shine brightly. And we thank you for your continued faithfulness for the future too, as we depend only on you.

In Jesus name.