Exodus Types: 6c. The Tabernacle In the Wilderness, A Manifold Type of Christ and His Church

Those entering this door must bring a sacrifice. "If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord" (Leviticus 1:3). Let us look at the New Testament application of this, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13). "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). Our access to the presence of God is through Christ as our Door, and through the offering He made on our behalf, whose blood gives us nearness to God. The gateway was the only entrance into the courtyard of the tabernacle; even as Christ is the only way of salvation. "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture" (John 10:9). "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). There was only one way to gain the presence of the holy God of Israel in Old Testament times, and there is only one way to God’s presence today, and that way is through Christ and His sacrifice for us. The brazen altar was a type of Calvary’s cross. This altar was the first article to be seen after entering the courtyard. "And thou shalt make an altar of shittim [acacia] wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And 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 . . . And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass" (Exodus 27:1, 2, 4). Brass overlaid the wood, and the grate network was also of brass. Brass is a type of judgment upon sin, as we have already seen. In the offering for sin, God’s judgment falls upon the one sacrificed. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Corinthians 5:21). The shape of the altar was foursquare. The four sides, pointing north, east, south, and west, and thus symbolizing a perfect sacrifice for all people, most certainly point to Christ’s sacrifice. The horns of the altar were used to bind the sacrifices (see Psalm 118:27), to sprinkle blood upon them (see Exodus 29:12), and to provide a place of refuge (see I Kings 1:50). In Old Testament times if a man was really guilty, then taking hold of the horns of the altar did not spare him. But in Christ sinners have a real place of refuge if they come in faith and penitence. "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:18). The offerings made at the brazen altar are a type of the offering of Christ on Calvary’s cross. There were five different offerings (see Leviticus 1-7; also Chapter III "Types in Leviticus"). The principle of identification was important in connection with these offerings. "And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord: it is a sin offering" (Leviticus 4:24). The one who has sinned thus accepts the animal as his substitute by laying his hands upon its head. [Old Testament Types - FHW]