We have an altar - the heart that produces divine good according the pattern of the cross.John 14:12; Heb 13:10

HEB 13:10 We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

 

We must first understand the concept of type and antitype. The whole study of this subject is called typology and it is very extensive in the word of God. .

 

/Type: divinely purposed illustration of some truth. Antitype: the truth represented. Christ is the outstanding antitype in all typology.\

 

The altar for the royal priest stands in contrast to the altar for the Levitical priest. The Levitical priest killed an animal and roasted it with fire on the brazen altar that was outside of the tabernacle.

 

/[slide; Brazen altar]\

 

It was at the Brazen altar that the sacrifice was made, therefore the altar was always a type of the work of Christ.

 

We will look at the 5 major offerings by the Levitical priesthood. By the way, “5” is the number of grace. These offerings are going to show us how all divine good work is the production of the priest under grace.

 

/Burnt offering - Bullock, sheep, goat, pigeon [male]. Performed daily at morning and evening as well as on the Sabbath and Festivals. Christ offering Himself unblemished and identified with sin for us.\

 

The family priest gave way to the Levitical priest which gave way to the High Priest, TLJC, which instituted the royal priest of the CA. Everything we offer from our altar, which is our heart, is manifested from the High Priest, therefore it is in reality His offering through us.

 

/Your offering: faith in redemption and propitiation. You are not your own and God is 100% satisfied with you.\

 

/Gift offering - fine flour/oil/frankincense/salt (all together) [no leaven = sin; no honey = human good]. Performed daily. Christ satisfying the Father (propitiation) by means of the HS.\

 

/Your offering: faith that: God sees you as holy and righteous; sustaining ministry of G/HS; divine good is pleasing to God; you are preserved forever by the power of God.\

 

/Peace offering - Cattle, sheep, or goat [male or female]. Performed at public festivals. Christ’s outer purity and inner perfection; the superabundance of glory; His best for us done willingly by Him - reconciliation.\

 

Reconciliation is the man-ward side of the cross. The barrier between God and man has been destroyed.

 

While the burnt offering was male only [picturing Christ] the male or female of the peace offering represent His willingness to go to the cross in obedience.

 

/Peace offering - male is active obedience to go to the cross; female - passive obedience to receive the sins of the world when on the cross.\

 

/Your offering: Active obedience in perceiving and metabolizing doctrine; passive obedience in applying doctrine towards undeserved suffering.\

 

/Sin offering - Bullock (congregation and priest), male goat (ruler), female goat or lamb (individual). Emphasis is on unknown sins of believer.\

 

The blood was to be collected in basins and brought into the Tabernacle proper and he walked up to the veil that hid the Holy of Holies.

           

This was as far as he might go. Seven times he dipped his finger into the blood and sprinkled it before the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. “Seven” is the number of perfection; it signified the future work of Christ on the Cross. Salvation is a work of grace; perfect, it cannot be improved upon. God has done all the doing and man simply receives what God has provided. In this way, God gets all the credit!

           

The sprinkling of the blood toward the veil anticipated the torn veil of Matthew 27:51 and Mark 15:38.

 

/Scripture declares the typology of the veil: untorn, it represented Jesus Christ in the flesh (HEB 10:20); torn, the veil signified that a way was now open into God’s presence for all who would accept Christ by faith and who relied solely on His work (HEB 10:19). \

 

The sprinkling of the blood before the veil showed that an entrance into eternity would some day be opened. For the church, this opening revealed that positive believers would live in the Holy of Holies, meaning they would live in time as if they were already in heaven.

           

HEB 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

 

HEB 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh [impeccable taking the place of the sinner],

 

Zech 3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

 

Zech 3:2 And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand [stick] plucked from the fire [no longer on fire - no longer under judgment, but under grace]?"

 

Zech 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.

 

Zech 3:4 And he spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes."

 

Zech 3:5 Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

 

Zech 3:6 And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua saying,

 

Zech 3:7 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'If you will walk in My ways, and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.

 

/Joshua is admonished to walk in His ways and to perform His service only after Joshua is completely clean. The reward is “free access” = a place to walk among angels - escrow blessings.\

 

First there must be confidence to enter the holy place. Faith in the doctrines of the cross as they apply to you personally is the foundation of the production of divine good.

 

/The blood of the bullock was taken into the holy place and sprinkled seven times at the veil concealing the Holy of Holies. This anticipated the torn veil at the Lord’s finished work.\

 

/Your offering: Rebound, forget the sin and move on. Exploitation of grace and truth leading to the life beyond dreams or the resurrection life.\

 

God no longer remembers your sins. Exploit grace by executing the perfect plan of God despite being imperfect and unworthy.

 

Except for the fat and kidneys, the whole bull was taken outside the camp and burned. A beautiful type and anti-type of the Lord’s death on Calvary alone and forsaken, of which, no believer will ever experience. With this truth metabolized in your heart you are ready to glorify God with your altar.

 

/Trespass offering: Female lamb, goat, pigeon, small amount of flour. Confession of sin first and then the offering. Emphasis is on known sins of the believer.\

 

 /Your offering: Faith in; positional truth, personal sin nor the OSN can prevent the believer from reaching super-grace. Equal privilege and equal opportunity in election and predestination.\

 

Even the poorest Israelite would have the flour to offer as a picture of the Savior. He had to confess, there was volition involved, but with this small offering his sin was passed over and he could worship God again.

 

Now that the cross is history we need only confess. EP/EO means every believer has been elected in Christ to privilege and predestined to fulfill that election.

 

So therefore we see that:

/The brazen altar has been replaced with the cross, but not the physical cross. The altar of the royal priest is the heart that has been transformed by the doctrines surrounding the cross.\

 

Satan has always attacked this just like he attacked or accused Joshua. One of his attacks preys on man’s fascination with the visual supernatural.

 

/[slide; treasure room; Church of the Holy Sepulcher; true cross.]\

 

The silver reliquary that was left at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in care of the bishop of Jerusalem was exhibited periodically to the faithful. In the 380s a nun named Egeria who was traveling on pilgrimage described the veneration of the True Cross at Jerusalem in a long letter, the Itinerario Egeriae that she sent back to her community of women:

 

“Then a chair is placed for the bishop in Golgotha behind the [liturgical] Cross, which is now standing; the bishop duly takes his seat in the chair, and a table covered with a linen cloth is placed before him; the deacons stand round the table, and a silver-gilt casket is brought in which is the holy wood of the Cross. The casket is opened and [the wood] is taken out, and both the wood of the Cross and the title are placed upon the table. Now, when it has been put upon the table, the bishop, as he sits, holds the extremities of the sacred wood firmly in his hands, while the deacons who stand around guard it. It is guarded thus because the custom is that the people, both faithful and catechumens, come one by one and, bowing down at the table, kiss the sacred wood and pass through. And because, I know not when, some one is said to have bitten off and stolen a portion of the sacred wood, it is thus guarded by the deacons who stand around, lest any one approaching should venture to do so again. And as all the people pass by one by one, all bowing themselves, they touch the Cross and the title, first with their foreheads and then with their eyes; then they kiss the Cross and pass through, but none lays his hand upon it to touch it. When they have kissed the Cross and have passed through, a deacon stands holding the ring of Solomon and the horn from which the kings were anointed; they kiss the horn also and gaze at the ring...”

 

/The efficacious work on the cross becomes the basis for all transformation and divine production of the believer. Brazen altar àCross àheart.\