Today’s devotion comes from Exodus 27:1-8. Here is a link to this Scripture – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2027&version=NASB1995
I quote only the following verses.
“And you shall make the 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 horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. You shall make its pails for removing its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall make for it a grating of network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. …” Exodus 27:1-4.
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As one specific example of the use of an altar, “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.” Genesis 8:20-22.
More generally, another example of the use of an altar is to use it to give offerings of thanksgiving.
“27 The LORD is God, and He has given us light;
Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I give thanks to You;
You are my God, I extol You.
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Psalm 118:27-29.
The most common use of the altar was to make sacrifices on it to seek forgiveness for sins.
“Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it.” Exodus 29:36.
“Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. All its fat he shall offer up in smoke on the altar as in the case of the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven.” Leviticus 4:25-26.
But, ultimately, the use of an altar was to point to Jesus’ sacrificial offering, through His own blood, for the sins of God’s people a/k/a elect, through which sacrifice they were forgiven and sanctified.
“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,
“SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,
BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;
IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE.
“THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME
(IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME)
TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’” Hebrews 10:4-7.
“By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. … In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” Ephesians 1:3-4 and 8.
“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14.
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