WE HAVE AN ALTAR!

The people of God are blessed with a degree of participation never known before the glorification of Christ Jesus. In salvation, we become capable of imbibing the Divine Nature--a requisite to eternal life.

"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." (Heb 13:9-14).

Devotion 11 of 12

THE SACRED LOGIC

There is a manner of reasoning that pervades this text, and upon which the it is founded. As you might expect, it is not a worldly principle of thought, or law of logic. When it comes to the apprehension of the things of the Spirit, God has reduced the world's loftiest wisdom to foolishness, showing it to be impotent in matters relating to justification, sanctification, and the glorification of men.

The altar which we have been given, and at which we eat the sacrifice for sin, was typified in the Passover, as already pointed out. During that time, prior to Israel's exodus from Egypt, the people ate the passover lamb (Ex 12:7-10). It was also foreshadowed in the sacrifices offered under the Law--particularly the sacrifices for sin. Those shadows were divers and crude, casting only a faint reflection of the greater sacrifice of Christ. For example, the people themselves could eat of the flesh of some of the peace offerings (Lev 7:11-20). The flesh of the ordinary sin offerings could only be eaten by the priest, and that only in the sanctuary (Deut 12:27). Thus God introduced the idea of the people partaking of something sacrificed unto Him for them.

However, the highest offering, presented on the day of atonement, could be eaten by no one. Our text now refers to that sacrifice. "For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp" (Heb 13:11).

For this sacrifice, offered once a year, on the day of atonement, a special law was given. Here is a brief outline of the procedure. I am taking the time to list it because it confirms the seriousness of sin, and the effectiveness of Christ's atonement for it. Take note of it, for it is a picture of both the nature of sin and the thoroughness of Christ's sacrifice for it. This found in the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus.

1. The high priest came into the holy place with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. (verse 3)
2. After bathing himself with water, the high priest put on his appointed attire--"holy garments." (verse 4)
3. From the community of Israel two male goats were taken for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. (verse 5)
4. The young bull was reserved for the high priest himself, whereby he would make an atonement for himself and his house (verse 6)
5. The two goats were presented before the Lord at the entrance of the tabernacle. (verse 7)
6. By casting lots, one goat was chosen for the Lord, and the other to be a "scapegoat." (verse 8)
7. The goat chosen for the Lord was offered as a sin offering. (verse 9)
8. The "scapegoat" was presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with it. It would then be released it in the wilderness. (verse 10)
9. The young bull was then killed, to make an atonement for the high priest and his house. (verse 11)
10. A censer was filled with hot coals from the altar, and the high priest's hands filled with sweet incense, beaten very small. The priest entered into the holiest place with these things. (verse 12)
11. When in the holiest place, the incense was placed upon the hot coals, emitting a fragrant cloud that covered the mercy seat that was on the ark of the covenant. (verse 13)
12. With his finger, the high priest sprinkled the blood of the young bull seven times on the mercy seat. This was done on the East, or front side, of the mercy seat. (verse 14)
13. The goat of the sin offering was then killed for the people, and its blood brought within the holiest place precisely as with the young bull. (verse 15)
14. Atonement was then made for the holy place itself, and the tabernacle, because they had been defiled by the sins of the people. (verse 16)
15. No person was allowed in the tabernacle when the high priest went into the most holy place to make atonement for himself, his house, and the people of Israel. (verse 17)
16. The high priest then cleansed the altar upon which the sacrifices were offered, sprinkling the blood of the young bull and the goat upon it, and putting the blood upon the horns of the altar. (verse 18-19)
17. After making atonement for the holy place and the tabernacle, the living goat was brought to the high priest. (verse 20)
18. The high priest placed both of his hands upon the head of the goat, confessing the sins of the people, putting them upon the head of the goat. The goat was then sent by an able person into the wilderness. (verse 21)
19. The "scapegoat," carrying the sins of the people, was taken to a solitary and uninhabited land, and released. (verse 22)
20. The high priest then removed his linen vestments, leaving them in the holy place. (verse 23)
21. The high priest bathed himself with water, put on his priestly attire, and came out of the tabernacle to complete the offering of the young bull and the goat. (verse 24)
22. The fat of the sin offering was burned upon the altar. (verse 25)
23. The person who had released the "scapegoat" in the wilderness washed his clothes, bathed himself, and returned to the camp. (verse 26)
24. The young bull and the goat, whose blood was offered for atonement, were carried outside the camp, where their skin, flesh, and dung were consumed with fire. (verse 27)
25. The person burning the young bull and goat washed his clothes, bathed himself, and returned to the camp. (verse 28)

The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled every part of this extensive procedure. Note what was involved under the law. (1) The priest, (2) a young bull, (3) two goats, (3) two rams, (4) an able person to take the goat into the wilderness, and (5) a person to burn the sacrifices outside of the camp. Jesus is at once all of these. He is the High Priest, the sacrifices, the one who took sin away, and the one going outside the camp.

Every jot and tittle of this procedure is fulfilled in Christ. The Law was detailed and extensive, as confirmed in the revealed routine. However, the salvation which it foreshadowed is even more detailed and extensive.

Sin had created a dilemma that could only be resolved by the voluntary and effective offering of Jesus Christ. Should you ever be tempted to minimize sin, or imagine that God can wink at it or view your involvement in it with indifference, you do well to think again.

Just as the "bodies of those beasts" were consumed by fire "without the camp," so Jesus "suffered without the gate" (Heb 13:12). In a very real sense, Christ's atonement was made in isolation. His death did not occur in the temple court, or within proximity of the altar for burnt offering. He was crucified outside of the city of Jerusalem, "the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull" (Mk 15:22) -- outside of the camp. He also suffered in spiritual isolation, treading out the winepress of the wrath of God "alone" (Isa 63:3), cursed and forsaken by God (Gal 3:13; Matt 27:46).

Our sin required this kind of sacrifice. The altar from which we partake also necessitated this most detailed atonement. The sins of Israel were typically transferred to the living goat. Our sins were really "laid on" Jesus by God Himself, as He "bore our sins in His body on the tree" (Isa 53:6; 1 Pet 2:24).

This is the kind of reasoning that undergirds our text. There is no manner of earthly logic that can contain such lofty conceptions.

PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank and praise You through Jesus for providing such a thorough atonement and remedy for sin. I believe Your testimony that it has satisfied You, and I acknowledge that it also satisfies me.

-- Tomorrow: CONCLUSION TO SERIES --
Wednesday, New Series: JESUS CHRIST, the BEGINNING and the END --