Exodus 27

And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.
(Exo 27:1)

It is in this chapter that the instructions are given for the building of the altar. The altar is the piece of the tabernacle that saw the most action, and it is central to the way that God commanded the Jews to worship Him. Without it, there could be no true worship, no coming into the presence of God. It was at the altar that the issue of sin was addressed. Sin is the biggest issue that we have to deal with… as humans it is the reason why men are born separated from God, having no fellowship with Him.

The altar was situated in the outer courts of the tabernacle, outside of the place where God’s presence dwelt. This symbolized the fact that men and women must first be cleansed before they can have fellowship with God. There is much more we could talk about, as far as the types of sacrifices that were made there, but we will discuss that in depth when we study Leviticus. It is sufficient for our purposes to say this: these sacrifices were not perfect, they could only “cover” sin; and when new sin was committed, a new sacrifice had to be made. These sacrifices really became a perpetual reminder to the Israelites that they were sinners!

Fast forward to Jesus… to His death on the cross, and His ressurection. We are told in the book of Hebrews that when He had died and rose again, He ascended into Heaven and poured His blood on the heavenly altar; CLEANSING (not just covering) sin once and for all. So today, when we go into the presence of the Lord, we should begin at the altar. We should begin at the place where Christ laid down His life so we could live. The place where we see our sins… past, present, and future, washed away by Jesus blood. If it weren’t for the altar, we could never come into God’s presence… But now, because of Jesus perfect sacrifice, we can LIVE in God’s presence! Think about that today while you are going about your normal Saturday routine… YOU LIVE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD!