Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

When a worshiper approached the tabernacle and entered the gate with a sacrifice (always bringing a sacrifice), the first sight was that of a bronze altar with smoke ascending from smoldering embers. Priests would be gathered around preparing the sacrifices, handling the slaughter of animals and the collection of the blood. It must have been a gruesome sight to behold.

Having grown up on a farm, I can recall helping my dad slaughter, gut, and butcher animals for food. That was gruesome enough, but to add to it the stench of burning flesh and the multiplication of offerings must have magnified the effect. My dad butchered animals for food, but so did the priests, who were authorized by God to take part of the sacrificial animal for their and their families sustenance. The only sacrifice excluded from this was the burnt offering, which was wholly dedicated and given to God.

What took place in this area affected everything else. The blood from this altar was used to sprinkle or “sanctify” every person and article in the tabernacle complex. God is emphasizing the place and importance of sacrifice in worship. As death has presided over the human race since Adam’s sin, so a substitutionary death must be offered to pay for our disobedience, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 1:17). If we are to escape the second death (eternal death or separation from God) and inherit eternal life, our debt must be paid.

Some people wonder how God could receive such pleasure from such a gruesome and seemingly barbaric enterprise. It may be wise to remind ourselves at this point that it was indeed God’s design.

Exodus 25:8-9:   And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

Exodus 39:32: Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished, and the people of Israel did according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses; so they did.

I believe that God was establishing in the magnitude and the multiplication of the sacrificial system an indelible impression on the minds of the worshipers concerning the awfulness of sin and it’s consequences. The gruesome nature of the sight emphasized the gruesome effect and consequences of sin on the human race. It has exacted a terrible toll in terms of grief and pain. And the sacrifice of animals could only point to the need for payment rather than provide payment.

The author of Hebrews reminds us (Hebrews 10:3-4): But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

We no longer approach God bringing our sacrifice, but we accept the sacrifice God has provided for us: Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:36).

Hebrews 10:11-14    And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

In the gruesome death of a crucified Savior we see both the awfulness of sin and the great love of God. He not only desires our approach, he invites us and has made it possible for us to accept the invitation.