Sermon Notes: Exodus 27:1-19 – The Bronze Altar and the Courtyard

Exodus 25:8 reminds us that the Lord intended to dwell among his people. God dwelling among his people is part of the work of salvation the Lord was working in history that would lead to the advent of Jesus and his end time work of bringing the kingdom of God, completing salvation for all who would believe, bringing to completion all of God’s promises in himself thus inaugurating the end, and beginning the fruit bearing of new creation by this gospel message and power.

To dwell with his people and lead them to see and believe in this gospel, the Lord showed Moses how to make a structure for them to experience his presence that was modeled after what is in his presence in the unseen reality of God’s “dimension of existence” (the third heaven).

The tabernacle teaches us to see and experience the good news of Jesus, the nature and character of God, mankind’s nature and limitations marred by sin, God’s ethical framework, and the tabernacle should make the Christian aware of metaphysics (first principles). The good news is a metaphysical reality.

God gives Moses and the people a glimpse into first principles with the tabernacle. He lets them glimpse into eternal reality right there in time and space. Heaven meets earth. The unseen touches the seen, and thus they and we should be looking to that unseen reality to inform our faith and action now.

The good news is the ground of metaphysical reality rooted in the nature and character of the Triune God of the Bible. The gospel is not merely history. The gospel is the first principle by which all other things are and will be judged. The gospel, the good news, is the standard of judgment for all things.

So, let’s dive into the bronze altar and the courtyard of the tabernacle as a glimpse into the ultimate metaphysical reality of the good news.

Let’s read it: Exodus 27:1-9

Exodus 27:1-19 feels bone dry with its technical data on building a big altar and a courtyard. So, we are going to have to look around at the whole Bible and try our best with the Spirit’s help to be on point.

What do we see?

(1) The altar is a very large and holy grill.

I don’t say that lightly or to be humorous. Hang with me a minute.

The altar is made of acacia wood and overlaid with bronze. It is 7.5 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 4.5 feet high.

The altar was made to be carried with poles because Israel was to be mobile as they headed to the Promised Land.

The utensils for the altar are made of bronze.

The altar had a grating made of bronze on the inside halfway down intended to hold the animal’s flesh that is being offered, if it is a larger animal and not the smaller offerings of those who can’t afford the larger animal.

The altar is made from bronze because it was a more durable metal alloy (copper and tin) that would stand up to the constant fire that was to be kept burning underneath and on it.

The altar is quite large as it had to make room for many large and small animals to be cooked as a sacrifice according to the 5 different sacrifices prescribed by the Lord in Leviticus 1-5.

The altar’s horns were possibly for securing some of the animal’s carcasses to the altar in some orderly way so that it can be cooked properly or fully consumed as a whole burnt offering, depending on the sacrifice being made and the number of sacrifices being facilitated at one time.

The horns of the altar are where blood would be sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice, and it was always more than one.

The horns of the altar were later associated with strength, perhaps because atonement was made there and thus mankind regained his strength in God’s presence as he was accepted through the blood of the sacrifice. You will note that as you read through the Old Testament.

Some men, Like Adonijah when he feared Solomon (1 Kings 1:49-53), would seek sanctuary from execution by entering the courtyard and taking hold of the horns of the altar hoping to survive by receiving mercy from man as they would receive mercy from God in the atonement of sacrifice.

The bronze altar is a place of atonement, mercy, justice, heat, blood, noise, death, conflicting smells, as well as intense and paradoxical emotions at the same time of sadness, relief, and joy.

(2) The shape of the altar and it being hallow, except for the grate, allowed Israel to keep the Lord’s instructions about altars being constructed with unworked stone in Exodus 20:24, 25.

Whether the Exodus 20:24-25 instruction was practiced and the bronze altar placed on top of uncut stones, we don’t know for sure. We must believe they did. It helps us recognize the instructions in the text and make sense of the Lord’s instructions to make an altar of uncut stones and his instruction to use an altar that is fashioned like the one in his presence.

What about this? I believe this instruction is intentional and a way the Lord is showing in detail how he is making the connection himself between heaven and earth as a redemptive act of grace.  

You could say the use of uncut created stone and the use of the altar is a microscopic detail that points to the entire tabernacle being the place where the eternal intersects with the created, and the Lord worked this reality into the details of the tabernacle all the way down to the bronze altar sitting on an altar of created and uncut stones. Heaven meets earth.

God works in the details, and he leaves nothing out.

The whole tabernacle is a place where the “third heaven” touches earth down to what the altar sits on.

NOTE: If God cares about the details, do you think we should care about the details of gathering as God’s people?

This metaphysical reality of the tabernacle displaying metaphysical reality shows what was lost in Eden as the angels with flaming swords cut them off from accessing it.

There are places in creation where the eternal and unseen “third heaven” meet the “first heaven” of fallen creation. The tabernacle shows us this reality, and the Lord is proclaiming his good news in it, and teaching them truth so they can be saved and navigate his supernatural world successfully.

Of course, this work of God would not go unopposed. We should not be surprised that the evil forces of darkness have their “congregants” meet them on mountain temple gardens as an attempt at a dark Eden regained and have them offer dark sacrifices of evil that are the opposite of what the Lord demands. It is these dark alternatives of worship that ensnare Israel for the rest of the Old Testament. It is these alternative metanarratives that will inform them with lies and cause them to act contrary to the good news.

(3) The altar and the courtyard go together.

The altar is in the courtyard, and the courtyard faces east with the east wall having the one and only entrance into the courtyard to access the tabernacle.

The east and west parts of the fence around the tabernacle were each 75 feet in length.

The north and south parts of the fence were 150 feet in length. So, there was 11,250 square feet of space to facilitate a lot of traffic.

There was only one way in to worship the Lord, and it was by his designed entrance that faces east. One gate by which the people of God’s people may enter.

Sound familiar? John 10? Jesus is the door, the entrance, and only by him do we enter the place of God’s presence.

Ezekiel’s description of the temple in chapters 40-48 of his prophetic preaching begins with the eastern entrance and the glory of the Lord entering by the eastern entrance. When the Lord enters, the entrance is shut because the Lord will not leave again.

Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem will face east as prescribed, and the rebuilt temple of Herod will likewise face east. The Lord Jesus met his disciples east of the temple on the Mount of Olives after his resurrection in Acts 1 to ascend to the Father, and the angels with them promised Jesus would return as they saw him ascend.

So, when Jesus returns, he will enter via the east like Ezekiel preached and the angels promised. The glory of the Lord will enter the temple of new creation and never leave because all things will be made new, and we will be with him where he is forever in the temple garden of Eden regained. We shorten that and call it “heaven”. Revelation 21 and 22.

Jesus is the one way in and enters by his own merit and invites in all who will come by him and only him.

One way in for an entire nation of people who desire to be faithful to the Lord.

John 14:6 (ESV) 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

There is one way in to the worship of God the Father, and that is through Jesus the Son.

(4) The bronze alter was the one altar in the one courtyard for the entire nation, and it was to be in constant use.

Listen to Leviticus 6:12-13 (ESV) 12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

The altar was always in operation because there was a constant stream of required and voluntary sacrifice as worship. This worship is facilitated by the priests on the behalf of the whole nation and the individuals or families who voluntarily obeyed to come and worship the Lord in celebration or atonement for sin.

You get a nice picture of what the priests of the Levitical line are doing in the courtyard with the altar in Nehemiah as they rebuilt the city and the second temple: Nehemiah 8:5-8 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

Ezra teaching God’s word and the Levites walking around giving “the sense” so that people understand and know what to do.

This is what is happening in the courtyard at the altar. The Levitical priests are teaching God’s instructions to help the people know what to do. You can begin to make parallels to the Christian worship service, the place of small groups, and ministry as living sacrifices.

The first five chapters of Leviticus tell us about the different prescribed sacrifices that were always going on: 1. The burnt offering (Lev. 1), and there were at least two of these per day (Ex. 29:38-41; Num. 28:3-8). 2. The grain offering (Lev. 2). 3. The fellowship or peace offering (Lev. 3). With this sacrifice, part would be sacrificed, and part would be eaten by those worshipping. 4. The sin offering for intentional and unintentional sins. 5. The guilt offering.

So that the people of God didn’t inadvertently worship the goat demons (Leviticus 17:1-9), they were to do their sacrificing at the bronze altar in the courtyard of the tabernacle NOT on their own at the house. That’s huge. The Levites there to teach and assist. They were to come together to present their worship before the Lord for God’s glory and their good protection. Individualism and isolation can lead to false worship. So, Israel was to come together for worship.

Listen to Deuteronomy 12:17-18 (ESV) 17 You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, 18 but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you undertake.

Vern Poythress describes this scene: “In a typical case the process begins with the worshiper who brings an animal without defect to the priest. The worshiper has raised the animal himself or paid for it with his earnings, so that the animal represents a “sacrifice” in the modern sense of the word. It costs something to the worshiper, and a portion of the worshiper’s own life is identified with it. The worshiper lays his hand on the head of the animal, signifying his identification with it. He then kills the animal at the entranceway into the courtyard, signifying that the animal dies as a substitute for the worshiper. From that point onward the priest takes over in performing the sacrificial actions. The intervention of the priest indicates that a specially holy person must perform the actions necessary to present the worshiper before God, even after the death of the animal. The priest takes some of the blood and sprinkles it on the sides of the bronze altar or on the horns of the altar … depending on the particular type of sacrifice… All of these actions constitute the permanent marking of the altar as testimony to the fact that the animal has died.” – Poythress, The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses, p. 44.

The altar and the courtyard were in constant use with multiple individuals and families entering, killing, gutting, processing, cooking, eating, sacrificing as a loss, rejoicing, mourning, burning, and then leaving to make room for others doing the same. All this while the Levites helped, kept the fire going, offered the blood, made sure that God’s standards were met, and taught the people how to do things according to God’s standard.

Application: What are we to know and do with the altar and the courtyard?

(1) The payout of sin is death.

The scene of the courtyard is not pleasant. It’s one of death. It’s bloody. It’s loud. It’s somber while mixed with the celebration of other sacrifices due to the forgiveness of sin.

The courtyard is a place of joy and anguish.

The tabernacle was a spectacle for all kinds of beauty and that beauty was muted by death.

The only thing sin is good for is killing what lives.

The constant shedding of blood was a constant reminder of the cost of sin.

Israel needed that reminder, and we have to have that reminder.

Sin kills everything it touches, and the only atonement is through death.

(2) Atonement for sin comes at the cost of an innocent life substituted for the sinner.

Leviticus 17:11 (ESV) 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

Innocent life in the place of guilty life.

God executes his wrath at sin on the animal in the place of the one offering the animal.

All of Hebrews 9-10 helps us to see that Jesus, the Creator and Eternal God, is that sacrifice for sin.

Hebrews 9:11-14 (ESV) 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 7:25 (ESV) 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

(3) The tabernacle reminds us of what was lost in Eden and what is being restored in the good news: All of God!

Genesis 3:24 gives us a very sad scene of our exile from Eden and no access to life. Sin cut us off from God and the life of his presence. So, man began slowly dying.

God coming to make his dwelling among his people gave the hope that Eden, presence with God, could be regained, because that is our number one need. We need God’s presence.

Jesus’ tabernacling among us and showing us God’s glorious presence among us to atone for our sin gives us the great hope that we can be restored to God.

And we can. Jesus made that way. Through repentance and faith (one thing not two things), we get reconciled back to the Father, and in the Holy Spirit we get the Father and Jesus the Son who lives with us and dwells on the inside of us.

In our salvation we get a foretaste of the eternal kingdom, the firstfruits of that kingdom with Holy Spirit, as the downpayment guaranteeing our full inheritance.

We get God!

Listen, if you came to Jesus to get heaven you are not going to be there. Heaven is not merely an existence. Heaven is creation fully reconciled back to God in which we get all of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. If you come to Jesus to get Jesus, you will be in the eternal kingdom of Heaven.

(4) The gathering of the people of God in our earthly locations because of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God is a place where the veil between earth and heaven is thin, and heaven touches earth. By faith we understand that veil will be completely removed at the Lord Jesus’ return.

Often people want some chapter and verse to justify why churches gather and why it’s necessary. So, we might diminish the need to gather with the whole fellowship in favor of just small groups or jaded and isolated house church with no missional connection to others. Not that house church can’t be missional in the right setting.

Well, there is no mere chapter and verse that commands such devotion. It’s the whole of the metanarrative of the Bible.

We already studied where God told them to literally “foot themselves” to the tabernacle for worship. They were to leave home and go to the gathering of the people of God.

Now we see that God provided a courtyard big enough for the constant flow of the people of God to come together to worship and remember the gospel.

Why come to worship? Because God says to. That’s enough.

Yet we will minimize, criticize, convenience it, make it about our preferences, and neglect it when it might be the one thing we need most in the week: sacrifice to come make a sacrifice of praise together with others doing the same thing for God’s glory and our joy together.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV) 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The writer of Hebrews is not talking about small groups or merely some jaded gathering of house church divorced from the mission. He’s made it clear he is talking about the fulfillment of the plan of God in Jesus through his church.

Come to worship. Build your life around it. Calendar it. Make the rhythm your rhythm. Cut off anything that gets in the way of it. It’s that important to God and to our own souls.

(5) Because of the good news, the veil between the unseen and seen is thin and getting even thinner as we move toward the full restoration of all things at the return of the Lord, and we must live by faith in the unseen first principles God’s word gives us.

Metaphysical reality is what our discipleship is rooted in. The tabernacle shows us facets of the metaphysical reality of the gospel that is the supernatural first principle that dictates everything for us. In the tabernacle we get to see where heaven meets earth, and it is to spur on our faith, our trust in God.

We are to live by faith in that good news not by sight alone. Through repentance and faith, we’ve been given some ability to see through the lens of the good news and God’s word to spur our faith on.

FIGHTING FOR THIS TRUTH IS THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES. Every dark force and seen agent of dark forces will come against this truth to push us away from reality to the darkness of deceit, to live by our flesh, or to some dark version of faith directed toward dark forces. FIGHT! Don’t give in to living by sight alone.

Your faith must be rooted in the gospel, in God’s word, and the unseen realities defined by the gospel and God’s word.

Life on mission is full of good and hard things and can only be navigated if we live in the metaphysical reality of the first principle of the unseen hand and work of God for us in the gospel that the tabernacle displays.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV) 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Faith. The assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things unseen. I shared this at Easter as the means by which we lay hold of the new life of God that is available in abundance.

Faith is the tool by which we seize the metaphysical reality of the kingdom of God and unleash good. Without faith there is no effect to our labor.

Let the tabernacle show you the gospel and assure you that your faith is not in vain.

(6) Corporate Prayer