The Tabernacle - The Altar of Sacrifice (Daily Devotional)

Greetings and thank you so much for joining us today on Living Supernaturally. As always, it's our joy and delight to spend these few moments with you and share God's word with you. We are looking at the tabernacle of Moses which later became the pattern of the temple that Solomon built. In the tabernacle, God instructed Moses to build it according to the design that He would give him which was reflecting something that was heavenly and spiritual. The tabernacle had three parts to it, what was referred to as the outer court, the holy place and the most holy place. In the outer court which was the section of the tabernacle that everybody, the Jewish people could have access to. In the outer coat, there were two pieces of furniture or two things that took place in the outer court and we're going to look at one of them today. We read about this in Exodus the 27th chapter, verses 1 to 8, we read about the bronze altar of sacrifice. So, the very first thing that happened as the people came into the outer court, was the priest helped administer the sacrifices there at the bronze altar of sacrifice. So, the people brought their offerings and this was a place where the sacrifice was burnt. It was consumed many times in its entirety and sometimes parts of it were kept aside but it was a place for burnt offerings - the altar of sacrifice. This altar of sacrifice points us to several important things in the New Testament. First of all, it points us to Christ Himself who became that one complete, permanent sacrifice. The book of Hebrews tells us that while in the Old Testament, people kept bringing sacrifices year after year; in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus became that one complete, perfect sacrifice. And so, there is no longer a need for us to keep bringing sacrifices. Having understood that, that through Christ we have this one complete sacrifice, we are also invited in the New Testament to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, drawing upon this powerful imagery of a burnt sacrifice at the altar of sacrifice. We know the scripture tells us in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, where Paul says that we present ourselves, our bodies as a living sacrifice. So, just like the altar of sacrifice where everything was burnt and was fully consumed, we offer our bodies as that burnt offering, as that living sacrifice. In the sense that we are alive, we continue to exercise our will and so on and yet, we are like that sacrifice that is completely offered up to God. So, our first step in this act of worship is this place of sacrifice. So, consider what that means for you and me as New Testament believers. God invites us to offer ourselves as that sacrifice while we have faith in Christ and His complete sacrifice.

Let's pray, Father, we thank you for the lessons and the insights we draw from the Old Testament. In our reasonable act of worship, through faith in Christ, our complete sacrifice, that as we step and move towards you, we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. Help us to do that we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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