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Tabernacle Study

The Altar of Burnt Offering

The Altar of Burnt Offering
 
Utensils for the altar of burnt offering
 
The altar of burnt offering, measuring 2.25 m (7.4 feet) in both length and width and 1.35 m (4.5 feet) in height, was made of acacia wood and overlaid by bronze. Whenever the Israelites looked at this altar of burnt offering, they came to recognize that they were the ones who had been locked in their judgment and unable to avoid their condemnation. And just as the sacrificial animal was put to death, they also realized that they, too, had to die because of their sins. But they also came to believe that the Messiah would come to this earth and blot out their sins by being condemned and put to death like the sacrificial offering because of their sins.
The altar of burnt offering was a shadow of Jesus Christ our Savior. As the unblemished animals were sacrificed with the laying on of hands and the shedding of its blood, Jesus Christ came to us as the Son of God and bore the condemnation of all our sins. Just as the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament had to accept all sins through the laying on of hands and shed their blood, He accepted all the sins of the world passed onto Him by being baptized by John, and bore the condemnation of these sins by shedding His blood on the Cross.
In this way, the altar of burnt offering shows us that Jesus Christ took all our sins upon Himself with His baptism, died on the Cross, rose form the dead again, and has thereby saved us.