The Bronze Alter

To understand somethings value you must first understand what it cost. In the Courtyard of the Tabernacle stood a Brass Alter. It was here that those who were seeking to come to God would bring their sacrifice. They would bring the bullock, the goat, or lamb and place their hand on the animal's head. With their hand on the animal's head they would begin to confess their sins--not generically, but specifically. Then standing there they would watch as the animal's neck was slit and it's blood was drained. "Without the shedding of blood the is no forgiveness of sins." (Hebrew 9:22) To understand the value of being forgiven you must first understand what it cost.

The Bronze alter was a place of repentance. It was a place to come and confess. A place to be honest with God. When David had sinned with Bathsheba he had attempted to hide his sin. But when the prophet Nathan confronted him, David finally confessed openly that he had sinned. In Psalm 51 he says, "Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being...Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me...The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Jesus is a picture of one sacrificed on our behalf. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) John recognized the sacrificial lamb; the one who was sent to die in our place. "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth." (Isaiah 53:7) Like King David we have gone astray and have chosen our own rebellious way. But when we come to this place of sacrifice with a broken and contrite heart and recognize that Jesus died in our place we find forgiveness.

The Bronze Alter is not only a place of sacrifice it is a place of repentance. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) This word "if" is a conditional particle. To confess is to say the same thing God says. At the Bronze Alter those who came with their sacrifice would place their hand on the head of the sacrificial animal and confess their specific sins in the same way we are to come to the cross with a humble and repentant heart.

Lord Jesus, I am humbled at what my forgiveness cost. I come today and bow before Your cross. In the quiet of this moment I ask that You would show me if there is any place in my life where I am not walking in Your light. Where there is sin I ask that You would give me a broken and contrite heart. I ask that my heart would be humble and that I would say the same thing about sin that Your word does.