Message 108
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 27:4-7; 38:5; Isa. 53:8, 10a; 2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:23-26; Heb. 9:14; Gal. 3:13-14; Acts 1:8; 2:38; Eph. 1:13-14; Gal. 3:3
Some readers of the Bible may think that the altar of the burnt offering was a table or stand on which the offerings were placed, some kind of box with the sacrifices placed on top. Actually, the altar was somewhat like a shell. It had four sides and a grating in the middle, but no top or bottom. We know from Exodus 27 that the altar was five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. Exodus 27:4-7 speaks of the grating, the rings, and the poles. If the grating with the four rings and the two poles which were placed in the rings were removed from the altar, the altar would be an empty shell, an empty box. Years ago, I paid attention to this “box”; yet I have no memory concerning the grating, the rings, and the poles. It seems that these three things did not impress me very much. Whenever I thought about the altar of the burnt offering, I would picture a shell, a box. The grating, the rings, and the poles, however, are the contents of the altar. Furthermore, these things are the reality, strength, and power of the altar. The power, strength, and reality of the altar depend on the contents of the altar.
We have pointed out that the grating is located at half the height of the altar and reaches from one side to the other. The grating must have been heavy and strong. Otherwise it could not have borne the weight of the wood and the sacrifices. It must have been made with bronze and thus able to withstand the heat.
Let us consider the picture portrayed by this type and ask what it signifies. Within the shell of the altar there was a grating, a network, and upon this grating were the wood and the sacrifices which were burned. As the offerings and the wood burned, the ashes fell down to the ground, but the smoke ascended as a sweet savor to God for His satisfaction. Thus, the sweet savor was for God’s satisfaction, and the ashes were a proof that the offering had been accepted by God. When God smelled the sweet fragrance, He was satisfied and pleased. When the one who presented the sacrifice saw the ashes, his conscience could be at rest, for the ashes were proof that the sacrifice had been accepted by God and that the one who presented it had been forgiven. The grating was related to both the fragrance and the ashes. The fragrance was above the grating, and the ashes were below it.
The grating signifies more than just the redemption of Christ. According to the Bible, Christ and His redemption cannot be separated. Christ Himself is our redemption. Redemption is not merely a matter — it is also a Person. Yes, the grating does signify the redemption of Christ. However, it actually signifies the redeeming Christ. The grating is a type of Christ in His redemption.
To understand how the grating typifies the redeeming Christ, it would be helpful to compare the grating to the propitiation-cover on the ark. According to Romans 3:25, the propitiation-cover is Christ Himself. Propitiation is not merely an action accomplished by Christ; propitiation is Christ. The One who accomplished propitiation is Himself the propitiation-cover. The cover of the ark is a Person — Christ — in His accomplishment of propitiation. In the same principle, the grating signifies Christ, the Redeemer, in His redemption; that is, it signifies Christ Himself in His redemptive work.
We have seen that the ashes were evidence, a proof, a confirmation, that one’s sacrifice had been acceptable to God and that his sin or sins had been forgiven. As a result, God enjoyed the savor of Christ’s redemption, and the offerer enjoyed peace.
It is important to see that the grating was not at the bottom of the altar or at the top. On the contrary, it was in the middle, halfway between the top and the bottom. This indicates that the judgment of God upon Christ was an inward matter and not only an outward one. Christ bore the judgment of God not only upon His shoulders; He also bore it within His heart. Psalm 22:14, which speaks of the sufferings of Christ on the cross, says, “My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” This indicates that when Christ suffered the judgment of God, He suffered this judgment not only outwardly, but also inwardly. This is the significance of the grating being within the altar and in the middle of it, neither at the top nor the bottom. Christ’s suffering of God’s righteous judgment was an internal matter and not only an external one.
We do not have the utterance adequate to speak of Christ, His cross, and His redemption. We are short of understanding, and we lack the ability to speak adequately concerning what we do understand. Therefore, we are thankful for the picture afforded by the altar of the burnt offering. This picture reveals details that are not clearly mentioned in the New Testament.
If you would read through all twenty-seven books of the New Testament and study each verse related to Christ’s redemption, the death of Christ, or the cross of Christ, you still will not have a clear view of what the death of Christ is. Christ’s death is great and all-inclusive. According to the Bible, it is not simply a temporal death — it is an eternal death. According to Revelation 13:8, in the sight of God, Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. Hence, He is the eternal Redeemer, and His death, unlike that of sinful human beings, is an eternal death.
We cannot understand the death of Christ in full. Certain aspects of the redeeming death of Christ simply cannot be explained. But the grating signifies the all-inclusive Christ with His eternal death. He bore the burning and the weight of the righteous judgment of God exercised upon Him. But although the picture of the altar portrays this, we still cannot understand in full all the details related to Christ’s death.
One matter related to the altar that I do not fully understand is the ledge. Regarding the ledge and the grating, the two words “under” and “beneath” are used. I believe that the ledge with the grating beneath it formed a hearth, a place of burning. As I have pointed out previously, the ledge may have protected the acacia wood inside the bronze covering on the four sides of the altar from being scorched by the intense heat. However, I cannot say exactly what the spiritual significance of the ledge is. It may signify the support given to Christ as He bore God’s judgment on the cross. As He was bearing the burning of God’s righteous judgment, He, as a human being, certainly needed something to sustain Him. The ledge may signify the support given to the redeeming Christ.
I would ask you to consider again the picture of the altar with the grating. As the wood and the sacrifices burned on the grating, the sweet fragrance ascended to God, and the wood and the sacrifices were reduced to ashes. To repeat, ashes are a strong confirmation that we have been accepted by God and that our sins have been forgiven by Him. Therefore, we can have peace. Ashes are a sign of this. The ashes, therefore, are for us, whereas the sweet fragrance is for God. May we all be impressed with the redeeming Christ as signified by the grating and the altar of the burnt offering.
The grating issues in the four rings. The rings were not added to the grating; neither were they welded to it. According to the record, the four rings came out from the grating. I believe that the four ends of the crossbars of the grating were inserted into holes in the side. I also believe that the ends of the bars projecting out through the holes in the altar were fashioned into rings. Thus, the rings were not separate from the grating, but formed one piece with it. I do not believe that after the grating was made, four rings were fashioned and then connected to the grating.
The rings forming one piece with the grating indicates that the redeeming Christ issues in the Spirit. The Spirit is not added to Christ. Certain Christians have a concept that the Spirit has been added to Christ. But the revelation in the Bible is that Christ issues in the all-inclusive Spirit. In other words, the all-inclusive Spirit is identical to Christ, and Christ is identified with the all-inclusive Spirit.
The four Gospels present the grating, the redeeming Christ. The redeeming Christ is absolutely a Person of the Spirit. He was born of the Spirit, He was filled with the Spirit, and He was always under the leading of the Spirit. Eventually, this redeeming Christ issued in the all-inclusive Spirit. In other words, according to the New Testament, the redeeming Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
On the night before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus told His disciples that another Comforter would come (John 14:16). In this prophecy the Lord indicated that this Comforter would be Himself. He, the Lord Jesus, would be the second Comforter. When He was speaking regarding this, He was the first Comforter. Thus, the first Comforter is the redeeming Christ; the second Comforter is the life-giving Spirit. The second Comforter is not another one. Rather, the first Comforter came back in another form as the second Comforter. This is signified in typology by the grating issuing in the four rings.
Many years ago, when I was in organized Christianity, I held the concept that Christ and the Spirit were separate. According to this concept, Christ has ascended to heaven and remains there, and the Spirit has come to earth in His place. This means that the first has gone and that the second is here. But through the study of the Bible and through more experience, I began to realize that these two, Christ and the Spirit, are one. The second, the Spirit, issues out of the first, Christ, and Christ issues in the Spirit.
The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. Who is this last Adam? The last Adam is the redeeming Christ. Now this last Adam, the redeeming Christ, is a life-giving Spirit.
Concerning the altar, the burning depended on the grating, but the moving depended on the four rings. The rings, however, were not separate from the grating. As we consider this picture, we see that Christ, the Redeemer, is the grating, and the Spirit, typified by the rings, is for strengthening and moving. We have seen that the entire grating with the weight of the wood and the sacrifices was upheld by the four rings. If the four rings had been taken away, the grating and everything on it would have fallen down. Apart from the four rings, the grating had no support, no strength. The grating could stand in place and bear a heavy load for the burning judgment of God because the grating was upheld by the four rings. Therefore, the rings were not only the power for moving, but also the strength for upholding the grating.
If we do not have a Christ who issues in the Spirit, then to us Christ is merely a historical figure, and His redemption is nothing more than a doctrine. For many Christians today, Christ is just a historical Person, and Christ’s redemption is only a doctrine. They do not have any personal experience of Christ or of His redemption. On the contrary, to them, Christ and His redemption are strictly objective. Christ is historically objective, and redemption is doctrinally objective.
I can testify that, before I was saved, I also was a person for whom Christ and redemption were objective matters. At that time, I did not have any experience of Christ or of His redemption. Nevertheless, because Christianity was my family religion, I defended it. I defended Christ and the cross. But one day, I was genuinely saved. I contacted the Lord Jesus in a real way, I received Him, and I had a personal experience of His redemption.
Today there are millions of so-called Christians who have Christ only as a historical Redeemer and redemption only as a doctrine. They do not have a personal Christ or a personal redemption. Do you know the reason for this? The reason is that for them Christ and His redemption have been separated from the Spirit. Therefore, in the Lord’s recovery we must touch Christ in the Spirit and minister Him in the Spirit. Whenever we preach the gospel, we must do so in the Spirit. Our grating must have four rings. Our redeeming Christ must issue in the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
The New Testament is composed in such a way that it reveals the grating issuing in the four rings. In the four Gospels we see the redeeming Christ issuing in the Spirit. At the end of the Gospels and in the Acts, we have the Spirit. Furthermore, throughout the Epistles the Spirit is emphasized. For example, Paul charges us to walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). Finally, in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we have the sevenfold, intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4). According to Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” Therefore, according to the New Testament, the Spirit is the issue of the redeeming Christ. This is the grating with the four rings.
Now we need to say a word concerning the poles. The poles were staves. Both the rings and the poles must have been very strong in order to bear the weight of the altar. Remember, the altar was about seven and a half feet square, and it was made of acacia wood overlaid with bronze. Thus, it must have been very heavy. Because of the weight of the altar, more than four men must have been needed to carry it. Perhaps as many as sixteen persons were needed to move the altar. The Bible, of course, does not tell us the number. The point here is that the carrying of the altar was done by a corporate body.
By using the words “corporate” and “body” I wish to point out that the move of the cross is by the church. The company of men bearing the altar signify the move of the cross by the church. And what kind of church is this? It must be a church with the four rings, not a church which has been deprived of the Spirit, but a church that remains in the Spirit.
The picture of the altar portrays the redeeming Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, and the church. It is not sufficient for the cross of Christ to be preached by individuals. If we are individualistic, we lose the power necessary to preach the cross. The cross of Christ must be preached by the church. In other words, it is the Body which carries the cross of Christ, which carries the redeeming Christ in the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
As we consider the type of the altar, we see that the altar with the grating, the rings, and the poles signifies the entire New Testament. The New Testament reveals the redeeming Christ, the Spirit, and the church. According to the New Testament, Christ, the redeeming One, issues in the all- inclusive Spirit, and in this Spirit, the church, the Body, bears Christ and His cross. The altar moves by the poles in the rings upon the shoulders of a corporate body. We today are included in the number of those carrying the altar. We have put our shoulders under the poles, and we are carrying the redeeming Christ in the all-inclusive Spirit.
What we need today is the full realization of the redeeming Christ and the genuine experience of the Spirit. We need to realize Christ and His redemption, and we need to experience the Spirit who is the issue of the redeeming Christ. Then we shall become a living church carrying this testimony to the four corners of the earth.
In Revelation 5 the seven Spirits, which are the seven eyes of the Lamb, are sent throughout all the earth. However, these seven Spirits are not sent alone; the seven Spirits are sent with the churches. Therefore, if we do not go to a certain place, the Spirit will not have a way to go there either, for the Spirit goes in us, with us, and through us, the members of the Body. If the poles do not go to a certain part of the earth, how can the rings go to that place? The rings go wherever the poles go. When the poles move, the rings move also. Likewise, when the poles stop, the rings also stop. This means that if there were no Christians on earth today, there would be no move of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit moves with the believers. In other words, the Spirit moves with the church. The church bears the power of the Spirit.
Those who carried the altar first carried the poles. When they bore the poles, they also bore the rings, and when they bore the rings, they bore the grating with the entire altar. This is the reason I say that the altar with the grating, rings, and poles covers the whole New Testament. As we consider this picture, we need to ask ourselves where we are today. We all must have our shoulders under the poles that are in the rings bearing the grating. We must be those bearing the redeeming Christ in the all-inclusive Spirit as a testimony.
