Part 17

---The series on Ruth began in Part 10---
“I will give you treasures of darkness and hidden riches of the Secret Place, that you may know that I, the Lord, Who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel.”  Isaiah 45:3

“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.  Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.  May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.’  When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”  Ruth 1:16-18

Symbolically speaking of our journey into the Secret Place, comparing the Old Testament construction of the Tabernacle with our story of Ruth, we will now explore the Brazen Altar, also called the Altar of Burnt Offering.  “The high priest carries the blood of the animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.” Hebrews 13:11  Our flesh cannot enter into the Secret Place, the Holy of Holies; therefore, we must learn to “die to self”.  The Holy Spirit reveals things to us that we must surrender to Him, and we find ourselves at the Brazen Altar. 

Altar:  akin to “adolere”, which means “to burn up”; a place on which sacrifices are offered—often used figuratively to describe a thing given great or undue precedence or value especially at the cost of something else.  (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary)  The altar is “a slaughter place”, a “place of sacrifice” and used “to burn up”.

In Exodus 29, as we read about the Altar, we find that every time burnt offerings are mentioned in the Word of God, it is always followed by “a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the Lord by fire”.  As the Lord reveals things in us that must be yielded to Him, flesh that must be “burned outside the camp”, as we walk through the fiery trials of life, not only will He be there to help us through it, but as we pass through to the other side of the fire, He receives our burnt offerings back to Him as a “pleasing aroma”.  “The Altar of Incense (Exodus 30:1-10) stood in the Holy place before the veil that is before the Ark of the Testimony (in the Holy of Holies).  On this Altar sweet spices were continually burned with fire taken from the Brazen Altar.”  (Parson’s Bible Dictionary)  God doesn’t waste anything, and He will always turn our trials and pain, fire from the Brazen Altar, and turn it into sweet spice at the Altar of Incense.

Can you imagine the sacrifices Ruth made the moment she said, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.”?  Let’s do not forget Ruth was a Moabite, a race of people who were not allowed to worship at the Tabernacle, a race of people who were discouraged by the Israelites to have any part of, a race of people who worshipped pagan gods.  She truly surrendered all she had and all she was and all she had ever known, forsaking the ways of her world and trusting in Jehovah God.  “Awake, awake…clothe yourself with strength.  Put on your garment of splendor…shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned…free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.”  Isaiah 52:1-2

The Brazen Altar and the Altar of Incense were designed with a horn on each of the four corners, and the horns and the altar were one piece (Exodus 27:2, 30:2).  The horns on the Brazen Altar were smeared with blood from the sacrifice, symbolizing the sacrifice yet to come in Jesus.  Once a year, the priest was to make atonement on the horns of the Altar of Incense before he was to enter the Holy of Holies to meet face-to-face with God.  At the Altar is a hard place to be, yet He gives us the horn of strength to hang onto.  It is a place of total surrender, and our flesh will fight us there, but it is necessary for our journey into the Secret Place.  The good news is as many times as we must go back to the Laver, the Well, (see Part 8 of In the Secret Place) to get a fresh drink, Jesus is always waiting there to serve it up to us.  Then He will gently guide us back to the Altar, and we can wrap our arms around Him, hanging on tight, as He walks with us through the fire (Daniel 3:24-25). 

“He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.”  Daniel 2:22

We can go back and forth from the Laver to the Altar, and will, in this journey called “life”.  It’s okay…I promise—it is a safe place to be.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from Him.  “In ALL things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:37-39

As we press in to Him, and press through “the stuff”, we go from the sacrifice of the burnt offerings to becoming a drink offering, “…I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice…” (Phil. 2:27)…and then we are becoming a River of Glory – “But you, My servant, whom I have chosen, you, My friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.  I said, ‘You are My servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.  So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.  All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.  Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them.  Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.  For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear;  I will help you.  Do not be afraid, for I Myself will help you,’ declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.  ‘See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth.  You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.  You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale (a strong wind; an emotional outburst of laughter—Merriam-Webster’s dictionary) will blow them away.  But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.’…I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys.  I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.  I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.  I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.”  (Isaiah 41:8-16, 18-20)

What would God have you to surrender to Him?  That the King of Glory may come in! 

“For the Lord has chosen (you & me),
He has desired (us) for His dwelling;
‘This is My resting place for ever and ever
Here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it---
I will bless them with abundant provisions;
Their poor will I satisfy with food.
I will clothe them with salvation,
And the saints will ever sing for joy.
Here I will make a horn grow…and
Set up a lamp for My Anointed One.
I will clothe their enemies with shame,
But the crown on their head will be resplendent (shining brilliantly).’”
Psalm 132:13-18