Part 9

“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

“…when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”  Isaiah 43:2b

In Part 8 we learned that at the Brazen Laver we have reached our place of sanctification, a washing of the Holy Spirit, a deep well of His Word to drink, and to make productive of our holiness.  The Holy Spirit, while we are at the well, begins to reveal things to us that we need to surrender to Him…so we find ourselves at the Brazen Altar.

Altar:  a slaughter place, a place of sacrifice; akin to “adolere” which means “to burn up”.  (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary)

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”.  So what that tells us is that as the Lord reveals things in us that He cannot use, things that must be yielded to Him…and also as we walk through the fiery trials of life, He will always be there to help us through it…and as we pass through to the other side of the fire, He receives our burnt offerings back to Him as a “pleasing aroma”.  What great news!

“The Lord said to Moses:  ’These are the regulations for the burnt offering:  The burnt offering is to remain on the altar throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar…the priest shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar.  Then he is to…carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean.  The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out.  Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it.  The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.’”  Leviticus 6:8-13  “Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting.  When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all people.  Fire came out of the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar.  And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.”  Leviticus 9:23-24

We have a High Priest who has chosen to enter on our behalf; He will keep the fire burning on the altar continuously, remove the ashes, carry them as far as the east is from the west, add more firewood, help us to arrange the burnt offering on the fire, and burn the fat.  “…since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience…” Hebrews 10:19-22 “…Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.  He has become a High Priest forever…”  Hebrews 6:19-20a and “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.”  Hebrews 7:25

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood.” Hebrews 13:11-12  Our flesh cannot enter into the Holy of Holies.

“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”  Luke 12:49

“for our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:29

“He will be like a Refiner’s Fire…He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify and refine them like gold and silver.  Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings… will be acceptable to the Lord…”  Malachi 3:2-4

“’Is not My Word like fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock on pieces?’”  Jeremiah 23:29

What goes on the altar?  Anything that keeps us from God:  unforgiveness, lack of confidence, fleshly desires, fear, hanging on to what we think is best for ourselves or our spouses or our children,……“He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.  I thank and praise You, O God of my fathers:  You have given me wisdom and power, You have made known to me what we asked of You, You have made known to us the dream of the King.”  Daniel 2:22-23

As we press in to Him and press through the “stuff”, we go from the sacrifice of 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 (Isaiah 41:8-20).

The altar is a hard place to be, a place of total surrender, and our flesh does not want to be there, so as many times as it takes to go back to the laver, the well, 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 through the fire with us (Daniel 3:24-25). 

We can go back and forth from the laver to the altar, and we will, in this journey called “life”.  It is okay…I promise – it is a safe place to be.

“Awake, awake…clothe yourself with strength.  Put on your garments 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  “…that the King of Glory may come in!”