THE TWO ALTARS

Exodus 27:1,2; 30:1-3; Revelation 8:3,4; Deuteronomy 33:10

I would like, dear brethren, with help, to speak of these two altars, and the connection between them. The verse in Deuteronomy connects them – it mentions incense and whole burnt-offering. They are connected in other ways, too, because they were both altars to offer unto God what was pleasing. The Scripture speaks of the burnt-offering as a sweet odour to God (Lev.1:9), and of course the incense that was offered on the altar of incense (or the golden altar, as it is spoken of) was an incense of fragrant drugs (Ex.30:7, footnote). I suppose if an Israelite drew near to the tabernacle and entered into the court with his offering, his animal, what would dominate his view as he drew near would be the altar. These two altars were very different in size, very different in appearance, and different also in what they were intended for, but there was a link.

The brazen altar, as it is described (1 Kings 8:64), speaks of Christ. We often speak of Christ as the Victim, the One who suffered, and suffered on our account; but Christ is seen not only in the victim that was offered, but in the altar itself and in the priest that offered. I think there is something that is peculiarly intended to touch our affections as we think about the altar itself. The brazen altar was large; it had to be large because large animals were to be consumed on it. There was to be no collapse in the altar, and it was overlaid, as we have read, with copper. Both these altars were made – as was all the woodwork in the tabernacle – of acacia wood, a durable wood that speaks of the manhood of Jesus here, in God’s dwelling place. The brazen altar was overlaid with copper because it not only had to sustain the victim, but it had to sustain the fire also. I wonder if we think of Christ in that way. I think we should, and I think the more that we do, the more He will become endeared to us. In the tabernacle system, the sin-offering was consumed by the fire, but the altar was not consumed. It speaks of Christ as great enough, personally, to sustain, and we might say exhaust, the judgment of God – that judgment that fell upon Him without any relief or mitigation.

The altar sustained the weight of the victim and the heat of the fire that consumed it. You think of what Christ endured. That thought came to me on Lord’s day, and it led me to this passage. It says that He “endured the cross” (Heb.12:2), and He “endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself” (v.3). That was written in the epistle to the Hebrews to persons who were in danger of giving up because of the suffering that they were undergoing, and the writer draws their attention to Christ, as it were in altar character. He says, “For consider well him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself”. And He endured the cross: what endurance that was, and what love led Him to endure it. The altar was overlaid with copper to bring that out, typically. If you drew near to the court of the tabernacle, it must have looked like a slaughterhouse; offerings were going up all the time. In the Song of Songs it says, “Who is this, she that cometh up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke” (chap.3:6). Pillars of smoke: what a testimony went up from the camp of Israel in those pillars of smoke, that they were in relationship with God. It was based on this amazing sacrifice of One who endured the cross. We rejoice in all the blessings that have reached us because of His sacrifice: the favour in which we stand before God; the liberty that we have to address Him; the fellowship into which we have been called, and its many blessings. Let us never ever forget, dear brethren, that all is based on sacrifice, and what a sacrifice – a sacrifice like none other. Christ has met every claim of God and has glorified Him in doing so, and He not only sustained the judgment, but He also maintained everything that was for God’s pleasure, the sweet odour that went up to God from the obedience of Christ. It has been said that, from one point of view, as He went to the cross He was never more attractive to the Father than when He took that place in subjection to the will of God¹, and sustained – as only He could – what had to be borne. I think that is to touch our affections.

The brazen altar was before the entrance of the tent of meeting in the court of the tabernacle, but when we come to the altar of incense, it is in the holy place: it is just before the veil. I think it speaks, dear brethren, of what we can provide that is of the character of a sweet savour to God. We might ask whether we are exercised to provide it; whether the love of Christ has had that effect upon us that we desire to provide it, to provide what is exquisite to the heart of God. This altar was much smaller, and it was not overlaid with copper, it was overlaid with gold: it was not for burnt-offering as the brazen altar was. Aaron was to offer incense upon it, continual incense.

I am encouraged by the passage in Revelation to think that the altar of incense includes the thought of what we ourselves can provide for God. This altar is spoken of there as the golden altar, and where the angel – which may have been a reference to Christ Himself – gives efficacy to the prayers of the saints before the throne. It says, “the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints”. Those prayers and thanksgivings are of course uttered in the name of the Lord Jesus; what fragrance there is to God in that. The incense went up with the prayers of the saints. He gave efficacy to them, prayers that may perhaps have been awkwardly expressed, or inadequately expressed, or even sometimes ignorantly expressed; but in the hand of the great Priest, what goes up to God is fragrant to Him. The challenge is whether we have that which the Priest can use. As we come together for the Lord’s supper and the service of God, it would be normal to have a fresh appreciation of divine love and for brothers to give expression to that in the service. We do not want to put pressure on people; I can understand that, but in a sense there is a pressure. The apostle Paul says, “For the love of the Christ constrains us”, 2 Cor.5:14. If I have entered into the dwelling place of God, I have passed the brazen altar. If I come to the Lord’s supper, I look upon those emblems and they speak of love which, the Scripture says, surpasses knowledge (Eph.3:19). It is a love that has been expressed in giving, such giving that none of us has ever experienced anything greater; a love that gave everything; it could not have given more.

There they are on the table, the physical, material symbols of a love that gave and it could not have given more. He gave His body, and He shed His precious blood, for me. The Lord said, “This is my body, which is for you”, 1 Cor.11:24. How direct that word is. Not only that He died for everyone, or so that everybody should hear the gospel and be blessed by it, but He gave His body for me; He shed His precious blood for me. As a brother once said, the greatest thing that has ever been done in the universe, was done for me.

Now that of itself must, and does, have a constraining effect upon us. “For the love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died; and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them”, 2 Cor.5:14,15. I believe He looks on us as we pass that great altar overlaid with copper, and as we pass it, we think of the enduring power of the love of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 13 it says as to love that it “endures all things” (v.7). He endured that contradiction from sinners, but He endured the cross. As we weigh that, it is intended to move and stimulate our hearts in response towards Him. You may say, ‘Well, I give out a hymn’; and of course, the hymnbook, skilfully used in the power of the Spirit, can add a quickening and living touch to the service of praise, as we know and have experienced; but a hymn is the composition of someone else. We take it on our lips and adopt it, but when I think of what was done for me, what do I have as a result that is of the character of incense, and can ascend in the hand of the great Priest who is over God’s house? What have I got that is fragrant to God, because it speaks of the result of His own grace in our hearts?

The effect of the love of Christ is expressed in the praises of those He leads. It is remarkable that in that Psalm which speaks so powerfully of the sufferings of Jesus, Psalm 22, it says “And thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel” (v.3). Even in that moment of extreme agony, when He was forsaken of God, He anticipated that in the midst of the assembly He would sing the praises of God (v.22; and Heb.2:12). How He looks to see that we should be liberated in that praise, and not absent from it. God said long ago, “and none shall appear in my presence empty”, Exod.23:15. If we have been the objects of divine grace, and the fruit of the sufferings endured by Christ, there should be something – we may not think our impression is very much, and our ability to express our love may be small; but in the hand of the great Priest it will have the character of incense before God.

May we be stimulated in it, dear brethren, for His name’s sake.

Word in meeting for ministry, Maidstone

16 September 2025

Roland Brown