After all the wicked
are destroyed, the knowledge will
keep all living creatures from ever
doubting the purity of God’s
heart again. Through this whole
process, God has shown that He does
not destroy those who rebel merely
because they rebelled against Him.
Instead, He has shown the horrendous
outcome of sin. Sin must be
destroyed. Complete annihilation of
sin and sinners is the only way
through the endless corridors of
eternal life that insures a happy,
holy and harmonious universe.
The concept of
God’s Temple is an expansive
subject and this is true because so
much is involved with the sin
problem. All of God’s ways, His
government, His character, His
judgment, have been scrutinized
because of sin. The sin problem began
in Heaven, not on Earth. Therefore,
the concept of God’s Temple
includes a number of issues that
concern both Heaven and Earth. This
is why there must be an
Earthy/Heavenly parallel. Many
Christians today think the PLAN of
salvation is a one-dimensional
subject in terms of their own
salvation. There is more at stake in
the PLAN of salvation than human
beings receiving eternal life. In
fact, it never ceases to amaze me
that God even included human beings
in the PLAN.
Earthy Function
The Earthy temple
consisted of seven items: the Ark of
the Covenant, the Table of the
Presence (Shewbread), the Alter of
Incense, the Alter of Burnt Offering,
the Lampstand, the Laver and the
tabernacle building itself. God
purposely designed each Earthy item
and gave it to Moses as a pattern.
The function of each item provides
details that contribute to the
overall teaching objective of the
temple. For example, the bloody
stains on the horns of the altars and
the veil between the Holy and Most
Holy Place show how God transfers the
guilt of sin from the sinner to the
temple. The death of the innocent
lamb demonstrates the price of grace.
The seven-month religious calendar
confirms that God has a linear
process moving toward the full
elimination and termination of sin.
Remember, the teaching purpose of the
tabernacle services reveals law, sin,
penalty, grace and the orderly
process that God follows to redeem
sinful man. Let us examine each item
in the Earthy temple and its related
Heavenly parallel.
Two Altars
The presence of two
altars, the Altar of Burnt Offering
and the Altar of Incense, indicates
that God is concerned with two types
of sin: individual and corporate.
This demonstrates that god considers
the nature of the sin and the
circumstances of sinners in different
ways. The deliberate slaughter of
animal sacrifices confirms that there
is an inescapable penalty for sin:
death by execution. The priests
placed the blood of sacrificial
animals on the horns of an altar to
indicate that the guilt of sin is not
forgiven or forgotten until a future
time when the record of sin is
cleansed. God provided a way for
sinners to be relieved of their
guilt, hut He did not make any
provision to forgive sin
itself.
Contrary to what most
Christians believe, sin cannot be
forgiven. While sin cannot be
forgiven, sinners can be forgiven. At
first, this statement appears
contradictory. The death of Jesus, as
man’s perfect substitute, proves
that sin cannot be forgiven. Sin is
the transgression of the God’s
law. (1 John 3:4) The penalty for sin
is death by execution and ignorance
of God’s law does not mean
innocence. However, if a person is
ignorant regarding sin, God does not
apply the guilt for sin to the sinner
unless/until the sinner becomes
properly informed. (Leviticus 4; 1
Timothy 1:13; James 4:17) However,
once a sin is committed, the whole
law has been violated. (James 2:10)
The sinful act that causes the
violation cannot be recalled and it
is a matter of record. The
unrelenting claim of the law is
“once a sinner, always a
sinner.” God’s creatures
cannot bypass the moral law of God.
The effects of law occur whether we
are knowledgeable or ignorant of the
offense. This is why the Bible says, “…be
sure your sin will find you
out.” (Numbers 32:23)
However, God has provided a way for
the guilt of the sin to be transferred
away from the repentant sinner –
Jesus Christ and His death paid the
sinner’s penalty. The end result
is that we are no longer under
condemnation. (See Romans 5 and
8:1-2.) From this perspective, many
Bible references speak of sins being
forgiven. The implication, however,
is that sinners are forgiven.
The distinction between forgiveness
of sinners and transference of sin is
highly important! This concept
uniquely explains why Christ had to
die so that sinners could be saved.
As this study continues, it will
demonstrate how this process was
taught through the Earthy temple.
The Sin Offering
God established a
number of rules in the Earthy temple
that determined which offering was
appropriate for each sin. Different
offenses required different methods
of atonement or resolution. Each
specification helps us understand the
orderly manner that God follows in
dealing with the sin issue. Because
there are types and variations of
sacrificial offerings, the following
examples demonstrate a typical
process. Remember, even though the
subject of the temple is broad and
encompassing, the focus remains the
same: the revelation of law, sin,
penalty, grace and the orderly
process that god follows to save man.
Keep the following two points in
mind: The Bible record of Earthy
temple services is not complete,
however, you can be sure that God has
preserved the essential details
needed for our generation. (This also
holds true regarding the ministry of
Jesus. See John 21:25.) Second, the
sheer number of laws and offerings
are initially overwhelming to any
Bible student. The Bible indicates
all that is essential, so you are
encouraged to carefully study the
books of Exodus, Leviticus and
Numbers.
The sin offering dealt
with two classes of personal sin:
willful sin and unintentional sin.
Notice what the law says about
unintentional sin: If a member of
the community sins unintentionally
and does what is forbidden in any of
the Lord’s commands, he is
guilty. When he is made aware
of the sin he committed, he must
bring as his offering for the sin he
committed a female goat without
defect. He is to lay his hand on the
head of the sin offering and
slaughter it at the place of the
burnt offering. Then the priest is to
take some of the blood with his
finger and put it on the horns of the
altar of burnt offering and pour out
the rest of the blood at the base of
the altar.” (Leviticus
4:27-30)
If a man learned he
had committed an unintentional sin,
he (or the head of the house) had to
appear at the Earthy sanctuary’s
Altar of Burnt Offering with the
required sacrifice. If he could not
afford to produce the required
animal, items of lesser value, such
as birds or even flour, were
acceptable to the Lord. (Leviticus
5:7) The priest, ever present and
ready to serve, received the
sinner’s substitute. The priest
examined the offering very closely.
He was more concerned with the
sacrifice than he was with the
sinner. The offering had to be
perfect, without defect or blemish.
Follow this process: A man, under the
obligation the law, unintentionally
violates the law (commits sin).
Later, he learns of his guilt and
becomes convicted that he must make
atonement or the wrath (penalty) of
the law will be upon his own head.
(Obadiah 1:15) He believes the Word
of God that says the penalty for sin
is death by execution. He is
sorrowful for his sin, after all, it
was unintentional. The sinner obtains
a perfect animal and takes it to the
appointed place. (Leviticus 17:4) He
lays his hands on the head of his
substitute and confesses his sin to
God. (Leviticus 1:4) Then he
personally slaughters the substitute
by cutting the jugular vein.
(Leviticus 1:5) The priest captured
some of the bright, red blood and
sprinkled blood on the sides of the
altar. (Exodus 29:16) In this
fashion, the guilt of sin was
transferred from the sinner to the
goat (or lamb) by the laying on of
hands.
The blood on the horns
is a crimson record of his sin.
Notice that the demands of the law
have been met – death occurred
by execution. A perfect substitute
fulfilled the demand. The record of
his sin remains on the altar. Even
though the sinner cannot escape the
obligation of law, for the moment, he
is free of its condemnation.
(Leviticus 3:16; Deuteronomy 12:17)
However, this was not the final step
in resolving the sin problem. Now
that the Altar of Burnt Offering was
defiled by the record of sin (the
blood) that had stained its horns,
the temple itself was in a state of
desecration. To resolve this, God
appointed a special day for the
cleansing the temple called the Day
of Atonement.
The process of
atonement for a willful sin is
slightly different. Before an
individual could obtain atonement at
the tabernacle, he or she had to make
restitution to the victim. (Matthew
5:24) Notice what the law says: “Say
to the Israelites: ‘When a manor
woman wrongs another in any way and
so is unfaithful to the Lord, that
person is guilty and must confess the
sin he has committed. He must make
full restitution for his wrong, add
one fifth to it and give it to the
person he has wronged. But if that
person has no close relative to whom
restitution can be made for the
wrong, the restitution belongs to the
Lord and must be given to the priest,
along with the ram with which
atonement is made for him.” (Numbers
5: 6-8)
Penalty and
Restitution
So far, this study of
the earthy tabernacle has revealed
that God’s views the sins of
individuals from two perspectives:
willful and unintentional. Obviously,
a person cannot continue in a pattern
of committing the same willful sin
and still be able to meet the demands
of the law. This is why Paul wrote: “If
we deliberately keep on sinning after
we have received the knowledge of the
truth, no sacrifice for sins is
left.” (Hebrews 10:26)
Further, God does not see willful sin
in the same light as defiant sin,
even though the penalty remains the
same. Notice, “But anyone who
sins defiantly, whether native-born
or alien, blasphemes the Lord, and
that person must be cut off from his
people.” (Numbers 15:30) The
term “cut off” meant a
person would be banished from the
camp and have no inheritance. In the
wilderness, banishment meant being
cut off from every means of survival.
So, what is defiant sin? According to
Webster, defiance means to openly and
boldly reject the authority or claims
of another. God says there is no
other God beside Himself. (Isaiah
45:5) God is King, the owner/master
of man and He would naturally
interpret defiance as an act of
insubordination. Therefore, He told
Moses, “Whoever sacrifices to
any god other than the Lord must be
destroyed.” (Exodus 22:20)
Defiant sins cannot be atoned for and
are unforgivable. (1 Samuel 3:14;
Matthew 12:31)
God’s law defines
a two-step process to resolve a sin
that was committed. The guilt of
sinning against God is atoned for at
the tabernacle, but the guilt of
sinning against man was atoned for by
making restitution. The Lord required
that restitution be made first to
the victim, then the sinner could
proceed to make atonement for the sin
committed against God at the
tabernacle. The amount of restitution
varied. In minor cases, the
restitution was 20%. (See Numbers
5:6-8.) In other cases, the amount of
restitution could reach 500%. (See
Exodus 22.) When Zacchaeus became
“born again” believer in
Christ, he gave 50% of his wealth to
the poor, and then restored 400% to
anyone that he had wronged! (Luke
19:8) The matter of restitution is
very important in God’s
government. In fact, the earthy
tabernacle teaches that at an
appointed time, God will require the
offender to repay every wrongful deed
done to the victim.
In the case of
personal injury, notice the following
decree: “But if there is
serious injury, you are to take life
for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
burn for burn, wound for wound,
bruise for bruise.” (Exodus
21: 23-25; Leviticus 24: 19-21;
Deuteronomy 19: 18-21) The basic idea
of punitive law is equilibrium. In
other words, if someone maliciously,
with aforethought, harms another
person, the law demands complete
restitution before he or she can make
atonement before God. In the
case of personal injury, the offender
must experience the pain he or she
willfully inflicted! To retard the
growth of sin, God placed man under
the operation of the golden rule. The
rule states: “It will be done to
you as you intentionally do to your
victim, plus interest and
penalty.” When Jesus was on
earth, the Jews had twisted the
corporate intent of the golden rule.
They used it to serve as legal
justification for personal revenge,
especially against their hated enemy,
the Romans. Jesus rebuked them for
not understanding the corporate
intent of the law when He said, “You
have heard that it was said,
‘Eye for eye, and tooth for
tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not
resist an evil person. If someone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn
to him the other also.”
(Matthew 5:38,39) Jesus was affirming
an important truth that revenge
belongs to God. If man fails to
secure Christ’s righteousness to
fulfill the law, God will make sure
at the appointed time that everyone
is paid in full, plus interest and
penalty. “Do not take
revenge, my friends, but leave room
for God’s wrath, for it is
written: ‘It is mine to avenge;
I will repay,’ says the
Lord.” (Romans 12:19) This
should be especially meaningful for
people who have been victims to
painful injustice. God will ensure
that lawful equilibrium is restored
before He creates a new Heaven and a
new Earth.
Summary – Sin
Offering
Many people may
already understand how the ceremonial
services at the Altar of Burnt
Offering pointed forward to
the death of the Lamb of God.
However, for individuals who are
“plowing new ground,” here
is a review of the seven essential
points regarding the Altar of Burnt
Offering that should be remembered:
- The altar of
Burnt Offering served the
needs of individuals.
- The priest
placed the record of sin (the
blood) on the horns of the
altar. Until the altar was
cleansed, the temple remained
in a state of discretion.
- The
sacrificial animal had to be
perfect.
- The sinner
killed his sacrificial animal
after confessing his sin.
- The blood of
sacrifices was poured into a
container at the base of the
altar.
- Sin, whether
unintentional or intentional
requires atonement. If a
person committed a wrong
against another person, he or
she had to make restitution
before he or she could
present an atonement before
the Lord.
- Defiant sin
cannot be forgiven (atoned
for).
Altar of Incense
The golden Altar of
Incense was located in the first room
of the temple, the Holy Place. Like
the Altar of Burnt Offering, this
altar had four horns, one on each
corner of the altar. There was one
significant difference between the
altars. On the Altar of Burnt
Offering, the priests had the
responsibility of keeping the fires
burning around the clock. (Leviticus
6:12,13) On the Altar of Incense, God
Himself ignited and sustained the
fire so it never went out. (This
understanding is reached by
considering the following two points:
Aaron’s two sons carelessly uses
“strange” or man-made fire
in the Holy Place (Leviticus 10:1-3)
and the Bible never states that the
priests maintained the fire on this
altar.) Evening and morning, the
priests burned a special formula of
incense on the altar of Incense. The
Israelites could smell the aroma of
that incense, depending upon the
wind, throughout the camp (up to six
miles away). (Exodus 30:7,8) Like the
altar of Burnt Offering, the Altar of
Incense is named according to its
purpose: the burning of incense. God
told the Israelites not to duplicate
or burn this special incense for any
other purpose. The only time this
incense was to be used was at the
Altar of Incense. (Exodus 30:34-38)
The services at this
altar represented a different level
of atonement from the bronze Altar of
Burnt Offering located in the
courtyard. This altar was special in
the sense that it was reserved for corporate
sacrificial services. The high priest
conducted evening and morning
services at the altar that benefited
the whole community. However, there
is one exception. If the high priest
sinned, this atonement had to be
presented on the Altar of Incense
since the sin was considered a much
more serious offense to God than the
sins of people who were not
“close” to the Living God.
(Leviticus 4:3-7) God held the high
priest to a higher standard of
accountability than ordinary people.
To appreciate the
significance of a corporate
representation on this altar, notice
this text: “If the whole
Israelite community sins
unintentionally and does what is
forbidden in any of the Lords
commands, even though the community
is unaware of the matter, they are
guilty. When they become aware of the
sin they committed, the assembly must
bring a young bull as a sin offering
and present it before the Tent of the
Meeting. The elders of the community
are to lay their hands on the
bull’s head before the Lord, and
the bull shall be slaughtered before
the Lord. Then the anointed priest is
to take some of the bull’s blood
into the Tent of Meeting. He shall
dip his finger into the blood and
sprinkle it before the Lord seven
times in front of the curtain. He is
to put some of the blood on the horns
of the altar that is before the Lord
in the tent of Meeting. The rest of
the blood he shall pour out at the
base of the altar of burnt offering
at the entrance to the Tent of
Meeting.” (Leviticus
4:13-18)
Notice two elements
regarding the corporate sacrifice:
First, it was possible for the whole
community to sin against God
unintentionally! Again, ignorance
does not mean innocence. When the
community became aware of the
ignorant sin, God required atonement
for the whole community. (Sin is
never forgiven instead, sin is
transferred.) Second, the sacrificial
bull’s blood (the record of sin)
was sprinkled seven times on the
front of the veil or certain) that
separated the Most Holy Place from
the Holy Place. This signified that
as a community, Israel had broken the
law whose tablets were in the Ark. In
order to provide temporary atonement
for the community, the priest
sprinkled the blood as close to the
mercy seat (presence of God) as a
sinful being could approach on a day
other than the Day of Atonement.
Then, blood was placed on the four
horns of the altar. (Leviticus
4:7,18)
We also need to
consider the continual or
perpetual round of evening and
morning offerings. The corporate
sacrifice gives us a pattern for the
process of the continual offerings,
since both offerings were for
unintentional sin committed in the
camp. God required a perfect,
one-year-old lamb to be sacrificed
each evening at twilight and each
morning just after sunrise. After the
priest killed the lamb on the Altar
of Burnt Offering, he carried some of
its blood to the Altar of Incense and
applied it to the horns of the altar.
The high priest then placed a scoop
of the special incense on the glowing
coals of the altar and the fragrance
flowed generously from the temple. In
addition to the blood and incense,
the priests placed small servings of
wheat or barley flour, oil and wine
before the Lord as offerings. (Exodus
29:40, 41; 30:9)
The services at this
altar were the benefit of the whole
community. This stands in stark
contrast to the Altar of Burnt
Offering that operated for the
benefit of individuals. Why did
Israel need a “community
service” offered at the Altar of
Incense every evening and morning?
The camp of Israel needed continual
atonement night and day so they could
dwell in God’s presence. In
other words, this
“around-the-clock”
atonement meant that if an individual
sinned, the community sacrifice
atoned for them until they could
bring their personal sacrifice to the
alter of Burnt Offering. The daily
transfer of blood to the Altar of
Incense allowed the Israelites to
dwell in God’s presence without
being destroyed. (Exodus 25:8)
Understand that a sinner cannot
approach God and live without
atonement. (Numbers 8:19)
The concept underlying
the daily, as the evening and
morning services were often called,
is very meaningful. While the
services on the Altar of Burnt
Offering pointed forward to
the death of Jesus as the Lamb of
God, the services on the Altar of
Incense pointed back to the
day when the Father and Son
established a covenant for man’s
salvation. (Psalms 2) On the day Adam
and Eve sinned, Jesus entered
a covenant with the Father agreeing
to die as man’s substitute.
(Exodus 24:8; Matthew 26:28) Jesus
immediately submitted to the terms
and conditions required in the PLAN
of salvation which called for death.
In fact, from that day forward, Jesus
is called the “Son” of God.
In this context, the word son means
“one subject to” or
“one in submission to a higher
authority.” Consequently, Adam
was called the “son of
God.” (Luke 3:38) In effect, the
covenant between the Father and Jesus
stood in the way of the
destroying angel that was prepared to
execute Adam and Eve. Jesus became
man’s intercessor at that very
moment. (Hebrews 7:25) The Bible is
clear – which helps us
understand the necessity of an
intercessor in Heaven.
The daily intercession
of Jesus in Heaven coincides with the
daily ministry of the high priest in
the sanctuary service on Earth. The
human race (the human community) was
“atoned for” on the basis
of the covenant, until Jesus could
come to Earth, die and actually pay
the penalty. The PLAN of salvation
calls for an allotted time-period of
grace (6000 years or less of
intercession) so that “whosoever
will” can learn of Jesus and
receive Him as his/her personal
sacrifice! This point is highly
important because the services at the
Earthy Altar of Incense parallel the
services at the Heavenly Altar of
Incense. In ancient Israel, there was
a time each year when God would no
longer receive the sacrifices of
sinners. No further atonement could
be made. If anyone was caught
unprepared on that day, he or she was
“cut off” from the camp. In
the near future, the corporate
services on behalf of humanity at the
Heavenly Altar of Incense will
terminate and the wrath of God will
be released upon mankind. (Revelation
8:2-9:21) Individuals who are
unwilling to submit to the terms and
conditions of salvation will be
“cut off” from their
Heavenly inheritance. (This point is
enlarged upon in the section on the
Feast of Trumpets.) Remember, the
transfer of sin to the temple
required an appointed time to cleanse
the temple. Something had to be done
with the record of sin (the blood)
that was deposited on the horns of
the altar. Notice this text: “Once
a year Aaron shall make atonement on
its horns [the Altar of Incense].
This annual atonement must be made
with the blood of the atoning sin
offering for the generations to come.
It is most holy to the Lord.” (Exodus
30:10)
Most Christians think
John 3:16 is the most beautiful text
in the Bible. However, notice what
the text really says: “For
God so loved the world that he gave
his one and only Son, that whosoever
believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life.” (John
3:16) Did you notice that this text
is really a “corporate”
text? “For God so loved the world…”
To appreciate the PLAN of salvation,
we must understand that it is much
larger than an individual matter. The
PLAN involves the offspring of Adam
and Eve and in order to include us,
the PLAN has to be a corporate plan
for the entire human race.
One final issue needs
to be considered regarding the Altar
of Incense. Burning incense
represents God’s willingness to
hear our prayers and petitions. As
the fragrant odor was continually
offered before God, it reflected
man’s true condition as a sinner
and the hope that this sweet smell
might make Israel’s petitions
for atonement more favorable. (Even
the people who worshiped pagan gods
burned incense to predispose their
gods to favor them. 1 Kings 11:8) In
other words, God’s requirement
of incense reveals our degenerate and
offensive condition. We are sinners.
Because we reek of sin, we cannot
comprehend our sinful, degenerate
state God sees us. The Altar of
Incense confirms man’s hopeless
condition and God’s faithful
promise. Man sticks and cannot save
himself. Therefore, God masks our
offensiveness with the fragrance of
prayer that we might come near to Him
with out requests. The burning of
incense on the altar is directly
associated with the prayers
(petitions) of the saints.
(Revelation 8:4) As the sweet
fragrance of the incense rises from
the fiery coals of the altar, God
looks favorably on the petitions of
His children. Few things affect
Almighty God like the sweet prayer of
humble and contrite believers. (Luke
18:10-14; Hebrews 11:6)
Summary
To review, here are
five points about the Altar of
Incense:
- The Altar of
Incense was dedicated to the
services of the community.
- The evening
and morning services on the
altar provided continual or
daily around-the-clock
atonement.
- The evening
and morning services point
backward to the covenant
between the father and the
Son – the day Jesus
became man’s
intercessor. The daily
intercession of Jesus in
Heaven will come to an end at
a point in the near future.
- Each day, the
record of sin (the blood) was
placed on the horns of the
altar.
- At an
appointed time each year, the
record of sin on the Altar of
Incense was removed. Thus,
atonement for the altar was
an annual event.
No Veil in
Heaven’s Temple
The Earthy tabernacle
had a veil that separated the holy
place from the Most Holy Place. The
Heavenly Temple does not have or need
a veil. The Earthy tabernacle,
however, had a thick curtain
separating its two rooms for three
reasons:
First, as a practical
matter, the veil represented a shield
of protection to the priests who
ministered in the tabernacle for the
consuming glory of God. (Exodus 40:3;
Leviticus 16:2) In Heaven, Jesus does
not need this veil. He sits at the
right hand of the Father and is not
threatened by the glory of the
Father. In fact, Jesus shares in that
glory! (John 17:5)
Second, the veil
divided the Earthy tabernacle into
two rooms. The outer room was called
the Holy Place and its services
parallel “standing issues”
regarding man’s salvation. (A
standing issue continues to be in
effect until a timely fulfillment
terminates the matter.) The services
involving the inmost room, the Most
Holy Place, parallels the final phase
of Christ’s work in
Heaven’s Temple. God allowed the
high priest to go behind the veil and
enter the Most Holy Place only one
day a year – on the Day of
Atonement. Therefore, if we depend on
a parallel as proof for a Heavenly
veil, we fall short, for there is no
record of annual services in the
Heavenly tabernacle. (Hebrews
9:25,26) However, perhaps the
strongest evidence against the
Heavenly Temple having a veil is
this: The veil on Earth was torn open
from top to bottom at the death of
Christ. Why then, should a veil in
Heaven’s Temple (if one did
exist) remain intact after
Jesus’ death? If the one on
Earth was open. (Matthew 27:51)
Last, the Bible does
not indicate that Heaven’s
Temple has two rooms. Yes,
Paul’s discusses the ministry of
Christ as taking place “in the
inner sanctuary” or Most Holy
Place, “in the presence of the
Father.” However, Paul is using
an Earthy point to reference to
describe the ministry of Christ in
Heaven, not the physical location
of Christ. Paul clearly states that
Christ’s location is “at
the right hand of the
Father.”(Hebrews 1:3, 13; 8:1;
10:12)
The Earthy sanctuary
cannot and does not look like the
Heavenly Temple. Instead, the earthy
temple services parallel
Heaven’s process. Think
about this from a Heavenly
perspective for a moment. God’s
response to sin was to seize the
opportunity to reveal certain
characteristics about Himself that
were previously unknown. Because of
sin, the whole universe is now aware
of the properties of law, sin,
penalty, grace and restoration. This
is a topic that the hosts of Heaven
barely understand before sin
occurred. So, the study of the Earthy
sanctuary is a shadow of the
realities that are involved in the
PLAN of salvation.
: 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 :
page 2 of 6
