From another group:
The Altar
"Build an altar of acacia wood..." (Exodus 27:1a NIV)
The altar is the same base material as the ark [wood]
but overlaid with bronze instead of gold (v. 2b).
[ The NASB, NIV, NKJ, NLT, NRSV, ESV, CSB all read
"bronze".
The KJV, WEB, ASV read "brass".
The Hebrew word nechosheth literally means "copper",
and generally refers to any 'base material' (contrasted
to silver and gold). ]
Whatever the actual material -whether bronze, brass,
or copper- the altar would've been much larger any of
the other Tabernacle furniture items ...and shiny.
Pink has the "symbolic import" of brass/bronze in
Scripture as signifying "judgment". He bases this
on the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:9.
(Gleanings in Exodus; Ch. 45, Sec. 2; A.W. Pink)
As the bronze snake on a pole symbolized the Messiah
on the cross (John 3:14), judgment is definitely in view
and Pink correct. [ He also provides three other
Scriptural examples of bronze = judgment. ]
And where else than on an altar -a place where
sacrifices are made- is judgment a more apt topic ?
Bronze over wood, then, represents a beautiful
analogy:
If the wood is a figure for Jesus Christ's human nature
[SEE; Previous discussion of the Ark], and bronze a
figure of judgment...
...we know Christ in His divinity could not die, but
Jesus in His humanity could !
So, God did not die in the atoning sacrifice. God, by
definition, cannot die !
When the Lord died on the altar which was the cross,
He died as a human. As God, His existence continued
unabated.
This being the metaphor of the Tabernacle altar:
Christ's flesh sacrificed for the judgment against His
people.
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"God is still on the throne!"
April and Miss Flurrie
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