“And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of [the incense altar] once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement's; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord.” (Exod 30:10)
Last in the line of reconciliation is the Court, well represented by its altar. In this connection it is very clearly set forth that the blood of reconciliation is that of the bullock AND the goat.
“And he shall go out (of the tabernacle proper) unto the altar that is before the LORD (out into the court to the Brazen Altar), and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” (Lev 16:18, 19) “Notes on the Tabernacle”, Page 610, 637,638
Some have mistakenly misconstrued from the foregoing statement that the “altar” here referred to is none other than the Golden Incense Altar which was placed directly before the Second Vail, i.e. “before the LORD” as depicted in the Shekinah glory found above the mercy seat, this because they believed atonement had already been made for the Brazen Altar as was enumerated in Lev 9:8, 9, however it will be noticed that in that particular instance there was no mention of any commingling of the blood, this because it was the blood of the bull (typifying the blood of Christ) alone which sanctified the altar.
“The altar of earthly sacrifices is only acceptable to God by reason of the shed blood (the life given), and all who realize the power of the altar must first recognize the blood which sanctifies it.” (T 42)
“So the brazen altar represents primarily the perfection of the man Christ Jesus, upon which his offering was accepted of God, as our sin-atonement, sanctifying in turn any offering of others that might be presented upon it.” (R 3053:6)
This altar was first set apart (sanctified) as unto the LORD at the time of the Tabernacle’s dedication, and was accomplished with the use of the holy anointing oil. (Exod 40:10)
Subsequently, this altar was sanctified for use by the priesthood, and was accomplished with the use of the blood of the sin-offering. (Exod 29:12; Lev 8:15)
It will have been noted that both of these operations were performed by Moses who thus typified JEHOVAH—who during this Gospel age has been setting apart “an altar” unto Himself; sanctifying it, for the use of the antitypical priesthood, by way of the blood of the great “sin-offering”—the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus—(T 51, 52)
And while “our altar”—the altar of this Gospel age—is thus sanctified by the blood of the “sin-offering of Christ Jesus,” for use by us as the antitypical priesthood, in the matter of our consecration to become the priesthood of blessing, the altar of the Millennial age, though it be the selfsame altar, and is served by the selfsame priesthood (but now in the interests of the world of mankind—the then, antitypical Israel) will by reason of its defilement (“uncleanness,” Lev 16:16) require a special rededication—sanctification— and this by the blood of the “better sacrifices” (Heb. 9:23) of the Gospel age. This, of course, is what is so beautifully depicted in the reconciliation of Lev 16:18 (“Notes on the Tabernacle”, Pages, 118,119)
The sprinkling of all things with the blood showed that the “Blood” is full (seven times, i.e. complete) satisfaction, and also indicated that the work with the “Scape Goat”, which followed was no part of the sin-offering, and was not needful to complete the reconciling.
Next post.
