One of the largest pieces of furnishing in the tabernacle is the altar of burnt offering, which typifies the cross of Christ. In the tabernacle there were two altars: the altar of burnt offering in the outer court and the incense altar in the Holy of Holies.
These two altars are for the carrying out of God’s economy: one speaks of Christ’s judicial redemption (the altar of burnt offering typifies the cross of Christ, Christ’s redemption), and the other speaks of Christ’s organic salvation (the incense altar typifies Christ’s interceding for us to be saved to the uttermost).
In His economy God has come out of the tabernacle, out of the Holy of Holies at the incense altar, to become a man in the outer court and die for us at the cross, the burnt offering altar, so that we may be brought back to God, to the very place where He dwells.
God became man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead – this is God’s economy, and this is what the two altars in the tabernacle speak of. On our side, we start our journey at the altar of burnt offering, the cross; here we are saved, regenerated, reconciled to God, and brought back to God.
The cross is the beginning, the starting point, and the principle of all our spiritual experiences; through the cross, we can enter into God’s economy and experience Christ as the reality of all the furnishings in the tabernacle for us to become the building of God, the church as the Body of Christ.
How we praise the Lord for becoming a man and dying on the cross for us so that we may be regenerated and enter into a journey into God!
Today we want to see more concerning these two altars, that is, how they are connected by the anointing, by the blood of the sin offering, and by the fire that burned the offerings (and how does this apply to our Christian experience). Furthermore, we want to see what does the burnt offering altar typify: it is the cross of Christ, the base of all our spiritual experience.
How the Two Altars are Connected by the Anointing, the Blood, and the Fire
The two altars in the tabernacle – the incense altar and the altar of burnt offering – were connected by three main things: the anointing, the blood of the sin offering, and the fire that burned the offerings.
Both altars were anointed with the holy anointing oil (Exo. 30:27-28), together with all the utensils in the tabernacle. This anointing signifies God’s move; according to God’s move, the incense altar and the altar of burnt offering are connected. The anointing is the compound ointment, a type of the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit that sanctifies us, saturates us, and anoints us.
The Lord ordained that the blood of the sin offering offered for propitiation on the day of Atonement would be brought into the Holy Place and applied to the four corners of the incense altar (see Lev. 16:18; 4:7); this blood connected the altar of burnt offering (which was in the outer court, where the offering was made) and the incense altar. Without the blood of Christ there’s no way for us to experience the life of Christ – this blood is the base and the way for us to receive Christ’s redemption and for us to experience His organic salvation.
Furthermore, the fire that burns on the incense altar is the same fire that burns on the altar for burnt offering; the priests were not allowed to “start a fire” or to bring strange fire in the Holy Place – they had to bring the fire from the altar in the outer court to the incense altar, and this fire was to be kept burning all the time (Lev. 6:13; 16:12). The fire on the altar of burnt offering comes from heaven: it was the fire from God; this fire connected the two altars, and it is the heavenly fire that was burning on both altars.
The anointing, the blood, and the fire join the two altars, that is, they join the judicial redemption with the organic salvation; the result is a sweet-smelling savor ascending to God for His enjoyment and satisfaction.
In our experience we need to experience the sanctification and saturation of the anointing of the Spirit, apply the blood of Christ day by day, and allow God’s fire to burn in us and burn us to ashes so that Christ would add Himself as incense to us and the fragrance would ascend for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction.
Lord, thank You for Your anointing Spirit which sanctifies us and saturates us for us to apply Your judicial redemption and enjoy Your organic salvation. Separate us and sanctify us by anointing us with Yourself as the compound all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Lord, thank You for Your precious blood which has opened the way for us to enjoy God as our life and be organically saved. Oh Lord, may Your fire consume us, burn in us, and burn us until we become ashes on the altar for Your satisfaction!
The Altar of Burnt Offering Typifies the Cross of Christ, the Base of All Spiritual Experience
What does the altar of burnt offering typify? It typifies not only Christ’s redemption but the cross of Christ (see Exo. 27:1; 38:1; 40:6, 29; Heb. 13:10). Our spiritual experience starts at the altar of burnt offering, that is, at the cross; the cross is the base, the ground, of all our spiritual experience.
When we receive the Lord Jesus, the cross is applied to us and all our spiritual experience begins; then, in our daily living, we seek to be one with Christ realizing that we have been crucified with Him and He should live in us (Gal. 2:20).
If there’s anything that we boast in it is the cross of Christ through which we have been crucified to the world and the world is crucified to us (Gal. 6:14), and we seek to know nothing among the saints but Christ, and this One crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).
Without the cross there’s no initiation or basis for any spiritual experience, and without the cross we have no ground to experience the spiritual things. The cross contains all our spiritual experiences and it is the principle of all our experience of Christ.
Actually, the cross is the center of God’s operation in His economy; Christ is the center of God’s economy, and the cross is the center of the carrying out of God’s economy. Without Christ, God’s economy has no center, and without the cross, the operation of God’s economy is without a center.
Everything that God does in His economy is through the cross of Christ; He deals with everything and everyone through the cross.
In His economy God gives us one person and one way. The one person is the preeminent, all-inclusive Christ, and the one way is the cross. As the all-inclusive One, Christ is everything to us. He is God, man, and the reality of every positive thing in the universe. God has given us this marvelous person to be our salvation. The one person, Christ, is the center of the universe; and the one way, the cross, is the center of God’s government. God governs everything by the cross and deals with everything by the cross. Therefore, just as Christ is the focal point of the universe, so the cross is the center of God’s government. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Colossians, p. 211)
The golden incense altar is the center of the divine administration in the universe, and the cross is the center of God’s operation in His economy; God operates His economy from the cross! The principles related to all other spiritual experiences are implied in the experience of the cross.
At the Lord’s table meeting on the first day of the week, we not only enjoy Christ but we have to realize that this table is the altar – the blood was shed on the cross and the body of Christ was broken on the tree, and both are for our enjoyment; we offer these to God for His enjoyment first, and then we feast on them! The entire God’s economy is symbolized in the Lord’s table, where we offer the crucified Christ to God, and then we break the bread and drink the cup for our portion of enjoyment.
Hallelujah, in His economy God gives us one person – Christ – and one way – the cross (Col. 1:12, 20, 27)! The cross is the center of God’s government – God governs everything by the cross and deals with everything by the cross.
In the book of Revelation we se the freshly slain Lamb of God as the only One qualified to open the scroll; only Christ as the slain Lamb is qualified to open God’s economy.
And even at the end, in the New Jerusalem, we have God and the Lamb on the throne – the cross is still there! How marvelous it is that we will have an eternal memorial of the great redemption that God has accomplished in Christ!
Lord, thank You for bringing us to the cross, the base of all our spiritual experience of Christ. Show us the vital importance of the cross. Renew and refresh our appreciation of the Lord’s sufferings on the cross. Lord Jesus, we are crucified with You, and it is no longer we who live but it is You who live in us! We want to know nothing else among the saints except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified. We want to boast in nothing else except the cross of Christ through which we are crucified to the world! Lord, we praise You for Your cross!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1620-1621 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3), week 6 (week 30), The Altar of Burnt Offering.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Where the sprinkling of the blood is, / There the ointment doth remain; / Man in touch with God thus bringing, / These the fellowship maintain. (Hymns #265)
# Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray, / Put my soul-life all away; / Make me any price to pay, / Full anointing to receive. (Hymns #279)
# Thank You, Lord Jesus, for dying for me. / It’s Your precious blood cleansing all iniquities. / It’s there on the cross where You bled and died for me. / Lord Jesus, I thank You, I’m fully justified in Thee. (Song on Christ’s redemption)
About aGodMan
Christ certainly was not crucified without cause. On the contrary, He was crucified for a very great cause. In fact, the cross is the center of God’s operation in His economy, just as Christ Himself is the center of God’s economy. In the carrying out of God’s economy, the cross is the center. Without Christ, God’s economy has no center, and without the cross of Christ the operation of God’s economy is without a center. Thus, the carrying out of God’s economy wholly depends on the cross of Christ. The cross is the center of God’s operation in the universe to carry out His economy. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Galatians, pp. 103-104)