Lesson 9: God's Holiness Generates a Reminder, part 2

The second clue reminding us that we need Jesus to get to God is in the Altar of Sacrifice.

Exodus 27:1,8 - "You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits (7.5 feet square, 4.5 feet high) …You shall make it hollow, with boards. As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made."

The very first thing encountered when entering into the Tabernacle was a sacrificial altar. It was a massive wooden box that served one purpose: to offer up an innocent victim, an animal, for the forgiveness of guilty, sinful behavior. This showed that if we are going to approach God then something innocent, something without sin, must pay the price and die in our place.

Where are unholy, guilty, creatures going to find an innocent sacrifice, especially when the Bible says the blood of animals could never really take away sin? Jesus!

Romans 3:25 - "…whom God put forward as a propitiation (substitute) by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins."

God is trying to teach us something. He is trying to show us that He is Holy and we are not, and that Jesus is the sacrifice needed for a relationship with God.

The third clue reminding us that we need Jesus to get to God is in the Laver of Cleansing.


Exodus 30:18-20 - "You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die."

This is the second thing encountered when entering into the Tabernacle, a laver of cleansing. It was a large basin of water the priests had to wash themselves with before they entered the Holy Place. If they did not, they would die! This showed that if we are going to approach a Holy God then we need something to cleanse us from all our defilement, or in other words, our sins.

Jesus is again the answer.

Hebrews 9:22,14 - "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins…how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

God is teaching us that He is Holy and we are not, and that Jesus is the One to cleanse us for a relationship with God.

* Memorize 1 John 1:7 – “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”