The Book of Revelation - His Feet of Brass III
The Brazen Altar was the first piece of furniture in the Israelites approach as they entered the gate into the Temple courts. If you consider Psalms 100:4 in relationship to the altar it may be eye opening. “I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my mouth.” I will enter His courts with praise.” As an Israelite in the Old Covenant, once you entered the gate you would be face to face with the Priesthood and the Brazen Altar. Here at this altar would be as far as you could go. God would remain hidden within the Temple that you could see but not enter into. You could see His mighty works. You could see the cloud of His presence, but you could not access it. There was a continual remembrance of sin. There was a continual remembrance that you did not stack up or meet the requirement.
Now through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have access. This alone should cause believers to shout for joy. We have access into the divine presence of God through the offering of the body of our Lord Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” For just a moment think of this in relationship to the Temple. The offering the Israelite's came to could not give them access to the Temple of God and the presence of the Lord. They could see the building that Housed the presence of God, but they could not access it.
I am certain they may have imagined what His presence was like. Maybe they even asked a friend who was a priest what it was like serving in the Temple. However, even the priests could not access the Person and Glory behind the veil. Consider closely what Jesus says. I am the way. I am the access to the Father. Through the power of my offering you can enter all the way into that which was veiled away and access the very presence of God. Not only do we now access the building, the Apostle Paul writes we are the building built upon the foundation stone of Jesus Christ.
Now this glorious offering removed stains of guilt, sin, and shame that we can reside in the presence of God. Our very conscious of sin is taken away. Isaiah says he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Jesus was described as a man of grief and sorrow. The sorrow and sin and decay of mankind was what He carried in the Body of His Flesh, and He crucified it, freeing us from its bondages. We are now free to enter into the presence of God. We are now free to live and abide in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are now free to be called Sons of God. What an access this ONE OFFERING has made.
We should set our hearts to understand this ONE OFFERING for sin. We should set our hearts to know Him in His fullness. We should know Him from the glory of creation to His humanity and to His exaltation. We should know His depths, His heights, His Glory. I pray you enjoy!
