April 30, 2019
Altar Call
Exodus 27
Skipper Pickle
Central Truth
God wants us to worship Him intentionally and with our best competence.
Key Verse | Exodus 27:1, 9, 20–21
"You shall make the altar of acacia wood . . . . You shall make the court of the tabernacle. . . . You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. . . . from evening to morning before the Lord."
Exodus 27
The Bronze Altar
1 You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits 1 27:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. 2 And you shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net extends halfway down the altar. 6 And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8 You shall make it hollow, with boards. As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made.
The Court of the Tabernacle
9 You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. 10 Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 11 And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. 13 The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 16 For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. 17 All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. 18 The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits, with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. 19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.
Oil for the Lamp
20 You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. 21 In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the LORD. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.
Dive Deeper | Exodus 27
It's better to think of the Bible, not as a book, but as a shelf of books. It's a collection of different kinds of books, of different styles, from different time periods, by different authors.
The way we respond to a passage such as Exodus 27 reveals the depth to which our cultural lens affects our approach to Scripture. We favor the histories and the poetry, the prophecies and parables. Give us some action and let us dig into the symbolism for hidden knowledge. So when we come to a passage that consists merely of description, it's a bit of a challenge. "Where's the metaphor?," we cry. "What does it MEAN?"
That's not what this is. We don't read the despair of Lamentations the same way we read the high comedy of Jonah. We don't treat the histories of the kings of Israel as though they were parables.
And we don't read these passages for their metaphor, but for their reality. We shouldn't miss the opportunity to take this series of blueprints and draw or sculpt or build what they describe, even if it is only in our imaginations.
See, you can do that with these chapters in Exodus. The details they provide allow us to visualize how the altar was made and what it was made of. They allow us to place ourselves in the courtyard.
Make no mistake: THIS IS VERY, VERY COOL.
Some conclusions we can draw from this detailed description:
- God cares about HOW we worship Him. From His rejection of Cain's offering (Genesis 4:4-5) to His rejection of Saul's offering (1 Samuel 13:8-14) to the separation of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:41-45), it doesn't appear that anyone gets an A merely for effort.
- God respects skilled craftsmanship.
- Worshiping well requires preparation—lots and lots of preparation. In fact, it seems the preparation is PART of the worship.
- The effort required to prepare for worship is communal in nature. Lots of people had to contribute. Some people had to make it their life's work to accomplish what God lays out in these chapters.
Discussion Questions
1. Are you one of those who think of worship as something that must be spontaneous to be sincere? What do you do to prepare for worship? What form does it take?
2. Has God given you a vision for how to worship Him? What skills must you master in order to worship Him in this way? (Really, is there any better reason to learn a new skill?)
3. Read through Exodus 27 and make a list of the things that people must do in order to follow God's instruction.
4. Imagine the court of the tabernacle. Imagine yourself waiting for your turn to make an offering. Unless you are a priest, this would be as close as you could expect to approach God. What must it have been like to be there while the sacrifices are offered?
5. What audacious thing can you do or make to enhance God's reputation today? This week? This year?