Pointing to Jesus (Exodus 27)

Summary:

In Exodus 27, God instructs Moses on constructing key elements of the tabernacle’s exterior. 

This includes the bronze altar for burnt offerings, measuring five cubits square and three cubits high, with horns on its corners and a grate for the fire. 

The chapter also details the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle, enclosed by fine linen curtains hung on bronze pillars with silver hooks, spanning 100 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and featuring a gate with embroidered screens. 

Finally, it commands the Israelites to provide pure beaten olive oil to keep the lamps burning continually in the tent of meeting.

Pointing to Jesus:

Exodus 27, particularly the altar of burnt offerings, typologically foreshadows Christ’s sacrificial death as the perfect atonement for sin. 

As John Calvin explains in his commentary: “The altar of burnt-offerings reminds that the flesh must be burnt by the Spirit for men to offer themselves to God, acknowledging under type that the flesh of Christ must become a perfect victim for propitiation, offered through the Spirit (Hebrews 9:14).”   

This aligns with emphasis on Christ’s substitutionary atonement, where He fulfills the Old Testament shadows as the sovereignly ordained Lamb of God, securing redemption for the elect through His once-for-all sacrifice.

Reflection:

This chapter underscores the holiness required to approach God’s presence, reminding Christians that true worship begins with atonement—pointing to our reliance on Christ’s cross as the “altar” where sin is dealt with. In daily life, it calls us to live as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1), maintaining the “light” of faith through the Holy Spirit’s illumination, while the courtyard’s boundaries encourage separation from the world and communal devotion in the church.