If you would read through all twenty-seven books of the New Testament and study each verse related to Christ’s redemption, the death of Christ, or the cross of Christ, you still will not have a clear view of what the death of Christ is. Christ’s death is great and all-inclusive. According to the Bible, it is not simply a temporal death—it is an eternal death. According to Revelation 13:8, in the sight of God, Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. Hence, He is the eternal Redeemer, and His death, unlike that of sinful human beings, is an eternal death.
We cannot understand the death of Christ in full. Certain aspects of the redeeming death of Christ simply cannot be explained. But the grating signifies the all-inclusive Christ with His eternal death. He bore the burning and the weight of the righteous judgment of God exercised upon Him. But although the picture of the altar portrays this, we still cannot understand in full all the details related to Christ’s death.
One matter related to the altar that I do not fully understand is the ledge. Regarding the ledge and the grating, the two words “under” and “beneath” are used. I believe that the ledge with the grating beneath it formed a hearth, a place of burning. As I have pointed out previously, the ledge may have protected the acacia wood inside the bronze covering on the four sides of the altar from being scorched by the intense heat. However, I cannot say exactly what the spiritual significance of the ledge is. It may signify the support given to Christ as He bore God’s judgment on the cross. As He was bearing the burning of God’s righteous judgment, He, as a human being, certainly needed something to sustain Him. The ledge may signify the support given to the redeeming Christ.
I would ask you to consider again the picture of the altar with the grating. As the wood and the sacrifices burned on the grating, the sweet fragrance ascended to God, and the wood and the sacrifices were reduced to ashes. To repeat, ashes are a strong confirmation that we have been accepted by God and that our sins have been forgiven by Him. Therefore, we can have peace. Ashes are a sign of this. The ashes, therefore, are for us, whereas the sweet fragrance is for God. May we all be impressed with the redeeming Christ as signified by the grating and the altar of the burnt offering.
The grating issues in the four rings. The rings were not added to the grating; neither were they welded to it. According to the record, the four rings came out from the grating. I believe that the four ends of the crossbars of the grating were inserted into holes in the side. I also believe that the ends of the bars projecting out through the holes in the altar were fashioned into rings. Thus, the rings were not separate from the grating, but formed one piece with it. I do not believe that after the grating was made, four rings were fashioned and then connected to the grating.
The rings forming one piece with the grating indicates that the redeeming Christ issues in the Spirit. The Spirit is not added to Christ. Certain Christians have a concept that the Spirit has been added to Christ. But the revelation in the Bible is that Christ issues in the all-inclusive Spirit. In other words, the all-inclusive Spirit is identical to Christ, and Christ is identified with the all-inclusive Spirit.
The four Gospels present the grating, the redeeming Christ. The redeeming Christ is absolutely a Person of the Spirit. He was born of the Spirit, He was filled with the Spirit, and He was always under the leading of the Spirit. Eventually, this redeeming Christ issued in the all-inclusive Spirit. In other words, according to the New Testament, the redeeming Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
On the night before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus told His disciples that another Comforter would come (John 14:16). In this prophecy the Lord indicated that this Comforter would be Himself. He, the Lord Jesus, would be the second Comforter. When He was speaking regarding this, He was the first Comforter. Thus, the first Comforter is the redeeming Christ; the second Comforter is the life-giving Spirit. The second Comforter is not another one. Rather, the first Comforter came back in another form as the second Comforter. This is signified in typology by the grating issuing in the four rings.
Many years ago, when I was in organized Christianity, I held the concept that Christ and the Spirit were separate. According to this concept, Christ has ascended to heaven and remains there, and the Spirit has come to earth in His place. This means that the first has gone and that the second is here. But through the study of the Bible and through more experience, I began to realize that these two, Christ and the Spirit, are one. The second, the Spirit, issues out of the first, Christ, and Christ issues in the Spirit.
The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. Who is this last Adam? The last Adam is the redeeming Christ. Now this last Adam, the redeeming Christ, is a life-giving Spirit.
Concerning the altar, the burning depended on the grating, but the moving depended on the four rings. The rings, however, were not separate from the grating. As we consider this picture, we see that Christ, the Redeemer, is the grating, and the Spirit, typified by the rings, is for strengthening and moving. We have seen that the entire grating with the weight of the wood and the sacrifices was upheld by the four rings. If the four rings had been taken away, the grating and everything on it would have fallen down. Apart from the four rings, the grating had no support, no strength. The grating could stand in place and bear a heavy load for the burning judgment of God because the grating was upheld by the four rings. Therefore, the rings were not only the power for moving, but also the strength for upholding the grating.