THE BLOODY ALTAR: “THE ARK OF THE COVENANT!”

THE GLORY OF THE BLOOD SACRIFICE IS BRILLIANTLY VISIBLE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ARK OF THE COVENANT. The Ark of God was the very center of the “Blood” sacrifice required in the tabernacle and for the great victory that God planned for Israel. Never was a battle lost when the Ark was properly carried into battle and the hearts of the people were pure. Wherever that Ark rested, it brought blessings, and when it was carried away by the enemy and placed in the temple of Dagon, the false god was caused to miraculously fall and be broken before the presence of the “blood altar.” King David sought to bring it to Jerusalem and used a “new cart.” The failure to use proper procedure became a lesson for their King who was a “man after God’s own heart.” (Acts 13:22)

The Word of God describes the lack of Biblical attention to this “blood altar”, the Ark itself. “And when they came to Nachon’s threshing-floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:6-9) Later, David sought the proper regard for the transfer of this treasury to Jerusalem and it became a great blessing. David himself, “danced before the Lord” as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem. What a lesson this should be when we hear and see ministers trying to build God’s Kingdom on cheap theology and humanistic ideas. It is an abomination to seek the progress of the church by any method, period, except the great truth of His divine “Blood” and pure redemption. The First Testament is full of endless riches that show us the one redemptive value, the “Blood” of a proper sacrifice.

The “Blood” offering of the First Testament was a beautiful type and was certainly supernatural in its value of redemption, but it was not perfect. The saints of God were still in bondage to death and must await the perfect “Blood” sacrifice to ascend to God’s presence. David, the great king that brought the Ark to Jerusalem, declared this great truth in his revelations. He expressed the hope he would enjoy as he awaited the visit of Jesus Christ into Upper Sheol where he was destined at death. David knew the Holy Spirit would be with him even in this temporary place of the sainted dead. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.” (Psalm 139:7-11)

The absolute redemption by blood and nothing but blood is expressed in this great truth. Jesus Christ gave the single sign of His great redemption as His reminder that the saints of old were awaiting His descent into paradise to “lead captivity captive.” (Ephesians 4:8) King David, the prophet Isaiah, prophetic writer Daniel, and the multitude of First Testament saints were totally dependent, not just on the sacrificial type in their tabernacle and temple, but on the sacrificial Lamb Himself for their final triumph. Isaiah wrote of this date and the future resurrection with triumph in his voice. “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” (Isaiah 26:19-21) The First Testament is eternally rich in a theology of the “Blood.”

The Perfect Covenant of Jesus Christ’s Blood! Everything about the “Blood” sacrifices of the First Testament are beautiful foreshadows of the final sacrifice. The “Blood” of Jesus Christ is the perfect offering and is the one and only foundation and substance of the New Testament church. Apostle Paul said it plainly. “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:11-14)

This “Blood” redemption was not cheap and neither is it insufficient for complete and unabridged redemption. Apostle Paul said, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Hebrews 4:1) He speaks of a rest that suggests a life free from spiritual weakness and powerlessness in ministry. The church world has turned to every gimmick of the human mind to try to build the church simply because we have failed to rightly discern the great redemption at our fingertips.

Again, Paul said to the church of Corinth, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” (2 Corinthians 3:5) He continued by declaring, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?” (2 Corinthians 3:6-8) The “Blood” of Jesus has not lost one least amount of its glorious power. Any ministry that will build God’s work on the pure Word and the glorious victory of the “Blood” cannot fail.

The Book of Acts: “Blood” Saturated Pentecost! The book of Acts was God’s picture of a Spirit-filled church that had no message but the cross of Christ. When Peter had witnessed the healing of the lame man and was being held forth as the power of God, He proclaimed loudly, “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.” (Acts 3:16) He did not just say “through faith in His name,” but added, “the faith which is by him.” It was the faith of Christ’s righteousness at work in Peter that produced an attention-gripping miracle. The church was so full of miracles that the world was “turned upside down.” (Acts 17:6) The book of Acts was the redemption of the perfect sacrifice at work making the Kingdom of God powerful and victorious. When you read the last chapter, you will note that there is no closing statement. We are called of God to keep experiencing that same great revival.

The “Blood” of Jesus can never shine brighter than in the book of Revelation. The death of Christ is so all-consuming, from chapter four through nineteen, that Jesus is called “the Lamb of God” and is actually seen as a “Lamb slain.” Every judgment of this wicked world and every triumph of righteousness is clearly the work of that Lamb of God. The highlight of that truth is seen in the scene of the Father and the book of the purchased possession. No one could open this book and unseal the judgments of redemption until the Lamb of God appears “in the midst of the throne.” John writes, “…Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.” (Revelation 5:2b; 6-7) The entire process of the coming judgment has been adjudicated in advance on the cross of Calvary. Nothing of redemption value is further needed. It is done and we simply await the process.

The Bible can be rightly called “a bloody Book.” Rob the Bible of the cross and it falls to the earth as the greatest failure of all literature. Hold its treasure of the “Blood” in its proper place, preach and teach this Divine sacrifice as God has proclaimed, and it is the greatest power in all God’s universe. The creation of this earth pales in comparison to the power of the “Blood.” The “Blood” brought God down to earth as the God-man and the “Blood” alone will take men to heaven as the new citizens of a new heaven and new earth. Treat the “Blood” lightly and it will damn you, but honor it as God’s eternal gift, and it will transform you. From Genesis chapter one to Revelation chapter twenty-two, the “Blood” of Christ is supreme.

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4 thoughts on “THE BLOODY ALTAR: “THE ARK OF THE COVENANT!””

  1. Keith Black

    CALVARY / BLOOD SACRIFICE / LAMB / CHURCHES

    Dear Joe Chambers.

    Jesus is indeed the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE. Our salvation is entirely from his blood and accepting the fact that he died for us. In Old days the preachers especially talked about the blood-sacrifice and the need to accept Jesus. Don Twobears writes the articles at Rapture Ready about those OLD TIME TENT REVIVALS and the need to accept Jesus as your savior. While I have not been to any tent revivals, I have been to STADIUM REVIVALS in ballparks as many of you have. Some were in small stadiums and some in big stadiums such as Billy Graham. They all talked about the need to accept Jesus. Most of these were in the evening to avoid the hot summer sun. You dont see too many tent revivals these days. Those pretty much disappeared. In the late 60s Tent revivals gave way to stadium revivals to handle larger crowds than tents could hold. Today it is PORK-BARREL PROSPERITY-ENTITLEMENT PREACHERS that hold their meetings in large AIR-CONDITIONED DOMED STADIUMS WITH COMFORTABLE THEATER CHAIRS. That is more comfortable than sitting in tent revivals in metal chairs in hot weather (as Don Twobears writes about in his aricles at Raprure Ready). But at the comfortable domed stadiums with theater chairs, where the PORK-BARREL PREACHERS hold their meetings, THE BLOOD OF JESUS IS MISSING FROM THE PREACHING OF THE PORK-BARREL PREACHERS. THE NEVER TELL YOU TO REPENT OF YOUR SINS. THEY TELL YOU HOW GOD WANTS YOU TO BE MATERIALLY RICH ON EARTH. THE NEVER TALK ABOUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS. In the PORK-BARREL CHURCHES THEY HAVE COMFORTABLE THEATER CHAIRS. The preachers there welcome openly HOMOSEXUAL folks without telling them to repent. The accept all other types of sins too. You will not hear the BLOOD OF JESUS SONGS in pork-barrel churches. You will not hear OLD RUGGED CROSS, AT CALVARY, POWER IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS, OR ANY OTHER SACRIFICIAL SONGS in these churches. If you want the real stuff go back to the OLD TIME TENT REVIVALS IF YOU CAN FIND ONE. Or you can go over the the old COUNTRY CHURCHES where the have bluegrass singing of gospel songs. IN the 1800s Old churches did not have very comfortable seating, They sat on ROUGH-HEWN BENCHES (not very comfortable) MADE OF HALF LOGS (sawed in half down the middle) in log cabin churches. Later churches had wooden pews with no cushions. Some old churches ar stil that way. They had oil lamps for light. To keep cool in hot weather, they had handheld fans from local funeral homes. The churches had real life in them because they HAD THE PREACHING OF REPENTANCE, AND ACCEPTING THE BLOOD OF JESUS. Today’s pork-barrel churches will not allow that because almost all of their members are UNSAVED who hate the talk of the BLOOD OF JESUS. they want to be told tha their sins are OK. Compared to COUNTRY CHURCHES the PORK-BARREL CHURCHES WOULD NEVER ALLOW ROUGH-HEWN HALF-LOG WOODEN BENCHES in their churches. NO they want air-conditioned churches with COMFORTABLE THEATER CHAIRS instead of even regular wooden pews. Pork-Preachers would never do tent revials in hot weather. The churches that LEAVE OUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS, with be left behind when the RAPTURE COMES. It seems more likely that those sitting on half-log benches will go up in rapture than those sitting in theater chairs, because of what is preached in the places.

    What do you think< Joe?

    Sincerely,

    Keith Black

  3. Claudio B. Abbott

    The Watchtower compares a court enforced blood transfusion to rape. “Especially is this true since the Bible links abstinence from blood with such things as abstinence from fornication. Hence, since Christians would resist rape—a defiling sexual assault—so they would resist court-ordered blood transfusions—also a form of assault on the body.” Watchtower 1980 Jun 15 p.23 “One sister responded to a judge that in such a case she would not be responsible for what he decided. While correct from one point of view, the judge took it to mean that since she would not be held responsible, then he would take the responsibility for her. He ordered a transfusion. You must understand that in asking these questions, some are usually looking for a way around your refusal to accept blood. Do not inadvertently give it to them! So how would we avoid that misunderstanding? You could reply: “If blood is forced on me in any way, it would be the same to me as being raped. I would suffer the emotional and spiritual consequences of that unwanted attack on me for the rest of my life. I would resist with all my strength such a violation of my body without my consent. I would make every effort to prosecute my attackers just as I would in a case of rape.”” Kingdom Ministry 1990 Nov p.6 Rape is generally violent and traumatic, with long-term emotional repercussions. A blood transfusion is no more traumatic than the rest of an operation, apart from the doctrinally imposed guilt that such a medical procedure will destroy a person’s relationship with God and their chance of everlasting life. In the case of a forced transfusion, this guilt is particularly unfair, as is the statement that rape is “a defiling sexual assault”. The sentiment harks back to Watchtower statements linking rape with fornication .