If you were with us five years ago during the great 2015 dedication of Messianic Israel then most of what I have to say you on this fifth day of the Raising of the Melchizedek Tabernacle will be familiar to you because today we are going to be moving outside of the Holy Place with its Golden Table of Shewbread, Menorah and Altar of Incense, and into the open air - into that part of the Tebernacle complex called the 'Courtyard' or Outer Court. It is removed from the 'world'-beyond only by a curtain so it is sealed off in two-dimensions but not three.

For those of you who have been called to this work, or who are feeling drawn to it, then may I encourage you to go to the Last Exodus website, and work your way through the 16-part dedication starting with the Cleansing of the Temple Tresspasses. You'll also find a number of testimonies from that time to give you a feel of what Yahweh did amongst us.

I'll admit that presenting this in reverse - from Yahweh's perspective - has been a challenge for me. Doing the reverse journey from the Holy of Holies to the Outer Court feels 'wrong' because it seems 'retrograde' - our natural instinct is to get away from the world and back to Elohim (God). The one thing this journey has given me is the sense - on a very human level - of what incarnation from Heaven to Earth must have been like for Yah'shua (Jesus), at least in some tiny measure. Why would anyone want to come to this fallen, Old Creation material world? Who wants to go from 'riches to rags'? That is what it must have felt like for the Saviour. I felt a tangible resistance in moving from the Holy of Holies 'down' to the Holy Place and then yesterday evening, in preparing for this message, I felt an even greater resistence in moving from the Holy Place to the 'outside' from the roofed Sanctuary to the Outer Court with its open sky.

The furniture outside is made of brass. Brass is not like gold, and the outdoor animal sacrifice is not like the indoor offering of incense. The feeling is one of moving from the refined to the coarse, like Moses moving out of the sophisticated and luxurious court of Egypt, to the shepherd station in Midian, and finally out into the blistering desert heat of the Sinai with its hostile, harrassing tribesmen, scorpions, poisonous snakes, hunger and thirst. You can imagine what Moses felt like. In a sense, he made the 'reverse journey' in type of the journey made by Yah'shua (Jesus) from Heaven to Earth, as all leaders must do to some extent. Servants by definition reach down into other people's mess to help them out.

Initially I resisted strongly talking about the Courtyard to you today. I don't much like going to this place toward the end of the journey because the end is where I usually expect to start, plus I have been smelling the fragrances of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, so by comparison this blood-and-guts world seems quite a 'come-down'.

Under ordinary circumstances the Courtyard is secure and an integral part of the whole Tabernacle Complex but in the real world - today, right now - it's been occupied by the Enemy for a number of years. It's a bit like having a pair of missing legs. The Body of Messiah has temporarily, for remedial purposes, become a legless cripple because of sin. I am sure you are all aware of the prophecy given through the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation:

"Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the malak (angel) stood, saying, 'Rise and measure the temple of Elohim (God), the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months (3½ years). And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days (slightly less than 3½ years), clothed in sackcloth" (Rev.11:1-3, NKJV).

Each of the three areas of the Tabernacle is 'inhabited' or populated by the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) at different stages of their spiritual journey. They are limited only by their willingness to fully yield authority over their lives to the Father. Each area requires ever greater purity and therefore surrender and obedience. This prophecy in the Book of Revelation bespeaks a time yet to come in the future but, as I have explained to you twice already now, because prophetic events repeat in cycles as history arrives at its messianic climax, we are experiencing a penultimate courtyard invasion right now at least in part. The final judgment by fire is therefore mirrored somewhat by the earier judgment by water in Noah's day. Today is a kind of dress rehearsal, a 'low does of fire' before the full blast:

So again, symbolically-speaking, this is a picture of the current state of the Body of Christ. 'Jerusalem' and 'the Temple Courtyard' have been lost to Satan (the 'Gentiles', the uncicumcised of heart, the impure) - only the Sanctuary itself (the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place) are undisturbed and are under Yahweh's special protection - the Enemy will never be allowed in there. Even if the whole earth is trampled spiritually-speaking by the Devil's armies, the one place they will never be allowed into is the Sanctuary, for this is the permanent refuge of the Qodeshim (Saints, Set-Apart Ones). Translating this into literal, 'outer world' language, what this means practically is that only the Remnant at this time is undefiled (even if only jurisdictionally) and fully protected. The Remnant is the Sanctuary, and vice versa. And it is from the Sanctuary that Yah'shua (Jesus) will set out with His riders on the re-conquest of the Creation for His Heavenly Father - and our Heavenly Father - at His Second Return.

Jerusalem in this prophetic utterance becomes a picture of lawless Christendom as a whole and is substantially overwhelmed, because it has given Satan legal grounds to take it over and oppress it. The area within the Tabernacle Compound is Torah-obedient Messianic Israel, the priestly Melchizedek Division in this New Covenant Æon (Age), only things are so bad - because of worldliness, wickedness, and apostacy - that even the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) in the Courtyard have been partially overwhelmed in our time. These are they who are unprepared in body and spirit. This means that everything in the Courtyard, including the Bronze Alter and Bronze Laver, are under assault, sometimes being lost and sometimes being retaken through spiritual warfare. This means that they are unavailable for periods during this dark time and why it is that sometimes all seems lost. In the days of the Final Judgment ter-to-come, the Outer Court will be completely gone for 3½ years until Yah'shua (Jesus) returns personally to restore it as symbolised when He cleansed the Temple court of the moneychangers in His own day in mortality.

What the pieces of sacred furniture in the Courtyard provide has been unavailable generally for several years which is why you were admonished several years ago to get spiritually prepared and get inside the Sanctuary. These believers - in different stages of Torah-disobedience, whether messianic, evangelical or other - have been buffetted around violently, for the Enemy shows no mercy. He is a relentless Adversary, which is what his title, haSatan, means. I have observed this warfare going on hundreds of times in vision over the last few years and not enjoyed it at all, because I have been in it myself. It's a battle that can't be won until the apointed time is unilaterally ended by Yahweh. Therefore those left behind in it must bide their time until they have received the full measure of their chastening. If you have been wondering why the Enemy has been 'up in your face' more often than you would like it is quite likely because you ventured out into the spiritual Courtyard after 'curfew' - you have taken your eyes of Yah'shua (Jesus) a while and perhaps disobeyed mitzvot (commandments) or attacked Yahweh's servants, without repenting, and been ejected - symbolically - from the Sanctuary.

Five years ago in 2015, on Aviv 22, Yahweh gave me a vision of the Courtyard which I shared with this congregation. You can read it at the link on the website. I gave explicit instruction that the Remnant needed to be in the Sanctuary when the judgments began, and those judgments have now begun and will last some years. You're either in or out for a time. You need to be in the Sanctuary now which means being right with Yahweh. That includes making the correct 'offering' at the Golden Altar of Incense that I spoke of yesterday, which means, amongst other things, letting go of all the junk teachings of the fallen churches such as the Prosperity Gospel (with its arrogant sense of self-entitlement and occultic mindset), false tongues (which is worship of demons), lawlessness (which would have you ignore and disobey the mitzvot/commandments), and every and any doctrine that blasphemes the character of El Elyon (the Most High), like determinism (fatalism) and limited atonement, every form of idolatry (like Mariolatry, the love of money, and sexual immorality) and so forth. If you want to know what the spirit of the Sanctuary is like, listen to the video of my presentation on the Altar of Incense yesterday because it was very strong then.

Today we are here specifically to talk about the Brazen Altar that is located in the Outer Court in front of the Sanctuary with a Brazen laver between the two which we'll talk about tomorrow.

The Brazen Altar occupied the most prominent place in the Tabernacle since it was the tallest piece of furniture in the whole compound, both outside and inside the Sanctuary. Together with the Brazen Laver above it in the Courtyard, the Menorah and Table of Shewbread on either side of the Holy Place in the Scanctuary, the Golden Altar of Incense above these two in the Holy Place at the entrance to the Holy of Holies, and the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies itself, these six furnishings formed a Cross or Crux Immissa, something Messianics and Jehovah's Witnesses will always miss because they refuse to believe that Messiah was executed on anything other than a vertical stake.

These pieces of sacred furniture, in addition to having individual functions, together form a set of pictorial markers revealing the means by which our salvation was won for us, through the shedding of blood on a cross. As I said when we examined the rooms of, and the furniture in, the Sanctuary, every piece of furniture symbolises something equally important, and indeed together they trace out the cruel instrument of our redemption.

The Brazen Altar is our object of study today, about which one could say so much, but I will instead only focus on two things. The first is to point out that the Hebrew word 'altar' signifies to 'slay' or 'kill'. This is a place of blood-letting. Under the Old Covenant, this was where animals were sacrificed whose blood pointed to the one Eternal Sacrifice of blood made by the Eternal Cohen Gadol or High Priest in the meridian of time, Yah'shua the Messiah. This is the first object you see upon entering the Courtyard from the outside as you crawl in between the flaps of the outer perimiter curtain on your knees and look up. This therefore bespeaks the centrality of the crucifixion and atonement of the Son of Man for our sins.

Five years ago to the day yesterday, on Aviv 4 2015, Avah saw a vision that explains the second important point I wish to make, that was one of the highlights of that important Dedication that came before this one in 2020. I am going to read an extract of that account:

"As I was praising and worshipping [Yahweh], I suddenly saw the people in the meeting standing before this great altar, and on the altar was something so shiny that I was not able to make out what it was.

"We stood before the altar, in awe, humility and fear because every hidden thing was exposed, there was no hiding place, and while we could have drawn back, we did not. So we began to weep in repentance, pouring out our very hearts before Him. All this went up as a vortex before Him and soon His fire fell upon us and this vortex went up in flames, not to destroy, but to cleanse. This went on for a time until finally the flames started dying down and in place of the flames were drops of gold, and as it became purer and purer it appeared to be raining drops of gold. These drops of gold seemed to be falling onto the altar into this shiny object as if something were being formed, I could not see it, so I am not sure.

"Then Yah'shua (Jesus) appeared before us, behind the altar and we fell to our knees. One by one He came to us and gave us something, what it was I could not see, but it was something so very important and sacred. I thought perhaps it was a ring, but I am not sure, and it may well have a stone or simply a mark. But it signified that we were His, that we belonged only to Him.

"While it was very personal and intimate and our experience with Him was unique, after He gave this object to us each, it was clear that it had to do with something much greater than just our personal relationship with Him, that we were part of something much bigger, and what we had done this day would affect many" (The Great 2015 Dedication Testimonies VIII: Avah Batyah).

The ongoing New Covenant function of this altar of sacrifice in the Melchizedek Tabernacle, within the once-and-for-all accomplished Atonement of Messiah, is as this vision describes. This is where each and every member of the Remnant must offer up his or her life to Messiah (the way we are supposed to come to faith, but in reality something we must usually return to many times in our life as we deeped our committment), as He offered up His for us, aligns us on the invisible cross (Mt.10:38) marked out by all the items of sacred furniture, whose end goal is the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat of Yahweh, and brings us into echad union with Messianic Israel, and specifically, with those who have been called and chosen to become avadim (servants) in, and of, the Royal Melchizedek Priesthood, which, unlike the old Aaronic Priesthood, is an age-abiding or eternal priesthood reserved for the overcomers - whose who have yield their all to Messiah.

When I survey the wondrous on which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.

See! from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown.

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Amen.

From the Brazen Altar of Sacrifice we pass on to the Brazen Laver which we shall speak about tomorrow. May Yahweh bless you as you contemplate the deep spiritual implications of the Brazen Altar to which we are all figuratively called in self-sacrifice. We cannot bypass it to enter the Sanctuary, nor indeed the last item, the Laver. Until tomorrow, may Yahweh bless you and keep you as you meditate on these things and present yourself a living sacrifice. Amen.

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