The best way to look at it 

Weird fiber optics type illustration to try. Things sure look different through the straws. It’s kinda hard to get a clear picture one straw at a time. 

Exodus 27:1 says, “And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.”

It can be difficult to read about the altar and the Old Testament sacrificial system, but perhaps Hebrews 9:22-24 gives one of the clearest ways to look at the need for those sacrifices: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:”

Those sacrifices showed the seriousness of sin and the need for sins to be paid for, and ultimately they looked forward to Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice. Only His death, His sacrifice can save from sin. Only His sacrifice paid sin’s penalty. 

That’s a convicting way to look at the cost of our own sin for sure!

Today’s Bible reading is Exodus 27.