«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Deut. 27:6-8 With unhewn stones you shall build the altar of Jehovah your God. Then you shall offer up burnt offerings upon it to Jehovah your God; and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God. Then you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very clearly.

　　In Deuteronomy 27:1-7 Moses gave commandments to the children of Israel regarding erecting large stones, building an altar, and offering burnt offerings and peace offerings on this altar. In the day they crossed over the Jordan into the land which Jehovah was giving to them, at the entry of the good land, they were to erect large stones, coat them with plaster, and write upon them the Ten Commandments. These stones may be considered a monument. Beside this monument, they were to build an altar. Thus, two things were set up—a monument and an altar.

　　As God’s requirements, the Ten Commandments are an expression of God Himself; they are a portrait of what God is. In particular, the Ten Commandments reveal that God is love and light and that He is holy and righteous. Thus, the monument at the entry to the land was actually the very God Himself. God was standing there, revealing Himself to the children of Israel and making His requirements known to them. God, according to what He is, had His requirements, and the people had to satisfy these requirements. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 181-182)

　　We need an altar because we cannot measure up to the requirements of what is written on the monument....Christ, the very God, is holy and righteous, and He is full of love and light. We cannot match Him. Therefore, we need an altar—we need the cross….[The altar] was the place where the offerings were burned as sacrifices to the God who made requirements of the people and who placed demands upon them. The burning of the sacrifices satisfied the requiring God.

　　The offerings burned on the altar as sacrifices for God’s satisfaction signify Christ. On the one hand, Christ is the One who makes the requirements; on the other hand, Christ is the One who meets and satisfies these requirements. We cannot meet His requirements, but He Himself has come to be our Substitute to replace us and to fulfill what He requires of us. This reveals that He is both the requiring One and the fulfilling One.

　　In the universe today there is a wonderful scene unveiling Christ to us….First, in this scene we see Christ as the embodiment of God standing before us with His demands and requirements according to what He is. Second, we see the altar, which signifies the cross of Christ. Because we cannot fulfill His requirements, He came to be our Redeemer, to be the One cursed for us on the cross (Gal. 3:13). The requiring One is thus the fulfilling One. When this One was crucified, He was consumed by fire as the sacrifice to satisfy God and to fulfill His requirements.

　　This scene reveals that it is through the monument, the altar, and the offerings—through the requiring God, the cross of Christ, and Christ Himself as the offerings—that we enter into the good land. It is also through the monument, the altar, and the offerings that we receive all the blessings which God would give us in Christ. All these blessings are actually the processed Triune God Himself embodied in Christ.

　　We all need to see that the One who stands before us with His requirements is the Triune God in Christ, that the altar is the cross of Christ, and that, as signified by the offerings, Christ is our Redeemer....May we all see this wonderful scene with the monument, the altar, and the offerings, if we have this vision, we will surely say, “Hallelujah for God, for the cross of Christ, and for Christ, our Redeemer and Substitute!” (Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 182-184)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 37, ch. 3; CWWN, vol. 9, pp. 275-283