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.  There was to be an altar in the tabernacle.  I believe that today we could say that our heart is the altar of our tabernacle, where we should place everything as a sacrifice to God.  Verse two states,  And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.  There were to be horns of brass on the four corners of the altar.  The brass would keep the wood from being burned up when the fire came down from heaven.  The altar was not a place of beauty, but of sacrifice, just as it should be today.  Verse three adds, And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.  As just stated, this was to be a place of death, not beauty.  When we come to the altar today, it should be to die to self.  Verse four continues, And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.  There was to be a brass net under the altar.  Verse five says, And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.  The net was to be placed under the altar in the middle of it.  Verse six states, And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.  Verse seven adds, And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.  Then verse eight concludes, Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.  These staves were to be made to fit into the net, just as God had instructed Moses to make it.  Just like the altar, the cross was not a place of beauty, but a place of death.  We today must sacrifice everything to God at the cross when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord.