BUILDING THE ALTAR
"Everything Starts at
an Altar"
INTRO: I love weddings. Two
people come together to become one. They
stand in front of people and make vows to one another. The place they stand in called an
"altar". Let me quote from the
wedding text I have used multiple times:
"Marriage
is God’s idea and He still calls couples to hallow this sacred union at a holy
altar..."
We are not going
to talk about marriage today, but we are going to talk about altars. You see, everything starts at an altar...
TEXT Ezra 3:1–6 (NKJV) And when the seventh
month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people
gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. 2Then Jeshua the son of
Jozadak and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and
his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt
offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3Though
fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the
altar on its bases; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both
the morning and evening burnt offerings. 4They also kept the Feast
of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings in the
number required by ordinance for each day. 5Afterwards they offered
the regular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed
feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly
offered a freewill offering to the Lord. 6From the first day of the
seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the
foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid.
The remnant of
Israel had come home to re-build the temple.
Ezra 3:1 (NKJV) And when the seventh month had come, and
the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one
man to Jerusalem.
Early autumn
(September-October), the beginning of the seventh month on the Jewish
calendar. This is a very significant
month. Three festivals are celebrated:
Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. Trumpets was a day of fasting and
repentance; the Day of Atonement was the day the high priest went into the Holy
of Holies and sprinkled blood on the Mercy Seat; and the Feast of Tabernacles
was a celebration of God's provision in their wilderness journey!
They had one
heart and one purpose. Great things happen when people are one in heart.
Psalms
133:1 (NKJV) Behold, how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Acts
2:1 (NKJV) When
the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
In the church we
have only one purpose: to give glory to God.
Colossians
3:23–24 (NKJV) And
whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24knowing
that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you
serve the Lord Christ.
Before that work
even began, an altar was constructed.
Ezra
3:2 (NKJV) Then
Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son
of Shealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the
altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt
offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.
Everything begins with an altar...
Throughout the
Old Testament men built altars. Noah built an altar when he came out of the
ark; Abraham built altars many times in Canaan; Isaac built an altar; Moses
built altars and gave instructions for the construction of the altar of the
Tabernacle; Joshua built altars; the children of Israel built altars; Gideon
and other judges built altars; prophets built altars; Saul, David, and Solomon
all built altars; the later kings built altars; altars play a prominent role in
the New Testament; Calvary is described as an altar in the book of Hebrews; altars
are mentioned at least seven times in the book of Revelations. Altars are important!
What is an altar? (Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical
Theology)
Altars
could be natural objects or man-made constructs. Four materials are recorded as
being used in altars: stone, earth, metal, and brick. Archaeology has provided
numerous examples of altars from Palestine dating back to approximately 3000
b.c. Natural rocks were also used (Judges 6:20). An altar could stand alone, or
it was located in the courtyard of a shrine or temple.
What is the purpose of an altar?
Altars
were places where the divine and human worlds interacted.
Altars
were places of exchange, communication, and influence. God responded actively to
altar activity. The contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal involving
an altar demonstrated interaction between Yahweh and Baal. Noah built an altar
and offered a sacrifice to Yahweh. God smelled the aroma and found it pleasing.
He responded to Noah’s action by declaring that he would never again destroy
all living things through a flood. In the patriarchal period, altars were
markers of place, commemorating an encounter with God (Gen. 12:7), or physical
signs of habitation. Abraham built an altar where he pitched his tent between
Bethel and Ai. At that altar he “called on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 12:8).
The
horns of the altar allowed the sacrifice to be tied down. They may have
functioned as boundary markers, setting apart the sacred space that was the
actual place of intersection of the divine and human spheres. This sacred altar
and its horns, where the atoning blood was splashed, provided a place of
sanctuary. The altar was a place where an unintentional murderer could gain a
haven (Exod. 21:13–14). In an oracle against Israel (Amos 3:14), God declared
that “the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.” The
message is clear: There will be no place to intercede with God, and no place to
claim his sanctuary.
An
altar was a place of sacrifice,
more specifically, burnt offerings. In this first part of Ezra 3, the term is
used some seven times. It is used 441 times in 367 verses in the Bible. I would say that makes it important!
The
Hebrew word for altar is mizbēah, comes
from a verbal root meaning “to slaughter.” Sacrifices were the primary medium
of exchange in altar interactions. The priestly code of Leviticus devotes a
great deal of space to proper sacrificial procedure, and to what sacrifices are
appropriate in various circumstances. Sacrifice was the essential act of
external worship. Unlike the divinities of the nations surrounding ancient
Israel, Yahweh did not need sacrifices to survive. The Israelites, however,
needed to perform the act of sacrifice in order to survive (Exod. 30:21). The
act of sacrifice moved the offering from the profane to the sacred, from the
visible to the invisible world. By this action the worshiper sealed a contract
with God. Blood, believed to contain the “life” of an animal (or a human
being), was particularly important in the sacrificial ritual. It was sprinkled
against the altar (Lev. 1); once a year, blood was smeared on the horns of the
incense altar and sprinkled on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.
They rebuilt on the old site.
Ezra
3:3 (NKJV) Though
fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases (foundations); and
they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening
burnt offerings.
What was the old
site? It was exactly where Solomon's Temple had rested. It was a place divinely
chosen by God to rest His Presence perpetually!
Deuteronomy
12:5 (NKJV) “But
you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your
tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
1
Kings 9:3 (NKJV) And
the Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you
have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put
My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
It had quite a
history!
Genesis
22:1–2 (NKJV)Now
it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him,
“Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2Then He said, “Take now your
son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall
tell you.”
Abraham offering
Isaac was a picture of God the Father offering up Jesus. The Lamb was a
substitute for Isaac; the guiltless for the guilty. Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!
1
Chronicles 21:14–30 (NKJV) So
the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 15And
God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the Lord
looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying,
“It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the
threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16Then David lifted his eyes
and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his
hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders,
clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17And David said to God,
“Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has
sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your
hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not
against Your people that they should be plagued.” 18Therefore, the
angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect
an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19So
David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20Now
Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid
themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. 21So David came to
Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing
floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground. 22Then David
said to Ornan, “Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an
altar on it to the Lord. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the
plague may be withdrawn from the people.” 23But Ornan said to David,
“Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes.
Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements
for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all.” 24Then
King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for
I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that
which costs me nothing.” 25So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels
of gold by weight for the place. 26And David built there an altar to
the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the
Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering. 27So
the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath. 28At
that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor
of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29For the tabernacle of
the Lord and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the
wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon. 30But
David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword
of the angel of the Lord.
The
altar is costly. It cost David. It cost the Father. It cost Jesus.
1
Chronicles 22:1 (NKJV) Then
David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt
offering for Israel.”
2
Chronicles 3:1 (NKJV) Now
Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah,
where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had
prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
So on this very
same place the renewed remnant offered the sacrifices God required.
The necessity of a blood sacrifice
Leviticus
17:11 (NKJV) For
the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar
to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for
the soul.’
Hebrews
9:22 (NKJV) And
according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without
shedding of blood there is no remission.
There was a problem, however. The
daily sacrifices of the lambs and other animals and the multitude of bulls and
goats were a constant reminder of sin.
But they could never take away sin!
Hebrews 10:1–4 (NKJV) For the
law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the
things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year
by year, make those who approach perfect. 2For then would they not
have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no
more consciousness of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a
reminder of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats could take away sins.
Jesus is our perfect blood sacrifice!
John 1:29 (NKJV) The next day John saw Jesus coming
toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world!
Romans 3:25–26 (NKJV) Whom God set forth as a propitiation by
His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His
forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26to
demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and
the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans
3:25-26 (NLT) For God presented Jesus as
the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that
Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God
was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times
past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this
present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is
fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they
believe in Jesus.
Jesus was offered 'once for all'!
Romans
6:10 (NKJV) For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to
God.
Hebrews
9:12 (NKJV) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His
own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all,
having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews
9:26 (NKJV) He then would have had to suffer often since the
foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of
the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Hebrews
9:28 (NKJV) So
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin,
for salvation.
Hebrews
10:10 (NKJV) By
that will (the new covenant) we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hallelujah! we
are set free totally by the work of Christ! We don't have to live in guilt; we
don't have to live in fear. We don't have to prove ourselves to God every day
that we are worthy of His interceding on our behalf.
Hebrews 4:16
(NKJV) Let us therefore come boldly to the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need.
Hebrews 7:25
(NKJV) Therefore He is also able to save to the
uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make
intercession for them.
Now, I have to
be honest. As a pastor I loved using all
the verses about making sacrifices. I
loved using phrases like: "You gotta pay the price!"; "God wants
you to sacrifice for Him!"; and "Have you given it all?" We sang hymns like "Is Your All on the Altar?" and "I Surrender All".
All these are
well and good if used correctly, but can be something strangely satisfying to
the flesh to feel you have sacrificed for the Lord. It can become a flesh enlarger and not a
flesh killer! We can become like a spiritual Pharisee and see ourselves better
than others!
Colossians
2:20–23 (NKJV) Therefore,
if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though
living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—21“Do
not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22which all concern things
which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
23These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed
religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against
the indulgence of the flesh.
It is all of
grace! Our sacrifice is obedience out of a grateful and loving heart!
1
Samuel 15:22–23 (NKJV) So
Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as
in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and
to heed than the fat of rams.
Psalm
51:16–17 (NKJV) For
You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in
burnt offering. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a
broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
Proverbs
21:3 (NKJV) To do
righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Isaiah
1:11–20 (NKJV) “To
what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have
had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not
delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. 12“When you
come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My
courts? 13Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination
to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot
endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. 14Your New Moons and your appointed
feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. 15When
you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make
many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 16“Wash
yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before
My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke
the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. 18“Come
now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they
shall be as wool. 19If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat
the good of the land; 20But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be
devoured by the sword”; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Micah 6:6–8 (NKJV) With what
shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come
before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I
give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my
soul? 8He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord
require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your
God?
Romans 12:1 (NLT) And
so, dear brothers and sisters, because of all He has done for you, I plead with
you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the
kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ALTAR
Jesus was not
offered on Mount Moriah, but was offered outside the camp! Calvary is our
altar!
Hebrews
13:10–13 (NKJV) We
have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11For
the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the
high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12Therefore Jesus
also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside
the gate. 13Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp,
bearing His reproach.
INVITATION
Come to the Altar
We Bow Low
