Day 31 What is an Altar?
Altars in the Old Testament were meeting places with God. Most times they were built because God had revealed Himself or intervened in the life of the worshipper.
The first altar we know of was built by Noah in response to God preserving him and his family through the flood (Genesis 8:20,21). Abraham (Genesis 12:7,8) Isaac (Genesis 26:25) and Jacob (Genesis 35:7) each built altars after God’s blessing and intervention in their lives.
Altars were for sacrifices. Men and women knew a holy God could not be approached without the sacrificial death of an animal on their behalf.
But altars were not just to atone for sin. In fact most altars the Bible mentions before the Tabernacle was built were an expression of thankfulness to God and consecration of the worshipper.
It’s interesting that God’s intervention preceded the building of an altar. Consecration followed a revelation by God of Himself. We can’t call people to consecration who have had no revelation of God for themselves.
A true meeting with God brings death to our flesh. In this sense altars always speak of death. If we try to save our life we lose it, but if we willingly give it up, we find it in a new way. You find yourself when you give your life back to the One who created you.
We never outgrow the need for an altar. We should never find ourselves far from one.
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