Man Made Altars

Exodus 20:23-25 - You shall not make anything to be with Me--gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. An altar of earth you shall make for Me...And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.


Oh, how the ideas are running through my head on this. Most of what I'm writing is a feeling I have that I seem to be having a difficult time tying together in words... There are so many biblical inferences to altars...or idols.


God is telling us, it's all about our heart attitudes toward Him, not the gradiose things we do. It's not the works we do that will gain God's attention--in relation to salvation. It's our humbled heart that comes to Him to first receive Him. We do not need to build a great altar of gold or silver, but an altar of earth is all that is required of Him, nothing that we have set our hands to to create.

If you know the story that comes later in Exodus, Aaron was pressured by the people in Moses' long-delayed absence (while He was in God's presence) to create a golden calf so they would have something to go before them. Aaron gathered all their precious gold and hand carved this calf for them. They were chastised for it when Moses returned. God was angry.


Where am I going with all this? "An altar of earth..." "Not hewn stone..." Simple, plain, humble, nothing we can create, but God... I'm reminded that we can worship the Lord in our own hearts at any time. If we are imperfect people and He's willing to meet us there...what a wonderful thing to realize. It's not the outward appearance He looks at but our hearts. 1Samuel 16:17b - For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. We are called to go to God in an attitude of humility, as James 4:10 tells us "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up."


Go humbly to Him within our hearts. Once salvation is received and we give our hearts to God, our heart can be that altar. It has become a spiritual altar, one that God has changed...actually from a heart of stone to one of flesh. Stone...flesh. A simple heart... good enough.


I had written this blog Sunday morning before going to church in Arizona. And what did Pastor John discuss? How God looks at the heart. He talked about the leper in Mark 1 whom Jesus healed. Jesus went to him...an unclean man...just like we are...unclean...we are pretty much lepers until we receive Jesus. He cleans us up. He always socialized with the unclean. He did just the opposite of what the religious leaders would have done...and was criticized for it. This leper had an awful outward appearance but Jesus knew his heart.


Oswald Chambers tells us in his My Utmost for His Highest devotion for March 6 "it takes Almighty grace to take the next step when there is no vision and no spectator..." It's in the trivial things that we do that God delights in. "...the steady perseveringly work in the unseen..." Although Chambers is talking about sacrifice and worshiping Him in the dullness of our days and the tedium, I think it adds to the thought of not building this huge altar to get God's attention but in the quiet of our own hearts.

God loves simplicity not grandeur. Jesus came humbly into this world, through humble parents, humble lifestyle, humble means. He did not come to be served but to serve. Prior to His death, He invited His disciples to join Him at the Passover feast. As was customary for one inviting guests, a servant would wash the guests' feet. Jesus again humbled Himself and did this for them even though He was their Savior. So altars...God does not require an altar of magnificence...a humble one will do...heart humbled is the greatest altar He would receive from us.

We are told God resides in a tabernacle not made by man's hand in Hebrews 9:11. It's spiritual in nature. When we receive Christ, we receive the assurance that we have a new spiritual nature and it's through our heart attitude and our coming to Christ through our hearts that is important. No altars made of stone or gold or silver (that was so Old Testament!). Nothing outward, nothing glitzy but humble. Heart and heart attitude. Hebrews 10:19 tells us we have the confidence to enter into the Holy of Holies through the blood of Christ. How do we do that when there is no physical building, no physical sanctuaryand no physical altar is required....it's through our hearts, having received Christ.

No man made altars...coming as we are with all our imperfections...receiving forgiveness of our sins by accepting Christ. In the Old Testament physical altars were used for physical sacrifices. Today we have Jesus. He was our sacrifice. Being in Christ we come as we are sacrificing ourselves, worshiping Him, with the altar of our heart.


Romans 12:1 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.