Guardrails Pt. 5: Come to the Altar

Genesis 8:20-22 NLT - 20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21 And the LORD was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night."

■ Altar – mizbēaḥ - meaning altar, a place of slaughter.  This specific word occurs in the bible 401 times in 338 verses.

1. The Purpose of the Altar.

• Sacrifice: A place where offerings are made to God. 

• Worship: A place for expressing gratitude and reverence. 

• Communion: A place where people can connect with God. 

• Memorial: A reminder of God's presence and promises. 

Genesis 6:5-6 NLT - 5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.

1Kings 16:32-33 ESV - 32 He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

• A Babylonian-Canaanite goddess of fortune and happiness.

Exodus 20:4-6 NLT - 4 "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected--even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

Malachi 2:13 ESV - 13 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

• Our methods may change, but He never changes!

Exodus 20:3 KJV - 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. New Covenant, New Altar.

Hebrews 13:8-14 NLT - 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God's grace, not from rules about food, which don't help those who follow them. 10 We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. 12 So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. 13 So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. 14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

■ Altar – thysiastērion – A place of sacrifice. Metaphorically: the cross on which Christ suffered an excruciating death.

Jesus is calling you!