Change: Alter Ourselves Vs. God’s Altar
Often, we attempt to alter ourselves and our circumstances in our own power. But, what if instead of striving to alter ourselves, we went to the Lord’s altar?
Alter versus Altar
The Old and New Testaments describe physical altars built by humans for various practices.
Likewise, we may attend a church that provides an altar—a place for prayer. While this is an opportunity to call upon the Lord during corporate gatherings, there’s an unseen altar just as powerful.
And maybe even more life-changing. An altar with the purpose to really alter us.
Because the term altar is symbolic of God’s presence.
Jesus’ sacrifice made a way for us to enter the Holy of Holies. We gained access to the Almighty’s presence for any moment in time or any place. Click To TweetThroughout God’s Word, we find many altars. Yet, during my research for this post, most altars fell in two main categories.
Altars to and for God
An altar to God: for His glory and purposes, for spiritual healing, and for the Lord to help His people.
Still further, the Bible contains account after account of real change that takes place at God’s altar.
Abram. In Genesis 12, the Lord leads Abram to Bethel in the land of Canaan. God promises to give the land to Abram’s offspring. So, Abram built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord (verse 8).
Further, Abram followed God’s direction. The text says he went, as the Lord had told him. Later renamed, Abraham, he builds altars near where the Lord directed him to pitch his tent. And over in Genesis 26, Abraham’s son, Isaac, followed the Lord’s leading and his father’s example in building altars.
Moses. In Exodus 24, Moses built an altar to the Lord to confirm the Lord’s covenant. “Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do’” (verse 3). Later, God gave Moses the commandments on stone tablets as he went up the mountain to meet with God and bask in His glory for 40 days.
Priests. The Old Testament identifies altars for the purpose of various sacrifices and offerings made to a Holy God. Offerings included burnt/animal offerings, grain and drink offerings, peace offerings, guilt offerings, and sin offerings (shedding of blood). Priests carried out their offerings for the people in the Most Holy Place. Jesus Christ became our sin offering and sacrificial Lamb without blemish. Read more about offerings in the book of Leviticus.
Altars to and for Other gods
An altar to another god: to glorify a false god, to carry out religious rituals in hopes of life-altering change.
Unholy altars. Pagans built altars to pagan gods. Still, God’s people often built or visited altars to other gods. The Lord’s own even removed God’s altars and sometimes replaced them with unholy altars.
But—and this is a monumental but—altars to unholy gods never alter circumstances or people. Ever.
Altars to unholy gods never alter circumstances or people. Ever. Click To TweetA Life-altering Altar
God’s altar described in Scripture.
- A place of prayer. Thanksgiving. Praise. Petition. Direction. Intercession. “…prayers for all the saints on the golden altar before the throne” Revelation 8:3. (Also see Isaiah 56:6-7)
- Atonement (forgiveness) of sins. (Ezekiel 45:19)
- Reconciliation with God and others. (Romans 5, Matthew 5:23-24)
- Worship of the One true God. (Revelation 11:1)
- Knowledge and truth. “And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!’” Revelation 16:7.
- To seek God’s face. “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek’” Psalm 17:8.
- To meet with God at His mercy seat. “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel” Exodus 25:22.
Like me, do you sometimes struggle between alter and altar? Tell us in the comments.
Read my post about unadulterated worship.
*All Scripture ESV.
Featured top photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash.
Middle photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.
Last photo by Anthony Intraversato on Unsplash.
*Sometimes I participate in these link-ups:
Ronja Oksanen/ #AboundingGrace, Rachel Lee #DestinationInspiration, Debbie Kitterman/#Dare2Hear, Lori Schumaker/#momentsofhope, Jaime Wiebel/#SittingAmongFriends, Crystal Twadell/Fresh Market Friday, Kelly Balarie/Purposeful Faith, Patricia Holbrook/Soaring With Him, Meghan Weyerbacher/TeaandtheWord, Lyli Dunbar/#FaithOnFire & Crystal Storms/Heart Encouragement.
© 2019 by Karen Friday, All rights reserved
What a great picture to help us understand this concept. How true it is that we build altars to false gods hoping we will change. But only God can truly change us and make us righteous. Love this and pinned it! Enjoyed being your neighbor on #DestinationInspiration today. 🙂
Thanks, Emily. Altars to unholy gods never alter circumstances or people. Ever. May we meet with God daily expecting His holiness to change us…alter us…make us holy as He is holy.
Only He can truly empower us to make those choices and changes that need to be made …
What a Savior!
Amen, Linda! “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek’” Psalm 17:8.
This blog post is so good! I love how you see the connection between the fact that people don’t go to God and his “altar” and instead attempt to “alter” themselves. Sadly, this is happening way too much these days.
Lisa, thanks so much for your kind words. I like to speak and write messages on areas the Lord is teaching me in His classroom. Our natural tendency in the flesh is to attempt to alter ourselves, or worse, look to something serving as a god in our heart to change us. It’s harder and takes intentional walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) to desire to become a living sacrifice on God’s altar (Romans 12). But oh the transformation that takes place when we do!
Amen. We are called to worship Him, not people and certainly not things. While reading your message this morning, I am reminded of the song by Elevation Worship called “Come to the Altar”. I am going to listen to the song right now. 🙂
I love that song as well, Melissa. We sing it at our church. And, yes, may we answer the Lord’s calling to come to His altar…a life-altering altar where real change takes place.
I LOVE this, Karen! I think it’s such a powerful contrast and metaphor for the choice we make each day. We can either alter our behaviors and attitudes in our own strength or come before Christ’s altar, surrendering those efforts so that He can work in and through us! Very cool post, my friend! I’ll be pinning and tweeting! Thanks for all the research you did on this post as well!
Hey Beth, you’re so sweet! I like how you said, “…surrendering those efforts so that He can work in us and through us!” I agree 100%!
“Lord, help us run to Your presence daily, empty-handed, as we surrender our plans and attempts to bring about change our way. Surely, our way is only surface and superficial compared to the deep-level transforming work You complete in us. Amen.”
The only thing that can alter us is God Himself. May we bow in worship at His altar.
Wonderful post, Karen!
Hi Martha, appreciate you reading and commenting. As we submit to God’s Lordship and worship His splendor and majesty, may it alter our heart, our thoughts, our actions and reactions…make us more like Jesus.
I love the way you think, girlfriend. This really stirs self-reflection. Thanks.
Nan, thanks sweet friend. I’m grateful for you and knew we were kindred-spirits and now like-minded as well. 🙂 May we remember real change takes place before a life-altering God. Hugs!
I love the play on words–alter and altar. May we always seek to be at His altar so He can alter us His way. Lovely! God bless!
Yes, Lord, alter us YOUR way at the only altar that matters…meeting with You and coming in to Your presence.
I do struggle between altar and alter. I think because I also struggle with be still and be busy. It’s so hard to admit there’s nothing I can do to change myself or my circumstances other than to be still and humble before God.
So true, Stephanie! I relate to your struggles, friend! If we can just grasp how many times we fail to see results or poor outcomes when we attempt to alter our circumstances, our life, and even ourselves in our own power.
But, when we go to God’s altar, real lasting and sustainable change takes place.
Wow! Karen, the depth and layers you uncovered here is incredible. I appreciated all the different examples of altars and their purposes that you described so we could apply all the nuances of altar- building in our own lives. Truly, our only hope in altering our lives, to grow more Christlike, is to draw near to the Presence of the Lord. Powerful truth!
Thanks so much, Melissa. I’m “preaching to the choir” here…as usual. And you are spot on, our only hope to alter our lives and grow to resemble Christ is drawing near to the Lord and His presence.
“And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!’” Revelation 16:7.
Unfortunately, being human, broken, and flawed, we attempt our own transformation first. We think we have the power to alter ourselves through our own good choices, positivity, and decisions about how we will act. But our hearts are desperately wicked. Eventually, our meanness, lack of self awareness and self worth, shallow consideration of others, overlooking of other’s needs, pooh-poohing of God’s work, or other of our myriad flaws will reassert themselves. And there we are, completely, still unaltered. Little things like exhaustion and hunger, especially in combination, vividly illustrate this. Only God can repair the damage. Throughout the course of our lives, he works to bring growth and change. We’re not “finished” until we’re face to face with him. I thank God for his mercy and grace to people like us, broken as we are. What a kind and loving God we serve!
Good word, Melinda. This is humbling to consider after all our efforts when you said, “still unaltered.” Since we are broken vessels and God alone repairs the damage, may we remember Christ transforms us, not people or things or other gods or ourselves!
Karen,
Yes, the only true way to alter our lives (hearts, minds, and behavior) is to surrender ourselves on the altar of God. And He is ever faithful to pour out grace, love, and the wisdom to become more like Him.
Good stuff here, my friend. I love this: ” what if instead of striving to alter ourselves, we went to the Lord’s altar?
Blessings!
So true, Beckie. Authentic and sustainable altering takes place in all those areas you mentioned. And “surrender” is the key. If we keep hanging on to our own fixes and our own way, we’ll never let go…that’s the only way change happens.
Blessings to you!
Karen, I love this post and your thoughts on “altars” and “alter”. So powerful and well written. Worshipping at God’s altar is sure to alter us in a good way.
Thank you, Laurie. So thankful Jesus’ sacrifice made a way for us to enter the Holy of Holies. We gained access to the Almighty’s presence for any moment in time or any place. May we go into His presence daily for transformation.
True transformation is made at the altar. Great post. Love the way you breakdown the HUGE difference between alter and altar.
It is a huge difference, Yvonne, right? Thankful our access to God’s presence changed the moment the veil in the temple leading to the Holy of holies was torn. Truer transformation doesn’t exist anywhere else. Hallelujah! Thanks for commenting!
This is profound: “altars to unholy gods never alter circumstances or people. Ever.” How powerful God’s altar is to those who approach it with respect and humility, and an earnest desire to please God. I think of Cain and Abel and Eli’s sons who approached what we might consider to be God’s altar, but were in fact altars to something else. Thank you for this insight, Karen.
Good examples, Stephen. And approaching God’s altar “…with respect and humility, and an earnest desire to please God” are great thoughts.
Appreciate you commenting and sharing your thoughts.
What an insightful post! Thank you for taking the time to dig into this and share what you gleaned from God’s Word. There are definitely times I try to alter what needs to be brought to God’s altar! I’ve never really thought of it in the way you’ve presented it here, so your post has given me fresh perspective.
Thank you, Jana. I like how you said we try to alter what needs to be brought to God’s altar. I guess that’s where we miss it and need help…ask God to remind us WHAT needs to be brought before Him. Thanks for commenting.
What great examples of all the way God intended us to use the altar. Great reminder of the importance of altars in our lives. Thanks
Appreciate your comment, Yvonne. If we just remember God’s altar is for His glory and purposes, for spiritual healing, and for the Lord to help His people.
You just made something much clearer to me – why we call our family Bible time “family altar.” When I first heard the term I didn’t know what the person meant. Then I realized it was just family Bible time. But you have made me realize it is MUCH more than just reading the Bible and praying together – it is those 7 points you mention. I’m going to have to print this out and keep it in my Bible to ponder on. Thanks!
Janine, I like that…”family altar.” And, yes, “Lord, show us how much deeper Your altar takes us as we dwell in Your presence.” Thanks for commenting!