ALTAR is a word whose meaning depends on the context. We get married at the altar. Some have served as altar boys or girls. In many churches altar calls, the powerful and life-changing time where people kneel in humility to pray, confess sin, or dedicate themselves to God…has sadly been removed. An ALTAR is a flat-topped block used as the focus of a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices to a deity. The figurative phrase ‘to sacrifice on the altar of” means to make someone or something suffer in the interests of someone else. We used to sing the hymn, “Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart, does the Spirit control? You can only be blessed, and find peace and sweet rest, as you give Him your body and soul.” Now we sing the modern song, “O Come to the Altar, the Father’s arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.” Both expressions about what occurs at the altar for Christ-followers are true. Where Priests used to sacrifice animals to atone for the sins of the people, “God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.” (Hebrews.10:10) Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1) We too often forget what a painful, humbling, yet loving, priceless, and committed place an altar is. At certain points in their journey the patriarchs were told to build an altar: at times of personal sacrifice, to appreciate God’s Divine intervention, or to establish that a certain place belonged to Him alone. We don’t build literal altars anymore but, when was that last time you knelt in gratitude, worship, or humility and made an altar to the Lord?
