As Builders of Altars
The
Canadian Intermediate Dictionary defines Altar as a table or stand in the most
sacred part of a church, chapel, synagogue, or temple. A raised place built of
earth or stone on which to make sacrifices or burn offerings to a YAHVEH.
Webster’s New World Hebrew Dictionary defines Altar as Hbzm mis-bay-akh, an Altar a place used to
slaughter an animal usually in sacrifice. But spiritually it is a place to draw
near to YAHVEH.
In the olden days the
Altar was regarded as a contact point between heaven and earth. For this
reason, Altars were often built on high elevations. It is like an Altar was a
portal between the realm of man and the realm of the divine. The Altar was
considered the Holiness of YAHVEH and when we touch it, we enter the presence
of YAHVEH. Through the Altar sacrifices the smoke ascended to YAHVEH, because the
Altar itself is a portal to YAHVEH. Therefore through the medium, of a Korban
blood sacrifice the soul was brought into the presence of YAHVEH.
In the book of Exodus
instructions were given by Adonai to Moses to build five in the Tabernacle in
the Wilderness. We will be looking, at or discussing these Altars in greater
details in other chapters. I will now look at the different Altars build by
individuals in Scriptures.
First let
us look at the instructions given to Moses on how to build an Altar. Exodus 20:18 ” Now all the people witnessed
the thundering, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the
mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood
afar off. 19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we
will hear; but let not YAHVEH speak with us, lest we die.”
20 And
Moses said to the people “Do not fear; for YAHVEH has come to test you, and
that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” 21 So the
people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where YAHVEH was.
22 Then
YAHVEH said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Yisrael: ‘You have
seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 ‘You shall not make
anything to be with Me—YAHVEHs of silver or YAHVEHs of
gold you shall not make for yourselves.
24 ‘An
altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt
offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place
where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. 25 ‘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. 26‘Nor shall you go
up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’”
Notice in verse 19 of Exodus 20 that the people stood afar
off; it is always those who come near to Adonai who build Altars. This
experience would have been similar to Moses’ Burning Bush experience; it was on
this same mountain that Moses got to experience YAHVEH visually. But Moses draws
near to where Adonai was, and YAHVEH gave Moses instructions on how the people
were to draw near to Him. In verse 24, an Altar of earth, the dust of the
earth, our flesh, is what Adonai wanted to be an Altar to Him. In verse 25, if
you make me and Altar of stone, this altar must not be made according to human
hands, as Daniel one illustration of the stone, not cut by human hand that
struck the feet of the statue, is symbolic of The Messiyah Yahushua, the
Anointed Son of YAHVEH.
In every study of the Tabernacle
in the Wilderness, we see, five Altar; two in the Outer Court
The next Altar to be
constructed is the Laver, made of solid Brass. Note carefully that this Altar
has no dimension, and it is made from the mirror of the women of Yisrael. It is
also the only Altar that has water in it. In John 19:34 “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and
immediately blood and water came out.” This water is
that which cleans us from all unrighteous bondage, as the Children of Yisrael
were freed from the bondage of Egypt
by going through the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s
army was destroyed. Each and every one of us must build this Altar for
ourselves, a place where we can go and have ourselves examined daily.
By looking into this Altar we will see ourselves in Yahushua,
and if there is any defect in us we can wash it away with that water that flows
from His side. The High Priest in the days of Moses could not enter into the Holy Place without first washing themselves at this
Altar, so too we cannot appreciate a Holy YAHVEH without first cleansing our
garments or remove all unclean spirits from our lives. This Altar however costs
us something; the things that bind us to the world system must be destroyed as
Pharaoh’s army was destroyed in the Red Sea .
It is imperative that after we complete this Altar in our lives that we
do not stop there or else the following scriptures apply to us. Matthew 12:43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through
dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44“Then he says, ‘I will
return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it
empty, swept, and put in order. 45“Then he goes and takes with him
seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there;
and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also
be with this wicked generation.” Notice in the above scripture how
the evil spirit counterfeits the Holy Spirit. It was seven unclean spirits that
came back into that man, similar to the seven spirit of the next Altar.
The
next Altar is the Altar of the Golden Lamp stand (menorah) the seven Spirits of
Isaiah 11:2 “The
Spirit of YAHVEH shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of
YAHVEH.” I believe that on the Day of Pentecost,
the Apostles experienced this Altar in its fullness. This Altar is the only
continuous light in the Holy Place .
John 12: 46 “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever
believes in Me should not abide in darkness. 47“And if anyone hears
My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge
the world but to save the world. 48“He who rejects Me, and does not
receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will
judge him in the last day.”
Revelation 5:6 say
that these seven spirits has gone out into the entire world, which means that
it is available to all of us. These seven spirits form the foundation for the
fruit of the spirit. Without the Spirit there can be no fruit. Without and
establishment to the Apple tree there can be no apples. Without the
establishment of these seven Spirits there can be no lasting love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This Altar is symbolic to the Blood from the right-hand of the Lamb of YAHVEH.
The next Altar to be built in our lives is the Altar of
Showbread, which is the Word of YAHVEH, the Scripture, or the Law. This Altar
is symbolic of the Blood that flows from the left hand of the Lamb of YAHVEH.
When Yahushua said I am the truth, He is referring to this Altar. The
Word of YAHVEH is the truth and it must be read in the Light of the Holy
Spirit, particularly in the Light of the Spirit of Understanding. YAH’S truth
can only be understood in the light or context of the Holy Spirit.
John 6: 57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the
Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 “This is
the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and
are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
The next Altar is the Altar of Burnt
Incense. Yahushua said to the Woman at the well in John 4: 10 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking
such to worship Him. 24 “YAHVEH is Spirit, and those who
worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” True worship is
giving to YAHVEH with a joyful heart, for the purpose of drawing close to Him.
In Matthew 2 it
says wise men came to worship Him, and in contrast in Matthew 15 Yahushua says ‘These
people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men. Jesus here is eluding to the Sunday
worship, a violation of the fourth commandments the command of man. True
worship must be done in the Spirit and in truth, it must be done in the spirit
of wisdom, in the spirit of knowledge, in the Spirit of the Fear of YAHVEH and
according to biblical standard as laid out in Psalms 7:1 O Lord
my YAHVEH, in you I put my trust, 8:1 O Lord. Our
Lord How excellent is your name in all the earth, you who set your glory above
the heavens, 9:1 “I will praise you, O lord, with my whole heart.
I will tell of all your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I
will sing praise to your name, O most, High In Holiness;”
15:1 Lord
who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 18: 1 I will
love you O Lord my strength. For you O Lord is my rock and my fortress and my
delivere.
My
YAHVEH, my strength, in whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my
stronghold. I will call upon YAHVEH who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be
saved from my enemies. This is only a sample of the importance of the Psalms to
the believer.
Altar
built by Noah, Gen. 8:20 “Then
Noah built an altar to YAHVEH, and
took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings
on the altar. 21And YAHVEH smelled a soothing aroma. Then YAHVEH
said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake,
although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will
I again destroy every living thing as I have done.”
Noah was at the Altar of Burnt
Incense when he offered up to YAHVEH this sacrifice. He knew without the aid of
the scripture what is suitable to Adonai, it was the death of his flesh, and
the understand that he Noah only source is Adonai. This has an implication that
Noah had an established relationship with Adonai, and Noah wanted to draw
closer to Adonai after the flood, that would signify why YAHVEH smelled a
soothing aroma from Noah sacrifice.
Abraham, Gen. 12:7 “Then
YAHVEH appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.”
And there he built an altar to YAHVEH,
who had appeared to him. 8And he moved from there to the mountain
east of Bethel , and he pitched his tent with
Bethel
13:17 “Arise,
walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” 18Then
Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the Terebinth trees of
Mamre, which are in Hebron
22: 9 “Then
they came to the place of which YAHVEH had told him. And Abraham built an altar
there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on
the altar, upon the wood.” At each stage of Abraham’s journey, at every
revelation of Adonai, Abraham built an Altar, signifying again that there is a
building of a strong relationship a drawing closer and closer to ritual purity.
Isaac, Gen. 26:24 “And YAHVEH appeared to
him the same night and said, “I am the YAHVEH of your father Abraham; do
not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your
descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar
there and called on the name of YAHVEH,
and he pitched his tent there; and this Isaac’s servants dug a well.” He
built an Altar, they drew closer to Adonai, but also notice that his servant
dug well, and it is this same well that Yahushua sat when he addresses the
woman at the well. Notice that the woman says are you greater than our father
Jacob who gave us this well, the very well that Jacob cleaned out after it was
dug by his father and filled up by the Canaanites. The same way to YAHVEH for
Abraham is the same way to YAHVEH for Jacob and the same way to YAHVEH for us
today.
Jacob,
Gen. 33:20 “Then
he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Yisrael.”
35:1 Then YAHVEH said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel Bethel
4So they gave Jacob all
the foreign YAHVEHs, which were in their hands, and the earrings, which were
in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the Terebinth tree, which was by
Shechem. 5And they journeyed, and the terror of YAHVEH were upon the
cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of
Jacob. 6So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel ),
which is in the land
of Canaan
7And he built an altar
there and called the place El Bethel, because there YAHVEH appeared to him when
he fled from the face of his brother. Another example
of a relation between YAHVEH and man. And the man built an Altar. When our
brothers pursue us without a cause we need to draw near to Adonai.
Moses, Ex. 17:14 Then
YAHVEH said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount
it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15And Moses built an altar
and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner;
16for he said, “Because YAHVEH has sworn: YAHVEH will have
war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
24:3 “So
Moses came and told the people all the words of YAHVEH and all the judgments.
And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which
YAHVEH has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of
YAHVEH. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the
mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Yisrael.” When
Moses realized that Adonai would fight his battle against the flesh for him,
Moses must have bean ecstatic and he built an Altar and called it YAHVEH is my
Banner, the one that I lift up against the flesh. Drawing near to YAHVEH is to
reject the desire of the flesh, which is death, and death makes us ritually
unclean. Remember those who touched any dead thing were considering unclean.
Joshua, Deut. 27:4 “You shall write on them all the
words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land
which YAHVEH your YAHVEH is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’
just as YAHVEH YAHVEH of your fathers promised you. 4“Therefore it
shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you
shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash
them with lime.
5“And there you shall build an altar to YAHVEH your YAHVEH,
an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. 6“You
shall build with whole stones the altar of YAHVEH your YAHVEH, and offer burnt
offerings on it to YAHVEH your YAHVEH. 7“You shall offer peace
offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before YAHVEH your YAHVEH. 8“And
you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.” Adonai is implying here that on one
mountain the blessing of YAHVEH is associated with the Law, and on the other
mountain a curse is associated with it. The Law of Adonai must be clearly
displayed in the Messiyah for all to see. We know that the Messiyah has already
fulfilled all the laws and He was required to lived it out. He has yet to
fulfill all the Law. The Law of the feast of Trumpets (Rapture) and the feast
of Tabernacle, (second coming) has not yet been fulfilled by Yahushua. But we
have seen all the other laws being fulfilled in Him. There is a blessing and a
curse associated with the obedience to the Torah, a blessing in drawing near to
the Word, the Torah.
Josh. 8:30 “Now
Joshua built an altar to YAHVEH YAHVEH of Yisrael in Mount Ebal, 31as
Moses the servant of YAHVEH had commanded the children of Yisrael, as it is
written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which
no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings
to YAHVEH, and sacrificed peace
offerings. 32And there, in the presence of the children of Yisrael,
he wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written.
33 Then
all Yisrael, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of
the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of
YAHVEH, the stranger as well as he
who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim
and half of them in front of Mount
Ebal
34 And
afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings,
according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There
was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before
all the assembly of Yisrael, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers
who were living among them.”
We can
build Altar to Adonai even though we are not commanded to, we can draw near to YAHVEH
even if it is out off a love for His commandment, as Yahushua says if you love
Me follow My commandments. The New Covenant is not a covenant of Thou Shall as
was written in the Ten Commandments, it is now a Covenant of Love, if you Love
Me keep My Commandments.
Saul, 1 Sam. 14:34 “So
every one of the people brought his ox with him that night, and slaughtered it
there. 35 Then Saul built an altar to YAHVEH. This was the first
altar that he built to YAHVEH.” In the start of his reign king Saul starts
by building an Altar, building of a relationship with YAHVEH as the leader of
the people. After all, a leader cannot lead the people effectively unless He
has a continuous relationship with Adonai, a continuous drawing closer. The
difference between a Saul ministry and a David ministry is that a Saul ministry
after a while stops drawing closer to Adonai, while David never stops drawing
closer. That is why David was considered a man after YAH’S own heart.
Elijah, 1 King. 18:30 “Then
Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near
to him. And he repaired the altar of YAHVEH that was broken down.
31And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the
tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of YAHVEH had come, saying,
“Yisrael shall be your name.” 32 Then with the stones he built an
altar in the name of YAHVEH.” This scripture seems to indicate that, by
getting near to Adonai, is to repair or build an Altar between the people and YAHVEH.
For those who have strayed away, the prophet is saying come back near to Adonai
and the prophet will help you to repair that Altar, that close fellowship that
has been lost, that Altar that has been torn down because of sin. There is a
communication link that has been established by building an Altar, notice
carefully that that communication can only be built from natural stone, whose
name is (Yahushua, Jesus Christ).
In conclusion, when the sacrifice
was burnt, the smell went up in the smoke to be a pleasing aroma to YAHVEH. The
actual phrase in Hebrew is HvHyn Hyr or
literally “a smell of rest to YAHVEH.” The translator often renders it as a
pleasing aroma or satisfying smell. It
seems that the original meaning was to picture one who has accepted YAH’S
atonement is at rest, ceasing from his own works and resting in YAHVEH.
There is another way to
understand this aroma. This sacrificial offering in accordance with YAH’S
instructions brings Him pleasure; the Hebrew word order makes it clear that the
sacrificial aroma soothes YAHVEH, not man.
The building of an Altar in a
believer’s life is building a stronger relationship with The YAHVEH of Yisrael,
through the atoning Lamb Yahushua. Helping a person to build their Altar is
helping them to formulate a stronger personal relationship with his or her
Creator. Helping a brother to achieve or experience a further revelation of
which the Messiyah is to experience all the five Altars of the cross. As Job so
wonderfully state, “I use to hear of you by the hearing of the ears, but now
my eyes haavr seen”
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