I was riding down the road with my husband listening to praise and worship music on the radio when he suddenly asked a question.
“How many Christians do you think,” he pondered, “talk about going to the altar, but have no idea what that means?”
I had known about the altar for over thirty years, but I didn’t know it like he was talking about until the last few. As a kid growing up in the Baptist Church I knew about the altar as being the elevated stage upfront where the preacher stood. It was at that same podium I stood behind and used to sing along to a Christian track, with my mom smiling in the congregation. But more importantly it was where you went at the end of the service when they did “altar call.” You went up to the altar to get prayer when the preacher’s sermon really touched you. It’s where you met God.
As we drove along the country, winding road my husband continued, “the altar was a mess!”
He was referring to its origin. He had been rereading and studying the Old Testament lately. In Old Testament times the altar was the place where the priests sacrificed animals for the remission of sin. The priest, before God, would place the sin of the people into the animal. Then he would slit its throat on the altar as a sacrifice. It was a blood offering, and the blood covered the altar as well as covering the people’s sin. In fact, there was most likely blood everywhere on the altar. It was a mess.
I think what we may miss in our Christian life is that the altar is messy. When you come to God it’s not all about good feelings and warm fuzzies. It’s not just happy songs and dancing. And although God loves you despite the wrong things you have done, He doesn’t love your sin, He doesn’t want you to persist in it, and He requires your sacrifice. The wonderful part is that when He gave His son, Jesus, to be the ultimate blood sacrifice, that it completely covered your sin. But don’t get to thinking that the altar is no longer messy. It is.
When you come to the altar be prepared for God to lay bare your sins in front of you. Be prepared for the honest pain of conviction. Be prepared for brokenness, a refining fire to burn away the parts you don’t need anymore, and the fact that you may very well have to face the consequences of your actions. Sin is messy.
Here’s another thing about the original altars. They were not defiled by man. God asked they be built of stones stacked, but not be altered or embellished upon. They could not be smoothed or shaped by tools, but were left rough and uncut. He didn’t want them corrupted by man’s ideas of what they should be. In their simplicity yet strength they served their intended purpose of being a place where sin was surrendered and taken away from God’s children. The altar doesn’t need our help, even today. It’s not by our works, lest we boast, but by the grace of God to forgive.
Listen, I’m not trying to talk you out of the wondrous experience of coming to the altar. By all means, please come, but come with open eyes. Realize that when Jesus was beaten and nailed to the cross that it was incredibly messy. He suffered an unbearable shame He did not have to face, but He went through the pain for you. He took your mess upon Himself and became the ultimate blood sacrifice to take away your sin. Giving your life to Him in return is necessary, but understand it will be a mess at the altar as you lay down all the ugly bits and release them to Christ.
The most important part, though, is that when you come to the altar Jesus says, “your mess is mine.”
Dave says
Jesus going to the cross sure accomplished a lots with making the way for us to be saved and our sins being covered by His shed blood being the very most important thing! My wife and I often think of the same thing your husband mentioned about the altar in old testament days being a mess! The sounds of the animals crying out, the excrement they must of spewed out & of course the smell of their shed blood in the air! I can’t even imagine! The altar was a messy place! The cross was a messy place! Jesus and His precious blood staining that old cross and the awful sound, sight & smell when they pierced His side! Those whom He knew watching His awful torment plus the sound of the crowd with their vile screams! But Jesus said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do! This world is a mess and they need, I need, to bring my mess to the altar! I know I am saved but this old flesh sure needs to be brought to the altar to lay it bare before the Lord! I think an altar is not necessarily in a church but can also be where you go to meet the Lord on a daily basis! That movie about the war room bings it home to me so vividly about the place where this little saint of God brought all her mess going on in her life! I remember so well hearing my mama pray in her war room when I was a kid playing outside! She met the master in the bathroom of the old house we lived in on Bailey Avenue in Macon, Georgia! What a fitting place to bring your mess! Flush it down the drain when you take it to the Lord! The old church in Fitzgerald, Georgia that I remember being the first church I attended at maybe 3 years old was a typical old church! The altars were rough lumber and sat separate from the raised podium area so the one at the altar could be faced from the other side by anyone that wanted to pray with them! There was a lot of messes brought there! Jesus paid the cost! Praise God!
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you so much for sharing. Praise the Lord.
Lisa Pierce says
Hallelujah! This is beautiful.