A June 7, 2007
Posted by Han in : Relationship with God , trackbackThen Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, and said to them “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not left your brethren these many days, up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God. Joshua 22:1-3
In the beginning of Joshua chapter 22, Joshua was seen praising the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh but not too long later in Joshua 22:12, the children of Israel wanted to go to war with them. What actually happened? Weren’t they part of the children of Israel? Why are they killing their own people?
To cut the long story short, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe Manasseh built a great and impressive altar by the River of Jordan (Joshua 22:11). And the other children of Israel were angry with them because they thought that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh were building an altar to turn away from the Lord. But in the actual fact, it was not. Look at their response when they were confronted.
But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, “What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel? For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between you and us, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the LORD.” So your descendants would make our descendants cease fearing the LORD.’ Therefore we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but that it may be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, “You have no part in the LORD. Joshua 22:24-27
The children of Israel were pleased with their answer. There is a very important lesson that we can learn from this story – WE MUST BUILD OUR PERSONAL ALTAR. We cannot depend on others. We cannot take other people’s altar. It must be our very own.
What is an ALTAR?
In the Old Testament, an altar is a structure or a place on which sacrifices are offered or incense is burned in worship. It is residing in the tabernacle of Moses (Exodus 27:1-8) or in the temple of Solomon (2 Chronicles 4:1).
In this article, we are not just talking about a physical altar but more important is the a spiritual altar. And by knowing the purpose of a physical altar, it will help us to build our very own spiritual altar with God.
1) Altar speaks of the presence of God.
Abraham was an altar builder. Whenever God appeared before Abraham and gave him a blessing, a promise or a commission, he would have an altar built to worship God.
2) Altar is a place for burn offering.
Whenever the people of Israel sinned against God, they would bring an animal before God and placed it on an altar. This is an act of reconciliation. An altar speaks of repentance and forgiveness of sin.
3) Altar is a place for burning incense.
Here, sweet spices were continually burned with fire and the priests were in charged of this. The burning of incense symbolizes our continual prayer to God.
4) Altar is a place of worship.
Where the presence of God is, there is worship.
5) Altar is a place of dedication and dealing.
Here, we place before God everything. This is a place where we offer up our Isaac (the things we loved) to God. Sometimes it can be a place of dealing.
We cannot rely on other people to build our altar. We cannot build our relationship with God base on other people devotion and quiet time. We ourselves have to build it. We have to come before the altar and offer up burn offering and incense. We have to spend time and come in to the presence of God and worship Him. Make a commitment to build an altar before God.
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