Altar Altered

She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." John 8:11 NAS95

Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. Exodus 29:36 NAS95

Shayla and Lynn, two recent widows from our church, stopped by my seat this past Sunday to greet me. I have missed a lot of church lately due to a summer vacation that ended with Covid and a recent back injury that laid me up for a couple of weeks. Both of these ladies are able to exchange witticisms as fast as I can, and they decided to tease me and suggest I needed to get down to the altar and pray about my recent absences. My response was something along the lines of “will the altar alter my life?”

Immediately I sent myself an email from my phone so I would not forget that cute quip. I truly didn’t need to, I can’t get that thought out of my mind and it has been four days already! Will the altar alter my life? I am disturbed to no end by this statement.

If you check you will find the word “altar” is used 381 times in the New American Standard translation of the Bible. Alter is used twice.

The altar was the place for offering gifts of thanksgiving, adoration, praise, and worship unto God. It was also a place for offering sacrifices for atonement, forgiveness, and recompense, unto God. It was the primary place for making restitution regarding our sinful estate before God in the days before the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, on the cross for the atonement of sin. It was “the place” for getting things right with God. There was no other place. You had to go to the altar, you could not do it at home, you could not do it in a car, you could not do it watching TV. You had to go to the synagogue and do it with the priest at the altar, and it cost you the price of an animal sacrifice to obtain that forgiveness.

Today, forgiveness is easy; and free. The altar of our heart is where we go for atonement, for salvation from sin. The altar of the church is where millions of people have found forgiveness through the ages of church history. But, did the altar always alter the penitent?

Unfortunately, no. How do I know? Because at times in my life I have gone to an altar of prayer and walked away and gotten caught in the same trap that sent me to the altar in the first place. When I was young I would pray the Lord would return on Sunday night. Why? Because that was the only night I was sure I was ready to meet Him. I had been to the altar after the Sunday night sermon at church and I was ready, but come Monday morning at school you would not know I had been to the altar. It had not altered a thing.

Things changed as I grew older and I made a lasting commitment to Christ, I took to heart the “go and sin no more” of our text for this musing. Yet, I still have a few things that I need to work out regarding my salvation,

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 NAS95

I am so thankful Paul included those two verses in his writing, but I am still plagued with the question, “will the altar alter my life?”

It is at this point I remember the definition of iniquity I learned early on in ministry. Iniquity is not merely that which is wrong, it is the tendency to do wrong. It includes doing the same wrong over and over, even though we have asked for forgiveness maybe a dozen times or more.

Again, I am challenged with, “will the altar alter my life?” A few verses of Scripture assure me that if I want to alter my life, the altar is the place where it can happen. Notice the three passages below, you will need to read the entire reference later, but here are the important parts:

who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; Exodus 34:6-7 NAS95

"for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jeremiah 31:34 NAS95

Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Psalms 103:1-5 NAS95

One thing I know for sure, the altar will alter me. The one thing that is yet to be seen…Will the altar alter me? Will it alter you?

Try not to be too disturbed. Let the altar alter you instead.