Peniel Pentecostal Holiness Church

3239 Rosebud Road Walnut Cove NC 27052
Pastor: Dr. Tim Nelson -  Church Office 336-591-36112
A Place To Encounter God Face To Face. Gen. 32:3

A Word From The Pastor Archives 2021
August 2021
 

We have an altar... Hebrews 13:10

After 7 years the Jews, who were exiled to Babylon were allowed to return home to Judea.  They were also given the necessary help and resources to rebuild their temple (Ezra 1:1)

Their first step was not to rebuild the temple.  Instead, they chose to rebuild the altar (vv2-3).  The altar was the place where God met with His people (Exodus 29:42-43).  It was impossible for sinful people to have fellowship with the Holy God.  So burnt offerings had to be sacrificed to God as atonement for sins: "the Lord will accept (the animal's) death in your place to purify you, making you right with Him" (Leviticus 1:3)

These burnt offerings pointed to God's perfect once-for-all sacrifice for sins - Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:12) .  The altar was the place of repentance and renewal, cleansing and acceptance by God.  His people rebuilt the altar at the onset of their work, for they first needed to get right with God.  Are there areas in your life where you need to rebuild an altar before the Lord and get right with God?  Come to the altar, repent, be renewed, be cleansed as you sense afresh the accepting grace of God.

And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto they seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.  Genesis 12:7

Abram (later Abraham) is in Shechem at this time.  The land is the focus of this and other restatements of the promise.  Because God promises to give the land to Abram and his descendants, the land becomes an inheritance.  God made a promise and Abram  built an altar.  He did not build a house, he did not build a business, and he did not build a city, but he did build an altar.  It was at the altar that the divine and human worlds interacted.

God and Abram had an encounter, an encounter that altered Abram's life and set him on a course for his destiny.  Will you build an altar, maybe not of stone but a place where you can encounter God, a place that will serve as a reminder, this is where I met God?  Abram's life was never the same.  Like Abram, you too can have a life-changing encounter with the one who has destined you for His purpose and for His gory.

And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, ...and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.  Genesis 12:8

Notice the significance of v. 8, "there he builded an altar unto the Lord."  Worship is the intimate expression of sacramental identification with God.  It is the decision to deliberately give back to God the best He has given to us that we may be identified with Him in it.

Every act of worship to be effective must be a public testimony to those who in God's providence are with us for worship; it is at once the most public and the most personally sacred act that God demands of His faithful ones.  Whenever God has given you a blessing, take time to meditate about the blessing and offer worship back to God in a deliberate expression of glorifying His Name.  God will never allow you to hold a spiritual blessing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.

If God has blessed you, erect an altar and give the blessing back to God as a love gft.

Adapted From:
Oswald Chambers, Not Knowing Where
(Grand Rapids: Discovery House 2996)

What would you have done if you had been the one walking in the sandals of Abraham when God said, "Take now your son, whom you love and lift him up as an offering to the Lord"?  Does it bother you as to how you might have responded?  There are many levels of faith in this story that are later summarized by the Hebrew in Hebrews 11.  Abraham is given 12 verses to show how his faith impacted his life.  The real wonder of this story is the foreshadowing of what God would one day do through His "only begotten Son."  Jesus.  Jesus became the sacrifice for humankind.

This is a profound story, so profound it is difficult to imagine Abraham's faith and his undeniable obedience.  Having a promised son at a very old age and then being asked to offer his son as a sacrifice is more than the natural mind can imagine.  Yet Abraham demonstrated great faith and unquestionable obedience.  His faith in God was so strong that he acted in faith despite being under such a difficult task.  Faith and obedience got Abraham through this difficult task.  May we have the faith and demonstrate full obedience whatever task we may face.  Abraham was greatly rewarded and we too can be assured of a great reward.

Adapted from:  http://www.fbcmarlow.org/daily-devotion/genesis-chapter-22/   (Note:  Site currently unavailable.)