Altar

“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.” Genesis 8:20

Does your church have an altar? If so, your church follows a tradition that goes back all the way to Genesis. We first read about an altar when Noah set up some stones on which to offer animals as a thanksgiving sacrifice for keeping his family safe.

The word altar is found more than 380 times in the NIV Bible, although mostly in the Old Testament. Quite simply, an altar was a raised platform built to serve as a sacred place for sacrifices. Many of our great Bible heroes built altars. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, and Gideon are just a few. We recall the story of Abraham who nearly sacrificed his own son Isaac on an altar until he was stopped by the Lord. Genesis 22:9 says, “He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.”

God’s instructions for the tabernacle included a large altar to be placed in front of the entrance called the altar of burnt offering. Each day animals were sacrificed there. This practice was continued at the temple in Jerusalem.

Many churches today have an altar. It serves as a reminder of the sacrifices offered there. The altar causes us to look back to the great sacrifice paid by Jesus on the cross. Here we can visibly see the body and blood of Jesus. Romans 3:25 assures us, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood.” The altar also serves as a place for us to offer our prayers, praise, and thanks for the blessings we receive because of God’s great love for us.

Dig Deeper: Where did Aaron build an altar? Exodus 32:5