The Altar (2024)

No matter what place you go into, there is furniture. Some things are in an eclectic collection, but other things are in a room because they carry value beyond visual appeal. The Church has furniture like that, with a communion table and the pulpit, which we understand their importance. But there is another piece that we need to be reminded. 

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Transcript

     Have you ever stopped and thought about the furniture you find a church? It is a strange collection, a set you would not find at Ashleys or IKEA. You have a piano, but at the same time stuff for a library. We have pews to sit in, thankfully cushioned. At the front of our church, and many other churches, is a long wooden bench called an altar. The altar is not a piece unique to Christianity, humans have been using them since the dawn of time. Thankfully, unlike those other religions, we do not sacrifice animals or people on the altar.

     What role does the altar play in our faith? Naturally, the answer that comes is “It is where people find Jesus.” But we know altars are not the only place such things happen. So, what is the purpose of this sacred furniture? Understanding the purpose is important because, without it, the piece becomes meaningless and good for nothing. Or worse, an idol.

     Isaiah 22:9-34(CEB):

     So the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh went back. They left the Israelites at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. They went to the land of Gilead, to the land that they owned. They had settled there at the LORD’s command given by Moses. They came to the districts of the Jordan that are in the land of Canaan. The people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, an altar that appeared to be immense. Then the Israelites heard a report: “Look. The people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the far edge of the land of Canaan. It lies in the districts of the Jordan on the Israelite side!” When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go up to war against them.

     Then the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead. They sent with him ten leaders, one leader from each important family among the tribes of Israel. Each was the head of an important family among the military units of Israel. They came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and spoke with them. They said, “Here is what the LORD’s entire community says: ‘What’s this disrespectful thing that you’ve done to the God of Israel? Today you’ve turned away from following the LORD by building yourselves an altar as an act of rebellion against the LORD. Wasn’t the offense of Peor enough for us? Even today we still haven’t cleansed ourselves from that sin, when there was a plague on the LORD’s community! Today you are turning away from following the LORD. If you rebel against the LORD today, he will be angry with the entire community of Israel tomorrow. If your own property is unclean land, then cross over into the land of the LORD’s property and settle among us. That’s where the dwelling of the LORD stands. But don’t rebel against the LORD. And don’t involve us in rebellion by building an altar for yourselves other than the altar of the LORD our God. Didn’t Achan, Zerah’s son, do such a disrespectful thing with the items reserved for God? Wrath came on the entire community of Israel. And he wasn’t the only one to die for his crime.”

     Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the military units of Israel: “The LORD is God of gods! The LORD is God of gods! He already knows, and now let Israel also know it! If we acted in rebellion or in disrespect against the LORD, don’t spare us today. If we’ve built ourselves an altar to turn away from following the LORD or to offer on it an entirely burned offering or gift offering, or to perform well-being sacrifices on it, let the LORD himself seek punishment. No! The truth is we did this out of concern for what might happen. In the future your children might say to our children, ‘What have you got to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? The LORD has set the Jordan as a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You have no portion in the LORD!’ So your children might make our children stop worshipping the LORD. As a result we said, ‘Let’s protect ourselves by building an altar. It isn’t to be for an entirely burned offering or for sacrifice.’ But it is to be a witness between us and you and between your descendants after us. It witnesses that we too perform the service of the LORD in his presence through our entirely burned offerings, sacrifices, and well-being offerings. So in the future your children could never say to our children, ‘You have no portion in the LORD.’ We thought, if in the future they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we could say, ‘Look at this replica of the altar of the LORD that our ancestors made. It isn’t for entirely burned offerings or for sacrifice but to be a witness between us and you.’ God forbid that we should rebel against the LORD and turn away today from following the LORD our God that stands before his dwelling!”

     Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the community, and the heads of the military units of Israel who were with him heard the words that the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh spoke and approved them. So Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you haven’t done a disrespectful thing against the LORD. Now you’ve delivered the Israelites from the power of the LORD.” Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders left the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead and came back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan. They brought word back to them. The Israelites agreed and blessed God. They no longer spoke of going to war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and Gad were living. The people Reuben and Gad referred to the altar this way: “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

This is the word of God

For the people of God

Thanks be to God

     The Book of Joshua is a historical document. It records the events of the Israelites entering the promised land and making it their own. Just before the twelve tribes crossed over the Jordan River, two-and-a-half tribes asked to keep this land as their inheritance but promised to continue fighting with the rest of the Israelites until the rest of the nation could all be at rest.

     Here in our reading, all the fighting is over. All the land has been divided up between the twelve tribes, and everyone goes to their homes in victory. The two-and-a-half tribes who had land on the opposite side of the Jordan River returned home, they desired to remember God who had blessed them and the entire nation. Verses 9 and 10 tell us what they did, “They built an altar by the Jordan, an altar that appeared to be immense.” It was not original in its design. They had seen the altar built to God in Shiloh, a holy place for all of Israel. It was built in such a way and place that all could see this monument to the Lord.

     How did the other nine-and-a-half tribes respond? Verse 12, “… the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.” If it seems like that escalated quickly, the nine-and-a-half tribes had a good reason to be upset. The Tent of Meeting, the one place of sacrifice and worship to God, was in Shiloh. This is where all the tribes were supposed to pilgrimage to for worship. God was jealous for his people, and the nine-and-a-half were jealous for their faith.

     As the nine-and-a-half surrounded the altar, homes, and land of the two-and-a-half, someone had the wisdom to send in a negotiator. Imagine being a member of the two-and-a-half tribes, seeing your extended family surrounding you by the thousands with weapons, without words they were being told, “We need to talk.” Verse 13, “The Israelites sent Phineas son of Eleazar the priest to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead.”

     “What’s this disrespectful thing that you’ve done to the God of Israel? Today you’ve turned away from following the LORD by building yourselves an altar as an act of rebellion against the LORD.” (Verse 16) By building their altar, the two-and-a-half appeared to be rejecting the call to united worship God had given his people. Phineas is passionately asking, “How could you?” after all the Israelites had been through together.

     Verse 19 is an olive branch being offered, Phineas says, “If your property is an unclean land, then cross over into the land of the LORD’s property and settle among us.” He echoes the thoughts of Jesus in Matthew 5:30, when the Lord says, “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” If the land of the two-and-a-half tribes is polluted with sin, then they should get out of there. Phineas shares the past community sins at Peor and of Achan to alert the two-and-a-half tribes to the dangers of the sin they were committing. The nine-and-a-half were responding with ferocity because they did not want to break the faith, nor suffer the consequences from others being disobedient. Now the war drums were sounding and the two-and-a-half had to respond.

     Verse 22, “The LORD is the God of gods! The LORD is the God of gods! He already knows, and now let Israel also know it! If we acted in rebellion or disrespect against the LORD, don’t spare us today.” The two-and-a-half knew their intentions, and they knew their intention was not provable. So, they called the only witness who could testify, God. Lost in the English translations, the two-and-a-half use all three Hebrew names for God. Such was the earnestness of their plea to God for their innocence.

     Verses 24 and 25, “No! The truth is we did this out of concern for what might happen. In the future your children might say to our children, ‘What have you got to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? The LORD has set the Jordan as a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You have no portion in the LORD!’ So, your children might make our children stop worshipping the LORD.” The two-and-a-half recognized a challenge that might arise with future generations. With the Jordan acting as a border, it would be easy for the other nine-and-a-half to develop a sense that their tribes did not belong to the same faith as them. As the nine-and-a-half were zealous to keep the nation from falling into sin, the two-and-a-half were zealous that their future generations would not be forgotten as belonging to the house of God. Verse 27, "The altar is to be a witness between us and you and between your descendants after us. It witnesses that we too perform the service of the LORD in his presence.” This altar was not built as a place of worship. It was not built as a place of sacrifice. It was built as a legal witness, which this altar’s very existence was a testimony to their shared faith.

     What does this have to say to us? The altar in our day is a source of witness. It is not a place to find salvation or sanctification, but a witness to testify that you found Jesus who has the grace to perform those works in your life. “Christ is the greater altar,” says Matthew Henry. You can experience his grace anywhere because Jesus is not bound to a building or piece of furniture. He is the place to find grace.

     While the altar is not the place to find grace, it is a witness to the power of Christ in your life and mine. Not only does it witness the shared faith between us, but it also stands as evidence for those who sought Christ before us! Christ is the divine healer, but this altar and the others like it are witnesses to the miracles of Jesus, and those that will be! Amen.

     What is the purpose of the altar? To be a witness to you finding salvation. To be a witness to you being made holy. To be a witness to you being healed. To be a witness between you and me that we share faith in the same God through Jesus.

     In a few moments, I am going to invite you to this place of witness. But as we gather in, we are going to take the Lord’s Supper together. The elements represent the body and blood of Jesus, who died for the forgiveness of our sins. We will gather to take these elements together at the altar so it can be a witness to a covenant we will make with one another. Our covenant will be that no matter who comes to these altars, or why they come to them, we will rejoice in the victory occurring in the lives of those who kneel here. They come broken to be mended, guilty to be pardoned, trapped to be rescued, and for any other reason. Our covenant is that we will rejoice, looking on without judgment, and with feet ready to pray with them.

     Will you come, gather at this place of witness, and make this covenant with me?