A RIVER OF BLOOD

#11 – The Altar And The Blood

What Happened To The Altar?

We don’t speak enough about the altar upon which we sacrifice to God.

Nor do we often speak of the blood which sanctifies that altar.

What is our altar now?

The Altar And Worship To God

• Since the fall, man has offered worship to God at an altar.

• Cain and Abel – we must assume the altar. Not mentioned, but they “brought” their sacrifices to God.

Noah Built An Altar

Genesis 8:20 --Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Abram Builds Altars

Genesis 12:7 -- The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

Genesis 13:4, 18

• Abram…went on his journeys…to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord….Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.”

Altar Centralized With Moses Leviticus 17:3-7 – “Any man…who

slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat…and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting…has shed blood and that man shall be cut off….The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, and they may bring them in to the Lord….The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord….They shall no longer sacrifice…to the goat demons….”

Meaning Of The Word

Altar = place of slaughter

The word represented the action – to slay a sacrifice to be offered to God.

Before there was a temple, God was worshiped at an altar. Even with the temple, God was worshiped at an altar.

Specifications For The Altar

• Exodus 38:1-2 – “Then he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high. He made its horns on its four corners, its horns being of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze.”

Altar Sanctified

Leviticus 8:10-11 – “Moses then took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils…to consecrate them.”

Leviticus 8:15

“Next Moses slaughtered (the bull) and took the blood and with his finger put some of it around the horns of the altar, and purified the altar. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.”

Leviticus 8:19, 24

“Moses slaughtered (the ram) and sprinkled the blood around the altar… Moses then sprinkled the rest of the blood (of the second ram) around on the altar….”

Leviticus 8:33

“You shall not go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the day that the period of your ordination is fulfilled; for he will ordain you through seven days.”

Therefore The Altar Was Atoned

Exodus 29:37 – “For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy.”

Jesus Illustrated This

Matthew 23:19 – “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?”

We Have An Altar

Hebrews 13:10 – “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.”

The Cross Is Our Altar Upon which God’s

chosen lamb was sacrificed

John 1:29 – “The next day (John) saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’”

Upon Which Blood Was Spilled

Revelation 5:9 – “…Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

The Whole Offering On The Altar

Hebrews 10:8-14 – “After saying, ‘Sacrifices and offerings…You have not desired…Then He said, ‘Behold I have come to do Your will….By this will we have been sanctified….For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

Ourselves On The Altar

Romans 12:1 -- Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

By Crucifying Ourselves

Galatians 5:24 -- Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Going From Weak To Strong

2 Corinthians 13:4 -- For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

As We Give Everything To God

Mark 12:30, 33-34 – “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength….(which) is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God….’”