Should I Build An Altar?

Hebrews 13:10 - We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

It’s hard to read through the Old Testament without reading about someone building an altar. I mean, the word “altar” is used 429 times in the Bible, for goodness sake! Noah built the first altar after the flood, which pleased the Lord and He promised there would never be a flood to wipe out creation again. Abraham built one to God after he passed through the land and the Lord promised to give the land to his descendents. In the New Testament, there is the ultimate altars built – the altar of the burnt offering and the altar of incense.

Every time I read about an altar in the Bible, I think to myself “I would never need to build an altar nowadays because no one makes physical sacrifices anymore. That’s some old time Bible tradition.”

When people in Biblical times built an altar, it was built as an act of worship, sacrifice, and renewal, and a marker of a big event or a revelation during their journey with the Lord. Although in modern days we don’t physically build an altar or make a physical sacrifice, these three steps (worship, sacrifice, and renewal) are still required in our relationship with the Lord and building an altar to Him.

People in Biblical times also built altars almost as a remembrance for any and all occasions – times of joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, repentance and celebration. We should do the same. We should mark every occasion that God brings to us by building an altar to God and worship Him, sacrifice our sins, and begin renewal to Him as we lay everything down on it. It is the act of stopping and giving the Lord all we have.

Now I am in no way saying we should stop in the middle of a workday or pull over on the side of the highway to find some rocks and build a physical altar to the Lord every time we feel called to worship Him, or sacrifice something of our flesh to Him, or be renewed in our mindset. Instead, we should stop to praise and adore God for who He is and what He has done. We should recognize that God is the only true God among widespread idolatry. We should stop to make a place among chaos to communicate with God and check our own actions. We should thank God for his almighty plan and promises through trials and tribulations.

Building an altar to the Lord has taken on a new form since Biblical times, but it still is a necessary part of recognizing who God is and solidifying our overwhelming need for Him to run our lives.