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What is an altar?
Great question! Here's the answer:
An altar is a table or a structure where sacrifices are offered for religious reasons.
In the Bible, altars are mentioned numerous times. The first time the suggestion of an altar is mentioned is when Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to the Lord (Genesis 4:3–4). They probably offered their sacrifices on an altar; however, the direct word "altar" is not used in this passage. Nonetheless, most of the times in the Bible when a sacrifice was offered, it would have been offered on an altar.
The first time we see the word "altar" actually used in the Bible is when Noah built an altar after leaving the ark (Genesis 8:20). Noah built the altar with the purpose of offering sacrifices and giving praise to the Lord. Throughout the Bible, altars were very important, as some altars were built to celebrate an event between God and man, and others marked out a place where they saw an appearance of God. For example, Abram (Genesis 12:7), Isaac (Genesis 26:24–25), Jacob (Genesis 35:3), David (1 Chronicles 21:26), and Gideon (Judges 6:24) all built altars for these reasons.
An altar also acted as a way a human could say they were consecrating themselves to the Lord. This means that they were dedicating their lives to the Lord. These individuals wanted to create altars and dedicate themselves to God because He had such a profound effect on them. He had changed their lives and brought a brilliant light into their hearts. While we don't normally build altars in the present day, we can still praise God and dedicate our lives to Him.
Bible Truth
“The Lord appeared to Abram at Shechem. He said, ‘I will give this land to your family who comes after you.’ So Abram built an altar there to honor the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:7).
“Elijah got 12 stones. There was one for each tribe in the family line of Jacob. The Lord’s message had come to Jacob. It had said, ‘Your name will be Israel.’ Elijah used the stones to build an altar to honor the Lord. He dug a ditch around it. The ditch was large enough to hold 24 pounds of seeds” (1 Kings 18:31–32).
“Brothers and sisters, God has shown you his mercy. So I am asking you to offer up your bodies to him while you are still alive. Your bodies are a holy sacrifice that is pleasing to God. When you offer your bodies to God, you are worshiping him in the right way” (Romans 12:1).
