Altar and sacrifice are mentioned almost 50 times in the New Testament of the Bible. Based on these facts, altar and sacrifice must have been important parts of Christian worship. These first century Christians had to have been sacrificing animals as well as vegetables, bread, and wine.
A physical altar to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices: the altar of whole burnt offerings which stood in the court of the priests in the temple at Jerusalem. 8:20 And Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean [four-footed] animal and of every clean fowl or bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Altar In New Testament
The main purpose of an altar is to make contact with a deity. The altar is where sacrifices are made, which is why it’s so important for people to know what the altars look like and how they operate. In the New Testament, there are two main types of altars: those used by priests and those used by laymen.
Priestly Altars
Priests used these altars to make sacrifices to God and to perform other religious rites. The altar was often very tall (sometimes up to four stories high) so that it would be visible from far away. A priest would stand on top of this altar while performing his duties as a priest in order to show off his power and authority over others who may not have been able to see him otherwise (because they were too far away).
The Altar In The New Testament
The altar is a very important part of the Christian faith. It is where people come together to worship God, and it is also where we offer up our prayers. In the New Testament, there are several examples of altars being used for these purposes. This article will look at some of those examples.
The first example comes from the book of Acts. In chapter 2, Peter was preaching at Solomon’s Porch and many people were coming to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, some Jewish leaders did not like what they were hearing and tried to stop it by ordering all Christians to stop preaching about Jesus Christ (Acts 4:18). One day while Peter was praying alone at home, an angel appeared to him and told him not to be afraid because he had nothing to fear from those who would try to harm him (Acts 5:28). This shows us that even though Peter was facing persecution for what he believed in, he still had peace within himself because God was with him always no matter what happened on earth.”
In the New Testament, the creation of an altar is a sacred act. In fact, it’s the only thing that can be done by anyone who isn’t a priest. Altars are created to honor God and express gratitude for His blessings. They’re also used for worship and sacrifice.
In the Old Testament, altars were often built by kings or other leaders for ceremonial purposes—they weren’t just something anyone could do. But in the New Testament, it’s different—everyone has the ability to create an altar as long as they don’t have any debts outstanding (1 Corinthians 7:2).
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Who Built An Altar In The New Testament
Altar in the New Testament
The word “altar” comes from the Latin word “altus,” which means “high.” The altar was a place where sacrifices were made to God, and it was considered to be sacred ground. In the Old Testament, there were many different kinds of altars:
-In the tabernacle, there was a bronze altar for burnt offerings and an incense altar for incense.
-The priests also had individual fires on their own private altars where they could make offerings to God.
Introduction
The altar is a significant symbol in the New Testament. It shows the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who was crucified on the cross for our sins. Every Sunday, Christians go to church and pray before the altar, which represents God’s sacrifice for us.
The New Testament is full of references to altars, and it’s clear that the early Christians were very much into them. They had them in their homes, they used them for worship services, and sometimes they even built them outside of town so that people could come together for community events.
The most famous example of this is in Acts 19:19-20, where Paul goes up to Ephesus and finds “a group of about twelve men” who are “praying to God with loud voices.” He asks them what they’re doing and they tell him they’re worshipping at an altar dedicated to Artemis–a pagan goddess.
Paul then tells them that their gods are false idols and points out that “there is only one true God” (Acts 19:21). The men get angry at what he says and start beating him up until he’s rescued by a mob of supporters who rush in from the city gates.
Place of sacrifice
An altar is a place of sacrifice. The first altar mentioned in the Bible is found in Genesis 8:20, where Noah built an altar on Mount Ararat to thank God for saving him and his family from the flood. Altars are also mentioned throughout the Old Testament, including references to altars built by Abraham (Genesis 12:7), Jacob (Genesis 31:52), Moses (Deuteronomy 27:5) and Solomon (1 Kings 8). Altars were used as places where offerings were made to God. For instance, when King David wanted to build a temple for Yahweh, he started with building an altar at Jerusalem’s threshing floor where Isaac had offered his sacrifice (2 Samuel 24).
Place of prayer
In addition to the church, there are a number of places where Jesus prayed. He prayed in Gethsemane, in the temple, on a mountain and even on the cross. He also prayed at other times in more familiar spots such as upper rooms and boats on Galilee seas.
Place of communion with God
What makes us different from animals is the ability to commune with God. Suppose you were a dog and you wanted to talk to me. You would bark at me, or maybe even try to bite me if I didn’t pay attention. But as humans, we can talk about whatever we want with one another. We can share our thoughts and feelings with each other—and even more importantly, we can share ourselves with God! This is something that animals simply cannot do; only humans have this privilege because only humans receive it as a gift from God (1 Corinthians 11:23-32).
Place of worship
Worship is a heart attitude, not a religious activity. God wants our hearts and our entire lives! Worship is not simply singing songs or saying prayers; it’s a lifestyle of reverence for God and submission to his will. It’s an expression of love, adoration and praise because we love who he is and what he has done for us through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 5:2).
Place of meeting God
- You can meet with God at an altar.
- Altars are places where we can commune with God and he will appear to you if you ask him in prayer.
- Communing with God is a powerful experience that will do wonders for your faith, so it’s important to make sure that your altar is clean and ready for him when he comes.
Altars in the new testament are places where we can encounter God.
In the New Testament, altars are places where we can encounter God. It is in the altar that we meet with God, see God, and feel God’s presence. “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). That is why we sometimes have to go to big gatherings like church services and have small groups so that we can be led by the Holy Spirit through these encounters with God at His altars.
types of altars in the bible
1. Godly altars. A child of God can raise an altar of prayer, praise, worship, thanksgiving, tithes paying, sacrificial giving unto God. This counteracts satanic altars.
2. Marine altars. In the book of Exodus, God instructed Moses to go early in the morning to River Nile before Pharaoh got there. This was so that he could counsel the marine altar that Pharaoh often sacrifices to!
3. Territorial altars. Before going to preach in a location many men of God raise up an altar of prayer to counteracts these altars.
4. Forest altars
5. Cemetery altars
6. Road junction altars
7. The sun, moon, and stars can be used as an evil altar and programmed to work against an individual. In Judges 5:20 we are told that the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The bible tells us in Psalms 121:6 that the sun shall not smite us by day nor the moon by night.
In 2 Kings 3:26-27, the king of Moab offered his eldest son as a sacrifice to his evil altar and the prophecy of Elisha (a man of God) was cancelled! Friends, the spiritual realm is like an auction market and power goes to the highest bidder! The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the VIOLENT takes it by force.
Effects of satanic altars
a. Satanic altars oppose God and his grace in people’s lives
b. They result in endless struggles and suffering
c. They cause limitation and frustration
d. They cause open doors for evil spirits
e. They delay the program of God in people’s lives
f. They cause unsolvable mysteries
g. They cause unending problems, prolonged afflictions
h. They cause a trend of divorce, poverty, backwardness, barrenness, untimely death, shame, disaster, etc!!!!
what is the spiritual significance of altars
THE FIRST ALTAR • After Abraham had arrived at Moreh and after God had reappeared to him, he built an altar (12:7). This was the first altar that Abraham built. In order to live by faith, we must first of all build an altar. In the Bible an altar means that we have all for God and serve God. Building an altar means that we offer everything we are and have to God. We need to place all that we are and all that we have on the altar. Before we do anything for God, God would say to us, “Child, don’t do anything for Me. I want you. I want you to put all that you are and all that you have on the altar for Me.” This is real fellowship, real worship. The real worship of the called ones is to put all that we are and have on the altar.
According to the human viewpoint, people will say that we are foolish for doing this. They will accuse us of wasting our time, of wasting our lives. If they had been with Abraham, they would have said, “Abraham, what are you doing? Are you crazy? Why do you build such a low thing as an altar, and put everything on it and burn it? Isn’t that foolish?” As called ones, whatever we do will be foolish in the eyes of the worldly people. Many of our relatives will say that it is foolish for us to attend meetings so often, wondering why we do not stay at home and watch television with our family. The worldly people cannot understand why we attend meetings several times a week. They think that we are crazy. They would say, “What are you doing there in that little building? Why do you go there on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, twice on Sunday, and even sometimes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday? Are you people crazy?” Yes, according to the worldly people, we are crazy. God’s appearing makes us crazy.
An altar means that we do not keep anything for ourselves. An altar means that we realize that we are here on earth for God. An altar means that our life is for God, that God is our life, and that the meaning of our life is God. So we put everything on the altar. We are not here making a name for ourselves; we are putting everything on the altar for the sake of His name.
If you check with your experience, you will see that immediately after you were called, God appeared to you again, and you said, “Lord, from now on everything is Yours. All that I am, all that I have, all that I can do and am going to do is for You.” I can still recall what happened on the afternoon that I was saved. As I went out of that church building and walked along the street, I lifted up my eyes to heaven and said, “God, from today on everything is for You.” That was a real consecration. In a spiritual sense, it was the building of an altar. I believe that many of you reading this message have had such an experience. When we received God’s calling, we were crazy, not caring about what would happen. Although we did not realize what it meant at the time, we promised the Lord that everything we had was for Him. When I said this to the Lord that day on the street, I did not realize what it involved. When after a few years I found myself in some difficulties, the Lord within me said, “Don’t you remember what you said that afternoon as you walked along the street? Didn’t you say, ‘O God, from today on everything is for You’?” When I signed the contract, I did not know what was involved. But it was too late to repent; the contract had already been signed. To tell the Lord that everything is for Him is the real building of an altar. We all can testify how sweet is the sensation and how intimate is the fellowship whenever we tell the Lord that everything is for Him. At that time, we come deeply into the Lord Himself.
Although we may tell the Lord that everything we are and have is for Him, we may forget it a few days later. But the One who called us will never forget. He has an excellent memory. Often He will come to us and remind us of what we have said to Him. He may say, “Don’t you remember what you said to Me that day?” This is not a doctrine; it is a real experience. Unless you have not been called, you are not an exception. As long as you are a called one, I have the complete assurance that you have had this kind of experience. The Lord did reappear to you, and at that reappearing you were crazy, promising to give the Lord everything, without considering the meaning of the involvement. You simply consecrated yourself to Him. You did not realize the meaning of what you promised. I thank God that we were not clear about this when we did it. We did not realize how much we became involved with God as a result of speaking one short sentence. We were bound by it. He is God. He is the calling One, and we are the called ones. It is all of Him. Even if we want to be crazy for Him, in ourselves we do not have the incentive to do it. But once He appears to us, we are crazy and say, “O Lord, everything is Yours. Take it. Lord, do what You want. I offer everything to You.” Such a time of offering ourselves to the Lord is like a dream. Later we wake up and begin to realize what it involves.
In the early days of my ministry I was burdened to help people to consecrate themselves. Although I gave a lot of teaching about consecration, I did not see much result. My teaching did not work very well. Eventually, I learned that you cannot help people to consecrate themselves by teaching them. It is not teaching that causes people to consecrate themselves to the Lord; it is the Lord’s appearing that motivates them to do this. If we can help people to meet the Lord and come into His presence, that will be sufficient. We do not need to tell them to consecrate themselves to God or to offer everything to the Lord on the altar. Once God appears to people, nothing can stop them from consecrating themselves. Spontaneously and automatically, they will say, “Lord, everything is Yours. From now on everything is for You.” Have you not had this kind of experience? Have you not laid everything you are and have upon the altar for God and His purpose?
Conclusion
Once again, we can see that the New Testament does not advocate nor instruct altar usage. Instead, the New Testament teaches us to preach the Gospel and to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).