January 7
and the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto your seed will I give this land: and there built he an Altar unto the LORD, Who appeared unto him (Gen. 12:7).
Abraham is referred to as the “Altar builder.” Why did he build so many Altars?
Whenever the Lord spoke to Abraham, and Abraham heard and yielded, which was the moment of his conversion, the Lord also made it very clear to Abraham as to the manner in which man was to approach God. It only could be through the sacrifice of a clean animal, which necessitated the shedding of blood, all which symbolized Christ. That was the only way that God could converse with man—any man. God accepts nothing from humanity except it comes by the way of the Cross.
That’s the reason that Abraham had to build a new Altar everywhere he went. There was no other way to converse with the Lord.
It has not changed even unto this moment. Man can come to God only by the way of the Cross (I Cor. 2:2).
This means if the Church is not preaching the Cross, then whatever that particular Church is doing is totally unacceptable to God. This means every person who attends such a Church, for whatever reason they are attending, is not attending for the Lord, but for something else entirely. Such a course spells disaster!
Find a Church which “builds the Altar,” i.e., “trusts in Christ and what He did at the Cross”; there life and victory will be found (I Cor. 1:17–18, 21, 23; 2:2).
~J. Swaggart
Leave a Reply