Then Noah built an altar to the Lord…. Genesis 8:20 (NLT)

As you read through God’s Message you find that the building of altars is a theme:

• Abraham built an altar (Gen 22:9)
• Isaac built an altar (Gen 26:25)
• Moses built an altar (Ex 17:15)
• Aaron built an altar (Ex 32:5)
• Gideon built an altar (Jud 6:24)
• Saul built an altar (1 Sam 14:35)
• David built an altar (2 Sam 24:25)

I could go on. The altar for sacrifice was significant. For those who follow Jesus, the idea of an altar for sacrifice loses some significance because Jesus’ death was the ultimate sacrifice and the old sacrificial system of worship was rendered obsolete:

“We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus once for all.” (Heb 10:10)

Yet most churches where Jesus’ followers gather still have an altar set up at the front. We don’t talk much about that. Some will say that it is a reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice which is commemorated in the metaphor of the Lord’s Supper. But, for me, the altar has always been a reminder that one sacrifice still remains and that is the sacrifice of myself. I am called to be a living sacrifice, and I need to be reminded of that regularly.