The Repair of the Altar
1 Kings 18:30 : "And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down."
This is not only true for a man seeking to make a journey through the woods, it is true for man spiritually! Man must have a reference outside himself that is unmovable, constant, and unchangeable--that he can keep relating to. The Bible mentions some things that are like this. The word of God is one of them. David cried in Psalms 43:3 that God would send forth His light and His truth, that they would lead him unto the holy hill and to His tabernacles.
God’s word will take us through times of uncertainty and darkness, when we don’t know in ourselves where to go or what to do. That word, illumined by the Holy Spirit, will take us into God’s full purpose for His Son. Another constant in the word of God is the cross; what Paul refers to as "Christ and Him crucified." 1 Cor. 2:1,2. In God’s economy, the cross is a powerful place. It is unchangeable and constant. Satan tries to undo the work done on the cross, but it cannot be undone. The accomplishment of Christ and His cross is forever sure.
THE PROBLEM AND CAUSE
In 1 Kings chapter 18 we find the Lord’s people in a terrible state and condition. The purpose for them as companions of Christ and bearers of His testimony in the earth is, for the time, lost. The people of God are earth bound, living out their lives for themselves rather than for the Lord. Darkness is in the land. They are facing times of uncertainty. The enemies of God, symbolized by Jezebel and her prophets of Baal, have strongholds in the land. The enemy seems to have the rule of the land. We see a people here who have lost their way. Everything has gone wrong! Where is God’s rule amongst His people? Where is the Lord’s presence? Where is the power of God to deal with His enemies? It seems as if the enemies of God are greater than the Lord Himself. Bondage, self rule, self gratification and darkness prevail among God’s people, and His purpose in His people seems to be put on hold.
Vs. 30 shows us how this could be; the "altar"1 of the Lord was broken down. The "altar" is a type of Christ and Him crucified. The full meaning of the cross is lost from the people of God. Calvary represents God’s exaltation, man’s redemption, and Satan’s defeat.
It was by this "altar" that God would relate to His people. It would be by this "altar" that all of God’s purposes in a people would be accomplished. All that God wants to do in man is accomplished in and through the "altar". God has limited everything He does to the "altar" of the Lord!
God’s presence among His people is secured by the altar and the sacrifice made there. The "altar" was God’s meeting place with man. God could meet man unrestrained, because there at the "altar" all that separated God from man has been dealt with. There is a cry today to meet with God. We hear the question; I need to meet with God, where can I go to meet with God? How do I find Him? God can always be found at the cross. This is His meeting place with man. The blood that was shed will never lose its power. We can always meet with Him there. If the church is going to meet with God like it so desperately needs to, it will only do so at the one place called the cross.
The people of God lost their way because they were going through the world in terms of themselves. They lost the unchangeable reference that’s outside themselves. They lost that one thing that God gave them to continually orient their lives. God’s people are to be a people of the "altar". The "altar" of the Lord and its power was to be the center of their lives but here we read it was broken down. It has been forsaken and abandoned and without it, there can be no other outcome than the one we read. The people of God have lost their way: bondage, darkness, self gratification, and that antichrist spirit rules the land.
THE TURNING POINT
God’s answer to this whole condition was to raise up a prophet who would repair the "altar" of the Lord again. A ministry was needed that would bring the people back to true north. God brings back to His people that one thing that will never change, the "altar". There are things the Lord cannot do until the "altar" is put back in its place amongst the people of God.
GOD’S ENEMIES OVERTHROWN
Notice the Divine activity that surrounds this "altar". Once the altar is put in place, God is on the move again. The meeting place between God and man has been recovered again. The "altar" is a powerful place! The repairing of the "altar" is the turning point of this whole chapter. When the "altar" is repaired, we see the enemies’ stronghold over the people of God is broken. The "altar" is a powerful place. God has bound Himself and all that He does to that "altar".
TRANSFORMED LIVES
The "altar" is the place where things happen. There at the "altar" the people see the Lord for who He really is. Paul tells us that the thing that turned everything around in His life was that God revealed His Son in Him. Gal. 1:15,16. There must be a seeing of the Lord and who He is in our hearts. God changes us by showing us who He is. 2 Cor. 3:18. It is at the "altar" the veil over their hearts was removed and they see the Lord as He really is. The "altar" is the place where the true identity of God is fully revealed. There we see the Lamb. He is the one who emptied Himself for us. What a mystery is revealed here, that God is so great, yet willing to come so low in love for us all. That is the kind of God He is.
Forever He will be the Lamb upon the throne. To come into the presence of the living God is to be changed. You cannot come into that high and holy place and stay the same. That is what happened here. The people of God, who up to this point were living for self gratification, were found giving themselves away to Him at the "altar". God gave himself to them there, and they did the same thing. We see this symbolized in their cry; "The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God." Something was happening in their hearts. The Lord was getting His place in their hearts again. Here are a people who are now looking to give satisfaction to the Lord, they are knowing union with the Lord again. When they came under the impact of the revelation of the Lamb slain, the issues of His Lordship in their lives was settled. There is no place like this "altar". Lord, bring us to the "altar" like this in our day!
FIRE AND RAIN FROM HEAVEN
We often hear in the church today the cry for the fire of God. There is a longing to have the power of God restored to the church. There is a growing awareness of the lack of the fire from heaven. The question is often asked; where is the fire? The answer to that question is found in this chapter as well. The fire is bound to the "altar". The people of God lacked the fire because they forsook the "altar". Where there is no "altar," there is no fire or rain. When the "altar" was repaired and its full place is restored in the lives of God’s people, the fire came down again.
God’s pleasure is bound up with His Son Jesus, and when Jesus gave His life in obedience to the Father on the cross, the Father expressed His pleasure by answering with Fire. We cannot expect the fire without the "altar". What great power was released that day. When the "altar" and its sacrifice were put in order again, the fire fell. God answered again. It was such a release of power, it licked up everything, the wood, the sacrifice, the water, the dust. The fire of God is where the "altar" is.
Prayer:
Lord, give us this kind of revival again. Bring us back to the cross. Lord forgive us for trying to live the Christian life apart from the altar. Forgive us for neglecting the "altar" and for us letting it fall into disrepair. Without it, we have lost our way. Raise up and release this kind of ministry again. Lord the state the church is in today is due to the fact that we have forsaken the "altar" of the Lord. Bring such a ministry of the Spirit and the word today that will bring the fullness of the cross and all it means back to the church. Lord there are things you want to do today that wait for the "altar" to have its place in and among your people. This kind of revival is not optional. We must have this! Like Elijah did to the people of God, may we be called again to the mountain and impact us with the greatness of Christ and Him crucified once more.
Note: 1The word "altar" is in quotes to make it clear that the altar points to Christ and Him crucified. In the Old Testament Christ hadn’t yet come, so God over and over gave his people previews of what it would be like when Jesus would come. One of those previews is revealed in the Old Testament "altar.. Once Jesus came, the previews were no longer needed.
