The Beautiful, Ugly Altar

By Jerry D. Ousley

            I was raised in church.  Growing up, but not understanding fully what it was all about, I probably responded to the altar call to be saved a thousand times.  I really didn’t completely understand what was taking place but I knew I wanted to be ready.  Whenever a call to come to God was given, I felt I had to respond and so I “hit the altar.”

            Our altars of today take different shapes and forms.  Some are what was called “the mourner’s bench.”  It was a simply constructed bench that spanned across the front of the platform area of the building.  Some are padded structures that are made for comfort.  Others aren’t much more than the edge of the platform and the steps leading up to it.  There are some that are finely carved tables from which the articles of communion are served.  We come to these altars to repent of sin.  To confess our wrong-doings and turn to God.  It’s a much simpler process today than it was in the days of Moses and the Israeli people.

            The altar that was constructed for the Tabernacle, and then later for the Temple was constructed of acacia wood, a box approximately 7 ½’ long by 7 ½’ wide by 4 ½’ tall.  It was overlaid with bronze, and had a horn on each corner of it.  It was filled with wood for the fire and the sacrifice was laid upon the flames and burnt before the LORD.

            Each morning a bull was sacrificed and burnt on the altar for the general sins of the people.  When someone wanted forgiveness for sins he brought a bull without blemish, laid his hands on its head which symbolized transference of his sin to the animal, then it was killed and burnt on the altar.  Imagine with me the constant smell of burning hair and flesh around the altar.  It was not a pretty nor a pleasant experience.

            That innocent animal had to die so that the sinful man could be forgiven.  And not just once, but every time that he sinned.  In our Christian world of today we compare ministers to the Old Testament priests, but frankly, I would not want their jobs.  They were constantly slaughtering animals and burning them, or a portion of them.  I wouldn’t last a day doing their job.  So, the comparison is not a fair, nor a good one.

            That’s why it was an ugly altar.  It was an instrument of death for millions of innocent bulls, sheep, goats and turtle doves.  Can you even begin to imagine the horror of that thing?  Our modern-day Humane Society would have a field day, to say the least.

            Then Jesus came on the scene.  When His cousin, John the Baptist first spotted Him that day by the Sea of Galilee, where he was baptizing, he identified Jesus by saying, “Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  (John 1:29).  Right then and there John the Baptist prophesied of who Jesus was and what He came to do.  He was to be the final sacrifice for sin.  His was the sacrifice that would save millions of innocent animals from their fate on the altar of the Temple.  No more would people have to bring an animal to sacrifice every time they failed God (which for me is nearly every day.  Man, I would have had to taken out a big loan for a cattle ranch to be able to cover my sin!).

            We may kneel at a bench or stand before a wooden table both of which we call an altar, but the true altar is the empty cross.  That’s where Jesus, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, died in payment of my sin, your sin, and the sin of anyone that comes to Him.

            He rose again to bring us into a new life – we become a new creation in Him (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).  We don’t have to come to be made a new creation every day but we do come to Him and confess our sin every day.  What a deal!  What a wonderful Savior we have! 

            That’s why the altar is beautifully ugly.  It is ugly because of all the sacrifices of animals.  It is ugly because our Savior took the blame for the sin of all who come to Him.  But it is beautiful because we only have to do it once and because of it we have life eternal.  What a deal!  What a Savior!  How can anyone who understands refuse?  Come today to this beautiful, ugly altar!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.