Text: Isaiah 51:2
“Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah, that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.”
Abraham is known as the father of faith, and a friend of the almighty God. Abraham demonstrated great Faith and he walked righteously with God. But why do we need to look unto Abraham?
“And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him/” (Genesis 12:7).
When the Lord showed Himself to Abraham, he built an altar unto Him who appeared unto Him. That altar is the altar of consecration. From there, he set apart himself unto the Lord who had appeared to him.
When we first receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, it is expected that an altar of consecration is raised. Any Christian life which is not built on the altar of consecration is bound to fail. After that experience, Abraham built another altar which is the altar of intimacy. “And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8).
After consecrating our lives, we must seek to know God beyond mere words, and build intimacy with them (Matt 15:8). We must seek to know God experientially like our father Abraham. “Then again Abraham built another altar, the altar of restoration to his former commitment ( the altar of no return) Genesis 12:3-4.” We must arrive at this altar at some point. That doesn’t mean that there will be no more trial, test, or stumbling.
But once the stake is driven and once the altar of no return is built in God’s presence, something will transpire in the soul that causes us never to leave the assigned purposes of God, never to drift away in pursuit of anything of other interest again.
Lastly, Abraham built the altar of possession (Gen 13:17-18). It is one thing to have a given promise and another to have a possessed promise. We do not want to live from prophecy to prophesy, but fulfillment to fulfillment.
Conclusion
An altar is a place where your life can be altered. Build yours today and lay yourself there as a sacrifice. Remember the only thing permanent in the life of Abraham was his altars, he built altars (permanent) but pitched tents (temporal) Gen 12:7-8.
