This response is as much for JohnDeereFan as it is for salzer mtn....I hope it helps to open you mind and eyes just a bit more in regards to the use of alters in the worship of God!
No, according to Psalms 54:6, (NKJV), prayer and praise is a form of sacrifice. “I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good.”
Or, in Hebrews 13:15, NKJV. “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
And then we need to consider Psalms 141:2, NKJV. “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”
Our prayer and praise, similar to Christ becoming our living [human] sacrifice for sin, is our form of sacrificial giving back to God!
We are told if we desire to follow Jesus, we must leave all else behind, and again, that calls for a form of sacrifice!
So to answer your question "Where is the sacrifice?" it is in yours and my prayers, praise and worship. It is also, bringing to the alter those areas of our flesh and live that the Holy Spirit or the Word has convicted us of, and by confession, LEAVING it their as a, once again, sacrifice!
I really hope this helped to answer your questions and doubt regarding the symbolic use of an alter in church.
One more thing: If you or your church, or any other church chooses not to believe in an alter, so be it! That is purely up to you. As for me and my house, we will serve Him, and gather at an alter to sacrifice our praers, praise and self.
Oh, one last mention of an alter is in Revelations 6:9-11 (NIV), "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was said to them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brothers, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."
Shalom my brothers!
No, according to Psalms 54:6, (NKJV), prayer and praise is a form of sacrifice. “I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good.”
Or, in Hebrews 13:15, NKJV. “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
And then we need to consider Psalms 141:2, NKJV. “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”
Our prayer and praise, similar to Christ becoming our living [human] sacrifice for sin, is our form of sacrificial giving back to God!
We are told if we desire to follow Jesus, we must leave all else behind, and again, that calls for a form of sacrifice!
So to answer your question "Where is the sacrifice?" it is in yours and my prayers, praise and worship. It is also, bringing to the alter those areas of our flesh and live that the Holy Spirit or the Word has convicted us of, and by confession, LEAVING it their as a, once again, sacrifice!
I really hope this helped to answer your questions and doubt regarding the symbolic use of an alter in church.
One more thing: If you or your church, or any other church chooses not to believe in an alter, so be it! That is purely up to you. As for me and my house, we will serve Him, and gather at an alter to sacrifice our praers, praise and self.
Oh, one last mention of an alter is in Revelations 6:9-11 (NIV), "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was said to them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brothers, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."
Shalom my brothers!
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