PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 308: Altar Building, Part 1
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 308
: Altar Building, Part 1
Maybe this is something you have not yet integrated into your family life. Maybe you have been doing it for years. Whoever you are, you are going to love this series as we look at 25 powerful points about “the family altar” that God reveals in His Word. Even if you have been doing it for years, you will learn new things!
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies, always great to be with you again. Today I am starting a new series called “Altar Building.” I know that many times I’ve spoken about our gathering together as families to read the Word and pray together. But today, I want to begin giving you the whole counsel on this subject. Recently, I went into the Word of God, and I found 25 different points about altar building.
We have been doing this in our family for years, gathering together as a family, reading the Word, and praying together. People have lots of different names for it. Some people call it “family devotions,” which we do. We usually say, “Come on, we’re having family devotions now.” Some people call it “Bible time,” “worship time,” “getting together with God time.”
In fact, one time I was ministering with my husband over in Belgium. We were speaking at an Above Rubies family camp there. While I was speaking, I happened to bring up the word “family devotions.” I was speaking through an interpreter because there were loads of people, not only from Belgium, but Holland, there. They all spoke Dutch, so it was being interpreted into the Dutch language.
When I said the word “family devotions,” the interpreter hesitated, and wasn’t quite sure what I was saying, so I had to explain it a little more clearly. Later on, I talked to the lady who had convened this retreat and I said to her, “Wow, why didn’t she know what I was talking about? Because I know that you do family devotions in your home. Many of the families here do.”
She said, “Oh, no, we don’t use that word.” I said, “Well, what word do you use?” She said, “We call it ‘Finishing up the Meal.’” Well, I had never heard that before. But I thought, that is a very wonderful name, because they wouldn’t leave the table after feeding their physical bodies until they had fed their spiritual man and fed the inner man. So, they called it, “Finishing up the Meal.” We don’t leave this table until we have filled the whole man, body, soul, and spirit. I do love that name.
But back years and years ago, the name that was most familiar was the “family altar.” Some of you will be familiar with that term, the “family altar.” Others of you may not have even heard of that term because it’s quite forgotten now in these days.
By the way, ladies, can I ask you, please stay with me, will you? Even if you are one who faithfully does family devotions in your home each day, or even if you don’t, please stay with me, because even though we have been doing this for years and years and years, I guess so many more years that you’ve ever been doing it, I am still blown away, as I have just recently gone into the Word of God again to see how much God says about it. I think we need to know what God says, don’t you?
We can hear somebody say, “Well, you should be having this Bible time with your family every day.” You know in your heart that’s a good idea. But unless you have the Word, unless you have in your heart and your mind what God says, you can easily let it go. I was amazed. I learned new things. I know that you will learn new things as we go through these 25 points. So, stay with me. Keep with me.
In fact, remind others to listen in, because this is something that is very powerful. It is meant to be part of every Christian’s home. And yet, it is so lost today. It reminds me of that Scripture in 2 Peter 1:12, when Peter was writing to the Christians. He said to them, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them.”
Now, you may say, “Oh, I know everything about this!” Well, if you do, you know more than what I did before I discovered what we’re going to share with you from the Word of God. But even when we know things, dear ladies, we need to be reminded. Yes, it’s so easy to let things slip. We need to remind one another.
It goes on to say: “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” That’s an interesting phrase as well. “The present truth.” Every single truth in the Word of God is an eternal truth, from the very beginning to the very end.
Psalm 33:11: “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.”
God’s truth is for every generation, but there are some truths that need to be brought out again, like “the present truth.” And why does that need to happen? Because it’s not happening! If there is a truth which is a truth which is in the Word of God from the very beginning, and it’s not being fulfilled in this time, it becomes a truth which is “a present truth” which must be spoken about.
I do believe that this is “a present truth,” a truth which we need to encourage one another in, because there was a time when it was normal, I guess, beginning really in the time of the Reformation, which began in 1517, way back then. But back then, in the time of the Reformation, it became the absolute norm, it became the habit, it became the requirement even, of every Christian family to have their family devotions, both morning and evening.
That carried on for centuries, but it is lost in our century today. We do need to remind one another. I haven’t finished this Scripture yet. “And be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle,” that means “in this body,” “to stir you up by putting you in remembrance . . . Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.”
Then over in 2 Peter 3:1, he says: “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.” So, lovely ladies, do you mind if I remind you about this wonderful subject? And also, at the same time, not only remind you, but give you new inspiration, new revelation and understanding, which I have been discovering myself. Isn’t it wonderful when we discover new revelation in old truths?
I was thinking about this the other day. In 1 Peter 1:23, and I was reading this in my daily reading the other morning, it says here: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
The Word of God is a seed. It’s a seed which goes into our hearts, but we can’t leave it as just seed. That seed has got to grow. All seeds have to grow to come into their fullness. Every truth in God’s Word is a seed. It’s a seed which we take into our minds and our hearts but we’ve got to water it, and we’ve got to meditate on it. We’ve got to obey it, and we’ve got to apply it. It’s got to become part of our lives. The more and more that it does, the more it grows! We get more understanding, and more revelation. This truth grows into a glorious tree.
It’s always more and more as that wonderful Scripture I love to quote, Proverbs 4:18 says: “But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth MORE AND MORE unto the perfect day.” It’s always more and more, isn’t it, ladies?
A few years back, Colin and I were speaking at a family retreat. We flew by plane to this retreat. When we arrived, we were a little bit late for our first meeting. As we came in the door, everyone was singing hymns. Then they began to sing this hymn called “God, Give Us Christian Homes.” I hadn’t heard it before. The words are so wonderful. But let me read to you the last stanza:
God, give us Christian homes,
Homes where the children are let to know,
Christ in His beauty,
Who loves them so.
Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.
God, give us Christian homes.
As we were all singing those words, I was arrested by the words “homes where the altar fires burn and glow.” I knew what the hymn was talking about. I thought to myself, “I wonder if everyone else knows what this hymn is talking about? It’s an old, old hymn, and maybe they don’t even know what it’s talking about.”
So, when I got up to say hi, I said to them, “We’ve just been singing this hymn, “Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.” Who can tell me what it’s talking about?” Well, there was no answer. Nobody put their hand up. Nobody knew what they were singing about! I had to tell them.
It was speaking about the family altar because that was the norm back in those days, where every Christian family had their family altar, not only once a day, but every morning and every evening where they gathered around the Word of God and prayed together.
The actual phrase, “the family altar,” comes from a Scripture in Leviticus 6, where God is speaking to Moses about the brass altar, and how it was to be made, and what they were to do.
Leviticus 6:8: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command,” do you notice, “command”? It’s amazing when you read the Word of God how many times you read the word “command.” It doesn’t ever say, “I suggest to you,” or “It might be a good idea.” No, command. “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.”
It goes on to talk more about how they were to attend to that altar every morning and every evening. Every morning and every evening they were to take out the ashes, speaking of all the junk, and all the stuff in our lives that is grieving to the Holy Spirit. They had to take that out.
Then they had to renew the fire, and build it up, and put on the wood. That speaks, of course, of the Word of God, which renews us, and sustains us, and builds us up.
In verse 12, it says: “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it,” and so on.
And then verse 13: “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” This was God’s plan for the altar, that the fire was never, ever, to go out. They had to keep it burning.
Now, the interesting thing is, He was telling them in this Scripture what to do. Of course, Moses obeyed, and they made the brazen altar, and everything else for the tabernacle. Then, when it came to bring everything into the tabernacle, and to have the consecration of it, that God, when they put the sacrifice upon the altar, God lit the fire. It was supernatural. Fire came out of the altar.
But then God gave the responsibility to the priests to then keep that fire going. We all know that was Old Testament. In the New Testament, we are now priests and kings unto God. We have now our priestly duties. We are now to keep our altar burning so that it never goes out. That was where the family altar saying actually came from. It was very, very biblical.
All right. Now we’re going to start looking at these 25 points. You know, I think by now, if you’ve been listening to my podcasts, that I can never, ever seem to be a point one, two, three preacher. Well, not that I’m a preacher anyway, ha-ha! That’s a job for the men. I am just an older woman, sharing with you younger women, and encouraging you in the ways of God, and in the ways of motherhood, and in the ways of the home, and in the ways of marriage, according to God’s Word.
Before I even get to point one, altar building is very, very much part of the Bible, from Genesis right throughout the whole Bible. The very first altar that’s mentioned in the Bible was the altar that was built by Noah. Genesis 4:4. No, it wasn’t Noah, of course, it was Abel, wasn’t it? Actually, yes, it was Noah, that the first altar that was mentioned, but obviously Abel did build an altar, although it’s not mentioned.
Genesis 4:4: “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.” They only did offerings at altars, so obviously both Cain and Abel built an altar. Of course, at Abel’s altar, there was obviously the shedding of blood, because he brought the first fruits of his flock, of his lambs, or his goats, whereas Cain just brought what came out of the ground. There was no blood shed.
We know how God had respect. He looked upon Abel’s offering, and He had favor upon it. We don’t know what happened, but God did something to show that He received Abel’s offering. So, that was obviously the first altar, but the first time we read the word “altar” was when Noah built an altar unto the Lord. But then, that was only the beginning. As I read through the Scriptures, I found 17 other men of God who built altars in the Old Testament.
Not only do we find so much teaching from all those men who built altars, but also from the altars in the tabernacle, and later the temple. The altar, that’s the outer court of the tabernacle, the brazen altar which we’ve been talking about, and the altar of incense. From these, we find all these amazing truths that we can learn so we know how to do it in our own homes. Amen? Are you with me?
Okay.
No. 1. WE MUST FIRST TAKE ACTRION TO BUILD AN ALTAR
Altars don’t just happen; you have to make them happen. The early patriarchs built altars of earth or of stone. I’m sure it was hard work. They weren’t just little altars. They built big altars. It took effort. It took hard work.
Now, today, lovely ladies, we’re not building altars of earth or of stone. No, no. We are building an altar. What are we doing? We are finding and making a time and a place where we meet with God because that was what the altar was all about. To meet with God.
So, we read Genesis 8:20: “And Noah builded an altar.”
And then we read, “And Isaac builded an altar.”
Then we read, well before Isaac, of course, we read of Abraham: “And Abraham builded an altar.” Well, Abraham built many altars.
“And Jacob builded an altar.”
You notice that word “build.” The word “build” is banah, which means “to build.” The word banah actually has three meanings. First of all, it means “to build.”
It also means “to repair,” because we know every building always needs repair. It doesn’t just last forever. Things break. They fall down. They begin to corrupt. So, we have to keep repairing even our own homes. You know, we’ve got to repair the roof, we have to repair a door, we have to repair something that’s breaking down.
I’m so glad that my husband is able to fix things. I call him “Mr. Fix-it”! I’m so glad to have a Mr. Fix-it around who can fix things that break down because I’m hopeless at doing that myself. If anything breaks down, well, I really don’t know how to fix it. But we have to keep our homes repaired.
We also have to keep our altar repaired. Yes, we can sometimes let that go, and let that fall, and forget about it. We have to repair it again.
There is a third meaning of the word banah, but I’m not going to talk on it today. In this meaning of banah, it also means “to bring forth children,” because one of the biggest things of the word banah is to build a home and a family. It means “the bringing forth of children.”
But at the moment, we are talking about building altars. Let’s go to where Jacob builded an altar, shall we? I could give you all the references of the others, but maybe I’ll put them in the transcript for you.
Now, when Jacob builded an altar, it was in Genesis 35. Let’s read from verse 1: “And God said unto Jacob,” notice “God said.” It wasn’t Jacob’s idea. It was God’s idea. “Jacob, arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God.” So, Jacob then went to all his family, and he said, “And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress . . . So Jacob came to Luz . . . that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El Bethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.”
Now, we notice three things, well actually there are lots of things. And we will be coming back to this passage to see many more things about the altar in this passage. But the three basic things are here.
Number one, God told him to do it. Building altars is God’s idea, not our idea. It’s God’s idea.
Number two, he confirmed that he would do it. Did you notice that? God said, “Arise, and make an altar.” Then Jacob went to his family, and he said, “God has told me, so let us arise and go up, and we’ll make an altar unto God.”
Thirdly, he didn’t just say it. He didn’t only confirm it. He actually did it! Because we read, “And he built there an altar.” I love that. So, ladies, we get those three things there that speak to us personally. I hope that when you read the Word of God, you take it personally to you. It is a love letter to you, a personal letter to you. Yes, many times God is speaking about a person, or many times He’s speaking about promises to Israel.
But every word of God is alive and active. Every word has power to speak to us. Every word, every story, every Scripture . . . There is what God says on the surface, but there is what He is also saying to us personally. There are also deeper truths and more layers underneath, as we search, in every Scripture.
Here we get what God, He was saying it to Jacob, but He says it to us. “I want you to build me an altar.” If we are truly hearing God speak to us, we’ll say, “Yes, Lord,” and we’ll confirm it, and we’ll talk to our children about it. “We’ve got to make an altar to meet with God!”
You’ll talk with your husband about it. Well, you won’t tell him what to do. Oh, never do that! Because, have you noticed? If you tell your husband what to do, do you know what he’ll do? He usually does the opposite. Or, if he doesn’t do the opposite, he’ll just do nothing. No, somehow husbands don’t like to do things when they’re ordered by their wives. But we can talk to our husbands about it. We can ask our husbands.
After you’ve listened to this podcast today, if you haven’t got an altar in your home, you can say, “Well, I was listening today about building an altar in our home. Here’s some of the things that God says. What do you think about that? Do you think it’s something we could do in our home?” You have to approach your husband the right way.
And then thirdly, of course, he did it. We want to always be able to fulfill what God says to us. Everything God says to us in His Word is not only for us. It is for our children too.
Genesis 17:9: “As for you, you shall keep my covenant. You and your descendants after you, throughout their generations.” God’s Word is not only to us, but to our children, and our children’s children, and their children, and continuing generations. We must establish in our homes what God wants us to do so it will become part of their homes, and each following generation. Can you say amen with me?
No. 2. WE BUILD AN ALTAR TO THE LORD WHEN WE ESTABLISH A HOME
Yes, at the very beginning. If you’re a young married couple listening today, that’s one of the first things you do after you are married, to begin a family altar. You begin it before you ever have children. You start it as a married couple together. It will be something that establishes your children to come into this habit.
Let’s see some Scriptures here. Genesis 13:3-4, and this is talking about Abraham: “And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first.” That was the first place he had stopped, and therefore the first place he made an altar.
We go down to verses 17, 18: “Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.” You notice, when he moved, and he came to a new place, he established the altar again. When we move, we’re often moving. I notice that with Above Rubies. Every day, we get changes of addresses. People seem to be moving from one state to the other. All over the nation, it’s just a moving nation. We are always changing thousands of addresses.
But every home we move to, we establish the altar. Isaac, Genesis 26:25. Isaac built an altar, even before he pitched his tent. Listen to this: “And he builded an altar there, and called upon the Name of the Lord, and pitched his tent.” Do you notice what he did first? He actually built his altar first. Then he pitched his tent. That’s the priority Isaac put on the altar.
What about Jacob? Genesis 33:18-20. This is before the passage I was telling about, of how he went up to Bethel. “And he (Jacob) bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent . . . and he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.”
Do you see the pattern, lovely ladies? Everywhere they went, they built an altar.
Samuel. 1 Samuel 7:16-17: “And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there . . . he built an altar unto the LORD.” So, at his home, he established his altar.
Matthew Henry, the great Bible commentator, wrote, “Wherever man has a tent, God should have an altar.”
Now I am ready for point number three, but I think our time is running out. I think we will have to finish now, because when I start on point number three, I’ll be talking to you for a while. So, let’s get onto that point next week, OK? Please come back, because there is more, and there is more, and there is more to tell you about the family altar. Amen? Let’s pray.
“Dear Father, I want to thank You so much, that You show us Your heart in Your Word. Lord, already we’ve seen that to build an altar is not our idea. It’s Your idea. You’re the One who established the pattern of altars.
“I pray, Father, that You will help all of us to be faithful in our homes, as we gather with our families to meet with You. I pray, Lord, for those who may not have even started, that You will give them this vision, and You will help them. And especially as we continue to talk more about how to go about it.
“I pray Your blessing again on all the precious families listening. Lord, just bless them, provide for them, encourage them. Lord, just give them new vision, and a whole new stirring in their spirit to strengthen their families, Lord God, especially in this hour of the fragmenting of families. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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