Genesis 8:20 “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar”.
An altar is a sacred place for sacrifice where we offer we offer our gifts to God, this is why in most places, offering boxes are placed on the altar because it is the place of sacrifice
An altar is a place where divinity and humanity meets.
God is on the altar, so when we come to an altar, man and God meets together, also, whenever a man approaches an altar he doesn’t leave there the same way he got to the altar. This is because altar is a point where we draw spiritual strength from the supernatural power of God.
This explains why many people love to approach the altar to pray whenever they are facing a difficult situation, it is in order to seek spiritual strength and solutions to their problems from God
An altar is a place where you present your gift to God, and importantly, you need to know that the kind of sacrifice on your altar determines the power that you will get from the altar.
So what do you give to your altar? How do you empower your altar?
It is often said that those who are in the World understands better the power of sacrifice on their altar, people from traditional homes especially, understand that when an offense is committed in a family, the sacrifice to be offered as penalty is often determined by the weight of the offence.
For instance, in my tradition, when a woman commits adultery, as penalty for her actions, a big sized goat is required, in most cases when the goat is not big enough, the elders of the land will refuse to perform the cleansing, claiming that the gods won’t receive it.
So in the same way, what you present on your altar will determine what you will receive from same altar.
Hence you must not be careless when approaching the altar, you are meant to always present gifts/ offerings on your altar.
An altar is a place where curses are reversed.
The wickedness and disobedience of men once made God regret creating man (Genesis 6:6), so in Genesis 8:20-21, God instructed Noah to build an ark, so as to ensure the safety of Noah and the other obedient persons on earth. After the flood, Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to God.
Meanwhile, you must not give your sacrifice anyhow, your sacrifice must go to the altar of God you should not use your sacrifice as gift to somebody else asides from God
Noah built an ark, the Bible said God perceived the sacrifice and promised in His heart, not to curse the ground for man’s sake again, He then made a covenant with Noah never to destroy the earth with water anymore, (Genesis 8:21).
God also assured that as earth remains seed time and harvest will not cease, God made a covenant with Noah due to the sacrifice He offered (Genesis 8:22).
One day, I was on my way home and I saw trucks filled with various farm produce, on their way to the major market nearby, and I wondered where all the plenty farm produce was coming from, I realized that these trucks bring farm produce weekly to Lagos, without stop, this became possible because someone offered sacrifice on God’s altar.
When God instructed us to give an offering, note that He is usually not going to tell you to give Him what you don’t have, rather when He tells you to give, it is from what He has given you, and He most times already has a plan in mind for your future so that you are not stranded. Sacrifice really works.
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God already has a plan in mind (Genesis 22).
Genesis 22v8; “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together”.
When God was testing Abraham’s faith, though Abraham did not know what God’s plan was, but he trusted God and decided to give up his son as offering in faith, Abraham loved God, and said it in faith to his son that God will provide for the sacrifice (even though He knew in his heart that the son was to be sacrificed)
Abraham’s statement that God will provide the sacrifice, means that for every sacrifice the Lord instructs you to make, He has already made a provision ahead, may you not be stranded in Jesus name.
In response to Abraham’s action of faith, God made him huge promises and gave him great blessings in Genesis 22:17-18
” In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice”.
Sacrifice is an act of obedience, remember the widow who gave the last penny in her purse for offering? Though her offering seem to be the lowest in value but our Lord Jesus said she gave the best, because it was all she had, while others gave offering out of their abundance (Luke 21:1-4).
Though two brothers brought offering to the Lord in Genesis , only Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God, so it’s not about the volume but also your motive for offering, the motive from which you give matters alot. (Genesis 4:3-5)
There was a man who waited on the Lord for several years, so when they got what they wanted, they went to the church to do a thanksgiving service
While the man was coming he brought a cock and while the pastor was praying, he said to the man who came for thanksgiving that “may God bless you with this same kind of blessing that you have brought to the church”.
Immediately, the man said no and rejected the prayer, when he was asked why he did that, he said the cock he brought has only one eye, so he also does not want the blessing of God to make him blind.
Whenever you want to bring an offering to God or sacrifice, ensure that that sacrifice is of a good quality as that will guarantee the acceptance of your sacrifice.
