WHEN THE ALTAR HAS FALLEN DOWN

I KINGS 18:30 “And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.”

 The altar is the place of communion with God, the place where He meets with His own people, the place of prayer. Israel had thrown these altars down. (I Kings 19:14). Before Elijah could lead the people back to their God, he must repair the altar that was ‘thrown down.’ Before the blessing of God can be on a life, a family, a church, communion and fellowship with the Lord must be re-established. That is what the altar stands for.

God brings us back to the time when communion and fellowship had been interrupted by unconfessed sin. Sin must be confessed before God will answer by “holy fire.” Confession is done by deed as well as by word. Words are not always sincerely spoken, on many occasions recorded in the Bible, the words “I have sinned” were uttered, but there was no turning from sin. The blessing comes when a person confesses and forsakes his sin, we are told in Proverbs 28:13.

The believer must go back to the place of ‘beginning with God.’ as Abraham did coming out of Egypt, he went back to Bethel, “the place where his tent had been at the beginning, unto the place of the altar.” (Genesis 13:1-4). We are told, “there, Abraham called on the name of the Lord.” The church of Ephesus was told by the Lord to ‘return to its first love and repent or He would remove their candlestick.’ This meant, among other things, communion and fellowship with Him would be lost. This is the place of blessing for us, we must confess all known sin and be restored for communion and fellowship to continue and “holy fire” from Heaven will illuminate, warm and cleanse. Illuminate our minds, warm our hearts and cleanse our souls.

In His Lovely Name,

Pastor Ed Bowen