“We have an altar…” (Heb. 13:10, NKJV)
Back to the master narrative of Elijah which we read in 1 Kings 18. We now need to make typological sense of verse 30: “Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come near to me.’ So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.”
In its original root meaning the Hebrew word for altar, mizbêach, suggests “to slaughter, to kill”. It thus becomes the place where the sacrifice is brought, and often this sacrifice is blood. This explains Heb. 9:18 in quite beautiful terms; “Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood”, as well as verse 22: “according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission”.
Participation in sacrifices always leads to the cutting of covenants, and often becomes the place where religious rituals consistently take place. In Israel’s cult religion the altar is thus very central.
Throughout the Old Testament extensive reference is made to altars, no fewer than 360 times. In the New Testament there is only a meagre 22 references to the term. The reason for this is neatly presented in Heb. 13:8-10: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat …”
All these references to altars from the New Testament, apart from the reference in the book of Revelations, where it is clearly symbolic-visionary, refer to Old Testament altars. What does the references in Hebrews then mean when it notes that “we have an altar”?
Here it is obviously pointing to the Altar: Jesus. He was not only the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) on the altar, He also became the only way/place through which reconciliation between man and fallen creation can take place. [Thus for instance the translation of Rom. 3:25 in the Message-translation is not accurate: “God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin”.] He is now also the High Priest who needs to minister at the altar (Heb. 3:1; 8:1). The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery notes it in apt terms: “As altar, priest and sacrifice, Jesus unites all the images associated with the Biblical altars. He becomes the memorial of the new covenant, the place of sacrifice and the place of asylum.” (p. 21).
If then, considering all this, we look at the Scripture from 1 Kings 18:30 again, it is of great importance that we realise that we do not need to build a physical altar – Jesus is the altar in you, the temple (1 Cor. 3:6; 6:19). If that altar is “broken”, it is most probably because of disobedience, stubbornness, unrepented sin, inequities and transgressions, and idolatry – this needs to be restored by calling on the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7).
- Selah: Do you understand your construction, goal and functioning as altar?
- Read: 50; Ex. 1; Matt. 23.
- Memorise: 23:18 (what would this then mean?)
