Build Your Altar | Genesis 12:5-20
“The one concern of the Devil is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing rom prayer-less studies, prayer-less work.”
--Samuel Chadwick
- In God’s family we are called to submit to our heavenly father, to worship Him, to proclaim His name in this dark world.
Abram receives God’s call and promise, God establishes this important Abrahamic covenant with Abram, this agreement that is still in existence to this day both with the nation / people of Israel and the gentiles who put their faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah—what does Abram do next?
He worships God.
“Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So, he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.”
--Genesis 12:6-9
What is amazing about this is the fact that Abram was nomadic at this point, he didn’t build a permanent home rather he pitched a tent but we know that his tent was pitched beside the Oak of Moreh and that is how his grandson, Jacob, knew where Abram built the first altar at Shechem—Abram’s worship made God known in the land of Canaan both in the moment of Genesis 12 and for generations after Abraham. Jacob will build another altar but he knew that building an altar in God’s promised land was Shechem because of Abraham building this very altar in Shechem—the eventual promised land for God’s people.
Shechem was where Jacob bought a piece of land from a Canaanite named Hamor, for 100 pieces of silver (Genesis 33:19).
Shechem was where Jacob built an altar to the Lord and called it El Elohe Israel (Genesis 33:20).
This established the connection between Jacob and what became known as Jacob’s Well.
Shechem was the place where Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was raped – and the sons of Jacob massacred the men of the city in retaliation (Genesis 34).
This was the plot of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph, land Jacob had conquered from the Amorites with his sword and bow in an unrecorded battle (Genesis 48:22).
Shechem was where the bones of Joseph were eventually buried when they were carried up from Egypt (Joshua 24:32).
Shechem was where Joshua made a covenant with Israel, renewing their commitment to the God of Israel and proclaiming: as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24).
Shechem’s New Testament name is Sychar – where Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5-6).
“Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel…’”
--Joshua 24:1
Shechem is now in modern day Palestine and Jacob’s Well is in the Palestinian city of Nablus, West Bank, Palestine. The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Photina is built over Jacob’s Well. This is where Jesus revealed Himself as Messiah to the Samaritan women, this is where Jacob built his well and this is in the same area where God called Abram to be the father of His people and where Abram built the very first altar to God in the enemies’ land of Canaan—the promised land for Israel. This tells us that God is making Himself known to His people, preserving the truth of His word through the worship of Abram and Jacob. We know God is real today because we can visit these places and see these sites—God is always at work and always revealing Himself to the world.
- Keep Worshiping God. Don’t Stop Praising Your Heavenly Father no matter the cost.
We are called to worship God. No matter what is hindering us in this life. There is no text in scripture that gives excuses for NOT worshiping God.
Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
--Mark 12:29-31
Jesus is summarizing the ten commandments here found in Exodus 20:1-17, Exodus 34:11-26, and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. These commands by God are not suggestions for His people; rather they are to be followed as a form of worship to God. Want to know how to please God? Study, memorize and FOLLOW the 10 commandments.
“’Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today…’”
--Deuteronomy 5 :1-3
Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 5. He is summarizing the ten commandments. Notice how there are two major commandments Jesus talks about. The second commandment is what the North American church follows—We think that is the most important commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
This Abrahamic covenant established in Genesis 12:1-5 is the 3rd covenant for God and His people.
-Creation Covenant (Gen. 1-2)
-Noahic Covenant (Gen. 6-9)
-Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12)
-Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19-24)
-The New Covenant (Isaiah 61, Matt. 5:17-20)
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
--Matthew 5:17-20
The man in Mark is asking what is the most important commandment—what get’s your eternal life? And Jesus answers: “Love the Lord Your God…!” We love God first, we worship God first, we submit and obey to our God Jesus Christ and Loving people comes next—when you are in Worshiping God, when you are communing with God and in a relationship with God than loving others becomes easier!
God used the famine in Canaan to test Abram. God uses the government to do His will AND to test His people. Abram failed the test, ran to Egypt and God gave out consequence for his disobedience. When times get difficult will you worship God?
“Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
--Romans 12:1-2
- God’s grace covers our sin. Find your confidence in God. Don’t be afraid to do God’s will.
We are called to build our altars. We are called to worship God. We are called to serve and use the abilities and gifts which God has given us through the Holy Spirit. We will make mistakes. Abram made a mistake but through God’s grace He will continue to work through us, to shine His glory through us.
Genesis 12:11-20
Abram disobeys God, runs to Egypt, fears Pharoah, tells Sarai to lie and the consequence oft his sin is that Pharaoh and his family gets struck with sickness, with a plague. God’s grace is huge over Abram—because Abram is saved, Abram is a child of God. Remember Genesis 12:3? “God will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” There is still consequence for this disobedience for Abram.
“But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go…”
--Genesis 12:17-20
God is sovereign! He has a plan to birth Israel through Abraham through His son Isaac and it will happen regardless of Abram’s foolishness. This foreshadows an even graver lapse in faith when Abram sleeps with Hagar in Genesis 16 because Sarai doesn’t trust God in which she can have a baby—she is too old. Abram doesn’t stand for truth, he lacks faith and Hagar gives birth to Ishmael—a son born out of wedlock, born out of disobedience to God.
“But God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”
--Genesis 17:19-21
Abraham continues to make mistakes, but he continues to return to God. Earlier in Genesis 17:3 he falls on his face in obedience, repentance to God. He went back to Canaan, the Negev after he went to Egypt in Genesis 12—He continually returns to God and God establishes Abraham as the father of his people, Israel. Abraham will even lie about His wife being his sister to the heathen King, Abimelech again in Genesis 20 (just as he did in Genesis 12). Abraham is born into sin, he is prone to human feebleness, human sin, and makes many mistakes but God’s grace covers him.
Abraham’s foolishness and sin can’t stop God’s perfect, sovereign plan.
This is why God tests Abraham in Genesis 22 when He tells Abraham to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac, on the altar to tests Abraham’s faithfulness to God.
Humanity and everything we produce; we create is shakeable. The kingdoms we find look impressive and we live in subject to them as Romans 13:1-5 reminds us. But there is a greater Kingdom. There is a kingdom that even our world leaders are subject to and live under and that is the unshakeable kingdom of God. God doesn’t move, He doesn’t change, He doesn’t lie—so that is who we must worship!
“And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’ This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”
--Hebrews 12:26-29
“If we follow a crucified savior, we should not be surprised when love demands sacrifice. Through his grace, we discover that the places of deepest cost are also the places of richest communion, where we not only walk with others but walk more closely with Him.”
--Darby Strickland