The Altar of God

Hebrews 13:7, 10-16

We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

The text says we have an altar. Ah yes, everyone's favorite verse of this chapter is verse two which reads: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Now that I am grown, I find my favorite verse is this right here in verse ten. See, too many people get hung up on the angels, the feathers, the manifestations. They think that is all there is to Heaven. If the average person was interviewed, they would give this as the definition of the charismatic church otherwise known as the Pentecostal movement. Yes, such people are partially correct. As a church what we have forgotten to do is to entertain strangers and thereby angels unawares. In doing so, is not the rest of the chapter forgotten. God had a lot to say to the writer of Hebrews in this passage. If by following the whole of this word from the Lord am I declared by many as unScriptural, how much more will not you in the one verse you in which you believe be judged? For by doing so, have you not made the angels your judge rather than God. We preach the deep magic that made the magic teachers of Ephesus burn all their books in Acts 19:19. In him they found they moved, breathed, and had their being as in Acts 17:28. In this passage, we preach the doing away with the familiar so that that which is unfamiliar may come. Let us look at those who have no right. Those who minister, include both the Levites of the Mosaic law and the angelic order which desires earnestly to look into such things as those we experience in 1 Peter 1:12. They have no right to eat from this. As the text shows, we are the ministers at this altar.

The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

Is it not funny that verses eleven and twelve present the somber side of this. But as with the turn of the tables, we see everything has a purpose according to Psalm 23:5. Everything has a reason for it; in the house of God that reason is good. The priests of the Mosaic temple could not eat of these offerings because they were considered too holy as depictions of Christ. The Old Testament priests chose the best animals for these. So also, they found the best man to be the Savior of the world. Since he came to fulfill the law and the prophets, the altar he presents now is more glorious to eat of than before as in Matthew 5:17. Those with no right are associated with no place as in Revelation 20:11; the old earth passed away and there was found no place for that which was. Even he said his body was flesh indeed and his blood was drink indeed in John 6:55. When did we get the right to associate Jesus' body with the glory rather than the suffering? This almost sounds sacrilegious to say aloud. Notice the direction in which verses thirteen through fifteen moves. Identification with Christ has always been related to struggles and hardships as he also suffered according to Romans 6:4-5.

Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Do you ever get the feeling that this is all rather tongue-in-cheek at times. Why would I want to praise God anyway, much less all the time. Here I am supposed to follow him to death, ruin, and disgrace much against my will in John 21:18. I would think you crazy if you found joy in all this as in 1 Peter 1:6. Even though we hope for our eternal salvation and a city not made with hands like Hebrews 11:10 describes, he went away to prepare a place for us. He has yet to come again to receive us unto himself in John 14:3. Thank God the place we live in now is not eternal. It will not be this way forever. All this sickness, death, destruction, goodbyes, struggle to survive, hunger, thirst, sadness, and loneliness is not natural according to Revelation 21:4. It feels so wrong because it was never meant to be.

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

To add insult to injury, look at what verse seven says. What would the leaders know of any of this struggle and this life; were they not designed to be part of the solution? For those that see things this way, may I suggest a different point of view. There is an eternal perspective to be had here. You have not considered the end of the conversation. You walked into the room and heard God and Satan talking about a man named Job and his righteousness. Then, God allowed him to be tested. Had you left mad at that time, you would have concluded that was all there is in Job 1:8-12. The latter end, of Job 42:10, was that God restored to him double for his trouble. It sounds cute to say. All the animals that were taken were restored, the kids reborn, and the wife returned. The man's health and finances all came back. He lived out his days as a prince in the land.

What we were speaking of before says, "we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come." The text does not say, we hope for the life hereafter and the new Jerusalem. We seek another city to come which is not like this one. See, the earth will be made anew. The problem is not with the promise, it is with our expectations. Charles Spurgeon once said that if a mosquito bit him, he wanted it to fly away singing of the power in the blood. See, I want to be so full of God that I am living in the new city both now and when it comes. We serve an altar the earthly priests had no right to eat. I believe the blessing is now and to come. I believe he has already given his body to be broken per 1 Corinthians 11:24 for our healing now and to come. We eat and drink of him not to possess his power but to become like him as in Philippians 3:10. The suffering, death, and resurrection is all ours. What we do with the offering is critical.

But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Verse sixteen says "to do good and communicate forget not." This is our offering unto him, a giving back if you will for all he has done for us. He has made us a nation of kings and priests unto himself in Revelation 1:6. The service of the priesthood and kingdom is here. It is both now and to come. The "in part," spoken of by 1 Corinthians 13:9-10, may then be done away. This is why some cannot recognize this because of the vision problem spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13:12. This speaks of seeing through a glass darkly. Once, I met a little old lady with a blind man's cane in a restaurant. She knew enough to find the employee and tap them on their shoe. Then she demanded the employee serve her food that she was sure was on the menu that day. All the while, the employee tried to explain to the little lady with limited vision what a horror movie felt like before serving her. What must we look like to Jesus, when all we have to do is partake and eat of him to serve humanity according to 1 Corinthians 11:24.

God has enabled us to understand this concept a bit better. Knowing this and operating in such gives me the grace to deal with whatever I face in the here and now of the current situation I am going through. What Jesus is teaching is not escapism, another form of substance abuse, or even mental illness. Rather, this the sort of madness that many so-called Christian fantasy authors saw and wrote about from JK Rowling to CS Lewis. It so happens that such a view is taught by Christ himself as he enables the hereafter to be seen both now and then in reality. Our faith enables the things not seen as yet to appear as though they are in Hebrews 11:1. If I were to tell all this to a renowned clinical psychologist, there is a good chance I would come home with several new mental illnesses and other disorders. Should it shock us then that Christ has chosen the things of no repute to confound the wise according to 1 Corinthians 1:27. This same has laid in Zion a stumbling block that he the builders rejected might be made the head of the corner as in Psalm 118:22.