Rebuilding the Altar of the Lord

-Calvin Hong

Back in 2021, I had a prophetic dream. And the Lord speaks to me in dreams and visions. The Holy Spirit speaks to everybody differently. And the question is, are we open to hear and listen and see what He’s doing? And when He shows us things, are we obedient to follow through and respond to Him? In 2021 I had a dream - I was in an open field. And this open field, I saw a camper van parked, like a caravan in a cammping ground. And it was interesting  because outside of that, I saw multitudes of people all frozen to death.  I begin to panic and when that happened, I began to pray and intercede for the Lord to revive them. As I was doing that, suddenly, I saw in the middle of the open field, I saw an enormmous campfire erected. It was getting bigger and brighter and it started to melt those who were frozen around it. As that was happenning, this woman with a staff in her hand came out of nowhere and came towards me. I can tell she was an angelic being. As she draws closer to me, she said this is what will take place. Suddenly, she began to draw line after line in the dirt and I got socked. I couldn’t understand what she was drawing so I asked her. She said the lines represent streams and riverbanks that were once flowing with water and wherever the water went, it produced life. But the riverbanks and streams have been dried up. Would you pray and prophesy that the Lord will restore them once again? I got on my knees and prayed for the Lord to let the river flow. Suddenly, out of my body came out water and went to the dry streams and riverbanks and they began to flow again. Then I woke up from the dream and realized there were a couple of parts to that dream.

The Lord was revealing to me that many people’s hearts have gone cold because the church is not only supposed to be a place of meetinig aand activity; it was meant to be a place to encounter the presence of God. And I saw that the fire burning brightly began to mmelt the hearts of the people back again. So I want to share with you this interesting but very prophetic message about rebuilding the altar of the Lord.

What is an altar? The altar is built to appease the gods that you beleive in. Altars are very known to Asians everywhere. But in the scripture, it talks about the altar of the Lord that has been established. The Lord wants to rebuild His altars and the altars are not just buildings and programs. The altars in scripture talks about the people that carry the presence of the Lord.

Leviticus 6:12-13 says, “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.” The role of the priest in the Old Testament, during the time of Moses, was to represent God in the midst of the people. They were to build the altar of the Lord and to set up sacrifices for whoever sins in the nation. The priest’s role was also to make sure that the fire in the altar would never go out, day and night. The fire represents 2 things: the presence of the Lord (His dwelling among men) and His judgement. The question is what do you want” the presence of the Lord or His judgement?

Leviticus commands that the fire in the altar will never go out. God is not looking for occassional fire. He is looking for continuous fire. The fire is not made by human hands. The fire is made by God’s presence coming down and dwelling among us. What altars are you building? Are you building altars or are you just attending meetings? In the bibe, an altar is a place where man meets with God; where sacrifices are offered and prayers are made and coenants are remembered. A church is a sanctuary. You come to chuch not just for activities but to bring God an offering through our praise and worship. I’m so thankful that we do not have to bring lambs anymore. Today we come to the altar and bring a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Him. That’s why worship is not optonal. It is a commandment from the Lord to behold Him and to sing praises to Him. The altar is where man meets God. It is where you step up in faith as an act of obedience. An altar is where sacrifices happen. When you respond to the altar, you tell God you are giving Him your heart and your life. Not only that, the altar is where we encounter Him and are covenanted with Him. In the New Testament, something shifts.

1 Peter 2:5 says, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” What akes up a spiritual house is not a building. Every living stone is a spiritual house. You are a living stone because Jesus lives in you. It doesn’t matter if you are a big stone, small stone, fat stone, or short stone. You are all living stones. And when you are all put together, it becomes a spiritual house. When people come together in a gathering and you are living and breathing God dwells among His people.

The altar is not a place but a people’s group. You are the altar. Your life is the altar. Your home can be an altar. It’s wherever you host the presence of the Lord. We are called to be a people of His presence; not just a people of His activity.

There are 2 reasons why God wants an altar. First, He wants an altar because He wants His dwelling place. Matthew 21.13 says, ““It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”” This is a rebuke from the Lord. Prayer is communing with God and listennng intently to what He wants to tell His people. He wants His dwelling. We do not just want to pursue outcome but to have His presence. The second reason why God wants an altar is because He s enthroned by the praise of Hid people. When we have His presence here, He is seated ont he throne. Psalms 110:1-2 says, “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”” WhenGod is enthroned, His rule is released; His authority is permeated across the landscape. When there is no altar, there is no throne. When there is no throne, there is no transformation.

Who sits at the throne of your heart? Career? Relationships? Money? They are good in a sense but they make very poor gods. That’s why when we establish an altar for the Lord and we come as living scrifices before Him, He sits and He enthrones in our lives and He is the one who will lead and guide us.

There are 5 elements on how to build an altar in your life:

1. Worship - encounter. When we build an altar to the Lord, He wasnt to encounter us. Genesis 12:7 says, “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” Why did Abraham build an altar? Because the Lord appeared to Him. Every true altar is built from an encounter with God. It’s a place where you want to remember Him. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” True freedom is not having more money in your bank account. It’s not more relationships or travelling around the world. True freedom comes that you are being set free from sin and you can walk in confidence with the assurance of knowing who you are and your identity in Christ. When you have a true encounter with the Lord, when you build an altar before Him, you become the living sacrifice. You put whatever is on the altar and the Lord will burn it and you become a new creation. You know you are transformd when you allow Him to sit on the throne of your life. If there is no encounter, the altar that you build will become a routine.

2. Sacrifice-suffering. Sacrifice is connected to what you bring to the Lord, which is your offering. Genesis 22:9 says, “When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.” Genesis is where the word worship was first mentioned. Today we still think worship is only music, which is only part of the expression of worship. God is morre interested in your heart. He is more interested in the inside of your life more than the outside of what you do. Believing Jesus is not an inntelectual thing it’s a heart issue. Worship is synonymmous with sacrifice. You cannot say that you love the Lord and not pay the price. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Are you giving God your best? When you live your life as a living sacrifice, this is what you need to do all your life. You are the sacifice. Psalms 51:17 says, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Being broken in the spirit is not a big thing. Brokennes int he spirit means there is a dependence, hunger and desire for help god resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. He responds to your brokennes. What attracts the presence of God is faith, the currency of heaven. He is moved by faith and compassion. He empowers you to see things differently. When you obey the Lord and sacrifice before HIm with an atttude of humility, He commes to you. Be bedient to His heart even if it costs you. Surrender your will. Lay down sin. Forego the things that destroy you. Sacrifice is you choosing holiness and righteousness.

3. Prayer-communion. Acts 12:2-3 says, “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” This was not a one time thing. This was a community that meets regularly. It was a lifestyle, a pattenr of how they lived. many times, we go to places where God never sends us. If He did, there will be witnesses. Do you want the Holy Spirit to speak to you everyday? He can use anyone if you are willing to be a living sacrifice. Matthew 6:9-10 says, ““This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The disciples have witnesses Jesus perform many mracles. They could have asked Him how He did it. But instead, they asked HIm to teach them how to pray. Do you know why that is so? They were with Him everyday and seen everything He did. But they were fascinated with the way how Jesus was so in tune with the Father, spending time with Him every chance He got. When you are praying, you are not praying to the maker of the universe. You are praying to the one who has adopted you. How is your prayer life? Do you invite God’s kingdom to come to earth as it is iin heaven? Prayer is communion, which comes with the word community. God speaks when we all come together. When we cultivate a life of prayer daily, we grow in our intimacy with Christ. Intimacy is cultivated daily with the Lord.

4. Restoration - healing. Matthew 5:23-24 says, ““Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” You cannot separate wotship from relationsip. When we come to the altar, you want to get right before the Lord. Many times, God reminds us of the relationship that are broken. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” There are steps to restoration. Transformation happens when you turn away from wicked ways. The altar exposes what must be fixed. It is where pride is broken.

5. Remembrance-covenant. Genesis 8:20-21 says, “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” The altar is where the covenant is remembered.  Revelations 13:8 says, “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” Before the foundation of the earth, there was already an altar. Hebrews 10:12-14 says, But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Before there was an altar on the earth, there was already an altar in heaven.

In the 5 lements, Jesus is the person we encounter and behold that leads to our transformation. Jesus is the person who sacrificed Himself as the ultimate offeriing to mankind and now, He is the great high priest. Jesus is the person who connects us by teaching us how to pray and be in communion with the Father. He is the person who restores us to the Fatehr and gave us the ministry of reconciliation to release healing. Jesus is the person whom he has remembered the old and new covenant He has made and promised that He will never leave us or forsake s. When we talk about the altar, He represents all 5 of them.

CHRIST is the utimate ALTAR. Are you building an altar before the Lord in your life? It is not made by human hands. Set our heart right before the Lord. If you are, you become His holy, living habitation. You are the priesthood of every believer. You are the priest of your life. If you are that, the altar of the Lord rests upon your life. Buld altars not monuments.