Come to the Altar

30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. 33 And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

Today and for the next few weeks, I want to invite you to “Come to the Altar”.

First I want to discuss some details about the events we just read about, and then I’d like to try to help us see how we can learn from them and apply principles to our own lives, as a result of our observations from this passage.

“At that time”

The phrase that verse 30 begins with “at that time” is the authors attempt to get us to pay attention to the context of what has recently occured.

They army of Israel had just defeated the people of Ai, and had won a tremendous victory. This is the first time in the Promised Land where they actually fought and won. Remember in Jericho, they didn’t really fight a battle, they simple walked around the city, blew horns and shouted at the appropriate time. There wasn’t any real resistance by the people of Jericho.

Then they are defeated, due to Achan’s sin.

And then as we discussed last week, God gave them the blessing of victory, in the battle over Ai. We didn’t look at the details of the battle but God gave the a plan and they followed it through, which allowed them to capture, conquer and destroy the people of Ai. The key point is that GOD GAVE THEM THE VICTORY AND God also gave them the plunder of the city.

Joshua 8:2 ESV

2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

Now, we are told in verse 30

Joshua 8:30 ESV

30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

Let’s break this down.

But first, I am going to ask you to do something unusual. I’d like everyone to pick up your stuff and move 2 pews forward. If you are sitting in the first 2 pews, I want you to rotate to the back of the sanctuary in the last set of pews.

Intentional Worship-

On Mt Ebal

Earlier, I stated that I was inviting you to the altar.

How would you feel if just after winning a battle, I said follow me, we are going to take a little walk. You see, Mt Ebal was approximately 20 miles north of Ai. Not just a small undertaking to move a large number of people and they didn’t simply stumble across a meeting and decide to join in. There was intentionality in their actions. This wasn’t a stop on their way to see some relatives or even on the way to the next city they would conquer.

We cheapen our relationship with God and with our fellow believers when we approach our relationships with a consumer mentality.

This is something that is extremely prevalent in our culture, but it isn’t what God desires from us.

Joshua built AN Altar- The human leader of this nation did what? He turned the peoples’ attention to GOD! Joshua and the people of Israel publicly made a statement about their belief and trust in God. They didn’t quietly and simply go about their own personal business, hoping someone would ask them about why they are so different. They walked for miles and stood and faced the Ark of the Covenant and built an altar.

Joshua built an altar

Why does someone build and altar? You build an altar, for the purpose of worship and offering sacrifices to someone/something, a higher power to whom you wish to give tribute, praise, glory and to seek blessing, forgiveness, and favor from. We will get into this in greater detail about the altar as it relates to sacrifice next Sunday, Lord willing.

He built an altar to who?

Worship- attributing worth/glory/praise

Worship The LORD, The God of Israel

Yahweh! The self-existent, unchanging, all powerful, God. The Divine Being, Sovereign Judge, and Mighty Ruler of Israel. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This was the name that wasn’t even pronounced out loud by the Old Testament saints. They felt unworthy and inadequate to be able to even say His name.

There is no opportunity for pride, when we are approaching Yahweh. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

He did not build an altar to the gods! When we call people to worship, we are not simply calling people to believe in a “higher power” as in any higher power they choose to believe in. Alcoholics Anonymous encourages their members to look to “a higher power”, which is good and helpful but that simple statement by itself is not good enough. Many people today believe there are many ways to eternal life, but the Bible clearly teaches there is only one way and one GOD!

Joshua used the name Yahweh, Elohim. “Yahweh” (He Who IS and He who Will Be), Elohim of Israel (divine spiritual being). The Supreme Spiritual Being who is over all spiritual beings.

This altar was built for the worship of the Holy, Righteous, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Immutable, Eternal, Creator and Sustainer. We could spend literally eternity studying the character of God. Possibly someday we will spend time studying the Attributes of God more thoroughly but the point I’m trying to make is that we should not overlook or minimize or become desensitized to the reality of who God is. This his why we come to church each week. To gaze upon the character of God through the study of His Word and fellowship with other believers. God forbid that we water down or minimize His glory, especially as we are gathered specifically for the purpose of worshipping Him.

Humble worship-

Joshua did As Moses Instructed

Deuteronomy 27:4–6 ESV

4 And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; 6 you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God,

Joshua regularly displays a heart of humility, as he obediently does all that the Lord has instructed him to do. Joshua even did the things that Moses had instructed him to do. It would have been easy to cast aside Moses’ advice, since he was punished and unable to enter the land but his humble and teachable spirit is evident all throughout the pages of this historical narrative. Joshua recognizes his own humble state before God and walks in obedience throughout this book.

An altar of uncut stones

Joshua 8:31 ESV

31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.

Not the work of man, but simple stones that haven been placed together strategically for worship and sacrifice. Joshua simply used that which God had provided!

This has been seen as a type of Christ by various theologians and scholars.

This example of Joshua’s method of worship and sacrifice, pointed forward to the time of Christ, when HE (Christ) came, not by the work and will of man but by the supernatural work and will of God.

Grateful worship

This act was costly to them from a human perspective. It cost them time, energy and resources- sacrifices were offered but we never really sacrifice anything for God in the sense that we might think of it. IT really costs us nothing, because all we have has been given by Him. Yet God accepts our offerings, as worship, but he desires obedience more than sacrifice. He wants a supernatural, Holy Spirit induced love. Worship that is in Spirit and in truth.

The means by which we are able to worship God is not from our own being or strength, but the Life, breath and all that He gives us should, in return be used to praise and worship Him, just as Joshua has brought the people to do on Mt Ebal.

They did so out of gratefulness for their blessing and victory, not in order to earn His favor. This is a subtle but key difference, that completely changes our ability to glorify the Lord through our lives.

If we worship God as a means of earning God’s favor we either become disillusioned when we don’t get what we want, after doing “His will” or we become self-righteous and arrogant for our accomplishments.

Both of those resulting beliefs are faulty and sinfully rob God of the praise and true WORSHIP that He is due.

Come to the Altar

Come to the Altar

Intentional Worship-

Worship- attributing worth/glory/praise

Worship The LORD, The God of Israel

Humble worship-

Grateful worship

Come to the altar of the LORD God with Intentional, Humble and Grateful Worship