13.1 A Broken Altar
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
A Broken Altar. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more (Revelation 3:12). Let me define the Holy of Holies in our Christian experience. Living in the Holiest is living inside of God and God inside of us, entirely by faith and with no thought of our own inability. To “go out no more” means that we never again attempt to make ourselves “right” with God on the one hand, and that we see the Father in EVERYTHING regarding us on the other.
The “location” of the Holiest, however, is another matter. The Holy of Holies was anywhere the Ark of the Covenant was found. When David put the Ark into a tent in his back yard, that tent became the Holiest, with the space at the back of the tabernacle now just an empty room.
The Wrong Question. Having obtained from the Lord a much deeper understanding of where we sit and how we work together with our Father as the Lord Jesus Christ, seeing all things good and calling all things to find their place inside the New Creation, we are ready now to go out with Father as that very Ark.
We see our brethren caught in the Altar of Incense, having drawn near to the Holiest, but unwilling to enter. We have had the question – why do our brethren not enter into living only in Jesus and Jesus in them, calling all that they are by the Lord Jesus? God does not give us an answer because we are asking the wrong question. Then we see that God bypasses the Altar and goes straight to the Table of Shewbread.
Understanding the Crime. Now, to understand this mighty “crime” God is committing through us, before we even begin to explore God revealed through His church, the Holy Place, we have three sessions. And make no mistake about it. God manifest in the flesh is a crime in the eyes of most of our brethren and in the eyes of the powers of this world. The same mouths that cried, “Hosanna” on Thursday cried, “Crucify Him” on Friday.
In this session we are placing the Holy Place and God’s entrance into His creation through the Veil. Then we must explore two more big words from Romans 8, Pro-Determination and Symmorphose, before we can discover the right question to the answer called the Shewbread.
A Trap of Unbelief. In this lesson we want to understand a bit more this Altar of Incense, once most precious to us, an Altar that has become a trap of unbelief for our brethren. As we sit upon the Mercy Seat looking out, the Veil does not block our ability to see our brethren as perfect now in Christ, for the Veil is the flesh of Christ, now our flesh as well. Yet our brethren, unwilling to pass through the issue of “the flesh” in order to acknowledge only Christ, imagine the Veil to be a barrier to them, keeping them from knowing God.
Now, we have seen that every item in the Tabernacle, and especially the furniture means one thing for us inside our Way into Life and then something quite different on our way out with God into the knowledge of creation.
Our Appointed Season. On our Way into Life, we spent a season rejoicing in the revelation of the Word and in the light of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And during that season, we were right where God wanted us and everything in that place was God to us. But there came a time when all the revelation and all the anointing became superficial to us, and we followed the beckoning of God on into what we termed, “the place of His dealings,” that is, the Altar of Incense. But, however long our appointed season in that Altar might have been in terms of years, the end result God was after was one thing only – the words of finality uttered by us, “Not I, but Christ.”
Beyond the Season. You see, incense cannot enter the Holiest, only the Aroma of Christ can enter. Incense is perfect in what it is, all the ingredients that are Christ. But it is the Fire that transforms those ingredients into our acknowledgement, “Not I, but Christ.”
Then, when we hear the argument of our brethren as to why it is WRONG to enter the Holiest, we hear them say the words, “But I – am responsible before God.” That is what they “say,” but here is what they mean: “But I, not Christ.” In their minds, Jesus is far away from their flesh. And thus they remain inside what was once such a blessing to us beyond the season of God’s appointment for them.
Stuck in the Way. Then we see this extraordinary phenomenon taking placing inside the Tabernacle complex, inside of Jesus as the Way. At every point along that way, including outside the gate, you will find sects and denominations stuck in that place. Each one is claiming that their spot is God’s only truth, and they give you a handful of verses to prove their take on God. And in doing so, they tell people that they are not allowed to go further into the knowledge of God – “For there be dragons,” they claim.
And we recognize every one of the places in which our brethren are camped, for that was once God’s place for us on our journey during His appointed season.
Let Us Go On. Yet for us, after a season of knowing only God inside that space, a space we now see as limited, we heard the words, “Let us go on to know the Lord.” With joy, we followed that call, but many of our brethren did not, for whatever reason. And the very thing that was meant to lead them on into the knowledge of God now has become the very thing that blocks them from that knowledge.
This is the real issue for us, however, why Jesus instructed us not to be pulling out the tares before the time. The Word in which they continue is still the word of the Lord. We must never forget that. We must strengthen that Word before the tares can vanish away.
A Great Contradiction. Let me present to you a great contradiction.
Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there (Revelation 11:1b). – Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh (Hebrews 10:19-20). – So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. (Hebrews 3:19-4:1). – I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord… (Revelation 6:9-10a).
They are inside of God, yet they refuse to believe!
An Altar Broken Down. Our problem is that we are pirates. Having heard that there is a great treasure ahead – life forevermore, we are willing to dare the Fire “dragon” in order to seize that treasure for ourselves. And we discover that the very rashness of our desperation is God’s definition of “faith,” a man after His own heart. And as we turn to see those who will not dare, we discover that their timidity is not timidity at all, but the hardness of unbelief.
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 (1 Kings 18:30-31). This “altar that was broken down” represents every place in God’s Way that has ceased to work its forward-directing purpose, especially the Altar of Incense.
Repairing the Altar. Here is what we discover. Every true word from God embraced by our brethren is embraced by them inside a structure of knowing, a structure that is broken down. Part of our job is to repair that structure even while we affirm the Word of Life they are wrongly using to fall short of God. It is very clear to me why God goes to the Table of Shewbread first, and bypasses all the “dealings of God.” I have had that very knowing from the first I began to write. But more later.
Again, repairing the broken altar represents to us repairing every broken-down place in God’s Way into which the Word has fallen, but especially the Altar that is “the dealings of God.” And only as we live turned around can we know how to repair.
Mixing Metaphors. I do love God’s constant practice of mixing metaphors. A metaphor is a large pattern by which we can understand the substance of God. Mixing several patterns at once enables us to see the substance of God (and many differing Bible verses) all coming together in surprising and powerful ways.
Let’s continue mixing the metaphors of the sower sowing seed, Elijah on Mt. Carmel, and the Tabernacle Way into the knowledge of God as well as any other metaphors that go flying by. Let’s grab the two trees in the garden as well. And the fascinating thing is that what we really want to know is that one moment when the Fire so works on the Incense that it lets go of itself to enter the Holiest as the Aroma of Christ.
Gethsemane. Now, the Altar of Incense for us is Gethsemane. Gethsemane in the minds of our brethren is a broken-down place. Seeing through eyes of fire is seeing all things clearly. Thus I am constantly seeking for greater clarity. We cannot repair the altar, we cannot affirm the fine root of the Word against the fine root of the tare, unless we can SEE all things clearly.
Every Word from God goes into every place every moment. Yet that Word is heard in two very different ways. The way of hearing that seems “right” to the human is the way of “knowing” what is “right” and pretending to do it. We, on the other hand, hear Gethsemane by LIFE.
Pretense or Christ. And so our brethren, as we also did as well at one time, hear Gethsemane’s, “Not My Will, but Thine be done,” as the “right way” for us to implement in our own approach to God. The FACT that they do NOT do God’s will does not slow them down, but rather spurs them on to greater effort to affirm that they do, in fact, seek God’s will and not their own, even though it’s all ONLY a pretense.
We hear that same Word as Jesus, the all-speaking of God, speaking forth the New Creation as absolute and complete. We never consider again whether we are “doing the will of God” or not, for how can Jesus’ words be anything but finished? It’s all Christ, not us. Yet it is us as Jesus Himself. We hear Gethsemane by Life, having entered boldly by faith.
Viewing the Holy Place. Now, in the next lesson, we want to place the Holy Place inside the revelation of Jesus Christ through a family of people walking together in love. This Holy Place has now become to us the expression of Christ as He is, through a many-membered Body, believers together as Bread, as Light, and as the Aroma of Christ. And it is only in this view of the Holy Place that we find the terms of the Covenant regarding our bond together.
Then, only after we see the Holy Place as it really is, will we look at this wondrous thing that our flesh, now the Veil, has become, the very appearance of God. But first we must finalize our understanding of this broken altar.
The Greatest Work. For several months now, I have planned to wax hot in anger in this very lesson, waiting long for it to come, against those leaders in the church who bring God’s people close to the Holiest and then deny them entrance. I have carried the image of Jesus striding through the temple with a whip. Then I wrote Session 12: The Mercy Seat, and I find myself entirely turned around. Here is God dealing with the false shepherds. “Strike the (real) Shepherd.” Jesus, Himself, taking even their falseness into Himself that they also might live by Him. And so I submit to you that the greatest work of the ages is before us, to repair this altar that has been broken down so long.
The Right Question. I have to tell you here why it is that God bypasses the “dealings of God,” and goes straight to the Table of Shewbread. You see, “Why won’t they enter into the Holiest,” is the wrong question. Here is the right question. Who do you say that I am?
To repair the Altar that is broken down, we must show our brethren Jesus as He really is. And to show them Jesus as He really is must begin with Jesus as the Bread of Life, Jesus as every Word God speaks. Feed My sheep. Suddenly these words become pregnant with meaning, Oour magnum opus, turning a broken altar into God’s Jerusalem.
Refusing to Enter. On my trip, I visited briefly with two brothers, leaders in God’s house. These two are good and GODLY men; you would search long and far to find many alive today who have paid a greater price to know God in the midst of His people. Yet they will not enter into the Holiest, for they believe they cannot do so, that living inside of Jesus and Jesus inside of them right now is wrong.
The one said to me, “No, I (me, myself, I, I, I, not Christ) must seek the will of God, to do His will and not my own.” The other, in eager agreement of my declaration to him that God is about to show up on this earth again, seizing His own into Salvation, responded with these words, “But separate from sin.” Meaning we, ourselves must cease from sin first.
Belief in Sin. Of truth, the barrier of unbelief, the barrier of THE FLESH, placed against God by Augustine, another good and GODLY man, speaks for all.
“But now, since whom You fill You lift up, because I am not full of You I am a burden to myself. – But what I yet am in this kind of my evil, have I confessed unto my good Lord; rejoicing with trembling, in that which You have given me, and bemoaning that wherein I am still imperfect; hoping that You will perfect Your mercies in me…”
Belief in sin is greater than belief in the sacrifice of Christ. Belief in man’s responsibility to obey is greater than the acceptance that God has already put all the lying of pretending Christians to death upon the cross.
The Stumbling Stone. Augustine said, “Whom You fill, God, You lift up.” He was 100% correct – if God is defined as He is and not as the serpent’s outward appearance. But how does God fill us with Himself? As a “reward” for our performance? Or by the audacity of faith?
Rather than acknowledging Christ now his only life, Augustine and all others, continue whining about the “burden” of themselves, about how imperfect they are, about how they wish (not hope) that God would fix them first so that they could perform as “righteous” themselves.
The stumbling stone of unbelief has always been the FLESH. And the desire of all human rebellion is to appear RIGHT.
Knowing the Real Jesus. When I first returned from my trip, I thought I would right a short book titled, For God’s Sake: Enter the Holiest AND – Turn Around. Yet now, I think this would be a better title, Who Do You Say That I Am? Knowing the Real Jesus.
You see, our response to the broken altar in which our brethren hide out, crying, as Augustine did, “How long, Oh Lord,” can itself become the response of a broken record. Instead, we must show our brethren Jesus AS HE IS. And thus we understand, a bit more deeply, what Jesus means as He speaks in us: Love one another AS I have loved you.
We must first “repair” Jesus in the knowing of our brethren.