The focus of this sermon is on the Science of Altars: A Basic Definition. This series of lectures are so critical that they will play a major component in shaping our Christian life. I need to show you a certain dialect that underpins all of our processes of priesthood; If it’s going to gain the acceptance needed for a response from God. 1 Chronicles 21:18 -24: 

“Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

“Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shall grant it me for the full price that a plague may be stayed from the people. And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for the burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offerings; I give it. And king David said unto Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.”

I will begin with an elementary definition the noun Altar, and then I will continue with more complex definitions as we advance in the study. I’d like us to understand that an altar is a metaphor that symbolizes sacrifice. The dialect that spirit beings understand, the dialect that they can relate with, the dialect that they can respond to is the dialect of sacrifice. And as we journey in scriptures, you are going to see how this dialect is used to catch the attention of spirits. It will interest you to know that when we talk about altars, we are using it in the broad sense.  We will differentiate between righteous altars and evil altars, but whether it is a righteous altar or an evil altar, it is a metaphor that is used to symbolize sacrifice because that’s the dialect that spirit beings can understand. And it happens to be that David is well-trained in the area of priesthood because his mentor happened to be Samuel the Prophet. In studying the life of David, you will see his attitude towards the Lord, and then you’ll realize that there was an understanding that he had that gave him the advantage and ability to move the hand of God even in very critical circumstances and situations. This is the wisdom that David manifested. He was offered everything that was needed. There was a catastrophe in the land, and this hit the land was because the government led by David decided to do something with the authority of the throne that was contrary to prescription and the will of God.

The consequence of that policy was nationwide. So if the devil wants to afflict a people, all he needs to do is to manipulate their government, and their government will come up with policies that will bring them into reproach and that is what David did. Unfortunately for David, the impact of casualties that resulted from his seemingly innocent policy was so much that he had no justification to give another decree if he doesn’t find the means to salvage the situation. Thank God he had a prophet that still had the Lord’s ear, Prophet Gad. And Prophet Gad was able to see into the realm of the spirit and saw how that the angel was killing, plundering and afflicting people all through the land and saw that the angel, when he arrived at Ornan’s threshing floor, it stopped. So Prophet Gad gave a prophecy to David by reason of the word of wisdom, and said “if you set up an altar in Ornan’s threshing floor, you will restrain the authority of this angel”. So based on that wisdom, they went to Ornan’s threshing floor. And Ornan, having operated in the gift of discernment of spirits, saw the angel and hid himself. When David came, Ornan came out of his hiding place to talk to David. He was willing to give David the threshing floor, provide oxen for the sacrifice and probably meat offering, and part of his wheat harvest, so that sacrifice can be offered. Because everybody, including himself, were living in fear of their life. So his threshing floor, plus some of his bulls and wheat harvest, will stop this plague, then he was most delighted to be a donor of such sort to end the plague that is in the land.

And David, even though the situation was critical and there was pressure on the government, there were several things he learned about priesthood that played out in the way he went about fulfilling the instruction that came from the prophet. He knew that the dialect that spirit-beings can understand is the dialect of sacrifice. So even though it was offered to him for free, he knew that if he offers what was given to him for free, it will have no vocabulary in the realm of the spirit. It will sound like wind without voice, without demand, without petition. He said, “No, even though I appreciate your generosity, I will not offer unto God that which costs me nothing”. So, it means David has spiritual knowledge, and he knows that it is only that which is sacrificial that will be able to attract the attention of a spirit-being. An elementary definition of an altar, therefore, is that it is a metaphor that depicts sacrifice, and sacrifice is the dialect spirits understand. In 2 Samuel 23:15-17, it says:

 “And David longed, and said, Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless, he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore, he will not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.”

David longed for water to drink from his village, the well that he drank from as a small boy. But because of the political crisis, the Philistines were now in occupation of his village, and the well he drank from was no longer accessible. And David longed and he said, “Oh, that one will give me drink of the water of Bethlehem”. It was a legitimate longing. “What I drank when I was a small boy, is it possible for me to drink it again?” It was a personal longing. It was not a marching order, but the soldiers took his personal longing to be marching orders.

It will interest you to know that it takes 5 years to train a legionnaire. A legionnaire is one that is competent in the use of the sword and the shield, which is basic attack and defense equipment. It takes 5 years to train one that knows how to coordinate with sword and shield effectively. But it happens to be that the period David was running away from Saul, which is the time that he assumed occupation of cave Adullam, was 12 years. In these 12 years, they were training for battle, and they had no opportunity for a fight. So, when they heard the longing from David, they converted it to be a battle cry. I don’t want to describe that fight because it’s difficult to even imagine it. Three guys going against 2,000 soldiers because that’s what a garrison is. And as the three guys are fighting, two guys will be blocking one guy so he can fetch water. The moment he holds that water, he can no longer fight effectively because it will spill. I don’t know how they accomplished it, but they brought the water to David. David cried out and said it is an abomination for him to drink that water because in the eyes of the spirit, that water has been transformed. The quality and value of that water is equivalent to the effort that was put into it to get it. So David called that water blood. May your eyes be open to see where normal mundane things take on a different value because of what was put in to secure it. 

Once upon a time, someone that was into prostitution business brought money to church. The value of that money is equivalent to the effort that was used to get it. So the Lord cannot receive that one because of the value it has. It is only a demonic altar that can receive that offering. It’s still money, but you see, prophetically, the effort that was put in to get it now determines its value. I want you to ask yourself and answer, what if David drank that water? I hope you know even God doesn’t accept human sacrifice. God will not accept human sacrifice. Abraham was to sacrifice his son to God, and at some point, God stopped Abraham from the actual sacrifice when he saw that in Abraham’s heart, he had released the boy. So, in between the time the boy was released from his heart and when the actual sacrifice took place, God said stop, I’ve received the offering from your heart. But because my altar is not an evil altar, it is not capable of taking human blood. So on the strength of that which Abraham did, God blessed him. In our Journey too, we are going to see the altar of the human heart and how that in order for you to live this human life adequately, you live by altars. The thing is this no man was designed to operate without an altar and if you are skillful in the way of altars you can change almost anything almost anything.

There are many altars that must be built in your space and the day that you sleep with the woman that is not your wife you will now discover that you have an altar and demons will make reference to that act until that position is adequately restituted. The issue of altars are just not in the realm of the natural, so Heaven and earth operate by altars. So, David said “be it far from me to do this, is not this the blood of men that jeopardize their lives”. He poured it unto the Lord as a libation, because he knows that the spirit realm understands the language of sacrifice.