Exodus 20:22  And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
23  Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.
24  An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
25  And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
26  Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

The LORD had a special relationship with Moses. The reason was that Moses listened to the LORD. Moses was not an occultist. He was not seeking some mystical experience. Moses was out shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep and God appeared to him in the burning bush. Moses was not seeking that. God called him and he approached the bush, not knowing that God was in that bush. As Moses came to that bush, God told him to take off his shoes. He was standing on holy ground. God needed to get Moses’ attention and then He began to tell him His plan. Moses argued with God. He did not want to do what God told him he needed to do. God continued to speak to Moses.
When Moses listened to God and allowed God to bring him into obedience to the truth, God could use him. Now in our text, the LORD continued to teach Moses. He continued to give him the words that he needed to give to the children of Israel. He reminded them that He had indeed spoken to Moses from heaven.
In verse 23 God further told Moses that he needed to tell the children of Israel they were not to make gods of silver or gods of gold unto Him. God does not want us to make some imaginary representation of Himself. God is a Spirit. We do not see God. Moses could not see God. The vessels of the Tabernacle were a type of Jesus Christ, but they were not Jesus Christ. They were not to be worshipped. The people were to understand the purity and holiness of God.
In verse 24 we read that the altar was not to be anything special. It was to be an altar of earth. It was not to be something that would cause the people to want to worship it.
God did not need a fancy altar to receive their sacrifices. God was the One they needed to worship. You notice that this altar they made at that time was not moveable. They were to make it there and when they moved they needed to set up a new altar in the next place they would arrive at. If they would obey God, He would place His name in many places as they travelled. He would receive their sacrifices and He would bless them. That is what they needed. That is what we need today. We need the blessing of the LORD. The blessing of the LORD comes when the heart of man is humble and when he exalts the true God according to His Word, not according to man’s imagination.
The Charismatic movement is built upon lies. It has a lot of noise in the music. It talks of a god and a jesus and a spirit. However, it is unrecognizable from the Scriptures. That is why the Scriptures need to be set aside.
That is not what God taught Moses here. That is not what Moses was to tell the children of Israel.
In verse 25 we read that there was a place to make an altar of stone. That altar would be more permanent but still unmovable. If they would build an altar of stone, they were not to use hewn stone. They were not to shape the stones according to their liking. They were not to try to make them fit together by shaping them. God said that if they shaped the stone, they had polluted it. Now they had bragging rights. Now they could instil that spirit of competitiveness. Now the focus of their worship would be toward that altar, and not toward God.
God would give them stones that would work. Obviously it did not matter if the stones did not fit together tightly. As long as the altar was functional. As long as they could place their animal sacrifice on that altar and build a fire under it and offer up that animal to God and a sacrifice pleasing to Him.
In verse 26 we see the importance of modesty in their worship. The altar did not need to be high and elevated. It was obviously not at ground level. However, there were to be no steps leading up to the altar. It needed to be at a height where the priest could put that animal on it while he was still standing on the ground. God tells us here the reason was that their nakedness not be discovered. The priests wore robes. As they would be working with that animal and placing the wood on the altar and then the animal on the wood on the altar, they needed to remain modest. There was to be no distraction from what they were doing.
This is a good warning to the modern day “worship teams”. Those teams are designed to draw attention to the “performers” at the front. The music and the sensuality of the movements etc. is a distraction. There is nothing godly in that whole matter. Certainly a good performer can lead the listeners into an altered state. That is not what Godly worship does. Godly worship begins with a heart that is humble and that person desires to exalt God. He is not interested in drawing attention to himself.
Jesus talked of the Pharisee who wanted to be noticed as compared to the publican who did not see himself as worthy to come before the Lord. The Pharisee gained the praise of men. The Publican gained the recognition of God. God received his prayer.
The offerings of the Old Testament were to exalt God. They were to be done in a way that recognized the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. They were to help the sinner to find the peace of God through humility and obedience to Him.
Today there is much corruption in religion. Sinful man wants to feel good in his sin. He wants to redefine sin and ignore the Truth. In fact he rejects the Truth. Moses was the man of God among a crowd of more than a million people. Aaron was to help Moses in spiritual matters. Aaron was not a strong man. Moses needed to be strong in the Lord. He needed to lead them according to God’s will. God’s will would not be popular with the people. God is not concerned about popularity. He wants to bless people and when the heart of man is broken and surrendered to Him, he will know and appreciate the blessings of the Lord. Where is your heart today?
Pastor Bartel