Holy Altars

Are you giving to God on Holy Altars?

Exodus 29:38-42 KJV

38. Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually.

39. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:

40. And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.

41. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

42. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.

The Burnt Offering represents total surrender to God. The Hebrew word for Burnt Offering is "Olah", and it means "that which ascends." The offerings, the priests, (the sons of Aaron) and the altar were consecrated and set apart as Holy.

The word altar is translated from the Hebrew word, "mizbeach". It signifies a raised place where a sacrifice was made. Old Testament saints built altars unto God to commemorate whenever God appeared to them, or they received a revelation or made a vow.

The offering was totally consumed by fire on the altar in the Temple by the priests. The fire on the altar was not a natural fire, it came from God.

Lev. 9:23-24

23. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people.

24. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

Through the blood of Jesus, we are sanctified and made holy unto God today. The tithes and offerings are Holy, and the altar must be Holy also. The ministry and the Church must be Holy also. When the offering was accepted, the fire came out from before the Lord. That was a sign that the offering was accepted. We don't do these kind of offerings anymore due to Jesus Christ being our sacrifice. We give ministries money today instead of sacrificing animals, and giving crops.

Tithing is not an option. It was commanded in The Law of Moses, and Jesus himself said that we should pay tithes. You have an option though. If you have to redeem your tithe money for something else, you pay interest of 20% on what you owe when you settle up with the Lord. See Lev. 27:31. The Bible says to add a fifth part to your tithe.

I recently read a book about this subject, and was wondering where people where getting the 20% interest. If your tithe is the tenth of your income, wouldn't a fifth part be 5% more? I looked it up in my Dake Bible also. Dake Annotated Reference Bible-KJV-Large Print [B-KJ-DAB BLK RL LP] [LARGE PRINT] It said the same thing. I prayed about it, and then the understanding came to me. The tithe is 10%, you add another 5% to the tithe, and the fine is 5% for not paying your tithe and using it for something else.

Just be sure that you do settle up with the Lord if you do this. You don't want to interrupt the flow of God's blessings on your life. If you use your tithe money for something else, your money and the thing that it used it for becomes cursed. I didn't make this up, I am telling you what the Bible says about it.  


Are your offerings acceptable unto God? Are you giving on Holy altars? Is the ministry that you give to, winning souls for God? Do they pray for the needs of the people? Do they let the Holy Ghost lead them in their ministry? Do they subject themselves to be under the correction of the Holy Spirit? Are you totally surrendered unto God? If you said no to any of the above questions, it may cause your flow of blessings from God to be blocked. Ask God to direct you to the ministry that has a clean and Holy altar.

God's Covenant Based on Offerings

Deut. 15:4-5 Listen to God and obey his commandments.
Deut. 7:12-14 God promises to bless and multiply them.
Deut. 7:15 God promises to take away all sickness.
Deut. 11:23, 24  God promised to drive out all nations from before them. He gave them every place where the souls of their feet tread.

The main conditions of these blessings were based on following the commandments of offerings. When it was time to do offerings, they were not a solemn time, but a time of great rejoicing before the Lord with their families and servants. This really got me to thinking, and now when I start to give an offering, I thank God and praise Him for what he has done for me, holding my offering in my hand before I give to him. Sometimes, after I praise Him, then I tell Him my needs, and then thank Him again for the answers. 

Back then, it cost them a lot of money to bring one of their animals to the temple. In the book of Lev. it gives strict instructions to the people and to the sons of Aaron, the priests. The ram or bullock was to be brought to the temple in the presence of God. They were to lay their hands on the animal's head, and then they killed the animal before God. The priests did the rest of the work.

The reason they laid their hands on the animal's head is because the animal was taking their place on the altar. Jesus's death on the cross fulfilled the offerings, and we don't have to do that anymore. We give our money now in an offering to God. It represents us.

Something else about offerings that I have learned, is that when God speaks to me to give a certain amount, then I know that he has a harvest in mind. There are some seeds that you can plant where you don't see a harvest right away. But when God speaks to you to give, He has something in store for you. There are also times when you can give an offering to Prove God, as it says in Mal. 3:8.

Targeted Offerings are offerings that you give like a vow to the Lord, to get your needs met. For example, if I need a miracle in my finances, I pledge a certain amount until I pay it off.  In my own personal experience, I have found that when I make a pledge to a ministry for a certain amount, as I pay it off, God moves for me. The payoff of the pledge is my point of contact to get my needs met. A word of warning however. Don't ever make a vow to God that you can't keep. He holds you accountable for it. The Bible tells us of a vow that Jacob made to God. He vowed to give God a tenth of whatever he blessed him with.

One time, years ago, I made a pledge of a $1000.00 to a ministry, and forgot about it. The Holy Spirit brought it back to my memory, and I had to pay it. I asked God to forgive me for not paying it.