In Hebrews 13:10 we read, “We have an altar, whereof they (those who continued worshipping by ceremony) have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.” A study of the context will show that the word ‘altar’ is used as a figure of speech for Christ. In other words the writer is saying, “Christ is our altar.” Dr. John Owen, a leading Puritan Preacher in the 17th Century said, “The altar which we now have is Christ alone, for He was both priest, altar and sacrifice to the Church, as to all the use and efficacy of them, which is evident in the context. THIS IS IN ITS NATURE, USE, AND EFFICACY, OPPOSSED TO THE ALTAR IN THE TABERNACLE. Indeed the Apostle expressly declares that Jesus sanctified the people with His own blood, which was to be done at, or on, the altar. ‘By Him,’ as our altar, we are to offer our ‘lips, confession unto His name;’ which leads us off from all thought of any MATERIAL ALTAR.” If the coming of Christ and His death on the cross were the fulfillment of all that the ceremonial law signified, including the tabernacle and its furniture, then all was fulfilled and done away with. If Christ is the personal embodiment of the type, which includes both the ‘brazen altar,’ and the ‘altar of incense,’ where do men get their authority to establish material altars in the Church today? Who gave them the right to call men to the so-called altar at the front of the Church? We ‘invite’ men to Christ, who is not in a material altar, nor at the front of the Church, but at the right hand of Majesty on High, crowned with glory and honor. It is there, by the power of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, men are saved and sanctified in His blood. Someone will ask, “But why (though you may be scripturally accurate) do you so oppose inviting men to a material altar or to the front of the Church?” There is a deadly deception about it, man is a logical creature, and by nature a very superstitious being. Salvation is by faith and not logic. Let him perform those physical propositions that you offer him and he will be deceived, not saved. Paul certainly perceived the superstition of men, for it is evident in his words to those men on Mars Hill when he observed all their ‘altars’ and said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in ALL THINGS YE ARE TOO SUPERSTITIOUS. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions (altars), I found an ALTAR with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you” (Acts 17:22). A careful study of New Testament Scripture will have you search in vain for any support of the modern invitation system. If Scripture doesn’t support it, it is detrimental to the souls of men to practice such. I firmly appeal to you to prayerfully and scripturally consider this message.
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