Life of Abraham – Part III: Abraham’s Altar

July 2024

“And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lordappeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.”

—Genesis 12:5-7

In this study of the life of Abraham, we have looked at Abraham’s separation and Abraham’s surrender. This month we are going to look at the third step of Abraham’s journey, and that is the altar and what it represents.

CANAAN

Genesis 12:5 tells us that Abraham is now leaving his land and his relatives as God had commanded him in verse one. From Ur, he now finds himself in Canaan, the future promised land. We must understand how Abraham got there, which was by faith. He believed what the Lord told him and, by faith, he sets out on the journey. Canaan, as the promised land, represents salvation. 

The Lord reveals Himself, by faith He is accepted, and then we are brought into His land of blessing. Not only is faith the first step into salvation, but faith is also how one receives from God. Faith is believing what God has said in His Word and acting upon it.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him [God].” Our faith must ever be centered upon Christ and the cross. If our faith is placed in any other thing, then there can be no true victory. Actually, our faith is the very thing that Satan comes against. His goal is to get us to either stop believing or to have us transfer our faith to something else such as works, a church, or anything that is not exclusive to Christ and Him crucified.

THE CANAANITE

Genesis 12:6 says, “the Canaanite was then in the land.” In this statement, we find faith’s first trial. Canaan was God’s land, yet there were enemies in the land. These people were wicked;they would prove to be great enemies to the people of God. This journey of life will not be an easy journey. There are going to be spiritual conflicts. There will be Canaanites in the land, and how you deal with the Canaanites will determine victory or failure. 

THE LAND

Genesis 12:7 states, “And the Lord appeared unto Abram.” What this tells us is that even though the Canaanites were in the land, the Lord was also there. The Lord has not saved us and brought us into Canaan just to leave us to fend for ourselves, but He is with us no matter the situation. As long as we function God’s way and in God’s prescribed order, the Canaanites will not have dominion over us.

THE ALTAR

Genesis 12:7 then states, “and there builded he an altar unto the Lord.” In Bible typology, the altar and the sacrifice are both types of the cross of Christ. So Abraham building an altar meant the following:

1. In building the altar, Abraham was in fact taking possession of the land. The altar meant that Abraham was saying, “The land belongs to the Lord, and my faith is in what the altar represents—a Savior to come.”

2. Abraham was stating to the Canaanites and all others that the altar and the sacrifices were his objects of faith.

3. The building of the altar stated to the world that the problem of humanity is sin, and the only way sin can be handled is by the cross of Christ.

4. The altar was where Abraham’s faith was, and the sacrifice was his focus. All of this tells us that the path to victory is the cross and the cross alone.

5. For us today our focus must be the cross of Christ. The object of our faith must ever be Christ and His finished work. Then the Holy Spirit becomes the power source with the result being victory.

As Abraham put his faith in the cross, so too must our faith be in Christ and Him crucified.

In the next issue of The Evangelist, we are going to deal with the subject of Abraham’s failure.