Today’s 333 Devotional: False Altars

Of King Ahaz of Judah, the Bible records that he didn’t do right in the sight of God. Instead of walking in the way of King David, he walked in the ways of Israel and its abominations.

God then brought the kings of Syria and Israel to attack Ahaz and the land of Judah. To prevent further incursion, Ahaz made a treaty with king Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, who defeated Syria and the northern tribes of Israel.

Afterwards, Ahaz when to Damascus, the capital of the defeated Syrians, to meet with king Tiglath-Pileser. While there, he saw a magnificent altar of sacrifice, and had it replicated and ordered all of the people’s sacrifices be offered at that altar, while still maintaining the temple’s bronze altar so Ahaz could still use it to inquire of God.

Can we say, Hypocrisy!

And what I find interesting about what Ahaz did, is that the altar he was so enamored with was from the Syrians, who were defeated, and thus by proxy so was their god.

So, why would Ahaz and the Jewish priesthood want to make sacrifices at the altar of a defeated people? It sure didn’t help them.

But it is no different today. The church has compromised and made a treaty with the world, where much of what we do as a church looks no different than what is presented in and by the world.

We have fashioned and built a worldly altar, and are sacrificing our worship of God upon it. We want to look and sound like the world, but still use the church to say we’re of God.

Why is that? It may be because many within the church have succumbed to the ways of the world, calling what is evil as being good, and that which is good as evil, which is in direct opposition to God Word.

And what’s really sad is that the church has forgotten that the world has been defeated at the cross of Christ.