| Subject: Don't Pollute What God Has Ordained |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 21:54:41 07/18/13 Thu
Exodus 20:25 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.
The altar represents the place of sacrifice of our Lord. It, as the Temple was the Lord's doing as He gave precise instruction on the construction. Since it was all God's work He did not want man messing with any part of it. To "shape" the stones with tools would mean that man would make the altar to his liking and not God's. So it is with all that God has done.
When Jesus started His ministry He had many people try to change His way of doing things. They would cite the law and traditions and accuse Him of changing what had been in place from the time of Moses until present. Jesus did not let any of this phase Him but would instead ask them question of which they could not answer without showing either their ignorance or bias. To change anything which God has done or decreed is to pollute it. That which is polluted God will not accept. It was so with the sacrifice, method of worship and His Word. Man was to obey and follow instructions and not change anything.
So it is with God's Word. Man doesn't always like what God said and they want to change it. They will, as Satan in the Garden of Eden cast doubt on what God really said. Eve was convinced to eat the forbidden fruit because God's Word had been altered. When God's Word is altered then our "Rock" is altered in the minds those who might otherwise believe. It is written in Deuteronomy 32:31 "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges."
When man puts his tool to our Rock then He appears different than what God has given us to understand about Him. Man would have us to believe that Jesus was a tall and handsome man that people would desire for His looks and stature but the scriptures tell us quite the contrary. Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
There are those to whom the cross is offensive so they eliminate the cross and turn it into a torture stake. Others chisel away at the miracles and creation. The atoning blood is so offensive to many that they eliminate it from their hymnals and bibles.
While the text under discussion speaks mainly of the altar of sacrifice we may easily see that this injunction from God can be applied to all the things God has done or commanded. God tells us plainly "For I am the LORD, I change not---" (Malachi 3:6) so if God doesn't change He certainly doesn't want anything He has said or done changed. As to His Word He says: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." (Deuteronomy 4:2) Proverbs 30:6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Revelation 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
God was so serious about men following His instructions explicitly that He struck people down when they altered His way. An example of this is found in 2 Samuel 6:6-7 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. God had ordained that the Ark of the Covenant was to be carried by poles and man was not to touch the Ark. Even though Uzzah meant no harm His disobedience cost him his life.
The Ark, the Cross, the Temple, Tabernacle all pictured things about Jesus Christ and to alter them in any way no matter how seemingly trivial was to alter God's perfection. We often treat it lightly but God is dead serious. Man cannot improve on anything God has done or said.
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