Genesis 35:1 -14

 
The church I grew up in had an altar. It was at the front of the sanctuary. It took the form of a long wooden prayer bench. It held a key place in our worship. The congregation would gather along it to pray. It was a place to meet in unity, and one accord. It was also a place to meet God when one was serious about confession and repentance. No one believed that the altar was the only place you could meet God. No one believed that the altar was the only place to pray. Everyone believed it was a special place.

 
He told Jacob to go to Bethel and settle there. He told Jacob to build an altar there to God. Every tribe and city had its own gods. They all had built their own pagan altars. Now God has commanded Jacob to build one to him. Jacob did not have to build the altar to meet God, after all God was the one telling him to go. He did not have to build the altar to gain God’s favor; God was the one who had been blessing him for the last 20 years.

 
God wanted Jacob to build an altar to God Almighty. He wanted Jacob’s household to be cleansed of pagan influence. Jacob had his household rid themselves of all foreign gods. They purified themselves and changed their clothes. They took the foreign gods and the jewelry dedicated to them and buried it. Jacob wanted nothing to do with the foreign gods and did not seek to turn it into profit.

 
The altar at Bethel was dedicated to the God Almighty, the One True God. It commemorated God’s faithfulness. There may be many altars, but there’s only one God. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel. Bethel means house of God. Jacob did not build an altar to make a house of God. Because Bethel was the house of God Jacob built an altar. We do not build an altar to make a church. Because we are the church we build an altar.