SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1079

“Unhewn Stones”

If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. – Exodus 20:25

As I reflect on this Word of God, I am reminded of the times I visited ornate cathedrals. These houses of ‘worship’ were marvelous examples of architecture art, and craftsmanship, yet they seemed devoid of the presence of God. They were empty and spiritually dry. Attempts to pray and worship were thwarted by the myriad distractions competing for your attention. What was intended to glorify God seemed to have the opposite effect and glorified man and his accomplishments instead.

This commandment of God to use unhewn stones to build altars for worship and sacrifice sets the example that only God – without help from man – can deliver us from sin and give us salvation and eternal life. Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. – Zechariah 4:6

These altars of unhewn stones are an example of Christ who is the ‘stone cut from a mountain’ in Daniel. …just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. – Daniel 2:45

As God’s creation we too are like altars of unhewn, living stones. We can put on our Sunday finest and our church smiles yet be as spiritually empty as an ornate cathedral. We must not play church. We must be the church – the altar of worship shaped by God alone. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 2:4-5

We are not only living stones, but also living sacrifices shaped by God for His glory. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship; Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.- Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

We cannot make ourselves holy and acceptable to God through our works and righteous acts. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment; …as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; – Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10 

Yet we are exhorted to offer righteous sacrifices. This is only possible through grace from God. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and trust in the Lord; For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast;…and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. – Psalm 4:5 (NASB); Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:9

May you be a living stone altar shaped only by the hand of God. May your life be a living sacrifice, righteous and acceptable to God by His grace alone and for His Glory and the glory of His Son, Christ Jesus.