Exodus 20:25 English Standard Version (ESV) 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.

We are always trying to make things fit. We are always trying to make sure that what we build will last. Here in Exodus 20:25 we find once again that all important word if. In the original Hebrew the word if does not appear. There instructions were in reference to the sacrificial alter upon which their offerings were to be made.

Exodus 20:24 English Standard Version (ESV) An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

They were to make an altar of earth. The construction material was not specified. If is only indicative of the possibility for the choice of using stone. The materials used in construction could have been any material. The issue of the structure was not meant to overshadow the sacrifice. Raw material was to be used and it was not meant to be ornamental.

Now here is the real issue and it escapes many of us in looking to construct a place of sacrifice, it is that last sentence. “In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.” Cathedrals don’t have the capacity to remember.

Romans 12:1 English Standard Version (ESV) 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.

1 Corinthians 6:19 English Standard Version (ESV) 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,

We are that altar of sacrifice.