The Altar: A Daily Communion

“And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord.” — Genesis 19:27

After man sinned and was expelled from Eden, wickedness began to multiply in the earth. Humanity drifted further away from the communion for which it had been created until God, in His mercy, preserved Noah and began anew through him. Yet even after the flood, God’s original desire remained unchanged. He still desired a people who would know Him, walk with Him, and live in fellowship with Him. When the Lord determined to make a people for Himself, He called Abraham, and through Abraham we begin to see a restored pattern of dependence and communion with God.

One of the most striking features of Abraham’s life was his response whenever God spoke. At Shechem, Bethel, and Hebron, Abraham built altars and called upon the name of the Lord. These altars were more than places of sacrifice. They were places of encounter. Every altar represented an Eden, a place where heaven touched earth and where God communicated with man. Significantly, these altars were often built in response to divine revelation. God spoke, Abraham listened, and communion was established. The father of faith understood that relationship with God was sustained through continual fellowship.

In Genesis 19:27 we see an important insight into Abraham’s life of prayer. Jewish tradition recognizes this as the foundation of the Shacharit, the daily morning prayer. Abraham’s pattern was simple but profound. He heard God, responded to God, established places of communion with God, and daily positioned himself before God. It is a daily and consistent course. The covenant began with relationship before it ever produced promises.

This pattern reaches a greater expression when God brings Israel out of Egypt. Having redeemed His people, the Lord commanded them to build a sanctuary so that He might dwell among them. The tabernacle was a restoration of the Eden experience. God desired once again to live among His people, commune with them, and speak to them. The Lord declared concerning the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat: “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubs that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you” (Exodus 25:22).

Then when instructions were given to the priesthood to service the sanctuary, it was required that a perpetual fire on the altar in Leviticus 6:12-13 “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.” The priests were required to feed the flame daily so it would never be extinguished, representing perpetual devotion, prayer, and uninterrupted service. The purpose of the sanctuary was communion, conversation, and instruction. This reveals that prayer is the avenue through which God’s heart and man’s heart meet. It is through communion that we receive divine instruction and are shaped into conformity with His will. The primary purpose of God’s presence has always been relationship, and relationship is sustained through communication.

Jesus later affirmed this principle when He declared that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The word in Matthew 4:4, is the Greek word “Rhema” which according to Thayer’s definition refers to “that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken.” This implies that man needs a daily Rhema of God, the living and active word spoken by God to sustain life. Just as physical bread nourishes the body, God’s voice nourishes the man. Humanity was never designed to survive on natural provision alone.

This understanding sheds light on why Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The believer requires daily sustenance from God, not only physically but spiritually. We need fresh instruction, fresh guidance, and fresh communion. The Father’s bread is received daily because dependence upon Him is daily. There can be no Rhema without communion, and there can be no communion without prayer.

From Abraham’s altars to the sanctuary in the wilderness, Scripture consistently reveals the same truth: God desires to meet with man. Prayer is therefore not merely an activity of devotion. It is the place where heaven communicates with earth, where divine instruction is received, and where the believer learns to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Further Reading: Gen 12:6–8,13:14–18, 19:27, Exodus 25:8–22, Deut 8:3, Matt 4, 6:9–11