You cannot curse the wounded altars if you wish to rebuild them and offer upon them the sacrifice that calls down God’s fire.
Recall how Elijah repaired the broken altar on Mount Carmel, “The altar of the Lord that was broken down.” The Hebrew is “rapha,” and depicted Elijah’s repairs as “healing and wholeness.” The idea of healing the wounded altars stirs my spirit man!
However, we must avoid cursing the altars because they are broken, and some of us are cursing the altars as if they are not the altars of the Lord. We are attempting to build new altars where God intends His broken altars to be healed.
To separate from these altars is to leave behind what they have given us; to separate to the restoration and revolutionary revival that is here will mean to carry with us what these altars provided the kingdom for this generation.
Isaiah 61 speaks of rebuilding the ruins as well, and God says that those who reestablish will receive a double portion “in their land.” Not in another land because we ran from the place of God’s apppointment, disgusted with the treachery of previous doctrinal, divisive, and denominational idolatries. Surely the altar of the Lord will be broken when that altar is divided with demons, but that altar can be restored!
In Isaiah 61:8, God promises to pay their back wages on time, a double portion inheritance awaiting those who possess their land. In other words, when this generation restores the ruins, they have some back wages coming, an inheritance previous generations could not receive, preserved and reserved for the restorers! We receive this inheritance portion because we possess the very land they left in ruins, not by cursing the ruins and the land!
Some of us have come to hate old wineskins when God is preserving them. Old wineskins are supposed to be empty at some point, because God stops putting wine into them. However, Jesus makes it clear that He does this to preserve both the old wineskin and the new wine – else they are both destroyed.
I am watching some leaders cursing the very altars they should be healing as if they are called to build new ones. Perhaps they will become bitter when God does not send fire on the new altar because He is waiting for someone to rebuild the altar of the Lord that has been wounded.
God is healing the wounded worship of nations. Only after healing the wounded altar can we hack the Baal priests to pieces. The contrast must be carried through to the moment of God’s answer, not the processing of our bitterness. The fire isn’t falling on our contrast with empty wineskins, but our contrast with priests of Baal.
We made expending too much energy attempting to show ourselves right when God is asking us to worship Him in such a way that His people recognize that He is right. The fire doesn’t come to confirm us, but to confirm Him. In the process, healing the wounded altar of the Lord confirms our leadership authority to deal with false priests and Jezebels. Once the people turn to Jehovah, our authority to release rain is activated. Once the people turn to Jehovah, our authority to mantle new kings and prophetic leaders is activated. One the people turn to Jehovah, we not only take the land but have what is necessary to possess it.
The double portion inheritance is the portion of the first born. The double portion of restoration represents what God has preserved and reserved for the restorers! I want to be a restorer of the wounded altar of the Lord more than a builder of new altars because I want to carry with me into the new era all that He has given us in previous spiritual generations. I want to inherit unfinished spiritual assignments and the authority to fulfill them. I want to inherit the wages withheld to previous generations that come to a faithful generation!
