Just As I Am

Prayer

Ex. 20:22-25

22 And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.

24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

After the giving of the 10 Commandments (vv. 1-17), God gave further instructions concerning approaching Him because when the people heard the thunder, saw the lightning, heard the trumpet and the saw the mountain smoking, they backed far off (v. 18). They were so frightened and intimidated that they told Moses to speak to God for them (v. 19). Moses encouraged the people not to be afraid of God and let them know that God is come to prove them so that what they see and what they hear would keep them from sin (v.20). Moses drew near to the thick darkness to the presence of God and God gave Him what to say to the people.

God spoke directly to them from Heaven (v. 22) and He wanted the people to be able to speak directly to Him. That's why God said in verse 23 not to make gods of silver and gold. You see, God doesn't need a representative. You may be thinking, aren't the people of God representatives of Christ? No, the Bible says that we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). Just so there is no confusion, there's a difference between a representative and an ambassador. A representative is a powerless stand-in, but an ambassador is a fully authorized operative. But wait, aren't angels representatives of God? No, the Bible says that they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation (Heb 1:14). The description and responsibilities of an ambassador or of a minister are much different than those of a representative.

Let's take a look at the instructions God gave the Children of Israel in approaching Him. First, in verse 24, God told them to make an altar of earth upon which to make all of their offerings to Him. Then in verse 25, God said that if they make an altar of stone, no tool should be used on the stone because the tools would pollute the altar. There were specific reasons for these detailed instructions.

The message in both the altar of earth and the altar of stone is to come to God just as you are. When we consider the altar of earth, we realize that it is a direct correlation to mankind since we also are made of earth. What does this mean? Well, you can't dress up dirt, it is what it is: basic, plain and simple. For the altar of stone, the stones used had to be in their natural state: rough edges, indentations and cracks, included, They could not be altered, changed, smoothed out nor dressed up in any way.

What does this mean to us today?

We have to come to God in our natural state: just as messed up, dirty, filthy, unclean and as unfinished as we are. We are basic, plain and simple. We have rough edges, cracks and indentations. As we come to God, we must humble ourselves knowing that He is the only one that can fix us up, clean us up, smooth us out and dress us up. To get a better understanding, let's go back to the altar of stone. Notice that using a tool on the stone would pollute the altar in God's sight. This is simply saying that in trying to fix ourselves we would actually defile ourselves in God's sight. Why? Any attempt to fix ourselves is a show of pride and self-righteousness, both of which pollute us in God’s sight. On these altars sacrifices of atonement were to be made. Think of atonement as being made one with God. We can't be one with God and commune with Him if we are polluted with pride, self-righteousness or anything else that we use to exalt ourselves. We must come to God just as we are.

"Just as I am, without one plea

But that Thy blood was shed for me

And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee

Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come"