…Blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Matthew 23.19

When a person considers their offering more valuable than the Altar, he is being inconsiderate to God by suggesting that God is less than his offering. This is why he does not reach the Altar.

It’s as though he considers his life greater than God.

In other words, he is saying: God is small, and me and what I have are big.

This disrespect for the Altar causes it to be in ruins, and his life also becomes ruined. This is why Jesus said he was blind!

However, when a person considers the Altar greater than his offering, he is suggesting God is greater than him and everything he has, and this causes his Altar to be restored. And, on this Altar, he sacrifices, is answered and begins a new life.

During the flood, all of mankind died, except for eight people. The first thing Noah did before he began planting and multiplying the human and animal population, was build an Altar. On this Altar he sacrificed the lives of animals and birds as burnt offerings to God.

Noah understood that he could not begin anything without first building an Altar, because he wanted to start everything with God. He knew that if he began without God everything would go wrong. However, this is not what most people do. Many began something and lost it, because they began without God; this is, they did not begin on the Altar.

The Holy Spirit has opened the eyes of the spiritually blind so they can see the Altar, which symbolizes God and sanctifies the offering.

Interestingly, after Noah restored the Altar and manifested his faith through sacrifice, God placed everything in his hands:

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Genesis 9.1-2

May God bless you abundantly!