The altar is a place of sacrifice. As we come to the altar, we are called to present ourselves to God as “a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1). Many Pentecostals spoke of the altar as the place of complete consecration to the service of God.
A member of the 1906 Azusa Street revival testified,
But when I made a complete sacrifice to God— all on the altar— bless God, He really did sanctify my soul, and gave me the real evidence; the witness of the Holy Ghost that the work was done, and the carnal mind was destroyed . . . (Azusa Papers, 2011).
At the altar we die. The altar is the sacred place where men and women are called “to surrender themselves to be crucified with Christ” (Weekly Evangel, 15 Aug 1916). Worshipers placed themselves “on the altar before God a completely yielded sacrifice” so that “the Holy Ghost can operate on us, renewing spirit, mind, and body” (Weekly Evangel, 23 Sep 1916). To believe in Christ is deny ourselves and take up his cross (Matthew 16:24), “to be dead to sin” (Rom. 6:11), and “to die with Christ to the elementary principles of this world” (Col. 2:20). The altar is a struggle for many because it is a place of sacrifice and death. Many Pentecostals have testified to being “slain in the Spirit” or “falling under the power of God” at the altar. Yahweh told Moses, “. . . no man can see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). To encounter God’s glory at the altar signifies the death of the old, fallen person. The Apostolic Faith, the official paper of the Azusa St. Mission in Los Angeles, explained:
It is so blessed to be sanctified, cleansed, crucified, nailed to the cross of Christ. Old things have passed away, the old man is crucified, slain, and Jesus Christ is enthroned in the heart and crowned within. He sits upon the throne of our heart, reigning as a king, swaying His scepter of righteousness and true holiness, and keeping the heart clean and pure from sin. Then you are just ready to receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire.
Nellie Gilbert of Benton Harbor, Michigan testified, “I was slain under the power of God. The dear Holy Ghost entered His temple with much shaking of the flesh, but, oh, the peace and joy and glory that filled me since Jesus came to abide” (Azusa Papers). From Colorado it was reported,
On Good Friday and Easter Sunday the power of God was especially manifest in Denver, reminding one of the word which says that “in that day the slain of the Lord shall be many” for those convicted fell under the power of the Holy Spirit as people used to do in Wesley’s days and were lying on the floor. In this position they seem to commune with the Father, unconscious of their immediate surroundings, some are all broken up and cry to God with intense earnestness, many receiving the blessing they need at His hands and rising full of the joy of His presence and the assurance of their acceptance (Azusa Papers).
To be “slain in the Spirit” also signifies resurrection and new life in Christ. Worshipers “arose with shining faces speaking in the power of the Holy Ghost in unknown tongues” (AP). In Knoxville, Tennessee a “young woman . . . a medium . . . confessed that she was under control of this awful power and wanted to be delivered from it.” It was reported that the “demon was cast out in the name of Jesus . . . She fell seemingly lifeless, then came up shouting the victory, her face shining with the love of Jesus” (COGE, 11 Apr 1914). At the altar “old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17).
Adapted from Encountering God at the Altar.
