Ex. 20:25 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.

This instruction was given to the Hebrews in the Old Testament, however it does speak to us today as well. Man was certainly capable of making some marvelous works with stone and chisel in that day. Why then were they forbidden to use their skills on an altar? I’m quite certain that they would have very much liked to make God an altar that surpassed all others in beauty. However, these instructions strictly forbade any improvements that man had to offer. God did not want them to improve upon it, and if they even tried to it was polluted as far as God was concerned. Isn’t it amazing how simple God made this for them? Just gather stones and make an altar. No need for chiseling and shaping the stones, simply stack them.

When I think of these things it reminds me of something else God made very simple, so even the most juvenile of minds could understand it. That is the plan of salvation. Consider this question made by the Philippian jailor to the apostle Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” You can’t make a more direct and to the point question as that. There are no mistakes to make about this. The jailor wanted to know what exactly did it take to be saved and he knew that Paul and Silas had the answer. The answer is just as direct and to the point as the question. They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Of course this means more than just mere belief in his existence, but belief in Him, what He said, what He done, and what He said He will do. But that is a topic for another article. The point is that the answer was not a complicated one.

The surprising thing is many people aren’t satisfied with the answer given and they feel they need to improve upon it by adding this or that. They say you must believe AND do or do not do such and such. By doing so they pollute God’s perfect plan of salvation. It doesn’t need fixing. It doesn’t need anything else added to it. Perhaps it seems to them too free and as such, cheap. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ salvation is indeed free. We would be incapable of getting it any other way. But it is in no way cheap. A great price was paid for it, greater than we could ever think to begin to repay. The Lord Jesus shed His own blood as the perfect and sinless sacrifice. He submitted Himself to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. So, because it is free does not mean it is cheap. But rather the price was so great there is nothing we could ever offer to even repay a small portion of it. To even attempt to do so is an insult to God and pollutes that great altar where our sins were paid for, the cross of Christ.

God made it so even the simplest of minds could understand and have access to His free gift of salvation. It does not need to be complicated, or reshaped with our tools. It‘s simple as this, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”