Unhewn

​“And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for it thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.” (Exodus 20:25)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

 
Unhewn
 
Help me not to hew the stones
Let nothing in my hand be found
Your atoning death is perfection
The Cross most sacred, hallowed ground
 
You alone have brought salvation
You alone have ransomed me
How dare I chisel on the altar
On which You died to set me free?
 
In my flesh there is no good thing
It is Your Spirit that gives life
I could not, cannot save myself
No offering of mine would ever suffice
 
You wrought salvation through Yourself
For a man could not be found
So you took on flesh, became a man
Yet fully God, Your name renowned
 
Nothing can be added, altered
You have secured redemption’s deed
You lived, and died, and rose exalted
So from sin and wrath I might be freed…
 
 
By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  True salvation occurs in no other way.  God quickens, He makes alive, and it is only when we have been made alive (born again) that we can repent and believe.  We are given new hearts, (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and new eyes, and new ears, and a desire to know Him the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. (John 17:3) 
 
The altar was to be made with unhewn stones; man’s hands were not to chisel away anything, nor to attempt to make the altar look more pristeen/polished.  The altar was to be a place of death/sacrifice which appeased God’s wrath, did away with man’s sin, and showed forth His holiness.  It was God’s design.  It was God’s plan to meet God’s purpose.  As is our redemption in Christ Jesus.  Our Rock unhewn, was taken to the altar of the Cross where He sacrificed Himself to appease God’s wrath, to put away man’s sin, and to show forth God’s holiness.  And in like manner we are not to chisel away at what God has wrought in Christ.  As Charles Spurgeon puts it, “The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man’s chisel or hammer will be endured. There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with thy tools, and fall upon thy knees in humble supplication; and accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of thine atonement, and rest in Him alone.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Written by Anne Marie Hawke
August 2022
 
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