02.20. THE ALTAR OF INCENSE
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE THE Altar of Incense was four square.
It was two cubits high and a cubit long and broad.
It was made of incorruptible wood and overlaid with gold.
There were four horns upon the four corners. It had a crown of gold.
It had a ring of gold on each side under the crown for the two staves by which it was to be carried.
It occupied a position in the Holy Place directly in front of the Vail.
It was the tallest piece of furniture in the Holy Place and stood level to the wings of the cherubim on the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place.
It had burning coals placed upon it.
Sweet incense was put upon the coals morning and evening.
Morning and evening a column of fragrant white smoke ascended therefrom.
“And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; four-square shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof roundabout and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord. (Exodus 30:1-10.) It was an altar from which the smoke of incense was to ascend. The composition of the incense is particularly and definitely described:
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.” (Exodus 30:34-36.) Incense is a symbol of prayer.
“Let my prayer be set before thee as incense.” (Psalms 141:2.) “Odours (literally, incense) which are the prayers of saints.” (Revelation 5:8.)
Amid all the things of sound and sense that rise Heavenward, nothing is more acceptable to the living God than the voice and breath of sincere prayer. It has in it the music of praise and the fragrance of open and confessed dependence. Praise glorifies God and dependence appeals to Him.
Incense on the Altar was offered by Aaron the High Priest.
“Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning… And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it.” (Exodus 30:7-8.) Aaron is a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven offering up prayer in behalf of those who are His.
“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Hebrews 9:24.) “Now of the things we have spoken this is the sum:
We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” (Hebrews 8:1.) As Aaron offered up this incense exclusively for the Children of Israel, so is it true that our Lord Jesus Christ prays only for those who are His.
Hear His own words:
“I pray not for the world.”
There is no need of making any mistake about it. With all the grace we may attribute to Him it is an outstanding fact.
He does not pray for the world, for those who are not Ilk This is what He says:
“I pray not for the world, but––for them which thou hast given me.” (John 17:9.) What a seal of separation from the world and separation unto Himself there is in that statement and the fact of it.
How it manifests our relation as believers; what a sense of intimacy and nearness it gives; what sacredness in the relation.
What an amazing fact it is, that He who is the Master of Heaven and earth prays for us––and prays in Heaven on the throne of the Highest.
It may not be that He is praying for just the things we wish, nor even such we dream we need, but the fact that He is praying for us is beyond definition of all it demonstrates of interest in, of grace and care for us.
Believe He is praying for us, and what matter the cloud-covered sky, the tempest swirling and uprooting all things we hold dear, leaving us neither root nor branch in those things; what matter though we stand with hands folded, hands of helplessness, and the fragments of shattered plans scattered at our feet; what matter though our soul be filled with darkness and our lips be dumb and faith shivers and begins to grope and at times stops and listens to subtle questions filled with a hiss, the hiss of the serpent; what matter that at its worst if, through it all and at the last, we can believe, and will believe in spite of every increeping fear, that He is yonder back of storm or woe praying for us, interceding for us? To believe that, gives assurance He will meet us in the blessing such as never could have come had the answer been in response to our own poor, blind, unthinking and wholly selfish prayer.
How often we escape sickness, disease, the assault of circumstance and sudden death because He has prayed, has interceded on our behalf and caused the special providences to be swung over us and along our path, we shall never know till the record of it is read to us when we stand face to face with Him in the glory hour.
If there are times when faith would sink and sink as in the anguish of a drowning soul and then suddenly rises as on a swelling tide which lifts us out of the deeps of dark distress till we find firm footing on the shore of peace and rest again in His Word and truth, it is because He prays for us, because He neither slumbers nor sleeps nor closes His eyelids, but open-eyed and watchful bears us on His heart and lifts us in unfailing petition before the Father’s throne.
Before Peter stumbled and fell the Lord prayed for him.
He told him frankly the Devil desired him that he might sift him as wheat.
It is very startling if you read the record.
He did not tell Peter He had prayed for him that he might escape the Devil’s assault and snare. Not at all. On the contrary, He assured him the Devil would succeed in ensnaring and overthrowing him.
He prayed for Peter, but for just one thing. He prayed that his faith might not fail. He said:
“I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” (Luke 22:32.) Peter went down into the black pit the Devil had prepared for him. The Devil used Peter’s infirmity, his self-consciousness, his boasting, and then filled him with fear and arrant cowardice, so that in the hour of trial he marked himself and that hour with indelible shame.
Peter denied his Lord.
He denied Him because he feared he might lose his life if he confessed Him.
It would have been hard to have done worse than that. But the Lord looked at Peter; faith responded to the look and to the prayer that had been offered beforehand. The Lord’s look was the emphasis of His anticipative prayer.
Out of the darkness Peter came back to be more loyal and more devoted than before, with triumphant faith, but chastened soul. Our Lord as High priest, not only lifts up His prayers in our behalf, but takes our own prayers and presents them like incense before the Father’s throne.
Scripture gives us a very dramatic illustration how He does this. As it is written:
“And another angel came and stood at the altar, (the Altar of Incense shown in Heaven) having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” (Revelation 8:3.) What a picture that is.
Like that angel the Lord takes the prayers of the believer and presents them before God in the fragrance of His high priestly character and on the basis of His perfect sacrifice.
Without His intercession not a single petition of ours would ever ascend to the Court of Heaven. No prayer of ours would ever reach the Father. He says so:
“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
(John 14:6.) Therefore it is written:
“In the name of the Lord Jesus––
Giving thanks (and this must be the order) to God and the Father––by him.” (Colossians 3:17.) The horns of the Golden Altar of Incense were stained once a year with the blood of atonement from the Brazen Altar.
“And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering.” (Exodus 30:10.) The sin offering was offered on the Brazen Altar. The Brazen Altar was a symbol of the Cross. The full meaning of the symbol is that the intercession of our Lord is based on and finds its effectiveness in the sacrifice of the cross, in the offering of Himself as the Sin Offering there. The Priesthood of Christ and His work of intercession on our behalf rest wholly in the blood of the cross. Had He not died and met the claims of divine justice against us He could not intercede for us. Had He not offered Himself as a sacrifice for us He could not enter that Court in our name and on our behalf at all.
He would never dare to breathe our name. His priestly intercession for the believer on the basis of that blood is therefore a demonstration that the blood has been applied, has been accepted on our behalf, and are accounted with our Lord as members of the family of God.
It is to be noted the atonement was made on the Incense Altar. The sacrifice was made on the Brazen Altar, but the Atonement is complete on the Golden Altar; as it is written:
“And the bullock for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place.” (Leviticus 16:27.) All this is clear and beautiful. The living priest on the other side of death as seen in the death of the victim on the Brazen Altar is a picture of resurrection, the Holy Place is a picture of Heaven and the priest entering there is our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection taking the blood of the Cross to the throne of God in Heaven. As I have shown, and as Scripture teaches, only in resurrection does our Lord become a priest. Had He not risen His death would have been of no avail and our faith would have been in vain; as it is written:
“If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17.) On the morning of the resurrection as the risen and immortal priest He took His blood within the vail consummated the Atonement there, made reconciliation, reconciling every individual, individually to God.
It is after the blood of atonement is on the Golden Altar that the censer of incense is brought in and swung before the Mercy Seat; as it is written:
“And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hand full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail. And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not.” (Leviticus 16:12-13.) It was the blood that gave value to the incense.
It is the blood of Christ, the merit of Christ’s death, that makes our prayers worthwhile when He presents them. This is set forth in the statement concerning the interceding angel already quoted:
“There was given him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints.”
Literally rendered it reads thus:
“There was given him much incense that he might ––add to the prayers––of all saints.”
Incense added to the prayers.
Added to the prayers, not of some saints, but all saints.
O the double wonder of it.
All who believe are “saints” whether of this or any other dispensation.
Holy in the merits of His all cleansing blood, holy in His holiness.
There may be greater or lesser attainment spiritually, but they are all saints. And all prayers, better or worse, all are made fragrant with the added merit of the great high priest, the merit of His death, the merit of the perfection of His perfect life, His resurrection and priestly life. The burning of the Incense on the Golden Altar was to be continual.
“He shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD.” (Exodus 30:8.) The intercession of our Lord is perpetual; that is, it is continual, unchanging, it never varies, falters nor fails. He ever liveth to make intercession; as it is written:
“He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25.)
It is the high priestly intercession of our Lord that constitutes the very climax and quintessence of the believer’s security:
“Who is he that condemneth? “ Listen to the answer:
“It is Christ that died.” That in itself should be sufficient to still every fear, answer every doubt.
If Christ has taken my place and died in my stead ––why should I fear?
It is a fact.
Proclaim it till it echoes and reechoes beneath every sky and in every ear.
Christ has taken the believer’s place, has exchanged places with him; so that when the judgment of God fell on Him He was answering for me, an answer written in agony and blood. The blood has met every charge so perfectly that there is not a single stain against our name; as it is written:
“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) (Cleanses us legally.)
Having met fully and completely all the demands of divine righteousness in my divinely provided substitute, who shall demand payment twice, once from my substitute and then from me?
I answer you––no one in Heaven, nor earth, nor Hell.
It is agreed Christ died for our sins and settled them, but here is something more than the fact of the payment.
Listen to this:
“Yea, rather, that is risen again.”
Christ died––that is great––but Christ is risen that is greater still––a risen Christ is our receipt, and guarantee that His death has availed for us.
If He had not risen He would still be under the burden of my unpaid debt; His resurrection is proof He has been released from that debt and it proves in splendor of light that I have been just as fully and completely released from it as He. The death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, what more do I need to give me the sense of unshakeable security?
I am no longer a debtor, the blood has cancelled the debt, the risen Christ is in Heaven as my living receipt; but how can I approach God and be sure He will receive me into His fellowship?
Listen to the gracious and wonderful answer:
“Who is even at the right hand of God.”
Mark the full meaning of that; listen to the full statement of it:
“Into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Here is the glorious truth––He is in Heaven as the believer’s representative. As much as He represented him on the cross and endured for him, He is in Heaven living for him. As much as He was the believer’s sin on the cross, He is the believer’s righteousness in Heaven. As He is our righteousness in Heaven and has been accepted at the Father’s right hand, sits there as His beloved Son, likewise is it true God the Father beholds us seated with Him and owned as His accepted sons; wherefore it is written:
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6.)
Debt paid, living receipt given, taken into Heaven, seated at God’s right hand so near to God we cannot nearer be, because in the person of His Son––we are just as near as He. Could we ask more to make us feel secure? Humanly speaking, I should say––” No!” But more has been done for us.
Here is the climacteric statement:
“Who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34.) This is supreme, absolute and sublime.
He died for us and paid the debt––yes, all we owe. He has risen and is our living receipt at the court of justice.
He has gone into Heaven and given us the place of perfect acceptance before the Father. To the Father He says continually: “No longer look at that believer as he is in himself, but him as he is in me.
Look at me and see him in me, as perfect as I am, as perfect as he will be revealed to be in the morning of the First Resurrection when I shall bring him bodily to Heaven and the enjoyment of its glories.”
All that. And added to that––this:
Ever living for me, ever presenting me in His perfection before the Father, ever interceding for me, praying for me, constantly listening to catch the breath or the plaint of my prayer, taking that prayer, sweetening it with the frankincense, the compounded perfume of His blood, His holiness and His unchanging love for me.
How perfect is the type, how wonderful the fulfillment, how glorious the fact that a man is in Heaven, on the throne of God, occupied with us and the things that concern us.
It sets before us the great truth that the work of Christ on behalf of those of us who have claimed and confessed Him is both finished and unfinished. Finished on the Cross where He met all the claims of divine righteousness against us in the perfection of His own death in our name so that His death was our death and therefore our personal atonement for sin, the wiping out of all remembrance of sin against us forever; unfinished, in that He is ceaselessly taken up with our individual interests. That is the wonder of it. This wonderful fact that He never gets done thinking about us; so that the Psalmist writes:
“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more than the sand: when I am awake, I am still with thee.” (That is, still before Him, still the object of His thinking.) (Psalms 139:17-18.)
Always that throne on which He sits is approachable for us. Always we may go to Him in the assurance that all the sweep of all the measureless affairs of the universe cannot and will not come in between us and His thought about us.
Hear what the Apostle says and let us hear–– it with fresh meaning:
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16.) He is our Golden Altar––our place of refuge.
He is our priest, ministering at the Golden Incense Altar of the throne of God.