Message 149
(3)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:6-10; 40:5, 26-27; Psa. 84:3; 141:2; Rev. 8:3-6; Exo. 30:26-28
I am quite burdened concerning the incense altar because some of the points related to it are rather new to us. Thus, it will take time for us to enter into the depths of the truth with respect to the incense altar.
We need to pay attention to the fact that the incense altar was in the center of the tabernacle. It was not outside the tabernacle, and it was not in the outer court. If you consult the diagram of the tabernacle with the outer court printed in message one hundred forty-seven, you will see that the incense altar was in the center of the tabernacle.
Regarding the tabernacle, John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” According to John 1:1, the Word that became flesh is God Himself. Hence, we have God, the Word, and the tabernacle. This tabernacle was Jesus, and Jesus is the very God. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God.” The Word became flesh, and this flesh is the tabernacle. By this we see that the tabernacle is actually the incarnated God. In other words, Jesus is the incarnated God.
The incarnated God is available to be contacted by us. Not only can we contact Him; we can also enter into Him. This means that we can have a tour of the tabernacle and enjoy its contents.
As we consider the tabernacle in Exodus, we need to be impressed that it signifies the incarnated God. God is invisible, abstract, mysterious. However, as the tabernacle, the incarnated God, this invisible, abstract, and mysterious One, becomes real, practical, and concrete. He becomes touchable and, in a very real sense, visible. For this reason, 1 John 1:1 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the Word of life.” Here we see that the Apostle John touched the incarnated God. We may even go on to say that the incarnated God is enterable. Therefore, now He is not only visible and touchable — He is also enterable.
When the Lord came as the tabernacle, He also came as all the offerings. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Where did the Lamb of God take away the sin of the world? He did this on the cross, which is signified by the altar of burnt offering. As the Lamb of God, Christ is the offerings offered on the altar. Therefore, He is both the tabernacle and the offerings.
Christ is both the incarnated God into whom we may enter, and He is also the offerings that are good for us to eat. The eating of the offerings is quite unusual because the goal of this eating is that we enter the tabernacle. If we had only the tabernacle without the offerings, in particular without the sin offering and the trespass offering, we would not have the means by which to come into God. The means by which we are qualified to enter into the tabernacle, into the incarnated God, is Christ as the offerings. This is the reason He says, “I am the way, and the reality, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Apart from Christ, we have no way to the Father. If we did not have Christ as the offerings, the tabernacle might still be present, but we would not have a way to enter into it.
Do you think you are qualified to enter into the tabernacle, to come into the incarnated God? We all are sinful, unclean, and full of trespasses. Because this is our condition, we are under God’s condemnation. If we tried to come into the tabernacle, we would die. What, then, is the entrance to the tabernacle? What is the way by which we may enter? The entrance, the way, is Christ as the offerings.
Without the burnt offering altar and the offerings, we would not have a way to enter into the tabernacle. This is the reason the book of Hebrews speaks of a new way consecrated for us: “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh” (10:19-20). The blood of the offerings shed on the altar opens the way for us to enter into the tabernacle. This was the blood shed by Christ on the cross when He was crucified as our sin offering and trespass offering. Because His blood opens the way, it becomes the means by which we are qualified to enter into God.
Furthermore, when we enter into the tabernacle, we should not be empty within. Rather, we have something to fill us inwardly. We not only offer the sacrifices to God, but after offering them, we may have a portion of them to eat. Thus, we have the blood outwardly and the food, the meat of the offerings, inwardly. The blood of the sacrifice without opens the way for us to enter into God, and the meat fills us inwardly. We are not hungry when we come into the tabernacle. No, we are those who have been fully satisfied.
The picture of the tabernacle portrays Christ as the incarnated God who is available for us to enter. This very Christ is also all the offerings to qualify us by opening the way into God and by filling us inwardly. As a result, we are in God, and God is in us. Therefore, by the time we come to the altar of incense, we are already in God, and God is in us. Because the incense altar is in the center of the tabernacle, which signifies the incarnated God, to be at this altar is to be in the incarnated God. Moreover, when we are in God, He is also in us. At the altar in the outer court we experience the offerings, and we have the blood to cleanse us and the meat to fill us inwardly. This qualifies us to enter into the incarnated God, the One who indwells us as our food, as our life supply. Whoever comes to the incense altar is a person who is in God and who has God in him. He is one with God and mingled with Him. What a great matter this is!
Perhaps you have been a Christian for years without realizing that to pray at the incense altar is to pray in God and with God in us. However, those who pray merely in a natural way may be quite far from God, and their prayer may not have the element of God in it. Although they pray to God, they are far away from Him. When the Jews pray, they may be much closer to God than Gentiles, but they are still outside of Him. Moreover, Christians who lack enlightenment and experience or who are indifferent may have some prayer at the altar in the outer court, but they may fail to come to pray at the altar of incense in the tabernacle. Where are you when you pray? Are you at the altar in the outer court, or are you in the tabernacle, in the incarnated God? Whenever we pray we should experientially be in God, and simultaneously, He should be in us. While we are praying to Him, we should be in Him, and He should be praying in us.
Being energized through eating a healthy meal can be used to illustrate the experience of having God pray in us while we are praying in Him and to Him. Suppose there is a ministry meeting in the evening. Before the meeting I eat dinner and am energized by the food I have eaten. When I come to the meeting to speak, I am full of energy. As I am speaking, the food I have eaten for dinner is energizing me. In the same principle, when we pray in God and with God in us, He prays in us.
On the one hand, Christ is the tabernacle; on the other hand, He is the food. We enter into Him as the tabernacle and He comes into us as the food. As food, Christ is not ordinary; rather, He is holy food, food offered to God. As priests who come into the tabernacle to pray at the incense altar, we do not eat common food. We eat holy food, food that has been offered to God. We do not eat any food that has not first become an offering. In other words, we do not eat anything that is not Christ. Christ as food to us has first been offered to God. Hallelujah, we can be in the incarnated God, and this very God is the food in us energizing us!
According to typology, there is no indication that the incense altar is a place to pray. This is our interpretation. The incense altar is a place to burn incense, and burning the incense typifies praying. How should we pray at the incense altar? Now that we are in God and He is in us, and now that we are at the incense altar, we must burn the incense. But what is this incense? The incense is Christ. Christ is the tabernacle, Christ is the offerings, and Christ is also the incense. Thus, to burn the incense means to pray Christ.
Revelation 8:3 and 4 say, “And another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and much incense was given to Him that He should add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the Angel before God.” This Angel is Christ, the One who adds His incense to the prayers of the saints. It is this incense, not the saints’ prayers, that causes the smoke to rise. In our prayers we need to have Christ as the incense with the smoke that rises. The point here is that to burn the incense actually means to pray Christ.
If we see that to burn the incense is to pray Christ, we shall feel ashamed of the way we have often prayed in the past. We have prayed many things which are not Christ. Instead of burning Christ as the incense, we have burned strange incense. We have offered strange incense, something other than Christ Himself. However, we should not offer as incense anything except Christ. In the past there was much strange incense in our prayers; there were many things that were not Christ.
At the incense altar we should not offer the burnt offering or the meal offering; neither should we pour out a drink offering. All these offerings should be offered at the first altar, the offering altar in the outer court. On the incense altar the only thing that should be offered is incense.
When we come to the last part of Exodus 30, we shall see that the incense typifies the resurrected and ascended Christ. However, all the offerings, with the exception of the wave offering and the heave offering, are types of Christ as the One who was judged by God and who died for us. The resurrected and ascended Christ is the unique One who is acceptable to God. He is received by God, accepted by Him. Thus, He becomes a sweet savor to God. This savor, as the incense, should be in our prayer. As we have pointed out, this means that when we pray, we should pray Christ.
When some hear this word concerning burning Christ as the incense, concerning praying Christ, they may ask, “Tomorrow I shall go on a long journey. Don’t I need to pray for a safe trip?” This question indicates that in the prayer of this one there is a great deal of strange incense. I do not think that such a one prays at the incense altar in the tabernacle.
On the ark of testimony in the Holy of Holies there was a lid, a cover, called the propitiatory cover. That cover, made of gold, was the place where God met with His people. The King James Version describes this lid, this cover, as the mercy seat. Eventually, the mercy seat in the tabernacle in Exodus becomes the throne of grace spoken of in Hebrews 4. This means that the throne of grace is the propitiatory cover, the lid covering the ark of the testimony. On the one hand, with respect to propitiation, this lid is the propitiatory cover. On the other hand, with respect to God’s dispensation, it is the throne of grace, the place where God dispenses His grace to people. Furthermore, according to the book of Revelation, it is also the throne of authority, the throne of divine administration. Therefore, one item is the mercy seat, the throne of grace, and the throne of administration.
In chapters two and three of Revelation we have the church, and chapters four and five portray the throne of God. The throne in Revelation 4 and 5 is the throne of authority, the throne of the divine administration over the entire universe. Therefore, to the universe as a whole, this is the throne of God’s authority, but to us, it is the throne of grace. It is the place, the propitiatory cover, where we may contact God and receive grace.
In the book of Revelation the incense altar is directly in front of the throne of God’s authority. According to Revelation 8, Christ as another Angel comes and adds His incense to the prayers of the saints. This incense then ascends to God at the throne of administration, and God answers the saints’ prayers. As a result, fire comes down to earth to execute the divine judgments recorded in the remainder of the book of Revelation. This is a picture of the incense altar being the administrating throne of God for God to execute His judgments in His administration. It is important for us to see that the execution of God’s administration is motivated by the prayers offered to Him from the incense altar.
Suppose you come to the incense altar to pray. How will you pray at this altar? Will you pray about a trip you are about to take? Will you pray about your job? It is pitiful that so many of today’s Christians pray only about such matters. If they did not pray concerning material things, they would have little else to pray for. It seems that they do not know how to pray for God’s economy. To them, it sounds strange to hear about praying Christ. These words are a foreign language to them. Actually, it is not strange to pray Christ; rather, it is strange to pray for many other things instead of Christ. It is very normal for believers to pray Christ. Should we continue to pray about transportation, housing, and jobs, God may say, “Why do you pray about so many strange things? Why do you pray for a better house or for a better job? My desire is that when you pray, you pray Christ.”
Thousands and thousands of prayers are offered to God by Christians, but there is very little execution of God’s purpose. Christians pray again and again, yet there is very little dispensation of the supplying grace of God. Who today knows how to pray in such a way as to motivate the throne of grace to dispense God’s life supply as grace to all the needy ones? Hardly any believers know how to pray like this. Also, who knows how to pray to motivate the throne of authority to execute the divine administration? Once again, very few know how to pray in this way. In a practical sense, many of those who pray are not even in the outer court, much less in the tabernacle. When they pray to God, they are actually far away from Him.
In light of what we have covered in this message, we all need to see three matters. First, when we pray, we should be in the tabernacle. Second, when we are about to pray, we should first be satisfied by eating holy food. Third, when we pray, we should offer incense to God. This means that when we pray, we should pray in God, we should pray with God within us as our energizing supply, and we should pray with Christ as the incense. Then we shall burn incense to God. I believe that if we have this view concerning prayer, our prayer life will be revolutionized. May we all see this view and experience such a revolution.
