Message 152
(6)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:6-10; 40:5, 26-27; Psa. 84:3; 141:2; Rev. 8:3-6
After we have gone to the altar of burnt offering, the table, the lampstand, and the ark, we arrive at the golden altar of incense. When we come to this altar, our unique taste, our only interest, is to pray.
What kind of prayers shall we offer at the incense altar? Shall we pray private prayers or personal prayers? No, the prayer we offer at the incense altar will be intercessory prayers. Whenever we open our mouth to pray at the incense altar, the prayer that will issue forth will not be personal, individual prayer. It will be intercessory prayer. Here we no longer have any interest in ourselves or in our welfare. Instead of considering ourselves and praying for ourselves, we intercede for others. At that time we shall be in our experience a real member of Christ, a genuine part of the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ. Furthermore, that will be the time when we cooperate with Christ in His ministry of intercession. He intercedes in a particular way, and we cooperate with Him in His way of interceding. This means that we carry out His intercession in our prayers of intercession. This is marvelous! Here we are truly one with the Lord.
At the altar of burnt offering in the outer court there is a particular kind of depth. There are other depths at the table, the lampstand, the ark, and the incense altar. Hence, concerning the tabernacle and the outer court, there are at least five kinds of depths. In the sight of God, the reason that not many believers today are praying at the incense altar is that they have not experienced all these depths. As we have pointed out, many may pray at the first altar, but few are interceding at the second.
In order to pray at the second altar, we must first experience the altar of burnt offering. In our experience of this altar, we need to have a full realization concerning the blood and the ashes. Then we must go on to experience the bread on the table, the bread that signifies Christ as our life supply. After this, we proceed to the lampstand, which signifies Christ as our light. Following that, we go to the ark, which signifies Christ as God’s testimony. This testimony is versus our natural being. After we have experienced the first altar, the table, the lampstand, and the ark, we may come to the incense altar and remain there.
Once we arrive at the incense altar, we should stay here longer than at any other place in the outer court or the tabernacle. Here we need to pray again and again. This golden altar of incense is the destination of the divine tour. The tour begins at the altar in the outer court, passes through the table, the lampstand, and the ark, and stops at the incense altar. Because the divine tour stops here, we need to stay here to pray.
Where are you when you pray? You may say that you are in God. However, this answer is too general. You need to specify a particular place. Where do you stay when you are in God? Do you remain at the table? Or do you remain at the lampstand or at the ark? It is very good that we spend time at the table, the lampstand, and the ark. But we should not remain at these places, because they are not our destination. Our destination is the incense altar. Because the incense altar is our destination, once we arrive there we should remain and continue there in prayer.
After you have more experience, you will understand more fully what I am saying. Then according to your experience, you will say the same thing. You will declare, “After passing through the first altar, the table, the lampstand, and the ark, I am now at the incense altar interceding for God’s interests, for the churches, and for the saints.” If we remain at the incense altar, then in Christ and with Christ we shall have something that ascends to God. This is our prayer.
Our prayers represent ourselves. This is true both of the prayers at the first altar and at the second. Whatever we pray will represent us. The kind of prayer we have depends on the kind of person we are, for our prayers reveal our person. Suppose a thief offers a prayer. Certainly his prayer would indicate the kind of person he is. When the Apostle Paul prayed, he prayed in a way that represented his person. Likewise, the prayer offered to God the Father by the Lord Jesus indicates what the Lord is in His person. None of us is an exception to this principle. The way we pray reveals what we are.
At the first altar we cannot pray intercessory prayers. The reason we cannot pray such prayers at the first altar is that we are not yet the kind of person to offer intercessory prayers. Thus far, you have come only to the first altar. You need to experience it thoroughly and then go on to the table, the lampstand, and the ark. Not until you reach the second altar can you be the kind of person who is able to offer intercessory prayers. Reaching the incense altar indicates that we have experienced the first altar, the table, the lampstand, and the ark and have arrived at our destination.
When we pray at the incense altar, there will be neither strange incense nor strange fire in our prayer. If we have been enlivened by the Lord, we shall realize that many Christians pray with strange incense or with strange fire. God wants us to pray with Christ as our incense. This means that we should pray with Christ. We should not pray with strange incense.
Do you know what strange incense is? Strange incense is anything we pray that is not Christ or that is not related to Christ. In the sight of God, that kind of prayer is strange; it is a prayer with strange incense.
When some hear that to offer strange incense is to pray something other than Christ Himself, they may ask, “Do you mean that we should not pray about our married life or family life? Are we not supposed to pray about our practical human affairs?” I do not presume to tell you what you should pray for. However, I can say that you need to ask yourself how much the things you pray for have to do with Christ. If you consider your prayer life in this way, you will find out where you are. You may realize that your prayers concerning your married life have nothing to do with Christ. Thus, those prayers are strange incense.
However, I wish to make it clear that I do not mean we should not pray concerning our personal affairs or for material things that we need. My point here is that we ask ourselves how much our prayers are related to Christ. This question is a test that will reveal whether what we pray is real incense or strange incense.
What is strange fire? According to typology, strange fire is any fire other than that which burns on the altar of burnt offering. The fire that burned on the altar in the outer court came down from the heavens. After coming down from the heavens, that fire burned continually on the altar. The incense must be burned by the fire from the first altar. If you burn incense by any other kind of fire, that will be strange fire.
To have strange fire is to have some kind of motive within us that is natural and that has not been dealt with by the cross. Anything that has not been dealt with by the cross and yet motivates us to pray is strange fire. If we see this, we shall realize that a great many Christians are motivated to pray by natural motives. Their motives have never been touched by the cross. The result is that they pray with strange fire.
To pray something that has nothing to do with Christ is strange incense, and to pray with motives that have not been dealt with by the cross is to have strange fire. In our prayers we may offer strange incense by strange fire. If we see the significance and the seriousness of strange incense and strange fire, we shall confess that much of our prayer in the past has been motivated by our natural motives. We shall also see that much of our prayer has had nothing to do with Christ. Furthermore, we shall realize that we ourselves often have not been in God when we prayed. On the contrary, we were outside of Him. Our prayers indicated that we were not in God. Whether we are in God or outside of God will be indicated by the way we pray. Our prayers always indicate where we are.
Recently a brother said to me, “Brother Lee, you have taken away our heavenly mansion through ministering to us the truth concerning God’s economy. Now it seems that you are robbing us of our prayers.” In a sense, we all need to be robbed, deprived, of our natural prayers. It may be that in the future not so much of the prayer offered in the meetings will be natural. In this sense there may be less prayer among us.
When I was young, I appreciated the book by R. A. Torrey on how to pray. I treasured that book and read it a number of times, and I put what I read into practice. In the early days that book did help me to pray. If I remember accurately, it tells us that in order to pray we must first confess our sins. Then we shall be able to pray. However, this is to come only to the first altar. Eventually, after years of experience, I realized that Torrey’s book on prayer is elementary. Then I read other books concerning prayer, in particular the book by Andrew Murray entitled, With Christ in the School of Prayer. That may be the deepest book on prayer. Nevertheless, it did not render much help to my spirit.
Instead of reading books on how to pray, we need to digest these messages on the incense altar. I cannot tell you how to pray. But I assure you if you pray concerning these messages on the incense altar and put them into practice for a period of time, you will become a different person in the matter of prayer.
In the past our way of praying was natural and religious. I must confess that I also have prayed in a natural, religious way. Anyone can pray and call upon God in times of trial or hardship. But where are most people when they pray to God? To be sure, they are not in the outer court of the tabernacle, much less in the tabernacle itself.
What God desires is the prayer at the incense altar. As we have pointed out, this kind of prayer is intercessory prayer. Whenever we open our mouths to pray at the incense altar, our prayers will not be for ourselves. Instead, our prayers will be for God’s eternal plan, for His recovery, for His move, and for all His churches. Our prayer will indicate where we are and who we are.
In these messages we have covered certain deeper points related to the prayer life. We all need to put these truths into practice. This may help us to pray more if we realize that we do not need to pray in a formal way; we do not need to offer natural, religious prayers. On the contrary, when we arrive at our destination, the incense altar, we shall become intercessors. All day long we shall intercede for others and for the Lord’s interests. This kind of prayer is a fragrant incense to God. This prayer fulfills God’s purpose, satisfies His hunger, and delights His heart. As we pray in this way, we know that we are truly one with the Lord. By our prayers of intercession we are one with Him at the incense altar.
