BLESSED INTERCESSION

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high—its horns of one piece with it. Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Put the altar in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the atonement cover that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you.”

"Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come. Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. Once a year Aaron, shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord."

Exodus 30:1-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Exodus chapters 25 through 29, we find God providing concise directions regarding the construction of the tabernacle and all its various components, the making of the priestly garments, and then the process of consecration, sanctification, and ordination of the priests who would serve God and His people.

In today’s message from the opening verses of chapter 30, we find God adding one additional item to His place of worship, giving Moses instruction on the building of an incense altar. This altar was to be placed in section of the tabernacle known as the Holy Place, put "in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony” and “the atonement cover” that would be “over the Testimony”, the place where He would “meet with” the priest. The ark of the Testimony and the atonement cover were located in the most distinguished part of the worship center called the “Most Holy Place” or “Holy of Holies”. It was a space that would only be entered once a year by one of Israel’s high priests so to offer atonement for the Israelite people.

How did the incense altar fit into the overall daily worship process?

God provides that direction telling Moses that his brother "Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps” and again “when he lights the lamps at twilight”. This was so the “incense” would “burn regularly before” Him “for the generations to come." Symbolically, as the incense burned morning and night, the smoke rising from it could be compared to the prayers of the people ascending toward Heaven to God.

We should also see that God was very specific about the things that weren’t to be done on the altar, telling Moses the following:

"Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it."

These offerings were meant to be performed on the bronze altar located in the tabernacle’s courtyard.

As for the incense altar, the scriptures tell us that once a year, blood was to be placed on the horns of the incense altar on a day known as “the Day of Atonement” or “Yom Kippur”. The blood was to come from “the atoning sin offering” and be done “for the generations to come”, an act "most holy to the Lord."

There are a few other places in the Bible where we find incense and prayer tied together.

In the 141st Psalm, David proclaims this:

"O Lord, I call to You; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to You. May my prayer be set before You like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice." Psalm 141:1-2

Then in the Gospel of Luke, we find this story about the high priest Zechariah and his encounter with Gabriel while performing his duties at the incense altar:

"Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.”

“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.”

“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak." Luke 1:8-22

Now, you may remember that this story ends up having a happy ending as Zechariah regains his ability to speak during the circumcision and naming of his son. Unable to say his son’s name, Zechariah writes this on a tablet:

"His name is John".

And with that, the life of John the Baptist was put in motion, the one who was born to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus.

Looking within the Zechariah story, we see how the custom of burning incense on the altar had carried all the way through Old Testament times to New Testament times, just before the birth of Jesus. In the instance found in Luke, Zechariah had been the random, lot-selected high priest who was at the altar interceding and praying before God for the people who awaited him outside.

Before we close today’s message, there’s one other connection between incense and prayer we need to look at. Consider this passage from the Book of Revelation:

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" Revelation 5:6-8.

Here, we read about the four living creatures and twenty four elders falling down before the “Lamb” that “looked as if it had been slain”. It’s important to see that they aren’t before Jesus empty handed but rather with "golden bowls full of incense” which were “the prayers of the saints."

And so as we see through our study of the Old Testament and within the early stages of the New Testament, the Jewish high priests served as intercessors for the people, lifting up prayers of intercession and performing the required sacrifices to atone for their sins but this wouldn’t continue.  

Why?

Because God willingly shoes to give up His only Son Jesus as a sin sacrifice, the final atonement that would ever be needed again for there was no other need for further sacrificing after the Holy Lamb of God was slain on Calvary’s cross. There also wasn’t a real need for a worldly high priest as they had been superseded by the new and eternal heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, who interceded and continues to intercede for the people of God as they lift up their prayers of confession and repentance.

We get affirmation of this truth in the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Hebrews:

"Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16

My friends, what an assurance and comfort it is to know that we have a Savior, Redeemer, and Friend in Christ Jesus who has taken away the need for burning incense and special altars, directly going before His Father on our behalf with a blessed intercession. All we need to do is repent and ask for Him to reconcile us to God, just as He did on the cross when He bore all our sins.

And so if you are reading this and feel burdened by sin, I encourage you to fall down before the Lord in prayer right now. Lift up your voice to Him as David did, setting your petitions before Him like incense. For to our God, these prayers rise up like the pleasing aroma of incense from the tabernacle’s altar as He sees you fully trusting and relying on Him and Him alone for forgiveness, a forgiveness that has already been mediated through the shed blood of His Son Jesus, our holy Intercessor, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.