Altar of Incense
The altar of incense represents the prayers of the believers offered up to God in heaven.
Revelation 5:8 (NLT2)
8 And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
The scripture above reveals that incense in heaven represents the prayers of God’s people. The procession of the believer toward God started with the Tabernacle Gates in magnifying the greatness of the Lord in their own minds. This dispels doubt and fear when the believer focuses on how great God is. Then they proceed to the Brazen Altar and worship the Lord for the benefits of the atonement. Then they proceed to the Laver to wash away daily sin by confession and repentance. Then they proceed to the Menorah to worship the Holy Spirit and his seven-attributes made available to them as believers. Being conscience of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them empowers the believer with the sevenfold attributes of the Holy Spirit. Then the believer formulates the prayers based upon the Word of God to assure they will be heard and received by God in heaven.
Then after progressing to this point of approaching the Altar of Incense the believer will be ready to offer up his “scripture-based” prayer petitions to God. His mind will be dwelling on thoughts of God’s greatness so he knows nothing is impossible for God so his faith soars that he will have answers to his prayers. He will be aware that he is holy and sanctified by the blood of Jesus by the atonement.
Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
16 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.
The atonement of Christ makes a way for the believer to boldly come before God without shame because they were washed by the blood of the Lamb Jesus.
The Laver keeps them free from unconfessed sins that are committed on a daily basis so the cleansed believer is free to continue his approach toward God.
Having his prayer petitions based upon the word of God also empowers the confidence of the believer knowing that if he asks anything according to God’s will then God will hear them and answer their prayer requests.
1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.
The believer can have confidence that his prayer requests will be heard by God when they are formulated based upon God’s word. God’s word is his will and if the believer asks anything according to God’s will then they can know for certain that God hears their prayer requests. When God hears these requests, he will then grant the believer whatever they have asked from God according to God’s will.
After these steps are followed, the believer can offer up his prayers at the Altar of Incense and receive answers from God. Answered prayers are the manifestation of God working in the lives of the believers. It shows that God is real when he answers specific prayer requests. God also receives the thanksgiving and praise from the believers when their prayers are answered so both parties are blessed by this interaction of prayer between the believers and God.
Altar of Incense Before Entering Holy of Holies
I have heard some say that the believer should not present prayer requests right away before the Lord or else it will seem like they are selfish. Therefore such people make prayer petitions as the very last thing. I however disagree with this faulty logic because the articles of the Tabernacle were arranged in specific manner under the command of God through Moses. It is the Altar of Incense that comes before entering the holy of holies and standing before the Ark of the Covenant.
The reason for this is so that the believer will have already finished their prayer petitions before entering the holy of holies and this has a great advantage if relieving their minds from distractions.
I once heard someone say that they carry a notebook and pen with them during their prayer time so that if a distracting thought comes about something that they need to do that day, they simply stop and write it down. Then they can return to prayer in an undistracted manner.
I believe that the same principle also applies with the believer visiting the Altar of Incense prior to entering the holy of holies and standing before the Ark of the Covenant. The believer formulates their prayer requests based upon the Word of God at the Table of the Bread of Presence just prior to approaching the Altar of Incense to offer these prayer requests to the Lord.
This Altar of Incense comes before entering the holy of holies and standing before the Ark of the Covenant. The reason for this is that the believer will have cleared their mind of any distractions by having presented their requests before God prior to entering the holy of holies. The Altar of Incense does not represent worship as many laymen have falsely assumed but rather the incense represents the prayers of the believers.
With this in mind, the believer should formulate and make their prayer requests before entering into the holy of holies rather than saving that until the very last as if it would somehow be selfish to present requests before entering to meet with God.
These prayer request issues can be a real distraction if there are pressing needs that occupy the mind of the believer. By presenting the prayer requests once and for all then the believer can hand them over to God completely and after this is accomplished then the believer is to remain in faith and just give thanksgiving to God until their answer to prayer is made manifest. They do not keep on praying the same thing over and over again like the vain repetitions made by the heathens who do not know God and are ignorant of God’s ways.
Matthew 6:7-8 (NKJV)
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
Jesus said that the believer should not engage in making vain repetitions like the heathen people do. Such ignorant people assume they can be heard by God if they rattle on and on like a broken record! But Jesus said that the believers should not be like the heathens and never make the same vain repetitions to God in prayer.
This has application to the fact that once an prayer request is formulated and presented to God at the Altar of Incense then the believer should not again pray that same prayer. Faith is displayed by the believer when they make one clear and specific request based upon the word of God and then refuse to go back and ever make that petition again. After the petition is made from that time forward the believer is to stand in faith and give thanksgiving to God continually for their answer to prayer until the time that they see the physical manifestation of what they have prayed for.
Sweet Smelling Aroma
Genesis 8:20-22 (NIV)
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.
21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
The sacrifice of Noah came up before the Lord as a pleasing and sweet-smelling aroma. The Altar of Incense represents the prayers of the believers which are also something that is sweet-smelling and pleasant and pleasing to God.
By rendering up specific prayer requests to the Lord the believer allows God to answer their specific prayer requests. This is a ministry to the Lord as well because whenever specific prayer requests are answered this will cause the hearts of believers to overflow with gratefulness and thanksgiving to the Lord for their answered prayers. This gratefulness and thanksgiving that flows from the hearts of believers is something that ministers to the Lord. They are allowing God to be a part of their lives for every specific prayer request that they offer up to the Lord. This is an opportunity for God to manifest himself as being “real” in the lives of the believers whenever they witness the answers to specific prayer requests.
Therefore, it is not a selfish thing to present prayer requests at the Altar of Incense (before entering the holy of holies). It is in fact the proper protocol that the believers should offer their specific (word-based) prayer requests before entering into God’s presence and standing before the Ark of the Covenant.
It is a good thing for the believers to clear their minds of pressing issues by giving these things to God in prayer. Only then can they focus their undivided attention upon the Lord when they enter into the holy of holies and stand before the Ark of the Covenant.