The Altar of Incense

The Altar of Incense is a picture of our Lord Jesus's present day ministry. The Lord had described about the design of the Altar of Incense in detail to Moses in Exodus 30:1-10. The Altar of Incense is made of shittim wood or acacia wood, which is a picture of our Lord Jesus being 100% man. This wood is then overlayed with gold, which represents Jesus being 100% God, which also represents the righteousness and deity of Christ. The altar has 4 horns pointing to the 4 corners of the earth. "Horns" in Biblical symbology represents "authority", meaning to say that Christ's authority extends to the 4 corners of the earth. Apostle Paul said:

"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" - Romans 8:34

Our Lord Jesus in His present day ministry, seated at the right hand of God the Father, is interceeding for us and presents us as a sweet smelling aroma to God the Father. The theology therein comes with reference to the altar of incense. This is the reason Apostle Paul said:

"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish" - 2 Corinthians 2:15

The Bible says that when we pray, the Holy Spirit bears witness from within us, that we are the children of God, and that we have been sanctified and perfected by the one offering of Christ Jesus:

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" - Romans 8:16

"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before" - Hebrews 10:14-15

This is the reason when we pray by calling ourselves as a sinner by beating our breast, the Holy Spirit cannot testify and bear witness to such a prayer, because such a prayer negates and nullifies the finished work of our Lord Jesus on the cross. Jesus Christ purchased us by His precious and eternal Blood, and God does not answer our prayers out of mercy, but rather He answers our prayers out of the Blood bought right. For this reason Apostle Paul said:

"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" - 2 Corinthians 1:20

Many people today are not aware of their position in Christ. Instead of taking the New Testament position of Grace in Christ, people today tend to take the Old Testament position of the law by taking scripture verses out of context, which portrays God to be angry with them. One such scripture verse is Isaiah 26:20 which says "Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by".

The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 that satan walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The reason the devil walks around like a roaring lion is because, satan always tries to copy our Lord Jesus and comes up with a counterfeit version of Christ. The devil tries to portray God as though He is angry with you by bringing you across scripture verses taken out of context, so that you would always picture God as being angry with you. The devil tried to do the same to our Lord Jesus in the wilderness, when Jesus, as a man He was at His weakest moment, satan by quoting Psalm 91:11 out of context, asked our Lord to commit suicide by telling Him to jump off a cliff.

Did you know that when our Lord Jesus faced satan in the wilderness, He faced him as 100% man, and not as 100% God?

If Jesus had faced satan as God, He could have destroyed satan or sent him flying with a blink of an eye. Jesus instead faced satan by disarming Himself as God, and went one on one with the devil as 100% man at His most weakest moment. Everytime satan tempted the Lord, Jesus fought back with scripture saying "it is written...". Our Lord did not say any repetitive prayers or incantations, but all He used as a man was the Word of the Lord. By doing so the Lord was showing us to be dependent on His strength through His Word, and not to rely on our own strengths. This is why it is very important to study God's Word. Our Lord Jesus said:

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" - John 15:7

The reason Jesus Christ came as a man was because of a law called the "kinsman redeemer", and this is described in detail in Leviticus 25:47-55. The law states that if a person becomes a slave to a foreigner, the slave has the right to be redeemed. The condition is, the redeemer has to be a blood relative to the salve, such as an uncle or a cousin, etc. We see this in the case of Ruth, where Boaz became her redeemer because he married her. We also see this in the case of Hanameel, where Jeremiah was his redeemer, as seen in Jeremiah 32. When Adam sinned, he became a slave to sin, where the wages of sin is death, as stated in Romans 6:23. Hence in order to redeem man, God had to come down as a man. This is the reason our Lord Jesus had to be born as a man, and as a Jew because it was the Jews who asked for the law. This is why our Lord Jesus was not born in India or America as He had to be a Jew under the bloodline of Abraham. The Bible says:

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" - Romans 3:20

Our Lord Jesus fulfilled the law as stated in Matthew 5:17 and Romans 10:4, and brought forth a new covenant based on Grace. In the old covenant of the law, a person need to have good works in order to be blessed by the Lord. In the new covenant of Grace, the Lord blesses us because of our faith in Jesus's finished work on the cross. The Bible says:

"And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" - Acts 13:39

Under the Levitical priesthood based on the law, the high priest of Israel would offer prayers on behalf of the people of Israel, by going to the altar of incense and by pouring the oil of fragrance over the burning fire, where the incense smoke would rise up. This was instructed by the Lord in Exodus 30:7. By this the high priest of Israel was demonstrating that he is coming before the Lord, not by his own strength, but through the offering of the sacrificial lamb for a sweet smelling incense. With reference to this Apostle Paul said:

"And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" - Ephesians 5:2

Today when we pray from the new covenant position of the finished work of Jesus on the cross, the Holy Spirit bears witness from within us that we are the children of God, and our Lord Jesus who is our High Priest under the order of the Melchizedek Priesthood, presents our prayers which ascends up to the throne of God as a sweet smelling incense. This is also seen in the book of Revelation:

"And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand" - Revelation 8:4

The altar of incense is an illustration by God to us, about our Lord Jesus Christ's present day ministry, where every prayer of ours, the New Testament saints in Christ, are presented as a sweet smelling incense to God the Father.