Exodus 30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.
3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.
5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.
10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.
The altar of incense was another precious and important vessel in the Tabernacle. I remember as a teenager, during the hippie rebellion, that incense was popular. I never went to university, but I had a cousin who did. I remember going to visit him and the smell in the place we met at, was a new smell to me. I was told that it was the smell of incense. I know that incense was not being burned to honour or worship God. It was being used to exalt the devil. The hippie movement was the work of the devil. God gave the devil permission to infiltrate the lives of many young and not so young people. Rebellion against God and parents and authority was the theme of that time. The ironic part of any rebellion, is that people who claim to want to get away from authority, do not realize that they subject themselves to a very ruthless authority when they seek to get out from under God’s authority.
We see that in our own country right now. The oppression that our governments are trying to inflict upon us is astounding. It is also astounding that so many people in this country cannot even recognize this oppression. Words are used to try to twist things so that people cheer the oppressors.
In our text, we see again that God made the design for this altar. It was not left to Moses, or Aaron or his sons to come up with a design. They were not to imagine a god. They were to worship and lead the nation in the worship of the true God.
God spent forty days on this occasion instructing Moses with important details for the nation of Israel. God wanted the children of Israel to know Him. He knew what the Egyptians were worshipping. He knew the impact that false worship had been to the children of Israel. He separated His people from that mess and now He was going to isolate them from that wickedness and give them the beauty of knowing Him and worshipping Him. Of course, God knows better than we do, that outward conformity is not enough. He gave the children of Israel the opportunity to internalize, by faith, the importance of knowing and serving Him.
This altar was smaller than the brazen altar. It was to serve a different purpose. It also had horns attached to it. The horns were a symbol of power; not man’s power, but God’s power. The incense altar was to be symbolic of the prayers of the people going up to God. God is all powerful. God wants man to know that He can do all things. He wanted Israel to know that He would bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. The delay was due to their stubbornness, not His inability.
The same is true for man today. Many people are struggling with hurts that are completely unnecessary. There is no need for broken homes if God is in charge. It is the rebellion in man’s heart that causes broken homes and broken relationships. Knowing the true God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only answer to man’s struggles.
We see again that this altar was made of shittim wood and then overlaid with pure gold. Everything that was visible to man was to be overlaid with pure gold. This again was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we pray, Jesus taught us we ALWAYS pray to God the Father. God is the Father to all saved people. He wants to be the Father to all people, but the majority of people do not want Him as their Father. Many want a woman as their god. The Catholics invented Mary worship. Of course that goes back to the Babylonians. God warned of woman worship in the Old Testament.
God chose Mary for a particular purpose. She was a virtuous woman. The people wanted to make more of her than was proper, even in Jesus’ day.
Luke 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Mary was important to God. She is not to be venerated. Catholicism has a powerful hold on many people. That is to their detriment.
This altar of incense was to be portable just as all items in the Tabernacle needed to be. Israel would be wandering for forty years. It was not aimless wandering. God directed them during that time. In earthly terms, they wasted precious time in that wilderness, when they could have been in the land of Canaan much sooner. From God’s perspective, those forty years were necessary to give the nation the opportunity to understand that obedience to Him is essential for life. A generation would die out in the wilderness. Their children would be privileged to enter the land of Canaan, but many of them also never came to know the true God.
This altar of incense was to be placed in the Tabernacle close to the vail that separated the holy place of the Tabernacle from the holiest place of the Tabernacle. The smoke from the incense would fill the holy place daily and it would also be able to be present in the holiest place when Aaron would enter that place once in the year. As mentioned, Aaron needed to burn incense on that altar daily. God is always available to receive the prayers of His people. He wants to hear them. We read in verse 7 that Aaron was to burn “sweet incense” on this altar every morning. It would be a beautiful smell to God. It was not designed to put Aaron or anyone else into some altered state of consciousness. It was designed to glorify God.
Aaron was to burn incense on this altar at the same time as he was dressing the lamps for the day. We also learn that no strange incense was to be burned on this altar. God gave the formula for the making of this incense, and that was all that was allowed on it.
Jesus taught the importance of praying in His name and according to the will of God. So many people think they can come to God any way they want to and they can demand things of Him. Prayer must always be to God, in Jesus’ name. It must always be according to God’s will. We do not demand anything of Him. We humbly submit to Him and we begin by acknowledging His holiness and the privilege He grants us to come before Him. There is a special relationship that saved people have with God. Saved people do not need to be distant from the Lord. Lost people choose to be distant from Him. True, Biblical salvation is the only way to be brought into the family of God.
We read in verse 10, that once a year Aaron needed to make an atonement upon the horns of this altar. This altar was an earthly vessel that would be defiled because it was handled by earthly people. Jesus Christ, the true Mediator between God and man, is without sin and because He is alive and holy, sin cannot taint Him. It cannot stick to Him. He was touched by many wicked people while He was on this earth. Those wicked people never caused their wickedness to stick to Jesus. He could come right up close to a leper and not become leprous. He is God. Aaron’s approach to this altar of incense needed to remind him of the holiness of God and the importance of reverence in His presence.
It is a privilege to be able to pray to God. It is a powerful avenue that God has given to His people. Many people feel inadequate to pray to God so they read someone else’s words. Those are empty words. The lost can come to God in prayer and they can pray for salvation. Many lost people assume that they can come to God for other things and they also claim that God hears them. Delusion is a common problem for the lost. The Bible is clear. In order to have a proper relationship with God, a person must be “born again”. Be sure you submit to God’s will. Those who are saved have the privilege of entering into His presence and being blessed through the avenue of prayer. Let us honour God in our worship of Him.
Pastor Bartel
