The Altar of Incense: The Smell God Likes

Introduction

The Bible can sometimes be difficult to understand if we only read and try to understand a single passage by itself. The modern evangelical approach to Bible reading is designed to be very simple and easy. Many Bible reading plans or devotionals will pick out the nice sounding easy verses and leave so much out. It is ironic though because such a desire to make Bible reading easier, actually makes the Bible much harder to understand. You’ll notice in such reading plans, there are never any selections from books like Leviticus. The problem is that taking Leviticus out of the Bible, makes the Bible much harder to understand. We should thank God for those more difficult books of the Bible, and read them, because without them, it would be a lot harder to make sense of things. So when we read the Bible, instead of isolating the passage we are reading, we should read it in light of the whole Bible, because it is most likely that whatever you are reading is even better understood by considering other passages of Scripture. With that said, turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 30. We’re going to read here about the Altar of Incense. Many of us are probably not too familiar with the Altar of Incense, but I pray that changes after today. One last thing I’ll say before we read there in Exodus: when I first began to prepare for John 17, I began to ask the question, “Since John 17 is called the High Priestly Prayer, in what ways is it priestly?” Certainly the nature of intercessory prayer itself is priestly, and that would be enough. But I wondered if I would find more ways in which this High Priestly Prayer is priestly, if I spent more time reading through the priestly office in the Old Covenant Law. Sure enough the Bible is a vast treasure trove, and we are richly rewarded for digging deep into our Bibles. So among other things, I pray you are encouraged today to read all of your Bibles deeply and to read them carefully and thoughtfully. Even, and especially, the hard parts.

“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ² A cubit^[a] shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. ³ You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. ⁴ And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. ⁵ You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷ And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, ⁸ and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹ You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.” (Exodus 30:1-10)

What is the Altar of Incense: Exodus 30:1-10

In the tabernacle you had three furniture pieces, if you will. You had the table for the showbread, the candlesticks, and the altar of incense. Then you had a curtain which separated it from the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was. The altar of incense is of course where authorized incense was burned, which created a pleasing aroma to God and also the smoke from which created a cloud of covering, if you will. God was pleased with this aroma when it was offered as He instructed it to be. If incense was offered that God did not command, God was not pleased and they were put to death. In other places we read of times of rebellion in Israel when they did not offer incense on the altar, which God was also not pleased with. 

On a surface level, this pleasing aroma worked to cover the unpleasant smells that may have filled up the camp, during the time of the wilderness wandering of Israel, as they had lots of animals and farm-like smells throughout the camp. This is a small picture of a greater theological significance. As sinners before a holy God, we are a stench in His nostrils, and we need a covering to be acceptable before Him. 

We are also told that when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year, he carried with him a portable incense burner that would provide a protective cloud of smoke.

As we read, it was also not just anyone that could go in and offer incense on the altar. It had to be the duty of the priest.

We are also told in verse eight, that the incense was to burn throughout their generations as offering before the LORD (v. 8)

Not only was this incense to be a covering and a pleasing aroma to God, but also atonement had to be made for the Altar itself once a year, as Aaron was to go with the blood of the sin offering and put it on the horns of the altar. This was holy and pleasing to the LORD.

That is the basic breakdown of the altar of incense. Now if you look over a few verses ahead in Exodus thirty, we read about the anointing oil and incense for the altar. 

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of aromatic cane, ²⁴ and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin^[e] of olive oil. ²⁵ And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. ²⁶ With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷ and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, ²⁸ and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. ²⁹ You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. ³⁰ You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. ³¹ And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³² It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ³³ Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), ³⁵ and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶ You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. ³⁷ And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. ³⁸ Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.” (Exodus 30:22-38)

The Anointing Oil and Incense: Exodus 30:22-38

So here they are given specific instructions for the incense that is to be offered. Nothing else was to be offered, and no one was to make it for himself or for another person or purpose, it was to be holy to the LORD.

With the anointing oil, they were to anoint different things in the tent of meeting – utensils, and the altar of incense. And anything the anointed items touched would become Holy.

Now what does all this have to do with the High Priestly Prayer in John 17? To answer that we need to look at what this incense offered to God signifies, and then how Jesus fulfills it and carries it out.

How it Signifies our Prayers

The Bible tells us that the prayers of God’s people are as incense to God. They are a pleasing aroma to God. There is a lot of significance with the altar of incense, and lots of different things to take away from these passages we have read, but to state it for our purposes, the incense offered to God on the altar of incense signifies the prayers of God’s people rising up to the throne of God. The Bible itself tells us this.

Psalm 141:1-2, a Psalm of David says this, “O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” Here, in the Old Testament itself we see David saying “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you.” Even then, the incense offered by the priest represented the prayers of God’s people rising to Him, and it represented that they did so through a needed mediator.

In the New Testament, in John’s vision of the throne, we read this in Revelation 5:6-8, “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” So in the Old Testament we have the scene in the tabernacle on the earth of the altar of incense rising to God, which was an earthly, temporary, copy and shadow of the pattern in heaven, and in heaven we see the prayers of the saints in bowls of incense.

One more passage, again in Revelation, Revelation 8:1-5.

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. ³ And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, ⁴ and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings,^[a] flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Here we have the prayers of the saints as incense before God in heaven around His throne. One side note here, because I just can’t help myself – what we see here in Revelation 8 is the angel takes the censor of incense and the prayers of the saints and throws it down on the earth, which results in judgments upon the earth. The prayers of the saints rising to God in heaven are a means through which God acts to judge and bring salvation on the earth. This is why it is absolutely necessary that the Church continue to pray the imprecatory prayers of the Psalms. They are pleasing to God, He has authorized it, and He judges wicked men on the earth through them. Imagine what our nation would look like if our nation was filled with churches who were singing and praying these imprecatory Psalms on a regular basis. God would not sit idly by. The reformation that needs to happen in our churches today, must necessarily include a return to the singing of the Psalms, and all of them.

I trust I have shown how the pleasing aroma from the altar of incense, of which we are of course no longer to use, is symbolic of the prayers of the saints rising to the throne of God. God hears our prayers through His nose. This brings a new light to the command to pray without ceasing. There is always a pleasing aroma of incense around the throne of God as His Church is continually praying at all times all over this earth. Heaven smells good, and God likes it that way. If God likes good smells, you can draw some implications there for how we ought to live and present ourselves with things like personal hygiene. We return now to Jesus in John 17.

How does Jesus Fulfill it?

How does Jesus Himself fulfill this incense rising to God? It is one of the accomplishments of this High Priestly Prayer. This whole chapter rises to God as a sweet and pleasing aroma to the Father. If God is pleased with the faithful prayers of His people, how pleasing do you think the prayer of His own dear Son is to Him? In John 17:1 it begins by saying, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven…” Here Jesus begins His prayer by lifting His eyes up to Heaven, indicating where these words He was about to pray would ascend. How the hosts of Heaven around the throne of God were poised to smell this sweet and pleasing aroma of the perfect prayer of the Son of God! Everything that pleases God about the prayers of His people is perfectly seen and carried out in this prayer of Jesus. He prays for His glory, He prays according to His Word, He prays in Humility, He prays rightly for others, He prays in confidence – oh what a pleasing aroma to the Father, this perfect prayer from His perfect Son! This is the ultimate incense rising to the throne of God.

This is not a once here and then gone moment of incense before God. We read in Exodus 30 that the incense was to burn throughout the generations as an offering before the LORD. So in greater fulfillment and obedience, by praying for all who would believe in Him, this prayer of Christ burns throughout the generations before the Father! The pleasing aroma of this High Priestly Prayer continues to fill the nostrils of God around the throne, as Christ continues an intercessor this day for His own. Christ and this prayer, and His prayers does not cease to burn as incense to the Father. 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.”

We read of how God commanded specific incense to be burned on the altar, and none other. Here in this High Priestly Prayer we see Jesus offering up exactly that which God has given to Him. John 17:8-9, “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” The people whom Jesus offers up in prayer to the Father are those whom the Father has given to Him – authorized, not unauthorized incense. Therefore it is pleasing and effective.

Not only does Jesus offer up a pleasing aroma of prayer to the Father, but Jesus is the Altar of Incense. It is only upon Jesus that we are to offer prayers to God. When we pray we do not approach God on our own merits or name. We do not offer prayers through another person. We may only pray to God through Christ, and only then are our prayers pleasing to God. We can’t stand before God on our own. Our words apart from the mediation of Christ are a stench in the nostrils of God. They are unauthorized words, not fit for being heard at the throne of God. But offered through Jesus by faith, they are a sweet and pleasing aroma to God.

Jesus is not only the altar of incense, He is also the mediatorial Priest. The incense – or the smoke from it – symbolized the prayers of God’s people constantly ascending before the LORD. In the tabernacle, incense could only be offered by the priests, who thus served as mediators between the people and God. Not anyone could go in and burn the incense. They needed a priest as mediator. Jesus is our mediator. He is our priest. He goes in and intercedes for us. Through Him our prayers are pleasing to God.

But that’s not all. In Exodus 30 we read about the anointing oil with which the priest was to anoint various elements of the tabernacles and the items therein. And it made an interesting statement in Exodus 30:29, saying that whatever touches the properly anointed items will become holy. Now this seems so different to the ways of the Old Covenant as it seemed like there were so many things that if touched, would cause one to become unclean. But here it is the other way around. What more perfect picture could there be that exemplifies the work of Christ in the New Covenant!? Whatever is covered by the incense of Christ is made Holy! In the New Covenant it is the gospel that spreads. It is the blood of Christ that touches dirty sinners and makes them clean. The blood and sacrifice of Christ cannot be contaminated and made unclean by sinners drawing near, but rather as sinners draw near, they are washed, they are cleansed, they are made holy through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” The fragrant offering and sacrifice of Christ is a cover for the stench of our sin before God. The smoke that rises from the sacrifice of Christ forms a cloud of covering for sinners before a holy God.

Gospel Application

There are many ways that sinners try to come to God or enter heaven apart from faith in Christ alone. And they all stink! They are all a nauseating heinous stench before God and the angels. Maybe there is someone here who wants to go to God, who wants to go to Heaven, but who yet does not want to do so in total submission and trust to the Lordship of God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ. I would warn you with the example of King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. There we read about how King Uzziah, looking at his strength, grew proud. And in his pride he goes into the temple to burn incense on the altar. He is met there by Azariah the priest and 80 other priests who opposed him and said, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor before the LORD God.” Uzziah grows angry, and he has a censor in his hand for burning incense, and then God strikes him with leprosy on his forehead, he was rushed out, and was a leper for the rest of his days. My friends if you think that you will receive eternal or get to heaven by your own strength, or by your own wisdom, or by your own good works, or by your own religious commitments, you will be met with the curse of God on judgement day when you stand before Him, and you will be rushed out of His presence and cast into the burning lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, never to be restored from that place. God has said, and He has said clearly, how sinners are to come to Him and be made acceptable before Him. It is only through the blood of Jesus Christ and faith in Him. And God has freely offered the gospel to sinners that they may have Christ and be made a pleasing aroma to God, having their sins forgiven and clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It is pride that comes before destruction that would reject so great a salvation for another way, that leads only to death.

In reading the law, we see the majesty of God’s holiness. We also see the sweetness of God’s mercy offered to foul sinners, the substance thereof, being found in Christ alone.

Conclusion

In the Old Covenant, God commanded this incense to be offered to Him throughout the generations. Yet, we know many times Israel did not do so in their rebellion, they offered foul and unauthorized sacrifices to God. Even now, we ourselves know that we do not pray without ceasing as we ought. Our prayers are not as pure as they ought to be? But could the throne room of God cease to be filled with the pleasing aroma that God desires? May it never be. In Malachi chapter 1, God is chastising the priests of Israel because they have offered polluted offerings before God, and He will not accept such offerings. Listen to what God says in Malachi 1:10-11.

¹⁰ Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. ¹¹ For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be^[b] great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

Hear the promise of the success of the gospel here: the failure of certain sinners at certain times will not prohibit the Almighty from receiving the proper worship that He commands. God promises that in every nation and in every place, pure incense will be offered to Him, for His name will be great, and there is nothing that we can do to stop it. If we forsake Him, God will raise up another. Though we may look at this world in different places and times and see a great stench we must trust that God will fulfill His promise to give success to the gospel in every nation and place. We live in a world that is not just filled with foul aromas. We live in a world where Jesus prayed, where Jesus was offered up to God as a pleasing sacrifice and aroma. This means that wherever that aroma of the gospel of Jesus Christ goes with effect, it will make clean what is unclean. It will cover the stench of sin. Do we think the aroma of the sacrifice of Christ is too weak to do so? I am here to tell you that the aroma of Christ is stronger than your stench of sin. Your sins are great, they smell awful, they are repulsive and make you want to vomit. But the sweet fragrance of Christ will make them as if they never were. In a job I used to have, I walked into many homes that were just squalor, and quite frankly, on many occasions I wanted to hold my breath, plug my nose, and run back outside. But how much worse is my sin before a holy God. Yet in Jesus Christ, God does not walk in my door and turn around and run back out because of the stench. He sent His Son into my mess, that I might be made clean and be a pleasing aroma to Him. God is in the business of going around to those living in utter squalor and covering them in the aroma of Christ., and He will not stop until in every nation and in every place pure incense is offered to His name – which is faith and prayer through Jesus Christ.

Sin made this world a big ball of stink. Christ is making it smell good again. 2 Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” 

This is how God is fulfilling His promise of the success of the gospel in Malachi 1:11. It is a triumphal procession, spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. Jesus prays a prayer of perfectly pleasing aroma to God wherein Christ prays for His Church, thus guaranteeing the success of this triumphal procession where He leads us spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. There is not a person sitting in this room today who is not called to repent and believe the gospel, and to fall in line with this triumphal procession. There is not a single space on this earth that will not be affected by the pleasing prayer and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, let us be motivated in our commitment to prayer. We are no longer to offer incense on the altar of incense, for it was but a type and shadow of the substance that is Christ. But our New Covenant ordinance is to pray without ceasing. Let us find encouragement in the prayer of Christ for us, to pray. Let us find energy in the promises of incense being offered in every place to God, to spur us on to join in that with prayer. We have a God who loves it and works through it. For prayer is a fruitful multiplier. It takes the faith of one saint in Jesus Christ and spreads it out from there. Let us be found faithful, and let us be found in Him. Amen.

 

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