“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.”
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 30:1-10; 34-38)
Good Smells: The Joy of Pleasing Aroma
One of the things I love about this time of year, with all the holiday celebrations and get-togethers, is all the good smells. Basically from now to the end of the year, the house is constantly filled with all kinds of pleasing aromas: bread baking in the oven, pies, apple-cinnamon spice, and a fresh cut tree in the home. It is such a sweet-smelling time of year. There is a certain joy that you experience when you walk in your house and you’re hit with one of these wonderful smells. Or the smell of fresh brewed coffee when you wake up in the morning. There is a satisfaction in the enjoyment of such smells. In and of itself this is not a carnal desire of the flesh, which we should condemn, as if we were some kind of gnostics. Rather, this enjoyment of smell is put into us by our Creator, who Himself enjoys pleasing aromas. Certainly, as all things, smells can be abused and associated with sinful desires, or used by the enemy to lure people into sin, but in and of itself the enjoyment of smell is quite natural – a fresh rain fall, blooming flowers, or fresh cedar.
So as we consider the altar of incense, we find that an entire Old Covenant element of worship to God is centered upon the smell of fragrant incense, apparently smells that God enjoys. In fact, as all elements of worship, God jealously guards the proper administration of the altar of incense.
No Unauthorized Burning (v. 9)
This is one of the places where we see the regulative principle of worship. Verse 9 says, “You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it…” So the instruction is that they were only to burn the exact incense which God commanded, and no other. As the regulative principle of worship teaches, God did not have to list off all the types of incense which they were banned from using, it was simply taught that only what is authorized may be done. In fact, it is in this very element of worship for which Nadab and Abihu were put to death, because they offered unauthorized fire on the altar of incense in Leviticus 10. God is teaching His people that worship is not about their preferences. It’s not about ours. It is not about the smells that Nadab and Abihu liked. It is not about our tastes. It is rather about God’s. Worship is established by God. He reveals to us how He desires, and is, to be worshiped, and no other way is permitted. This strikes against the flesh and the self-centered pride of man. It is a problem in our modern day, but it is not unique to our modern day. It is a problem within man that does not take God as seriously as he should, and it is a problem in man that elevates ourselves above God, thinking we know better.
So God instructs that no unauthorized incense shall be used, and then God gives directions for the incense that is to be used in verse 34 and following. In this regulation, they obviously were not to add any ingredient to the mixture God gave, nor leave out any ingredient.
On this point Rushdoony comments, “The ban against adulterating the oil and the incense forbids alterations of any kind, either to cheapen or to improve either item. Men are prone to imagine that God will settle for less, and also believe that they can improve on God’s requirements.” This incense is, several times in verse 34-37, said to be holy, or holy to the LORD. So to change it in any way would be to dishonor the holiness of God. They could no more alter the incense than they could offer different sacrifices, build the tabernacle differently, or choose different garments for the priest.
Holy Incense, Not for Common Use, v. 36-37
The fact of this incense being holy incense, also indicates what is said in these verses – that it was to be set apart for tabernacle worship. This incense was not to be made as perfume, or any common use among the people. It was only for use in the tabernacle, thus it was holy to the LORD.
Now when we think about its use in the tabernacle, we may think about the fact that there were all kinds of animal sacrifices and blood spattering that would not have had the best of smells, and so within the holy place where this altar of incense was, it would have not had the ill smells of death, but it would have a pleasing aroma. In this way, the incense covers the scent of death, and offers a pleasing smell to God, making them acceptable to Him. Certainly, as everything we have looked at thus far with the tabernacle, it was much more than just a utilitarian use for freshening the air. Particularly considering its use in the holy place we find that it is typological of realities that are far greater and more permanent than the literal incense itself. Recall how we considered the interior of the holy place to be patterned after the heavenly things, patterned after heaven – thus the incense as well, is a shadow of the true incense of heaven around the throne of God.
No Incense Today in Worship
Before getting into that, I want to briefly mention the issue of incense in worship in the New Covenant era. There are certain high church traditions such as Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Anglicanism, which use incense in their worship today, and have for centuries. The problem with this, of course, is that the use of incense in worship had a very specific authorized usage in the worship of the Old Covenant, and thus ceased with the Old Covenant, along with all the Old Covenant ceremonies of worship. Even in the Old Covenant there were very specific directions for its use, and could only be used as directed, which certainly are not done in these other traditions. If the New Covenant gave us instructions for incense in worship, then we would certainly be obligated to do it, but no such instructions exist, even by implication in the New Testament. Therefore, we must not do it. The only references to incense in the New Testament are all in reference to spiritual realities, such as the prayers of the saints. As much as we might like the smell of incense, to go back to incense, would be to go back to the shadows, which would be to judaize. And it is worth noting, that contrary to what the Eastern Orthodox would like you to think, the use of incense was rejected by a number of church fathers, including Tertullian who said, “…we certainly buy no frankincense.” Justin Martyr even says, among other things, that incense had been used by demonic beings to lead people astray from the true worship of God. A number of church fathers seem to agree with this assessment by speaking about the abominable incense and sacrifice offered in pagan worship of their day, and how it deceived men. A book on the history of Greek Orthodoxy even admits that it does not seem incense was introduced in the worship of the church until the 6th century, which clearly indicates that it is historically not an apostolic practice.
Typological of Christ
So how do we understand the fulfillment of the altar of incense, and the incense, and what benefit does it have to our lives? As all of the precious elements of the tabernacle and the holy garments of the high priest, the altar of incense finds its ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. The New Testament explicitly refers to Jesus as a FRAGRANT offering to God. Christ Himself is a pleasing aroma and sweet smell to the Father. Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a FRAGRANT offering and sacrifice to God.” I just love how all throughout the New Testament you see little passing comments like this, referring to Christ with different terminology of the Old Covenant system. There is no chapter that is a systematic explanation of how Christ fulfills the altar of incense, and a number of other elements of the Old Covenant, yet you find comments like this, where the New Testament authors refer to Christ with this Old Covenant language. It evidences to us that this was a vital component of their hermeneutical framework for understanding the Scripture – that Christ is the fulfillment of these things. The incense was a foreshadowing of the pleasing aroma of Christ to God. Christ Himself is the authorized fragrant incense to God in the New Covenant. We aren’t made acceptable to God through the offering of frankincense and other spices, but only through the Lord Jesus.
But more than this, one of the things we find in the Bible, which I will reference a few passages for you a little bit later, is that incense is also symbolic of the prayers of God’s people. So not only is Christ Himself a fragrant offering to God, but Christ also prays, and His prayers are perfect, pure and holy, without sin and blemish, and such prayers from the Son to the Father are a fragrant incense to God. In the gospels we find Jesus retreating to a quiet place in prayer. In John 17 Jesus offers up that most beautiful High Priestly Prayer, so aptly called, especially when we consider the incense of prayer in connection with the service of the High Priest here in Exodus. In 1 John 2:1 we find that we have Christ the Righteous as our advocate before the Father.
A. W. Pink concurs, “The altar speaks of Christ Himself, and the incense was a figure both of His intercession and the praises which He presents to God.” As we consider these things and look closely at our text in Exodus, we find that there is some amazing significance in the details we are given, which by God’s Spirit may stir our hearts in devotion to Jesus.
As we have seen with other pieces of the tabernacle furniture, we find that the altar of incense was also made of wood and then overlaid with gold. We have noted how this speaks to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, or the hypostatic union, that Jesus is truly God and truly man – wood being of earth, gold signifying the divine perfections. So with this altar of incense which speaks to the fragrant incense of prayer, we see here that our one mediator between God and man, the only one who goes between us and God and intercedes and advocates for us is the God-Man, Jesus Christ. And it is upon Him that our prayers are a fragrant incense to God.
We also read in verse 2 & 3 that this altar of incense has horns, which are one piece with it. One of the things that horns represent in the Bible is power, or position. In Psalm 75 the wicked are warned not to lift their horns on high, and God declares that He will cut off the horns of the wicked and lift up the horns of the righteous. So the horns upon the altar of incense show us the power of prayer. James 5:16 says that the “prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Or more precisely, as we think upon the Lord Jesus, this shows us the efficacy of Christ’s intercession. As 1 John 2:1 says that Christ Jesus is the Righteous One, in connection to His advocacy for us. Or as Romans 8:34 says, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” If Christ is interceding for us, there is none left to condemn. His intercession for us is effectual and powerful. Or consider Hebrews 7:25, “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” Christ’s ability to save is connected here to His intercession for those He is saving.
But more, notice the placement of the altar in verse 6.
So the altar was there in the holy place, right next to the veil which was in front of the mercy seat and the ark of the testimony, where God meets with them. So the incense is symbolically in the throne room of God in Heaven, in His presence, where He not only hears, but enjoys the sweet incense of prayer. Some of the catechism questions I teach my boys ask, where is Jesus now? Answer: seated in heaven. Question: what is He doing there? Answer: ruling the world. Question: what else is He doing there? Answer: Interceding for His people. He is there at the right hand of the Father, and in Him we also are seated in the heavenly places.
But notice also the frequency that incense was burned on the altar.
Morning and evening. Regular incense offering to the LORD throughout your generations, it says. In other words, it was to be ever offered to the Lord, continually. Prayer without ceasing. This is probably where Paul gets that idea to pray without ceasing and to be constant in prayer. And as we read, Jesus ever lives to intercede for us.
So Matthew Henry says, “…the golden altar in the sanctuary was a type of Christ interceding in heaven. This altar was before the mercy seat, for Christ always appears in the presence of God for us: he is our advocate with the Father (John 2:1), and his intercession is unto God of a sweet smelling savor.”
So dear Christian, do you believe that Jesus is indeed praying for you? If you never forgot that He was praying for you, would that change your life? In our day to day life, we forget it don’t we? Sometimes we give in to our struggle with sin, because we forget that Jesus is praying for us. And then when we sin we feel guilt, we feel condemnation, we see the law declaring judgment upon us, we may believe the lies of the accuser, we might wallow in defeat and self-loathing, and then we lash out at others, at our loved ones, because we feel so much guilt and shame and we’re angry about it. Have you ever gone through that cycle? What happened when you did that? You sinned. You didn’t trust in the gospel. So you failed to deal with your sin biblically through repentance and confession knowing we have an advocate ready to hear and forgive. So then you sinned some more, because the deceitfulness of sin hardens us into thinking there are no other options but to sin more to cope with it or cover it. But what if I told you that when you sin, you have an advocate with the Father. He is with the Father, in His presence, interceding for you, and He is able to save to the uttermost. If you are a Christian, even in those terrible cycles of sin and shame, you are already justified. And yet Jesus ever lives to intercede for us. You can confess your sins to God, you can repent, and enjoy again that fellowship we have with God and partake of the joy of your salvation. If you are in Christ, He does not stop interceding for you. You might fail to pray without ceasing, but Jesus does not. And the more you believe that Jesus prays without ceasing, the more you will pray without ceasing.
Typological or Symbolic of our Prayers
You see, this is the other symbolic aspect of the incense, is that it is symbolic of the prayers of the saints. When the priest was offering incense on the altar, the people were outside praying. We find this to be the regular practice of the people in Luke 1. This is the story of Zecharaiah the priest, he was burning incense at the altar of incense in the temple, and Luke 1:10 tells us, “And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.” And an angel appears next to the altar of incense and tells him that his prayer has been heard and his wife Elizabeth will bear a son. So even before the New Covenant, there was a known connection between the incense and the prayers of the people.
David says in Psalm 141:2, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” In Revelation 5:8, John sees golden bowls full of incense, which, it says, “are the prayers of the saints.” Revelation 8:3-4 says, “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, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.” So the incense in heaven is specifically said to be the prayers of the saints, which is the fragrant smell that fills the throneroom of heaven. And then what does the angel do in Revelation 8? He takes the censer and fills it with fire from the altar and throws it on the earth, which results in judgments of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. This is amazing. Our prayers are heard before the throne of God, because there is Jesus, and God answers our prayers, as a means of acting on earth! The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, and it is pleasing to God.
So Matthew Henry says the incense altar was a type of, “…the devotions of the saints. When the priest was burning incense the people were praying (Luke 1:10), to signify that prayer is the true incense.”
Would it change your prayer life if you believed your prayers are like incense to God and that they really are a means of God acting in earth? You don’t know what to pray? Do you feel like your prayers are boring, the same old repetition that doesn’t matter? Pray the Psalms. Pray the prayers of the Bible, the Bible is filled with them. Pray God’s Word back to Him, His Word does not return void. What does the Lord’s prayer say that Jesus taught us to pray? “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.” Why do we not pray more or more fervently, when we know that the prayers of the saints are fragrant incense before the throne of Grace? We are supposed to approach BOLDLY the throne of grace! God loves to hear our prayers! And God loves to answer prayer! Prayer will change you, and praying the prayers of Scripture, or modeling after them, will change your prayers. Don’t zone out during the pastoral prayer in worship. Real things are happening that you are a part of as you are to be agreeing in prayer along with us together. Is prayer a staple of your family worship? If it’s not, you can change that today and make it one. Is anyone sick? Then call for the elders of the church, and let us pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord, James 5:14. Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Let me leave you with a warning and a promise.
Warning Against Hypocritical Worship
Here’s the warning: God hates hypocritical worship. He hates hands covered in bloodguilt lifted up to Him in worship. He hates incense offered from a rebellious people. Isaiah 1, Ezekiel 6, 8, 16, and 23 all speak about the rebellions of Israel, how they made altars to other gods and engaged in all sorts of immoralities, and then dared to after incense to God. Such incense is an abomination to him. So He judged Israel. If we have the audacity to think that we can tolerate sin and idolatries in our hearts, minds, and lips, and turn around and praise God with our lips, but not our hearts, that is not good. You know the story of Ananias and Saphirra. We can’t lie to God.
Now the temptation, that we don’t want to fall in, is to think that since we are sinners, and we all are, that we can’t go to God in prayer then, and we can’t come to worship, because even our good deeds are as filthy rags. To go to that extreme is to take the gospel out of the equation. Jesus takes sinners, and He saves them. He sanctifies them. And we are commanded here and now in this life, though we still sin, and we are not perfect, or even close to it, we are still commanded to offer a sacrifice of praise, to pray, to come boldly before the throne. We are to do so through Jesus Christ, the fragrant offering to God. And through Jesus we are accepted, our prayers are heard, we are pleasing to God. 1 Peter 2:4-5, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” That’s the amazing fact of the gospel, that as sinners, when we come to Him, to offer spiritual sacrifices they are acceptable through Jesus Christ. In Him, our prayers are not an abomination. They are a pleasing aroma to God.
In Exodus 30:10, the altar of incense was to be atoned for once a year with the blood of the sin offering. This shows us our prayers are accepted and sanctified through the blood of Jesus. Without Jesus none are accepted before God. But through Jesus, the earth and the throne room is continually filled with the prayers of the saints, a pleasing aroma to God.
Gospel Promises
This is the gospel promised in Malachi 1:11, “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be 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.” When Malachi foresees this He sees a time, which we now are in, in which the incense offered to the Lord rises in every place as people call upon the name of the LORD and cry out to Him in prayer, and pray for His will to be done, and intercede for one another, and give thanks to Him. We participate in this prophecy. The living temple God is building is a house filled with the fragrant incense of prayer. God’s people are praying. The Spirit is praying in them with groanings too deep for words, when we know not what to pray. May that be so of us. May our lives be a fragrant aroma, a pleasing smell, a sweet incense to the Lord through Jesus Christ our Lord. May our lives be holy to the Lord, filled with the sweet aroma of thankfulness. May they be a fragrant offering of service to one another, and holiness to the Lord. And may we never cease to offer prayer as incense to the Lord, through Jesus Christ.
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