Christ Our Intercessor

And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. offer...: Or, adde it to the prayers 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 8:3-4

    ‘And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 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 8:3-4).

    The Angel here is not one of the creatures of God, but the Son of God, our Savior, in his mediatoral, priestly office. Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ performing his work as our great High Priest and Intercessor before God (Ex. 30:1-10). At this moment, he stands before God as our Representative. He has in his hand a golden censer full of incense (the merits of his blood and righteousness). The fragrance of that sweet incense makes the prayers which we offer up to God acceptable and well-pleasing in his sight. This symbolic picture is intended to teach us that our prayers and sacrifices are acceptable to God only through the merits of Christ. God's saints, those who have been redeemed and regenerated, even those who are already in heaven, are accepted by God only through the blood and righteousness of Christ (Eph. 1:6; John 14:6). Yet, this is the believer's confidence and encouragement - We are accepted by God for Christ's sake (Eph. 2:13-18).

    The Lord Jesus Christ is our only intercessor

    All believers are priests unto God. We do business with God ourselves in the Person of Christ. We do not need Aaron, Levi, or their sons. We have Christ. ‘There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus’ (I Tim. 2:5). We know that the Angel mentioned in Revelation 8:3 is Christ, because he is the only Mediator between God and men. ‘Another Angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer.’ Of course, the picture here is symbolical. There are no literal, material altars in heaven! But the picture is most instructive. On the day of atonement in the Old Testament, burning coals of fire were taken from the altar of burnt offering and placed in a censer. They were brought to the golden altar of incense. When the incense was put upon the fire in the censer, a cloud of sweet-smelling incense arose before the Lord (Lev. 16:12-13). Those burning coals of fire and the sweet incense beaten small represented the sufferings of Christ in the place of his people. The wrath of God, like fire, was poured out upon our dear Savior. The agonies of his soul were the fires of God's wrath burning in him. His body, crushed under the wrath of God, was typified by the incense beaten small. The altar represented our Lord's divine nature. As the altar sanctified the gift offered upon it (Matt. 23:19), so it is Christ's divine nature that gives virtue, merit, and efficacy to his sacrifice. The work which John saw, described in verses 3 and 4, takes place within the vail before the presence of God. As the burning coals were carried by Aaron within the vail along with the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus entered into heaven as our great High Priest with the merits of his own blood, ‘having obtained eternal redemption for us’ (Heb. 9:11-12). Usually, our Lord is pictured as one who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3; 10:12). That tells us that his work of redemption is finished and complete. But John saw him standing before the altar. That tells us that the merits of his sacrifice are perpetually fresh and effectual.

    ‘And there was given unto him much incense.’ The incense was given to him. All the work of Christ as our Mediator was given to him by the appointment of God the Father in the covenant of grace (Heb. 5:4-5). God gave his elect to his Son to redeem and save them (John 6:39). The world was given to him to rule for the salvation of his people (John 17:2). His seed, God's elect, are given to him as the reward of his atonement (Isa. 53:10-12). As God, everything belongs to Christ by right of his own divinity. As our Mediator, everything has been given to him as the rightful reward of his obedience (John 3:35). This incense was given to Christ, ‘That he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.’ The incense sprinkled upon the burning coals from off the altar formed a sweet smelling smoke, which rose up to God in heaven. This smoke of incense was a picture of Christ's intercession to God for his elect (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 9:24). In the Old Testament, the incense was specifically described. If anyone offered a strange incense, mixed anything with the incense, or tried to imitate it, he was put to death (Ex. 30:7-8, 34-39; Lev. 10:1). Even so, any who attempt to add anything to the finished work of Christ for their acceptance with God cannot be saved (Gal. 5:2, 4). Salvation and eternal life can be obtained only by faith in Christ.

    As the incense was sprinkled upon the coals, our Lord's intercession to God for us is based upon and arises from his sufferings and death as our Substitute. The prayers of Christ for his people are always effectual, because they are enforced by his precious blood (1 John 2:1-2). Notice the word ‘much’ in verse 3. ‘There was given unto him much incense.’ What a blessed word! There is a plentiful abundance and fulness of intercession arising from Christ for us, even as he accomplished a ‘plenteous redemption’ for us (Ps. 130:7). Christ in heaven constantly makes intercession for transgressors, for his elect, covenant people, who have no merit in themselves. We are all transgressors. We all deserve God's wrath. But he makes intercession for us according to the will of God. ‘All saints,’ all who have been, all who are, and all who shall be saints are the objects of his intercessory ministry at the throne of God. Our Lord's intercessions are his prayers that all the needs of his elect will be supplied and that all the blessings of grace will be brought to them by the Spirit of God. He prays for the conversion of his elect, redeemed people (John 17:9, 20), for the non-imputation of sin to his people (1 John 2:1-2), for the preservation of all believers in grace (John 17:15), and for the ultimate glorification of all whom he has redeemed (John 17:22-24).

    The intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ is always pleasing and acceptable with the Father and always effectual. What Christ seeks from his Father, he always obtains. His prayers cannot fall to the ground! His intercession is according to the will of God, for the people of God's choice, and made effectual by the merit of his blood (Rom. 8:34). Those sinners cannot perish for whom Christ makes intercession! He does not plead the goodness of his people, the works of his people, the sincerity of his people, or even the weaknesses of his people. He pleads the merits of his own blood and righteousness on behalf of his people. God himself cannot resist the intercession of his Son! The Lord Jesus Christ is our only intercessor with God; but we need no other. He is an all-sufficient, accepted, perpetual, effectual intercessor!

    All God's saints are praying people

    The dominant theme of John's vision in this passage is Christ our Intercessor; but he also speaks of ‘the prayers of the saints.’ Prayers are the spiritual sacrifices which God's saints offer up to him (Heb. 13:15) and are accepted by him through the blood of Christ (1 Peter 2:5). We offer many things to our God as we seek to serve him, but the essence of all is prayer. If we offer not the prayer of faith, we offer nothing! Christ our High Priest takes our prayers into his hands, perfumes them with the incense of his blood and righteousness, and offers them up to God our Father. John describes God's people as quote; ‘saints.’ All of them are saints. They are saints now and forever. They are made saints by the work of God alone. All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are saints, holy and sanctified, by virtue of their union with Christ. Our sanctification is threefold:

    1. We were sanctified, set apart as God's, for holy purposes in eternal election by God the Father (Jude 1).

    2. We were sanctified, declared to be holy, by God the Son in redemption (Heb. 10:10-14). And

    3. We have been sanctified, given a holy nature, by God the Holy Spirit in regeneration (2 Thess. 2:13-14; 2 Peter 1:4).

    All who are saints, sanctified by grace, are people of prayer. ‘Every one that is godly,’ David said, shall ‘pray unto (the Lord)’ (Ps. 32:6). John's description of God's saints and their prayers in the hands of Christ is very suggestive. First, prayer brings all the saints of God into communion with one another. All the prayers of all the saints are put into one golden censor. All the truest desires of all believers are the same (Matt. 6:9-13). Second, our Lord graciously receives and accepts all the prayers of his saints. Even our groans and sighs are sweet to the ears of our heavenly Father through the mediation of Christ.

    Our gifts, prayers, worship, and service to God are accepted by him because of Christ's intercession

    It is Christ who offers up ‘the prayers of the saints.’ And it is Christ by whose merit we are accepted (1 Peter 2:5). Our text indicates three things that make our prayers acceptable to God:

    1. They are offered by a fit person, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1-2),

    2. In a fit place, standing before the altar with the merits of his sacrifice (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:12; 10:10-14), and

    3. In a fit manner, ‘with much incense.’

    Our great Advocate and High Priest graciously mixes the perfume of his sacrifice with our prayers and wisely corrects our petitions. We do not know what to pray for as we ought. So our Savior makes up for our ignorance (Rom. 8:26-28).