When we hear of the altar, we
have an altar, we're reminded of these truths. Number one, man is guilty and
his guilt deserves death. And the problem with man, all
of us, is sin. Sin is our problem. Number two, we are reminded that
God is just and will in no wise clear the guilty. That means He will not cleanse. He will not make clean. And he
will not hold guiltless. There's one thing that he's going
to do to the guilty. He's going to judge him. He's going to kill him. A holy
God must punish sin. But when we read of the altar,
we know that God thirdly is a God of mercy and love. And this is the foundation of
the altar. The miracle of God's grace is
that Almighty God will be appeased according to His everlasting
covenant, according to His good pleasure, There is redemption
and salvation and forgiveness, but only through the altar. And we have an altar. The altar was the place where
God's appointed priest, offering God's appointed sacrifice, worshiped
God in God's appointed way. Abraham told the fellows that
was with him when he was going to take Isaac, remember, up on
Mount Moriah, God had told Abraham, I want you to take your son,
your only son, and you take him on this mountain and you sacrifice
him to me for a burnt sacrifice. I remind you that the burnt sacrifice
was the sacrifice that was given that was only for the Lord. The
priest had no part in it. He couldn't eat part of it. He
could eat part of certain offerings. But not the burnt offering. That
was for the Lord only. And it set forth God's satisfaction
in the absolute obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was
for God. It was a sweet, savor offering. A burnt offering. And he said,
I want you to take Isaac and go up there and you offer him
to me for a burnt offering. Going up that hill, Isaac said,
here's the fire and here's the wood. Where's the lamb? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself. a lamb. But Abraham had told
those fellows, he said, Lad and I are going to go up on the hill.
We're going to go up yonder, he said, and we're going to worship
God. Pagan rituals showed that man
has got a conscience because paganism would have an altar. They would sacrifice These sacrifices
on their altars trying to appease their gods, but Proverbs 15,
8 said the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.
Want to know why? Because Christ is not honored.
If Christ be not honored, God doesn't accept it. Thanks be
unto Him, we have an altar. Well, in the Old Testament, there
were two altars that were revealed. There was the brazen altar. That was the altar upon which
the sacrifice was made in the appeasement of Almighty God,
setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, the
brazen altar. The second altar was called the
golden altar or the altar of incense. And that altar was the
altar whereby the fire of the coals from the brazen altar,
where the burn offering was made, fire from that altar was taken
and placed on the golden altar and then incense was sprinkled
and the smoke would come up. would accept that offering. That altar of incense set forth
the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. His prayer based
upon His merit of obedience and substitution and atonement from
the brazen altar. This was the mistake. The gross
error. that Nadab and Abihu, these were
sons of Aaron. These boys were priests. And
they tried to approach God. And the Scripture says they offered
strange fire. It doesn't say where they got
it, but it didn't come from the blazing altar. And they tried
to approach God outside of God's command, God's demand that that
fire comes from that altar. at Brazen Altar. And when they
tried to approach God, and they tried to approach God on their
thoughts, on their wishes, on their will, on their merit, God
killed them. And God told Moses, He said,
you tell Aaron, don't you open your mouth. But God killed him. I want you to mark your spot
right here. I want you to turn with me to
Numbers chapter 16. I want to read something. I'm going to read this 16th chapter.
It's got 50 verses in it. At first I was going to pick
and choose a few verses here and a few verses there. I said
no. I'm going to read the whole chapter.
Numbers chapter 16, and I want to show you the importance, the
need of the altar of incense, the altar of intercession, the
altar of His intercession, His prayer. Numbers 16, now the Scripture
says, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and
Dathan, and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and on the son of Pelath,
sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses
with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the
assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. And they gathered
themselves together against Moses, against Aaron, and said unto
them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are
holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore
then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord."
Now realize who is talking here. This is Korah. and Dathan and
Abiram, these leaders of the princes. And they came to Moses
and they said to Moses, who do you think you are? You're lifting yourself up above
the congregation. Everybody in this congregation
is holy. Verse 4, and when Moses heard it, He fell upon his face,
and he spake unto Korah, and unto all his company, saying,
Even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy,
and will cause him to come near unto him. Even him whom he hath
chosen will he cause to come near unto him." Do this. Take
your censors, Korah, and all his company. and put fire therein,
and put incense in them before the Lord to-morrow, and it shall
be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy. Do ye take too much upon you,
ye sons of Levi? And Moses said unto Korah, Here
I pray you, ye sons of Levi, seemeth it but a small thing
unto you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation
of Israel, to bring you near to Himself to do the service
of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation
to minister unto them?" He said to Korah and Nathan and Byron,
he said, Does it seem a small thing because the Lord has separated
you to minister? And the way you've rebelled and
talked, He hath brought thee near to him, and all the brethren,
the sons of Levi, with thee, and seek ye the priesthood also?
For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered
together against the Lord? And what is Aaron, that ye murmur
against him? And Moses sent to call Dathan
and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and which said, We will not come
up. Is it a small thing that thou
hast brought us up out of the land that floweth with milk and
honey to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether
a prince over us?" These two men that were with Korah, they
are still standing against Moses and rebuking him. Tomorrow, no,
no, I'm sorry, moreover, thou hast not brought us up into a
land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance
of fields or vineyards, wilt thou put out the eyes of these
men?" We will not come up. We're not going to obey. And
Moses was very wroth and said unto the Lord, Respect not thou
their offering. I have not taken one ass from
them, neither have I hurt one of them. And Moses said unto
Korah, Be thou in all thy company before the Lord, thou, and they,
and Aaron, tomorrow. and take every man his censer,
and put incense in them, and bring ye before the Lord every
man his censer. 250 censers, thou also, and Aaron,
each of you his censer. And they took every man his censer,
and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and
Aaron. And Korah gathered all the congregation against them,
Under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, the glory
of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation, and the Lord
spake unto Moses under Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from
among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
And they fell upon their faces and said, O God, the God of the
spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth
with all the congregation? And the Lord spake unto Moses
and said, saying, speak unto the congregation, saying, Get
you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram, and the elders
of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation,
saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men,
and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their
sins. So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and
Abiram on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out
and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, their
sons, their little children. And Moses says, You shall know
that the Lord has sent me to do these works, for I have not
done them of mine own hand. If these men die the common death
of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men,
then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing,
and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, and all
that appertain unto them, they go down quickly into the pit,
then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.
And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these
words, that the ground clave asunder and was under them. And the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed them up, their houses, all the men that appertained
unto Korah, all their goods, they and all that appertained
to them, and went down alive into the pit. And the earth closed
upon them. And they perished from among
the congregation. And all Israel that were round
about them fled at the cry of them. And they said, Lest the
earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from
the Lord, and consumed the 250 men that offered incense. And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Eleazar the son of
Aaron, the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning,
and scatter thou the fire yonder, for they are hallowed. The censers
of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them
broad plates for a covering of the altar. For they offered them
before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed, and they shall
be a sign unto the children of Israel. And Eleazar the priest
took the brazen censers wherewith they were burnt, and they made
broad plates for a covering of the altar, to be a memorial unto
the children of Israel, that no stranger which is not of the
seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord, that
he be not as Korah in his company, as the Lord said to him by the
hand of Moses, but on the morrow." Now listen to this. This happened
one day. These people saw God open up
the earth and send Korah, Dathan, Abiram, send them straight to
hell. And it says on the morrow, but
on the morrow. All the congregation of the children
of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You've
killed the people of the Lord. And it came to pass, when the
congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that
they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and behold,
a cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. And Moses
and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation, and the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation,
that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces,
and Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censure, and put fire therein
from off the altar, that is, the brazen altar. and put on
incense and go quickly into the congregation and make an atonement
for them, for there is wrath gone out from the Lord. The plague
is begun.' And Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into
the midst of the congregation, and behold, the plague was begun
among the people. And he put on incense and made
an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead
and the living, and the plague was stayed. Now they that died
in the plague were 14,700 besides them that had died about the
matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the
plague was stayed." My friend, thanks be unto God,
we have an altar. One that will stand before God
and men. One that will answer upon His
own merit. Almighty God in mercy. We talk about having an altar,
an altar of incense, a brazen altar. Oh, that God Almighty
might teach us something. of Christ Jesus, our precious
altar. Now, I want you to take your
Bibles. We're going to read a couple
of passages here, and then I'm going to sum up. Exodus 30. That altar, that incense, that
censer, Moses told Aaron, he said, you
go and you get your censer and you put fire off the altar and
you put some incense on it and you approach the Lord. And he
stood between the living and the dead. The picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want us to take and look
at Exodus chapter 30 verses 1 to 10. Here's the altar. This is
how God commanded Moses to build it. Exodus 30 verse 1, Thou shalt
make an altar. to burn incense upon, of Shittim
woods shalt thou make it." Now that wood is an incorruptible
wood, probably a very hardy cedar is what I can find out. One that
set forth the glory. of the humanity, the preciousness
of the humanity of our precious Savior. A cubit shall be the
length thereof, a cubit the breadth thereof, four squares shall it
be, two cubits shall be the height thereof, the horns thereof shall
be of the same, and thou shalt overlay it with pure gold." The
deity, the divinity. of our precious Savior. Whenever
that priest would come into that tabernacle, what he saw was,
he saw the gold. He saw the golden altar. He saw
the divinity that covered that precious humanity. I shall overlay
it, verse 3, with pure gold, the top thereof, the sides thereof,
round about the horns thereof, horns representing the power.
And I shall make unto it a crown of gold, round about it." It
was a box, 18 inches by 3 feet tall, and it had a crown that
kind of went around it, setting forth the King, the Lord of glory. Two golden rings shalt thou make
to it, unto the crown of it, by the two corners thereof upon
the sides of it shalt thou make it. They shall be places for
the staves to bear therewith. This was an altar that could
be carried. It didn't have to come to the
altar. The altar was with them. When they moved, the altar moved.
The ever-presence of our Lord. Thou shalt make the staves, the
wood, the carrier of shiddom wood and overlay them with gold.
Thou shalt put it before the veil, that is by the ark of the
testimony, before the mercy seat, that is over the testimony where
I will meet with thee on the outside I've told you before,
this tabernacle, it was about, I just stepped it off from the
wall to about this side of this aisle right here, the edge of
the pews, and from this wall to about the last part just in
front of Larry, sitting right there. That was the tabernacle,
two-thirds of it. was the tabernacle of the congregation. All the priests could go into
that portion, but there was a veil about where Glenda or Barbara
Patton sat. There was a veil about that far
back. And right behind that veil was
the mercy seat. The Ark of the Covenant, right
behind that veil, or right in front of that veil, was where
that altar of incense sat. This was the tabernacle right
here. It had an outer wall all the
way across. When you first came in to that
courtyard, open courtyard, just inside the door, when you would
walk into that door, there's where the brazen altar was. You
entered into that outer court, the first thing you had to meet
with was that brazen altar. God Almighty is going to be satisfied. Sin is going to be dealt with.
Penalty for transgression is going to be dealt with. From
that brazen altar, they would take the coals and they would
bring it in into that inner court, the tabernacle of the congregation. Not just everybody, but the congregation
of the priest other than the high priest who could only go
into the Holy of Holies one day out of the year, not without
blood, and sprinkle the blood on that mercy seat. That golden
altar, that altar of incense. Thyself, verse 6, put it before
the veil that is by the ark. There was the golden incense,
there was the veil, and there's the ark right there. It's just
real close. Before the mercy seat that's
over the testimony. I'll meet with you. And Aaron
shall burn there on sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth
the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth
the lamps at evening, when he trimmed them, these lights never
went out. He trimmed them, had trimmed
them, put the oil in them. He shall burn incense upon it.
A perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generation.
He ever liveth to make intercession. You and I, we've got to get some
rest. We've got to go to sleep. We get tired. Not him. he ever liveth, ever awake, to
make intercession for his people. You shall offer no strange incense
thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering, neither shall
thou pour drink on an offering thereon. And Aaron shall make
an atonement upon the horns of of it once in a year with the
blood of the sin offering of atonement, on the day of atonement.
Once in a year, it was going to host the horns on that golden
altar. It had those horns on it, setting
forth the power of Almighty God, the power of His intercession,
and on the day of atonement. One time a year, he'd take the
blood and he'd anoint those horns on that golden altar of incense
right there. Setting forth again the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The merit of that intercession. His blood. His blood. His blood. And it is most holy unto the
Lord. Now, this altar, of incense. Whenever that incense was placed
upon those hot coals, that smoke would rise up. And it set forth
the glorious intercession that was given its merit based upon
His obedient suffering. And God Almighty heard Him based
on His obedience, on His work, on His fulfillment, the work
that had been given Him by the Lord. I finished the work that
Thou hast given me. And as the high priest, our precious
Savior, in His intercession, pleading His own merit, He pleads
for no blessing upon His people which His blood has not actually
purchased. He asks for no pardon for them. On his behalf, that he has not
actually atoned for. He bought it. He bought the right
to ask for their forgiveness. For his sake, he paid the debt. I paid for it. I finished it. And on his own merit, Father,
forgive them for my sake. And God hears him at the intercession. I tell you, remember the high
priestly prayer. We're going through the book of John right
now. Very soon, Lord willing, we'll be in chapter 17. I love
John chapter 17. That's a high priestly prayer
of our Savior. But in John 17, in verse 4, he
says, I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work
that thou gavest me to do. So he does not present one single
petition before His Father that He has not actually earned the
right to have answered. He is our altar. Now that incense that was put
on it back in Exodus, let's read a few verses, Exodus 30 verses
34. to 38. This is the incense. You go back and you see what
happened back in number 16 whenever those men had stood up. They stood up against God, what
they did. They questioned God's authority through God's preacher. And when they did, God killed
them. And when God started killing
them, 17,000 plus Fourteen or seventeen thousand.
And that's when Moses says, go get the censer. Get the fire
off the altar, put the incense on it, go in. And he stood between
the living and the dead. That incense, it was a precious
thing. Exodus 30, verse 34, And the
Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices. Now, I'm going
to tell you something. There's a whole lot I don't know
about this. And most of the commentaries that I read agreed. They said,
we don't know that much about it. But there were some things. I know they were sweet spices,
representative of our Lord and the sweetness, the honor of Him. Sweet spices. Anicca and Galbanum, these sweet
spices with pure frankincense of each, shall there be a light
weight." There is nothing out of proportion with the Lord. And I shall make a perfume, a
confection, after the art of the apothecary, tempered together,
pure and holy. That is, if you look in my margin,
it's got where it says tempered together, salted. Remember, we
looked at that passage here not too long ago in Ezra 7, when
Ezra went to get the supplies, that Artaxerxes said you could
go out of the treasuries and get this. There was so much gold,
and there was so much oil, and there was so much wine, but it
said salt without prescribing how much. There's no limit to
the grace. You take these spices, And you
temper them together. Salt them. Put salt in them.
Pure and holy. That's what else we know about
this incense. It was sweet. It was pure. It
was holy. And I shall beat some of it very
small. Oh, the crushing hand of Almighty
God and His wrath upon the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the merit
of his intercession? He suffered under the penalty
of God's law and bore our guilt and put it away in his own body. And put of it before the testimony
in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee,
and it shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume,
when thou shalt make it, ye shall not make to yourselves according
to the composition thereof. It shall be unto thee holy for
the Lord whosoever shall make like unto that to smell thereto. It shall even be cut off from
his people." What the Lord was telling Moses, You make this
incense. You make it out of these spices.
You make it just exactly, all three portions of it. And you
put it like the art of apothecary. You put it in there and grind
it and grind it and grind it. It's just a fine, fine powder. And that incense right there,
don't you dare try to imitate this. That's what he said in
verse 37. You shall not make to yourselves
according to the composition. It shall be unto thee holy. And
it's for the Lord. You try to share in God's glory. You try to produce that smell
of satisfaction. You try to make something for
yourself and say, I smell like this. I smell like that incense
right there. Whosoever shall make lichen to
that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people."
It was holy, holy incense. So the fire for that altar Holy. It had to come from the brazen
altar. The incense, it had to be made according to God's specifications,
God's Word, God's will, God's way. And he said, I will not
share in my glory with any of you. It's precious. It's holy. Now, as I begin to close and
wind this down, I want us to consider a few of the glorious
particulars of this altar. We know that the smoke that ascended
up represented prayer. Intercession. Psalm 141 in verse
2. It says this, let my prayer be
set before thee as incense. As you smell That sweet incense made with
those sweet spices, ground with that art of apothecary. As it's
placed on those coals, and that smell, that aroma, that's the
aroma that Almighty God will smell in acceptance. It smells
of His Son. And when he smells that, he said,
that's the smell of obedience. That's the smell I smell. That's the smell that I'll accept. Oh, the merit of his prayer. Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for
them." Hebrews 7.25 and Hebrews 9.24. We have a high priest ever
living. Never sleeping. Making intercession
for us. John 17.9 says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine. What an indescribable thought
that He who is the Lord, the God of heaven, praise for His
people. That thought is indescribable. No words can describe it. No
tongue can utter the significance of it. But if Peter could have
only realized the mercy of God when God said to him in Luke
22, 31-32, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan. hath desired to have you, that
he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren." But he was saying Peter was already
a converted man. But he told him, he said, Peter,
when you are brought to the knowledge of the error of your ways, you
will be an encouragement to others. Strengthen the brethren. And
Peter was sifted. He denied the Lord, but the effectual
prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ for Peter was the merit, was
the foundation of Peter's repentance. But there's another beautiful
truth that's set forth by this altar of incense. You know, when
we talk about His intercession for us, that's something that is so high
above us, we believe it by faith and we know it. We know it so,
and we're thankful for it. But in closing, I want to show
you something about this altar of incense that's going to be
a true blessing to you that believe. You know this. Revelation 5-8 bears this out. Revelation 5-8 says, Revelation 5-8, when he had taken
the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down
before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. God's
people Pray. God's people pray. And when you
pray, enter into your closet. A man will sooner not breathe
than a believer not pray. A man will stop breathing and
die before a believer will not pray. God's people pray. They seek the Lord. Let me ask
you this question. What's the merit? What is the
merit that Almighty God would hear your prayer? Why would God
hear you, Mitch, or me? Mark 1. What's the merit of our
prayers being heard? When we call upon the Lord, and
we try to pray, and in our little frail, frail, feeble attempt
to try to pray. And when we're praying that which
is so frail, we might truly ask, Betty, is this prayer at all?
Is this really prayer? Really? Am I praying at all? I've wondered. My mind is just... What I have attempted to do.
What is the merit? Look at Revelation 8, 3-4. Revelation
8, 3-4. The Scripture says, well, I'll read
1-4. And when He had opened the seventh
seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of a half hour.
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them
were given seven trumpets, And another angel came and stood
at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given to
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. Back in verse 3 in the margin,
when it says in the middle of verse 3 that he should offer
it with the prayers of the saints, my margin says to add it to the
prayers. My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the great angel of the covenant who has the golden censer of
his own intercession The Scripture says back in Revelation 8-3,
"...with much incense, takes the prayers of the believer, as frail as they are, and presents
them before God Almighty in the sweet fragrance The holy fragrance, the pure
fragrance of that incense that was described back in Exodus
30. Ground, ground. He takes that
incense of His intercession. He who knows the hearts of His
people. And when they try to pray, when
they try to call upon the Lord, when they in their frailty and
their weakness There's little babbling babies that don't even
know what to say. We don't know what to say. And
He takes their prayers and mingles it with His intercession. And
it's accepted before God Almighty on His merit. And God hears the
prayers of His people. He is engaged right now on behalf
of His redeemed, presenting to the Father in the sweet fragrance
of His own perfection, both the petitions and the request for
forgiveness, the worship of His people. And He mingles it with
His own worth. And almighty God hears us for
his sake and answers for his sake. We have an altar. We have an altar. Lord, bless
these words to our heart for Christ's sake.