We're going to read from Exodus
chapter 30 and verse 1. So the Lord is speaking
to Moses and he says, And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense
upon. Of shittum wood shalt thou make
it. A cubit shall be the length thereof,
and a cubit the breadth thereof. four square shall it be and two
cubits shall be the height thereof the horns thereof shall be of
the same 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 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. And thou shalt
make the staves of shittonwood, and overlay them with gold. And
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. And Aaron shall burn thereon
sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the lamps, he
shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps
at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense
before the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no
strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering,
neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And then go to verse
34, towards the end of the chapter, and we read there, And the Lord
said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte and onycha
and galbanum, these sweet spices with pure frankincense, of each
shall there be a like weight. And thou shalt make it a perfume,
a confection, after the art of the apocryphe, tempered together,
pure and holy. And thou shalt beat some of it
very small, and put it before the testimony in the tabernacle
of the congregation, where I will meet with thee. It shall be unto
you most holy. And as for the perfume which
thou shalt make, 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, shall even be cut off from his people. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. There was an altar of brass for
sacrifice. There was a laver of brass for
cleansing, a golden candlestick for light, and a table of showbread
on which were placed each week twelve loaves of bread, signifying
Christ's constant protection and provision of his people. These were some of the pieces
of furniture, or what are called instruments, that the Lord designated
and told Moses about for the tabernacle and the tabernacle
precincts. But there was another altar as
well as the brass altar. And this altar wasn't made of
brass, but it was made of wood and it was made of gold. And
this is the altar of incense, where a specific and exclusive
sweet-smelling fragrance was burned twice daily, morning and
night, to fill the tabernacle tent with perfume and scent. So this was not an altar for
animal sacrifices. Animal sacrifice was forbidden,
actually, upon it. The sacrifice for sin was conducted
outside the tabernacle, the actual tabernacle, within the curtains
and the confines of the tabernacle area but outside of the tent
where the presence of the Lord dwelt and so animal sacrifice
was conducted at the brass altar outside and that was a sacrifice
for sin. Entering through the tabernacle
door was a picture of bringing worship into God's presence and
only those who are fit to approach God, having had their sins forgiven,
can properly worship God. And so there was a stage, there
was a process to this picture and while there was an altar
outside for the forgiveness of sin, as we come into the altar
we find, or we come into the tabernacle, we find this altar
of incense and this is where the worship of the Lord takes
place. And here we find is a place for
prayers and a place for praise. Furthermore, when men and women
and boys and girls worship, we can only worship in spirit and
in truth. We worship by faith in the blood
and in the righteousness of Jesus Christ because he is the one
and only true sacrifice for sin. So that all other worship, in
all other places, in all other ways which do not recognise the
uniqueness and the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
way of approach to God are called false worship and are opposed
to God. All other worship is false worship
and an offence to God. We'll see more about that in
a moment. Now this piece of furniture, this altar of incense, it wasn't
a large piece of furniture. It was shaped like a tall box. It was 18 inches on the top.
and it was three foot high or around half a metre square on
the top and almost a metre in height. So it was like the table
of showbread in a sense that it was made of chitin wood and
it was covered in gold. And it also, like the table,
had a gold crown around the top. It had four horns that were made
upon it, one in each corner. They were also made of chitin
wood and covered in gold. And it had rings and staves or
long pieces of wood for carrying it. that were made like the other
parts. So this altar of incense was
one in the same as the other pieces of furniture in the tabernacle
and it had an express purpose. It was to offer a sweet smelling
incense to the Lord and it was a picture of the Lord Jesus and
it was a picture of true worship. So we can draw a few immediate
lessons from this instrument. Like the table and the materials
that were used in the other pieces of furniture, this speaks of
Christ's two natures. The shittum wood points to Christ's
humanity, And the pure gold speaks of his divinity. The Lord Jesus
Christ had two natures. We just have a human nature until
God gives us a new nature. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
born with two natures, his human nature and his divine nature. And they came together in the
one person of Jesus Christ. And this is the picture of the
altar of incense and the two materials that are combined to
make it. The wood speaking of his humanity
of the earth and the gold speaking of his divinity and his purity
from heaven. The rings and the staves and
the carrying of that altar from place to place as the people
travelled shows that Christ is always with his people. Sometimes
you might hear people saying that wherever they go, they take
the Lord with them. And that's true in a sense. Although
I like to think that wherever we go, that the Lord is there
before us in order to protect us and prepare the way for us. Because one of the things that
the Lord tells his people is that he never leaves us nor forsakes
us. And that's the picture of these
rings and the staves on all of the pieces of furniture in the
tabernacle, that they were easily movable, they could be picked
up, they could be carried and it shows that there was a consistent
presence of the Lord with his people. Now the crown that surrounded
the top, the four square top of the altar of incense of the
Saviour's glory, and perhaps it might direct us also to think
about his exalted glory, his exalted presence in heaven. And I think when we come to think
about this altar of incense, it's the principal lesson that
we have to discover. John tells us that we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And that
is speaking about a role, a work that the Lord Jesus Christ does
for us now in heaven. So the Lord completed his work
on earth when he went to the cross and when he went to his
tomb and when he rose again and then he ascended into heaven.
But his work does not stop because we're told that the Lord Jesus
Christ intercedeth for us. There is an intercession which
goes on, an advocacy on the part of the Lord for his people. And
the incense that was on this altar is very important and significant
in this matter. It speaks of Christ's prayers
and intercession for us in heaven. So that twice daily there was
to be a burning of this sweet incense. I'm sure it had some
value because it would make the tent smell nice. There were a
lot of animals outside. There was a lot of smoke burning. It was probably a pretty smelly
place, but the incense inside the tent made it smell delightful. And this sweet scent within must
have been something to experience and to sense. But I wonder if
you remember the word that we've used quite often called typical. Typical in the Bible points us
to something more important. So here's an altar for the offering
of incense. The incense was to be burned
twice daily on the altar. and yet it is typical of something
more important and that is the intercession of the Lord. The burning coals upon which
the incense is burned point to the sufferings of the Lord. They
were painful for his body and he endured the wrath of God against
our sin in his soul. But we learn that that incense
had to be made from a very specific recipe. It was to be manufactured
and produced as a blend of rare and expensive oils and spices. It had a very distinct perfume
that would be acceptable to God. And this shows us that no other
worship is acceptable to God but what he requires and what
is offered by Christ and through Christ. And we find that this
perfume was to be used for nothing else. It was dedicated to God's
worship and the people were warned on pain of death not to use it
for anything else. Now the lesson for us I think
today seems to be quite clear and it points us to three amazing
New Testament words that describe the work of our Saviour for us
still and work which he continues presently to do in heaven for
us. And those three words, those
three works, those three tasks that the Lord Jesus Christ is
fulfilling is, or are, advocating, mediating, and interceding. Advocating, mediating, interceding. Now these might seem tough words
for a young people's address but actually we all know exactly
what they mean and in truth none of us are slow to make use of
them in other areas of our life. Last week I had two of my grandchildren
here at the house for a sleepover. And they came and they stayed
at our house one night last week. And when we were talking about
that happening, when it was being considered, the little girl one
said to my wife, can you ask mummy if I can come for a sleepover? Now why did she ask my wife to
make that request of her mother? Because she thought that if she
asked the question herself, the answer might be no. But grandmothers
have a way with words. And if Nana asked, then the answer
would probably be yes. She wanted an advocate to ask
for her. And that's what the Lord does
for us. He speaks to God on our behalf. That's what an advocate is. And
the Lord Jesus Christ is always successful in obtaining what
he asks for. The Lord Jesus Christ mediates
or acts as a go-between. He goes between God the Father
in His holiness and us in our sinfulness. So that when Satan
accuses us and the law of God, the holy law of God, condemns
us and says, well, they've broken the law. They don't deserve your
goodness. They don't deserve your mercy.
They don't deserve forgiveness. The Lord Jesus Christ says to
his father, as it were, yes, they are sinners and they don't
deserve mercy, but my blood cleanses them from all sin. Therefore,
there is no condemnation for them. There is no judgment outstanding. there is no punishment due to
them because I have paid it all. And the incense on the altar
of incense points to this great work of Christ's intercession
on our behalf. Him going and mediating and advocating
for us with God. Paul writes in Romans chapter
8, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. And in Hebrews 7, wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
in heaven today making intercession for his people. And the Old Testament
Jews and the children of Israel were given a glimpse of that
work. in the altar of incense. When we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. When we feel guilty, we remember
that Christ died for our sins. We remember He is presently interceding
for our sins, that He goes to God on our behalf, as our advocate,
as our go-between, and He intercedes for us. He offers up the sweet
smelling incense, the acceptable perfume of his sacrifice for
sin. Is he successful when he does
that? Yes, yes, yes and yes. That's what the four horns on
the corners of the altar tell us. Horns in the Bible speak
of power. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
goes to his father because his father is well pleased with the
offering of his son on the cross, Christ has power with his father
to obtain all that he asks for. Just like Nana. And here's the
last point. That perfume that is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ's intercession for us was unique and it was
uniquely dedicated to God's worship. Christ is the only way of peace. He is the only way of approaching
God and it is only as we trust in him by faith that we find
life and forgiveness and salvation from God. One of the old hymn
writers, a lady called Mrs Alexander, Cecil Alexander, she wrote this,
there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only
could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. May the Lord bless
these truths to our hearts.