I hope you will take the time
to look carefully again at this scale model of the tabernacle.
The tabernacle in the wilderness was designed of God to be a type
of our Lord Jesus Christ, a type of the full accomplishment of
redemption by his blood, all of its ceremonies and sacrifices
and furnishings, All of the parts of the tabernacle, the priesthood,
all the ceremonies connected with it were types of the person
and work of our Savior. And also, they were symbols of
that which is the true worship of God, telling us how it is
by picture, by a vivid symbol, how it is that sinners can and
must come to God. If you take a good look at the
tabernacle and the furnishings here, You will notice as you
come through the gate in the tabernacle, there are things
set in a direct line from the time you come into the gate in
the front of the tabernacle into the outer court to the time that
you reach the holy of holies on the top of the mercy seat
where the shekinah glory of God is represented. There's just
a straight line. You first meet with an altar
of sacrifice, that great brazen altar, Christ, our altar represented
in him. We have an altar where they have
no right to eat, which serve at earthly tables and earthly
altars. Christ is our altar. He's represented
in that great brazen altar of sacrifice as you come into the
tabernacle. And then you go straight on back
and you come to this laver of brass where men are washed before
they go into the holy place to serve God. As you go into the
holy place through the gate, or through the opening into the
holy place, on either side you have the table of showbread and
the golden candlestick, but straight back through there is the altar
of incense, right up against the veil before you go into the
Holy of Holies. And straight beyond that is the
Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat where Aaron went once every
year with the blood of the paschal lamb and sprinkled the mercy
seat by which atonement was finally accomplished in the application
of the blood at the very throne of God symbolically represented
in that mercy seat. The sacrifice was done outside. The sacrifice was made as you
come first to the tabernacle. Atonement rendered then. but
not finished until at last Aaron comes representatively, representing
all the children of Israel with that blood just as our Lord Jesus
by the merit of his blood entered in once into the holy place and
obtained eternal redemption for us. Aaron, representing God's
elect, representing God's Israel, went into the holy of holies
with the blood that was shed out yonder outside. on the day
of atonement and sprinkles the mercy seat and covers the broken
law of God and their redemptions accomplished when at last the
Lord Jesus presents us faultless before the presence of his glory
in the holy presence of God with exceeding joy then redemption
finally and fully shall be accomplished as we forever dwell with him
in his glory Now let's look at Exodus chapter 30. I want to
talk to you tonight about the other altar. The first altar
we saw in Exodus 27 is this great brazen altar where sacrifice
was made. But this other altar is described
here in Exodus chapter 30. Because one altar is not sufficient. Any more than one type is sufficient
to sufficiently and adequately portray our Redeemer and the
accomplishment of redemption by Him. And so we have this other
altar used also to speak of our gaining access to God by this
altar of incense. Let's begin reading in verse
1. Exodus 30 verse 1. And thou shalt make an altar
to burn incense upon, of shittum wood shalt thou make it. And
a cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof.
Four square shall it be, and two cubits shall be in 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 and by the two
corners thereof upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it
and they shall be for the places for the staves to bear it with
all. Verse 5 And thou shalt make the
staves of shit and wood, 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, which 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. Sweet incense. Perpetual incense. Verse 9. You shall offer no strange incense. And lest I forget when I get
to it. No strange incense. No incense
that you make. No incense that you prepare.
No incense that you mix by your own recipe. just this sweet perpetual
incense that we're going to read about in just a minute that God
orders. Read on. No strange incense thereon, nor
burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering, neither shall ye pour drink offering
thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement
upon the horns of it, atonement upon the horns of this altar
of incense once every year, once in a year, with the blood of
the sin offering of atonements. Once in the year shall he make
atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most
holy unto the Lord. Then in verses 11 through 16,
we're given instructions about the numbering of the children
of Israel. When they were numbered, there was to be an atonement
money paid by each one. Atonement money, the same for
the rich as for the poor, the same for the old as for the young.
Atonement money for every male numbered in the children of Israel,
so that the plague come not nigh them. You remember what happened
when David numbered the children of Israel, and there was no atonement
money taken, and the plague fell among them. This atonement money
was that which was used for the service of the tabernacle. Verses
17 through 21, the Lord gives us a description as he gives
Moses instructions on how to make the labor of brass in which
the priests were to wash their hands and feet before they went
in to do service in the holy place. And then in verses 22
through 33, he speaks of the holy anointing oil by which Aaron
and his sons were to be anointed for the work of the priesthood.
Now, pick up your reading in verse 34. Here he speaks of that
incense. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and unica, and galbanum,
these sweet spices with pure frankincense. Of each shall there
be a like weight. That is, take equal parts of
these three sweet spices, and thou shalt make it a perfume,
a confection, after the art of the apothecary, tempered together,
pure and holy. And thou shalt beat some of it
very small, beat it to powder, and put it before the testimony
of 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. That is, don't make anything
to represent this to yourselves. Don't make anything like this
sweet incense, this sweet perfume that's to be burned before the
Lord. Don't make anything like this for personal use. it shall
be unto thee holy unto the Lord verse 38 whosoever shall make
like unto that something like this but not this to smell thereto
something like this by which he would seek to perfume himself
and come to God shall even be cut off from his people in the
days of the tabernacle the sinner coming to God must first be redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the
sacrifice he brought to God, a sacrifice slain at the altar
of brass, which God Almighty ordained, and a sacrifice who
was consumed upon that altar in the fire that represented
the fire of God's holy wrath and his justice. But the sinner
must also be typically regenerated. washed, sanctified as the priest
washed himself in the labor. So we are sanctified by God,
the Holy Spirit, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Spirit. And the redeemed regenerate center
must be typically represented in the court of God. represented
by God's priest, represented in the holy place with the sacrifice
that God requires, all of these things pointing us to Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer, and our acceptance with God by Him. Now let's look
at this golden altar as it is given to us in Exodus chapter
30. And I want to call your attention to seven or eight things that
I find very helpful, instructive, and delightful. First in verse
1, we see the purpose of this altar is to burn incense upon. Never confound the altar of incense
with the altar of the burnt offering. No sacrifices here made. No sacrifice
for the putting away of sin. No sacrifice to appease God's
wrath. No sacrifice to win God's favor. No sacrifice to make one acceptable
to God. That was done outside, out at
the altar, the brazen altar of sacrifice. Here's nothing but
incense, just sweet fragrance, sweet fragrance. A sweet burning
incense, a powdery substance mixed together, ground to fine
powder and sprinkled on fire, fetched from the altar, fetched
from the brazen altar where the sacrifice was burned. The incense
of this blood sprinkled altar speaks of the efficacious merit
of Christ's sin atoning blood by which we draw near to God
continually and have access to God and acceptance with God all
the time. It is that sweet incense that
God Almighty smells and looks upon the sacrifice of his son
as a sweet smelling savor. And by that same sweet incense,
looks upon everything, every aspect of our worship of God.
And please understand me when I speak of our worship of God.
We have this set time of public worship. We have our private
worship. We come to God in acts of worship. But we too often think of worship
as being those things that are somehow divided from the rest
of our lives. No, we eat and drink to God's
glory. We live for God's glory. You
get up and go to work and you work for God's glory if you're
his servant. You, ladies, keep your house
for God's glory if you're his. The totality of the believer's
life is a life of worship. A life of worship. I am absolutely convinced that
one of the greatest lessons God taught me, and it took me a while
to get to lesson, was that I was serving him just as faithfully
when I was loading freight at McLean Trucking Company in Western
Salem as I am right now preaching the gospel. I was just as much
his servant. I was just as much his servant
when I was selling shoes to support my family as I'm his servant
now when I spend my life studying the word and preaching the gospel.
In other words, I don't have to be a preacher to serve God. And Lindsay, I don't serve Him
one bit more faithfully as a preacher. We're His servants. And God Almighty
accepts the totality of our life worship in Jesus Christ the Lord
by the merits of His blood as a sweet-smelling savor. Everything
we bring him, everything we bring him burned with the fire of that
sacrifice of Christ Jesus, the Lord is accepted of God as he
accepts Christ himself. Thus, Paul tells us to draw near
by the blood through this new and living way with the full
assurance of faith. Christ is our constant, all prevailing
advocate on high. And the power of his advocacy
is not his closeness to the father or his closeness to you and me.
We will often preach and we'll say it's good to have a friend
in court. That's not much of a court system. A friend in court kind of implies
we're going to have a friend who tips the scales a little
bit in our direction. A friend in court kind of implies
that he's going to fix things for us whether it's right or
whether it's wrong. No, the power of our Lord's advocacy is the
sacrifice he pleads It is the merit the efficacy of his blood
atonement so that he by right Demands the acceptance of all
his people it's through his name His precious name that we are
made to make our requests known unto God if you ask anything
in my name He said I'll do it His name is as ointment poured
forth, we read in the Song of Solomon. And by him, our works
and our prayers and our praises, our sacrifices offered to God
are accepted. Now look at the materials of
this altar. In verse one, we read that it's made of an incorruptible
wood, shidom wood, like the other altar. But this one is overlaid
with gold, we're told in verse three. That other altar, that
brazen altar of sacrifice was overlaid with brass. If I had been writing this, if
I had been giving the instructions, and I was going to make one of
them of brass and one of them of gold, I'd have made the other
one of gold. Wouldn't you? I'd have made the
other one of gold. But you see, it's intended to
give a specific instruction. This other altar spoke of our
Lord's glorious humanity and his perfect deity. And this altar
speaks of our Lord's glorious humanity and his perfect deity. But that one on the outside where
the sacrifice was made, where the sacrifice was laid out and
consumed exactly according to God's order, that one's shit
and wood overlaid with brass. Here, is a sacrifice where incense
is offered. Incense is prayer, intercessions. Read it in Revelation chapter
eight, we will in just a little bit. It speaks of intercession. Surely,
surely the place of sacrifice is more important than the place
of intercession. Indeed, you would think so. But the intercession, takes place
in heaven and the sacrifice on the earth. And so the gold here
speaks about Lord's humanity wrapped in his deity, in his
glorious exaltation, so that the altar of incense is made
preeminent. As a matter of fact, if you look
carefully, you'll see that this altar of incense is just a little
bit larger, a little taller than the other furnishings in the
tabernacle. A little taller, it's a cubit higher. made taller
because God has exalted his crucified son and given him a name above
every name and put all things in subjection beneath his feet
and made him higher than all and above all the head of all
things to his church. Our Lord Jesus is that man seated
in glory who is God. Brother Herman Moore, you've
heard me mention it a number of times, preached one time at
Ashland Conference years ago. Brother Herman's been with the
Lord a long time. He preached a sermon, the only one I ever
heard him preach, called There's a Man in Glory. And oh, what
a delight. What a delight. One man in glory
opens the door for a multitude of men. One man in glory implies
another may be welcome. One man in glory gives hope to
men that we may also be accepted in glory. A man there is, a real
man seated on the throne of God, that man who bled and died in
our stead, Jesus Christ the Lord is seated in heaven and he is
that golden, golden clad altar of incense by which we are accepted
of God. This altar of incense is spoken
of here, but if you look at it in the book of Ezekiel chapter
41, you can look at it later, Ezekiel has a vision. He has
a vision of this gospel age, this place where Jehovah Shammah
is, this gospel age that consummates in everlasting glory. And the
vision Ezekiel has of this same altar of incense is much larger
than the vision that we have or the direction we have given
in Exodus chapter 30 of how it's to be built. Why do you suppose? Why do you suppose Ezekiel sees
a vision of an altar of incense much larger than that which Moses
built in the original tabernacle? Because Ezekiel is speaking of
this gospel age in which everything exceeds the law. Everything exceeds
those things that were just shadows of good things to come. Now,
look at this position, verse 6, Exodus chapter 30, verse 6.
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." This altar of incense
stood within the door of the tabernacle. It seems to be at
the very center point of everything. the very center point, a straight
line from the going into the tabernacle's gate at the altar
of sacrifice right back to the holy of holies into the most
holy place on the mercy seat. The altar of incense is standing
right there in the midst. These vessels standing in one
straight line seem to indicate that provision is made for our
approaching to God by all these things. And that's exactly the
teaching of scripture. No part of our Lord's work, no
part of his sacrifice can be in any way esteemed by us or
should be in any way esteemed by us as greater or lesser than
the other. His incarnation is just as important
as his glory. His work of obedience while he
was a boy just as important as his work of obedience when he's
dying on the tree. His righteousness established
just as important as his righteousness finished by the sacrifice of
himself. His death every bit as important as his resurrection.
His resurrection every bit as important as his death. His session
at the right hand of God, just as important as His incarnation.
His incarnation, just as important as His exaltation. Every aspect
of the Lord's work is absolutely vital. So when we come to look
at the person and work of our Redeemer, we ought to adore Him. And we ought to look upon everything
connected with Him as majestic, wondrous, glorious, of infinite
worth and value. Look in Revelation chapter 8.
You'll see this thing fulfilled, which is represented in this
altar of incense. Revelation chapter 4. The altar
of incense speaks of Christ, our great high priest, our advocate,
the angel of the Lord, who is before the throne of grace, making
intercession for us continually. Verse 3, Revelation 8. Another
angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto him,
oh, I believe if I should underscore that three or four times, much
incense. Much incense. Incense sufficient
to meet our every need. incense matching his worth, incense
matching his value, incense matching his merit, much incense for this
purpose that he should offer it with all the prayers or with
the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before
the throne. As Aaron came and brought that
mixture, that sweet incense that was ground to powder, beaten
small. And he brought fire from the
altar of sacrifice and put it there on the golden altar, which
is before the mercy seat, which is before the throne of God,
and sprinkled this incense on the fire on the altar. And the
smell went up. Oh, the smell filled the place. So Jesus Christ with much incense
offers with our prayers upon the golden altar before the throne
that which we bring to God. Oh, my soul, imagine that. Sweet incense, perpetual incense. Incense burned every morning
and every evening. And the smoke of the incense,
which came up with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before
God, now watch this, out of the angel's hand. Now, for those poor deluded souls,
who can sit down and watch some old man in a Masonic orders costume
in Italy take his little censer and wave it around like he is
a priest offering incense, giving people acceptance with God. Oh,
what barbaric, cruel blasphemy. And what sad, sad delusion. Oh, no. We need no earthly priest
to give us acceptance with God. We have no earthly priest. If
you do, you can't have this priest. We have Him whose hands are pierced,
who takes us in our prayers and lifts us up continually to
God on His throne. And God Almighty says, Oh, I
like that. Oh, I like that. a sweet-smelling
savor unto God. Back in Exodus 30, the Lord Jesus,
our great high priest, prays for us, but he takes our prayers
and presents them like incense before the Father's throne. He
takes our prayers and presents them to God in the fragrance
of his high priestly character on the basis of his perfect sacrifice. And we come to God by his blood. Now, look at the height. I mentioned this a moment ago.
This golden altar of incense was two cubits high. That little
bit of information tells us that it was a half cubit higher than
the other pieces of furniture in the tabernacle. Why? Because God has highly exalted
his son on the basis of his finished work of sacrifice as our substitute. Christ Jesus, with his precious
blood, exceeds everything else. He saves his people according
to his own high estimate of the worth of his darling son. God Almighty saves his people
according to his own high estimate of the worth of his son. Brother Don, does that mean that
God makes us to be in his son? worth his son. He sacrificed
his son for us. Oh yes, he accepts us as he does
his son. He can and will bless us according
to his own high estimate of the work of Christ's atoning blood. so that we are in him made meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, so that
God Almighty blesses us with all the glory he's given to his
son for his obedience, that glory the son's given to us. And then
the altar of incense, we're told in verses four and five, had
these two staves or poles by which it was to be carried And
these two poles were never to be taken off of it. They were
never to be removed. You'd think when they set it
up, they'll slide the poles out. The poles were left right there
all the time. They were always present with the altar. And the
altar was thus always ready for the march. Ready to move with
the children of Israel when God commanded them to move. So the
intercessions of Christ are ours in every place and in every circumstance. And they're ours continually.
He says, Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world.
Always ready. Always near. What a privilege. What a blessing. And these days
are the means by which God's altar was carried, reminding
us that it is ours to carry the gospel, to publish the good news
everywhere we can according to God's order for the saving of
God's people. And then sixth, at each corner,
just as on the altar outside the gate, at the entering of
the gate, at each corner was a horn. Horns are used in scripture
to represent two things, power and plenty. One of the first
things I was surprised to learn as a little boy was the significance
of a horn of copia and I haven't forgotten it. I see that horn
full and bursting with fruit. That's as beautiful as the sound
of any trumpet. The horn is powerful and the
horn is fruitful, it's abundant. Our Lord Jesus Christ has these
four horns. on the altar. Power represented
them. Fruit and bounty represented
them. This cornucopia in the hordes. Plenty of things here flowing
from the power of our Redeemer. So it is with the gospel reaching
into the four corners of the earth. Everywhere God has his
elect. Everywhere he sends the sound
of the gospel and from everywhere he gathers them. and then these
horns on this altar of incense were touched with blood once a year. Touched with blood
once a year. So that once a year the people
of Israel were reminded by the ceremony that All their sacrifices
brought to God, all their prayers, all their services, all their
intercessions for others, and all the intercessions made by
the priest for them were accepted of God on the basis of the blood. You see, the wounds of Christ
never fail. The wounds of Christ are always
effectual, as put on these horns of power. And the wounds of Christ
are always exactly according to that which is the accomplishment
of our Redeemer. The altar was four square. So
is the shape of the brazen altar, four square. telling us that
our salvation is fixed on Him who is the solid rock, Christ
Jesus the Lord. And then on top of it is a crown. A crown of gold. A crown of gold representing
the royal diadem of Christ our King. the sacrifice representing
Christ in his priestly office, the intercessions made by our
high priest. But the incense and the fire,
the coals burning on the altar of incense are held in this golden
crown, a golden crown on the top of the altar, which keeps
any of the incense from falling off the altar when the ones who
were responsible to carry it carry it with the staves, and
they're going through the wilderness, and they come to a rough place.
They're responsible for this altar, and they're responsible
for the coals on this altar. They're responsible for everything
about it, and they're carrying it as God's priest through this
rough and desolate wilderness. But as they carry it, there's
no chance that any of the fire is going to fall off. because
it's kept secure in the crown on the top of the altar. It is
Christ, our king, who gives stability to everything. He who is our
savior, the king of glory, rules and reigns everywhere and secures
everything by virtue and the merit of his power. This altar
of incense carries with security what assurance. Our priest is
the king. And though we, like Peter, stumble
and fall, the coals of his intercession never fail. We fail, but his
merits always amend for our failures. And the next time You read the
17th chapter of John's Gospel and hear our Lord with his high
priestly prayer pleading things as our representative before
God. Remember this altar of incense and remember that he who makes
the plea on our behalf as our priest is the king of glory.
One other thing. Look at the incense. Verses 7,
8, 9. Aaron shall burn their own 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 burn sacrifice, nor meat offering, neither shall
you pour drink offering thereon, Verse 34, and the Lord said unto
Moses, take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and oneka, 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 apothecary, 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, and it shall be unto you most
holy." Here's something very important.
The fire I've told you repeatedly was taken from the altar of sacrifice
by which the incense was burned. Our Lord's sacrificial work at
Calvary and his priestly work in glory are exactly the same. Our Lord Jesus said in John 17,
I pray not for the world because he didn't die to save the world.
He died for his elect. He made atonement for his elect.
He put away the sins of his elect and he prays for his elect. He
offers intercession for his elect that they might live before God
and live they shall because he has died for us. The incense
that is offered. Nobody has any idea what these
sweet spices were. I've tried my best to find out.
I even asked my wife last night before she went to sleep and
she didn't have a clue what they were. Nobody has any idea what
these sweet spices were. No commentator even, well, Dr.
Gill had some suggestions, but they were just suggestions. I
don't have a clue what they were, but I know what they represented.
And that's what's important. They were required by God to
be of equal measure. Three spices, all the same measure,
to make up one sweet incense before God. They represent the
merit of our Lord's righteousness, his obedience to God as a man,
the efficacy of his blood, his death as our substitute, and
the prevalence of his advocacy, his resurrection as our great
savior. Incense, of course, symbolizing
prayer, speaks of Christ offering up prayer on behalf of his people.
Aaron offered up the incense exclusively for Israel. He offered
incense exclusively for those for whom the sacrifice was made.
And so it is with our Savior. He offers His prayers, His intercessions
exclusively for God's elect. Exclusively for those for whom
He's made atonement. The fire, the fire of the sacrifice
must continually feed on the sacrifice. And it is our Lord's
sacrifice of which we read in the scriptures, the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's son, has cleansed us. That's not what
it says, is it? Cleanseth us. Oh, he made one
sacrifice and by one sacrifice put away our sins. So there's
never a need for another sacrifice. But the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, continually feeding upon the sacrifice itself, cleanseth
us from all sin. The intercessory work of our
Savior is effectual, for He pleads for us on the merit of His blood. And now, God not only hears His
prayers for us, but He takes our prayers and our praises and
our performances and our persons and accepts us in His Son because
of His Son. Would you mind reading Ecclesiastes
9, 7 one more time? That's the meaning of the other
altar. Go thy way eat thy bread with
joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works."
How about that? A sweet, sweet fragrance, a sweet and you dare not offer God any
other incense. No other mixture, just Christ,
all Christ, Christ crucified, Christ our Redeemer. I'll quit. Let's sing Depth and Mercy.