The Sweet Incense

“Spices... for sweet incense” (Exod. 25.6). We have seen that spices were used to make the anointing oil, and now we see that they also used to make the incense for burning. Read the instructions for preparing them in Exodus 30.34-38. The anointing oil speaks of service which we should render in the House of God, and the incense speaks of the intercession which ascends from the hearts of believers before God's throne.

In God's Sanctuary the incense burned day and night on the golden altar in the Holy Place. Like the light of the golden candlestick which was never allowed to go out, so the incense burned unceasingly, the whole day and the whole night. The light speaks of the Word of God, and the incense speaks of that intercession and prayer which ascends before God, through the High Priest. All of us have a share in that. “Let. my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Psa. 141.2).

From Revelation 8.2-3 also, we see that incense is a symbol of the prayers of the saints. “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 unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” When we receive the gift of everlasting life, we become God's co-workers and as such we should bring everything to Him in prayer. But why should we pray? Surely, even before we pray, God knows everything. Yes, not only does God know what we want but He also knows our shortcomings and failures. Yet He wants us to pray always! Why is this?

We need to understand how we are co-workers with God. When we begin to talk with Him through our prayers, then He begins to work in other places. That thought is made clearer to us in Revelation 8.5 which immediately follows the verses just quoted: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire off the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”

Here the judgment of God is about to be poured out on the whole earth. Thunderings, lightnings and earthquakes speak of the final judgment of God about to be executed. God does not expect justice or righteousness to triumph upon this earth to-day. To-day wicked people become more prosperous, while those who are living a good life often have to suffer, for, “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3.12). But a day is coming when God is to judge every sin and every sinner. Do not think, O sinner, that your sins are going to be left unjudged; they may be left covered for many centuries, but one day God will judge every sinner (Eccles. 8.11-13). Even though a sinner may sin a thousand times and seem to be left unpunished by God, that does not mean that He is not going to punish him. One day God will punish every sinner.

Yes, there is a Day of Judgment, and in Revelation 8 we see God's angels ready to carry out God's command, ready to pour upon the earth the fire of the wrath of God; and in their hands they are holding the incense—the prayers of the saints—rising day and night before God's throne. So, the prayers of God's children have a share in that final work of God's judgment.

We are God's co-workers; that is why we have to pray. And even though we may never receive an answer to our prayer upon this earth, when we reach heaven we shall know God's answer to every one. No prayer ever goes unanswered. You may think, ‘God has not heard my prayer; God has not listened to me, and does not love me as much as He loves my neighbour. God has heard his prayer; yet though I have been praying for thirty-eight years I have had no answer!’ That is not true. God hears and records every prayer of every born-again child of His. So your time is not wasted when you pray. You are working as God's co-worker and co-labourer.

Sometimes we wonder how to pray, and what to say in prayer, for the words will not come to us. Now remember, prayer does not depend on nice language! It may be uttered in very broken and poor language but if it comes from the heart, God accepts it. I met a young man some time ago who seemed very happy. So I said: ‘Why are you so happy to-day?’ He said, ‘I have received the first letter from my small boy’. ‘How old is your boy?’ I asked. ‘Three years old’, he answered. I said in surprise, ‘How can a three-year-old boy write to you? Let me see the letter.’ So he showed me the letter—simply a piece of paper with nothing but lines all over it. The young man said that when his wife was writing to him, the boy saw her doing so, and questioned her, ‘Mummie, what are you doing?’ She said, ‘Writing to your Daddy’. So the child took a piece of paper and an old stick and put it in the ink bottle and scribbled just lines! The father said, ‘My son has written to me’, and was so happy. Though there were only lines on the paper, yet for that father they were something more than mere lines! He saw the love in the heart of the small boy expressed in them. So do not think that you need to say long prayers with fine words in order to get an answer! Some people think that if they have a Prayer Book and read from it, they can be sure that God will answer their prayers. But God does not ask for Prayer Book prayers; He asks for prayers from the heart.

Do not think that you have to repeat things when praying. There is nothing formal about prayer. We are God's co-workers and with that faith we pray. Sometimes only an unspoken, painful sigh in our heart becomes our prayer. When we see sin here and wickedness there, we pray: ‘O God, wilt Thou not do justice?’ and through our prayer God will work.

In Leviticus 16 we have an account given to us of the Day of Atonement. On that Day the High Priest had to come into the Most Holy Place, offering the blood of the sacrifice first for himself and his house, and then for the whole nation. Generally the High Priest wore his garments of glory and beauty. But, on the Day of Atonement, he had to take off those garments of glory and beauty and bathe himself and put on clean linen garments, before he could enter the Most Holy Place- (verse 4). Then he had to bring two goats. On one, called the scapegoat, he laid his hands and it was sent away into the wilderness (verses 4, 20-22). The blood of the other was brought inside the Most Holy Place. But, before he could bring the blood, he had to burn incense before the Mercy Seat (verses 12-13). Then only was the blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, first of all for himself, and then for all the people (verses 6, 15-16).

All this was a type or shadow of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. First, our Lord Jesus took off His garments of glory and beauty. That is to; say, He left His heavenly throne of glory and, even though He was God, became man for us. Then he took upon Himself our sins and bore them away. Even as the goat was sent into the wilderness and nobody ever saw it again, so just as truly, He bore away our sins, and they, in the same way, will not be remembered any more. Then finally, He brought His own Blood inside the Most Holy Place, thereby wholly satisfying God (Heb. 9.11-12).

When God forgives, He forgives completely. It does not matter how horrible your sins are; provided you repent sincerely, and believe from the heart that the Lord Jesus Christ died in your stead, then your sins will be no more remembered. God is perfectly satisfied with the precious Blood of His dear Son. Do not let the devil terrify you with the fear that your sins are not fully forgiven. That is how the devil came to me a few months after my conversion. I was going through great trial and difficulty and one day the devil said to me, ‘Yes, God has forgiven your sins, but not all your sins; there are still some sins which you committed in London, for which you are being punished. God is still punishing you.’ And I believed the devil. I said, ‘Yes, it is quite true, God must punish me. I have grieved Him, so He must punish me.’

But the scripture teaches me that if I repent of my sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, believing from my heart that He died in my stead and rose again for my sake, then my sins are cast behind God's back. They are completely wiped out and will never be remembered. They are cast into the depths of the sea; they are removed as far as the East is from the West. This is what the scripture says (Psa. 103.12; Isa. 38.17; 43.25; 44.22; Micah. 7.19; 1 John 1.7). Yet, the devil will insist: ‘Now you are still being punished for this sin or that sin’, and so, many feel discouraged and cast down. But God has shown from the very beginning that, when He forgives, He forgives completely. The precious Blood is on the Mercy Seat before God and the scapegoat goes into the wilderness never more to be remembered.

But remember, before the blood was sprinkled, incense was burned before the Mercy Seat. That again reminds us of the prayers of the saints of God. Before any sinner is saved, -there will always be much prayer. I will give you my own experience of such prayer.

I wrote to my father about my conversion in September, 1932. I was at that time away in Canada, and I wrote from there telling him how I was born again. It was a very long letter in which I gave him verses from Genesis to Revelation, though I did not know how my father would understand the verses of the Bible. I told my Canadian friends that, by my calculation, my father would receive my letter on the 21st October, and I asked them: ‘Will you please pray for him?’ So, on the 21st October, forty-four friends of mine met and were praying. We knelt down in a room, and that morning all the forty-four prayed one by one: ‘Lord use that letter to open the eyes of that man’. As I calculated, exactly on that same day my father got the letter. He opened it and he saw in it the many Bible verses, and said to himself: ‘Let me go to a missionary nearby and ask him the meaning of this letter.’

There was a gentleman named MacArthur living in that town. So my father took that letter to Mr. MacArthur and said to him, ‘My son has gone away to Canada. He wrote to me a long letter, and in that he gives a very long list of verses. I do not know what they are. Can you help me to under stand them?’ Mr. MacArthur then gave my father an Urdu Bible and he showed him how to look up references in the Bible, so my father went home and read all the verses. Then Mr. MacArthur sent a message to the Christians in the city: ‘Please pray for this man.’ The Lord spoke to him, telling him to do this.

Thus, unknown to my father, there were many praying for him in Canada and also in India. When I came back to India, I found my father ready to receive more of the Gospel and in due course, he was born again. Think of the people who had been praying for his conversion in many parts of Canada and in many parts of India. In answer to their prayers, God saved him.

So, for every soul's conversion there must be much prayer. In some cases we get an answer and know it, but in other cases we do not. But when we go to heaven, I am sure that God will say to us: ‘My child, do you see those people over there? They were saved because of your prayers’. You may reply: ‘O God, I do not even know who they are but He will say,’ Remember how you prayed, where you prayed, and what you prayed for?' God has a good memory. He is not like us who so easily forget. Even though you may have very much enjoyed a meal last week, when you are asked: ‘What did you eat last Sunday’ you say, ‘Let me think; now what was it? I have forgotten!’ You cannot remember what you had four days ago. That is human memory! But God does not forget anything. When we pray to Him, He remembers every prayer. When you pray, your prayer rises like incense into His Sanctuary, and through your prayers God can do so much. Elijah was a man subject to the same passions as we are. He was just like us; yet he had the faith to pray, and God did great things through his prayer (James 5.17-20). So do not say that God does not hear your prayers.

Whosoever you may be, if you are bought by the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a priest of God, and you can pray at any time for anybody. All cannot preach, but all can pray ‘Lord, teach us to pray!’—any time, anywhere, and God will hear. Through your prayers God can do wonders; through your prayers souls can be brought back to Him, hearts can be softened, and many homes can be blessed. All of us can take part in that.

So, when people speak ill of you, as they did of Joseph, begin to pray for them. Do not try to talk ill against them, but begin to pray for them: ‘O God, please bless soand-so!’ That is how you can send incense into heaven, and fill God's Sanctuary with fragrance. Spices came first from Canaan toEgypt, then they came back from Egypt to Canaan. ‘Oil for anointing, incense of prayer’. We receive from heaven those spices, and send them back into heaven itself.