Exodus 30:1-10--The Altar of Incense

The Altar of Incense​
30 “You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. 3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. 4 And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. 7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, 8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

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The Altar of Incense represents the continual prayers that we as God's people should be offering to Him all-day, every day.  These prayers are part of how we approach God and are sacred, but we must first come through the blood of Jesus before we can pray and have our prayers heard and answered--so the Altar of Incense is in the Holy Place that only those that are part of priesthood can have access to.  It is made out of the same materials as the Ark of the Covenant and The Table of Showbread--acacia wood, covered in pure gold.  Like the bronze altar, this altar will also have horns on it symbolizing both power and salvation, and like the Ark of the Covenant, it will have a molding around it--the composition of this altar was to remind the priests of the Ark of the Covenant that was behind the veil.  While they couldn't see the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God, prayer was their way to have access to God and His presence.

We'll see later that not just any incense can be offered on this altar, but only a special blend that God gives instructions for--just like when Jesus taught His disciples how to prayer (and how not to pray).  It should not be like the prayer of the pagans, nor the prayer of the self-righteous, but we need to come to God remembering who is and that He is holy and that His name is to be lifted high, praised and exalted above all else.  Once we see God for who He is, then we will begin to see ourselves for who we are and we begin to pray for the things in our lives that God wants for us--for God to be our provider, for our sins to be forgiven, for us to forgive others and for God to be our Shield and Defender from the snares and traps that the devil lays out for us and that we would walk in the Way that He would lead us to go and trust Him with making those wise choices for us.

Part of the job of the altar of incense was in its own way to provide some level of atonement and "covering" so that we would not see the glory of the LORD and so that "He would not look on our sin" (we know God can see anything He wants to and no cloud of smoke is going to stop that, but this was God's reminder to the people of the issue of sin and that sin cannot come in contact with God's holiness).  The prayers of the saints (along with the burnt offerings) were supposed to be a sweet fragrance that rose all the way to the heavens--though there are times that the LORD tells the people that the prayers and sacrifices that they offer to Him are sickening to Him because they come to Him with impure hands and hearts and offer the wrong kinds of offerings to Him.

Once a year (I believe on the Day of Atonement), the High Priest (that's Aaron right now) would make atonement for the altar with the sin offering that was made on the Bronze Altar as he would put some of that blood on the Altar of Incense as he came through the Holy Place on his way to the Most Holy Place to make atonement for himself and all of the nation that he represented before God.  We see the life of Jesus and His ministry marked by the need for prayer and God tells us that we need to be a people of prayer that will "pray without ceasing" and that we should "boldly approach the throne of grace" through our prayers.

Philippians 4:5-7
English Standard Version​
5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
English Standard Version
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Prayer has always been an important part of communion with God and is our way to speak to God, but it is also a time for us to listen God.  God expects us to be in a posture of being ready to hear what He has to say to us when we pray.  There will be a day though in the New Heaven and the New Earth where it will be as it was in the Garden of Eden and we will see God face-to-face and will speak with Him as we walk with Him and there will no longer be any need for the Altar of Incense, though we do seem to see this in heaven before that time that the prayers of the saints rise to the throne of God as a pleasant and fragrant offering (as long as they are offered in a way that is according to His design, as we should not approach God in just any way that we desire).