From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 1997 8:58 PM
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: Prayer and the Altar of Incense
>From Mark Wilson
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Prayer and the Altar of Incense
PRAYER AND THE ALTAR OF INCENSE
Man has been given authority and with authority comes privilege but
with privilege comes responsibility. Most are looking for authority and
privilege without responsibility. To whom much is given much is
required and we will be judged by how we used what we were given.
REV 5:8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and
they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of
the saints.
PSA 141:2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
This is the fixed revelation of incense. We can't deviate from this
and assign our own interpretation. Incense is a picture of the prayers
of the saints. Prayer is the general term for all that takes place at
the altar of incense. The incense was made up of FOUR ingredients
formulated from equal parts of each. This shows us one activity or one
kind of prayer is not what God has in mind. Prayer should be a
perfumer's mixture.
The incense has but one primary purpose and that is to be burned. The
purpose of the altar is to provide a place for the incense to be
burned. The incense was not to be a museum piece for exhibit. It
wasn't made for storage. The purpose for the incense was to be burned.
Because it was burned, new incense must be continually made. It was the
fire that changed the incense from a solid to a vapor that would ascend
up to God. Even though it was burned it was not wasted and it is not
lost. When it ascends it is kept in bowls or in an incenser. Even
prayers that are offered before the exact time of fulfillment will be
kept until the time to release the answer.
The altar of incense is all arranged in fours.
(1) The altar is first made of wood.
(2) It is overlaid with pure gold.
(3)There are four rings, one on each corner.
(4)There were two poles that fit through the rings for carrying the altar.
The incense was made of four different substances.
(1)Stacte, (2)oncha, (3)galbanum and (4)pure frankincense
each in equal proportions.
No other incense was permitted. There were
four specific things that were forbidden to be offered on this altar.
(1)Strange incense, (2)burnt offering, (3)meal offering and (4)any drink
offering (libation).
(1)The altar was made of wood, covered with gold.
(2)It also had four horns, one on each corner.
(3)There were four rings on the corners to carry it.
(4) there was a gold crown that ran around the top.
What then is the significance of all these fours? The altar of
incense is the place and the work where The Father, The Son, The Holy
Spirit and man all come together to make the decisions for the four
corners of the earth! It is the place that the triune God permits man
to step into the circle of His sovereignty and to begin to rule. It is
the place of man's apprenticeship training for the Kingdom of God. From
before the foundation of the earth, it was God's purpose for man to rule
over God's creation. Man must be trained to do even simple jobs in the
world. How much more must man be trained for ruling in the Kingdom of
God. The question then is: When and where does God train us? If we
look at all the possibilities in the different areas of the tabernacle,
we have to conclude the altar of incense is the only logical place.
We are called to be co-laborers with Christ. Christ is seated
at the right hand of God making intercession. At least one aspect of
co-labor must be in prayer. Co-labor is working with Christ rather than
working FOR Christ or working independently of Christ. Altar of incense
kind of prayer is not man entering into dialogue with God trying to get
God to see things our way and change His mind concerning the things
that effect us. Incense prayer is man entering into discipleship and
joining with Christ in fulfilling God's purpose upon the earth. A disciple is
one who is taught. A learner. A disciple is not one who instructs God
but one who learns from God. Most of our prayer is telling God what He
should be doing and even telling Him how to do it.
The altar of incense is the place of absolute authority. It stands
directly before the throne of God, the ark of the covenant. Since God
is sovereign, He has absolute authority. All valid authority then must
be under His absolute authority. That means the Devil has no
authority. Christ has been given all authority in heaven and in earth.
That means the Devil has none. He is like a fallen dictator who has no
authority but is still ordering people around. He is using a
counterfeit authority. The question is; How is man now going to make
the adversary, God's enemies and the revengeful to cease?
The revelation of the altar of incense is that man steps into the
circle of God's sovereignty. The man Christ Jesus has been given all
authority and His body, the church, has been given delegated authority
in His name. However we don't have delegated authority to decide our
own agenda and work independently. We must realize, apart from
Jesus, we don't have any authority. If we co-labor with Him we have His
delegated authority in His name. If we try to use His name to promote
our own program, we run smack into the sovereignty of God.
JAM 4:3
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives,
that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Now it should be clear why the incense must be a precise blend and a
perfumer's mixture and why we can't make any like it for ourselves. It
must be a blend of God's sovereignty, God's will, God's purpose and
man's delegated authority. When these are put on the fire, God's power
is released. God has all the sovereignty, all the wisdom, all the
knowledge and all the power to bring to pass all that He has determined
to do from the foundation of the world. Whenever God decides to bring
the history of this earth to a close and cast the Devil and his angels
into the pit, He can very easily do it.
Then, we might ask, why does God not just do it, if He can? The reason
is because of His plan for Man. God has determined to bring man into
the circle of His sovereignty, give man delegated authority now on the
earth and let man train for God's eternal government. If man is going
to rule over 10 cities he must be trained, tested and approved. God is
not going to bring into His eternal government another bunch, just like
the bunch He threw out with the Devil.
The bride who will rule with Him will have His very same
characteristics. She will have grown up in all things into Christ. She
will have come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
She will be conformed to His image. She will be as pure gold,
transparent like clear glass. She will be as a very costly stone, as a
stone of crystal clear jasper. And the GLORY of God will shine through
her , and her lamp will be THE LAMB.
Each believer must have a great work of God done in him to prepare him
for that place. Each believer must be transformed into the bride .
Each one must be trained for the throne. Many quit simply because they
don't understand God's eternal purpose and why they must be so radically
changed. All the gold for the Holy Place must be pure gold that has
been through the fire and all impurities removed. Then it must be
beaten into shape. This is not fun but it is endurable if we have a
vision of God's eternal purpose and the perfection of the bride. If we
understood that God wants to share His throne with us, we would
understand why we must be trained, tried, tested, found faithful and
approved. It is just logical!
God's purpose from before the beginning of time was to produce a
co-sovereign bride for the Son of God. His bride will be His judicial
equal. ( not His divine equal). She will rule with Him. The bride is
identified by her relation with Christ. We see her as one who loves
Christ , who is humble, obedient, totally submissive and always seeking
to do His will.
However, with God's enemies she is violent, well trained, fully
equipped, relentless, unmerciful, a powerful conqueror and as terrible
as an army with banners. She is active in driving out God's enemies,
possessing their land and destroying their idols.
Included in her training will be on the battle field training in
spiritual warfare, overcoming and subduing spiritual forces of
darkness. The end time army of God is seen in Joel 2.
JOE 2:3-11
Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the
land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste-- nothing
escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along
like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the
mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty
army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale. They charge like warriors; they scale walls like
soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course.
They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon
the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves
they enter through the windows. Before them the earth shakes, the sky
trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer
shine. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are
beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The
day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?
In all of church history we have not yet seen a militant church like
this. Therefore we assume this prophesy is yet to be fulfilled. This
is not a church who is demonstrating on the streets or lobbing in
Washington or participating in public debates. This obviously is a
spiritual army who is leaping over mountains in prayer. Who are
invading cities in spiritual warfare. Their weapons are not carnal but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. In verse 11 in
N.A.S.B. it says: The Lord utters His voice BEFORE His army, surely
His camp is very great, for strong is he who carries out His word. The
day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, and who can endure
it? The Lord is leading this army with His voice and great are those
who carry out HIS WORD.
The church in training must become the church in fulfillment. It other
words the church must become the church that God has designed. The
bride must become as terrible as an army with banners. If Joel 2 is
speaking of the end time church then there must be a fulfillment of
these scriptures in the church. The church must actually fit this
description. Knowing the doctrine of these things does not fulfill
these things. LIVING THESE THINGS, FULFILLS THESE THINGS.
God has given the church a legal position NOW by positionally seating
her in heavenly places in Christ. Through her death, burial,
resurrection and ascension in Christ, she has a throne position in
Christ. Jesus Christ is at the right hand of power and has all
authority in heaven and earth. The church IN CHRIST has amazing
power and authority over the affairs of this earth.
The question is; will she fulfil her role of ruling this earth in this
time period? Obviously it will depend upon her revelation of her God
given position, her God given authority and her God given
responsibility, and whether she will actually uses what she has been
given. The church certainly has a legal position in heaven, but
enforcing that legal position upon this earth is another matter. We may
even declare our legal position in Christ, doctrinally, without a
serious conflict with the rulers of this earth. But when we enforce our
authority and dominion in Christ and begin to drive back the works of
darkness, we face violent warfare. It is understandable that the
lukewarm and uncommitted are not interested in spiritual warfare where
there are real casualties and continuous confrontation.
Christ's work on Calvary was completely complete. He totally destroyed
Satan's authority on earth, took away the keys of death and canceled out
all Satan's claims on mankind. COL 2:15 And having disarmed the
powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing
over them by the cross. Then He ascended back to heaven to sit at the
Father's right hand. He is now ruling until every enemy is put under
His feet. His feet are in His body. From this we see the church has
been given the responsibility to enforce Christ's victory at Calvary
upon all God's enemies on the earth.
In order to do this, the church must use the delegated authority that
Christ has given to the church, she must enforce the victory of the
cross upon God's enemies. This then is the revelation of the incense
altar. Man has no power to accomplish that. God has all power to
accomplish it but he has given dominion of the earth to man. Now if man
could step into the circle of God's sovereignty and power and co-operate
with God, the darkness could be destroyed and God's enemies could be
driven back. Then man could be assigned the title "overcomer". But It
was God who overcame. That's true, but it was man who overcame at the
altar of incense. For God to overcome the enemy is no problem for God.
But for man to overcome at the altar of incense is a great victory for
man.
Without a clear revelation of God's eternal purpose and man's
predestined purpose in God's plan, prayer becomes just a program of
ineffective asking. A kind of religious treadmill. A self centered
exercise in futility. Asking to heap more upon ourselves.
The church that is functioning within the Kingdom of God is doing the
enemies of God great harm. The church that is not doing God's enemies
harm and taking a spoil, can hardly be called successful.
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