Priests in the Sanctuary Before the ArkBible World
30:7Exodus 30:7
And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
The golden altar of incense stood in the holy place or first apartment, just before the veil separating the holy from the most holy and near the candlestick, and sweet incense was to be burned upon it every morning when Aaron tended the lamps and also every evening as a regular daily service. The lamps burned day and night, and their light illuminated the altar and the richly furnished apartments. The altar's fire was kindled by God himself and was to be kept burning perpetually day and night, never extinguished but kept sacred and holy. Holy incense continually gave a fragrance that filled the sanctuary and sacred apartments day and night and spread beyond the tabernacle.
The altar's horns were touched with sin-offering blood and the altar was sprinkled with blood on the Day of Atonement. When the priest offered incense he faced the mercy-seat though the curtain hid it from view, with the rising incense accompanying the descent of God's glory. There is a real altar of incense and censer in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, made of purest gold reflecting the image of the one who enters there. Its burning means Jesus receiving the saints' prayers as they come up to Him in faith and offering them with incense to His Father, when a sweet fragrance arises like smoke of most beautiful colors. A golden censer also stands between the cherubim before the ark in the second apartment where Jesus stands to minister.
As the incense ascends to the Father, excellent glory and light come from the Father's throne to Jesus and from Jesus are shed upon those whose prayers came up like sweet incense, overshadowing the mercy-seat until the train of glory fills the temple. The incense ascending mingled with Israel's prayers and with the people's prayers is an emblem and symbol of Christ's mediation and intercession and merits. It represents the communication between God and man opened through Jesus Christ alone, with the altar before the veil as a place of continual intercession illustrating prayer directed by faith to Christ the Mediator before the mercy-seat in the heavenly sanctuary whom believers cannot see with natural sight but to whom they pray and claim the benefits of His mediation.
The morning service represents the prayers, praise, and confessions of believers ascending to God. These offerings are defiled by human weakness, and sinful people's worship is acceptable only when Christ presents and purifies them with His blood and spotless righteousness, His perfect righteousness imputed through faith, so that they rise acceptably before God. Mercy and salvation are granted to the repentant and believing who approach God through Christ the Mediator alone, and gracious answers are returned. God gave explicit directions that all sacred worship must accord with His holy character, requiring sacred fire of His own kindling and not common fire, with no sacrifice acceptable unless salted and seasoned with that divine fire. Any deviation such as offering common fire and disregarding those directions was punishable with death. The interruption of this regular morning incense service, along with the lamps and other temple services, marked Judah's abandonment of worship in the temple under Ahaz.
The golden altar of incense stood in the holy place or first apartment, just before the veil separating the holy from the most holy and near the candlestick, and sweet incense was to be burned upon it every morning when Aaron tended the lamps and also every evening as a regular daily service. The lamps burned day and night, and their light illuminated the altar and the richly furnished apartments. The altar's fire was kindled by God himself and was to be kept burning perpetually day and night, never extinguished but kept sacred and holy. Holy incense continually gave a fragrance that filled the sanctuary and sacred apartments day and night and spread beyond the tabernacle.
The altar's horns were touched with sin-offering blood and the altar was sprinkled with blood on the Day of Atonement. When the priest offered incense he faced the mercy-seat though the curtain hid it from view, with the rising incense accompanying the descent of God's glory. There is a real altar of incense and censer in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, made of purest gold reflecting the image of the one who enters there. Its burning means Jesus receiving the saints' prayers as they come up to Him in faith and offering them with incense to His Father, when a sweet fragrance arises like smoke of most beautiful colors. A golden censer also stands between the cherubim before the ark in the second apartment where Jesus stands to minister.
As the incense ascends to the Father, excellent glory and light come from the Father's throne to Jesus and from Jesus are shed upon those whose prayers came up like sweet incense, overshadowing the mercy-seat until the train of glory fills the temple. The incense ascending mingled with Israel's prayers and with the people's prayers is an emblem and symbol of Christ's mediation and intercession and merits. It represents the communication between God and man opened through Jesus Christ alone, with the altar before the veil as a place of continual intercession illustrating prayer directed by faith to Christ the Mediator before the mercy-seat in the heavenly sanctuary whom believers cannot see with natural sight but to whom they pray and claim the benefits of His mediation.
The morning service represents the prayers, praise, and confessions of believers ascending to God. These offerings are defiled by human weakness, and sinful people's worship is acceptable only when Christ presents and purifies them with His blood and spotless righteousness, His perfect righteousness imputed through faith, so that they rise acceptably before God. Mercy and salvation are granted to the repentant and believing who approach God through Christ the Mediator alone, and gracious answers are returned. God gave explicit directions that all sacred worship must accord with His holy character, requiring sacred fire of His own kindling and not common fire, with no sacrifice acceptable unless salted and seasoned with that divine fire. Any deviation such as offering common fire and disregarding those directions was punishable with death. The interruption of this regular morning incense service, along with the lamps and other temple services, marked Judah's abandonment of worship in the temple under Ahaz.