Burning the Incense by Praying in Christ and with Christ as the Incense to God

The main commission of the priesthood is to burn the incense on the golden altar (Exo. 30:7-8). First of all, in order for anyone to enter into the tabernacle and come close to God, he had to be a priest, one who is filled and saturated with God and who expresses Christ (that is, wears the priestly garment) in his daily living.

The priest first offered sacrifices in the outer court, experiencing God’s redemption and being nourished by Him. Then, the priest entered into the Holy Place, where he had the show bread table to be nourished further with God; there, he had to light the lamps and burn the incense.

The goal is to come to the golden altar and burn the incense so that God would be satisfied and well pleased. In our Christian experience we need to first enjoy and experience Christ as the reality of all the offerings, taking Him as our sin offering, trespass offering, peace-offering, and all the offerings for our redemption, peace with God, and life supply.

As we are filled with Christ as the meat of the sacrifices, we enter into the Holy Place to be further supplied with Him as the bread of life, and we light the lamps of the lampstand by coming to His word to be shined on by Him. As the Lord shines on us in our personal time with Him in His word, we have the words to utter to Him at the golden altar, and Christ adds Himself to our prayers to be the incense for a sweet-smelling savour to God.

Burning the incense typifies praying, and the incense is the resurrected and ascended Christ who is well pleasing to God. Christ is the tabernacle (the dwelling place of God and man, the meeting place of God with man, the embodiment of God as a man, and the enlargement of God mingling with man), Christ is the offerings (He is each of the offerings), and He is also the incense (the resurrected and ascended Christ is well pleasing to God, being approved by God).

The tabernacle with the offerings and the incense are very significant, and they can be applied both to our personal Christian life and to our corporate church life, but in this article we will focus mainly on the personal aspect as they apply to us as priests to God.

Burning the Incense by Praying in Christ and with Christ as the Incense to God

There’s no indication in the Bible, according to typology, that the incense altar is a place to pray; but based on Rev. 8:3-4 we can say that at the golden altar Christ as another Angel offers the prayers of the saints to God, Christ adds Himself as the incense to the prayers, and the smoke goes up to God, who is well pleased and listens to the prayers of the saints.

The incense typifies Christ Himself, the resurrected and ascended One who is well pleasing to God and acceptable to God because of His person and His work on earth. This Christ is the reality of all the offerings; He was judged on the cross for us, and we have the right to be the priests who offer Him to God for God’s satisfaction.

Christ is God incarnated to be a man; He lived a perfect human life, died an all-inclusive death on the cross, resurrected, and was ascended to the heavens; His resurrection and ascension is a proof that God approved Him and accepted Him. God is satisfied only with His Christ, and we as priests to God need to enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and offer up Christ to God in prayer.

When we pray under the enlightening of God’s living word, we should pray Christ, that is, we should offer the resurrected and ascended Christ to God as the incense in our prayer. Burning the incense typifies praying (see Psa. 141:2; Luke 1:10-11; Rev. 5:8; 8:3-4).

The smoke of the incense rising up to God (see Rev. 8:3-4) signifies that the incense is burned and ascends to God with the prayers of the saints. How can our prayer be acceptable to God and even be effective before Him? It is by praying at the incense altar, offering Christ as our prayer to God. In our personal time with the Lord as we serve Him as priests we need to have this kind of prayer that causes us to be mingled with God.

When we come to the Lord in our personal time with Him, we first come to take Him as our sin offering, our trespass offering, our peace-offering, our burnt offering, our wave offering, our heave offering, and our drink offering; as we enjoy Christ with God and before God, we are brought into the Holy Place to be supplied with Christ as the bread of life, the living bread, the bread that came down out from heaven to give life to us.

As we are further supplied and nourished with Christ as the bread of the presence of God, we receive God’s light, are shined on by Him, and confess our sins and shortcomings, thus allowing God to shine in all our being and fill us with His light. In His light we see light and we even become light in the Lord.

As we are enlightened by the Lord, we contact God and we spontaneously pray and offer this wonderful Christ to God for His satisfaction. The outcome of our contacting the Lord and experiencing Him is that we pray Christ to God as incense for God’s acceptance.

Such prayers who are Christ Himself are acceptable to God; they are also intercessory prayers – prayers not only for ourselves but for the carrying out of the divine administration, for the dispensing of God’s supplying grace, and for the churches and the saints.

The prayer offered in Christ and with Christ as the incense governs God’s dispensing of grace and motivates the execution of the divine administration. When we pray, God moves and does things; when we pray, things happen. Why do we work so much and pray so little when we know that God can do much more through our prayer than through our working?

Lord Jesus, we take You as our sin offering and trespass offering, and we enjoy You as our peace-offering to be acceptable to God in peace. Lord, we take You in as the bread of life and the living bread to be supplied and nourished with Your divine life. Shine on us, Lord, and enlighten us in Your living word. Lead us to the golden altar to burn the incense through our prayer. Lord Jesus, we offer You to God as our prayer to be the incense acceptable to Him. Lord, make us the priests who have the rich experience of Christ and offer Christ as incense to God in prayer!

The Anointing brings God to us in Christ and the Incense brings us to God in Christ

In Exodus 30 we see the mysterious and wonderful mingling of God with man in many types and symbols. The incense signifies Christ as our prayer going to God from us (Exo. 30:7-8); as we enjoy and experience Christ as the offerings, the bread on the show-bread table, the lampstand, and the ark, we are filled and saturated with Him and we offer Him to God as the incense in our prayer.

The holy anointing oil (Exo. 30:23-25, 34-38) signifies Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit coming to us from God; the compound ointment signifies God in Christ coming to us as the compound all-inclusive life-giving Spirit with the elements of Christ’s humanity, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to be everything to us for our Christian life and for our service to God.

The holy anointing oil was put on all the items in the tabernacle, from the smallest to the greatest, and the incense was offered to God on the golden altar.

These two types show us a two-way traffic between the Triune God and us: the holy anointing oil shows us Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit coming to us from God, and the incense signifies Christ as our prayer going to God from us.

The anointing brings God to us in Christ and through Christ for our participation in the divine element; the anointing causes us to enjoy God, be filled with God, and be freshly “painted” and saturated with God by enjoying Him daily.

The incense is our going to God with Christ and as Christ in prayer for God’s enjoyment; the incense is our offering the Christ we enjoyed and experienced to God through prayer for God’s satisfaction and enjoyment. This kind of prayer simultaneously satisfies God with a sweet fragrance and carries out God’s economy, His administration.

God sanctifies us with the holy ointment so that we may enjoy the compound Spirit, and we may satisfy God with our prayer (the holy incense) and carry out God’s administration. He sanctifies us through the Spirit, and we satisfy Him through our prayer, which is Christ Himself. Hallelujah, through His anointing God is brought into us and through offering the incense we are brought into God for the mingling of God with man!

Lord Jesus, thank You for the holy anointing oil, the compound all-inclusive Spirit coming to us from God to bring the Triune God into us and cause us to participate in the divine element. Hallelujah, God in Christ is brought into us through the Spirit for our participation in the divine element! Oh Father, we want to offer the Christ we have enjoyed and experienced back to You as the incense through our prayer so that You may be satisfied and so that You may release Your economy and carry out Your administration in the universe!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1969, vol. 1, “How to Meet,” chs. 18-19, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 4 / msg 4, Lighting the Lamps and Burning the Incense.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # “Keep the incense burning” / On the altar fire; / Let thy heart’s petition, / Let thy deep desire, / Be a cloud of incense / Wreathing God’s own throne, / Till His will among us / Shall be fully done. (Hymns #790)
  # I’ll offer prayers as incense burns, / Christ’s resurrection bring therein, / God’s wish thus meet, His heart give joy, / And I’ll rejoice with Him. (Hymns #791)
  # O may I concentrated be / In fellowship with Thee, / My prayer and incense offering, / Thy Spirit leading me. (Hymns #771)