God in Christ as the Spirit comes to us as the holy anointing oil to add the elements of God to us and infuse us with all that God is; after Christ is being wrought into us, we can go to God in prayer with Christ, in Christ, and even as Christ to offer the incense for God’s satisfaction.
The holy anointing oil is for our satisfaction, enjoyment, and transformation, and the incense is Christ for God’s satisfaction, enjoyment, rest, and for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Today we want to see what does the incense signify in the Bible; on the one hand, the ingredients of the incense is Christ with His humanity, divinity, death, and resurrection, but on the other hand incense in both the Old and the New Testament signifies our prayer.
More precisely, incense refers to the resurrected and ascended Christ with all His work, fruits, and merit ascending to God in and with our prayer for God’s satisfaction and for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Incense Signifies our Prayer: offering the Resurrected and Ascended Christ to God
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, incense signifies our prayer (see Psa. 141:2; Rev. 5:8). In particular, the incense refers to the resurrected and ascended Christ with all His work, His fruits, and His merit – all that He is, all that He has accomplished, and all that He does, being wrought into us and ascending from us in prayer before God for His satisfaction (Eph. 1:7, 19-23; Heb. 7:25).
Burning the incense signifies our praying in and with the resurrected and ascended Christ. At the bronze altar Christ is the crucified One solving all the problems; at the incense altar, Christ is in resurrection and ascension to ascend with the saints’ prayers for God’s satisfaction.
We need to know Christ experientially in His resurrection and ascension, and then from deep within we will release in our prayers something of the resurrected and ascended Christ. To burn the incense is to pray with an inner utterance of Christ that is fragrant to God.
This incense is not for us to smell but for it to ascend to God in a sweet, satisfying, and fragrant way for God’s enjoyment.
Some say that the incense in Revelation 8 refers to the merits of Christ. This is so, but it refers even more to the resurrected Christ. It includes His merits, all that He is, all that He has accomplished, and all that He does. The resurrected Christ with all His work and fruits is the incense. As long as we receive the redemption of the blood and are in the termination of the cross, the Christ in us is joined with us. Then when we pray, it is Christ who prays. At such a time our prayer is the expression of Christ. As a result, before God these prayers are the incense which is acceptable to God and will be answered by God. (Witness Lee, Lessons on Prayer, p. 163)
In Rev. 5:8 the bowls of the angelic elders are the prayers of the saints, and the incense is Christ being added to the saints’ prayers. It is the incense that satisfies the desire of God’s heart, and it is the incense that accomplishes God’s purpose and carries out His administration.
There are many prayers offered to God that are not prayers but are religious prayers, prayers of preaching to God, formal prayers, and routine prayers; what God desires is the resurrected and ascended Christ to be experienced by His people and ascend from them in their prayers as incense to God.
God has been waiting for thousands of years to receive the incense from His people; He has been patiently waiting in His forbearance for His people to experience Christ and offer Him to God in their prayers as a fragrance to God for His satisfaction.
Lord Jesus, save us from offering You prayers that are not prayers, religious prayers, formal prayers, or routine prayers. Give us the genuine experiences of Christ we need that would work Him into our being so that something from us would rise up and ascend to God in prayer for His satisfaction. Lord, may our prayer be in and with the resurrected and ascended Christ for God’s satisfaction and the fulfillment of His purpose. Amen, Lord, we want to pray with the inner utterance of Christ that is fragrant to God!
Praying with Christ as the Incense Satisfies God and Carries out His Administration
In Rev. 8:3 incense signifies Christ with all His merit added to the prayers of the saints so that the saints’ prayers offered upon the golden altar might be acceptable to God.
The only way our prayers are acceptable to God is by having Christ added to them; only Christ is acceptable to God, and we have such a Christ who is adding Himself to our prayers so that in Him, with Him, and through Him our prayers may be accepted.
Prayer with Christ as the incense is actually Christ Himself ascending to God, and this is a sweet-smelling fragrance to God. This kind of prayer simultaneously satisfies God (with a sweet fragrance) and carries out His economy, His administration.
In Rev. 8:4 the smoke of the incense ascending indicates that the incense is burned and ascends to God with the prayers of the saints, making these prayers effective and acceptable to God. It is good for us to have a spirit of a learner and tell the Lord,
Lord, teach us and train us to have prayers that are acceptable to You! We don’t want to offer any more prayers that You don’t want to hear, prayers that smell bad, are troubling to the saints, or are theological…Lord, teach us to pray with Christ as the incense so that God may be satisfied and His economy may be carried out!
It is the incense – and not the saints’ prayers – that causes the smoke to rise and makes the saints’ prayers effective and acceptable to God. The smoke of the incense goes up with the prayers of the saints to the throne of God, and the prayers are answered.
Why are our prayers not answered? A partial answer is that there NO incense added to our prayer. God is constrained by the fragrance of Christ as the incense added to the saints’ prayers, and He responds to prayers filled with the fragrance of His beloved Son in resurrection and ascension.
The incense typifies the resurrected and ascended Christ, the unique One who is received by God, acceptable to Him, and is a sweet savor to Him….We may still want to “please God” just as we tried our best to please our parents, teachers, friends, and family, but there’s nothing we can do that is acceptable to God – only Christ is acceptable to God, so let us just enjoy Him, be filled with Him, experience Him, become Him, pray Him, and offer Him to God!
Even if we had 100 lifetimes of doing good things to please God we still are not acceptable to Him, but Christ as the Beloved Son of God is fully satisfying Him, and we need to be in Him, experience Him, and offer Him to God!
We need to learn and encourage one another to learn to live Christ, speak Christ, and even be Christ, and there will be a fragrance that ascends to please God!
Since the incense signifies Christ, to burn the incense means to pray Christ; God’s desire is that, when we pray, we pray Christ. God desires Christ: we need to live Christ, pray Christ, and offer Christ to God.
Our natural life, our natural zeal, and our natural preferences mean nothing to God; they need to be reduced to ashes at the incense altar, and only Christ can pray here, and we pray in His name – we reject all that we are and take Christ as our person, we are one spirit with Him in the spirit of the Body, and we pray Christ!
Our prayer with Christ, in Christ, and through Christ as the incense satisfies the desire of God’s heart and carries out His purpose.
Lord Jesus, we want to stop our efforts to please You and do things for You, and we just want to enjoy You, experience You, be filled with You, and be saturated with You. Oh Lord, only You are the One acceptable to God, and in You the Father delights; we want to be in You, be one with You, and even become You so that we may offer Christ to God as incense in our prayer for the Father’s satisfaction! Lord, may our daily living be filled with living Christ, speaking Christ, expressing Christ, and offering Christ to God for His satisfaction!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 420 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3), week 12 (week 36), The Incense.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# “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)
About aGodMan
The smoke of the incense indicates that the incense is burned and ascends to God with the prayers of the saints. This implies that the prayers of the saints become effective and are acceptable to God. In other words, smoke indicates that the saints’ prayers are effective because Christ has been added to them as incense. The smoke of the incense goes up with the prayers of the saints to the throne of God, and the prayers are answered….It is incense, not the saints’ prayers, that causes the smoke to rise. In our prayers we need to have Christ as the incense with the smoke that rises. (Witness Lee, The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4277)