The golden altar of incense

1. While just outside the veil or the second curtain the golden altar of incense belongs to the furniture of the holy of holies. It was placed outside because the golden altar of incense was constantly used, whereas the ark and the mercy seat was used once a year.

2. The golden altar of incense depicts Jesus Christ after His strategic victory, seated at the right hand of the Father as the King of kings and royal high priest.

3. The basic ingredients of the golden altar include not only its construction of wood and gold but a crown, fire, and incense. So there are five articles in the structure of the golden altar: wood, the humanity of Christ; plated with gold, the deity of Christ - therefore the altar itself is wood-gold, or a picture of the hypostatic union; then three more articles: a crown, fire, and incense.

4. The crown kept the fire from falling to the ground. The principle: the fire represent s judgement of Christ on the cross for our sins, and the crown kept this fire from falling to the ground.

5. Since the fire is held up by the crown, the crown means resurrection, ascension, and session. And when the fire was burning all the time, and the crown was holding it up, altogether it represented the strategic victory of our Lord Jesus Christ — His death, burial, resurrection, and session.

6. The validity of the work of Christ on the cross is found in resurrection, ascension, and session, the strategic victory of the angelic conflict. Therefore, the incense represents several things. First of all, that the work of Christ on the cross is acceptable and therefore a part of the victory of our Lord. The incense refers to propitiation, so does the mercy seat — everything related to the holy of holies refers to propitiation. In addition to that, the incense represents prayer. First, the prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ making intercession for us, and secondly, the prayers of the royal priesthood and their dynamics in phase two, Church Age.

7. While the horns on the brazen altar speak of sacrifice and refuge the horns on the golden altar speak of power and prayer.

8. The golden altar also had rings for carrying it. The rings and the staves of the golden altar have significance. The rings speak of the perfection of God’s plan of grace, while the staves or the golden rods that carried it indicate the world-wide ministry of prayer. There is no place prayer cannot go.

9. Therefore the golden altar represents the concept of prayer in the utilisation of divine resources.