Here's my understanding of the renewed covenant altar of incense from the tabernacle.
Altars are for making sacrifices
Incense equates to prayers
Once Jesus came on the scene and put the Torah inside our heart, we no longer need a physical altar (though we never really did, except so that it would be written for us in pattern for all time)
And we no longer need physical incense. We can pray any time we want, whatever we are doing. This altar though does represent an
effort to make certain particular prayers somehow Set Apart. Today's equivalent would be kneeling, laying down, etc. Whatever form
of supplication allows you to put your body at humble rest and focus your mind on your prayer.
The construction of the altar that was once physical, is now a symbolic representation of how we are expected to have prepared ourselves
for potential two way communion with the Father through prayer. Here is what I believe we should be doing today.
Exodus 30
And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
Make it yourself, make an effort to prepare yourself for earnest and real communication with the Father.
Make it out of Acacia wood, this wood is very beautiful but hard to get to because of the thorns.
Thorns are things we are afraid to think about. The things which are "taboo" to us when we think about
talking to God about them. The basis of the construction of our proper prayer vessel, is to get past
the sillyness of taboos when talking to the God that made us and our brains. In other words, you can
talk explicitly and honestly to God about how you crave the feel of the needle going into your arm.
You can ask Him if "such and such" is really even a sin. Having stripped away the thorns and used the
beautiful wood, you have made yourself naked in your heart before God so that you may judged by your
confessions and pour out what's in your heart before Him, not relying on Him to "read your mind".
Don't be ashamed to speak of anything with your creator.
Trash the "O Thou art Holy" fake speech and say "God, you rock." or "Daddy, I love you." or "God,
I am so happy you love me." Whatever your REAL voice is.
The design of this thing is to teach us to get real in prayer.
A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.
It is one unit by one unit front to back, side to side, it is a "single entity", (you) which also has the following attributes: four sides, 2 units tall.
Four in scripture always references or pulls from the concept of having proper orientation for a servant: lion, ox, man, eagle, east west south north.
Whatever you control, you must do so with righteous intent, you must be willing to make sacrifices, you must be serving your fellow man, even though you screw up, and you must speak the truth about God. And all 4 are connected. You can't have one without the others, and be properly oriented. This means if a person is claiming to be a good employer, yet they do not make sacrifices to serve their employees and others, they are missing at least one part of the equation.
And God said these things must be constructed precisely.
There are horns on the four corners. Horns (the animal kind) are for control. The horns on each of the 4 corners indicate that by way of the above proper orientation, you control things correctly. Whether that be an employee, child, or especially self. Self, because the horns are one piece with your prayer vessel, they are your 4 horns. All of this proper orientation points to the state of mind we should enter prayer with.
The two units height is a shadow of the two witness concept, anywhere 2 are encountered in scripture. Like the two cherubim that witness the mercy seat, transfiguration scene, many others you already know of. Make the Torah and the prophets concept a part of your prayer. In other words, be ready to deal with the past and the future, the law and the freedom, the moses kind of struggles and the elijah kind of struggles. Etc.
3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
Gold is whatever you hold dearest in life, whether it's your rock star fantasy, your wall street goal, your ranking in the bowling league, whatever. But here we are told to make THIS item out of gold. These temple implements that are covered in gold, are telling us that these are to now become our most important things in life.
And they are not only covered in gold, they are crowned in it, to overemphasize this to the point that these ideas become little kings or authorities to us in our life.
We are to become almost obsessed with them.
Prayer is one of these gold covered items.
A side note, two particular items, the menorah and the mercy seat, are made of pure gold, not simply covered. "Trying to figure out God and life" is made to be the primary obsession in the mind, as the mercy seat and witnesses of that mercy, are the primary obsession in the heart.
4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.
The two rings are on the corners of this piece are unlike the other items. This is because while in transit, it should be oriented with the corners pointing forward, back and side to side, because its the corners that "point" from this thing towards it's four directions of orientation. To emphasize the orientation aspect of it, as you go forth with it. In other words, don't just be oriented when you pray, but afterward when you carry this thing to the next prayer.
5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
These are for carrying. There are two of them, again a reference to a proper witness. The staves represent the ways of carrying such a load as this. First you need someone else to make it easier. Involve others in your prayers, so that in between when you are carrying them, you will not be alone. If you like, by all means ask Jesus to carry the front half! There is a reminder here how valuable these poles are, and how you got them in the first place. Covered with gold, from thorny wood. Because of their method of use, walking and holding them, they represent your walk, your works, and your burden between prayers.
6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
Two way communion with the Father is special. It requires one to enter the Holy of Holies where the Ark is. Between that place and this state of prayer defined by the construction of the altar of incense, hangs a veil.
We must be personally invited by God to go beyond the veil.
The pillars at that veil witness again of the number 4, proper orientation.
The poles of the Ark of the covenant push out from behind that veil, making two indentions in the curtain to represent nostrils behind a face veil. These nostrils wait to smell the incense. If the prayer is Holy, a voice from behind the veil says "come up here".
When you're lying in bed and hear "ok. let's talk" and you see a random smiling face, remember, it's NOT all in your head, but that's where it manifests itself. You don't have to worry if it's "Satan" or "schizophrenia", for two reasons, 1. satan is cursed to crawl on his belly and feed on death. he can bite you physically or parade around in front of you, but he can't jump inside your mind. All the horrible thoughts that pop into your head, are already in there just popping "up" from all the crap that was stuffed into your head by television and first hand observation of evil.
2. no "demon" can invite you into the Holy of Holies, because you have your heart in the right place when you pray. God Himself might show you things that are disturbing, but only what you can handle. And in my exprience, He has a sense of Humor, and give hints and conceals things, in order to teach by experience.
Proper use of our "altar of incense" guarantees that the surreal communication we have with the Father, is coming from nowhere but His Holy Spirit.
Here is what we shouldn't put on it...
"Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon."
To make it simple, these are things that constitute "conditional" and "token" prayers. Like recitations and vain repetitions.
Or "bartering" with God, like saying "God, I'll make a deal, I'll stop smoking if you will send a miracle to help with my broken car."
Jesus didn't teach us to recite, He meant to pray in that mindset. And coincidentally, if you stand before the Ark in the Holy of Holies, each phrase in that prayer describes in reverse order, the things that you asked Him to help you do as you stopped at each object on the way into the temple to get to the place you are at, in His presence.
Each phrase of "the lord's prayer" describes what you do at each object inside the temple and it's grounds.
After we've begun experiencing this prayer concept, Once per year, rather, every time we complete a cycle of our works in His name, we are to come and sprinkle blood of our other interim sacrifices on this altar. As if to reflect in conversation with Him on the past events. How it hurt, what was gained, give Him glory and thanks, and ask "what's next Father?"
And lest someone misunderstand that I am focusing on works here, we will notice that the "work related" items in the courtyard are made of bronze, not gold. Bronze is a tool that we cherish. Our works sprout forth from our heart, as if they were fruit instead. Otherwise they are dead works.
This item, the altar of incense, is positioned in our bodily temple, right between the mind and the heart.
That's my understanding. Even if some of this is disagreed with, if some part of it helps anyone else "build their altar of incense", that's all I prayed for.
I believe John was in this concept of prayer "in the Spirit" when he was praying about "the lord's day"
Because when he turned and saw the menorah behind him, he would have been (not physically) contemplating the showbread in front of him with the altar of incense burning to his left. Placing it on his right after he turned around.
If anyone else has input on how they read the altar of incense or other tabernacle implements, I'd love to hear.
Peace.
Altars are for making sacrifices
Incense equates to prayers
Once Jesus came on the scene and put the Torah inside our heart, we no longer need a physical altar (though we never really did, except so that it would be written for us in pattern for all time)
And we no longer need physical incense. We can pray any time we want, whatever we are doing. This altar though does represent an
effort to make certain particular prayers somehow Set Apart. Today's equivalent would be kneeling, laying down, etc. Whatever form
of supplication allows you to put your body at humble rest and focus your mind on your prayer.
The construction of the altar that was once physical, is now a symbolic representation of how we are expected to have prepared ourselves
for potential two way communion with the Father through prayer. Here is what I believe we should be doing today.
Exodus 30
And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
Make it yourself, make an effort to prepare yourself for earnest and real communication with the Father.
Make it out of Acacia wood, this wood is very beautiful but hard to get to because of the thorns.
Thorns are things we are afraid to think about. The things which are "taboo" to us when we think about
talking to God about them. The basis of the construction of our proper prayer vessel, is to get past
the sillyness of taboos when talking to the God that made us and our brains. In other words, you can
talk explicitly and honestly to God about how you crave the feel of the needle going into your arm.
You can ask Him if "such and such" is really even a sin. Having stripped away the thorns and used the
beautiful wood, you have made yourself naked in your heart before God so that you may judged by your
confessions and pour out what's in your heart before Him, not relying on Him to "read your mind".
Don't be ashamed to speak of anything with your creator.
Trash the "O Thou art Holy" fake speech and say "God, you rock." or "Daddy, I love you." or "God,
I am so happy you love me." Whatever your REAL voice is.
The design of this thing is to teach us to get real in prayer.
A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.
It is one unit by one unit front to back, side to side, it is a "single entity", (you) which also has the following attributes: four sides, 2 units tall.
Four in scripture always references or pulls from the concept of having proper orientation for a servant: lion, ox, man, eagle, east west south north.
Whatever you control, you must do so with righteous intent, you must be willing to make sacrifices, you must be serving your fellow man, even though you screw up, and you must speak the truth about God. And all 4 are connected. You can't have one without the others, and be properly oriented. This means if a person is claiming to be a good employer, yet they do not make sacrifices to serve their employees and others, they are missing at least one part of the equation.
And God said these things must be constructed precisely.
There are horns on the four corners. Horns (the animal kind) are for control. The horns on each of the 4 corners indicate that by way of the above proper orientation, you control things correctly. Whether that be an employee, child, or especially self. Self, because the horns are one piece with your prayer vessel, they are your 4 horns. All of this proper orientation points to the state of mind we should enter prayer with.
The two units height is a shadow of the two witness concept, anywhere 2 are encountered in scripture. Like the two cherubim that witness the mercy seat, transfiguration scene, many others you already know of. Make the Torah and the prophets concept a part of your prayer. In other words, be ready to deal with the past and the future, the law and the freedom, the moses kind of struggles and the elijah kind of struggles. Etc.
3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
Gold is whatever you hold dearest in life, whether it's your rock star fantasy, your wall street goal, your ranking in the bowling league, whatever. But here we are told to make THIS item out of gold. These temple implements that are covered in gold, are telling us that these are to now become our most important things in life.
And they are not only covered in gold, they are crowned in it, to overemphasize this to the point that these ideas become little kings or authorities to us in our life.
We are to become almost obsessed with them.
Prayer is one of these gold covered items.
A side note, two particular items, the menorah and the mercy seat, are made of pure gold, not simply covered. "Trying to figure out God and life" is made to be the primary obsession in the mind, as the mercy seat and witnesses of that mercy, are the primary obsession in the heart.
4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.
The two rings are on the corners of this piece are unlike the other items. This is because while in transit, it should be oriented with the corners pointing forward, back and side to side, because its the corners that "point" from this thing towards it's four directions of orientation. To emphasize the orientation aspect of it, as you go forth with it. In other words, don't just be oriented when you pray, but afterward when you carry this thing to the next prayer.
5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
These are for carrying. There are two of them, again a reference to a proper witness. The staves represent the ways of carrying such a load as this. First you need someone else to make it easier. Involve others in your prayers, so that in between when you are carrying them, you will not be alone. If you like, by all means ask Jesus to carry the front half! There is a reminder here how valuable these poles are, and how you got them in the first place. Covered with gold, from thorny wood. Because of their method of use, walking and holding them, they represent your walk, your works, and your burden between prayers.
6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
Two way communion with the Father is special. It requires one to enter the Holy of Holies where the Ark is. Between that place and this state of prayer defined by the construction of the altar of incense, hangs a veil.
We must be personally invited by God to go beyond the veil.
The pillars at that veil witness again of the number 4, proper orientation.
The poles of the Ark of the covenant push out from behind that veil, making two indentions in the curtain to represent nostrils behind a face veil. These nostrils wait to smell the incense. If the prayer is Holy, a voice from behind the veil says "come up here".
When you're lying in bed and hear "ok. let's talk" and you see a random smiling face, remember, it's NOT all in your head, but that's where it manifests itself. You don't have to worry if it's "Satan" or "schizophrenia", for two reasons, 1. satan is cursed to crawl on his belly and feed on death. he can bite you physically or parade around in front of you, but he can't jump inside your mind. All the horrible thoughts that pop into your head, are already in there just popping "up" from all the crap that was stuffed into your head by television and first hand observation of evil.
2. no "demon" can invite you into the Holy of Holies, because you have your heart in the right place when you pray. God Himself might show you things that are disturbing, but only what you can handle. And in my exprience, He has a sense of Humor, and give hints and conceals things, in order to teach by experience.
Proper use of our "altar of incense" guarantees that the surreal communication we have with the Father, is coming from nowhere but His Holy Spirit.
Here is what we shouldn't put on it...
"Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon."
To make it simple, these are things that constitute "conditional" and "token" prayers. Like recitations and vain repetitions.
Or "bartering" with God, like saying "God, I'll make a deal, I'll stop smoking if you will send a miracle to help with my broken car."
Jesus didn't teach us to recite, He meant to pray in that mindset. And coincidentally, if you stand before the Ark in the Holy of Holies, each phrase in that prayer describes in reverse order, the things that you asked Him to help you do as you stopped at each object on the way into the temple to get to the place you are at, in His presence.
Each phrase of "the lord's prayer" describes what you do at each object inside the temple and it's grounds.
After we've begun experiencing this prayer concept, Once per year, rather, every time we complete a cycle of our works in His name, we are to come and sprinkle blood of our other interim sacrifices on this altar. As if to reflect in conversation with Him on the past events. How it hurt, what was gained, give Him glory and thanks, and ask "what's next Father?"
And lest someone misunderstand that I am focusing on works here, we will notice that the "work related" items in the courtyard are made of bronze, not gold. Bronze is a tool that we cherish. Our works sprout forth from our heart, as if they were fruit instead. Otherwise they are dead works.
This item, the altar of incense, is positioned in our bodily temple, right between the mind and the heart.
That's my understanding. Even if some of this is disagreed with, if some part of it helps anyone else "build their altar of incense", that's all I prayed for.
I believe John was in this concept of prayer "in the Spirit" when he was praying about "the lord's day"
Because when he turned and saw the menorah behind him, he would have been (not physically) contemplating the showbread in front of him with the altar of incense burning to his left. Placing it on his right after he turned around.
If anyone else has input on how they read the altar of incense or other tabernacle implements, I'd love to hear.
Peace.
