In this message we will continue to consider the experience and enjoyment of Christ as another Angel in Revelation 8.
Revelation 8:4 says, “The smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the Angel before God.” 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. The point here is that to burn the incense actually means to pray Christ. The incense typifies the resurrected and ascended Christ, the unique One who is received by God and acceptable to Him. Thus, He becomes a sweet savor to God. This savor, as the incense, should be in our prayer. Since the incense signifies Christ, to burn the incense means to pray Christ. God’s desire is that when we pray, we pray Christ.
If we see that to burn the incense is to pray Christ, we will be ashamed of the way that we have often prayed in the past. We have prayed many things that are not Christ. Instead of burning Christ as the incense, we have burned strange incense, something other than Christ Himself. However, we should not offer as incense anything except Christ.
In Exodus 30 we first have a picture of the ointment (vv. 22-33); then immediately following is another picture showing us the incense (vv. 34-38). The significance of these two pictures is tremendous. It is that of two-way traffic, the coming and the going; the ointment is coming to us, and the incense is going to God. Christ as the Spirit coming to us is the ointment; Christ ascending from us to God is the incense. The ointment is toward us; the incense is toward God. The ointment is for us to enjoy, and the incense is for God’s enjoyment. Incense is absolutely and entirely for God. But there is an enjoyment for us—the ointment. The priests and all the parts of the tabernacle were anointed with the ointment. This is our portion. The incense is God’s portion. The ointment is Christ for us; the incense is Christ for God. We should have a two-way traffic in which Christ comes to us as the ointment, and He also goes back to God as the incense. After experiencing Christ as the ointment, we must “complete the circuit” by burning the incense. We need the anointing of the ointment, and we need the burning of the incense as well. God anoints us with the ointment, and we burn the incense to God. In short, the ointment brings God to us in Christ and through Christ for our participation in the divine element; the incense is our going to God with Christ and as Christ in prayer for God’s enjoyment. This kind of prayer simultaneously satisfies God with a sweet fragrance and carries out God’s economy, God’s administration.
Revelation 8 clearly shows us two things: the prayers of the saints and Christ as another Angel bringing much incense. The incense refers to the resurrected Christ. This incense is added to the prayers of the saints. Here we need to ask whether the Lord Jesus can simply add the incense to all our prayers. The answer is no. If we wish to have the Lord Jesus in resurrection added to our prayer, our prayer surely must pass through the redemption of the blood and the termination of the cross. The prayers in Revelation 8 are prayers of death and resurrection; hence, once the incense of those prayers is presented before God, immediately thunders and lightnings are poured down on earth. This means that God both hears and answers the saints’ prayers that are in death and resurrection.
Revelation 8 also shows us how God in His administration will judge this age. This judgment is waiting for the prayers of those who have received both the redemption of the blood and the termination by the cross. It is waiting for the prayers of those who have been resurrected to seek after His heart and stand on the position of death, thus allowing the resurrected Christ to be joined with their prayers. They will be tremendous prayers that can judge and end this age. The reason that the saints are able to pray for such high and great things is that they have been terminated at the cross and are able to allow the resurrected Christ to be added to their prayers. This is the meaning of the incense being added to the prayers.
True prayers are Christ in us praying to the Christ in heaven. Since we are men of many opinions, how can Christ find a way to come out of our prayers? To allow Him the way, we need to pass through the cleansing of the blood and the termination of the fire. Terminated ones have no opinions. After we receive redemption and termination at the cross, we can be united with Christ in our prayer. Consequently, our prayer is Christ. When Christ expresses Himself through us, that is the incense being added to our prayers.
The incense refers to the resurrected Christ with 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, Christ 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 that is acceptable to God and will be answered by Him.
As we saw in the previous message, in order to pray at the altar of incense, we must first experience the altar of burnt offering. In our experience of the altar of burnt offering, we need to have a full realization concerning the blood and the ashes. Although there are numerous aspects of the cross, with relation to prayer there are mainly two aspects. One aspect is signified by the blood shed on the altar, and the other is signified by the fire burning on the altar. When anyone offers a sacrifice at the altar of the burnt offering, and it is accepted by God and consumed by fire, there are only two things in front of him. These two things are the blood round about the altar and the coals upon the altar. As the ashes and the coals of fire are mixed together, eventually, what the offerer sees is just the blood and the fire.
The blood and the fire are the two important aspects of the cross in relation to prayer. The ability of a priest to enter the Holy Place to burn incense and pray before God is based on two things. First, he has brought with him the blood from the burnt offering altar outside and put it on the incense altar. Second, he has brought with him the fire, which consumed the sacrifice offered on the burnt offering altar outside, and has put the fire on the incense altar to burn the incense. The blood on the incense altar inside and the blood on the burnt offering altar outside are one and the same. The coals of fire on the incense altar and the coals of fire on the burnt offering altar are also one and the same. In other words, the blood on the incense altar inside is based on the blood on the burnt offering altar outside. The fire on the incense altar inside is based on the fire on the burnt offering altar outside. The blood is for redemption; the fire is for termination. Anything that is put into the fire will be terminated. The most serious damage done to anything is caused by fire. Whenever something passes through fire, it is consumed. On the cross the Lord shed His blood for redemption. Through His death He also brought in a great termination. Every sacrifice that is placed on the altar of the burnt offering not only sheds blood but also becomes ashes. The cross results in both redemption and termination.
If a person has not been sprinkled by the blood, before God he is just like Cain, who could neither be accepted by God nor pray. Everyone who is acceptable to God and able to pray has been sprinkled with the blood. But a person who goes before God to pray not only needs the redemption of the blood; he also needs to be one who has been consumed at the cross. Nadab and Abihu fell dead before God due to a problem concerning the fire, not concerning the blood (Lev. 10:1-2). Spiritually speaking, Nadab and Abihu went before God to pray according to their natural man, without having been consumed and terminated by the cross. Consequently, not only were their prayers not accepted by God, but even they themselves were struck dead by God. Hence, everyone who learns to pray must not only be redeemed by the blood but also be terminated and become ashes. Our natural life needs to be completely terminated by the cross.
Without the blood and the fire, no one could enter into the presence of God. Without the redemption and the termination of the cross, no one can have access to God. A man may be able to pray a great deal before God, but he should not be overconfident that all his prayers are acceptable to God. A person who knows how to pray is always one who has been both redeemed under the blood and terminated on the cross. When we go before God to pray, we first need to ask whether we have been terminated. Suppose we wish to pray concerning the gospel, our family, the giving of material things, or the matter of marriage. In each case we need to ask if we have been terminated in that particular matter. We must ask whether we are praying with any self-interest. Whatever we pray for, we need to have a termination in that matter.
We need to keep in mind that the fire that burns on the burnt offering altar is the same fire that burns incense on the incense altar. Only the fire that burns the sacrifice into ashes can be the fire that burns the incense. If the fire is brought to the incense altar to burn the incense without having burned the sacrifice into ashes, then that fire is called strange fire. If we have not been terminated in a certain matter yet bring that matter into the presence of God in prayer, it is a great offense to God.
Strictly speaking, if a person has not been terminated by the cross in a certain matter, it is not possible for him to truly pray for that matter. If we have not been terminated by the cross concerning a certain person, then we are not qualified to pray for him. Many times the Lord does not hear our prayers for our own families because we have not become ashes. Those prayers are merely natural prayers, prayers of strange fire. Many times when we pray for the church of God and for the work of the Lord, the Lord does not answer. We pray for the Lord’s blessings, yet we do not see the blessings. We pray for years, asking the Lord to make the church grow, but the church still may not have growth. Many of our prayers have not been answered, because they are prayers of strange fire, natural prayers.
It is erroneous to believe that God will surely hear our prayers because He is merciful and gracious to us. God often does not hear our prayers, because we, the praying ones, have not passed through the altar. Some bring with them only the blood of the altar but not the fire; they pass through the redemption but not through the termination of the altar. We need to remember that whenever man goes to burn incense at the incense altar, he must fulfill two basic conditions. First, he must experience the blood; that is, he must be redeemed and cleansed. Second, he must experience the fire; that is, he must be consumed and become ashes.
When the light of the Lord shines on us strongly, we will not be able to pray for a great number of things. The decrease in the number of our prayers may prove that we are being purified. If we recognize that many prayers are prayers of strange fire, we will see that those prayers are neither necessary nor right. We will not dare to pray those prayers which are for ourselves and not for God’s sake, because they are initiated by us, not by God. After we have been terminated by the cross, there is a great purification of our prayer.
Ashes mean that everything has been terminated, yet the fire that burns the ashes is still there to burn the incense before God. The incense refers to the Lord’s resurrection and the fragrance of the Lord in His resurrection. Where the Lord is, there is resurrection. Wherever we have been terminated, there is the manifestation of Christ. We first pass through the redemption of the cross before God, accept the termination of the cross, and truly become ashes before God. Then, immediately, Christ becomes the incense which we burn before God.
Genuine prayer is both Christ Himself and the expression of Christ. A prayer that is good, right, proper, true, and acceptable to God is the expression of Christ. If we are terminated on the cross, Christ will live out of such a termination. Christ then will be lived out in our prayer. Only such a prayer can be acceptable before God and be considered a prayer of sweet-smelling savor. This is a prayer of one who has passed through the cleansing of the blood and the termination of the fire, thus allowing Christ to come forth from within.
If we truly have a vision of this, we will prostrate ourselves before God, confessing our filthiness and naturalness. Initially we will not be able to utter any other prayer. We will see the need to be cleansed by the blood and consumed by the fire. We will say to God, “I am an unclean person, and I am also a natural man. To this day I am still in my natural self. I need Your blood to cleanse me and Your fire to consume me. I need the cross to redeem and also to terminate me.” When we thus allow the cross to terminate us, in a practical way we can experience Christ’s coming forth from us. It is this resurrected Christ who becomes our prayer, the incense which we burn before God. We may not pray many prayers, but those that we do pray will be answered by God.
We need to see the necessity for prayer to be in resurrection. In spiritual experience the outer court of the tabernacle denotes the earth, the earthly aspect, whereas the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies denote the heavens, the heavenly aspect. Whatever is heavenly is in resurrection. The table of the bread of the Presence signifies that the Lord is our bread of life. This is of the heavenly aspect and is therefore in resurrection. The golden lampstand indicates that the Lord is our light of life. This is also of the heavenly aspect and in resurrection. Man’s prayer before God, signified by the incense altar, should be entirely in resurrection. Man may go before God to burn incense, that is, to utter prayers before God by drawing near to God and contacting God. Such prayer must be absolutely in resurrection.
Among the spices that are burnt on the incense altar, the principal one is frankincense (Exo. 30:34). In the Bible frankincense specifically signifies resurrection, just as myrrh denotes death. The frankincense which is burnt on the incense altar is a symbol of resurrection. When the sweet-smelling savor ascends, there is altogether an atmosphere in resurrection. Hence, according to the type in the Old Testament, man’s going before God to burn incense is entirely a matter in resurrection. This indicates that man’s prayers before God must be in resurrection. Although we who pray are human beings, every prayer needs to be in resurrection. Furthermore, although we are praying on earth today, every prayer must be in the position of ascension. For our prayer to be acceptable to God and be considered by God as a sweet-smelling savor, it must be in resurrection and ascension.