When we burn the incense, however, we should not offer strange incense. Anything strange is an insult to God. What is strange incense? Anything which is not Christ is strange incense. You may be an exceedingly fine person—humble, patient and gentle, etc. If we are such, there is always within us a kind of subconscious concept that in ourselves we are fairly good. Sometimes, of course, our estimation is not so correct. You may think you are good, but really you are not so good. You may think you are humble, but really you are not so humble. If you come to God with anything of your supposed inherent goodness, you are burning strange incense. Do not bring anything other than Christ, no matter how good it may be. Anything but Christ is strange and is an insult to God.
Let me illustrate. The marriage life is really a problem. Suppose, however, that you are a brother who has never given your dear wife a difficult time. You have always been patient, humble, and kind toward her, and as a result, she has spread your praise abroad. If, when you come to the Lord, you bring just a little of this goodness of yours before Him, you are burning strange incense. Regardless of how good you are, that kind of goodness can never be offered to God. Instead of a fragrance, it will be a blasphemy.
What we can offer to God is nothing but Christ. We must say, “O Father God, I have nothing to offer You, nothing which You can accept, but Christ, only Christ. Regardless of whether I am sinful or good, all I bring to Thee is Thy dear Son, Christ.” No strange incense should ever be offered to God.
But the problem today is not so much with strange incense, but with strange fire. The fire that consumes the incense must be from the heavens, from God. What is the significance of strange fire? Strange fire is natural enthusiasm. When you are natural in your fervency, you are offering strange fire before the Lord. Sometimes we need to be emotional. To be emotional is right, but to be naturally emotional is wrong. When you come to burn the incense, you must use the fire from the offering altar. The offering altar simply means the cross. We must pass through the cross that we may offer Christ as the incense to God. Now the problem is not with the incense, but with our burning. By what kind of fire do we burn the incense? With what kind of fervency do we offer the praise of Christ to God?
The enemy is exceedingly subtle. In so many matters he would keep us either at one extreme or push us to the other. In this matter of praising the Lord, many dear Christians have been retained by the enemy in the extreme of silence, and not only silence, but something much worse—death. They really believe, however, that they are right. When they come to a meeting which is full of praising and singing, of shouting and joyful noise, they are offended and extremely critical. They like to be kept in that extreme. They have their human concept. This is the subtlety of the enemy to keep them from the incense altar. If you would not open your mouth to pray and praise the Lord, you can never minister at the incense altar. Whether those who make noise are right or wrong is another matter, but to be dumb and silent is undoubtedly wrong. Those who shout and make a joyful noise may be fifty percent wrong, but it is certain that those who shut their mouths are one hundred percent wrong. No one should be a dumb worshipper. We must make some noise. Christians are praying ones, Christians are praising ones, and Christians are preaching ones. If you never open your mouth, how can you preach? You may say that you preach not by what you say, but by what you are. Then you are just a dumb preacher. If so, God must be wrong, for He created you with an organ for speaking. You may say that your mouth is for eating. But eating is just for yourself; preaching is for God, speaking is for others. We all must say something. I do not believe Christians should cease from speaking. They should speak all the day long, either to God, to human beings, to the angels, to the demons and Satan, or sometimes to the creation (Mark 16:15). Every one must know that Jesus is my Lord and your Lord.
When we come to the meetings, we must be speaking members. In the last one and a half centuries the Lord has recovered the universal priesthood. If we would minister in our priestly office, we must open our mouths to speak something, to pray, to praise, or to sing. I am more than sure that you are wrong if you would not open your mouth.
Now we come to the other extreme. If the devil could not hold us at one extreme, he will push us to the other. He will cause us to burn the incense with a strange fire, with something natural which has never been dealt with. So we need to be balanced. On one hand we need to be released, and on the other hand we need a certain amount of restraint. These two laws are always in operation to maintain anything in existence. Every one of us must be released, and after being released, every one of us must be restricted. The fire with which the incense is burned on the incense altar must be taken from the offering altar. Our fervency must originate in the spirit through the dealing of the cross.
To be a faithful servant to the Lord in the ministry of the Word is not easy. We would all like to please all men. I realize that among those reading this book there are two kinds of persons: some who would never open their mouth, and some who would never close their mouth. I must be faithful in speaking to both. Those who never open their mouth are one hundred percent wrong. I condemn this. I do not condemn you, but I condemn the dumbness. As a little servant of the Lord, I must speak the truth. Some of you, however, are so bold. You must take heed: is that kind of boldness natural or spiritual? Does that kind of boldness originate in your natural disposition, or in your spirit? You see, we need to be balanced; we need an equal proportion on each side. This is something of the Lord Jesus. I hope that we all may be equally balanced to open our mouths and at the same time to utter something with heavenly fire. We must burn the incense and burn it with fire from God. Those who would not open their mouths must obtain mercy and find grace to be delivered from their dumbness. We speak much about the Lord Jesus as our life and salvation, and in this very matter of dumbness we need Him as our life and our salvation. We need to be utterly delivered from this kind of silence. Then, on the other hand, once we are set free we need a certain amount of restriction, a certain amount of balance and checking within, that we may not burn the incense with anything natural, but with fire from God. We must offer our praises from the spirit.