Let us be clear about the matter of our emotions. We need to be emotional. Some say that we are too emotional. But no one can be like the Apostle Paul if he is not emotional. Paul was very emotional: many times he spoke and wrote to the saints with tears. Once he said, “What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of meekness?” (1 Cor. 4:21). Paul could be very emotional. At another time he said, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye...?” (1 Thes. 2:19). It is good to be emotional. If you can never be emotional, you can never be spiritual. But listen, not naturally emotional, but emotional in the spirit; not emotional with strange fire, but with heavenly fire. Our natural emotion must be consumed on the burnt offering altar. All the natural things must be consumed there. We need to offer praises, we need to be released, yet we still need to be dealt with; we need many dealings through the cross.
Do not think to be noisy is emotional. If we can never weep publicly while preaching the gospel, I do not think we can bring many people to the Lord. I have read the biography of a brother who had no eloquence whatever. He was able to speak very little, but whenever he stood to speak for the Lord Jesus, his tears flowed down. Just by that kind of weeping many persons were converted to Christ. All spiritual people are emotional. Learn to be emotional; then you will know how to be spiritual. Learn to laugh; learn to weep. Do not learn so much teaching, but learn the things that will help you turn to the spirit. If you exercise yourself overmuch in your mentality, you will lose the laughing spirit. Don’t think you are so smart. Turn from your mentality to the spirit and praise the Lord. Learn to exercise your spirit and be happy and joyful. Rejoice in the presence of the Lord, and you will be much in the spirit.
We must never forget that on the incense altar is the redeeming blood. Whenever we offer praise to God, we must realize that we need the blood. In ourselves we have no merit upon which to stand. The only merit, the only ground, is the redeeming blood of the Lamb. We have to say to the Lord Jesus continually, “We offer our praises to God under the covering of Your precious blood.” The redeeming blood must always be applied to the horns of the incense altar. Without the blood, all manner of praises, no matter how rich and high, can never be effective.
In Numbers chapter sixteen we see that the atonement is accomplished at the offering altar. We also see in verse 46 a kind of burning of the incense which is in the power and effectiveness of the atonement. “And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun.” At that time the people of Israel sinned against God, and God judged them by sending among them a deadly plague. The remedy was fire from the offering altar with incense put therein—this could make an atonement for the people. What does this signify? It is a practical, instant experience of the redemption of Christ. If you offer praises to God under the covering of the Lord’s precious blood and with heavenly fire in the spirit, it is not only an acceptance and fragrant odor to God, but also a kind of redemption. The problem between you and God will be solved, the death will be removed, and the plague will be gone. You may have no intention, in a sense, to receive such redemption, but as long as you burn the incense in this way, an amount of redemption is included. You will not only be accepted by God, you will not only satisfy God, but there will be an amount of redemption that will solve all the problems between you and God. All the plague of death will be removed; all the barriers between you and God will spontaneously be dissolved. You will be fully at peace with God, and God will grant you sweet acceptance.
Note finally that the center of all that which we have been speaking is the tent of meeting. Learn to praise God, learn to burn the incense in this way, not just in your homes, but in the meetings. Then our meetings will be enriched, strengthened, and uplifted.