We place this chapter after the chapter on “The Cross and Prayer” on the basis of the procedure in the tabernacle. When the priest would go in to the incense altar to burn incense, he had to first pass through the offering altar. By this we have seen the relationship between the cross and prayer. After passing through the offering altar and coming into the Holy Place, we find there two items of furniture in addition to the incense altar. There is the table of showbread, followed by the golden lampstand. The showbread and the golden lampstand are for the incense altar. In other words, whoever goes before God to burn the incense must first set the showbread upon the table and keep the lamps of the lampstand in order. Keeping the lamps in order is a matter of life illumination, which we will deal with in the next chapter. In this chapter we will first look at life supply and prayer, that is, the relationship between the showbread table and the incense altar.
The type of the tabernacle in the Old Testament shows us that the showbread table and the incense altar are related. It also reveals to us that all those who burn incense at the incense altar eat of the holy sacrifice upon the offering altar. We know that the holy things refer to Christ Himself being food to those who serve God. All those who burn incense at the incense altar are dependent on the holy things of the offering altar to be their supply. In addition, they should not neglect the aspect of the showbread while they are in the Holy Place. When they burn the incense, not only do they depend on the sacrifice for their food; they are also very much dependent upon the showbread. The holy sacrifice and the showbread being placed before God show forth the fact that the priest’s going before God to burn the incense, to pray, is related to life supply. Therefore, if we really want to understand what it means to pray before God in the Holy Place, we must know the supply of the holy sacrifice and the showbread. We must know the relationship between life supply and prayer.
The types clearly indicate to us that everyone who burns incense must take the offerings as their food and have the showbread set before God. Anyone who does not eat the sacrifice properly and anyone who does not have the showbread to bring into the Holy Place shall not be able to burn incense at the incense altar. These two aspects of life supply-one on the inside and the other on the outside-are prerequisites to our prayer. Hence, one who prays before God must take in Christ as his life supply day by day.
In chapter four we have specifically covered the life of prayer. The life of the new creation which we have received possesses numerous characteristics and innate abilities. One of these many characteristics and innate abilities is prayer. We all know that whenever we are able to pray we feel comfortable within; but whenever we are unable to pray we feel imprisoned, uncomfortable, and unnatural. This means that the characteristic and innate ability of the life in us demands us to pray. If we allow this ability to be expressed, it will lead us spontaneously into prayer, and we will thus feel at ease. But if our situation does not allow this life to spontaneously lead us into prayer, we will sense a condition of being bound. I believe that the children of God have this kind of experience to some extent. This sense of being bound when we fail to pray and feeling at ease when we do pray proves that the life of the new creation within us is a praying life.
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