The incense was not for God to see; it was for Him to smell. This indicates that God smells our prayer rather than sees it. What does your prayer smell like? This question may help us to realize that the incense is a deeper type, a type that cannot be understood merely according to doctrine or teaching. We can understand this type only by our experience.
Both the ointment and the incense are Christ. God’s coming to us is Christ, and our prayer ascending to Him is also Christ. The anointing is from God and is also of God, for the anointing actually is God Himself. We have used paint as an illustration of the ointment. Just as we paint a wall with paint, so God anoints us with Himself. He “paints” us with Himself as the divine paint. When God anoints us with Himself as the ointment, He is applied to us and comes into us. In other words, when God anoints us with Himself, He is added to us. His divine element is added to our being in somewhat the same way as paint is added to a wall. This anointing is God’s coming.
Now we must go on to realize that our prayer is our going to God in Christ. Furthermore, because the incense is Christ, our prayer is actually a matter of going to God as Christ. What is genuine prayer? Genuine prayer is Christ. This kind of prayer, prayer which is actually Christ, is our going to God in Christ. This is not merely our going to God; it is our going to God through Christ and with Christ. The anointing brings God to us 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. At the altar in the outer court God has food. But the fragrance that makes God happy and satisfies Him ascends from the golden altar of incense. What God desires is not only food to satisfy His appetite, but also a pleasant fragrance to please Him.
Day by day we may eat healthy, nourishing food. But sometimes this food has little taste. Often people go to a restaurant not to enjoy nourishing food but to enjoy pleasant-tasting food. Children, in particular, like to eat things that taste good. God also has a sense of taste and smell. Do not think that God is so majestic that He does not enjoy a fragrant aroma. God not only eats—He also enjoys a pleasant fragrance.
At the bronze altar we offer Christ to God as food. The burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering all typify Christ as food for God to eat. Whenever we offer Christ to God as the peace offering, there is food for God to eat. However, we need to remember that God also enjoys tasting and smelling.
Very few Christians are interested in hearing about things like this. Only those Christians who truly seek the Lord have the desire to know these things. If you are not seeking the Lord Himself, you will have no interest in messages on the incense. Such messages will not tickle your ears. But the genuine seeking ones surely will want to hear a word concerning the incense. They will be interested in hearing about what is sweet smelling to God. I can testify that genuine prayer is sweet.
With the two altars, the bronze altar and the golden altar, there is both nourishment and enjoyment for God. The altar in the outer court is larger than the altar in the Holy Place. The altar in the outer court is made of bronze, and the altar in the Holy Place is made of gold. Furthermore, the golden incense altar is finer than the bronze altar of burnt offering. On the bronze altar there was a great deal of wood and, consequently, a big pile of ashes. But on the golden altar of incense only a small fire burned, and the ashes were very limited in quantity. This altar is not for nourishment, for feeding. It is for fragrance and satisfaction. The purpose of the incense altar is to cause a fragrant aroma to ascend to God for His enjoyment. This is the way our prayer should be.
We have a short hymn in our hymnal that speaks of the two-way traffic between God and us and between us and God. The last stanza of this hymn, a hymn on both the ointment and the incense, goes like this:
Ointment is Christ for us,
Exceeding glorious!
Incense is Christ for God,
Wholly for Him.
Ointment flows down to us,
Christ is our portion thus;
Incense ascends to God,
Fragrant to Him.
’Tis by th’ anointing
Christ we experience
And then the incense burn.
Christ in our prayer and praise—
O what a Christ we raise
From our experience,
Precious to God.
Hymns, #1116
This hymn well expresses the burden of this message. My burden is to show you the divine traffic; it is to help you see that God comes to us through Christ, and we go to God in Christ and through Christ. In fact, God’s coming is Christ, and our going to God should also be Christ.
We need to be impressed with the fact that our going to God is our prayer. Perhaps you have never imagined that our going to God is our prayer and that this prayer should be Christ Himself.