According to 30:34, “there shall be an equal part of each.” This means that there was to be an equal proportion of each of the four basic elements. This signifies that all the attributes of Christ’s death and resurrection are even.
With the incense nothing should be unbalanced. However, many Christians today are not balanced in their experience. For example, certain believers place too great an emphasis on the experience of the cross. With them, there is no experience of resurrection. Rather, they are always talking about bearing the cross. It seems that they never have a happy, pleasant expression on their face. In the meetings of such Christians there may be much groaning, but there is very little praise, if any. I have attended meetings where the people spent a good deal of time groaning. The ones who attended those meetings emphasized the Lord’s death, but neglected His resurrection.
Other Christians, at the opposite extreme, seem always to be soaring with excitement. Actually, this is not the experience of the resurrection of Christ. Instead, it is an expression of natural emotion. Certain Pentecostalists are in this category. Often they will excitedly say, “Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus!” With them there is little sighing or groaning.
I use these examples to point out our need to be balanced in our experience of Christ. We need an equal portion of the Lord’s death and resurrection.
In the last message we emphasized the fact that we are salted by the death of Christ. Yes, we certainly need the salt of the Lord’s cross. Nevertheless, the incense still contains frankincense, which signifies resurrection. Along with our experience of the death of Christ, we need the experience of His resurrection.
The three spices indicate that the Lord Jesus lived a generating life, signified by the plant life, and also a redeeming life, signified by the animal life. The first and third spices, the stacte and the galbanum, are of the plant life. The second spice is of the animal life. All three spices signify the Lord’s death. According to the significance of the first spice, the stacte, Christ died to generate many sons. According to the significance of the second spice, onycha, He died to redeem fallen sinners. According to the significance of the third spice, galbanum, He died to expel the enemy. By this we see that Christ’s death has three functions: to redeem fallen sinners, to produce sons of God, and to expel the old serpent, the Devil. Praise the Lord for the functions of generating, redeeming, and expelling!
In the prescription for the ointment recorded in Exodus 30, definite quantities are designated for each ingredient. But in the prescription for the incense, no quantities whatever are mentioned. This signifies that Christ is immeasurable, unlimited. With this incense there is no measurement and no weight. In this universe there are no means available to tell the measure of Christ. For this reason, in Ephesians 3:18 Paul tells us that Christ is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth. In other words, Christ is unlimited. The unlimitedness of Christ is indicated by the fact that no measurements are given for the stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense. We are simply told that there were to be equal parts, or portions, of each element used to make the incense.
Verse 35 says, “And you shall make of it incense, an ointment, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy.” As we have seen, salt here signifies the effectiveness of Christ’s death. This salt kills negative things and also functions as a preservative (Lev. 2:13). In salt there is corruption-killing power. In typology salt signifies the preserving power of the death of Christ and also its killing power.
The elements of the incense are tempered together with salt. The anointing ointment is tempered with the olive oil, the Holy Spirit. But the incense is tempered with salt, the cross of Christ.
Verse 36 says, “And you shall grind some of it very fine, and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you.” According to verses 35 and 36, the incense must be salted, ground, and burned. The grinding of the incense and putting it before the testimony in the tent of meeting signifies the blending of Christ’s sweet death and His fragrant resurrection, and the offering of His death and resurrection to God on the incense altar as a base for the intercession of Christ and His members.
In order for our experiences of Christ to become a sweet fragrance to God, these experiences must be seasoned, ground, and eventually burned. When our experiences pass through such a process, they become a sweet fragrance to God. This means that not only do we need to experience the essence of what Christ is and does, but our experiences of this Christ need to be salted, ground, and burned. When something has been burned, it is reduced to ashes. Whatever we offer to God as incense will be consumed, but it will be fragrant to Him. Only when our experience of Christ has been salted, ground, and burned shall we have the incense to offer to God as a sweet-smelling fragrance. First we need the genuine experiences of Christ with all the ingredients of the incense. Then we need the salting, the grinding, and the burning of this incense. By this we see that experience is indispensable for the burning of the incense. We must have experiences of Christ, and these experiences must be salted, ground, and burned.
Exodus 30:37 and 38 say, “And the incense which you shall make, you shall not make for yourselves in its proportions; it shall be holy to you for Jehovah. Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.” In these verses we see that the incense is not at all for man’s smelling. The incense is absolutely for the Lord’s enjoyment and satisfaction. What does this mean for our experience in a practical way? It means that we should not pray so that others in the meeting will listen to us. Many times prayers are uttered for the sake of human listeners. This is a serious mistake. The incense should be offered only to God, it should ascend to God, and it should be enjoyed by God. For this reason, we should not pray for the sake of human listeners, but for the Lord’s satisfaction.
In these three messages on the incense we have covered a number of deep matters related to spiritual experience. I would encourage you to take an adequate amount of time to dwell on all these points by praying over them and by having fellowship with others concerning them.