“And thou shalt put it (the incense altar) before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony...where I will meet with thee” (Exo. 30:6). The incense altar was put before the ark. The cover upon the ark is called the mercy seat, and upon the mercy seat the redeeming blood is sprinkled. It is here that the Lord meets with His people.
“And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations” (Exo. 30:7-8). This is called the constant, perpetual incense which is burnt on the incense altar all day, all year, and all the time from morning to evening.
Now we must read Leviticus 4:7: “And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” After the blood was shed from the offering on the brass altar in the outer court, it was brought into the Holy Place to be sprinkled on the four corners of the incense altar.
From the above verse we see that there are two altars with the tabernacle. The tabernacle was composed of the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, and the outer court which was outside the tent itself. The incense altar was in the Holy Place before the ark, but in the Old Testament, it was separated from the ark by the veil. The first thing in the outer court was the brass altar. This was the altar for the offerings. So we must keep in mind that the tabernacle had two altars: the brazen altar and the golden altar. The brazen altar was for the priests to offer all the sacrifices to God, and the blood of those offerings was shed upon this altar. This may be called the outer altar, for it was in the outer court. The golden altar was the altar within the tabernacle, and it was for the burning of the incense. This altar may be called the inner altar.
The sin offering was slain upon the outer altar and some of the blood was brought to the inner altar to be put on its four corners. Then the rest of the blood was poured at the bottom of the outer altar.
“And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces” (Lev. 9:24). On the day of the inauguration of Aaron and the other priests, they offered many offerings. Then fire came out from the presence of the Lord and fell upon all the offerings and consumed them. It was not earthly fire, but heavenly fire. It was not fire made by human hands, but fire sent by the divine hand. It was the heavenly, divine fire.
“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD” (Lev. 10:1-2). It is quite serious and solemn to offer strange fire before the Lord.
Then let us read Leviticus 16:12: “And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil.” Here we see that the priest was to burn the incense with the fire from the offering altar. This means that he used the heavenly fire, not the strange fire.
Now we must read three verses from the New Testament. “And it came to pass, that, while he (Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist) executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense” (Luke 1:8-10). We see here that the interpretation of burning the incense is to pray. While the priest was burning the incense, the multitude of the people were praying. Therefore, to burn the incense really means to pray.