Archive for October, 2008

Exodus 27:9-10 – “Make a courtyard for the tabernacle. The south side shall be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains of finely twisted linen, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. . .”

While the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, God told them to make a large portable temple that they could carry with them and set up wherever they encamped. This is how we define the “Tabernacle” now, although the word originally meant simply “a tent.” More than one-third of the book of Exodus focuses on God’s revelations about how to make the Tabernacle, and on the Israelites’ construction of it according to God’s plans.

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Exodus 30:8-10 – “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps.  He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.  Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it.  Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns.  This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come.  It is most holy to the Lord…”

The Altar of Incense teaches us valuable lessons about prayer, intercession, and the Work of the Lord Jesus in our midst.   It was one of the three furnishings inside the Holy Place, along with the Table of Showbread and the Lampstand.  The Altar of Incense stood closest to the Ark of the Covenant, where God would manifest his presence in a special way. 

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Exodus 30:1-6 - ”Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense.  It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high —its horns of one piece with it.  Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.  Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it.  Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.  Put the altar in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the atonement cover that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you…”

ACACIA WOOD & GOLD – The Lord instructed the Israelites to make the Altar of Incense from acacia wood, and then to overlay it with gold.  Acacia is a soft wood from a tree that grows in the desert; it produces long, sharp thorns like those used for the crown of thorns that the Roman soldiers forced onto Jesus’ brow.  Jesus Christ was both human and divine – this is one of the mysteries of the Gospel. 

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The Altar of Incense was one of the three furnishings inside the Holy Place, along with the Table of Showbread and the Lampstand.  The Altar of Incense stood closest to the Ark of the Covenant, where God would manifest his presence in a special way.  Today it teaches us valuable lessons about prayer, intercession, and the Work of the Lord Jesus in our midst.   

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Daniel 5:24-28 - But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.  Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.  This is the inscription that was written: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin.”  This is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. 

Peres (some versions PARSIN): Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

The pagan feast of Belshazzar is a perfect symbol of the world without God: in decadence and indifferent to God’s warnings concerning the impending judgment. In the description of this feast we find the picture of the ways of the world: vulgarity and a reprehensible conduct. A party was taking place in the palace, but that was going to be the last one in the Babylonian empire, because a (prophetic) judgment had already been issued against it.

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Hebrews 9:3-4 – “Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.  Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.”

In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle and the Temple had an inner room called the “Most Holy Place” (or the Holy of Holies in some Bible versions).  The Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark of the Covenant played a crucial role in the major events in Israel’s history. 

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Exodus 30:1-10 - ”Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high —its horns of one piece with it. Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Put the altar in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the atonement cover that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you. Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come. Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord…”

continue