The last piece of furniture we are going to look at in the Holy Place before going into the Holy of Holies is the altar of incense. This altar was used purely for offering incense to God and we find it described in Exodus 30:1-9:
“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 each of the 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 shields the ark of the covenant law – before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law – 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.”
This altar of incense is a type or symbol of prayer as we see in Revelation 8:3,4 “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.”
This altar is therefore a call for us to pray but it is also a type of Christ, whenever you see acacia wood and gold together you know that there is a type of Christ since wood stands for His humanity and gold for His divinity. So this altar shows us Jesus as our intercessor as it says in Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is able to save completely, those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
On Friday we will be moving into the Holy of Holies where we will look at the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. If you would like to learn more about Biblical typology in the Old Testament tabernacle please visit our Udemy course: https://www.udemy.com/course/biblical-typology-and-the-old-testament-tabernacle/?couponCode=LAUNCH2022 until tomorrow you can get this free using code LAUNCH2022.
