ALTAR OF INCENSE
The altar of incense was outside of the Holy of Holies just in front of the veil (Exodus 30:1-10). The veil separated humanity from God. God met the high priest in the Holy of Holies once a year, but daily the high priest served at the altar of incense. This was no small deal. The purpose of the altar was to be a visual and aromatic representation of prayers (Psalm 141:2, Revelation 5:8, Revelation 8:3-5). No animals were sacrificed on this altar but sometimes the blood of sacrifices was applied to horns on this altar (Leviticus 4:6-7). Offering incense was integral to being a priest (Deuteronomy 33:10, 1 Samuel 2:28, 1 Chronicles 23:13). To burn incense was to ritualistically embody the prayers of Israel.
Hebrews describes Jesus as the Great High Priest who offered up prayers and supplications (Hebrews 5:7-10). Jesus, likewise, intercedes for us in His Great Priestly reality (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25). Jesus gave up Himself as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). This verse connects us to the altar of burnt offerings and the altar of incense. In the OT, both were cleansed by sacrificial blood. The altar of burnt offerings was the furthest from the Holy of Holies while the altar of incense was closest. Jesus is being portrayed as the reality, fulfillment or embodiment of prayer. He is Priest who offers up fragrant offerings and sacrificial offerings. He is both. In him, our prayers are heard, seen and smelled by the Father.
THE VEIL
In the Old Testament holiness depended on proximity or space. The closer to the Holy of Holies you were, the holier the space. The further away, the more unholy. To move away from the Holy of Holies would take you to the Holy Place, then the court and altar, then Jerusalem, then to the land borders. Inside Jerusalem you would be in the Holy City (Isaiah 52:1, Nehemiah 11:1). But if you were on the outside of Jerusalem and if you were to approach the Holy of Holies, you would encounter graded or gradual holiness. Entering Jerusalem, you'd encounter the court of the Gentiles (for Jews and Gentiles). A sign warning the Gentiles was posted in Latin and Greek saying that one would incur death if they proceeded any further. Then you'd approach the Court of Prayer for Jewish women. Then even closer was the Court of the Israelites for men. Then you'd actually enter the temple proper where there was a Court of the Priests where the altar of burnt offerings was the bronze basin. Even closer was the Holy Place and finally the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies.
Separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was the temple veil. In Jesus we see both the destruction of the physical temple veil (Matthew 27:50-51) which, secondly, shows us that He is the embodiment or fulfillment of the temple veil. In Christ, the sacrificial system is done away with because He provides access to God. The Day of Atonement is closed (Leviticus 16, Hebrews 9:12). He provides access to God. Yet the tearing of the temple veil signified that the Holy of Holies in the temple was done away with. While, through Christ, we have access to God, access to God is not confined to a room within the temple. Zechariah prophesied of a time when holiness would extend beyond the Holy of Holies (Zechariah 14:20-21). While the early Jewish Christians would meet in the temple for a time, this transitional period would end with the destruction of the temple, signifying God's judgment upon the general Jewish population for their rejection of their covenant King. But the destruction of the temple also meant that God's presence had moved on. In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet foretells of the coming destruction of the temple by Babylon while showing God's glory departing in judgment. Yet there was a sense in which God went with the remnant into Babylon. God's intent has always been to dwell with humanity. So just as God's presence left the temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C. but went into Babylon, so too, God's presence was moving out of Jerusalem and moving into the world as indicated by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. God would begin to build a New Jerusalem and a New Temple within a New Covenant. United to Christ, we are the New Temple, and New Priesthood as a result of being brought into the first phase of the New Creation.
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AND THE MERCY SEAT
The Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat are located in the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. This was a gold-covered cube-shaped room. The Mercy Seat was the throne of God. The Ark of the Covenant was the Lord's footstool (Psalm 132:7). But for those steeped in idolatry, it would have been noticeable that no god was there due to the absence of an idol--the man-made object that a god would supposedly reside in. Israel was to make no images of God (Exodus 20:4-5). The Ark is the box of the covenant. It contained the covenant tablets God gave to Israel (Exodus 25:16, 21-22). The lid of this box was called a kapporet or Mercy Seat. Kapporet comes from the verb kapar where we get the word kippur (Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement). So this was the atonement lid. On top of this lid, two cherubim faced each other with outstretched wings. This is where God was enthroned (Psalm 80:1, 99:1). As noted earlier, this is where God would meet Israel through Moses and later mediatorial high priests (Exodus 25:22). While no images were there to represent God, this throne and footstool represented the presence of God. It's where heaven met earth. If the Ark was with them, God was with them (Numbers 10:33-26, Number 14:44, Joshua 3:11-17, Joshua 6:4-13, 1 Samuel 5:2-5).
On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and use incense to create a cloud to cover the entire area (Leviticus 16:12-13). Even though the High Priest was past the veil, there still was some visual separation from him and God in the form of smoke. The High Priest would also sprinkle the blood of a bull on the Mercy Seat--for himself and the priesthood. Then he'd sprinkle the blood of a goat on the Mercy Seat--for the nation (Leviticus 16:14-15). He also applied blood to the tabernacle and it cleansed everything (Leviticus 16:16-18). This was the only day that blood reached the throne of God. But this blood was inadequate and only paved the way and painted the reality of Christ own bodily sacrifice (Hebrew 9:8-12). Jeremiah foretold of a day when the Ark would be no longer remembered as the throne of God because the throne of God will be expanded to a bigger and more glorious Jerusalem (Jeremiah 3:16-17). Jerusalem/Zion would be a new Ark or throne and footstool and it'll be surrounded by Jews and Gentiles. Revelation 21 shows us this reality in a cube-shaped Holy City with gold streets called the New Jerusalem where God is enthroned. The nations and Israel are assembled there forever to live with the Lord. Jeremiah's prophecy is realized only in the New Covenant. The nations gathering to Jerusalem is the same thing as God moving out of Jerusalem in 70A.D. and creating a global expanded Jerusalem. Like the Old Covenant, the New Covenant contains a law, but not on tablets of stone. The law is inscribed on hearts (Jeremiah 31:32-34) and God will be the God of this people. God will dwell, not in a room within a temple, but within a people (Ezekiel 36:24-28).
Since the Ark and the lid represent the presence of God, while it portrays the saving work of Christ in the New Covenant, then Christ is the complete incarnation of the God who saves so that we may be with Him. He is ultimate enthroned one, ultimate veil, ultimate priest, ultimate sacrifice and ultimate altar of incense.
A RITUAL SERMON
The tabernacle rituals were meant to be continual visual sermons about what Christ would do to save sinners. Christ alone cleanses, forgives and sanctifies his people. He arrived to tabernacle with us (John 1:14) and in eternity we will forever dwell with Him on a new earth (Revelation 21:3).
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What new insights did you gain today?
2. Knowing that we are kingdom of priests, what role should prayer play in our lives?
3. Based on Jeremiah's prophecy, should we be on the lookout for a rebuilt Ark of the Covenant? Why or why not?
4. Why is it important to see Jerusalem as the expanded throne of God and what does this have to do with the New Jerusalem in Revelation?
5. Galatians 3:24 tells us that the Law was our guardian or schoolmaster until Christ came. In other words, it is meant to teach us all about Christ until Christ came to do what the Law was teaching us about. Knowing the Law a little better, can you now use the OT to speak of Christ in other ways?
6. Do you understand why all OT sermons about temple life and violations of the law should be related to Christ in some way?
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