2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Sunday June 24, 2012 Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 30:1- 10-The Lord Gives Moses Instructions Concerning The Construction And Use Of The Altar Of Incense Lesson # 41

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 30:1.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries This morning we will study Exodus 30:1-10, which records the Lord giving Moses instructions concerning the construction and use of the altar of incense.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries

The priests would burn incense on the altar of incense and the fragrant aroma which ascended from the altar symbolized prayer or in other words it portrayed the prayers of the entire nation of Israel.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries

Exodus 30:1 Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit, it shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits; its horns shall be of one piece with it.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it. 4 You shall make two gold rings for it under its molding; you shall make them on its two side wallson opposite sidesand they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 7 Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. 8 When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 9 You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. 10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord. (NASB95)

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Verses 1-6 contain instructions regarding the construction of the altar of incense whereas verses 7-10 contain instructions regarding the proper use of this incense altar.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The first six verses reveal that the altar of incense was smaller than the bronze sacrifice altar or altar of burnt offering since it was eighteen inches square and thirty-six inches high.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Like the ark (25:10-20) and in particular like the table of showbread (25:23-28), the altar of incense was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries However, like the bronze altar of burnt offering (27:1-8), it had horns that extended upward from its top.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The altar of incense had a decorative molding of gold around the edge of its top, which would keep the incense on the surface of the table preventing it from sliding off.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Like the altar of burnt offering and the table of the showbread and the Ark of the Covenant, the incense altar also had gold rings through poles of acacia wood overlaid with gold, which could be inserted to carry it.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The altar of incense or incense altar stood in the holy place and specifically in front of the veil which separated the most holy place that contained the ark from the holy place, which contained the lampstand and table of showbread.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The Lord does not give Moses specific directions as to the placement of table of showbread or the golden lampstand.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries In Exodus 30:6, the Lord instructs Moses that he is to put this incense altar in front of this veil that is before the Ark of the testimony, which suggests that it was front and center directly before the veil or in the middle between the table and the lampstand.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The location of the incense altar has been a cause for confusion among some expositors since Hebrews 9:4 appears to describe its location as being in the holy of holies or most holy place rather than the holy place where the lampstand and table of showbread resided.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries However, Exodus 30:6, 40:3-5, explicitly state that it was located with the golden lampstand and table of showbread.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Hebrews 9:3 Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, 4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aarons rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. (NASB95)

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The reason Hebrews 9:3-4 describes the incense altar as being located in the holy of holies is that there was an intimate association between the altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant because the smoke of the incense burned penetrated the veil and permeated the holy of holies as it ascended before the ark.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Therefore, the writer of Hebrews to reflect this intimate association tied together the altar of incense and the ark by using the same participle χω, which the NASB95 renders having.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The offering of incense on the altar of incense coincided with the morning and evening sacrifices, which are described in Exodus 29:38-42.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Thus, it took place when the high priest was tending to the seven lamps on the lampstand which are mentioned in Exodus 25:31-39.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries He would put out these lamps in the morning and prepare them for lighting again once by the evening time.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The spacing of these offerings with one in the morning and one before sundown was intended to teach Israel that they were to pray night and day or in other words during the course of their day.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The Lord warns Moses in Exodus 30:9 that this altar of incense is to be used for nothing but burning incense.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries He was not to use any incense but that which He prescribes to use.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries There were to be no burnt offerings on this altar nor meal offering and nor was drink offerings to be poured out on it at any time.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries In Exodus 30:10, the Lord instructs Moses to make atonement on the horns of the incense altar once a year on the Day of Atonement with some of the blood of the offering for atonement, which was to be a perpetual statute.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries In Exodus 29:1, we saw that the horns of the altar of burnt offering were to be dabbed with blood at the consecration of the priests (Exodus 29:1, 10-12; Leviticus 8:14-15; 9:9).

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Like the horns on the altar of burnt offering, the horns of the incense altar were protrusions, which curved upward from the flat plane of the main surface of the altar.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries This contributed in holding anything on the altar from falling over the edge.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The horns on both altars portray Gods power since the horns of an animal signified its power.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries In Exodus 30:10, the Lord describes the altar of incense as most holy to the Lord rather than the process of purifying the altar annually since the process was the means to making and keeping the altar most holy, i.e. belonging to God and fit for the use which He prescribed for it.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The connection between incense and prayer is alluded to in various passages of Scripture.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries First of all, in Psalm 141:2, the Psalmist makes a request of God that his prayer be regarded as incense before Him.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries In Luke 1:10, the angel Gabriel went to inform Zacharias that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a child in their old age.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries He appeared standing to the right of the altar of incense while Zacharias was performing his duties in the holy place meanwhile the whole multitude of the Israelites were outside in prayer at the hour of the incense offering.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries In Revelation 5:8, the Lord Jesus Christ received the title deed to the earth from the Father and when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which were said to be the prayers of the saints.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Then, in Revelation 8:3, when the Lord Jesus Christ broke the seventh seal toward the end of the last three and a half years of Daniels Seventieth Week an angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer and much incense was given to him.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries The purpose of this was so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Revelation 8:4 says that the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angels hand.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Now, Hebrews 8:2-5 and 9:24 make clear that the earthly tabernacle in Israel reflected Gods heavenly tabernacle.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Therefore, it is assumed that the Israelites were aware of the fact that the incense altars purpose was to symbolize the prayers of the Israelites as they were made during the course of the day.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Furthermore, the perpetual burning of incense was teaching the Israelites their need to pray at all times during the course of their day.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Make it your habit to pray. (My translation)

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Aaron as well as the Israelites were conscious of the fact that Aaron represented the people through his actions while serving in the tabernacle, thus his offering of incense was a means of symbolizing the prayers of the Israelites.

2012 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries