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Revelation 8
2 I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3 Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand.
5 The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it on the earth. There followed thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Make you two trumpets of silver; of beaten work shall you make them: and you shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps. When they shall blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the tent of meeting. If they blow but one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall take their journey. When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.
The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and they shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations. When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before Yahweh your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am Yahweh your God. (Numbers 10:1-10)
Trumpets were used as a call to worship or to alert people about an impending war or any announcement of something significant. The war we are in is a result of Satan's subversive attacks on God's reputation and against His way of governing. We are now entering the final showdown in history between the two contending sides, and the fierce battles are over the soul of every individual.
What we need to learn and practice is the New Song which is totally focused on the truth about God's goodness through praise, gratitude and worship inspired by an intelligent appreciation of His character, not motivated by fear or punishment avoidance but in genuine, authentic, responsive love awakened in the heart. This is the war, not a war over who is able to punish their enemies but what methods and motives will we embrace to fight those of the opposing side. All those who stand before the throne know that God is worthy of all trust, praise, glory, honor and overwhelming gratitude, simply because of who He is.
It is this truth that gives these trumpets the sound of certainty that they need to effect the kind of power sufficient to dissolve all the distortions of evil and overcome its power.
Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but rather that you would prophesy. For he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets, that the assembly may be built up. But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with other languages, what would I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching?
Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they didn't give a distinction in the sounds, how would it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet gave an uncertain sound, who would prepare himself for war? So also you, unless you uttered by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into the air.
There are, it may be, so many kinds of sounds in the world, and none of them is without meaning. If then I don't know the meaning of the sound, I would be to him who speaks a foreigner, and he who speaks would be a foreigner to me.
So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound to the building up of the assembly. Therefore let him who speaks in another language pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in another language, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. (1 Corinthians 14:5-15)
It happened, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, saying, For he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of Yahweh, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:13-14)
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns! The voice of your watchmen! they lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when Yahweh returns to Zion. (Isaiah 52:7-8)
Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark: and the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him. Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh. (Joshua 6:4-6)
What we see emerging here is the power of praise and gratitude which is the essence of the New Song. What I am learning is how both the trumpets and the following set of 7 bowls are all about relying on praise and prayers to defeat the entire system of the empire of evil that controls all who dwell on the earth. We are in training to learn how to use God's weapons instead of those of His enemies. We need to view these trumpets and bowls in an entirely new light if we want to participate in the final successful assault of the Lamb on the camp of the enemy and overcome even as He overcame.
The 7 trumpets, which is the second set of 7's, intensifies the messages of truth about God's character that began as Satan's lies were increasingly exposed in the breaking of the seals by the Lamb. Now His accomplices on earth, the kingdom of priests, are called upon to join Him in His assault and increase the amplitude of the call for all to choose whom they will serve, whose system to embrace and emulate – God and His methods and disposition, or the methods and tactics of the counterfeit.
Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn't take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn't take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn't blow the trumpet, and the people aren't warned, and the sword comes, and take any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. (Ezekiel 33:2-6)
While God does not threaten direct violence on those who reject Him and His law of love, He is very urgent to extend warnings in every way possible to alert people to their mortal danger of turning away from the only Source of life that exists. We are now in the final days of earth's history, and the warnings and invitations of God take on a urgency like never before in history.
It happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lower part of the mountain. Mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. (Exodus 19:16-19)
All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance. (Exodus 20:18)
Notice the striking similarity between these descriptions and the context of what we are studying.
The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it on the earth. There followed thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake.
For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, for they could not stand that which was commanded, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned;" and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, "I am terrified and trembling."
But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-24)
While perfect love casts out all fear, and nothing we present should in any way dismiss or ignore that central truth about the gospel, we are to see how warnings fit into God's plan to save as many as possible without slipping into the mindset of fear manipulation. This is one of the most subtle traps of Satan for the people who want to serve God, for it is so easy to imagine that God wants to make people afraid and motivate them to return to Him out of fear of punishment.
While God is not the source of all the violence, suffering and death brought about by sin, there are very real dangers to be aware of and avoided. God will not interfere with our freedom to choose whom we will serve and follow, but He does make it very plain that there are natural consequences to the choices we make. The wages of sin is death [and all the pain, suffering and destruction that comes with it], but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) The trumpets are meant to sound a clear and certain warning today so that all may come to see the real issues clearly to discriminate between what is life-giving and what leads to death.
It is the work of the enemy to confuse us with distortions about reality and truth and to keep us in fear brought about by lies we imagine about God and His ways and disposition. Jesus came as the perfect Lamb and offered Himself as the ransom to rescue us, not from God but from the lies that keep us distant and afraid of God like the Children of Israel were at Mt. Sinai. What they would not see is that all the intensity that made them so afraid of God was in reality powerful expressions of love. Moses appreciated and thrived in that love. Yet all who choose to remain in fear rather than embrace the light of God's truth and love will tremble and quake like the mountain and live in terror of the consuming fire that makes the mountain smoke like a furnace.
The warning is still very real and urgent, more today than ever before. The Elijah message must be given in clearness like never seen before, that God is our only hope and that sin is our enemy, not God.
Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over Yahweh's house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against my law. (Hosea 8:1)
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand: (Joel 2:1)
The story of Jehoshaphat is a wakeup call as to the nature of the war we are fighting. It is the war against fear and our struggle to trust in God's love and care, and learning to rely on praise and trust in God rather than our own resources and attempts to provide for our own needs.
It happened after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some who told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against you from beyond the sea from Syria; and behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar (the same is En Gedi). Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek to Yahweh; and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help of Yahweh: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Yahweh.
Our God, will you not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are on you. All Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
Then on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Yahweh in the midst of the assembly; and he said, Listen you, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat: Thus says Yahweh to you, Don't be afraid you, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go you down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and you shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand you still, and see the salvation of Yahweh with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; don't be afraid, nor be dismayed: tomorrow go out against them: for Yahweh is with you.
When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who should sing to Yahweh, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks to Yahweh; for his loving kindness endures forever.
When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to kill and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another.
(2 Chronicles 20:1-4, 12-17, 21-23)
This story illustrates what is possible, and I might add what is vitally essential in our time, if we choose to put everything entirely in God's hands. It also reveals that God can allow sin to destroy itself without directly inserting Himself as the active destroying agent. I believe this truth is essential to discern on the part of all who participate in the final confrontation between the forces of evil and the followers of the Lamb. We must share the Lamb's view of God if we are to synchronize with Him.
"Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great." Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. "So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more. (Joel 3:12-17)
Note in the following passage where all the negative elements originate. It is not with God but is a reaction to the light of truth causing a reaction of judgment just as Jesus describes in John 3:19-20.
The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh's wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:14-18)
Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. (Acts 2:1-4)
seven trumpets were given to them
These trumpets are given to them. I find it significant how many times this phrase shows up in this book. Here is the list of them I have compiled from Revelation.
Revelation 6:2,4,8,11; 8:2-3; 9:1,3,5; 11:1-2; 12:14; 13:2,5,7,14,16; 16:6,8; 19:8; 20:4.
I believe this phrase relates to a very important principle relied on by both sides in this battle. It is the issue of authority and how true authority operates. Authority is permission granted rather than being imposed on others as the counterfeit system practices. Authority empowers someone to do things, yet in God's design it is not arranged as a top-down hierarchy like we usually think see it, but is empowerment from those who choose to give authority to someone else.
Importantly much, if not most of the time, the references of given to them do not specify who does the giving, only that it was given by someone else. This too is highly important to keep in mind and how it is unwise to simply assume it is God who does all the empowering and authorizing. Very often it is people choosing whom they will follow and thus empower to rule over their lives.
I want to revisit the urgency of warnings while not confusing them with their counterfeit of manipulation through fear. Today we are wrestling with this very same problem. All around us some see signs of impending events and disasters in society while others see only temporary problems they believe will resolve themselves soon. When someone points out the discrepancies of how the media and politicians and leaders are mishandling and misinforming the public and manipulating things to amass control for personal agendas, others protest loudly with charges that such warnings should not be heard as they are merely conspiracy theories and that people should never believe or even listen to such propaganda. The tension is fast building up today as things are rapidly deteriorating, not only in how government and religion is relating to people but in the level of trust between everyone. Suspicion is being fostered on a global scale and fear is viewed like a badge of honor. How are we to relate to this?
I believe the time is ripe like never before in recent history, that we make the Bible, and especially the prophecies given to us by God such as Revelation, to be the basis of how we interpret the deliberately confusing messages pouring out all around us today. Yet at the same time we must be extremely cautious and on guard to not allow the spirit of the enemy to infect our own spirit, which is all too easy to do. Methods and motives are what is being fought over in this war, and we must keep this in mind.
Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
Compare this description with the previous reference to entities related to an altar.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. (Revelation 6:9)
Quite likely the I.D. of the altar with the souls under it was the Altar of Sacrifice, while here it is the golden Altar of Incense inside the Holy Place compartment of the sanctuary up against the Most Holy Place. We also find there in the instance of the 5th seal an occurrence of the phrase given to them, but again with no indication of how or from whom it took place.
A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course. (Revelation 6:11)
It is possible that this angel portrayed as being above the altar of incense might represent a higher level of maturity and understanding relative to those viewed as souls under the other altar. Note the relationship of this angel to this altar compared with the saints under the altar. These end-time special ops agents better understand the truth about God as revealed by the Lamb and have thus developed a more mature appreciation of God's heart and methods beyond previous generations.
having a golden censer
This is one of the same containers used by the chosen ones who reflect God's character just like the Lamb does in chapter 15, pouring from it their praises and prayers and love for their enemies that overwhelms and breaks the power of the empire of darkness. (See Revelation 8:8:5; 5:8; 15:7; 21:9)
Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints
Again we see the phrase given to him. The question always lingers, who gave it to him?
Why much incense? And what does incense represent? Where does it come from?
Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (Revelation 5:8)
Incense represents the true version of matured human identity completed in the life of Jesus. Here it is integrated into the character and expressions of all who have embraced Him and have His Spirit. Incense by nature is an appealing and pleasing odor released when burned with fire. Thus it is closely connected with fire, a major component of the description of God's heart and His throne, as well as describing the intensity of emotion in fiery trials of persecution. More on this later.
Our prayers are represented in the physical sanctuary as smoke rising up from the altar of incense to circumvent the obstructing veil that blocks access to the Holy of Holies where the throne of God resides. Prayer is our lifeline to heaven and communication with our Source of life, hope, peace and joy. Yet the nature of our prayers reflect our perceptions of how we imagine God thinks of us. Thus a lot can be learned about the gut-level beliefs of a person by the nature of their prayers.
Too often our prayers are filled with begging, groveling or even pride. Most of the time prayers reflect our presumptions learned in the false reality of trading that composes the very atmosphere of how we perceive reality in this world. Throughout history God has been challenging these assumptions and seeking to reconnect us to His heart rather than trying to appease or bribe Him.
Listen now to what Yahweh says: "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, you mountains, Yahweh's controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh."
How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:1-8)
Yahweh said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight; and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy: and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy. The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh. Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people." (Exodus 30:34-38)
He made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer. (Exodus 37:29)
Both the anointing oil and the incense was filled with perfume fragrance, designed to make worship of God delightful and memorable to the senses. It was to be a reminder of the pleasantness of God's character, to influence and recondition our thinking about the real truth of what God is like.
Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man's friend. (Proverbs 27:9)
While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. (Song of Solomon 1:12)
Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish; to the one a stench from death to death; to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
This stark contrast between how two different groups of people react to the very same stimuli is highly significant. All throughout Revelation we find things that elicit opposite responses depending on a person's disposition and preconceived opinions about what God is like.
Following is possibly the ultimate example of this principle, and Jesus Himself links it directly to the essence of His version of the gospel given to us to be shared everywhere.
While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard--very costly. She broke the jar, and poured it over his head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, saying, "Why has this ointment been wasted? For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor." They grumbled against her. But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying. Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her." (Mark 14:3-9)
Mary, therefore, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said, "Why wasn't this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?" Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it. But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you don't always have me." (John 12:3-8)
Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
(Ephesians 5:1-2)
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the assembly; of which I was made a servant, according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; (Colossians 1:24-27)
add it to the prayers of all the saints
Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don't grow weary, fainting in your souls. (Hebrews 12:1-3)
I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs. (Psalms 69:30-31)
Oh come, let's sing to Yahweh. Let's shout aloud to the rock of our salvation! Let's come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let's extol him with songs! For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods. (Psalms 95:1-3)
Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands! Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. (Psalms 100:1-4)
Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains. (Psalms 147:7-8)
In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)
Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; (Colossians 4:2)
I am coming to believe that the reason the angel is given much incense is because of our great need to have much more thanksgiving, praise and appreciation for the real truth that God is love and light and in Him is no darkness at all. This is the truth that alone is sufficient to defeat all the powers of darkness.
The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand
The true gospel radically different from what is today being preached under that name. The truth as it is in Jesus is not about bribing God to reluctantly save wretched sinners hiding behind the appeasing blood of His own Son who suffered the punishment the Father intended for us. This kind of reasoning is why sin continues to proliferate, because our imagination is diseased with this viral infection about God's disposition towards us and it is reflected in our prayers.
The sweet-smelling incense that must saturate our thinking and by extension our prayers is in truth the revelation of God's heart as seen most clearly in the life and love demonstrated by His Son while living among us here in our mess on earth. When we allow the truth about God's heart revealed by Jesus to be the only truth we allow to govern our relationship with God and with others, our prayers will be transformed to reflect the same glory that was released when Jesus came under the fire of persecution. When the fire of God's passionate love is cherished in the heart, then when the counterfeit strange fires of human passion or satanic hatred are forced on our lives, our reaction and prayers can reflect the same aroma of beauty that transforms our own lives, and the world will be unavoidable exposed to the truth re-revealed in the midst of gross darkness and misapprehension about God as it was when Jesus underwent similar attacks.
Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations. You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it. (Exodus 30:7-9)
He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die. (Leviticus 16:12-13)
Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven." (Isaiah 6:5-7)
While the Altar of Incense was exclusively for incense, the other altar at times had incense.
If you offer a meal offering of first fruits to Yahweh, you shall offer for the meal offering of your first fruits grain in the ear parched with fire, bruised grain of the fresh ear. You shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it: it is a meal offering. The priest shall burn as its memorial, part of its bruised grain, and part of its oil, along with all its frankincense: it is an offering made by fire to Yahweh. (Leviticus 2:14-16)
He shall take from there his handful of the fine flour of the meal offering, and of its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the meal offering, and shall burn it on the altar for a sweet savor, as its memorial, to Yahweh. (Leviticus 6:15)
Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you. Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. (Psalms 141:1-3)
"What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?," says Yahweh. "I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don't delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies. My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:11-17)
Here are some questions we need to ask ourselves in light of what we are finding here:
How do I react when confronted by fiery trials that challenge my comfort zone?
What is the nature of the atmosphere given off around me? Does it reflect the sweetness of Jesus?
If I react resentfully when things go wrong now, how can I prepare for even greater challenges?
What is it that will empower and enable me to respond like the Lamb under abuse and injustice?
We have grown up in a world shaped by the disposition and practices of the enemy's kingdom of darkness. For every principle of truth in God's kingdom, Satan has counterfeits. Here is a sampling of distortions of the true meaning of burning incense, which is still practiced throughout the world yet today. They are rooted in the notion that God's feelings can be manipulate by offering Him things we imagine might please Him without addressing the corruption inside our own hearts.
I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you. (Leviticus 26:30)
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them. And fire came forth from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh. (Leviticus 10:1-2)
We are in just as much danger, if not more so, of offering strange fire before God. What is strange fire, and how can we avoid this tragic mistake?
We saw from the above passages that God was very insistent that the incense to be formulated to be used in worship for Him not be used for anything or anyone else. Likewise it seems clear that in the sanctuary system the fire used to burn the incense also was to be of a very specific origin. Because that system was a matrix of symbols by which we may come to understand the nature of truth and authentic worship, if we are serious about being on the Lamb's side in this war we should understand what these symbols have to say to us in light of the true gospel exposed by Jesus.
It is no coincidence that one of the most misunderstood symbols that has been used to frighten away more people that possibly anything else, is the symbol of fire as it relates to God. To portray God as threatening sinners with torture by fire if they do not repent or fall into line with God's expectations is one of the most sinister and successful lies used by the enemy to keep us afraid and distant from knowing God's heart. It is time that the saints of God, those who are coming to appreciate the real truth about the nature of God's passionate love and that there is no darkness at all in His character, accept the trumpets offered to them to announce in clear tones and with great urgency, the truths that alone can set people free from all fear and distrust of their loving Creator.
This is not merely by insisting on teaching the truth about God's character, but in allowing the Spirit of God to so infill them with the passion of God's fire presently that when tested by fiery trials themselves, their opponents may witness the same truth of love that was exposed when Jesus was similarly tested. This is one way smoke from the burning incense is produced to rise up before God.
"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says Yahweh of Armies. "But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. (Malachi 3:1-4)
As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Beloved, don't be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you. But because you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. (1 Peter 4:10-14)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
This smoke is not the same thing as merely prayers of the saints necessarily. This sweet-smelling aroma is a result of several things combined: incense mingled with prayers and activated by fire that produces smoke of a different nature than ordinary smoke. These are all metaphors of very important realities we must not miss paying attention to if we want to position ourselves to follow the Lamb. This is part of what it means to be an overcomer, the concluding element in every message given to the assemblies at the beginning of this book.
I want to revisit the issue of strange fire before we get too far away from it. I believe this is an extremely important truth that needs to be more fully examined. What else might we learn from a careful study of the nature of the difference between God-initiated fire and common fire we are used to being around? And why is it so important to God that we not confuse the two?
Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish; to the one a stench from death to death; to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
Triumph in Christ = overcomer.
The sweet aroma of His knowledge – this refers to an intimate knowledge of the passion of love reflected in us from Christ and originating in the heart of our loving Father. This is what we are called to contend for and protect against anything that sets itself up against it.
For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
Strange fire then is really counterfeit fire, purporting to be the power God relies on to keep order and control in His universe but actually is Satan's subterfuge that brings disorder, dissonance and fear. This is what is at the very center of the war we are in, and we must continually be aware of the true nature of this war and how we are to relate to it effectively. Otherwise we will be found offering strange fire.
Might strange fire be analogous to burning wood from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Confusion and misapprehension about God and double-mindedness are results of involvement with that tree that released sin and death into our world. This is a direct result of evil passions aroused by distrust of God's heart of love and care for us, leading us to look for alternative ways to provide for our needs outside of God's design that all result in exploitation, fear, suffering and death. It is this fire that is strange to God's family and is a result of human distorted passions burning with desire for things that promise pleasure and fulfillment but only lead to disappointment and suffocating sadness.
Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ
They sang a New Song, a song filled with sweet aroma, the song of gladness, joy and truth.
