Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100718.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
K. God's Directive Of The Tabernacle To Fellowship With His People
9. The Altar Of Incense: Typifying The Mighty Ministry Of Prayer
(Exodus 30:1-10)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    We face humanly unmanageable challenges on various fronts:

    (1) First, even secular authors note the way the public is being shut out from the truth on various issues so it knows how to vote:

    (a) In an op-ed piece in the July 12, 2010 issue of The Wall Street Journal, p. A 15, Patrick J. Michaels, a professor of environmental sciences at the reputable University of Virginia, complained he has "had four perfectly good manuscripts" on climate "rejected out of hand" for publication in scientific journals. Why? According to Roy Spencer of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, "it's becoming nearly impossible to publish anything on global warming that's non-alarmist in peer-reviewed journals." (Ibid.)

    Thus, a big difference of opinion on global warming exists even among scientists, leaving the public unsure about where the truth lies!

    (b) The same issue of The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial claiming "the President habitually promises that people earning under $200,000 will be exempt from his tax increases. We now know they won't be." ("Who Pays for ObamaCare?", p. A 14)

    So, the public is left to choose whether the editor of a nationally reputable financial paper or the President is correct on whether they will pay more taxes, and then they are to vote intelligently on the issue!

    (2) We face superhuman challenges in the spiritual realm: beyond the growth of false cults, many evangelicals are forsaking the pure creationist view: I recently saw Terry Mortenson's on-line Answers In Genesis article ("Why Don't Many Christian Leaders and Scholars Believe Genesis?"), and it cited one of my own past seminary professors as saying: "I think that if the data is overwhelming in favor of evolution, [then] to deny that reality will make us a cult, some odd group that's not really interacting with the real world, and rightly so.'"

    [In response, AIG shows evolutionists mishandle the data due to their evolutionary bias, that the same data viewed in light of the "normal" interpretation of Genesis 1-2 supports pure creationism!]

    Yet, when pastors like me see such an influential past professor who taught them how to expound the Old Testament make such a statement, the temptation to doubt our own present thinking and follow his lead in adopting theistic evolution becomes very strong!

    Thus, we may ask, "When our best efforts for God to think and to do what is right effectively seem futile, what then?!"

    Need: "When my best efforts to serve the Lord in my actions the way He directs that I do seem futile, what would He suggest that I do?!"

  1. God had Israel build a tabernacle to typify how He as a holy God could fellowship with sinful man and meet his needs, Ex. 25:1-9.
  2. The Exodus 30:1-10 presentation of the altar of incense shows what a believer can do for blessing when his ministry actions seem futile:
    1. The altar of incense in the Holy Place is described in Exodus 30:1-10 far from the context of the other Exodus 25 Holy Place furnishings.
    2. Yet, the immediate context preceding Exodus 30:1-10 shows its placement was intended by God to reveal what a believer can do for success if his ministry actions seem futile (as follows):
      1. The Exodus 30:9 prohibition on offering various sacrifices on the altar of incense directly contrasts with the Exodus 29 instructions:
        1. The (1) prohibited Exodus 30:9 NIV grain offering (minhah) included the breads, cakes and wafers of solet flour required in the Exodus 29 NIV offerings (B. D. B., A Heb.-Engl. Lex. of the O. T., p. 585: Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 123-126), and (2) the prohibited Exodus 30:9 NIV "drink" ( nasek) and (3) "burnt" (olah) offerings were required on the courtyard altar, Exodus 29:40-42, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 651; 750-751; Ibid., Kittel.
        2. We learned the Exodus 29 offerings typified works of service, so the altar of incense depicts a ministry in contrast to works!
      2. Now, the only regular offering God allowed on the altar of incense was incense (Ex. 30:8-10), and since incense depicts the believers' prayers (Rev. 5:8), this altar depicts the believer's PRAYERS of service in CONTRAST to his ACTS of service! (Luke 2:37)
      3. Well, John 14:12-14 teaches the SUPERIORITY of achievement available by prayer OVER works of service, so the placement of the description of the altar of incense in Exodus 30:1-10 right after and in contrast to the Exodus 29 teaching EMPHASIZES how prayer will achieve FAR ABOVE what our works will or can do!
    3. So, Exodus 30:1-10 explains the surpassing ministry of prayer:
      1. The altar was built of acacia wood (humanity) overlaid with gold (deity), depicting Christ's incarnation (Ex. 30:1-5), and it teaches that the believer's prayer is made effective based on the access he has to the Father through his Incarnate Lord Jesus, Jn. 14:6, 12-14.
      2. The altar was square to picture the earth's corners, showing God hears prayers from all believers worldwide, Rev 7:1; Isa. 56:6-7.
      3. The altar's corner horns were of the wood frame as in the courtyard altar's horns (Ex. 30:2 with 27:2 NIV), and the altar of incense was three feet high, nine inches above the level where the sacrifices on the courtyard altar were offered (Ex. 27:1, 2 NIV ftns.); thus, Jesus in His humanity (acacia wood) ably (wood underlayment of the horns) mediates for us in our prayers down at our level (the heights noted above) to the Father (gold), Heb. 2:17-18; 4:14-16; 5:6-10.
      4. The ark was put just outside the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holiest of Holies. When the incense was lit, its strong odor penetrated the veil so that God could smell it where He dwelt above the mercy seat over the ark, Exodus 30:6. This depicts the great influence the believer has with the Father if he prays in the Holy Place, or, in God's will and righteously, 1 Jn. 3:22; 5:14-15).
      5. The potency of such a ministry is immense as we can sample in Scripture: (a) James 5:16b-18 NIV shows how a righteous man's prayer is "powerful and effective"; (b) Matthew 21:21-22 with Mark 9:29 (some mss. omit "and fasting", NIV) teach the power of prayer in exorcising strong demons, and (c) Ephesians 6:10-18 teaches the need for prayer for victory in the angelic conflict.
      6. Also, Revelation 8:3-4 indicates God mixes His incense with ours to make our prayers effective, a picture of the Holy Spirit's intercession for our prayers as taught in Romans 8:26!
      7. The altar of incense had incense burned on it every morning and evening when the High Priest dressed the lampstand lamps (Ex. 30:7-8). The lampstand typifies written Scripture, so the believer's prayer is to be made in union with and in response to God's Word.
      8. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest anointed the altar's horns with the blood of the sin offering, so Christ's work on the cross makes it possible for the believer's prayer life, Ex. 30:10.
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ to be born again, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, may we rely on the Holy Spirit to serve God (Exodus 29), but (3) ALWAYS PRAY for God's help for success in the superhuman issues we face in life and ministry (Ex. 30:1-10)!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 God illustrated this sermon lesson in how it came to be formed!

(1) Days before preparing this sermon, I had quickly glanced at Exodus 30:1-10 and noticed that it described the altar of incense far removed from the other Holy Place furnishings back in Exodus 25. This fact initially bothered me, for I had no idea WHY this was so!

(2) Thus, I approached the passage to study it in prayer and an attitude of dependence on God to handle His Word correctly.

(3) Well, as I began to study Exodus 30:1-10 by merely reading it through in the English translation, I instantly saw the sharp contrast between the prohibition of the offerings for the altar of incense in Exodus 30:9 and God's call to practice those very offerings in Exodus 29 just before it! That fact and recalling Revelation 5:8 held "incense" typified prayer, and recalling Jesus' John 14:12-14 teaching led me to see this layout of Exodus 30:1-10 INTENTIONALLY contrasted the believer's Exodus 29 acts of service with his surpassing prayer life!

(4) After typing the first draft of this sermon, I realized I had not done what I always do -- I had NOT checked either my seminary's commentary or the NET Bible notes before typing. To my surprise, I then found the NET Bible footnote stating: "Why this section [Exodus 30:1-10] has been held until now is a mystery. One would have expected to find it with the instructions of the other furnishings . . ."

That statement led me to check my seminary commentary on the issue, and on page 153 I read: "Perhaps this piece of tabernacle furniture is described here and not in chapter 25 because of the altar of incense's association (30:1-6) with the rituals to be performed on it (vv. 7-10)." So, neither one had seen the contextual contrast I had!

I went upstairs to check the four other reputable commentaries in our Church library, and they did not even discuss the context matter!

I can only conclude that the LORD led me to understand Exodus 30:1-10 in terms of its previous Exodus 29 CONTEXT just I was taught to interpret His Word in Bible school and seminary!

I then realized that the WAY this sermon had been formed signaled GOD HIMSELF would KEEP me true to His Word if I PRAYERFULLY RELIED on HIM, and that even if a past seminary professor went into error as noted in our introduction!

May we believers utilize our "most holy", effective realm of service available, i.e. prayer, for it produces "our" greatest works!