Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:1-10; Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34, 26-27; 1 Tim. 2:1; Rev. 8:3-4
Ⅰ
If we would participate in the carrying out of God's economy, we need to see a vision of the golden incense altar—Exo. 30:1-10:
A
The incense altar signifies Christ as the Intercessor to maintain the relationship between God and His people—Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34:
１
The incense altar is a type of the person of Christ—Exo. 30:1-3.
２
The incense altar signifies Christ praying, Christ interceding—John 17.
B
The incense altar is the place from which the activities at all the other places in the tabernacle and the outer court are motivated; Christ's interceding life motivates us to experience the altar, the laver, the table, the lampstand, and the ark—Heb. 7:25.
C
Christ's interceding life, His prayer life, is the center of the divine administration—Rom. 8:34; Rev. 8:3-4:
１
The prayer life of Christ is the center of God's execution of His government on earth.
２
The executing of God's administration is motivated by the prayers offered to Him from the incense altar.
３
The prayer offered at the incense altar governs the universe.
４
The incense altar may be regarded as the heavenly White House; every-thing is motivated, executed, and carried out from this divine center.
D
After His resurrection and ascension, the individual Christ has become the corporate Christ; thus, before God today not only is the individual Christ interceding, but the corporate Christ, the Head with the Body, is interceding as well—1 Cor. 12:12; Acts 12:5, 12:
１
Today the intercessor is not merely Christ Himself but is Christ with His Body.
２
Christ the Head is interceding in the heavens, and the church the Body is interceding on earth.
３
As the members of Christ and parts of the Body-Christ, we cooperate with Christ in His ministry of intercession, carrying out His intercession in our prayers of intercession—Rom. 8:34, 26-27; 1 Tim. 2:1.
E
If we have a clear view of the incense altar, our prayer life will be revolution-ized, and we will pray for the executing of God's purpose, for the carrying out of the divine administration, and for the dispensing of God's supplying grace.
Ⅱ
If we would participate in the carrying out of God's economy, we need to experience the golden incense altar—Exo. 30:1-10; Rom. 8:26-27; 1 Tim. 2:1:
A
We need to participate in Christ's interceding life—Eph. 6:18-19; Col. 4:3; 1 Thes. 5:25; 2 Thes. 3:1; Heb. 13:18.
B
The kind of prayer we have depends on the kind of person we are—Luke 9:54-55; 1 Tim. 2:8; Eph. 6:18; Col. 1:9.
C
If we would intercede with Christ at the incense altar, we need to see three crucial matters:
１
When we pray, we should be in the tabernacle; that is, we should be in God—John 1:14; 14:2-3, 20, 13-14; 15:4a, 7; 17:21, 24.
２
When we are about to pray, we should first be satisfied by eating holy food; that is, we should pray with God within us as our energizing supply—John 1:29; 6:53-56.
３
When we pray, we should offer incense to God; that is, we should pray with Christ as the incense—Exo. 30:34-38; Rev. 8:3-4.
D
When we pray at the incense altar, there will be neither strange fire nor strange incense in our prayer—Lev. 10:1; Exo. 30:9a:
１
To have strange fire in our prayer is to have some kind of motive that is natural and that has not been dealt with by the cross.
２
To have strange incense in our prayer is to have prayer that is not related to Christ.
E
If we would pray in the tabernacle at the incense altar, we need to be burned to ashes, reduced to nothing—Lev. 6:13; Psa. 20:3; Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 1:28b.
１
To be in the tabernacle is to be in God, and the requirement for being in God is that we become nothing—John 15:4a, 5b.
２
If we are burned to ashes, we will no longer be natural—1 Cor. 2:14-15:
ａ
Our conduct, our sight, and our virtue equal our natural being, which is versus Christ as God's testimony.
ｂ
If we would pray at the incense altar, we must no longer have our natural conduct, our natural sight, and our natural virtue.
ｃ
If we would pray at the incense altar, we must have Christ as our life supply for proper conduct, as our light for proper sight, and as our virtue for us to have a sweet fragrance ascending to God.
F
When we pray at the incense altar, it is very difficult for us to be occupied with ourselves; instead, we pray for God's economy, for God's dispensing, for God's move, and for God's recovery.