The altar of incense stood inside the tabernacle, immediately before the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Priests burned incense there every morning and evening, but serving so near the veil did not give them permission to pass through it. The altar taught Israel that drawing near to God required the way of approach He provided. Its place in Israel’s worship points ahead to the access Christ has opened, while Revelation shows incense and prayer before God’s throne as judgment approaches.
A Holy Altar Before the Veil
God gave Israel the tabernacle so He would dwell among His people. In its courtyard stood the bronze altar of burnt offering, where animal sacrifices were offered. Inside the Holy Place were the lampstand, table, and gold altar of incense. Beyond the veil stood the ark and mercy seat in the Most Holy Place, God’s covenant meeting place. These rooms and furnishings taught Israel to approach Him according to His word.
The LORD specified the incense altar’s materials and dimensions. It was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, and its projecting horns were formed as one piece with the altar. Gold molding surrounded it, and rings held the poles used to carry it.
You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood. A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width–it shall be square–and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
The Hebrew word for altar, mizbeach (מִזְבֵּחַ), is related to slaughter or sacrifice. The shared name does not mean every altar served the same purpose. Exodus 30:9 prohibited strange incense on this gold altar and also forbade burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings there. The animal sacrifices belonged at the bronze altar in the courtyard. A priest could not transfer an offering from one altar to the other simply because he preferred the arrangement.
God also determined where the gold altar would stand.
And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
The ark and mercy seat were behind the veil; the incense altar was in front of it. God provided a way for His people to approach Him, but the priests still had to respect the boundary He established. An ordinary Israelite could not enter the Holy Place to offer incense, and an ordinary priest could not step beyond the veil. The high priest entered the Most Holy Place on the appointed annual Day of Atonement, under conditions God Himself gave.
When Moses assembled the tabernacle, he followed God’s directions for the altar’s position.
He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; and he burned sweet incense on it, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Exodus repeatedly describes Moses acting “as the LORD had commanded Moses.” Moses expressed his faithfulness by receiving God’s instructions and carrying them out. If I claim to honor God, I need to listen to Him too. A beautiful setting or sincere intentions cannot excuse disregarding His word.
Incense Morning and Evening
Aaron burned incense as he cared for the lamps, tending them in the morning and lighting them at twilight. This daily service was to continue throughout Israel’s generations as part of the worship God had appointed.
Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
The incense itself was also prescribed. The Hebrew qetoreth (קְטֹרֶת) refers here to the fragrant smoke offered before the LORD, and sammim (סַמִּים) names the spices used in the mixture. Exodus 30 specified the mixture and reserved it for worship of the LORD.
But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the LORD.
Holy means set apart to God. The prohibition did not make ordinary fragrance sinful; it kept this particular mixture from becoming a perfume for someone’s private enjoyment. The priests were handling something God had reserved for His worship, and its pleasant fragrance did not make it theirs to use however they wished.
David drew on the daily incense service when asking the LORD to receive his prayer.
Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
He compared his prayer to incense and his uplifted hands to the evening sacrifice. David was asking to be heard by God, not establishing a private replacement for the priests’ service. Revelation later makes the connection with the prayers of God’s people explicit. Incense helps us picture those prayers being received before Him, but the smoke itself does not make a prayer effective.
The daily service makes me consider whether I turn to God only when trouble becomes urgent. Believers are told to pray without ceasing, so the New Testament does not restrict prayer to morning and evening. Yet regular times can help us give God our attention during ordinary life instead of continually postponing prayer until something frightens us. We need Him when the day appears manageable as surely as when it does not.
Unauthorized Fire and the Day of Atonement
The deaths of Nadab and Abihu expose the danger of disregarding God’s instructions in priestly worship. Aaron’s sons were appointed priests with responsibilities and privileges outsiders did not have. They approached the LORD carrying censers, vessels that held burning coals on which incense was placed.
Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
They offered profane, or unauthorized, fire that God had not commanded. Readers have suggested that they took fire from the wrong source or served at the wrong time or place. Some have also suggested intoxication. Leviticus 10 does not identify any of these suggestions as the complete explanation, so I would not base the warning on one of them. The passage plainly says they offered what the LORD had not commanded, and fire from Him killed them.
Their priestly status did not excuse their presumption. I need to take that warning seriously without using it to condemn every practice Scripture does not happen to describe. These men were serving within a priestly order God had expressly regulated, and they disregarded it. Reverence required obedience to what He had revealed. The study on the sons of Aaron offering strange fire examines their offense more closely.
Leviticus 16 gives the high priest’s instructions for the Day of Atonement. He was not free to enter beyond the veil whenever he wished. On that annual day he brought sacrificial blood, burning coals in a censer, and finely beaten sweet incense.
Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die.
The cloud covered the mercy seat so that the high priest would not die. That protection was part of the approach God appointed, but the incense did not replace the blood. The high priest also had to bring the blood of the sin offerings. The priest served as a mediator, representing the people before God. Israel was learning that sinful people need both the mediator God appoints and the sacrifice He provides.
Exodus 30:10 also required atonement on the incense altar’s horns once each year with blood from the sin offering of atonement. This annual cleansing accompanied the daily incense service. Even an altar set apart for worship stood within a sanctuary requiring atonement for the people’s sin. We cannot separate the picture of prayer from the need for reconciliation with God. The study on the ark of the covenant considers the mercy seat and this annual service.
From the Hour of Incense to Christ Our High Priest
Luke 1 brings us from the tabernacle’s instructions to a priest serving in the temple centuries later. Zacharias belonged to the division of Abijah, and he was chosen by lot to burn incense. The people prayed outside while he performed that service.
So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.
At that hour, an angel of the Lord appeared and announced that Zacharias would have a son, John the Baptist. John would prepare the way for the Messiah. God was announcing the birth of the Savior’s forerunner during the worship appointed under the old covenant. The priestly service pointed ahead to Christ, and this announcement showed that His coming was near.
In Hebrews, Paul explains why the earthly priesthood could not provide the final answer to sin. The sanctuary was a copy and shadow of heavenly things. Its services taught Israel about approaching God, but the sacrifices had to be repeated and could not cleanse the conscience completely. The continuing service and restricted access showed the need for a greater High Priest.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Jesus, the eternal Son, is fully God and fully man. He is sinless and serves as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. He did not enter the heavenly sanctuary to finish an incomplete sacrifice. Hebrews says He entered by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. His sacrifice was offered once for all and will never need to be repeated.
Jesus willingly gave Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men tortured and crucified Him, inflicting real suffering on His sinless body. He shed His blood and died, completing His saving sacrifice. His burial and bodily resurrection followed that completed offering. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit acted in unity to accomplish redemption.
Our risen High Priest now intercedes for those who come to God through Him. To intercede is to plead on someone else’s behalf. His continuing priesthood rests on His completed work; it does not suggest another sacrifice is needed or that He must persuade a reluctant Father to accept it.
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
The earthly altar was never able to save anyone. Its position near the veil, its incense, and its annual cleansing with blood all pointed beyond the altar to the provision God would make through Christ. He is the only Mediator between God and humanity. Through Him believers may draw near to God, though the earlier sanctuary kept that approach carefully restricted. I can come because God has provided this High Priest, not because I have found words impressive enough to gain an audience. The study on the role of the High Priest follows that fulfillment in Christ.
Prayer and Judgment Before the Throne
Revelation shows the prayers of God’s people before His throne. When the Lamb takes the scroll in chapter 5, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders fall before Him with harps and golden bowls of incense.
Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
The Greek word for incense is thymiama (θυμίαμα). The association with prayer comes from the passage’s explanation of the bowls, not from a hidden meaning we have to extract from the word. The God who directs the events John sees also receives His people’s prayers. That gives me reason to bring Him the concerns of ordinary life without dismissing them as too small for His attention.
Chapter 8 takes us to the opening of the seventh seal. Heaven is silent for about half an hour, and another angel stands at the altar with a golden censer. He receives incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints.
Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
After offering the incense, the angel takes fire from the altar.
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
The seven angels then prepare to sound their trumpets. The vision moves from prayers received before God to judgment sent to the earth. Earlier, in Revelation 6, the martyrs beneath the altar had cried, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Their appeal helps us understand why prayer and judgment appear together. God had heard the witnesses who were killed, and His patience did not mean He had forgotten their blood.
I understand Revelation 8–11 as future, real judgments during the Tribulation. The trumpets describe God’s actions in judgment, rather than merely giving poetic names to the ordinary troubles of every generation. He directs them and measures their severity, while testimony continues and people remain responsible for their response. When the sixth angel sounds his trumpet, Revelation 9:13 records a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God. The study on the seven trumpets of Revelation follows those judgments.
God includes His people’s prayers in carrying out His purpose. They are not empty gestures, but neither do they give us control over His throne. The martyrs appealed to His justice, leaving judgment to Him. I can ask Him to act without imagining that enough intensity or the right phrasing puts Him under my command.
Jesus is both our High Priest and the righteous Judge. John 5:22 says the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. The Lord who provides salvation will also judge rightly, and His mercy does not mean He has become indifferent to evil. Knowing that He will judge gives urgency to prayer for those who still have opportunity to turn to Him for salvation.
What the Altar Teaches Us About Prayer
Hebrews invites believers to enter the Holiest with boldness by the blood of Jesus, through the new and living way He opened. I can approach the Father confidently because the Son gave Himself for me. That assurance leaves no room for self-importance, but it does let me speak honestly about my need. I do not have to create a religious mood or find polished language before I can pray.
Reverence also means receiving God’s correction. If I am knowingly defending sin, I should confess it rather than use prayer to explain why everyone else is responsible. Nadab and Abihu could not use their office to excuse disobedience, and a Christian reputation does not give me permission to disregard God’s word. We can speak freely to our Father while acknowledging that He is right to correct us.
Steady prayer includes thanksgiving and praise as well as requests. We can bring another person’s need before God, admit our own failures, or lament when grief leaves us exhausted. There is no need to pretend we are cheerful before we can pray. Christ continues to intercede for His people, so our access to God does not disappear when our words are weak. The study on prayer develops these responsibilities and encouragements more fully.
The coming judgment also gives urgency to prayer for the lost. Now is the day of salvation, and we should respond to Christ in repentance and faith. When we pray for someone to be saved, we should also be willing to speak truthfully about the Savior when the opportunity comes. If I am asking God to save someone, I need to be ready to explain the gospel rather than leave that responsibility to someone else.
My Final Thoughts
Israel’s priests burned incense before a veil they could not pass through in their daily service. Through Christ, I can come freely to the Father because our risen High Priest offered Himself once for all and continues to intercede for His people. I do not want to neglect that access until trouble drives me to pray. The God who receives our prayers will also judge in righteousness, so dependence on Him belongs in the ordinary day as well as in the urgent appeal for help.