Incense

 

Our brethren the Protestants do not use incense or censers,
considering them part of the Old Testament worship which
were mere symbols and have now terminated. Here we would
like to display the history of incense in the past and present and
see whether incense is a symbol or an independent spiritual
performance.

 

(1) The Lord said to Moses: “You shall make an altar to
burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood” (Ex.30: 1).
Here the Lord presents us an important point: The incense was
considered a sacrifice in itself, offered on an altar called the
altar of incense.

 

(2) The Lord gave great importance to the altar of incense.
He commanded that it be overlaid on all sides with gold, have a
horn of gold, be carried on two rings overlaid with gold and be

 

placed before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony where He would meet with Moses (Ex.30: 3-6).

 

(3) The incense was conditioned to be ‘sweet incense’.  The
Lord says: “Aaron  shall  burn  on  it  sweet  incense  every
morning” (Ex.30: 7). And also at twilight “he shall burn

incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations” (Ex.30: 8).

The spices for making the sweet incense are mentioned in (Ex.30: 34). It is said that this incense “shall be to you holy for the Lord” (Ex.30: 37). Moreover, “It shall be most holy to you... you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition” (Ex.30: 36,37).

The phrase ‘sweet incense’ is repeated on many occasions in

the Holy Bible:    (Ex.25:  6);  (Ex.37:  29);  (Lev.16:  12). So

incense represented a fragrant perfume ascending before the
Lord.

 

(4) Some people are mistaken and say that incense was
presented with burnt offerings to absorb their smell. And as
there are no animal burnt offerings now, incense is subsequently
cancelled. This interpretation is unsound because incense was a
form of worship independent in itself. It had its own special
altar different from the altar of burnt offerings. It had its own
rites in the way of offering it.  It was meant and considered as a
prayer in itself and not as a symbol of another thing.

(5) We notice that when the Lord sent the plague on the
Israelites, Aaron the chief priest, upon Moses' command, took
his censer, put incense in it and burnt it with fire from the altar
to intercede for the people before God.   When he ran into the
midst of the assembly and offered the incense, the plague
ceased.  The Lord accepted the incense from Aaron as a prayer
(Num.16: 44-48) as though it were a sacrifice.

We notice that Aaron did not offer a sacrifice for the Israelites, but incense alone.   The incense was not offered to absorb the smell of a burnt offering but it was an offering to make atonement for the people (Num. 16: 46,47).

 

(6) Because of the importance of incense, only priests were
allowed to offer it. So incense is in a higher position than prayer
because prayer can be raised by any individual to the Lord.
When Korah, Dathan and Abiram dared to offer incense, the
earth opened its mouth and swallowed them with all their
belongings.   So they went down to the pit alive (Num.16:
31,32). This happened not because they offered a sacrifice, but
because they offered incense, even though they were of the tribe
of Levi.

 

(7) As incense was so important, it was offered in golden censers as is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb.9: 4) and as is said about the twenty-four priests who had golden bowls full of incense (Rev.5: 8).

 

(8) In the Book of the Prophet Malachi, there is a prophecy
about the continuation of the offering of incense and that it is

not limited to the Jewish Era.   The Lord says: “For from the
rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be
great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be
offered to My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be
great among the nations” (Mal.1: 11). Of course, worship
among the Gentiles did not happen except in the Era of
Christianity.   Thus the Lord has included incense among the
forms of Christian worship.

 

(9) There are two examples in the New Testament showing the Divine concern about incense, and both are written in the Book of Revelation:

(a) About the twenty-four priests, it is written: “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” (Rev.5: 8).

(b) St. John the Visionary says:        “Then another angel,

having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar.   And 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”

(Rev.8: 3,4).

 

(10) In commenting on the expression “the smoke of the
incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God”,

we say that the whole life of the Church is incense.  The Church
is resembled to incense in the Book of the Song of Solomon, in
which the Divine Inspiration says: “Who is this coming out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and
frankincense,  with  all  the  merchant‘s  fragrant  powders?”

(Song 3: 6)

 

(11) One of the important situations in the history of incense in the life of the saints is that the angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias the priest on the right side of the altar of incense while he was burning incense in his lot (Lk.1: 8-11). This is proof of the sanctity of the place and the sanctity of the work of offering  incense.    This  holy  occasion  was  worthy  to  be associated with a Divine revelation.

It is clear from the incident of Zacharias' burning incense in
his lot that offering incense was a separate work in itself; it was
not connected with the offering of a sacrifice or burnt offering.

 

(12)  Because  incense  is  important  in  Christianity, frankincense (which is a component of incense) was one of the gifts offered by the Magi to Christ. It was a symbol of His Priesthood and a profession from the Magi that He is a Priest, in the same way that gold was a symbol of His Kingdom and myrrh a symbol of His sufferings.

 

(13) Incense has numerous meanings, which satisfy the
senses and nourish the soul.   Not all those who attend church
are of a profound spiritual level and deep thought. Children, for
example, who do not apprehend much from the sermon or the
readings of the Holy Bible or the prayers, are spiritually affected
through their senses by the incense, candles and icons which
serve as spiritual lessons for them, uplifting them to a spiritual atmosphere.         The  same  applies  to  the  uninformed  and

superficial believers who have no depth of knowledge and have not studied theological books.

 

Spiritual meanings and contemplation of incense

 

(14) The first lesson we learn from incense is the Lord's
teaching: “...he who loses his life for My sake will find it”
(Matt.10: 39). An example of this is the particle of incense, which
burns and burns until it becomes perfumed pillars of smoke.  You
look for it in the censer as a particle of incense, but you do not find
it because it offered itself as a burnt offering to God.

Burnt offerings are not only of sacrifices but also of incense,
which the Holy Bible considers as a sacrifice to be offered on the
altar of incense.  Incense teaches us a great lesson.  How beautiful
it is when a man offers himself as a burnt offering to the Lord!
Every offering is outside the self but the offering of the self is the
greatest offering.   Offering the self is represented by putting the
particle of incense in the fire.  It is said that our God is a consuming
fire (Deut.4: 24). The saints were particles of incense put into the
Divine censer and were burnt by the love of God.

 

(15) The second lesson in incense is its constant ascent. The
burning incense does not accept to be kept down, but it rises to the
sky, stretches and spreads and never ceases to ascend and spread.
When you watch and follow it you cannot help raising your eyes to
the sky whether you wish to or not. That is why incense always
attracts people's senses to above as if it is an arrow pointing
continually to heaven.

(16) A third lesson in incense is that it resembles the sweet
aroma. The Holy Bible conditions incense to be sweet incense.
Whoever smells the incense remembers that man's life should be
a fragrant perfume before God.  The Holy Bible says: “For we
are to God the fragrance of Christ... through us diffuses the
fragrance of His knowledge in every place” (2Cor.2: 15,14).

 

(17) One of the most magnificent contemplation of incense is
that it reminds us of the cloud or the dark cloud in which the
Lord appeared.   The Lord says: “I will appear in the cloud
above the mercy seat” (Lev.16: 2).   It is also written in the
Book of Leviticus: “...cloud of incense” (Lev.16: 13). It was
said about Aaron the chief priest: “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” (Lev.16: 12,13).

In directing His people in the Old Testament, whether in the
Tabernacle or in the Sanctuary or in the Wilderness of Sinai,
God appeared in the cloud or in the smoke.  His guidance to the
people in Sinai was in the form of an overshadowing cloud
during the day, representing God who was overshadowing
them. If the cloud moved, they knew that God was moving
them so they moved.  If the cloud settled, they settled (Num.9:
17). Thus it is written: “And the cloud of the Lord was above
them by day when they went out from the camp” (Nurn.10: 34).

 

 

 

(18) When the Lord Jesus Christ came to Egypt it is said that He came on a cloud (Is.19: 1).  The cloud was a symbol of the Virgin who was an ascending fragrant incense.   In Christ's Second Coming, He will also come on the clouds (Matt.24: 30). So clouds represent the presence of the Lord in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

 

(19) The incident of the Transfiguration is an example of Go
     d's presence in clouds.  It is written that while the Lord Jesus
Christ was talking to the three disciples, “a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud.  Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’ ” (Lk.9: 34,35)

 

(20) The Lord talked to Moses from a cloud. When the Lord
spoke to Moses, the Holy Bible says: "Then Moses went up into
the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.   Now the
glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered
it six days.  And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of
the midst of the cloud" (Ex.24: 15,16). The same happened
when  the  Lord  spoke  to  the  people  of  Israel  from  the
Tabernacle: the cloud and smoke were overshadowing the
Tabernacle.

 

(21) We see the same again in the consecration of Solomon's
Temple. The Holy Bible says: “And it came to pass, when the
priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the
house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue
ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord

 

filled the house of the Lord.   Then Solomon spoke: ‘The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud’ ”(1Kin.8: 10-12).

 

(22) Incense represents clouds or dark clouds reminding us of God's presence and the glory of God.  It is written: “Clouds and darkness surround Him” (Ps.97: 2). Therefore incense has numerous spiritual meanings for whoever wishes to benefit from it.   It is a form of worship in itself. It was not connected with the  Old  Testament  sacrifices  thus  not  necessitating  its termination with that of those sacrifices

 

(23) Lastly, we say that there is not one single verse in the New Testament commanding the cancellation of incense: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev.2: 7).