SPIRITUAL PATTERN PART 14

  And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. 

  And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 

  And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. 

  And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 

  And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 

INTRODUCTION

Good evening!! The last Wednesday that I was here, we were talking about the altar of incense.

So I want to continue on this subject.

  And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. 

  And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 

Here we have a few items that I want to discuss with you tonight. Staves, horns, and Crown.

Let’s look at staves first:

The staves or shafts was the way the altar of incense was to be carried and they were not to be removed.

They were to be ever present with the altar. And the altar was always ready for the march.

This is something that we should understand:

That the value of Christ’s intercession is our, in every place or circumstance.

  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 

He is always ready! What a privilege! He is Always near!

  Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.

  The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease.

  If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.

What a blessing! when we offer up our petitions unto God and mingled with the sweet incense of the precious Name of Jesus, do we realize that we are standing between the staves of His faithfulness and power?

Understand, I said we are standing between His faithfulness which is the staves. They are to remain in their position always. But what about the power?

2. Horns

  A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.

At each corner of the altar was a golden horn.

The horn is the symbol of power.

These horn speaks of the power of Christ’s intercession.

If you notice we have four horns on this altar.

The number four indicates completeness.

  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 

He will and is more than able to complete the job.

You see, the power of Christ’s intercession does not lie in His persuasiveness but in the fact that His presence before God.

3. The Crown

  And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. 

  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 

  And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. 

Around the top was a ridge or crown, to keep the coals from falling off the altar.

So coals of the fire was protected by a crown of gold.

Christ’s priestly power is preserved and assured, in that He is now crowned with glory.

  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 

Now this is what we should be celebrating about because of the work that Christ did on the cross, and raised from the grave, and that He is interceding for us.

You see, the Israelite must have had some comfort knowing that the crown was keeping the coals of fire in place.

Because the Israelites had to walk over the rough desert and their feet might stumble, but the burning coals were preserved by the crown of gold.

Think about it Peter stumbled and fell, but the coals of Christ’s prayer failed not.

  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 

  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

You see, you may fail but the coals of Christ’s prayer will not fail.

We may fail, but the incense of His merits still ascends.

  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 

  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 

It would be a good thing to go home and read carefully the entire chapter.

You will see how Jesus intercede for each one of us.

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We may fail, but the coals of Christ’s prayer failed not.

He prayed for Peter and Peter fulfilled his mission.

4. The Incense

The value of this altar is in the incense. As we should know the incense deals with the life of Christ.

The incense was made by mixing of three spices, each part was to be equal weight.

  And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum;

  And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: 

  And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. 

  And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD. 

  Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people. 

Those three spices represent the works of Christ.

The works of His life.

His Death.

His resurrection.

If you notice:

Exodus 30:34these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: 

--these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: 

These part are all of equal weight in the sight of God.

No one or two of them could have make it complete without the other.

And this is so important:

Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

This mixture of spices was to be taken very seriously and no man was to make anything like it for his own use.

  Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

It must not be imitated. who can make a substitute for the works of Jesus Christ? Nobody period.

Many today in their own way try to make that attempt by trying to work their way into the Kingdom of God.

  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Now this is what I want you to look at and it is something that I think about all the time>

  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian and the Law (19, 20)

the scribes and Pharisees were famous for their righteousness? Was not obedience to God’s law the master-passion of their lives? Did they not calculate that the law contains 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions, and did they not aspire to keeping them all? How then can Christian righteousness actually exceed pharisaic righteousness, and how can this superior Christian righteousness be made a condition of entering God’s kingdom? Does this not teach a doctrine of salvation by good works and so contradict the first beatitude which says the kingdom belongs to ‘the poor in spirit’ who have nothing, not even righteousness, to plead?

The scribes and Pharisees were famous for their righteousness.

The scribes and Pharisees had figured it up that the law contains 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions and they worked hard at keeping them.

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian and the Law (19, 20)

the scribes and Pharisees were famous for their righteousness? Was not obedience to God’s law the master-passion of their lives? Did they not calculate that the law contains 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions, and did they not aspire to keeping them all? How then can Christian righteousness actually exceed pharisaic righteousness, and how can this superior Christian righteousness be made a condition of entering God’s kingdom? Does this not teach a doctrine of salvation by good works and so contradict the first beatitude which says the kingdom belongs to ‘the poor in spirit’ who have nothing, not even righteousness, to plead?

So you might begin to think how could a Christian’s righteousness exceed the righteousness of them?

You see, Christian’s righteousness far surpasses the pharisees righteousness in fact that it deals with the condition of the heart.

The righteousness which is pleasing to God is an inward righteousness of mind and motive.

Because God looks on the heart.

  But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

It is not about just the obedient of the commandments.

It was a new heart-righteousness which the prophets foresaw as one of the blessings in the age of the Messiah.

Jerm 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

God makes two promises here, to put His law within us and to put His Spirit within us.

Now let’s get back to spices, when the priest put the spices on the altar the coals of fire lifted it up in sweet perfume before God.

We need both the incense and the fire. both come to us through Christ.

Prayers is to be sweet and fragrant to the heart of God must come from a burning heart.