The incense was to be offered on the altar which was set aside specially for the purpose. It was to be offered in the morning and in the evening so that incense would burn throughout the day and the night.

From Revelation 5:8, we can understand that the incense represents the prayers of God’s people – a devotion and a relationship that was intended to be uninterrupted. Yet, a search for the word ‘incense’ in the Old Testament reveals that time and time again, God’s people offered their incense to foreign and false gods.

If we understand the incense to represent the prayer life – the unique intimacy and communication between the Lord and his people – then we can see that burning incense to false gods is a terrible insult to the Lord. It meant that the people had thrown away the offer of a relationship with a loving, living God and replaced that with devotion to a lifeless, powerless, loveless idol.

The day and night burning of the incense shows us something about what our prayer life could be like – a never-ending stream of communication between ourselves and the Lord. While we can set aside special times for prayer, the beauty of what Christ has won for us enables the promise of the incense that burned day and night to be fulfilled in our daily, moment by moment walk with the Lord.

next devotional >>

 

 

NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH