Revelation 8:1-5 “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”
Why would there be silence in heaven? What could possibly happen to cause all heaven to pause? This silence creates a division between what has already happened and what is about to happen. In addition, the prayers of the saints are going to be offered on the golden altar before the throne and all heaven is waiting on those prayers. Which altar is being spoken of here? Remember that in the temple originally, there were altars for the offering of blood sacrifices but there was also a small altar for offering incense. Since Jesus has already offered himself as the perfect spotless Lamb of God, there is no need for any further blood sacrifices. Barclay describes the altar of incense as mentioned in Leviticus 16:12 “The altar of incense stood before the Holy Place in the Temple. Made of gold, it was eighteen inches square and three feet high. At each corner it had horns; it was hollow and was covered over with a gold plate, and round it was a little railing, like a miniature balustrade, to keep the burning coals from falling off it. In the Temple incense was burned and offered before the first and after the last sacrifices of the day. It was as if the offerings of the people went up to God wrapped in an envelope of perfumed incense.”
This altar was so special that God commanded Moses to make sure it was used ONLY for the special incense compounded using the recipe God had given and not for any unauthorized incense or for any drink or blood offering. (Exodus 30:9) God gave Moses the recipe for holy incense in Exodus 30:34 – 38 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. You are never to use this formula to make incense for yourselves; you shall regard it as sacred to the LORD. Anyone who makes something like it to enjoy its fragrance shall be cut off from his people.”
Psalm 141:2 says, “Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” We have a totally skewed view of prayer! We pray, but find ourselves struggling for words and phrases. Sometimes we fall asleep while we are praying; sometimes our minds wander. Because we realize how imperfect our prayers are, we fail to apprehend the power released by our prayers! We concentrate so much on our shortcomings that we fail to remember the power of the One to whom we are praying! Many of us feel as if our prayers and praises are really artificial, but these misconceptions are the work of the Enemy, Satan, who hates prayers of any kind.
Parents realize that small children will have a limited vocabulary that will increase with time and practice. The same thing is true for prayer. We must never become discouraged and stop praying! We also must be careful not to compare ourselves to others. Remember the story that Jesus told in Luke 18. Two men went to the temple to pray; one was a high – ranking Pharisee while the other was a tax collector, a social outcast who was barely allowed into the temple at all. The Pharisee used lots of fine phrases while the tax collector stood at a distance, beat his breast, and simply said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Jesus encouraged his disciples that the tax collector was the one whose prayers reached heaven so that he was justified.
What was the result of the prayers of the saints? “And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” WOW! Here we are praying our simple prayers as we wonder if we are actually accomplishing anything and meanwhile our prayers are helping release thunder and lightning and earthquakes!
Perhaps you have prayed for years and have not yet seen any results. Take heart! In heaven, your prayers are part of the incense offered before the throne of God. You are inifinitely precious to God, and so are your prayers!
PRAYER: Lord, thank you that you love us and value us far more than we do! Thank you that our prayers are so precious to you! Lord, help us to pray harder and more fervently. And thank you that you value the simplest prayers when they are spoken from our hearts. In the Mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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