Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #3 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are going to continue looking at Revelation 8:3-5:

And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

Now this is very hard for us to understand because we are not used to this kind of language.  We know that these figures of the altar and the golden censer and the incense come from the Old Testament sacrificial system which God instituted for the nation of Israel, but we really do not spend that much time (because we live in the New Testament era) with these “types and figures,” so when we read a passage like this it does not instantly register with us regarding what God has in mind.  Of course, if we were more familiar with these things, we would probably have a better idea of what God is saying. 

So I think it is a good idea for us to familiarize ourselves (as much as we can) with this language of the altar and the incense, and so on.  The only way we can familiarize ourselves with it is by reading what the Bible has to say about these things.

The Greek word that is translated as “altar” is Strong’s #2379 and it comes from a word that means “to kill” or “to sacrifice.”  That makes sense because the altar would be a place of sacrifice, but that is one of the things we will hopefully learn when we go back to the Old Testament.  We are going to find that there were often two altars that are in view and we have to understand which one is being discussed.  You will see what I mean, as we go back to Exodus 30: 1-10:

And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. 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. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. 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 JEHVOAH throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto JEHOVAH.

Let us consider what we learned from this passage.  This is an altar that incense was to be burned upon and it was an altar of shittim wood that was overlaid with pure gold.  The location of this altar, according to Exodus 30:6, was to be “before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat.”  Notice that God says, in verse 9, “Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.”  This golden altar was especially for “incense” and once a year Aaron, the High Priest, was permitted to enter in with the blood of the sin offering of atonement and he could offer that once a year.  Otherwise, this altar was not for burnt offering.  It was not for meat offering and it was not for drink offering.  That means there had to be another altar (and there was).  It says in Exodus 38:1-2:

And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits *was* the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof. And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.

Now this is describing the altar of burnt offerings.  The altar of incense was overlaid with pure gold and this altar was overlaid with brass.  We need to keep in mind that there are these two different altars and sometimes God just refers to an altar and it is up to us to determine whether it is the brazen altar or the golden alter.  God normally does give additional information that helps us to determine that.  We read of these two altars being spoken of together in Exodus 39:38-39:

And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,

So, here, God is just describing the various items that are involved with the tabernacle worship and sacrifice and He is talking of both of these altars.  We read in Exodus 40:4-5:

And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense&hellip

This is very consistent in the Bible: when we see the golden altar, we can know that is for the incense.

And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle.

Again, the location is “before the ark,” and it is a golden altar involved with incense.  Then it says in Exodus 40:6:

And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering&hellip

Remember what God said about the “golden altar?”  It is not for burnt offering.  Therefore, the altar for burnt offering must be the brasen altar (and it is), and here we find it also has its own location.

And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

So that altar was at a different location than the golden altar.  The brasen altar is “before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.”  There they could slay the animals.  They could offer burnt offerings upon that altar that was not to be done inside the “Holy of Holies” where the golden altar of incense was located.

Also, it says in Exodus 40:26-27:

And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail: And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses.

Then it says in Exodus 40:29:

And he put the altar of burnt offering *by* the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses.

(And let us just remind ourselves that this is a different altar.)   So, we are seeing that God is consistent concerning the type of altar: one is “golden” and one is “brasen,” and also He is consistent as to what is put on each altar: the “golden” altar receives the incense and the brasen altar receives the burnt offerings.  They also differ in location: one is by the “vail” and one is by the “door of the tabernacle of the tent” of the congregation. 

When we go to the next Book of the Bible, in the Book of Leviticus, we find the altar mentioned repeatedly.   Again, and again, God makes reference to the altar.  In chapter 1 alone, there are thirteen references to the altar.  Once we find the clue language, we can determine which altar is in view (and we could do this for the majority of references to the altar).  But in Leviticus 1, we can know that all thirteen references are referring to the same altar, and it says in Leviticus 1:4:

And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before JEHOVAH: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Now which altar is that?  Well, that would be the brasen altar that is for burnt offering.  Then it says in Leviticus 1:6-9:

And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto JEHOVAH.

Again, we know the altar in view is the brasen altar and that is the case with all thirteen references in Leviticus, chapter 1, and into Leviticus, chapter 2.  Actually, I made a quick survey and I think this is true: the altar that is mentioned up until Leviticus, chapter 16, is the brasen altar for burnt offerings.  Then in Leviticus 16, we read of the golden altar and I will read Leviticus 16:11:

And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before JEHOVAH, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:

Now Aaron has gone within the vail and now we know which altar is there; it would be the golden altar.  Then it goes on to say in Leviticus 16:13-14:

And he shall put the incense upon the fire before JEHOVAH, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

This is describing the Day of Atonement and we read back in the Book of Exodus how once a year there was to be atonement and incense offered by the High Priest, as he went into the golden altar.  So it helps us to realize that every time we find the word “altar” it is not necessarily referring to the same altar.  It could be either the brasen or the golden altar, for burnt offering or for incense offering, respectively. 

Now in Revelation 8 we are reading of the incense altar and we are also reading of this “angel,” which would be pointing to Jesus, “came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer *it* with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.”  We can know this is picking up on the “figure” of the altar that was by the ark of the covenant; and the ark was inside the Holy of Holies where incense was to be offered, especially on the Day of Atonement, once a year, at which time the High Priest would approach the ark and sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat.  God is picking up that particular “figure” in the Book of Revelation.

I would also like to go in the Old Testament to Numbers, chapter 16, because there is an interesting account which relates to the altar and the burning of incense, and it also relates to the judgment of God upon the churches and congregations – upon those that are professed Christians, but are not true believers.  We read of Korah, in Numbers 16:6-7:

This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before JEHOVAH to morrow: and it shall be *that* the man whom JEHOVAH doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.

Now this is picking up on a time when Israel had come out of Egypt and they have entered into a period of severe trial and testing from God in the wilderness; things are not easy for them at all.  At first there was great joy, I am sure, when they came out of Egypt from cruel bondage and, certainly, they would have experienced great joy and relief that their time of bondage was over.  But it did not last long at all and then the “hot sun” began to wear on them and God was leading them in a long journey to the Promise Land.  God was intentionally trying them because He knew what was in their hearts.  He knew that even though they came out of physical bondage, the vast majority of the Israelites were still in spiritual bondage to sin and Satan, so He developed severe trials for them.  They failed these trials, repeatedly.  In this case, Korah and these Levites began to think that Moses and Aaron took too much upon themselves.  They said that all the congregation was holy, so God allowed Moses to present this test wherein they would take censers and “put fire therein, and put incense in them before JEHOVAH.”  Now, remember what God had said back in Exodus: there was to be no “strange” incense presented; no burnt offering and no meat offering or drink offering and no “strange” incense was to come upon that altar.  So these men were going to try it.  They were going to put incense on and come before the Lord.  Of course, we know it did not go well at all.  It says in Numbers 16:16:

And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before JEOVAH, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before JEHOVAH every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each *of you* his censer. And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.

Here, there are 250 men that are going to take their censers and put fire in them.  It is significant to note that 250 breaks down into 5 x 5 x 10, because the number “5” relates to the atonement (the atoning work of Christ), and we saw that the golden altar had a lot to do with the Day of Atonement, as the High Priest was to enter in only once a year to offer that incense and to sprinkle blood upon the mercy seat.

But now these other men are saying that they, too, can do this.  It is not only for Aaron and the priests, but they are saying that they, too, are “holy” and they, therefore, can perform this task.  The number of the men is emphasizing that this has much to do with the complete atonement because the Lord Jesus is the one who is typified by Aaron the High Priest of Israel, and Jesus offered the “pure” incense, the only acceptable incense; all other incense would be as “strange incense.”  When the Lord Jesus offered up Himself and His life (the blood typified the life) from the foundation of the world for the sake of His elect, that is the burnt offering and the altar of the burnt offering typifies that, as well as the offering of incense once a year as the High Priest went in once a year on the Day of Atonement.  So, God, in using the number “250” is pointing to the completeness of the atoning work of Christ; and any other attempted work of atonement is not acceptable – it is not going to be received well at all by God; and that is exactly what happened. 

To quench this rebellion, God, first of all, brought about an earthquake that swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and so forth.  Then we read of the 250 men in Numbers 16:35:

And there came out a fire from JEHOVAH, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

Fire fell from God and consumed, not the incense, but the men offering the incense, indicating God’s wrath upon them for offering strange incense before Him.  They had approached unto the golden altar where they were not permitted to come before the ark of God.  So God did pour out His wrath and destroy these men. 

Let us also read from Numbers 16:41:

But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of JEHOVAH.

Now you would think that the congregation of Israel would have seen that some new thing had happened, as God opened up the ground and swallowed up those wicked men and that the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the 250 men that dared to offer incense when they should not have done so.  You would think that after witnessing this, the congregation of Israel would have fallen on their faces and cried to God for mercy: “Have mercy, O Lord.  We are rebels and we have sinned against thee.  Forgive us.”  But, no, instead they murmured all the more, telling Moses and Aaron, “Ye have killed the people of JEHOVAH.”  These men were men of renown.  They were famous in the congregation and they were looked up to by these Jews, so they are blaming Moses and Aaron.  It is nothing but “blindness” that they cannot see the hand of God at work in bringing about this judgment, and that is why these Israelites typify those that profess to be God’s people, but, in reality, are not. 

It says in Numbers 16:44-45:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense&hellip

Now notice, again, that Aaron is taking a censer and taking fire from the altar and putting on incense.  That is exactly what the 250 men had done.

Then it says in Numbers 16:46-50:

…and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from JEHOVAH; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

Here, we see that Aaron is a great type of the Lord Jesus Christ as he takes a censer, puts fire therein from off the alter, and put on incense and made an atonement for them.  This prevented the plague from destroying the entire congregation of Israel.

God gives us an interesting number here (14,700) and there are a few more things we would like to look at before we move on, but we have run out of time tonight.  Lord willing, in our next study, we will come back to Numbers 16.