Ex. 30:34-3834And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: 35And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: 36And 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. 37And 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. 38Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people. (Exodus 30:34‑38)
The delicacy of fragrance and the savor of the four principal spices were for God only. We cannot make the same composition for ourselves. It is "holy for the Lord," that ever blessed Lord Jesus, God's own Son. The incense rises when the priest puts it on the fire drawn from the brazen altar. The fourfold perfume, beaten small, was burned upon the golden altar next to the veil.
If we put the symbol of the perfume in New Testament terms, we have a lovely picture to consider. We approach God as saints fit to stand before God in "the holiest". Before that point it is all of self and none of God, but when we are worshipers it is all of God and none of self.
When we are born again, we get a sense of need and we ask for what we want, that is, we pray. Then as His mercies abound and we become conscious of His loving recognition and supply of our need, we thank Him for mercies received. Learning more of our God, the Father of the Son, through the Spirit we recognize His greatness, His glory, the glories of redemption, creation, and preservation, and so we praise.
Higher than prayer is when we are consciously in "the holiest by the blood of Jesus," and God is before us. We bow before Him for what He Himself is, self forgotten, so we do not pray or thank Him, but we worship and adore. We worship when our hearts overflow in adoration to God and Christ. It will be our glad employment in heaven. Our worship here is mingled with praise, its nearest companion, and often, too, with remembrance of self-what He has done for us. So we thank Him also with prayer. Lev. 1:6:12, 13
The brazen altar typifies the cross, which is the ground of all approach to God. To this altar the priest comes and takes the fire, that is, the judgment of a holy God upon sin was borne by His Son our Savior. Upon His own intrinsic holiness the fire can be safely laid, and upon it the incense is placed, and the perfume thereof is God's portion. On that one great day when the high priest went within the veil, his hands full of beaten incense (filled hands mean consecration), its smoke protected him from the judgment of Israel's Holy One, as he presented Israel to his Jehovah.
Now, Jesus—His person and His death—is before us and with but "one mind and one mouth" we glorify God (Rom. 15:66That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:6)). Our hands are "filled with" Him beaten small, for the apprehension of one may be greater than of another. It is not a question of how much of Jesus we can receive; little as we can hold of Him, we are full. The aged, tried saint who has walked for years with Jesus and knows Him intimately is filled; the babe who has just started on his way is also filled. Jesus fills every capacity great or small.
C. H. Hall