SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/19/2015
8:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Supplication
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
8:3-4
Message of the
verses: “3 Another angel came and
stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him,
so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar
which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers
of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.”
Let’s begin with what I wrote in June of 2005: “Verse three speaks of something very Jewish
as far as their ceremony and practice goes that was practiced in the OT. The priests would take fire from the alter,
or hot coals, and then start the fire to burn incense to the Lord. This was done two times a day, in the morning
and in the evening. It is thought by
some that Aaron’s sons who died by offering strange fire was doing this
procedure the wrong way when the Lord killed them.
“The incense is a picture of the prayers of the saints
that come up to God as a pleasing aroma.”
There are some who believe that the angel spoke of in
this section is the Lord Jesus Christ since of the priestly work that is being
done. MacArthur writes: “That identification is unlikely, however,
for several reasons. First Christ is
already identified in the heavenly scene as the Lamb (5:6; 6:1; 7:17),
distinguishing Him from this angel.
Second, while the pre-in carnet Christ appeared as the Angel of the Lord
in the Old Testament, Jesus is nowhere identified as an angel in the New
Testament. Third, the reference in verse
2 to the seven actual angels defines the meaning of the term in this
context. Then angel in verse 3 is described
as ‘another’ (allos; another of the
same kind; c. 7:2) angel like those in verse 2.
Finally, everywhere He appears in Revelation, Jesus is clearly
identified. He is called ‘the faithful
witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth’
(1:5), the son of man (1:13), ‘He who is holy, who is true’ (3:7), ‘the Amen,
the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God’ (3:14),
the ‘Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of Jessie’ (5:5), the Lamb
(6:1; 16; 7:17; 8:1), and Lord of Lords’ (19:16). If He were the One at the altar, it is
reasonable to assume that He would be
specifically identified.”
In Isaiah 6:6 we see the altar that this angel is
standing at, and we know from Exodus 30:3 that the altar is made of gold. “5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am
ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of
unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." 6 Then
one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken
from the altar with tongs (Isa. 6:5-6).”
“"You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all
around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it (Ex.
30:3).” God is speaking of the altar of
incense in this verse and we need to remember that Moses was told by the Lord
to do everything as far as the tabernacle like what God had shown him on the
mountain, and this was a copy of what was in heaven, so now we are seeing the
original in this section. In the Jewish Temple
and also before that the tabernacle the altar of incense was close to the Holy
of Holies, which is where God dwelt. I
have already mentioned how and what the priest did in the earthly tabernacle or
temple in the quote from my previous SD on these verses. This is what the father of John the Baptist
was doing when Gabriel told him that he was going to have a son as seen in the Gospel
of Luke: “8 Now it happened that while
he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his
division, 9 according to the custom of
the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and
burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside
at the hour of the incense offering (Luke 1:8-10).” The burning of the incense is a symbol of the
people’s prayers offered up to the Lord.
The angel took the incense, which in verse three we are
toll that there was much incense, and as we stated it is the prayers of the
people and he “add it to the prayers of all the saints.” We are not told who it was that gave the
angel the incense, but according to John MacArthur the word in the Greek for “was
given” is didomi and this word is
used many different times in the book of Revelation as something that was given
by God. Perhaps that the prayers that
were given were the ones that the Tribulation Saints prayed for in the fifth
seal judgment and now more prayers were also being offered to God so that He
would destroy Satan, and that sin may be defeated, and also that their deaths
would be avenged (See Rev. 6:9-11) for a quick review. There were probably even more saints on earth
that were praying that this would happen and this represents the incense that
the angel is offering up on the altar of incense.
We saw in the fifth seal in chapter six the prayers of
those under the altar, and then the sixth seal brought more devastation on the
earth, next we saw the four angels stopping the winds from the four corners of
the earth so that the 144,000 could be sealed and then we saw another description
of the Tribulation saints and now the seventh seal is about to be opened and
with it there will be more judgment from the Lord on sin so what we are looking
at is the answers to the prayers that were being offered up to the Lord. I have to believe that many of the believer’s
on earth at this time know what is going on and they want sin to be judged and
the earth given back to be in control of God as Satan will be defeated and the
Kingdom will begin. In what we know as
the “Lord’s Prayer” a part of it a prayer that “Thy Kingdom come,” and this is
part of what the believers on earth are praying for at this time.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am learning
more things about prayer than I have ever learned before as this passage speaks
of prayers and that they go up before the Lord in heaven. Last year in our study of the letters of 1
& 2 Thessalonians I learned much about how better to pray for my Pastors
and I do this each day and even intensify it on the weekends in preparation for
the Lord’s day preaching and other activities.
Prayer is something that is a great privilege for believers to
participate in and I want to take advantage of it, praying for things that I
learn about in the Word of God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and to continue to learn more about the love Christ has for
me and live in that love.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The things pertaining to the
kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘I will disguise
myself, and enter into the battle; but put on my robes’?”
Answer in our next SD. 4/19/2015 8:55 AM
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