In the Golden Altar of Incense we have something much more than a gorgeous illustration: we have, expressed in kindergarten form, God's supreme symbol: rich, profound, deeply suggestive prayer.  For there is no doubt that by the ascending cloud of aromatic odorous, fed by fire from the Brazen Altar, the Holy Spirit signifies worship, and specifically prayer the fragrance from a human heart, like the sweet odor that rises from the heart of a rose.  "Golden bowls", we read in the Apocalypse, "full of incense [odorous], which incense fumes are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. v.,8).  So David says: -- "Let my prayer be set before Thee as INCENSE, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice" (Ps.cxli.2).  So when the Seraphim worshipped, Crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, odorous smoke something delicious to Him into whose face it ascends-filled the whole Temple.  The Censer was the one active vessel of the Sanctuary, as Prayer can be our only activity while standing before the Throne.  An incident in the Temple worship brings out the symbolism with extraordinary clarity:- and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense" (Luke i. 8)

      Deeply significant is the position of the Altar.  The God accepted worshipper is exactly portrayed by where he stands: the Altar is described as the Altar before the Lord; and, in the Apocalypse, as the Golden Altar, which is before the Throne. All the priests officiated before the Golden Altar; as worshippers, as pleaders, as intercessors:  all Christians, when they  pray, stand in the immediate presence of God.  The Bronze Altar was behind; the worshipper has passed the Burnt-out Offering, and left his sin on it in extinguished ash:  he now stands immediately in front of God, perpetually in the presence of the Mercy Seat.  The Veil, spiritually removed-for spiritually there is nothing between us and God- yet physically still separates, for God and our High Priest in the Holiest, and the whole inner Sanctuary of Heaven, are still screened off.  The worshipper, as it were, said: - I stand here, and venture to lay my grains of incense upon the Golden Altar, because He died yonder upon the Cross, that I might enter the Holy of Holies at last.  The fires that kindled the incense had first fed upon the sacrifice on the Brazen Altar: all our prayer is lit originally by live coals from off Calvary.  So the Golden Altar is the last point reached on this side of the Veil by the worshipper in his advance toward God; the utmost height possible to him, before he passes beyond the Veil into the Holiest of all.

      The Altar itself was made of acacia wood-the humanity of Christ-encased in slabs of solid gold-His Deity: the incense grains, held in the golden bowl or censer, rested on the gold-covered roof of the Altar: on the God-man alone repose all the Prayers of all the saints.  The Golden Altar was one of the few objects defined as "most holy," as the incense is also: next to the Ark and the Mercy Seat it seems to have ranked as the most sacred object of all: everything about it was of gold-golden rings, golden staves, a golden crown, a censer of gold: it is the extreme value God sets on prayer.  The Incense is variously described as "pure", "sweet," "perpetual," and "most holy." Moreover the Altar-higher than any other object in the Tabernacle whose measurements are given, as befits prayer-had four horns, pas symbolic of the power and efficiency and richness and catholicity of the ministry of prayer: worldwide in its intercession; and so powerful as to move God.

      The Incense is a remarkable revelation of how our prayers reach God.  "There was given unto him [the angel] much incense, that he might add it "-the Greek is give it: the intercession of Christ, and the imparting of His merit to us, is sheer gift-" unto the prayers of all the saints upon already resting upon - "the golden altar" (Rev. viii. 3).  Our prayers have to be, sometimes fumigated, often censored, and always "censed": that they rest upon the Altar shows that they come from saints of God; but before they can reach God, the Lord's spices must turn them into aromatic smoke.   So clearly has this burnt itself into the mind of the Church of Christ that of all the prayers and collects in the Book of Common Prayer there are only nine which do not close with the appeal through Christ, and those nine for special reasons.  "And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand" (Rev.viii. 4) Our very prayers need praying for-by Christ. When either the High Priest (Lev. iv. 3-12) or the whole congregation (13-21) had sinned, the horns of the Altar of Incense were blooded; and it was the only object thus blood touched in the Holy Place: but after that, the prayers and the sweet vapors go up as one, a delicious aroma to God. The prayer of the upright is His delight " (Prov. xv. 8).

      Richly suggestive is the stored incense. "And thou shalt beat some of it very small " -the rest being stored, always ready for instant use- "and put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting " (Ex. xxx. 34); where it lay, latent fragrance, smouldering intercession, until, touched by the fire, it burst into flame.  Prayer is ignited thought, love on fire, devotion in flames: as a little boy of four exquisitely defined it-" Mummy, when I get on my knees, My HEART thinks." Touch the man of God at any point, at any time, and prayer flames forth, already stored: so it is that, the moment fire is added, the prayer, latent in the prayer - spirit, bursts out and smokes upward.  Morning and evening prayer are the soul's dawn and sunset.  Every morning when Aaron dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it; and when he lighteth the lamps at even he shall burn it, a perpetual incense -- always stored, often flaming-" before the Lord" (Ex. Xxx. 7)