By Dick Ruben
RECAP:
We’ve been through the courts, the perimeters, the brazen altar – a place of sacrifice – the laver – a place of sanctification to set us apart – the menorah – the place of light.
Our price for the sacrificial system has already been paid through Yeshua!
Body, Soul, and Spirit = the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies.
The Tabernacle is life itself, and when you look at the high priest, you see all of the tribes of Israel that God loved at that time. God chose us because he simply loved us. What is the heart of the Tabernacle?
On the South side is the Lampstand.
On the North side is the Showbread.
In the Middle, right in front of the Holy of Holies, is the Golden Altar.
They almost form a cross – if you look at it in terms of a person – Let’s go to Exodus 25: In behind the veil is the ark of the covenant – in Chapter 25:21 – and thou shall put the mercy seat above the ark and in the ark thou shall put… in vs 22 and there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee… In Leviticus 1, God tells Moses out of the tabernacle of Moses – God is still, 3500 years later, speaking to us out of the tabernacle.
Exodus 25 – God said he would speak to Moses between the 2 cherubim above the ark – God is the brains of the outfit – if you lay it out, the brain and thought process is in the glory room – The heart of the Tabernacle is the Golden Altar – the heart of God has to do with WORSHIP!
If you look at the Heart – out of the left arm – it reaches out to the blood and the flesh (the table of shewbread)– but then we reach our arm to the right – the Tabernacle is connected to LIFE! Why is the right connected with the lampstand? See Revelation 2:1 – the church of Ephesus – he holds the 7 stars in his right hand – there are 7 lamps of the menorah – the right hand speaks of POWER. The heart of the Tabernacle is the Golden Altar of Incense.
We are looking at a LIVING example of God’s pattern when we look at the Tabernacle.
The Golden Altar – Exodus 30 –
30 (vii) “You are to make an altar on which to burn incense; make it of acacia wood. 2 It is to be eighteen inches square and three feet high; its horns are to be of one piece with it. 3 Overlay it with pure gold — its top, all around its sides, and its horns; and put around it a molding of gold. 4 Make two gold rings for it under its molding at the two corners on both sides; this is where the carrying poles will go. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
6 “Place it in front of the curtain by the ark for the testimony, in front of the ark-cover that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you. 7 Aharon will burn fragrant incense on it as a pleasing aroma every morning; he is to burn it when he prepares the lamps.
Someone had to function at the golden altar – the burning of incense was for Aaron’s use only – he was the only one who could burn incense. Why only Aaron? Look at his garments;
A Levite’s or a Cohen’s dress code included:
– a white mitre,
– a white robe,
– a sash around the middle,
– and they had a garment underneath – this garment is the basic garment of the high priest as well.
The thing that changed Aaron’s ability to work at the altar was his outer robe.
When they worked in the outer court, they all wore the same outfit.
But when they went into the Holy Place, Aaron’s robe was the robe of separation – his robe represents the Holy Spirit. When Aaron put on the robe, it was placed on the priest above his head and lowered upon him – an indication that it came from a heavenly source.
Exodus 28:31- “You are to make the robe for the ritual vest entirely of blue. 32 It is to have an opening for the head in the middle. Around the opening is to be a border woven like the neck of a coat of mail, so that it won’t tear. 33 On its bottom hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet; and put them all the way around, with gold bells between them all the way around — 34 gold bell, pomegranate, gold bell, pomegranate, all the way around the hem of the robe. 35 Aharon is to wear it when he ministers, and its sound will be heard whenever he enters the Holy Place before Adonai and when he leaves, so that he won’t die.
This is the robe of SEPARATION – this is what separated Aaron from the priests in the outer court.
Yeshua is our great high priest – the garment was likened unto that of a tunic – his garment was not torn.
This is a robe of sound, and it speaks of the Holy Spirit. At the bottom of the robe, there were the bells and the pomegranates – these were separators – the Robe represents the H.S. – what is the evidence of the Holy Spirit? There is a garment that is meant for the church age and the church age only. The church is lacking the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Robe of the Ephod – the bells were really the evidence of the garment being in place. Signs, wonders, and miracles are the evidence of the Holy Spirit. The bells represent signs, wonders, miracles – see I Corinthians 12: (deals with spiritual gifts) – 8 To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit; 9 to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit; 10 to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues.
This ties into the 9 gifts of the spirit – the bells represent the spiritual gifts.
There is another “bell” chapter – I Corinthians 14:15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”
When you look at the robe as being the symbol of H.S., then you come to the pomegranate – the pomegranate is a fruit – it represents the fruit of the spirit.
Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit (notice fruit is singular) of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
The fruit of the Spirit that has nine sections to it – #1 is love – go back to 1 Corinthians 12 & 14 – in between is chapter 13 – this is known as the “love” chapter.
1 Corinthians 13 is the LOVE chapter – Example – Acts 3: talks about Peter and John – in vs 3 – He asked for alms – He saw Peter and John – Peter with John said “Look on us!” Peter says, “Silver and Gold have I none…” Love = the pomegranate = John. Peter was the bell = the sound. There was unity, and the man was healed.
Let’s go back to the Golden Altar – it could not function without Aaron, yet it also seems to be the heart of the altar. You cannot live without a heart. There is something fresh coming in anointed worship.
Exodus 30 – This gives us the dimensions for this altar.
You are to make an altar on which to burn incense; make it of acacia wood. 2 It is to be eighteen inches square and three feet high; its horns are to be of one piece with it.
On the brazen altar there were four horns – four corners – there are also four horns on the golden altar. Horns always speak of power. Why put blood on the horns – the blood empowers worship! We are not empowered until we are washed by the blood of the lamb – then we are empowered to worship!
The altar’s purpose was to burn incense – there were two rings on the altar.
There are two rings – The Altar could not be picked up by the horns. It had to be picked up by the two rings – the altar is a type of prayer, worship, and intercession – there has to be something that gives us the ability to move the altar or pick up the altar.
Amos 8:11 – The time is coming,” says Adonai Elohim,
“When I will send famine over the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of Adonai.
There will be famine in the land of the “hearing” of the Word. This is happening today in the church!
Why can’t we hear the Word of God? Look at Amos 8:12
People will stagger from sea to sea
and from north to east, running back and forth,
seeking the word of Adonai;
but they will not find it.
Revelation 2:7 – “He that has an ear – let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches”. See also chapter 3, chapter 4 say the same thing “Let him hear what the Spirit is saying.” We can’t hear the word of God because we do not have an ear open for the Spirit.
The anointing activates your ability to HEAR the word of God. And it is lacking in this age. We have lost the anointing! We have got to come back to the anointing. We need to be TIRED OF THE OUTER COURT!
So we have a problem with the hearing of the Word of God.
Our heart flesh is in the relationship with Yeshua, not in the outer court.
He goes to Genesis and the story of the Tower of Babel – Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered… Unity brought the power to accomplish the impossible – that’s why the church must be in unity – unity gives us the power to enable us to do anything that God determines us to do. You cannot have the full anointing unless you have unity – unity requires ONE LANGUAGE – With the Tower, when the language was shuffled, they were not in unity, and they were not able to finish the work.
Back to the altar of incense – and unity – Faith – cometh by hearing – that is not the logos – we also have the rhema of God – we are coming to a point in life where if we are not listening for the rhema word of God, we may not live to see morning.
- You are saved, but
- Then there is a being saved and
- Then ????
When we look at a ring, it is round with no beginning and with no end. The support mechanism of the golden altar is what moved the golden altar – once we know the mechanism that moved the altar, then we can know what will move our prayer life. What are these rings about?
Romans 8:26 Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession [g]for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Skip to vs 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
We have TWO intercessors – the Spirit and Yeshua. The anointing of the Spirit led prayer – the two rings represent the Spirit and Yeshua – our prayers are moved by the intercession of the Holy Spirit and Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who also makes intercession for you.
If you only have one ring functioning on the altar, it will get dumped, and nothing gets up to God. The anointing has to be our support.
I am responsible for praying in H.S. – when prayers mingle, there is UNITY. That Golden Altar – is the heart – prayer is the HEART of the church – Prayer is what makes the church work.
We see that we have two intercessors – what is the function of each of these intercessors? Remember, the incense always goes up to God – he hears everything! This is the only place in the Tabernacle that man is giving to God. This is where man comes to give to God.
Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
How do you build your faith? You pray in the Holy Spirit – you pray in your prayer language. Have tongues been done away with? 1 Corinthians 13: – and tongues cease, knowledge will just vanish away – Praying in the Holy Ghost builds your faith!
We are the powerhouse when we operate by the horns of the altar, washed in the blood. So you pray in the Holy Spirit – you raise up an incense in prayers to God.
When you pray in the Holy Spirit, it helps with your infirmities. It does something in the brain and brings about change.
Ephesians 6: 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Thoughts are not sin -they are fiery darts from the enemy. Pray in the Holy Spirit and it will go! How do you raise your shield of faith? Pray in the Spirit.
This altar was to burn incense on – How did the priest get behind the veil? The altar was right in front of it. Leviticus 16 – on the day of atonement vs 4 – he shall put on the holy linen coat – linen breeches – had a linen girdle – and a linen miter on his head – the robe is not on him – he didn’t have the blue garment on – there was a censor in his hand – vs 12 – and the cloud of incense…may cover the mercy seat that he die not. How did he get through the veil? He is supernaturally taken into the Holy of Holies.
Psalm 141 – Incense – “Lord, I cry unto thee…give ear unto my voice…let my prayer or my praise be set before thee as incense and the lifting of my hands as an evening sacrifice.”
Prayers exterminate the enemy. What is Yeshua doing at the right hand of the Father? Luke 22: Jesus tells Peter Satan wants to sift him as wheat… vs 32 – “I prayed for these that their faith does not fail.”
You pray in the H.S., so no situation can take away your faith.
1st altar call in the bible – John 20:19
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were [e]assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
In this verse, we learn the disciples received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is when they received the POWER of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
John 7:38 – “from your belly shall flow rivers of living water” – A person can measure one river. But rivers? Who can measure? There is this unlimited flow of the anointed. Unlimited and cannot be measured, which is available through the Holy Spirit.