The True Tabernacle: (The Golden Altar)
I. OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
I remember traveling to Hill Country Camp while on the youth committee and taking our children to Kid's Camp. There was a country store on the way that has a payphone outside. Our girls were young and had never seen a payphone. It was fascinating to them. They stood there pretending to talk on it.
Technology changes. There are some here today who remember a time when there was no email. We wrote letters. There were no text messages. We wrote notes and passed them to one another. There are a few of you who remember when your family got a house phone. Growing up our family had a rotary phone with a long twisted cord. Cell phones were the bulky things that fit into briefcases and carphones that businessmen and drug dealers had.
Wireless communication was a thing of science fiction. Today automatic wireless communication across the world is the norm. And even now, not all phones are created equal. There are satellite phones that can call anywhere from anywhere with no need for cell towers or hard lines.
Golden telephones have been a symbol of opulence, decadence, power, wealth, and elitism.
In 1930 when Vatican City was built it was connected to ITT the (International Telephone and Telegraph) lines. The Catholic Church in America presented Pope Pius XI with a golden telephone.
In 1957 the US presented a golden telephone to the Cuban dictator Batista
There is a story of iconic artist Andy Warhol giving away a golden telephone explaining that with it you can talk to God.
Ancient Israel was not given a golden telephone, but a golden altar.
II. SCRIPTURE TEXT:
In Exodus 30:1-10 (NIV) we read:
1 “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. 2 It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high —its horns of one piece with it. 3 Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. 4 Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. 5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law—where I will meet with you. 7 “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. 8 He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come. 9 Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord.”
Like a golden telephone on which the priests could talk to God, the golden altar was positioned in a central place in the first room of the tabernacle up against the veil that separated The Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
It was the closest that any priest, other than the high priest once a year. could ever come to the Most Holy Place. Each morning when the priest went in to light the lamps, and each evening when he went in to close up for the night he burned incense on this altar.
It represents consistent prayer.
Friedrich Nietzche said, “The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living."
This morning as we continue our series on the True Tabernacle, I want to point your attention to Israel's Golden Telephone -- the Golden Altar.
III. MOVEMENT 1:
The altar of incense and its connection with the evening sacrifice is connected with prayer throughout the Scriptures.
As Ezra prayed his heartfelt prayer of repentance for his nation it was at the time of the evening sacrifice (Ezra 9:5-15).
After the prophet Daniel had spent time praying and fasting seeking God, repenting for his sin and the sins of his nation, we read: "While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill— 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed." (Daniel 9:20-23 NIV).
For Ezra, his prayer was part of what led to the restoration of Israel after 70 years of captivity. For Daniel, his prayer was part of what gave an understanding of the times both his own and ours.
Ezra and Daniel had a direct line to heaven. It was as if they had a golden telephone on which they could talk to God. Talking to God was more valuable to them than talking to kings. They talked regularly to the king of kings.
The psalmist wrote:
Psalm 141 (NIV)
1 I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you. 2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Neither Daniel nor Ezra lived at a time when the evening sacrifice could be offered. They realized that the golden altar symbolized something greater than they could do anywhere and at any time. They could do it in the morning or evening. And if they were consistent, even in the evening time there would be a keen ability to gain insight that others might not have. They had a golden telephone.
Zechariah 14:7 (KJV) is a prophecy that was a watchword for early 20th-century Pentecostals. They saw the restoration of the baptism of the Spirit as God turning the light on in the evening time for those who had consistently prayed for a revival of the biblical signs of Christianity. It says, "But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light."
Daniel prayed when it made kings happy and his enemies mad. He was consistent and even at the time of the evening sacrifice, he had light. God sent the angel Gabriel to him and helped him understand the seventy years of prophecies of Jeremiah. He read the Bible as he prayed.
God intends prayer to be a two-way conversation. The golden telephone is not only so we can talk to God, but so that he can talk to us.
Sometimes we pray consistently for a long time. We are always on the line, and there are things that God may say to us, and promises that we hear, that we forget over time. As the morning of our lives or situations give way to the heat of the day and we go about our work, we forget. That is why in the evening time it is important to reconnect.
There are friends that I talk to almost every day who I am separated by miles. It is the telephone that gives me the ability.
I felt yesterday that the Lord wanted me to encourage you to stir your memory about the prayers that you have forgotten that you prayed.
IV. MOVEMENT 2:
The golden altar is mentioned in the first five books of the Bible as a part of the tabernacle worship, then in the story of Solomon building the temple (Exod 39:38; 40:5, 26; Num 4:11; 2 Chron 4:19). It is called the golden altar. Gold represents the incorruptibility of Deity. Prayer is the connecting point of humanity and divinity.
The writer of Hebrews speaks ambiguously of the placement of the altar (Heb 9:3). It was so close to the veil and the Most Holy Place that it was almost as if it was there. Prayer has a way of carrying us beyond the here and now into the invisible world that surrounds us every moment. Jacob declared at Bethel, "The LORD was in this place and I knew it not!" (Gen 28:16). God is at work in our situations and circumstances consistently and sometimes we are unaware because we have not consistently cultivated an awareness of his Presence in our lives. But, we have the privilege to do so, if we will. In the OT system of worship, there were degrees of holiness.
It was only the priests who could offer incense. Everyone else prayed outside and were symbolically further away from God. What a privilege the priests had to go in at some point in their lifetime to offer up incense. By the time of the second temple, that is what priests could look forward to. there were so many that they had been broken down into smaller groups based on their families.
Each one had the opportunity once in a lifetime to go in and offer the incense in the holy place in the temple. They had a lottery system set up that every qualified priest participated in. When their name was selected, they got to go to Jerusalem and get as close to the Most Holy Place as anyone ever would except the high priest once a year.
When they offered the incense, they offered prayer, and the people in the temple got as close as they could and offered prayer in unison. This is what happens in the opening chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
There is a priest name Zachariah. He is in the evening years of his life and ministry. He has participated in many priestly functions throughout his lifetime, and finally, the lot falls upon him to offer the incense in the temple once. It may seem random, but when you read the story you realize that it is not.
Proverbs 16:33 (NIV) says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the LORD." The NLT paraphrases, "We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall."
A quote attributed to Albert Einstein says, "God doesn't play dice."
The steps of a good person are ordered by the LORD (Psalm 37:23).
Luke 1:8-13 (NIV)
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
It was evening time. The prophets had all stopped writing prophecies. The people of Israel were oppressed by the Romans, and their prayer as they stood morning and evening was for the appearance of the Messiah. They were looking for a Savior and Deliverer.
When the priest went in to pray, morning and evening, offering sacrifices on the great altar and incense and prayers on the golden altar, they prayed.
One of the things that happen as we pray for others is that our prayers get all mingled in together and our lives get intertwined.
It was evening time and Zachariah approached the golden altar that was Israel's golden telephone, and as he showed up for his once-in-a-lifetime appointment to do his duty, something happened.
I want to say something here about the importance of going through the motions. There are some times in life when the only thing that will keep you are the habits and spiritual disciplines that you have established. You will have moments that are firey than others, and moments that are less hot, but keep showing up to the golden altar! Keep picking up the golden telephone and talking to heaven! It is those consistent prayers that have a way of benefitting your life and the lives of those you love when you least expect it!
In Acts 10, Cornelius, a gentile, had been offering prayers regularly, continually, the old KJV says "always." He was ever found at the golden telephone. He was talking to God!
Harriet Tubman once talked about their success in the underground railroad, seeing slaves escape the South to the North. She relied on prayer. She said, "I talks to God, and He talks to me!"
In Acts 10, as Cornelius came to prayer one more time, he had a heavenly visitation. This time, an angel showed up and sent him to Peter to hear the message of salvation. Guess what time it was when the angel appeared as Cornelius prayed. 3 PM, the time of the evening sacrifice. There is just something about seeking God consistently early and late.
God has more for you than you ever imagined! Cornelius and his entire household received the baptism of the Spirit and were all baptized in Jesus's name! They had the exact same encounter with the Holy Spirit as the 120 had on the day of Pentecost. Why? he lingered on the phone.
I remember those long conversations with my wife when we were Bible College students where we would fall asleep talking to one another.
When was the last time you prayed until you fell asleep talking to the Lord? Cornelius said I talks to God and one evening God talked to him!
Zacharias had been a young man once and in his youth he and his wife had prayed that the LORD would bless them with a child.
Prayers don't have an expiration date!
As Zachariah stood before the altar of incense, an angel appeared to him. Everyone else was outside praying and he was as close as he could be to what represented the presence of God and suddenly... It wasn't just a dial tone or a busy signal on the other side of the line of the golden telephone of prayer. God spoke directly to Zachariah's deepest desire. He reminded him of a prayer he had long forgotten.
We are not told that Zachariah and Elizabeth were praying for a son, only that the whole congregation was praying. Part of their prayer was that the Messiah would come and deliver them. Zachariah was just going about his duty as a priest, and probably had no clue that God was about to answer a prayer that he and his wife had prayed as a young couple and that this answer to his prayer was going to prepare the way for the Messiah to come. His son would be John the Baptist.
Don't be discouraged. Hebrews 6:10 (NIV): "God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."
I can hear Heaven's Voice this morning talking to someone at the time of the evening sacrifice and saying, "Your prayer is heard!"
V. MOVEMENT 3:
The last time we see the golden altar is in Revelation 8:1-6 (NKJV):
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
This passage from the book of Revelation is about the evening time of human history, the last of the last days.
There in front of the throne of God is the golden altar. It is the golden altar in the heavens, the other side of the golden telephone.
In this symbolic scene, an angel gathers all the voicemails of "all God's people." Can you imagine God's voicemail? There are prayers from Enoch who walked with God and was not, because God took him. There are prayers from Elijah, who was a man just as human as you and me, but prayed fervently that it might not rain and it didn't rain for three and a half years, and he prayed again and it rained! There are the prayers of Moses and Samuel who stopped the wrath of God from falling upon Israel! There are the prayers of saints of all ages. The prayers of Peter and Paul and James and John and Wesley and Seymore and Flowers and Haywood and Urshan and those of us here today all mixed together. And in the evening time, when the light comes on, the angel takes incense and offers them up to God once more. The voicemails are played again and those prayers that have no expiration date are finally answered as the angel hurls a censor full of fire from the altar down to the earth.
Your prayers effect change in the invisible world and thus in the world that we can see!
God remembers and he has stored your tears in his bottle, your sighs in his hand.
Don't stop petitioning him. Don't hang up the golden telephone.
Morning and evening! Day and night. Ask it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened.
It may seem like it has been a long time since you've prayed those prayers, but we serve a God who doesn't forget!
In the True Tabernacle, there is no veil that separates us from access to the very presence of God. The golden altar is not reserved for a select few. We can all come boldly to the throne of grace and find help in times of need. The golden altar represents Christ's continual intercession for us! He is a sweet smell unto God! What Jesus accomplished on Calvary opened a direct line to heaven! The veil was rent from top to bottom! There is no monthly fee and no disconnect! Whosoever will!
VI. CONCLUSION:
There may be some prayers that you have forgotten that you prayed. God has not forgotten.
There is no expiration date on your prayers.
They are mingled with the prayers of others and God is about to pour out answers that are going to blow our minds.
Get on the golden telephone. The old song said, "Jesus on the main line, tell him what you want..."
It's evening time!
