Culture of the Kingdom
Today’s Topic: Prayer: Type and Shadow in the Old Testament
Scripture: Exodus 30:1-10
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
Now we left off looking at the reality of what prayer is in the eternal. Now let’s take a step back and look at it in type and shadow so we can walk to the reality. In Exodus 30 we see God giving instructions to build a special altar. From Exodus 30:1 to Exodus 30:5 we see the makeup and how the altar was supposed to be constructed. Notice this altar is made of much gold and this would make sense if we remember back in Revelation 8:2-4 it speaks of a golden altar. Now God gave specific instructions to where to put this altar in the Temple.
Exodus 30:6: “And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of testimony (Ark of the Covenant), before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.” Now this is unique but let’s break it down so we can get the eternal picture of this type and shadow. Now the altar is outside the veil which separates the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple. Inside the Holy of Holies is the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat where God would meet with the high priest of the Temple. What does all of this symbolize? Well the Holy of Holies represent the Heavenly and where the Throne of God is. The veil separated that room from the rest of the Temple. The rest of the Temple represented Earth. Now they are to place this special Golden Altar outside of the Holy of Holies before the veil. Now that we have that let’s continue in scripture to get an even better picture.
Exodus 30:7,8: “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.” Now remember in our scriptures of Revelation 5 and Revelation 8, the incense that was burned on the golden altar was the prayers of the saints. Hence we have this instruction to burn the incense on the altar before the Lord. Now in as much as God tells the children of Israel to do something He tells them also what not to do because God knows the eternal meaning of what he is trying to tell them and that order must be maintained.
Exodus 30:9:”Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.” Now God is very clear on the Incense Altar not to offer any strange incense, burnt sacrifices, meat offering nor drinks on this altar. But why? Because all of those things symbolize things that man can offer to God for himself as provided by the Law. These are things also are things that man can produce. God is clear that on the Incense altar none of this is to be sacrificed or placed on it. So besides the incense what can go on the altar?
Exodus 30:10:”And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord”. What an offering! But look at this closely. This offering is represented by the blood of the sin offering of atonement. In other words it is the blood required that is offered for the sins of Israel. Now to understand the reality of this type and shadow is the fact that the Lord said the sacrifice is the most holy unto the Lord. The blood of the sin offering for atonement is Jesus Christ.
In the next message we will look at Jesus and show this correlation and continue our discussion on prayer as an element of the culture of the Kingdom.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
