Many struggle with the purpose of prayer. Why pray if God already knows what you’re going to say? Does He even care about our prayers? I trust that today’s post is going to help you see just how much God cares about every single need we bring before Him and how His love made a way to bring them even closer to Him.
From the time the Lord came down on Mount Sinai in thunder, lightning, loud trumpets, and dark smoke, the Israelites always had someone interceding on their behalf to the Lord because of their fear of Him. There were sacrifices that needed to be made by a priest on their behalf, then the priest would report things to the high priest. Then, once a year, the high priest would enter the most holy place to pray on behalf of the people and see if they still had God’s favoured presence or not.
When the Lord instructed the Israelites to build the tabernacle, everything consecrated to Him became holy. Each item within the tabernacle symbolized an element of Yahweh’s character: His mercy seat on the ark of the testimony, the table of the Bread of His presence, and the lampstand. The ark of the testimony was within the most holy place. Then the veil divided the areas of the ark and the rest of the sanctuary. But just on the other side of that veil sat one piece that represented God’s people: the golden altar of incense. That piece represented the prayers of God’s people continually before Him. We see relationship of God with His people here in the heart of the tabernacle amidst His holiness, mercy, presence, and everlasting light.
The tabernacle was a sacred place where God’s commands needed to be strictly obeyed. Any careless or rebellious act within it would bring great consequence because it tainted His dwelling. It showed that man was putting himself above God. This warning should have kept the Israelites in rightful fear of Him. Sadly, it did not. The people ignored the words of the Lord, even though they had memorized them day and night.
When Jesus died on the cross and the ultimate everlasting sacrifice was made, the veil which divided God’s mercy seat and the altar of incense, was torn in two from top to bottom. God broke the divide between Him and His people, so our prayers are ever before the Lord of heaven and earth with nothing to separate them.
The tabernacle on earth was a representation of what’s taking place in heaven. Revelation 8:3 confirms that the golden altar of incense holding our prayers is still positioned before His mercy seat on the throne of grace. It says,
“Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne.”
David also understood how precious this is as he wrote in Psalm 141:1-2,
This is the Holy God to which we bow and give our praises and petitions. The King of Kings. The Most High seated on the throne of heaven who made Himself of no reputation and died on our behalf so that we might become children of God and join in communion with Him forever.
The only intercessor we have left between us and the Father is God Himself – Jesus Christ as our High Priest and His Spirit with groans we cannot understand are ever before the Father interceding for us. Their work is what allows our spirits to be joined with the Father in adoption as His sons and daughters. Because of this, we can now boldly approach the throne of grace with our needs (Hebrews 4:16). When we come before the Lord in prayer, genuinely seeking to grow in greater understanding of Him and His work, Holy Spirit begins a deeper transformation of our spirits to align with His will for us.
If the Lord cares enough to keep our prayers on the golden altar of incense before His throne, having our needs ever before Him until the end of time, surely we should come to Him with assurance that He will attend to each one in the absolute best way. The prayers are important, but what’s even more valuable to Him are the people who offer these needs to the Father. The placement of the altar is a symbol of His unquenchable love for His children. Our prayers are a symbol of our dependency on Him.
So, the next time you offer your needs to the Father who is seated on the mercy seat on the throne of grace, remember His love for you and the treasured gift your prayers are to Him. The more you understand this, the greater your trust of Him will be, which will free your spirit to pray more lovingly and confidently because you’ll know He cares.
