230 The Tabernacle fire." But whatever His answer, whatever He sends, whether earthly joys or "a thorn in the flesh," He is getting us ready for service now and for heaven throughout eter- nity. Shall we not trust Him-utterly? The Incense-A Type of the Fragrant Life of the Son of God before the Father "No strange incense" was allowed on the golden altar that stood before the veil in the Holy Place (Exod. 30:9). The holy incense was made according to the God-given instructions. None of it was to be used for any other pur- pose, lest the man who disobeyed this command be "cut off from his people" (Exod. 30 : 38) • The penalty was death. The incense was holy, "unto the Lord." Three sweet spices and frankincense went into the making of this holy incense, "a perfume ... tempered together, pure and holy." It was to be beaten "very small," then put upon the fue on the golden altar. (See Exod. 30:34-38.) Because this was "perpetual incense," offered morning and evening, the sanctuary was ever :filled with the fra- grant smoke, the sweet perfume that arose from the golden altar. Nor was its sweetness known to the priests until the :fires burned it upon the altar. What a picture of our Lord's fragrant life, tested by the fues of suffering, which only served to show forth His excellencies! The fragrance of His sinless life, His gracious words, His loving deeds went up before His Father in heaven, a "perpetual" de- light. Scourged and "beaten," tried by the very fues of anguish and sorrow; yet His beauties and perfections were revealed before men, angels, and demons. And the Father in heaven was "well pleased" in His Son! As we :find our delight in the sweet incense of our Lord's fragrant life, in His "altogether lovely" Person-
The Tabernacle 231 this is worship. And such worship is not to be imitated. For it there is no substitute. No outward ceremonies, how- ever beautiful to the natural man; no burning of candles, no prayers to angels or virgin or saint can be called true worship. No outward fervor or emotional excitement in the name of Christianity can be worship in the scriptural sense. Only as we meditate upon Christ, thank Him for His "great salvation," praise Him for His matchless Per- son--only this can be called worship that honors God. It is the Lamb who is "worthy," and He alone! No Veil between uMy Soul and the Saviour!" Now that the veil of the temple has been rent in twain; now that the earthly priesthood has been done away; now that there is "nothing between" our souls and the Saviour, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16). "Let us draw near ..." (Heb. 10:22). Prayer brings us into the closest possible communion with our Father in heaven. Christ Himself is our Golden Altar; He is our Priest! We have nothing to fear. "He sweetens our prayers with the frank.incense" of His fra- grant life. And "He never gets done thinking about us!" "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, 0 God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee" (Psalm 139:17, 18). Satan will put doubts and fears in our way. He will seek to mar our testimony, and rob us of our joy in the Lord. But Satan "desired ... Peter," that he might "sift"
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