I’m always amazed, though I shouldn’t be, at what I find new in Scripture. Exodus 30 describes the altar of acacia wood for burning incense, and not just any incense, but fragrant spices – gum resin, onycha and galbanum – and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. v. 34-35. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. Revelation 5:8. 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. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Revelation 8:3-4.

Then comes the part I never noticed before: Then the Lord said to Moses, “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel…an offering to the Lord…the rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives. v. 11-15. The money was to be used for the service of the tent of meeting. Everything described to Moses is a copy of what exists in heaven. A shadow…not the reality.

The fragrant incense is but a physical copy of the reality. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2. And where do our prayers rise to? Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Psalm 96:6.

The ransom? Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Each person had to pay the same amount. God doesn’t have favorites. Did the money they pay pay for their atonement? No, it helped support the service of the tent of meeting. That price was paid in full for them and for us several thousand years later. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28. Aaron and his sons served the Lord for the people in the tent of meeting. A shadow of the service given for all of us that could have only been fulfilled in One who was worthy.

Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary…For this is what the high and exalted One says – he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15. He did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. Psalm 96:11-13.

He comes. Not to a tent that was but a copy; not to a building made of stone no matter how magnificent. He comes to us…the contrite and lowly in spirit to revive us. Can we lift up prayers of gratefulness and joy like fragrant incense…like the evening sacrifices? Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God will not despise. Psalm 51:15-17. He comes to revive us, to love us, to heal us…not to despise us. Can you imagine what in you and what in the world needs to be healed, revived, loved? Can you imagine that kind of love? Do you not know? Ask. He’s here working faithfully and ever so patiently in us.