Exodus: The Lord and His PilgrimsНамуна

Meeting God

Without doubt ‘regularly’ in 29:42 (NIV) should be ‘perpetually’ or ‘continually’, the standard meaning of the word. The burnt offering is always there, always in operation. Leviticus 6:9 speaks of it on the altar ‘all night until morning’, and then that ‘the fire … shall be kept burning … it shall not be put out’ (vv. 11–12). Verse 13 literally adds: ‘a perpetual fire shall burn … never go out’. It speaks of perpetual atonement, and of a people perpetually represented as holding nothing back in their devotion to the Lord. This is the situation in which the Lord is pleased to meet with and speak to his people (Ex. 29:42), and in which he finds the fulfilment of what he purposed in their redemption (v. 46). 

Before we go on (as Exodus does) to the beautiful golden altar of incense (30:1–10), we must pause to recall those times when we say we ‘are getting nothing out of’ our Bible reading, and it seems as if God has stopped talking to us. We need to ask ourselves the question: ‘How is it with us and the great Burnt Offering? Are we living in close unitedness with the Atonement?’ Can we sing, ‘Jesus, keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain; free to all, a healing stream, flows from Calvary’s mountain. In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever till my ransomed soul shall find rest beyond the river’? (Fanny Crosby, ‘Jesus, keep me near the cross’) Are we living in the spirit of holding nothing back? 

Moving on to the golden altar, we must see this in the wonderful balance of Scripture – Exodus 29 ends with the Lord coming to us to speak to us, and chapter 30 opens with the provision for us to come to God for him to meet with us (v. 6; cf. 30:36). Incense as a symbol is not, as such, explained in the Bible, but surely the picture is clear enough: outside the veil the altar stands, but functionally its sweet savour penetrates the veil – ‘a perpetual incense before the Lord’ (v. 8) and something the Lord considers ‘most holy’ (v. 10); it is exceedingly precious to him and reminds him of us and our needs. Hebrews 9:3–5 is too versed in Scripture to think the golden altar was within the veil, yet it places it there! In other words, though outside the veil, its sweet and holy influence brings us into the very presence of the Most Holy God.

Reflection

Scripture calls us to be an ‘aroma’ of Christ in the world (2 Cor. 2:15–16) – a task to which we are equal through the way we handle the word of God (v. 17). Our care for each other in the gospel is ‘a fragrant offering … pleasing to God’ (Phil. 4:18, NIV 1984).