Ex 30:7-9, And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. And when Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a libation on it. 
	As we continue moving forward in our reading of the Old Testament, we are seeing the design that God established for the every detail of the construction of the tent of meeting and the sections of the tent which needed to meet His very precise and perfect specifications. This would not be a meeting place left to the whims and fancies of human thought and planning. It was very rigidly designed to the exact measurements required and exactingly deliberate in its functionality. Then, within the tent, each article was spelled out even to the blueprint of the figures and symbols and emblems to be carved into the wood and etched into the metal. Nothing was just left to happenstance. It was exact and defined and to be considered as holy unto the Lord God Almighty. The every stitch and seam was to be dealt with in precision and honor unto God.
	As well, as we have before us in today’s reading, the manner of the service of the priests was also specific and defined and precise. Not only in the unique garments to be worn, but the priests had to be cleansed, as signified in the prescribed manner of washing before entering into the service unto God. As well, what they were to do was detailed and deliberately ordered as well. It was not to be a ministry unto God and from God unto the people in which they were free to interject their ideas and less than acceptable patterns of behavior. What they were to do and how they were to do it was prearranged exactly by the Lord. This was to prevent them from perishing in their lack of reverence for His holiness. 
The details of this morning’s passage specify that manner in which the priests were to keep incense burning before the altar of God. And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. And when Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 
The key to this is the fact that the incense represented the prayers of the people being continually brought before God for the seeking of His dealing effectively with them. Whether the prayers were prayers of supplication, or worship, or thanksgiving, or mourning, or whatever they might convey, it was the priest’s perpetual duty to bring them before the presence of God. 
As detailed in Lev 16:12+13, this was part of the responsibility that they had as priests. Lev 16:12+13, And he shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil.  And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, lest he die. This was not a duty to be taken lightly in any manner since the very life of the priest hung in the balance with regard to how he carried out the proper burning of the incense in order to fill the interior with the cloud of the sweet fragrance of the burning incense as representing those prayers of the people before the mercy seat of God. 
Part of the reason for this severity of service was that the priests were bringing the voice of the people before God and the voice of God to the people. This was a tremendous obligation upon the priests because they were making known to God what the needs of the people were. This was because of the fact that the people did not know how to pray perfectly unto the Lord God Almighty. They were not accustomed to the manner in which they were to bring their various prayer requests to the throne of God’s grace. They were often so afraid of Him that they could not bring before Him the real substance of what they were seeking from Him. They did not know how to pray or commune with God, so the priests were their intercessors, making known the petitions and the earnest desires of the people unto the Lord. 
	Therefore, as we read in Deut 33:10, the office of priesthood included the teaching of the people as to the manner in which they were to obey and honor God, which would include the means of offering their prayers. Deut 33:10, "They shall teach Thine ordinances to Jacob, And Thy law to Israel. They shall put incense before Thee, And whole burnt offerings on Thine altar. 
	They were to offer the incense as prayers unto God from the people and then instruct the people as to what the Lord required of them. This was not in terms of the people becoming priests, because that was determined by God through the tribe of Levi. However, the people were to know what the Lord expected of them just as the people expected the priests to carry their requests unto the Lord.
	We see this representation of prayers by the burning of incense recounted for us by the Psalmist in Ps 141:1+2. Ps 141:1+2, O Lord, I call upon Thee; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to Thee! May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
The manner of the priests service did not preclude the people from praying, as we have witnessed in many places throughout the Old Testament. Many were the prayers of Job and Daniel and the prophets as they cried out to God in the various stages of their walk on this earth. But even the Psalmist accounted his prayers as the rising of the incense before the throne of God’s grace. It was the standard element of priestly service which was established at the time of the writing of this morning’s reading.
	As well, we see it evidenced into the New Testament, as in Luke 1:8-13, where we read the account of when Zacharias was told that he would have a son who was to become John the Baptist. Please read with me. Luke 1:8-13. Now it came about, while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. 
	Please notice how it was the time of the incense offering at which the people were gathered to pray…he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. Zacharias was bringing the prayers of the people before God in his chosen service when he was informed of the imminent conception of his son. This was God’s way of answering the prayers of the people for all those centuries, seeking the coming of the Lord’s Messiah. John the Baptist would be the one to prepare the way of the Lord as the direct answer to all the prayers that had been sent before the Lord in the offerings of incense. Zacharias was made aware of this response of God at the time of bringing the prayers of the people through the incense offering.
	With Jesus Christ and His fulfillment of the law and our being made priests forever through Him, there has been a setting aside of the actual offering of incense before the Lord. We are now brought into the very presence of God by the holiness and the righteousness of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. Therefore, we have no need of other priests to offer up our prayers. We are free to do so through the ministry of the Holy Spirit by the intercession of Jesus Christ Himself.  
	Christ made this known before He left this earth as recorded in the Gospel of John. The first passage is John 14:25-27, where He told His disciples about the ministry that the Holy Spirit would perform when He was sent to them. John 14:25-27, "These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. 
	The Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance what Christ had taught them. That is one of the marvelous works of the Holy Spirit in that He teaches us all things in opening up the scripture and making it to be alive and rich and full in our hearts and lives. Along with this teaching of truth, the Holy Spirit gives us peace so that we are no longer afraid to face all the challenges of this life. One aspect of this peace is the peace to be in the direct presence of God and bring before His throne of grace and mercy our every prayer request and our prayers of praise and thanksgiving and those requests on the behalf of others who are not able to pray for themselves at the moment. 
	In John 16:7-15, the Lord continued to encourage His disciples and us about the work and help that we have by the Holy Spirit as we can read together. John 16:7-15, "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you. 
	The Holy Spirit is vital to our growth into all the truth and reality of what it means to be a Christian. When we receive the salvation of God through Jesus Christ, we are made to be partakers of His very life. As such, we need to be brought into the every course of what it means to live in the truth of His resurrection life. Accordingly, it is the Holy Spirit Who opens up the every detail of what our holiness in Christ now entails. Much like the very specific and detail oriented nature of the construction of the tent of meeting and the need to treat all the elements of God with utter and complete reverence, we are taught, by the Holy Spirit, through the living Word of God how to live on this earth and for all of eternity in Christ. He does this in developing degrees of revelation and working power in the manner in which we are not utterly consumed, but taught and instructed and guided lovingly and livingly into all truth. 
	First in this tremendous opportunity of ministry, as we read in Rom 8:26+27, is the fact that we are taught by God, Himself, The Holy Spirit, how to pray. Rom 8:26+27, And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 
	Just as the people needed the priests to teach them how to pray and to act on their behalf in offering up the incense as the course of the people’s prayers, so do we have the Holy Spirit teaching us how to pray. And there are those instances, when we do not know what to ask for or how to even begin to bring the deep things of our hearts unto God. At those times, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, always causing our heart’s cry to be in line with the will of God. It is a marvelous gift to have the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent Helper ministering to our every time of need in prayer. This is why Jesus knew that His disciples and we could not function without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit making known the very will of God in every instance. 
	Next time we are together in three weeks, Lord willing, we will look at the fact that our prayers are received at the throne of God’s grace by the active and eternal intercession of Our Lord Jesus Christ in conjunction with the manifested working of the Holy Spirit. All our prayers are conveyed, as if on the rising smoke of fragrant incense through the perpetual intercession of Our Beloved Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. So be it!
	 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. And when Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 115:14+15. May the Lord give you increase, You and your children. May you be blessed of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. Amen.