The Evening Sacrifice - Exodus 30:1-10

The Sacrifice of the Afternoon

Preaching outline Exodus 30:1-10 – Make an altar of acacia wood to burn incense on. It shall be square, forty-five centimeters on each side and ninety centimeters high; its ends shall form one piece with it. Coat the top, all the sides and the ends with pure gold and make a gold frame around it. Make two gold rings on either side of the altar, below the frame, to hold the poles used to carry it, and use acacia wood to make the poles and coat them with gold. Place the altar in front of the veil that is in front of the ark of the covenant, in front of the lid that is on it, where I will meet with you. “Aaron shall burn incense on the altar every morning when he comes to take care of the lamps, and when he lights them in the evening. Incense shall be burned continually before the Lord throughout your generations. Do not offer any other kind of incense on this altar, nor burnt offerings, nor grain offerings, nor pour drink offerings on it. Once a year, Aaron shall make propitiation on the horns of the altar. This annual propitiation shall be made with the blood of the sin offering, generation after generation. This altar is most holy to the Lord.

Altar of Incense

Like the other parts of the sanctuary, the incense altar was made of satinwood and covered in gold.

Square – the golden crown, the type of glory, of royalty. Like all the pieces, it was transportable and stood before the veil, and therefore before the ark of the testimony.

The tips of the altar received blood atonement. The spice incense, as it is called, was special; man would not use it for obvious reasons. Worship belongs to God alone. The altar of incense was so closely connected to the ark that in the book of Hebrews 9:4, it is placed inside the veil. We know, however, that this is impossible because the incense was burned twice a day and the ark was only seen by the high priest once a year.

It was God’s determination to burn the incense only with the coals taken from the altar of burnt offering. This indicates that perfect praise is linked to the Altar of Sacrifice. No one worships God except through the Holy Spirit, the live coal.

Any other worship is strange fire and indicates death. For example, Nadab and Abihu used strange fire and died.

Don’t mix God’s revealed work with man’s work. Lev 16:11-13 shows the connection between the altar of incense and the ark and the mercy seat.

Coals from the altar of burnt offering, aromatic incense on the altar of incense and the cloud of incense covering the mercy seat and the testimony for LIFE.

In Revelation 8:2, John speaks of a golden altar in heaven, a censer where much incense was given to put with the prayers of the saints. Why is this? Because in heaven worship and praise are perfect and will continue forever.

As for burning in the morning and afternoon, there’s a lot of beauty in that.

Psalm 141:2 – David prays to God and asks with uplifted hands that his prayer be accepted and go up like evening incense.

Jesus’ sacrifice

It was a beautiful prophecy about the last worship of the Lord Jesus, when he said on the cross (last sacrifice) all is accomplished, and at 3 o’clock in the afternoon he died, offering himself as a sacrifice on the altar of incense in obedience to the Father. David prays prophetically.

At the offering of the afternoon sacrifice, Zechariah receives a visit from the angel Gabriel, breaking a 400-year silence and announcing the coming of the one who would be the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. These are just the awakenings; many wonders are shown every day.

PS. : Incense and its composition: Ex. 30:34-38

Storaque, stacta was the powder obtained from the central part of the hardened drops of myrrh, an odoriferous resin.

Onyx comes from the shell of a mollusc similar to the purple slug (in the Red Sea).

Galbanum – a red resin with a malleable, milky, thick juice from the roots of a kind of ferula. Grown in Syria and Persia, it produces a pleasant smell.