.
In the light of the Israeli Tabernacle we must see this chapter in the sign of the altar of incense. For the altar of incense is the place where we, in prayer and worship, come to God and His Christ.
When we have read all chapters so far, we have seen the divine ascent (by the which a higher spiritual level is meant) in the heavenly Tabernacle. We went from the sevenfold candlestick, which typifies the revelation of God's Good (Gospel) Message in the power of the LIVING Christ, to the table with the twelve show loaves, which speaks of communion with this powerful (and LIVING) Word of God, whereby the sinner changes into a child of God, into a show loaf of and for God, in this sinful world. By this experience of the indwelling Christ and His mighty, inner workings, the child of God comes to true worship of his great Redeemer and Savior; of his great Lord and God, with which we then (in the spirit) have come near to the altar of incense. And every time the revelation of His Word in us becomes more wonderful and glorious, we come to a deeper experience of communion with Him, which goes together with an increasing dying to self; whereby we come to glorious worship of our Savior and God.
In this way we become acquainted, over and over again, and in increasing measure, with this divine triangle in the holy place of His spiritual tabernacle: namely with the candlestick, the table of show loaves, and the altar of incense. It is this divine triangle which sanctifies us by the power of His blood, His Word and His Holy Spirit. It is also this divine triangle which – when we will have finally been completely freed of all flesh (namely of all our sins and our sinful nature) – will let us, through the veil, into the perfect life of God's Holy of holies. And this perfect (and thus holy) life God's Bride(church) must already have here on earth in order to be able to experience the wedding feast with her heavenly Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Part I: How we must come to God in prayer
11 verse 1-2a: "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."
In the light of the Israeli Tabernacle we must see this chapter in the sign of the altar of incense. For the altar of incense is the place where we, in prayer and worship, come to God and His Christ.
When we have read all chapters so far, we have seen the divine ascent (by the which a higher spiritual level is meant) in the heavenly Tabernacle. We went from the sevenfold candlestick, which typifies the revelation of God's Good (Gospel) Message in the power of the LIVING Christ, to the table with the twelve show loaves, which speaks of communion with this powerful (and LIVING) Word of God, whereby the sinner changes into a child of God, into a show loaf of and for God, in this sinful world. By this experience of the indwelling Christ and His mighty, inner workings, the child of God comes to true worship of his great Redeemer and Savior; of his great Lord and God, with which we then (in the spirit) have come near to the altar of incense. And every time the revelation of His Word in us becomes more wonderful and glorious, we come to a deeper experience of communion with Him, which goes together with an increasing dying to self; whereby we come to glorious worship of our Savior and God.
In this way we become acquainted, over and over again, and in increasing measure, with this divine triangle in the holy place of His spiritual tabernacle: namely with the candlestick, the table of show loaves, and the altar of incense. It is this divine triangle which sanctifies us by the power of His blood, His Word and His Holy Spirit. It is also this divine triangle which – when we will have finally been completely freed of all flesh (namely of all our sins and our sinful nature) – will let us, through the veil, into the perfect life of God's Holy of holies. And this perfect (and thus holy) life God's Bride(church) must already have here on earth in order to be able to experience the wedding feast with her heavenly Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Part I: How we must come to God in prayer
11 verse 1-2a: "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."
1: We must come to Him in absolute acceptance of His Fatherhood, in obedience and respect for Him. In the very first place our altar of incense (in the spirit) must be characterized by worship of our great God and His, for us, so lovely Name.
In those days, when Israel's high priest had to enter the Holy of holies once a year, at the Great Day of Atonement, he was to do this with in the one hand the blood of sacrificial animals (for the atonement of sins), and in the other hand the smoking censer (Leviticus 16:12-14). This incense is symbolical for our worship. Before everything else, we must come to Him with praise and worship!
We will not look at seven points in total, to see how we can come to Him in (and by) our prayer-life. We saw that the first point was: come to Him in worship, namely in surrender of our sinful being on the basis of the shed blood of Lamb of God.
2: We must come to Him with absolute acceptance of His divine lordship.
11 verse 2b: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."
We do not come to God to, in the first place, ask Him for something, but we come in the first place to Him to give ourselves to Him. "Thy Kingdom come." Where? Deep within our own heart. "Thy will be done." Where? Again, deep within our own heart, in our own life! For, God must be able to, after His will and pleasing, be King (and thus Lord – Ruler) in our own heart and life, that He fulfill His will – in and through us – just as He can do this in heaven!
3: We must come to Him pleading upon His blood.
11 verse 3: "Give us day by day our daily bread."
We know that this "bread" does not only refer to the bread in the literal sense, wherewith we feed our body, but also and in particular, to the spiritual food, which is the "Bread of Life". For this "Bread of Life" is His flesh – the true spiritual food – and His blood –the true spiritual drink– (see John 6:51-58). And this is called the Word of the cross, by the which is meant His sacrifice on the cross for us (for the atonement of sins). Therefore we must look upon His finished work on Calvary, and plead upon His (atoning) blood, but we also must form one planting with this atoning sacrifice of His, whereby is meant that we, too, must be willing to completely die (off) to our old, and thus sinful, life (Romans 6:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10-11).
As we now know, Israel's high priest was not allowed to enter the Holy of holies without this atoning blood (of sacrificial animals), just as he was not allowed to enter without incense. If he did, he would be killed – just like Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons (see Leviticus 10:1-2), were slain by God's judgment.
"Give us day by day our daily bread". So we must come to Him, daily cleansed by His blood, and daily sharing, in the spirit, His dying on Calvary. This is what we need from Him day by day.
4: We must come to Him confessing all our sins of the past (and with all our needs).
11 verse 4a: "And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us."
As well as confessing our sins God must be able to find in our heart the willingness to forgive others, who are indebted to us. And it must be such a willingness, that when they come to us for forgiveness for their crime, we (in the same moment) will be able to do so with all our heart. As children of God we should not harbor any grudges and/or hatred against anyone, whatever they may have done (or still do) to us. We must have forgiven them in our heart already, so that when they come, we, urged by God's love, will be able to grant them that forgiveness (Mark 11:25-26).
5: We must develop a sincere desire to be (completely) purified and sanctified by Him.
11 verse 4b: "And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
Herewith are meant the needs of the future; the time lying before us. Prayerfully ask the Lord to put a deep longing in your heart for complete purification and sanctification; it is a prayer very pleasing to God. This will lead us to a life wherein we will be completely free from (the power of) the evil one, whereby we also will be completely free from sin, and from the power of our sinful flesh and our sinful lusts! The plea: "Deliver us from evil" means: "Father, deliver us (completely) from all dark desires, so that the evil one and his temptations will have no hold over us anymore; because our sinful flesh and our sinful lusts will be dead completely through Your works of grace." Then our flesh can be no playground for the evil one anymore! He wants to take us there; and this will also happen if our heart is sincerely aimed at this.
6: We must come to Him with perseverance and boldness.
11 verse 5-8: "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."
We must come to Him with the same perseverance and the same boldness as this shameless friend. God will then give us what we desire (after His will and pleasing). We may come to God and boldly claim His promises, given in His Word.
This friend asked shamelessly for three loaves; and these are symbolic for the perfection in God! He is the type for the sinner who comes to God and claims His promise of perfection in Him... in order to, in the fullness of His nature and being, be able to serve others in the midnight hour; in the hour when the dark forces will rule (as never before)... He asked for the three loaves in order to stand (and persist) as a pillar of God in the midst of the storms of this age – storms of unrighteousness, because the majority of humanity live without norms and values, without God and His law – to be for others in this world as God's channel of salvation and NEW LIFE!
CLICK HERE if you want to read this study (Chapter 11) – that is to long for the Blog.
By E. van den Worm
