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Time for Worship to Be Set Apart as Sacred, Nobember 7
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this
bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I
shall give for the life of the world.
John 6:51
, NKJV.
The incense, ascending with the prayers of Israel, represents the merits and
intercession of Christ, His perfect righteousness, which through faith is imputed to
His people, and which can alone make the worship of sinful beings acceptable to
God. Before the veil of the most holy place was an altar of perpetual intercession,
before the holy, an altar of continual atonement. By blood and by incense God
was to be approached—symbols pointing to the great Mediator, through whom
sinners may approach Jehovah, and through whom alone mercy and salvation can
be granted to the repentant, believing soul.
As the priests morning and evening entered the holy place at the time of incense,
the daily sacrifice was ready to be offered upon the altar in the court without. This
was a time of intense interest to the worshipers who assembled at the tabernacle.
Before entering into the presence of God through the ministration of the priest, they
were to engage in earnest searching of heart and confession of sin. They united in
silent prayer, with their faces toward the holy place. Thus their petitions ascended
with the cloud of incense, while faith laid hold upon the merits of the promised
Savior prefigured by the atoning sacrifice.
The hours appointed for the morning and the evening sacrifice were regarded
as sacred, and they came to be observed as the set time for worship throughout
the Jewish nation. And when in later times the Jews were scattered as captives in
distant lands, they still at the appointed hour turned their faces toward Jerusalem
and offered up their petitions to the God of Israel. In this custom Christians have
an example for morning and evening prayer. While God condemns a mere round of
ceremonies without the spirit of worship, He looks with great pleasure upon those
who love Him, bowing morning and evening to seek pardon for sins committed and
to present their requests for needed blessings.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 353, 354
.
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