19.1 True Incense
Since Moses placed the Altar of Incense into the Holy Place last, we are following that same pattern. We do not see the Bread, the Light, and the Incense as some sort of hierarchy, however. Rather, all three together are always the source of the image of God, the face of Jesus Christ through His Church. Keep fully in mind the model we used in Lesson 7.3 Resurrection and Fire showing how the Fire of God flows through all three of these aspects of Christ in the Church to reveal Father as He is to all.
Nonetheless, the odd picture of unfulfilled Christians stuck under the Altar of Incense gives us the desire to know why God places this Altar last as He comes forth from the Holiest.
No Strange Fire. We want to understand the presence of strange fire burning the incense at the beginning of the pattern in the New Covenant (Ananias and Saphira) as well as the Old. God does NOT tolerate any fire burning what is offered to Him other than that Fire which is Christ. This whole question, of course, has nothing to do with our going out with Father from the Holiest into the Church. Rather, it is an issue found in the entrance through the Veil into the Holiest.
To fully understand the false use of the Altar of Incense let’s look briefly at how God intends it to operate for our brethren entering into Christ. Then, after a look at the false, we will see the Altar as it appears to us entirely turned around.
A Season of God. The Altar of Incense is a season in God for those who have entered into the experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
You see, being a good Christian and seeking to follow the Lord Jesus by outward knowledge does not draw anyone into this Altar. Those believers, rather, are found in the laver of washing, wonderful in its season. Rather, only those who come to know Christ being formed in them by the fullness of the Holy Spirit will actually draw near to the Holiest in Spirit and in truth.
These who have drawn near, then, are the incense upon that Altar, with the Fire as the dealings of God bringing them to the end of their own false story that they might arise as Christ, that is, allow Jesus alone to carry them into all the fullness of God.
Our Own Gethsemane. The Altar is the experience of Romans Seven inside the groanings of the Holy Spirit. The Altar is our own Gethsemane where we come to the desire of knowing Jesus as the only life we are – above life itself. It is here upon the Altar that God hears that quietest of “Yes Lord’s” that He seizes for Himself never to let go of again.
But the Altar is NOT for living in. The Altar is for the passage through the Veil into all the fullness of God. You see, many, seeking God inside of the groanings of the Holy Spirit, arise by faith to enter into the Holiest. Then, a couple of days later, they no longer feel quite so “holy,” and thus they look at their flesh and decide they need to “try again” next time.
A Stumbling Stone. The great majority will NOT take their flesh into the Holiest; they will not call their flesh the very flesh of Christ. They stumble at the very same stumbling stone by which the Pharisees stumbled as they called for the crucifixion of Jesus. “God cannot be found in human flesh; man is NOT ‘God’s’ appearance.”
Now, many would brazenly stride into the Holiest, even while calling their flesh their own, but God has set a trap that keeps them from boasting in their own righteousness inside of God. That trap is their brother’s flesh. You see, the Altar of Incense has a way of exposing all the weakness of the flesh. There is no entering into union with Christ without also seeing Christ in, as, and through your brother’s flesh.
Three Outcomes. Now of all those whom God brings into the Altar of Incense experience, each in his or her season, there are three outcomes. God’s intended outcome is that the individual believer will despair of ever pleasing God and yet will enter boldly into full union with Christ entirely by faith, having abandoned all of their own pretending.
But few do such a thing. Rather, the majority fall into two groups, those who draw back, and those who hide out under the Altar. What exactly, are those Christians in Revelation doing hiding under the Altar? God gave no such instructions. But the larger group are those who draw back. Yet, typically, those who draw back from a full experience in God found only by living inside the Holiest, also draw back from the Holy Place itself.
No Pleasure. It is not wise to engage with God upon the Altar of Incense without then entering boldly by faith into the Holiest, as the writer of Hebrews has instructed us to do. Now the just shall live (in the Holiest, in John 14:20) by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him (Hebrews 10:38).
And why do they not enter the Holiest, even though God has clearly ripped the Veil of Jesus’ flesh wide open? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19). It is those who refuse to enter into all the fullness of God because of their brother’s flesh who become the enemies of Christ.
Angry over the Flesh. I think of one who once preached the revelation of Jesus Christ under a mighty, faith-filled anointing. I cannot know this one’s present anything – except words placed on Facebook; thus I possess no thought of judgment by false knowledge. Nonetheless, I see that the words put forth now do not contain the revelation of Jesus, but speak only of the world by outward appearance and all the meaningless contentions by which the evil one distracts many.
Turning entirely from this one to all who draw back in general, we see that these speak most contemptuously against all the glories of Christ revealed through us now. They are angry over the flesh.
Christ Is a Grasshopper. Here is the testimony of those who draw back after experiencing the full meaning of the Altar of Incense. The land of the fullness of Christ in His Church through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the fleshy people whom we saw in it are men of great fleshiness. There we saw the giants of sin in the flesh; and Christ was like a grasshopper in our own sight, and so we were in their sight (Numbers 13:32-33 – paraphrased).
These are the ones who then warn all other Christians to stay far away from those “deceivers” who are talking about the fullness of Christ now through us together. They see only the dragon’s gaping maw; they no longer see Jesus.
Strange Fire. But sadder still are those who, in drawing back, hide out under the Altar. I am talking about the “holiness” preachers. These are they who, in the full anointing of the Holy Spirit, instruct God’s people who ARE drawing near that they cannot enter into God until they first get their flesh under foot, until they cease from all sin. But even worse than that, they teach those who hear them that God accepts only their own righteousness. And in so doing, they offer to God’s people drawing near first a strange incense – “I did what you said, God, now You owe me life.” AND a strange fire, self-power, getting the human under control, flesh defeating flesh.
This is the “gospel” of the serpent.
Patterns of Christ. Now, before defining what the Aroma of Christ really is as we come out with God into the Church, I want to talk about the strongest picture that has come to me through my writing. I am speaking of the crossing of the Jordan, the lowest place on earth.
You see, here is our REAL Gethsemane. – By this we know love, because He set forth His soul for us. And we also ought to set forth our souls for the brethren (1 John 3:16).
I love seeing the patterns of Christ through the story of my life. In doing so, I do not make myself “special.” Rather, by my example, as you see Christ through all the story of your life, you also will see patterns of goodness, pertinent and meaningful to you.
Three Sevens. I have known the seven years from June of 1992 to May of 1999 as the most terribly difficult and dark years of my life. Now, when I look again, I can hardly see for the bright LIGHT of Christ shining upon me through those seven years and through EVERYTHING found in them. Then I see the next seven years, from June of 1999 to May of 2006 as the years of healing, alternating between the agony of lanced wounds and the healing balm of Christ. These were follow by seven years, from the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2013, years of discovering the glory of my full union with Christ and speaking Christ as me – until I was sealed in the midst of the storm in the summer of 2013 and have never known separation from my Father since.
Another Pattern. But there is another pattern, even more precious, the pattern of the Jordan, the lowest place on earth. I first heard the revelation of Jesus Christ inside of life together as the Community of Christ in April of 1977. Span 40 years to April of 2017, this year, when I finished Symmorphy III: Kingdom with these words: “I have faithfully given to you that word – that I received in my heart from age 20-21.” And what was the exact mid-point of those 40 years? April, 1997, the rock-bottom lowest point of my life; the moment when I heard God speak to me, “Son, you passed the test.”
I was just 21 when I gave my heart fully to my Father, that He might prepare me to be that nourishment He gives to His Bride in her hour of greatest need.
The Lowest Point on Earth. Here is that same picture to me now, these lines from Joshua 3:17 and 4:10. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan. – So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished.
Here is a model of the lowest point on earth.
My Given Name. I can assure you of this, when I was 20, back in April of 1977, I was an arrogant little twerp, thinking most highly of my religious self. In April of 2017, I found the purpose of all those 40 years now in the supreme joy of God’s first stated commission to me, the writing of Symmorphy IV: Covenant. And the lowest point of my life, my deepest humiliation, April 1997, is now the very Heart of God, my supreme treasure.
I have a very dim view of religioucising the Hebrew language. Nonetheless, my name is entirely Hebrew. Jordan, in Hebrew, is Yardan, shortened to Jordi in Swiss German. God is my judge (Daniel) – I am His beloved (David) – here in the lowest point on earth (Yordy) standing firm until every single precious one who belongs to Jesus passes through His death and into full union with Christ and full union with His Church.
The Fragrance of His Knowledge. Some of you will stand with me and some of you will lead God’s people into the Promised Land. Yet as the patterns of God come to us through Oour shared Spirit, we can do both together at the same time.
What is the Incense and the Aroma as we come out with God from the Holiest into His Church? Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).
The Aroma of Christ. I refer you back to Symmorphy I: Purpose, Lesson 19.3 Led in Triumph. Read through it again. The Aroma of Christ through His Church is our utter confidence that we ARE the ones who actually won all this great victory for God. “You and me, wide-eyed and overwhelmed, stand in the place of our Conquering Hero, the Lord Jesus Christ, led by Father God AS IF it was us who conquered the enemy, us who defeated death, us who overthrew sin, us who bound the enemies of God with chains. – AS IF it was us!”
Such an aroma is putrid stench to those who hate a God who is meek and lowly of heart, and a sweet fragrance to those who love Jesus in the bottom of the Jordan.
Patterns of Smell. I have never really thought about the concept of “patterns of smell” before, but we recognize that smells are as varied in hue and shade as is light. As the face of Christ together, we not only change how people see, but also how they smell. And in all these things, in spite of any discussion of miss-use, we are concerned entirely with the outflow of Christ in all fullness from His Church to all creation.
We are concerned with the image, the very Face of God.
In the next lesson, we want to do something really fun, combining the ten most important verses with the ten patterns of home and coming up with all the wonderful smells that are the Aroma of Christ from us in every place.