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Prayer Works

Prayer Works

21 December 2011

"And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake." (Rev 8.3-5)

This text ought to be of the greatest interest and assistance to all those who are genuinely "waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God". (2 Pe 3.12) In it a description of a preparatory, prophetic season (Trumpets) is introduced by a quite remarkable unveiling of the true nature and dynamic of prayer. During this prophetic interval, prayer will be the key to life on earth. And this passage of Scripture contains the key to prayer.

As He has already kept and fulfilled Israel's Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First fruits and Pentecost, so now Christ our Lord is keeping Trumpets. (See "Faithful is He" 31/10/11) This is a period when everything is altogether about preparing for His Return. It is a time when the Lord Jesus is systematically and relentlessly disturbing His beloved (both Church and Israel) into wakefulness concerning the impending "great and terrible day of the Lord", and His enthronement on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

"The day comes, burning like and oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble...But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings." (Mal 4.1-2)

1) Upon reaching heaven, our prayers are "processed" by an angel. I suppose some Believers might be up-ended by this? (I am delighted!) What some do by way of demonstrating their spiritual athleticism and superiority, seems terribly important to them. It is a perennial affliction for the Church. There is ever a delicate (and indecipherable) connection in the Christian life between God's sovereignty and our responsibility. If this balance is dishonoured and upset, "faith" appears "out of whack", a caricature...even grotesque! Whatever the "ratios" might be, for the proportions to ring true biblically, I am sure that what God does must always outweigh what we can do. He is the great Initiator...we are the respondents (especially when it comes to prayer)! As the great battle-cry of the 16th C Reformation states,

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph 2.8-9)

"You stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe." (Ro 11.20)

It is precisely the sense of falling-short in prayer (that gulf between the white-hot cry of our hearts and its pitiful, outward expression!) which is designed for our blessing. It is the holy "engine" which undoes all of our fatuous pride in what we can do, and sends us crashing down into the ground, upon our faces.

What an incredible and joyous prospect. Our poverty-stricken prayers limp into Heaven, there to be gathered up by the angel of God who is appointed to stand at "the golden altar before the throne". Such a divine provision absolutely releases us to say with the utmost confidence, "Our Almighty God is so much more willing to obtain our prayers, than we will ever be to pray."

"We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us." (Ro 8.26)

2) The holy angel gathers up our earthly adoration and supplications, and transforms them into something Heavenly...something fitting and capable of rising before the face of God.

"Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee." (Ps 141.2)

The angel at the golden altar has "much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints". Ah, the extravagant grace of the Lord. Our poor, little prayers are mixed up with (not a little, or a bit, or some) incense. How much? Heaps, copious amounts, more than is really necessary. And incense is powerful and explosive stuff. You only need a pinch to fill a room with its smoke very quickly indeed.

And here's the point. Do our prayers carry the clouds of incense up before God? Or do the great, billowing, swirling clouds of incense lift our frail worship and intercession into the ears of the Lord? Of course, it is the grace He supplies that does the job, accomplishes the mission, completes the task.

But there is yet more achieved by God's incense than the mechanics of elevation. As well as "sweet spices", incense (according to the Exodus 30.34 prescription) was to be "seasoned with salt, pure and holy". Salt, in the days of the Bible's creation, was used to cleanse and purify. Not only does the mingling of His incense and our prayers carry our hearts to God, it also ensures that our praise and our petitions have been "washed" and are clean...deserving to be listened to.

"Elisha went to the spring of (bad) water and threw salt in it, and said, 'Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome.' " (2 Ki 2.21)

The luminous, modern-day martyr, Edith Stein (1891-1942, Germany), has said that "prayer is the highest achievement of which the human person is capable". To savour this truth to the fullest, we have to be simultaneously crushed by our noblest work falling short, and yet exultant that God Himself speeds and sanctifies these bridges over the abyss between earth and Heaven.

3) Not only does Revelation 8.3-5 unveil the usually hidden "mechanics" of our prayers being lifted to God, it also vividly discloses how our requests recoil as His reply...answered prayer.

"In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you answer me." (Ps 86.7)

"They cried to the Lord, and he answered them." (Ps 99.6)

The angel's ministry at the golden altar in Heaven is a single event, made up of two distinct but vitally linked actions. In the first, he gathers, purifies and presents our prayers to the Lord on the Throne. In the second, he throws, casts and hurls God's answers into the earth as "peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake".

Remember that this period of salvation-history is one of great tribulation and distress, running neck-and-neck with greater salvation. Days of fury and glory; catastrophe and great awakening. Therefore, to know that our prayers are in safe hands, and that His answers will literally have earth-shaking impact, is gloriously encouraging and highly motivating for us to persevere in prayer. When the Lamb at the centre (the Throne) of the centre (Heaven) of the Cosmos answers us with "peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.",

a) He replies with His Presence.

"There were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God." (Ex 19.16-17)

"Repent...that times of refreshing (revival and reformation) may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ." (Ac 3.19-20)

b) He replies with the authority of His Throne; His will is "done, on earth as it is in heaven". (Mt 6.10)

"From the throne issues flashes of lightning, and voices and peals of thunder." (Rev 4.5)

"If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Lk 11.20)

c) He replies with His Glory.

"The ark of his covenant was seen within his temple (in heaven); and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail." (Rev 11.19)

"Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house...and when (they) came out...a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord." (1 Ki 8.6-11)

"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Ro 8.18)

d) He replies with His judgement.

"The seventh angel poured his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, 'It is done!' And there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake." (Rev 16.17-18)

Under the New Covenant, the judgement of God is from the hand of "the Holy One, Whose wrath we have provoked" and who "became man...to bear this wrath himself in our place". (1) And yet, this wrath (exasperated divine love!) does finally fall upon the perpetually recalcitrant. It is very important that this does happen, as it is His pledge to the Church of God's complete faithfulness and absolute justice. Just as the wrath of the disobedient has been poured out against Believers through the ages; at the End, divine justice must cut down those who have refused to shelter beneath the spilled Blood and life of The Beloved. In spite of the fullness of Heaven's mercy and grace granted them, they have at the finish refused to restore their hearts to their Maker and Redeemer.

(Let the reader beware, and not join those who daily bay for the blood of judgement to run freely. The true prophet is exactly like Micah of Moresheth, who having predicted catastrophic chastening for the People of God, cried out, "Because of this I will mourn and lament. To show my sorrow, I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and wail like an ostrich. Samaria's wounds cannot be healed, and Judah is about to suffer in the same way; destruction has reached the gates of Jerusalem itself, where my people live." 1.8-9)

The prayers of the saints and martyrs of the Last Church will aim above all else to lavish praise and thanksgiving and worship upon the approaching King. There is a sense in which they need be quite unconcerned about the efficacy of their words and the details of their own needs. Every cry and phrase will be gathered up and perfected by that other angel at Heaven's "altar with a golden censer". Then that very same prayer (even the flimsiest, most abject and pitiful) will "re-enter history with incalculable effects. Our earth is shaken daily by it"! (2)

"For from him and through him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen." (Ro 11.36)


(1) "Credo" by Dr. Karl Barth (Wipf & Stock, USA, 2005).

(2) "Reversed Thunder" by Eugene H. Peterson (HarperOne, USA, 1991)