"I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams." Psalm 66:15
I will show you spiritually how RAMS and INCENSE are to be attended to in this verse, and how the use and application herein will speed your devotions and your intercessions and your supplications swiftly and surely to the THRONE OF GRACE.
First, the term INCENSE in the Bible represents the PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS. For example, in Revelation 5:8 we are informed --
The word ODOURS is rendered by the Greek word THUMIAMA, which is translated in other places as INCENSE, for which the word ODOURS is here the equivalent. You find the same Greek word translated as INCENSE in Revelation 8:3-4 --
There was also the ALTAR OF INCENSE, where the angel Gabriel met Zacharias, the soon to be father of John the Baptist, as he performed the yearly duties of the priest in the HOLY OF HOLIES. This activity by Zacharias at the ALTAR OF INCENSE represented the prayers of the nation, and Gabriel appeared in answer to these prayers with news that heralded the coming of the forerunner to the MESSIAH.
The ODOURS are a sweet smelling savor to the Lord, and in the New Testament this sweet smelling savor is nothing less than the prayers of the saints, which are continually sanitized and perfected by our MEDIATOR through HIS OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, even the RIGHTEOUSNESS of JESUS CHRIST, for our MEDIATOR purifies by his blood each prayer that is in his name (spiritually in his name, that is, for many prayers are not truly in his name, but are merely lip service), and then hands it to the FATHER, and EVERY prayer that our MEDIATOR hands to the FATHER is accepted, for it is THROUGH HIS SACRIFICE -- the SACRIFICE of the MEDIATOR, even the SACRIFICE of the LORD JESUS CHRIST -- A SACRIFICE THAT IS A SWEET SMELLING SAVOR TO THE LORD -- a SACRIFICE whereby he won absolute victory over sin and death in the human nature, thus providing an INFINITE SATISFACTION for the justice of God, and an ETERNAL RATIFICATION of God's INFINITE HOLINESS by his INCARNATION, CRUCIFIXION, DEATH and RESURRECTION.
O grace, grace unto it!
Now RAMS, as you must know, are very bold creatures. They WILL have their way, and they will use their horns to get it, if need be. You may see how powerful these RAMS are in the eighth of Daniel. They PUSH and PUSH so as to assert themselves, and so as to go where they will, especially if they are RAMS of the BREED OF BASHAN. (Deuteronomy 32:14)
These RAMS are very valuable creatures, and thus they are accounted by God as the most excellent sacrifice, as it is written --
You will remember that it was a RAM that prefigured the SACRIFICE of the Son of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, when Abraham was about to offer up his only begotten son, Isaac. With knife in hand, ready to administer the deadly blow, the angel of the Lord suddenly arrested Abraham in his tracks and bade him stay, so Abraham stayed and looked into the thicket, where was a RAM.
As the RAM was a substitute for Isaac, so our RAM, even the Lord Jesus Christ, was a substitute for US, for OUR sins. Yea, the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all, and he bare our sins in his own body on the tree, even though he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, even though HE, even the Lord Jesus Christ, alone among men was SINLESS. And thus it is written --
When our prayers speed heavenward as the INCENSE OF RAMS they take the kingdom of heaven by STORM, just like the RAM who will have his way, wherein the kingdom of heaven SUFFERETH VIOLENCE, and where the violent take it by FORCE, and thus our prayers, even the INCENSE OF RAMS, comes up before God as a sweet smelling savor, and they remind God of the substitute and sacrifice of his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the RAM was the substitute and sacrifice for Isaac. (Matthew 11:12)
This INCENSE OF RAMS is what the Holy Ghost revealed in the New Testament when he wrote --
How, then, can we come BOLDLY before the THRONE OF GRACE; how can our prayers speed heavenward as the INCENSE OF RAMS?
First, there must be NO KNOWN SIN in your life. NONE! All sin must be confessed and repented of, otherwise the MEDIATOR will NOT present your prayers to the Father, for if there is KNOWN SIN in your life, sin that is not confessed and repented of, it is IMPOSSIBLE to pray in the name of Jesus. Absolutely, utterly impossible. Jesus Christ will NOT attach his holy name to ANY prayer that is tainted with sin. NONE! (James 4:3)
Nor will the Spirit give you utterance. The Holy Spirit will INSIST that ALL KNOWN SIN be confessed and repented of, otherwise the SPIRIT HIMSELF will not even let your prayer get off the ground. Not in any wise, albeit, God may appear to answer the prayers of the reprobate so as to further harden them, but he will not do so with his saints, for he loves his saints and seeks only their good, and therefore he will not reward their disobedience as he does when he allows those who do not belong to him to prosper and to believe that God is in their corner, even though they reject the PLAIN teaching of the Word of God, just as he did with Pharaoh at the beginning. (Psalm 66:18; Proverbs 15:29; Romans 9:17)
Lest anyone wrest my words, I am NOT asserting sinless perfection here. I am talking about KNOWN sin. We creatures are FULL of sin that we don't even know about, and this is true even of the regenerate. Holy David complained of SECRET FAULTS, and that's why the Spirit is CONTINUOUSLY searching us and trying our hearts, so that HE may reveal more and more of our sin to us, so that we may confess it, and repent of it, and root it out. This is called SANCTIFICATION, and EVERY true child of God goes through it, for without HOLINESS, which this SANCTIFICATION produces, NO MAN will see the Lord. There are no exceptions. (Psalm 19:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 12:14)
The world knows nothing of this, of course, but the saints who live closest to the Lord Jesus Christ are saints who groan MOST under their sins, not for fear of rejection by the Lord, for Jesus Christ came into the world to save SINNERS, but for the VILENESS of their sin, for the VILENESS of their very NATURE, which was conceived in sin, and for the disappointment they feel before the Lord because of what he's done for them, and because of the riches of his grace in spite of their VILENESS. (1 Timothy 1:15; Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:7)
Oh! how MUCH the true saint REVELS in the glory of Jesus Christ as he sees how gracious Jesus Christ is to such a WORM as he! Oh! what grace this saint EXPERIENCES and BEHOLDS in the Spirit as he sees sin after sin after sin washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ as the Holy Ghost reveals them to him! Verily, this is that which angels desire to look into! (1 Peter 1:12; Job 25:6; Psalm 22:6)
And hereby you may see one way to separate the wheat from the chaff, for the professor who never mentions sin and yet ever pontificates about his union with Christ -- which in his case is a FALSE union -- is a professor who knows NOTHING of the NEW BIRTH, and NOTHING of the LEADING OF THE SPIRIT, and he certainly hasn't the FIRST CLUE as to the nature of SANCTIFICATION. This man is none other than that hypocritical TALKATIVE of John Bunyan lore who hasn't an OUNCE of saving grace in his heart. Moreover, the ministry that doesn't emphasize sin is likewise a false and deceptive ministry, and one that sends countless souls to eternal damnation. WOE unto those professors and ministries who do not make much of sin. They shall receive the greater damnation. (1 John 1:8; Matthew 23:14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21)
Next, in addition to confessing and repenting of all known sin, you must REDEEM THE TIME. This means you must WALK AFTER THE SPIRIT, and not after the flesh; you must WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY, and you must be DILIGENT in seeking God when you pray BOLDLY, when you send forth your prayers as the INCENSE OF RAMS. (Ephesians 5:15-16; Colossians 4:5; Romans 8:1-4; Hebrews 11:6)
This can only be done if you are DILIGENT in your PRAYER LIFE and in your reading of the WORD. Your nose must be CONSTANTLY in the WORD, and your PRAYER LIFE must be RELENTLESS (the two go together, the WORD and the PRAYER LIFE); and you must not only PRAY WITHOUT CEASING, but you must set aside DEFINITE TIMES for prayer -- morning, noon, and night -- and you must WAIT upon God, and not be in a hurry to get up off your knees, but waiting for the Holy Spirit to prompt you and lead you. Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools; be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few. This is called PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST, and this is the ONLY way you will ever have POWER with God, and as the Scriptures do testify, the kingdom of God is not in WORD, but in POWER. (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Acts 12:5; Romans 1:9; Daniel 6:10; Ecclesiastes 5:1-2; Jude 20; 1 Corinthians 4:20)
It will do well to quote John Bunyan in
this vein -- "There belongs to every true
notion of truth a POWER; the notion is the shell -- the POWER is
the kernel and life. Without this last, truth doth me no good, nor those to whom
I communicate it. Hence Paul said to the Corinthians, When I come to you again,
I will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the POWER. For
the kingdom of God is not in word, but in POWER.
Search,
then, after the POWER of what thou knowest, for it is the POWER
that will do thee good. Now this will not be got but by EARNEST PRAYER,
and MUCH ATTENDING UPON GOD; also there must not be admitted by thee that
thy heart be stuffed with cumbering cares of this world, for they are of a
choking nature.
Now then, reader, would you have your prayers speed heavenward as the INCENSE OF RAMS? Would you have the very heavens OPEN to you and RAIN down upon you? Would you have your name continuously in remembrance and on the tongues of those SERAPHIMS who attend the THRONE OF GRACE night and day, crying, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD OF HOSTS? Then DILIGENTLY follow that which you have just read, and thus send forth your prayers as the INCENSE OF RAMS, thereby taking the kingdom of heaven by FORCE. (Isaiah 6:1-3)
I could largely expand and improve this doctrine for you, but I would not be tedious to the reader, and that which you have already seen and heard above will graciously serve your turn if your heart be true. Indeed, follow after the simple instructions heretofore enumerated, and the Lord Jesus, if you truly belong to him, will REVOLUTIONIZE your LIFE and your TESTIMONY, and your prayers will speed heavenward as the INCENSE OF RAMS!
Farewell.