In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah . . . Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the multitude of people were praying outside at the hour of incense.
Luke 1:5, 8-10
Luke starts his Gospel account by focusing on Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. As the story begins, Zechariah performs his priestly duty of burning incense inside the temple, while the Jews pray outside of the temple. For these prayerful Jews, this time of day is known as “the hour of incense” (v. 10). It finds its roots in Exodus 30:1-10 and the establishment of the tabernacle. Here, God provides Moses with instructions on how to build an altar for the purpose of burning incense. In this passage, God commands Moses that the incense must burn continually and that it should be burnt every morning and at twilight, hence Luke’s phrase, “the hour of incense” (Luke 1:10; cf. Exodus 30:7-8; Hebrews 9:1-4). Later in Exodus, the Lord gives specific instructions to Moses on the composition of the incense, how to mix the spices, and when to burn it. God even warns Moses, saying, “And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord” (Exodus 30:37).
This is exactly where we find Zechariah the priest in Luke 1. As he burns incense, he is simply following the instructions from Exodus 30. He is preparing a holy incense for the delight of his Holy God. In the Old Testament days, from Moses down to Zechariah, God’s presence rested in a section of the temple called the Holy of Holies. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to present a sacred sacrifice to God (see Leviticus 16). The Holy of Holies was made separate from the rest of the Temple by a large veil (Exodus 26:33). If you were to walk up to that curtain, just prior to entering the Holy of Holies, you would see the altar of incense mentioned in Exodus 30. For 364 days out of the year, the High Priest dared not enter through the veil, but the aroma from the incense passed through the curtain continually. This is significant because it was God’s design given to Moses, meaning that God desired incense to burn in a place so close to his presence that he could enjoy the scent of worship as it passed from the altar, through the veil, and into the Holy of Holies. The incense produced an aroma, like a fine perfume pleasing to God.
In the New Testament, incense represents the continual prayers of God’s people. The most notable connection between incense and prayer, here in Luke’s Gospel, is in Luke 1:10. This verse describes what the people did during the burning of incense, saying, “And the whole multitude of people were praying outside at the hour of incense.”
As mentioned previously, in Exodus 30:7-8, God commands that incense burn day and night (i.e. continually). Compare this with 1 Thessalonians 5:17 which says, “Pray without ceasing.” In the same manner that God desired for incense to burn continually in the Old Testament, God desires His people to pray continuously in the New Testament. Our prayers produce an aroma, like a fine perfume, that is pleasing to God.
Prayers in the Presence of God
Revelation 5:8 explicitly states the symbolism between incense and prayers, saying, “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
And let’s look at one more inextricable link between prayer and incense: The layout of the temple itself. For, the layout of the tabernacle in Exodus 30 physically placed the burning incense immediately in front of the presence of God. And as seen, Revelation 5:8 shows the prayers of God’s people immediately in front of the Lamb. This displays that prayer brings us into the presence of God. This is one reason why most expressions of worship begin with prayer. During corporate worship: the offering, singing, reading of scripture, and delivering of the sermon almost always begin with prayer. Scottish Reformer John Knox, “in The Book of Common Order” detailed the prescribed order of the corporate worship service; even in the year 1560, the service began with both confession of sins and invocation of the Spirit.[1] The church then understood that prayer is the mechanism that takes believers from the woes of a fallen world and the cares of this life into the wonder of God’s presence, so that we may worship Him rightly. With all of this in mind, Zechariah, Moses, the image we see around the throne in Revelation 5, one can see the irrefutable link between incense and prayer. What incense always pointed to, and what our prayers are today, is the sincere, genuine, and sacred worship of the Messiah (Revelation 5:8).
From now on when you read Luke’s Gospel and reflect on righteous Zechariah humbly burning incense while the people pray outside the temple, you should not skim past the implications of the priest’s actions, but rather project in your heart and mind what the incense points to: you, humbly praying before the presence of God on his throne in heaven awaiting the second advent of the Savior. The verses in Luke 1, Exodus 30, and Revelation 5 demand that we live as a people who pray continually. Until the day of his second advent, we cry out with the Psalmist, saying, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you” (Psalm 141:2). May your prayers this advent season burn like incense around the throne of God.
[1] Douglas Bond, The Mighty Weakness of John Knox (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2011), 98.
The Twelve Days of Advent 