Ministry to the Lord—Our Priestly Calling
I. GOD’S NAME WILL BE GREAT IN THE EARTH—INCENSE MINISTRIES
"11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In
every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the
nations,” Says the Lord of hosts."(Malachi 1:11)
A. Prophetic promise – through the cross of Jesus, the entire human family has been given access and invited to know
God in an authentic, tangible way by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In order for this promise to be fulfilled there needs to
be a commonly shared experience of God amongst the peoples of the earth that will cause them to glorify God. Ultimately,
this will be fulfilled when the Lord returns, however, prior to His return, His name will be great as He gathers those from
every nation to be included in His body, of which God will use the ministry of prayer to accomplish this drawing upon the
hearts of people and evangelism to harvest them.
"44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."
(John 6:44)
"2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."(Luke 10:2)
B. Priestly ministry of incense – the ministry of “incense” will be established in all the nations of the earth—“in every
place incense shall be offered to My name”. This incense as understood under the Old Covenant was a priestly function
(Lev 2:2). The priests were given the privilege and duty to keep perpetual incense burning before the Lord in the Holy
Place as a memorial to Him (Ex 30:7-8). This incense was to be a soothing aroma to God. Through Jesus’ priesthood, we
offer our incense to God through our prayers.
"7 “Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning…And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he
shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord…"(Exodus 30:7-8)
"2 He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and
oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire,
a sweet aroma to the LORD."(Leviticus 2:2)
C. New Covenant Priesthood – as believers in Jesus we have become priests to God (1 Peter 2:5, 9; Revelation 1:6,
5:10), of which we all have been given divine access to the Holy of Holies—the divine presence. We have been given an
amazing privilege to interact with God in such a way that without rules or rituals we may enter in, at will, the secret place
where God is. Generally speaking, our priestly duties consist of spiritual offerings to God by worshiping Him in spirit and
truth (John 4:23) by expressing voluntary love towards Him through a biblically based life of devotion and extending that
love to others (Mk 12.30-31; Gal 5:14). More specifically however, the incense that we offer to God is not made of a
fragrant-spiced mixture that has to be properly mixed in order for acceptance, but rather the very fragrance of our hearts
from the mixture of love, desire, and a broken-and-contrite spirit.
1. Royal Priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices to God
"5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."(1 Peter 2:5)
"9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may
proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"(1 Peter 2:9)
2. Prayer our priestly incense - incense will be freely given to God through voluntary love based on a right
understanding of God, how He relates to us, and our primary identity before Him regarding our position of privilege. As
we receive revelation and grow in our understanding of God this will awaken us to deeper levels of fascination, desire,
and love, which will be primarily expressed through prayer—our fragrant incense to God.
"2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."
(Psalm 141:2)
" 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before
the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."
(Revelation 5:8)
D. This is also prophetic promise that will come to pass. God is changing the face of Christianity in our generation, of
which we will continue to see the emergence of “incense” (prayer) ministries in the earth. As Para-church prayer ministries
continue to emerge (alongside local churches), they will be catalytic in bringing the whole church into a “house of prayer”
reality. God intends for His church to be a house of prayer (Is 56:7).
E. Holiness of heart – God wants a “pure offering” before Him. Through the atonement, we have received the
righteousness of Christ, this is ours based on His perfection and sacrifice alone; however, this does not exclude our
personal responsibility to obey and grow in righteousness. God desires to form within us the beauty of Christ-likeness
as an outworking of His indwelling Spirit. This is the “pure offering” that we can walk in enabled by the Holy Spirit.
"29 … He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”(Romans 8:29)
"6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."(1 John 2:6)
F. Escatological (endtimes) significance – this will all culminate at the end of the age as the global church becomes
united in her love for Jesus (First Commandment), united in love for one another (Second Commandment), and united
with the Holy Spirit (obedience), as she operates in a spirit of prayer. This coincides with the church “hastening” the
return of Christ (2 Pe 3:12), as she cry out “Come Lord” (Rev 22:17).
"12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, …"(2 Peter 3:12)
"17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come…"(Revelation 22:17)
II. GOD MUST BE REGARDED AS HOLY—PRIESTS THAT HONOR AND REVERE GOD
"3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be
regarded (“treat” NASB) as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ …"(Leviticus 10:3)
A. In truth, God has given every believer access to drawing near to Him under the New Covenant through Jesus. In a
general sense, we have all been given permission and beckoned to draw near to God as priests who give Him incense,
but in a more specific sense, as it relates to prayer ministries, God has chosen a smaller portion of the body to function
primarily and even occupationally in an intercessory role—ministry to the Lord. This particular priestly function is not only
narrow in its focus, but also carries with it a great responsibility as it relates to being found faithful in just simply waiting
upon the Lord.
B. We must absolutely learn to value God as we minister to Him through out the ebbs and flows of life. He says that
we must “treat Him as holy.” The context of this passage is dealing with Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, who did not treat
God with the love, fear, and reverence that was especially necessary in their priestly duty of offering the incense
according to the divine command. They carelessly offered the incense (which the bible says was “strange fire” Lev 10:1)
in an inappropriate manner which cost them their lives. God struck them with fire and there lives were prematurely taken
from them. We must wait on Him lovingly, obediently, and patiently.
C. We need to consider two factors as we minister our fragrant offering or incense to the lord.
1. Painful agony of unmet desires – we must cultivate faithfulness in waiting on the Lord by giving Him incense in the
often agonies and inward groans of what seems to be grueling times of unending silence, unfelt yearned for touches of
His presence, and the shear weight of what is perceived to be an overabundance of unanswered prayer.
2. The delightful duty of communion – we delightfully enjoy and eagerly wait on the Lord in the tenderness of experiencing
those sweet touches of His presence that awaken our feelings of love and hunger for more fellowship with Him as He gives
us to drink from the rivers of pleasure (Ps 36.8).
D. In order for God to be glorified “before the people”, those that draw near to Him must cultivate an inward conviction
and confidence that to wait on Him has intrinsic value in itself and gives Him glory. He receives glory from us by the very
yearnings of desire that issue from our heart to know Him more, by our faithfulness in our seemingly week acts of
obedience (typically in the secret places of our heart where only God sees), and our active follow through with our agreed
upon commitments and responsibilities. When God is glorified in us, He than can be glorified through us before others.
Those who function in “priestly” roles (Christian ministry) have a great responsibility as vessels of instruction and
inspiration to others. When we allow compromises to poison our spiritual condition, we become a reproach to God, which
brings reproach upon him.
III. JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE—REMOVAL OF WHAT IS COMMON
" 12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple,
and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to
them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”"
(Matthew 21:12-13)
A. Zeal for God’s house – Jesus expresses His zeal for God’s house (Ps 69:9) as illustrated in this passage for us to
see how important it is to God that the house of prayer was primarily meant to be a place of prayer. This is the only time
we see the anger of Christ expressed in such a provoking manner, which should alert us to His zeal for the house of
prayer to be holy and set apart in our thinking and practices.
"9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have
fallen on me."(Psalm 69:9)
B. Disruption and cleansing – He came to disrupt what had become the established culture and common practice that
had been allowed to develop over decades of decay in the religious life of Israel by bringing a heightened and momentary
act of cleansing in casting out those who represented such things. The gravity of spiritual decay in Israel is revoltingly
seen in this event. The chosen people of God were treating the holy place as a common place. However, if we see this
incident as only reflective of Israel’s problematic spiritual condition without any relevance to our condition, we need only
to look within our own hearts to see how much common activity takes place within our temples and how barren we may
have become.
C. Temples of God’s glory – we are the spiritual temple or house in which God wants to fill us with His presence or
glory in far greater degrees than we individually and corporately currently experience.
"16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
(1 Corinthians 3:16)
"19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from
God, and you are not your own?"(1 Corinthians 6:19)
"16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God
has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”"
(2 Corinthians 6:16)
"21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,"(Ephesians 2:21)
D. What would Jesus see going on in our temple? Would He be pleased with what He sees? Would He have to cleanse
us in a similar way? Consider Jesus’ actions when He walked in the earthly temple, how much more is our temple worth to
Him. We need to value and continue cultivating faithfulness in offering up our incense as a perpetual, soothing fragrance
to God.