IV: Tabernacle, Priesthood and Feasts

Golden Censer

the instrument of intercession and judgment

Root
Lev 16:12-13 · machtah (H4289)
Old Testament chain
  1. Lev 10:1-2
  2. Lev 16:12-13
  3. Num 16:46-48
  4. Isa 6:6
  5. Ezek 10:2
  6. Rev 8:3-5
New Testament
Rev 8:3, 5; Rev 14:18

On Yom Kippur Aaron was to take "a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar" with incense, that the cloud might cover the mercy seat (Lev 16:12-13). Nadab and Abihu died offering strange fire in theirs (Lev 10:1-2), and when the plague broke out Aaron's censer stood "between the dead and the living" (Num 16:46-48). Ezekiel saw coals scattered over Jerusalem in judgment (Ezek 10:2). In Revelation 8:3-5 the golden censer is the tool of intercession, then filled with altar fire and cast to the earth. In 14:18 the angel from the altar ties the harvest to the saints' prayers answered in full; it is the same instrument Aaron held.

From The Courtroom of Heaven, pp. 115–116, 232–233