The Altar of Incense was a part of the daily sacrifice, which anti-Christ stops during the middle of the week:
Dan 8:11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Dan 8:12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.
Dan 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
Dan 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."A ram's horn was mounted on each of the four corners of the Altar of Incense".
I consider this significant reagarding the first four trumpets, as I believe they start sounding at the time the voice from the Altar of Incense cries, "How Long, O Lord?" under the fifth seal. The ram's horn is a shofar.
"Wuest's 'Studies in Hebrews', as well as the Mishna, explain that the Golden Altar of Incense was found in the Holy Place only on the Day of Atonement. It was located there in order that the High Priest might have a place to set the censer of burning coals. (The censer was a small vessel used to carry fire from the Altar of Burnt Sacrifice / it was never to be placed on the floor.) In the desert, however, the Altar of Burnt Incense was a permanent fixture in the Holy Place; (Ibid.).
"All of Levitical liturgy found its fulfillment in the incense burnt atop the Golden Altar, before the veil (i.e., the curtain separating it from the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat over the Ark, "where I will meet with you."). . . . Aaron and his sons were to place [incense] on this altar each morning & each evening, was a sweet incense" (Ibid.).
Exo 30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. . . .
Exo 30:6 And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
Exo 30:7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
Exo 30:8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
Exo 30:9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.
Exo 30:10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.
Ralph Edersheim in "The Temple - Its Ministries And Service" gives an extensive description of the daily sacrifice and how some of the coals from the Altar of Burnt Offering were take into the Holy Place and used on the Alatr of Incense to burn the daily incense, connecting the two altars by ceremony. In part, he says,
"But to return. While the assistant priests were waiting, the first priest had taken the silver chafing-dish, and scraped the fire on the altar, removing the burnt coals, and depositing them at a little distance north of the altar. As he descended, the other priests quickly washed hands and feet, and took shovels and prongs, with which they moved aside what of the sacrifices had been left unburned from the previous evening, then cleaned out the ashes, laying part on the great heap in the middle of the altar, and the rest in a place whence it was afterwards carried out of the Temple. The next duty was to lay on the altar fresh wood, which, however, might be neither from the olive nor the vine. For the fire destined to feed the altar of incense the wood of the fig-tree was exclusively used, so as to secure good and sufficient charcoal. The hitherto unconsumed pieces of the sacrifice were now again laid upon the fire. . . ."The incensing priest and his assistance now approached first the altar of burnt-offering. One filled with incense a golden censer held in a silver vessel, while another placed in a golden bowl burning coals from the altar. As they passed from the court into the Holy Place, they struck a large instrument (called the 'Magrephah'), at sound of which the priests hastened from all parts to worship, and the Levites to occupy their places in the service of song; while the chief of the 'stationary men' ranged at the Gate of Nicanor such of the people as were to be purified that day. Slowly the incensing priest and his assistants ascended the steps to the Holy Place, preceded by the two priests who had formerly dressed the altar and the candlestick, and who now removed the vessels they had left behind, and, worshipping, withdrew. Next, one of the assistants reverently spread the coals on the golden altar; the other arranged the incense; and then the chief officiating priest was left alone within the Holy Place, to await the signal of the president before burning the incense" (Chapter 8).
Contributed by Ed Tarkowski
