We will continue in our lessons reveling the secrets of the altar of incense as it relates to prayer.
The Hebrew word used here for the altar is Miqtar: a place to burn...a place of sacrificial smoke: altar.
One very interesting thing about this word is that Exodus 30:1 is the only place in the Bible this word is used, though it has many synonyms.
And what will burn there? Incense: Qatar (#4004) spelled Koof, tet, resh, taw. As mentioned, each Hebrew letter has meaning. Now, this is really cool. If we were to read the pictograms of these letters it goes like this: (koof) bow your head, (tet) something hidden, (resh) leader, (taw) cross. If I transliterate (not translate, there is not a perfect English word to use) the words into a sentence it could read like this:
Bow down in prayer and the hidden will come to light as we follow Jesus to the cross.
I hope you get the picture I do. That in prayer we draw nearer to the cross of Christ and He will reveal secrets once hidden to us.
Now let's move on to the dimensions of "the place to burn". GOD instructed it to be one cubit wide, by one cubit deep, by two cubits high. My first thought here is that our prayers need to be as wide as they are deep. No shopping list prayers, please.
Once we move beyond our own personal needs and wants we are beginning to approach the depth and width that can make all the difference.
The next word I want to examine here is cubit (Strongs #520). In Hebrew, it is spelled: Aleph, Mem, Mem, Hey and is pronounced am-maw. This is from the word "em" (#517) meaning "mother".
Isa. 66:8 "...as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children."
Travailing in prayer precedes souls being born into the kingdom. If we truly desire revival and The kingdom of God to come, that is, souls to be saved, we need to be well acquainted with the altar of prayer. There is no getting around it. Just like in physical childbirth, the mother is known to travail with pain to bring forth the child, so in the Spirit, we do the equivalent in prayer.
Now let's look at the meanings of the letters of "ammaw".
Aleph: (another time I hope to do a whole lesson on this letter)
Ox (strength)
Chief
the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet
relates to God
a silent letter
infinite oneness
the paradox of God and man: aleph is made from two yods and a vav. God is upper yod, man is lower yod with a vav connecting or separating the two.
gematria: 1
Mem: running water
gematria: 40
Hey: an open window
pay attention
gematria: 5
Again, if transliterated it could read: Pay attention! The Holy Ghost is flowing, is flowing from God.
To break it down:
The Aleph is a beautiful picture of God reaching to man and man reaching to God. The connection point is the vav. Originally believed to be pronounced "wow". I like this because when we connect with God it truly is a Wow.
This letter by itself is a picture of prayer where we connect with God, but there is more. Ammaw also has a double Mem and a Hey. Spending time in prayer with the Almighty is the way to get the waters of the Holy Ghost flowing. When this happens it is a time when God can:
open the "windows" of heaven and pour out a blessing
show us things to come,
give us direction
supply whatever is needed at the time.
The word ammah (cubit) describes a unit of measure from the elbow to the end of the fingers. This is not a set length. God made people of many sizes. We are each individual and will have a unique path to salvation, though all must have a new birth (John3:3, Acts 2:38 ). For instance, you may see two people receive the Holy Ghost the same night, but, though both will speak in tongues, they will each have a unique testimony.
Another meaning of ammah is an entrance. How thrilling to think of prayer as the entrance into the throne room of God.
There is yet another meaning of ammah: to pivot or move.
How often are our prayers centered on movement? We pray for God to move in a situation, we pray for our loved ones to move closer to God, we pray for God to move in a service.
The word ammah is used in this way in Isaiah 6:4 "...and the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried..."
Let us burn in prayer that we may see God move, the waters of the Holy Ghost flow, and souls born into the kingdom of God.
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