The seven trumpets are the heavenly fanfare that announces the Presence of the Lord. This is why the Altar of Incense is mentioned by the Holy Spirit as standing before the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat.

The next move of God, in conjunction with the earthwide revival of prayer and praise, will be the preaching of the Gospel with spiritual power never before witnessed on the earth, except for the ministry of Christ Himself. The end-time revival may well be the fulfillment of the "two witnesses" of Revelation, Chapter 11. Here is the double portion of Elisha that will go before the Lord to prepare His way, to make ready a people for the Lord.

Every valley (depressed person) will be exalted (brought up to spiritual victory), and every high place (a person who has exalted himself) will be brought down (to the place where God can commune with his spirit). The crooked places (realms of deception) will be made straight. The rough places (areas of sin and rebellion in God's people) will be smoothed out, and the hearts of the parents reconciled with the children (family relationships established in the Lord).

The above acts of preparation are the kinds of reconciliation to God that must be made before Christ can dwell in the Church. Today Zion, the Body of Christ, is characterized by self-exaltation, deception, sin, rebellion, self-seeking stubbornness, and every other evil work.

God and Christ cannot come and be made one with such uncleanness and confusion. Family relationships must be restored. Our lives must be brought into harmony with God's Holy Spirit. Only then can the Lord Jesus Christ come to be glorified in His saints.

As soon as the saints have been made ready, the way of the Lord being thus prepared, then He, Christ, will come and feed His flock as the Good Shepherd. To the wicked of the earth He will be the avenging Lamb who will come with His saints to destroy sin out of the earth.

On certain occasions blood was placed on the horns of the Altar of Incense, signifying that our prayers to God must be presented through the blood of the Lord Jesus.

The four horns of the Altar of Incense reveal the fact that this altar, as well as the Altar of Burnt Offering, contains the power of God to overcome the world, our fleshly nature, and the accuser. Horns, in the typology of Scripture, indicate the power to overcome resistance.

Our prayer and praise before the Lord God must increase in frequency, consistency, faith, hope, love, thanksgiving, and single-minded unswerving petition. Our prayer and praise must become filled increasingly with the holy Life of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. As our prayer and praise life grows stronger our testimony becomes more effective. Power with God brings power with men. A weak prayer life results in a weak testimony.

We overcome the accuser of the brothers by the blood of the Lamb (Altar of Burnt Offering); by the word of our testimony (Lampstand—the gifts and fruit of the Spirit); and by loving not our lives to the death (the Altar of Incense).

The incense that pleases the Father is the pouring out of our life in total consecration to His will.

To be continued.