Revelation 8:4–5: “And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”

September 1st, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In Old Testament temple worship, the ancient censer was a metal container in which a combination of sweet smelling wood and spices were burned. And since we know that the temple was a shadow of what was in heaven, it is fascinating to see the heavenly censer and altar being used in heaven. John tells us that the angel took fire from the altar of brass, just like the human priests did in the temple on Mount Zion, but in heaven the incense is “the prayers of the saints.” This gives us interesting insight into the function of prayer and the answer to prayer applied to life on earth.

It may be best to consider this the unanswered prayers of millions of believers, who have faithfully prayed as Jesus taught: “Your kingdom come, / Your will be done / On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). If that assumption is correct, then this event in heaven is a coming future answer to all those almost 2000 years worth of accumulated prayers. Often we feel like our prayers seem to go unanswered or perhaps even unheard, but that, of course, is never true. God listens and stores up the prayers of all His children, until His perfect time has come. We see “the prayers of the saints” being answered here with earth-shaking results. That should encourage us to keep on praying faithfully, even when we do not see immediate results.

“LORD, that is our prayer this day, in Jesus’ name, amen.”