We have been making our path through the Tabernacle as a picture and vision for "taking up our cross," and thus allowing the power of the Blood Covenant to be operative in our lives.

"And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves [that is, separate yourselves for a special holy purpose], for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you" (Joshua 3:5 Amplified).

God is for us, however we must choose to be right with Him. Taking up our cross is the way for that.

Joshua learned some lesson before his major battle for Jericho.

He learned to "join God's team."

"When Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up, and behold, a Man stood near him with His drawn sword in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, 'Are you for us or for our adversaries?' And He said, 'No [neither], but as Prince of the Lord's host have I now come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, 'What says my Lord to His servant?' And the Prince of the Lord's host said to Joshua, 'Loose your shoes from off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.' And Joshua did so" (Joshua 5:13-15 Amplified).

He learned that the power would be with the ark, not with his military might.

"Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said to Joshua: 'See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets'" (Joshua 6:1-4).

Quote from God's Plan and the Overcomers - Watchman Nee

"The Old Testament tells us how the chosen people of God lived on earth. At first, the tabernacle served as the center of the 12 tribes; later it was the temple that became their center. The center of the temple was the ark. The tabernacle, the temple and the ark are all types of Christ. As long as the children of Israel maintained their proper relationship with the tabernacle or the temple they were victorious, and no nation could overcome them. Even though their enemies learned how to fight while they themselves were not familiar with fighting, the children of Israel overcame all their enemies nonetheless. But the moment they had problems with the tabernacle or the temple, they were taken into captivity. Nothing else, whether they had powerful kings or great wisdom in themselves mattered at all; the only concern, which mattered, was whether or not they had offended the ark of the tabernacle or temple. If the Lord had the preeminence, then theirs was the victory. So too with us today. In minding the victory of Christ, we also have the victory."

You are now at the last stop prior to entering the Holy of Holies. Look now therefore at this Tabernacle picture and review your path so far.

The sixth stop is the Altar of Incense - Emotions.

The Golden Altar in the Holy Place is the last piece of furniture that one comes to prior to going through the final veil into the Holy of Holies and into the very presence of God. It is symbolic for several things. We are going to look at it primarily from the standpoint that it symbolizes our emotions as we make our way into the Holy of Holies and God's manifest presence. It also symbolizes our prayer, praise, and worship.

In front of this altar is the thick veil that hides the Holy of Holies and the presence of God. God wants you to come through the veil more than you desire to. He will pull you through. No natural man could go here without dying.

This veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on the Cross, giving us entry into God's presence by His blood and indicating that His death removed the obstacle that sin created for coming into the very presence of God.

The Holy of Holies is the place where there is no light except for God. The High Priest could only go here once a year, and only under certain conditions. The incense censor from this altar actually went into the Holy of Holies with the High Priest once a year. This symbolizes that your praise and worship do not stop here but that they are the very entry into His presence. They actually accompany us into His presence.

The table of Shewbread symbolized the will, and the Lampstand the mind and the Holy Spirit. The final attribute in man's soul is his emotions. God wants us to be "whole people" with emotions that are in their proper place. He does not want us to be robots unable to express ourselves. We are in God's image and God has intense emotions that He expresses. Mankind has either perverted his emotions to go wild, or to be held in and not expressed. Both are wrong and are out of order. This altar gives us an opportunity for exchanging your old emotions induced by your flesh and the world, for God's emotions which have their roots in the fruit of the Spirit, love joy, peace, kindness, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23a). Altars are where things die.

The emotions feel like the real you, but they can be unreliable. Experiences in life and your generational makeup often damage emotions. Some of your emotions are in prison, other emotions keep you in prisons. Perhaps emotions are primarily the windows which express or sometimes fail to express the inner prisons like rejection, loneliness, depression, guilt, low self-esteem, confusion, broken hearts, etc.

Jesus has emotions. He cried, grieved, mourned, groaned. Not only did He feel and experience emotions, but He also expressed them.

Our emotions can cause us to act contrary to God's desires if we allow them to rule us. In God's order, our emotions cannot really be trusted until He has dealt with our minds and our wills, then our emotions can be freely expressed; and indeed should be. Unregenerated man has put his emotions on the throne, and allowed them to control his mind, will, and body. This is out of God's divine created order. Emotions should be the result of a will and mind laid down and consecrated to God. Only then could man's God given emotions be whole and well.

God is a heart God.

He enjoys your presence. Your presence is not real if you bury your emotions. You need to allow them free reign with Jesus while you are with Him. You need to give Him the good, the bad, and the ugly. You cannot really be with someone whose emotions are not allowed to come out. You feel like you have been with a machine. Your spouse's will and mind may be consecrated to you and that is important. But how would you feel if your spouse told you, "My will is to love you, my mind is to love you:" Then that person just shuts their mouth, has a glassy stare in their eyes, and they totally bury their emotions? You have not really been with that person, or in that person's presence.

God, where are You?

Every human being has the latent need to experience God in His fullness including His emotions. However I believe in most cases God cannot trust you with His emotions until you are totally consecrated to Him. It is like a marriage engagement, or like dating. A girl should not become emotionally intimate with a boy until that boy has made a commitment. God wants you to go through the act (continuously) of consecrating your will and mind, represented by the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lampstand, then He can trust His emotions to you.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit allows you to experience God with His emotions.

I believe that this Altar in the Tabernacle can also represent the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the outer court represents the Holy Spirit being with you. We may think of the Holy Place symbolic of the Holy Spirit being in us. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:16-17 that there would be these two relationships, with and in. In John 20:22 Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit in them. However there was one more relationship spoken of by Jesus about the Holy Spirit. He said in Acts 1:8 that the Holy Spirit would come upon them. Finally in Acts 2:4 when the Holy Spirit did come upon them, they were filled.

There is an experience or a filling of the Holy Spirit that will cause God to be more real to you then ever before. God desires that His emotions and your emotions meet. I believe that as God pulls you through the next veil for the first time, that you will experience this upon and filled experience. I also know that as you go through this veil into the Holy of Holies on a regular basis, that you will touch God and God will touch you in a way that is powerful and meaningful. These experiences are not "simply emotional highs" but are truly an encounter with the God who created the Universe. They are a connection that pleases both you and God. When you go through this veil into the Holy of Holies, your afflictions, and even your worldly pleasures, will become pale and meaningless in the light of His glory and grace. The hotter His presence becomes, the colder your suffering becomes.

It is like a bridegroom and a bride who have only met through letters and long distance telephone calls. They have perhaps experienced each other's will and mind, but without an actual face to face experience, they cannot really experience each other's emotions. When they finally do meet face to face, they actually discover each other's emotions and truly experience the fullness of the other person. I believe that is the way God feels about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He reveals Himself to you as the glorified Christ, you are deeply moved and filled with His presence, and you allow your emotions to go out to Him.

The love of God is the only thing that can heal your damaged emotions.

You can truly trust God with your real emotions. There are very few people who you can truly trust to peer into your inner heart via your emotions. That is why so many people pay a lot of money to go to psychiatrists, lay on their couches and pour out their hearts. God wants your real emotions for several reasons. First He wants to heal them, and second, He enjoys being in your presence.

This altar is the place of a sacrifice of praise.

Altars are for death. You cannot go into the Holy of Holies without something dying at this altar, and that something is your emotions. If you do not feel like praising Him, do it as a sacrifice. A sacrifice infers death, just as altars are for death.

Praise heals emotions.

I interviewed my good friend Pastor Pendelton Brown, who is an anointed psalmist and worship leader. He confirmed that when one praises God, it has a healing effect on one's emotions. Entering into praise heals fractured and wounded emotions. He said that even secular people know that singing can dispel depression. Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." As we live a life of praise, he told me, the up and down emotions become smoothed out.

You can praise God even in bad times if your praise is based upon the Word of God, not your emotions. For instance, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, a strong enemy was attacking the Israelites. A prophet came and spoke the Word of God to Israel, stating that the battle was the Lord's and not to worry. Based upon the Word of God, Israel's strategy was to send for the choir and praise God.

"And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: 'Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.' Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated" (2 Chronicles 20:20,22).

Demons flee when you praise God!

"Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgment--This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!" (Psalms 149:6-9).

If you cannot articulate praise because of your damaged emotions, or because you are hurting too bad, then read Psalms 145-150 out loud as a sacrifice of praise. Use some of the other great Psalms, like 23 and 91. Praying them out loud has always been powerful in our lives.

Worship.

The Altar of Incense starts out as a place of praise but ends up as a place of worship. Praise brings on God's presence, which causes us to worship Him. God inhabits praise. Therefore His presence will manifest as we praise Him. His presence will give us a true picture of who He is, and that will result in true worship. First we give thanksgiving for what He has done for us. Then we praise Him for what the Word says even if we cannot see the evidence yet, and the result is worship.