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In the Book of Revelation, we find many spiritual principles at work. Revelation is the "revelation of Jesus Christ" and it takes all of scripture and fits it together in a way that Christians of the end time are only just beginning to understand. The future prophecies of Revelation begin in Revelation chapter 4 with a "door opening" in verse 1. Throughout the book, John is taken through the heavenly temple which is very similar to Moses' tabernacle as if he were walking in from out to in. Starting from this verse, I want to teach you an awesome principle in God's Word about prayer and about our position in the kingdom of God.

Remember Moses' tabernacle had an outer court with a door which also had the brazen altar where sacrifices were brought and then the brazen laver where the priest had to wash before entering into the temple. Next came the temple with a door, and the first room was the holy place in which the table of shewbread, the candlestick, and the altar of incense was placed. There was a veil that divided the holy place from the Holiest of Holys and within that Holiest place, was the ark of the covenant which had a mercy seat upon it and angels on both sides. There upon that mercy seat, the presence of God dwelt.

I want you to realize two things about Moses' tabernacle. First, the doors and veils were designed to keep people from seeing into the plan of God. The door to the outer court kept Gentiles from seeing into the courtyard and getting a glimpse of the altar. The door to the tabernacle kept the ordinary Jew from seeing into the tabernacle where the priests were only supposed to go. The veil kept the priests from seeing the Holiest of Holys, the dwelling place of God that only the High Priest, once a year, was supposed to see. The second thing I want you to realize about Moses' tabernacle was that it represented heaven. That is the ark of the covenant with the mercy seat and the angels on each side were a small model of the real thing: God's throne in heaven. The God of mercy sits upon a throne in the Holiest place of heaven and there are angels around him worshipping Him constantly! We know that in the garden of Gethsemanae, Jesus would not let Mary touch Him because, he said "I have not yet ascended." Jesus was both our blood sacrifice and our High Priest, and so after He shed his blood, He ascended into Heaven and sprinkled the blood upon the throne of heaven and the altars there. Whether they exist only in the spirit, or whether they physically exist, I do not know, but Moses tabernacle was simply small versions of the real thing! (this thought is the theme of the entire book of Hebrews particularly chapter 8)

Keeping those things in mind, then in Revelation 4:1, when John saw a door open and was allowed to look into that outer court of heaven's temple, an amazing thing happened because John could see all the way to the throne of God! There was only one door to the temple of God now! The door to the tabernacle building was gone. The veil was gone. After that one outer door opened, John could clearly see the mercy seat and the one that sat upon it! Jesus said:

There is only one door. You must go through Jesus Christ. If you obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ by identifying with his death, burial, and resurrection, then you become a spiritual Jew and have access to the courtyard of forgiveness and washing of your past sins away in the water. You become a spiritual priest and are able to enter in and eat the precious bread of life. You are able to see how to serve Him because your path is lightened by the perfect Light of the Lamb! Once you get though the door of Jesus Christ, there is everything you need available to you! The reason that John was able to get through one door and see all the way to the throne was because he saw heaven after Calvary! The veil had been torn and thrown away when Jesus died. The door to the tabernacle had been opened to all that were willing to come. Jesus is the only door that you have to go through!

Most importantly, when you now go to the altar of incense and offer your prayer and praise, there is not a veil separating you from the presence of God, but your prayers and your praise enter right into the throne room of heaven! Before when Moses' priests offered up incense, they did so with a veil separating their prayers from the presence of God. God did hear and sometime answer their prayers, but they did not have the redeeming work of Calvary available to them. They had a lot of promises of God's Word but did not have the access that we do today! God's Glory and Mercy has been revealed to this world! When we pray, something happens. They are not hindered by a veil of God and stopped short of his dwelling place. They permeate before his mercy seat! They come before His throne! When we pray, something happens!

Isaiah got a glimpse of what it would be like when God gave him a vision of heaven in chapter 6. In it Isaiah saw the throne of God with the Lord sitting upon it, and the altar of incense attended by an angel:

Isaiah couldn't believe that he was allowed to see God! God allowed Isaiah to glimpse the dispensation of Grace and how it was going to be. When Isaiah realized how unclean he was, the angel took a coal of the altar of incense that was before God and came and touched it to his lips and his sins were purged. Let me tell you, that God doesn't have to work a miracle and give a special vision today for your sins to be purged. God doesn't have to step outside the realm of time and make a special case for you to have your life changed to fit His will. All you need to do is pray to God today about your weaknesses, and God is able to send His angel with a fresh coal from the altar to touch your lips! After that day, Isaiah acted different, his life was different, his prophecies were different. He had already been called of God before chapter 6, but it was a touch of God at the altar of prayer that changed him forever! There is power in prayer. You may be born again, but God wants to forever change the part of you that is unlike Him and hindering you. You need the same experience that Isaiah received: to see God in a way that you have never seen Him, and to be touched with a fresh coal of the altar of prayer! When it seems that your desire to live for God is running down, I can tell you what your problem is: it's been too long since you've been touched with a fresh coal from the altar of incense. You've been too long from His presence!

Cornelius was a good man, and he gave alms and was righteous in all his ways. Yet, he the more he learned about God, he knew that there had to be something more. We all know the story about how that Peter came down and preached to him and Cornelius received the Holy Ghost and was baptized in Jesus' name. But the reason all that happened was that Cornelius repented before God and his prayers were offered up on that altar of incense:

Notice the phrasing of the angel's message: "come up." Cornelius' prayers had been offered up on the altar before the throne, and God had responded to them by sending an angel to tell him what to do next! If you don't have a definite direction today, you can have it, but you need to send a signal to heaven. You need to send up a prayer to be offered upon the altar of heaven before the throne of God! God will answer your prayer!

I believe that there is a literal altar of incense and that the prayers of the saints are offered upon it to God. But have you noticed how that every time, an altar of incense is mentioned before the throne, that there is an angel present? In fact when you read our text in Revelation 8, that is exactly what you see: an altar of incense before the throne of God and an angel offering up the prayers of the saints. The angel told Cornelius that his prayers and alms had "come up for a memorial before God." James 5:16 teaches us that the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Why do some people's prayers effect more than others? Because of how they pray. The EFFECTUAL (that means that you pray believing that something will happen: with faith) FERVENT (that means you keep bombarding heaven and don't quit) prayer of a RIGHTEOUS MAN (that means that you are living to the best of your ability according to God's Word. If you get like Cornelius and pray like that, it causes a smoke cloud in heaven! God sees a great monument and it reminds Him that somebody down there. Can you imagine what Cornelius' prayers looked like in heaven? God said "whoa, somebody's serious down there." Fervent praying gets heaven's attention! What do your prayers look like in heaven? Is it just a thin wisp of smoke? Is it barely visible? Is there only a sacrifice every few days? We ought to filll heaven with the smoke of our prayers!

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This scripture gives a little more insight into the way prayers are handled in heaven. When John went on describing what he saw when he looked through the door and saw the throne of God, he described different creatures there and 24 people called "elders." We don't have time to get into who the elders were or what they represent, but notice that they were holding golden vials full of odours (or incense) which are the prayers of saints!

Every prayer that a righteous saint has ever prayed is stored and collected and bottled up and preserved. Every prayer that Paul ever prayed was collected and stored up. Every prayer that the Apostolic church prayed was carefully preserved. Every prayer of Moses was heard and stored up. The incense of their prayers is stored up!

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Now before we continue on with that point let's clarify another point:

The Bible makes it very clear that God does not hear the prayer of the unrighteous who stays in their sins. When Israel was wandering in the wilderness because of their unbelief, Moses said twice that God did not hear their prayers (Deut 1:45, 3:26). Job asked the rhetorical question about the wicked:

The answer, obviously, is "no, God will not hear the hypocrite.

I could go on and on for there are almost 40 scriptures that attest to this principle, but let's stop here and apply it to our lives.

Now we know that God hears the prayers of sinners that repent, for everyone of us are here today. We all are very familiar with God's mercies! This scripture in John gives us further information, though. If any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. That is God will not hear a sinner as long as he desires to stay in his sins, but when he obeys the Word of God, then God will hear him. II Peter 3:9 states that it is the will of God that none "should perish, but that all should come to repentance." That's why Peter told the Jews on the Day of Pentecost, "Repent" first. Because God will not hear the sinner, until there is repentance. But the minute a sinner repents, he begins to perform God's will, and THEN God will hear him. Not that he's not still a sinner, but true repentance gets God's attention.

But what about prayers after a person has died? Is it possible to pray after you have died? You might be surprised to know that it is possible to pray after you have died: the Bible makes that very clear.

In the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), the Rich man dies and his soul (mind and spirit) goes to hell. Lazarus dies and goes to "Abraham's bosom." Notice that Abraham is there also but we are not necessarily in heaven. Despite what most people teach, the Bible is very clear that when a person dies, they do not go directly to heaven even if righteous. They go to a place of holding, a place of waiting. If they were evil, then they go to hell which is hot, but will one day be a lot hotter when it is cast into the lake of fire. If they were living according to the rules of their particular dispensation, then they go to a "paradise" or "Abraham's bosom." When the Rapture of the church takes place, Paul said that the "dead in Christ shall rise first," and "we who are alive and remain shall be caught up." When the Rapture takes place, you are either going to be "brought up" or "caught up." And whether or not you go or not will depend on whether when you died you were "carried" or "buried," because in the parable Jesus said that the Lazarus died and "was carried" to Abraham's bosom, and the Rich man died and was "buried." That's an easy way to keep that principle in God's Word straight. If I die, I want to be "carried and not buried, and if I'm alive I'll be caught up right after the dead saints are brought up!"

But is there prayer in hell? You better believe it. In the parable, the rich man prayed twice: first for a drop of water to cool him off because of his torment, and also that someone would be sent to warn his family about the horrible torment that awaited their decision to live without obeying God's Word.

The important thing to notice is that God didn't answer his prayer, in fact, God didn't even talk to him, Abraham responded. Many people who today don't feel the need to bow a knee, will be praying in hell! But God will not hear them for "the Lord is far from the wicked." Hell is real, and I don't know about you, but I'll repent now while God still responds to the contrite heart! The correct answer to our question can people in hell pray, is "yes, but God will not hear them." I can't think of a worse situation to be in!

This all is just to bring our minds to a much more powerful and relevant question. Can the righteous dead pray? And if so, does God hear their prayers? Actually the Bible certainly seems to indicate that they can: for example, when Cain killed his brother Abel, Abel's blood "cried out" to God from the ground! And God responded by cursing Cain.

Was somehow in the spirit, Abel able to beseech God? Yes! Did God answer his prayer? Yes! Before you disagree, notice the following verses in Revelation:

These were people who had been killed for the Word of God, and for His testimony, were they righteous? Yes. Did they pray? Yes, they cried out in the spirit to God. More importantly did God hear them? Yes, but He told them to wait a little while before their prayers could be answered! Their prayers are stored up and waiting for the day when they will ALL be offered!

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So now that we understand all of this, let's read our text in Revelation chapter 8 with greater understanding.

John has just witnessed the seven seals and is about to witness the sounding of the seven trumpets and yet God stops everything that He is showing John to give him a picture of the altar of incense in front of the throne, prayer, and the angel! The angel came and stood at the altar, had a golden censer and there was given him "much incense" that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar. God stuck this in here because He wanted us to know that there is something else that causes all of these events to come to an end.

Look at verse 4: the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints. There is a slight difference here. Verse 3 says that the angel is going to offer up the prayers of ALL the saints yet verse 4 makes a distinction between the incense and the prayers of the saints. We know from Revelation chapter 5 that the incense was the bottled up prayers of the saints! I believe that what we are witnessing is the angel mixing the bottled prayers of every past righteous person with the prayers of the Christians who will be alive at that time and offering it to God! If today were to be the end of Grace, then the bottled prayers of David are being mixed with your prayers upon the altar of God!

If the dead righteous can pray, then there is a host of people who have died being faithful to the things of God that are praying for God's Will to be done right now. They are the voices under the altar crying out to God. God hears those prayers, and all though He can't answer all of them right now, one day He will answer all prayers. He told them "until." Until what? Until the time is right! Their prayers are carefully bottled and stored.

Notice the result of the angel offering up the prayers of ALL saints: God's will and judgment is done on earth. The golden censer was used only on the day of reckoning. On ordinary days a silver censer was used. So this represents the final prayer sacrifice the final time that an angel will offer up ALL of the prayers ever prayed and combine them with the Saints that are alive in the endtime. It will cause such a memorial in heaven, that God will release His mighty power! He will cause the last events to happen. He will return for His bride! The cloud of incense in heaven will remind Him of every promise to His people. Of every prayer and petition that was ever made. He will be reminded of the judgment that the world deserves! What is going to cause God to bring great earthquakes, hailstones, and thunderings? We know that the Rapture of the church and outpouring of His wrath is a silmultaneous event! Why? Because the prayers that are going forth will remind Him of the Righteous and also the Unrighteous! It's going to be an incredible day, the Day of the Lord when ALL the prayers of ALL the saints are offered and God answers every prayer!

When the thunders and the lightening strike. When the fierce wrath of God is begun to be poured out upon the unrighteous and the church is called up to meet Him, it's going to be either a terrible or tremendous day depending on where you stand!

The terrible Day of the Lord is described again at the seventh trumpet:

This time the elders are before the throne again but there is something noticeably absent: there are no vials of prayers of the saints! Why? Because the prayers have just been offered up to God! It is the day of Atonement of the Ages! It is the time where the righteous are saved and the unGodly are lost! The great mercy door of Jesus Christ is shut!

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Because the angel used a golden censer rather than a silver one, we know that what we read is the final event, the offering of every stored prayer ever uttered! So you are probably thinking that's cool to think about but what does it have to do with me today?

We know from the story of Cornelius that there are prayers being offered up every day even now. The angel doesn't have the golden censer in his hand, today, but I believe that he is offering up prayers even as we speak with a silver censer. If you prayed tonight, then there are prayers going up before God right now! Did you pray with faith? Did you pray fervently? Are you living a righteous life? If so they will get God's attention! After he offers up our prayers, then the angel carefully collects the "odours" in a bottle and places them along side the bottled prayers of the past saints.

In our other text, we read the closing words of the Faith chapter. The writer of Hebrews listed some terrific people who all lived before Calvary. He then went on to list some people who lived after Calvary but died.

"Without us should not be made perfect." In other words, they were great people but God didn't trust them to live in the final days. In other words, they were faithful but God didn't choose them to be alive at the ending of Grace. They all died but received not the promise of rising again. They died having to depend upon another generation to complete the work of God on earth. So who has God entrusted with winning this endtime generation? Who has God placed upon the earth for these last days and for the outpouring of His Spirit? Who has the responsibility to finish the work of Peter and Paul and John and James? You and I! You and I! We who are alive!

Peter was a great man of God but God didn't want to use him now, He chose you. Paul was a great theologian and very dedicated missionary but God decided that you were better suited to do the work! Mary was a good woman and very faithful to the things of God, but she's dead, and God has chosen you to be the ones to live today!

How are we going to do it? By our prayers. It seems like a big task, but there's a host of righteous people praying for you! You've got the prayers of Abraham and Paul and James and John the Baptist being offered unto God for you! But God didn't move until the prayers were offered up together! You can make it today! You've got a host of righteous people praying for you! But you've got to be willing to lay aside everything that would hinder your walk with God! After listing all these great people in chapter 11, Hebrews goes on to say: