I.　God is omnipotent, but His omnipotence is subject to limitations because He must have conditions suitable for His working—2 Chron. 16:9:

A.　We need the Lord to give us light to see what He can do and to see what we can hinder Him from doing—Isa. 50:2; Jer. 32:17, 27; Matt. 19:26; Luke 1:37:

1.　We can put God into a position where He cannot do what He wants to do—Isa. 50:2; Matt. 13:22-23; 23:37-38; Mark 6:5; Heb. 3:11-12; 4:2.

2.　Today the power of God is limited to our capacity, and it is subject to our will, submission, obedience, and faith—Matt. 17:19-20; Mark 11:23-24.

3.　The Lord must bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to Himself so that He can have a free and unhindered way to do whatever He wants to do—Col. 3:1-3; 1 John 5:14-15.

B.　The kingdom means that God can do what He wants, that He has His way, that He is unhindered, and that He has authority, power, and glory; what will be true in the kingdom age should be true in the church today—Matt. 6:9-10.

C.　The Body of Christ can either be for His expression or His limitation—Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19:

1.　We are either being used to express Him, or we are limiting Him; we are in the position to give Christ a full expression or to limit His expression.

2.　The Lord is looking for members of His Body who will be fully responsive to Him and in whom the limitations to His will are removed—Matt. 6:9-10.

D.　We need to realize how great our responsibility is, and our eyes need to be opened to see God's limitations and to see how we should cooperate with Him.

II.　The incense altar signifies Christ as the Intercessor—Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34:

A.　We need to participate in Christ's interceding life—vv. 26-27; 1 Tim. 2:1; Eph. 6:18-19; Col. 4:3; 1 Thes. 5:25; 2 Thes. 3:1; Heb. 13:18.

B.　Christ's interceding life, His prayer life, is the center of the divine administra?tion—7:25; Rom. 8:34; Rev. 8:3:

1.　The incense altar is the center of God's operation in the universe:

a.　The prayer life of Christ is the center of God's execution of His govern?ment on earth—Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34.

b.　The executing of God's administration is motivated by the prayers offered to Him from the incense altar—Rev. 8:3-5.

c.　The prayer offered at the incense altar governs the universe.

2.　Revelation 8 is a picture of the incense altar being the administrating throne of God for Him to execute His judgments in His administration.

C.　After His resurrection and ascension, the individual Christ has become the cor?porate Christ; thus, before God today not only is the individual Christ inter?ced?ing but the corporate Christ, the Head with the Body, is interceding as well—1 Cor. 12:12; Acts 12:5, 12:

1.　As the members of Christ and as parts of the Body-Christ, we cooperate with Christ in His ministry of intercession, carrying out His intercession in our prayers of intercession—Rom. 8:34, 26-27.

2.　When we arrive at the incense altar as the center of the divine adminis?tration, we will become intercessors, interceding for others and for the Lord's interests.

3.　If we have a clear view of the incense altar, we will pray for God's move, for the executing of God's purpose, for the Lord's recovery, for the carrying out of the divine administration, and for the divine dispensing; this kind of prayer fulfills God's purpose and delights His heart—1 Tim. 2:1; Rom. 8:26-27.

III.　The spiritual significance of the relationship between the incense altar and the expiation silver in Exodus 30:1-16 is that at the incense altar we pray for the formation of an army to fight for God's move on earth:

A.　The tabernacle signifies God embodied in His chosen people for His move on earth; the tabernacle and everything related to it is for God's move—25:8-9:

1.　The prayer at the incense altar is for God's move; because of all the enemies that oppose God's move, God moves by fighting—Num. 10:35.

2.　In particular, God's people need to pray for the formation of an army to fight for God's move on earth to accomplish His purpose—Eph. 6:10-12.

3.　This intercessory prayer issues in the numbering of God's people to form an army to fight against God's enemies, who oppose His move, that is, against the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies, typified by the inhabitants of the good land—Exo. 30:11-16; 23:23; Eph. 6:12.

4.　When God has such an army, He is able to move on earth for His interests.

B.　The spiritual significance of the age of the males qualified to be in the army is that if we would be in the army to fight for God's move, we need maturity—Exo. 30:14; Heb. 5:14—6:1; Phil. 3:15; 1 Cor. 2:6:

1.　The intercession offered at the incense altar is for the growth and maturity of the believers so that an army can be formed—Eph. 4:13; 6:10-12.

2.　The more we pray at the incense altar, the more we will realize that the need for maturity is desperate, and the greater will be the urgency to pray for the growth in life unto maturity—1 Cor. 2:6; 3:1-2; 14:20; 16:13; Heb. 5:14—6:1; Eph. 3:16.

3.　Only when such an army is formed will God be able to move on earth for His purpose; apart from an army formed of mature ones, there is no way for God to move—4:13; 6:10-12.

C.　According to the type of the expiation silver, the Christ by whom we fight is the ascended Christ, the Christ in the heavens—1:20-23; Exo. 30:12-13:

1.　The half shekel as a heave offering typifies the ascended Christ experienced by God's people and given by them as the expiation silver—v. 13; Eph. 1:21; 4:10; Heb. 4:14; 7:26; 8:1.

2.　In order to fight the spiritual warfare, our experience of Christ must reach the highest point, the point where we are sitting with Him in the heavenlies and are fighting not in ourselves but in the ascended Christ—Eph. 1:20-21; 2:6; 6:10-12; S. S. 4:8.