3.What furnishing was placed behind the veil, in the Most Holy Place?

The golden censer, and the Ark of the Covenant with the covering Mercy Seat.

We have not found agreement among Bible scholars as to why the writer of Hebrews places a golden censer behind the veil in the Holy of Holies. The Old Testament Scriptures, as well as every student of the Tabernacle of the Congregation we have studied, locates the Table of Showbread, the Lampstand, and the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place, and the Ark of the Covenant and its covering Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place. We have not found an exception to this.

We know from the Law that the high priest had to prepare the coals and pour incense on the Altar of Incense twice each day. Yet, it is our understanding that the high priest entered behind the veil only once each year—on the Day of Atonement.

Hebrews 9:4 does not state that the Altar of Incense was behind the veil but rather a golden censer, that is, a pan holding coals on which the holy incense was poured in order to fill the Holy of Holies with perfume.

Yet, the writer of Hebrews does not mention that the Altar of Incense remained in the Holy Place—a peculiar omission, from the viewpoint of a student of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

Perhaps it is true, as some have suggested, that the author of Hebrews was thinking only of the Day of Atonement. This is not unlikely because we know he is getting ready to tell us how the sacrifice of Christ is a superior atonement for our sins. On the Day of Atonement the high priest did bring a censer into the Holy of Holies and burn incense in the Presence of God (Leviticus 16:12). But the actual Altar of Incense assuredly remained in the Holy Place.

On the Day of Atonement the burning of incense was performed within the Holy of Holies while on the remaining days of the year the incense was burned outside the veil, in the Holy Place.

During the Day of Atonement the Holy Place was brought into the Most Holy Place, so to speak, and became one with the Most Holy Place. Perhaps this is why the writer of Hebrews locates the burning of incense in the Holy of Holies rather than in the Holy Place, the customary area for the burning of incense throughout the year. He was thinking only of the Day of Atonement and how the atonement made by Christ is superior to the atonement that was made through the blood of animals.

In any case, the Altar of Incense stood before the veil and was closely associated with the Most Holy Place, although it resided in the Holy Place—the first part of the Tabernacle building.

As we move past Pentecost, past the Lampstand, we come to the Altar of Incense. The Altar of Incense signifies death to our self-life as we fall down in worship and surrender our total personality to the Lord.

The true Church of the Lord Jesus, presently found in many different denominations, is to come today to the Altar of Incense. When the Lord "slays" the sin, worldliness, and self-will of His Bride, making her totally dependent on Himself, the holy veil will open and the Presence of God, the Day of the Lord, will come to the earth.

Some scholarship holds that because the Ark of the Covenant and the covering Mercy Seat were removed from the Tabernacle by the sinful sons of Eli, the priesthood that ministered after that time moved the Altar of Incense from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place so the Most Holy Place would not be empty during the celebration of the Day of Atonement.

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