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出埃及记生命读经 · 第150篇

金香坛（四）

The golden incense altar (4)
1读经： 出埃及记三十章六至十节；四十章五节，二十六至二十七节；诗篇八十四篇三节；一百四十一篇二节；启示录八章三至六节；出埃及记三十章二十六至二十八节。
1Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:6-10; 40:5, 26-27; Psa. 84:3; 141:2; Rev. 8:3-6; Exo. 30:26-28
2在前面的信息里，我们强调与金香坛有关的三件要紧的事。首先，我们祷告的时候，必须在帐幕里面，帐幕就是表征道成肉身的神。其次，我们要在香坛那里祷告，就必须先吃圣别的食物，就是我们的一分祭物，来把我们充满，并使我们饱足。第三，我们祷告的时候，应当把香献给神。如果我们对这些事有清楚的看见，我们的祷告生活就定规会有革命性的改变。我们在祷告中就不会被物质的需要或私人的事情所占有，反而会为着神目的的执行、神圣行政的实行、神供应恩典的分赐来祷告。
2In the previous message we emphasized three important matters related to the incense altar. First, when we pray, we need to be in the tabernacle, which signifies the incarnated God. Second, in order to pray at the incense altar, we must first be filled and satisfied by eating the holy food, our portion of the offerings. Third, when we pray, we should offer incense to God. If we have a clear view of these matters, our prayer life will be revolutionized. Instead of being occupied in prayer with material needs or personal concerns, we shall pray for the executing of God’s purpose, for the carrying out of the divine administration, and for the dispensing of God’s supplying grace.
与基督和教会有关的祷告
Prayer related to Christ and the church
3今天基督徒常常引用马太六章三十三节；“你们要先求祂的国和祂的义；这些东西都要加给你们了。”这指明如果我们寻求神的国和神的义，凡我们所需要的─食物、衣服、住屋─都要加给我们了。这表明我们在祷告中不需要被衣、食等事情所占有，反之，我们该为神的国祷告。
3Matthew 6:33 is a verse often quoted by today’s Christians: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” This indicates that if we seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, whatever we need — food, clothing, housing — will be added to us. This shows that there is no need for us to be occupied in our prayer with things such as food and clothing. Instead, we should pray for God’s kingdom.
4今天神的国是甚么？神的国就是教会。但教会是甚么？教会就是基督。所以寻求神的国就是寻求基督与教会。
4What is the kingdom of God today? God’s kingdom is the church. But what is the church? The church is Christ. Therefore, to seek God’s kingdom is to seek Christ with the church.
5照马太六章三十三节来看，我们也该寻求神的义。神的义是甚么？神的义就是基督藉着教会得了彰显。因此，寻求神的国和神的义，就是寻求基督与教会。我们的祷告该与神的国和神的义有关，就是与基督和教会有关。
5According to Matthew 6:33 we should also seek God’s righteousness. What is God’s righteousness? God’s righteousness is Christ expressed through the church. Thus, to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness is to seek Christ and the church. Our prayer should be related to God’s kingdom and His righteousness, that is, to Christ and the church.
6可悲的是许多基督徒晓得如何为更好的工作、更宽敞的房子或旅途平安而祷告，却不晓得如何为基督或教会祷告。有些人为教会祷告，但他们不是直接为着教会祷告，而是为着与教会有关的事业而祷告。我们该忘掉这样的祷告，并为着基督与教会祷告。有些基督徒听见这段论到他们祷告生活的话，也许会说：“这话甚难，你好像把我所有的祷告都夺去了。听了这些话以后，我不晓得要怎样祷告了，不论我想怎么祷告，好像都不对。”
6What is sad is that many Christians know how to pray for a better job, a larger house, or their safety on a journey, but they do not know how to pray for Christ or the church. When some pray for the church, they do not pray directly for the church, but instead pray for business matters related to the church. We should forget about praying in such a way and pray instead for Christ and the church. When some Christians hear this word regarding their prayer life, they may say, “This word is troublesome. It seems that you are robbing me of all my prayers. After hearing this word, I don’t know how to pray. It seems that any way I try to pray is wrong.”
严肃的禁止
A serious prohibition
7我鼓励你再去读这段话。我们应当在金香坛上烧香，不过有一个严肃的禁止：我们不可烧异样的香。惟有复活并升天的基督才是蒙悦纳的，别的东西都是在禁止之列。我们不该烧异样的香，甚至在祭坛上蒙神悦纳的，也不该在香坛上焚烧。这意思是说，我们不该在香坛这里献上钉十字架并受审判的基督。反之，我们该把复活并升天的基督当作香焚烧，我们在香坛这里必须把这样一位活的基督当作香来献给神。
7I encourage you to read again this portion of the Word. We should burn incense upon the golden altar. However, there is a serious prohibition: we must not burn strange incense. Only the resurrected and ascended Christ is acceptable; everything else is prohibited. We should not burn strange incense, and we should not even burn at the incense altar what is acceptable to God at the offering altar. This means that we should not present the crucified and judged Christ at the incense altar. Rather, we must burn as incense the resurrected and ascended Christ. We must present such a living Christ to God as incense at the incense altar.
8如果有些圣徒要我告诉他们要怎样祷告，我不会这么作。如果我告诉你如何祷告，而你照样祷告的话，这样的祷告仍然不是基督。也许你的措辞正确，但你的祷告还是在神以外。你不会在神里面、在神居所的中心里祷告。不但如此，你祷告的时候，也没有内里的满足或内里的加力。这意思是说，你祷告的时候，没有神在你里面祷告。当我们祷告的时候，必须在神里面祷告，并与在里面加力量给我们的神一同祷告。然后我们必须把基督献给神，并向神祷告基督。
8If some saints were to ask me to tell them how to pray, I would not do it. If I told you how to pray and you prayed accordingly, that kind of prayer would still not be Christ. You may use the right terminology, but you may still be praying outside of God. You would not be praying in God, in the center of God’s dwelling place. Furthermore, while you are praying, you may not have the inner satisfaction or the inner energizing. This means that you do not have God praying in you as you are praying. When we pray, we need to pray in God, and we need to pray with God energizing us inwardly. Then we need to offer Christ to God and pray Him to God.
可悲的光景
A sad situation
9如果你和我同住几天，你就会晓得，许多时候我是个不快乐的人。今天基督徒的光景令我非常伤痛。看看你周围的人在作些甚么？他们对神的经营知道多少？他们的光景实在可怜！主耶稣的再来已经迟延了将近两千年。当然，在祂看来两千年就如两天一样。在我们看是漫长的时间，但在祂看，却是短暂的时间。从主的眼光看来，二百五十年就像六小时─四分之一天。彼得说，在主千年如一日。（彼后三8。）同样的原则，彼得越过千年国度，直接说到永世里的新天新地。（彼后三13。）这表明在主千年也不算长。但就我而论，主的回来好像已经耽延了好久好久了。
9If you were to stay with me for a period of several days, you would learn that I am a person who much of the time is not happy. The situation of today’s Christians makes me very sad. Consider the people around you and what they are doing. What do they know concerning God’s economy? How pitiful is the situation! The Lord Jesus has delayed His coming back for nearly two thousand years. Of course, to Him two thousand years are as two days. What is a long time to us is a short time to Him. From the Lord’s point of view, two hundred fifty years is like six hours, one-fourth of a day. It is Peter who says that with the Lord a thousand years are as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). In the same chapter Peter passes over the millennium and speaks directly concerning the new heavens and the new earth in eternity (2 Pet. 3:13). This indicates that even a thousand years is not long to the Lord. But as far as I am concerned, the Lord has delayed His coming a long time.
10今天谁在祷告，求神将祂的恩典分赐到人的里面呢？谁是这样祷告，好推动神权柄的宝座来审判这世代呢？基督有许许多多的香，但有资格接受基督之香的祷告在那里呢？基督能彀把祂的香加到你的祷告里么？恐怕我们有资格加上基督之香的祷告太少了。因此，要紧的是要看见，就我们的祷告生活而论，基督乃是帐幕，基督是献上的食物，基督也是香。
10Who today is praying that God would dispense His grace into people? Who is praying in such a way as to motivate God’s throne of authority to judge this age? Christ has a great deal of incense, but where are the prayers that are qualified to receive the incense of Christ? Is Christ able to add His incense to your prayers? I am afraid that too few of our prayers are qualified to have Christ’s incense added to them. Therefore, it is very important for us to see that concerning our prayer life, Christ is the tabernacle, Christ is the food offered, and Christ is also the incense.
两座坛如何联结
How the two altars are connected
藉着抹油
By the anointing
11照圣经来看，两座坛是联结的。出埃及记三十章二十七节和二十八节说，香坛和燔祭坛都要抹上圣膏油。帐幕和帐幕的器具抹油以后，两座坛也要抹油。出埃及记三十章二十六至二十八节说：“要用这膏油抹会幕和见证的柜，桌子与桌子的一切器具，灯台和灯台的器具，并香坛、燔祭坛和坛的一切器具，洗濯盆和盆座。”（另译。）请注意这些经文里的顺序是帐幕、约柜、桌子、灯台、香坛和燔祭坛。因此，抹油把两座坛联结起来了。
11According to the Bible, the two altars are linked. Exodus 30:27 and 28 say that both the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering were anointed with the holy anointing oil. After the tabernacle and its utensils were anointed, the two altars were anointed. Exodus 30:26-28 says, “And you shall anoint with it the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its base.” Notice that the sequence in these verses is the tabernacle, the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering. Thus, the anointing connects the two altars.
12抹油表征神的运行。所以根据神的运行，香坛和燔祭坛就联结起来了。抹油就是联结的元素。
12The anointing signifies God’s move. According to God’s move, therefore, the incense altar and the altar of burnt offering are connected. The anointing is the connecting element.
藉着赎罪祭的血
By the blood of the sin offering
13这两座坛也是藉着赎罪祭的血联结起来的，这血是在赎罪日为着挽回或赎罪所献上的。赎罪日（我们喜欢译作挽回日）是每年一次的，这一天要献上顶重要的赎罪祭。赎罪祭的血流出以后，要把血从祭坛带到圣所里，抹在香坛的四角上。又要把一部分的血带到至圣所里，其余的血要倒在外院子的祭坛四围。这挽回之血也把两座坛联结起来。
13The altars were also connected by the blood of the sin offering offered for propitiation, or atonement, on the day of Atonement. The day of Atonement, or as we would prefer to translate it, the day of propitiation, occurred once a year. On that day the most important sin offering was offered. After the blood of this offering was shed, it was brought from the altar into the Holy Place and applied to the four corners of the incense altar. A portion of the blood was also brought into the Holy of Holies, and the remainder was poured out around the altar in the outer court. This propitiating blood also connected the two altars.
藉着焚烧祭物的火
By the fire that burned the offerings
14此外，这两座坛也是藉着在外院子里祭坛上焚烧的火联结起来的。倘若我们仔细地读旧约，我们就会看见，在香坛上不可用凡火烧香。反之。烧香只能用燔祭坛的火，这火是从天上降下来的，不是凡火。然而其它的火都是凡火。从神那里来的属天之火，用来焚烧燔祭坛上的祭物，也用来焚烧香坛上的香。由此我们看见，焚烧祭物的火也是把这两座坛联结起来的元素。
14Furthermore, the two altars were connected by the fire that burned on the altar in the outer court. If we read the Old Testament carefully, we shall see that no strange fire was allowed to be on the incense altar for the burning of the incense. Rather, the only fire that could be used to burn the incense was the fire from the altar of burnt offering, the fire which had come down from the heavens. That fire was not strange. Any other kind of fire, however, would have been strange. The heavenly fire, the fire that came from God, that was used to burn the offerings on the altar of burnt offering was also used to burn the incense on the incense altar. By this we see that the fire that burned the offerings was also an element that linked these two altars.
15从燔祭坛那里有馨香之气升到神面前，从香坛那里也有馨香之气升到神面前。因此，由祭坛和香坛上的焚烧，都有馨香之气升到神面前，作祂的满足。然而，这两种焚烧有一个区别。祭坛上的焚烧是审判的焚烧，而香坛上的焚烧是悦纳的焚烧。 这两种焚烧和上升互相返照。尤其是燔祭坛的第一种馨香之气，在香坛的第二种馨香之气里面得着返照。由燔祭坛升到神面前的馨香之气，在由香坛升到神面前的馨香之气里面得着返照。在这两种馨香之气里面，有燔祭坛上基督之死的甜美，以及香坛上基督复活和升天的甜美。基督在祂复活和升天里的馨香之气，乃是叫我们得蒙悦纳。藉着这三种元素─抹油、血、火─两座坛就联结起来了。
15From the altar of burnt offering a sweet savor ascended to God. A sweet savor also ascended to Him from the incense altar. Hence, from both the burning on the offering altar and from the burning on the incense altar a sweet savor ascended to God for His satisfaction. There was a difference, however, between these two kinds of burnings. The burning on the offering altar was a burning of judgment, but the burning on the incense altar was a burning of acceptance. These two kinds of burning and ascending reflect each other. In particular, the first kind of sweet savor, that from the altar of burnt offering, is reflected in the second, that from the incense altar. The sweet savor ascending to God from the altar of burnt offering is reflected in the savor that ascended to Him from the incense altar. Here in these two kinds of sweet savor we have the sweetness of Christ in His death at the offering altar and the sweetness of Christ in His resurrection and ascension at the incense altar. The fragrance of Christ in His resurrection and ascension is for our acceptance. By these three elements — the anointing, the blood, and the fire — the two altars are connected.
作诗之人对两座坛的珍赏
The psalmist’s appreciation of the two altars
16因着两座坛是联结的，作诗之人就把它们相题并论：“万军之耶和华，我的王，我的神阿，在你的坛（复数）那里，麻雀为自己找着房屋，燕子为自己找着菢雏之窝。”（诗八四3，另译。）作诗的人以写诗的方式，表达对两座坛的珍赏。特别有趣的是，我们晓得神的居所里面还有其它的家具和器具，就如约柜、桌子、灯台，但作诗之人最珍赏的乃是两座坛。
16Because the two altars are connected, the psalmist speaks of them together: “Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God” (Psa. 84:3). Writing in a poetic way, the psalmist appreciates the two altars. This is especially interesting when we realize that in God’s dwelling place there were other furnishings and utensils, such as the ark, the table, and the lampstand. But the two altars are foremost in the psalmist’s appreciation.
17麻雀和燕子是表征我们这些软弱、微不足道的人类。主耶稣说，两个麻雀卖一分银子。（太十29。）然而，我们这些脆弱如麻雀的人，在主的坛（复数）那里却能为自己找着房屋。不但如此，我们这些如燕子的人，也能在坛那里找着菢雏之窝。
17The sparrow and the swallow signify us, human beings who are small, weak, and unworthy. The Lord Jesus said that two sparrows were sold for a penny (Matt. 10:29). Nevertheless, we who are as frail as sparrows can find a house at the Lord’s altars. Furthermore, as swallows, we can lay our young at these altars.
18不会合式珍赏诗篇八十四篇的人也许会希奇，麻雀和燕子怎么可能在主的坛那里筑巢？这样来领会这篇诗的人会以为坛是孤立的，无人照料。然而，诗篇八十四篇非常甜美，它充满了对神居所的珍赏，尤其是对两座坛的珍赏。
18Those who do not have the proper appreciation of Psalm 84 may wonder how sparrows and swallows could possibly make their nest at the Lord’s altars. Those who view the psalm in this way may regard the altars as desolate and not taken care of by anyone. However, Psalm 84 is very sweet. It is filled with appreciation of God’s dwelling place, in particular, of the two altars.
19这两座坛表征基督的死和祂的代求。祭坛是基督之死的坛，而香坛是基督代求的坛。我能作见证，这两座坛联结在一起，在我的经历中对我真是甜美。我就如一只麻雀或燕子在坛那里筑巢菢雏。
19These altars signify Christ’s death and His intercession. The offering altar is the altar of Christ’s death, and the incense altar is the altar of Christ’s intercession. I can testify that these two altars, joined together, have become very sweet to me in my experience. I am like a sparrow or a swallow nesting at the altars and laying my young ones there.
在我们经历中的两座坛
The two altars in our experience
20许多基督徒在经历中只有第一座坛，就是外院子里的祭坛。这意思是说，他们有十字架，却没有香坛。在我们的经历中，我们需要两座坛。
20In their experience many Christians have only one altar, the first altar, the offering altar in the outer court. This means that they have the cross, but they do not have the incense altar. In our experience we need both altars.
21既然我们在研读出埃及记三十章所描述的香坛，我就有负担指出，我们不是仅仅在研读圣经或教人圣经，我们所论到的点都该应用到我们的祷告生活里。我们的祷告生活必须是在神里面，并且必须同着在我们里面作我们供应和满足的神。倘若我们要有正当的祷告生活，我们也必须把基督当作香来献给神。此外还有非常重要的一个点，就是要看见这样的祷告是与钉十字架的基督相联的。我愿鼓励你们在祷告中把这些事都带到主面前，求祂进一步来启示你们。
21Now that we are studying the incense altar described in chapter 30 of Exodus, I am burdened to point out that we are not merely having a Bible study or simply teaching the Bible. All the points we are covering should be applied to our prayer life. Our prayer life must be in God, and it must be with God in us as our supply and satisfaction. If we are to have a proper prayer life, we must also offer Christ to God as incense. Furthermore, it is very important for us to see that this kind of prayer is linked to the crucified Christ. I would encourage you to bring all these matters to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to show you something further.
22关于香坛的启示对我有极大的帮助，它常常支配我的祷告。但有时候因着环境，我的祷告他相当的天然。
22The revelation concerning the incense altar has helped me a great deal. Often it has served to govern my prayers. But sometimes, due to the environment, I too have prayed in a rather natural way.
23愿主怜悯我们，叫我们看见正当而真实的祷告生活乃是在神里面，也需要神在我们里面；它与复活并升天的基督合而为一，这位基督乃是我们献给神的香；不仅如此，它还藉着血、火和馨香之气与钉十字架的基督联结。倘若我们有这样的祷告，我们就能过一种推动神行动的生活。这样的祷告支配了神恩典的经营以及祂权柄的行政。这意思是说，在香坛那里所献上的祷告支配了宇宙。这是一件极有意义的事，愿我们的眼睛被开启，得以看见这件事。
23May the Lord have mercy on us that we may see that the proper and genuine prayer life is in God and requires that God be in us; that it is one with the resurrected and ascended Christ as our incense to God; and that it is linked to the crucified Christ by the blood, the fire, and the sweet savor. If we have this kind of prayer, we shall be able to live a life that motivates God’s move. This kind of prayer governs God’s dispensation of grace and His administration of His authority. This means that the prayer offered at the incense altar governs the universe. This is a matter of great significance. May our eyes be opened to see it.